Family vacation Sep 2012

Last weekend we went to Raleigh, NC to celebrate Makayla's birthday! 

We do not have a big Christmas in the gift giving sense. Last year we talked with the older girls and they told us that they would rather spend Christmas focused on others (*cue proud mama tears!*) and have a special birthday "gift". Their gift is that we will do whatever they want to do for their birthday. (As long as it is in our budget of course!)

This year Makayla decided that she wanted to go to Marbles Children's Museum. Raleigh is about 4 1/2 hours from where we live now so we decided that we would stay the night down there. As the time got closer we also noticed that the weekend we were going also happened to be Labor Day weekend :) Woohoo! That meant that we could stay an extra night since Michael didn't have to work Monday. 

We were ALL so excited and looking forward to a well deserved weekend away! No school, no work, no cooking, no laundry and NO HOUSE WORK!!!

It is not often that we get away and we were going to make the most of it! 

We got up early Saturday morning and loaded everyone into the van and left the house a little after 6am.

Now, my kids are not morning people! They hate the fact that I make them wake up at 8:30 every morning, but when I came downstairs at 5:30 they were wide awake and bouncing around! It was hard for them to contain their excitement for the weekend ahead! 

We had our whole weekend planned and our first stop was Marbles. 

If you have no clue what Marbles is then you are missing out! It is a two story Children's Museum. There is so much to do there :) When we lived in NC we actually had a yearly membership because my kids loved it so much. It is only $5 a person to get in and worth every penny. 

Our first stop was the hula hoops. Now, I personally suck at hula hoops, but luckily some of my kids didn't inherit my lack of hula hoop skills :)

Go, Kay Kay, Go!!

Little Miss Mariela ROCKED at the hula hoop. Seriously, she could have done this all day. (Actually, this was one of the only things she did all day. I think her pre-teen is setting in and she thinks she is a little to old to play at the Children's Museum. Despite my very direct statements telling her that she is not....lol)

Michael, even had a pretty good go at it, too!

Off to the sports area :) The kids had the most fun here! They played soccer, basketball, gymnastics and they had a little dance studio.

I spent the day watching my wonderful family and checking out my gorgeous husband ;)

Carson liked to jump high with, Daddy!

They had a little infant area, so Blake was allowed to have some fun as well!

Off to the water area :) Carson, had the most fun here!

He kept trying to drink the water and didn't quite understand why I wouldn't let him.

My wonderful eye candy playing with Blake. I love watching my kids play and laugh more than anything in this world!

Here is Gabby just being Gabby. Most of the pictures I took of her this weekend she posed just like this :)

This is my darling husband's attempt to get me to believe that he is not tired. Yeah, I didn't give into his lies.....lol 

After a long day at Marbles we went back to our hotel. We stayed at the Hyatt Place. It was a great hotel! Our room was big enough for all of us to fit and for everyone to sleep in a bed, except for Carson and Blake, but they had a pack 'n play they put in the room for us. There was an excellent complimentary hot breakfast every morning. Probably, one of the best we have ever had at a hotel. I will definitely look into staying at the Hyatt Place more often when we vacation.

Now, with all of that said about how spacious the rooms were, some how I still ended up with this many people in my bed when I woke up! 

I actually love mornings more than any other time! All of my kids are so sweet and lovable in the morning :) I usually get the best hug for the day every morning from Carson. I really look forward to him waking up every morning and throwing his little arms around my neck and squeezing with all of his might!

We decided to spend Saturday morning and early afternoon just hanging out and relaxing at the hotel. Off to the pool we went :) Then a storm came and we had to cut our pool time short. The girls were not amused at all! Carson, could have cared less, he was terrified of the pool for some reason and would scream if you put him in it!

Later Saturday afternoon we had a party scheduled for Makayla at Chuck E. Cheese. This is the third time she has had a party there. I guess she really likes the mouse :)

Gabby is having fun :)

Vanessa was the only one of my kids who would go up and dance with Chuck E. 

Family photo - Look I am part of this family!

This year they had a package with a pinata. 

The kids had SO much fun with the pinata. It was filled with tokens and tickets :) 

After Chuck E. Cheese's we went back to the hotel and Michael and the kids went down to the pool while Blake, Carson and I hung out in the room.

Blake taught himself how to blow raspberries :)

The next morning we packed up and loaded the van to head  to the mall, but first one more dip in the pool. 

Look! After MANY attempts I was FINALLY able to get Carson to get in the pool!

Before we headed home Makayla's last request was to go to the mall! She had birthday and job money that was just burning a hole in her pocket.

The Disney Store was the main reason she wanted to go to the mall!

Vanessa walked into the Disney Store and started dressing up!

Mariela bought herself some perfume (The best part is that it was on clearance)

No visit to the mall is complete without a ride on the quarter machines.

This weekend was great! Everyone was able to relax and have fun. Most importantly, we were able to celebrate Makayla's life and the blessing that she is to this family! 

Next up is Gabby's birthday- and I believe that she wants to go camping.