2nd day of trip Lowes Motor speedway

On Friday we traveled up to Lowes Motor Speedway so that Michael and Jessica could see the racetrack. We took our van and the pimpmobile and traveled up the rode. We got to the speedway and we were told that we would have to wait for two hours before we could take the tour. We ate at Arby's and then went to the local Wal-mart and I bought my kids shoes and Michael and Jessica looked for their boys some souviners. We got back to the speedway and took the tour. You get to ride around the track in these big cargo vans and the tell you about the history of the track and drive you around the pits. Brian, Michael and the kids said that it wasnt' good enough because the vans only went 70 mph around the tack when the racecars go up to 200 mph. When we were done we stayed in the pits and took some pictures next to some of the cars that they use for the racecar driving schools. After that we had a picture of all of us in winners circle and then we headed out. Mom, Cindy and I had Brandon and Corbin in the pimpmobile and Brian took Michael and Jessica and Elista in the van. Well we got headed out at different times and got seperated. The pimpmobile headed back to my house and the van went to Concord Mills Mall. Mom, Cindy and I and the boys got lost and drove around Charlotte for awhile looking for I-77 we finally found it and then got stuck in traffic because of an accident. We didn't know that Brian and the others were at the mall having fun riding the go-carts. We eventually all ended up back at my house and we grilled hamburgers and hot dogs.

Cindy riding in the car

Jessica and Elista

Elista and I.




Mom driving the pimpmobile.

Some of Lowes Motor Speedway that one of the kids took.
Brian with the Tony Stewart car which is his favorite driver.
The kids by the car.
Cindy.


Michael and Jessica.

Winners Circle

Brian on a Go-Kart
Jessica and Elista on bumper boats

Jessica.

Brian.

Michael

Birthday and first day of trip

I got the best present of all my family came to visit and to go to Corbin's baptism. They actually got into Rock Hill on my birthday. We went out to IHOP for dinner and then back to my house for cake. It was a very good day. I will post more of the trip later.


Cindy coming out of the Microtel where mom and Cindy stayed. Brian the kids and I happened to be in the area when mom checked into to the motel so we just met them there instead of them coming to my house.
Close up shot of the gorgeous Cindy.
Mom, Cindy and I sitting on hotel bed very glad to see eachother after two long years.
Michael remembering the plane ride and entertaining Brian with the story of how horrible it was for him.

Elista and Aunt Jessica getting to know eachother.
Cindy and Corbin waiting for food at IHOP.
Michael and Jessica

Mom and I in a picture that Corbin took.

The cool table.
Happy Birthday to Leah. Thank you to all the people that sent gifts (Kaye and Janet) or bought me a gift (Mindy and Amy) and to all the people at my house on my birthday (Mom, Cindy, Michael and Jessica) I will post more of the trip later.

no fear

Watch my youngest child. He has no fear. We spent about 3 hrs at this pool and the entire time he jumped and flipped and belly flopped off of the high dive or the low dive.

Vacation

The last weekend in June Brian and I took some time off from our jobs to take a long weeked at the beach. We left Thursday after I was done working at 3 p.m. and headed to one of my best friends Amy's house. She live just north of Wilminton Nc. The drive is about 4-5 hours and it was pretty nice with all three kids and the dog. We got to Amy's house and my best friend Mindy had come down. She lives about an hour north of Amy we had pizza and then headed to bed. Friday which happened to be Brandon's birthday we got up and headed out to the beach. We spent the afternoon at the beach and then went back to Amy's house by which time Diane had arrived from Albermarle. Mindy left to go home so she could get ready for her daughters Leslie-Graces birthday party for the next day. Diane Amy and I had fun coloring the kids hair temporary blue and then Brian and I left and went and got Brandon a ice-cream Birthday cake. We came back and sang to Brandon fed the kids cake and sent them to bed. Brandon got to playstation games a Star Wars ship and two Erector sets. Saturday morning Brian and I took Elista, Leslie-Grace and Dianes two daughters Morgan and Mackenzie and we headed out to Mindy's house for Leslie-Graces birthday party. Diane came later with Brandon and Amy's two children Charlie and Kaylyn. We stopped in Jacksonville Nc with the girls and had breakfest and we got to Mindy's house in just enough time to leave to go to the skating rink for Lelsie-Grace's party. Our whole family skated including me. After the party we went back to Mindy's and had wing night and played games. We stayed the night at Mindy's. Sunday we slept in and missed church and then we went back into Jacksonville and at Chinese with the Whitehurst's. Corbin ate so much he got a horrible tummy ache. He slept most of the way back to Amy's and when he woke up he was fine. We had a nice quiet Sunday evening with Amy and then Monday morning we got up went to the beach again and then headed home. We had a very nice and relaxing vacation.

The Atlantic Ocean at Surf City

More Ocean
Brandon and Charlie hitting the waves
Mindy looking gorgeous as always.
Happy 12th Birthday Brandon
Corbin and Mack playing in the sand. Leslie-Grace and Elista Beach beauties.

Charlie and Mack Such beautiful girls. Lelsie-Grace, Kaylyn, Mackenzie and Elista
Charlie is so Cool! Brandon has blue hair for his birthday!
Brian sleeping through all the excitement. Happy Birthday to Brandon

Waiting for Breakfast
Emily loves riding in the car. Amy in the middle of all the kids! Left to right Morgan, Charlie, Mack, Amy, Leslie-Grace, Brandon. Elista, Mackenzie, Corbin and Kaylyn Morgan sleeping using Leslie-Graces behind as a pillow. Which is which Mack or Corbin? Mack and Corbin Goofing off! Emily doesn't care that Corbin has a tummy ache.

Hot

The weather has been nice and bearable up until this weekend when it has topped 100 degrees for the past 3 days. On Saturday we beat the heat the only way we could since the local pools haven't opened yet and since we are in still under drought restrictions we can't fill up our pool. Elista went to the beach with Diane so the rest of the family was left with the hose. It sure felt good.

The Zoo and Joseph

This is a little bit of Brandon in Joseph. I was going to take more video but Corbin dropped the camera and I couldn't get it to work for the rest of the night. He is the third from the front on the left in a red shirt. The thing I hated about was that they didn't have a live orchestra they had background cd with cheesy childrens voices on it so you couldn't actually hear the kids singing onstage. Brandon had a blast though. He was so exicted every night to perform and he made a lot of good friends. I am going to order a copy of the DVD that was made.

Corbin went on a field trip to the zoo with his class today and I went with him. He had a good time and got to feed the birds some nectar goop.

And not to be outdone Elista went to a B-day party at Build-A-Bear with some church friends.
Breanna, Shelby (the b-day girl) Elista and Natalie.