![wal[TONS] of Fun](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmgAgJc9cXsyWa1gDkfLE0vCO9g4KTBaBWy0MCHScMHk9GuVaZDT7_KhR_2WKWyxXrl_dk__uEj2KxJvcNpLxaC-Akp3EKeawAXf5Q482tw8bPfyJhk_EDPXtdbsuz6kl4M6qVMX2Fs2M/s1600-r/BlogHeaderInstagram6.jpg)
A couple weeks before Steve's summer vacation was up we started to get that itch to get out of town. So we packed up the van with a suitcase (covered by a towel) and sneaked a cooler (with lunch inside of it) into the front seat, and after church we put on a movie and fed the kids lunch in the car on "the drive home."
It took Gracie almost the entire trip to Charlotte to realize we hadn't been driving home. And when we pulled up to (you guessed it) the Embassy Suites, there was a chorus of cheers from the backseat and Charlie shouted, "E Hotel!!! E Hotel!!!" (Because it has a great big "E" on the side of it.)
While the rest of us camped out on the sofa watching Shark Tank (which Gracie was unimpressed by) and Wipeout (which Gracie loved), Charlie enjoyed the view of the city curtains.
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It was a nice trip. We took it easy (I don't even have more than these few pictures, snapped with my iPad) and went to the hotel pool, enjoyed the overlarge breakfast, kept the kids up too late, and when they finally went to bed, ate half-melted Klondike bars in our room (do not trust those mini-fridges' freezers).
Monday we went to a really fun children's museum called the Discovery Place and had the most fun in the very first room, which had an enormous water table (but bigger than a water table by far) and vacuum chutes to put scarves in and all kinds of other interactive things. Gracie also encountered her first taxidermy-ed animal (a polar bear) and was confused as to why it was in the museum and not alive. I found myself reluctant to explain the stuffing of actual animals. It is pretty weird.
After that we found a gas station just before we ran out of gas (hurrah!) and went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch (the strawberry lemonade!) and then got caught in a massive rainstorm on the drive back to the "E hotel." :)
Steve went out to grab us Panera for dinner, and Charlie got a little sad, so Gracie asked him if he wanted a cuddle.
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He did.
Adorbs, huh? These two melt my heart.
Our final morning we ate another extravagant breakfast and, on the way home, we may or may not have (but definitely did) chosen to stop at Ikea. And bought a coffee table for our new house. And ate lunch. And then made our way back to Winston with two very wiped out kiddos. :)
Monday we went to a really fun children's museum called the Discovery Place and had the most fun in the very first room, which had an enormous water table (but bigger than a water table by far) and vacuum chutes to put scarves in and all kinds of other interactive things. Gracie also encountered her first taxidermy-ed animal (a polar bear) and was confused as to why it was in the museum and not alive. I found myself reluctant to explain the stuffing of actual animals. It is pretty weird.
After that we found a gas station just before we ran out of gas (hurrah!) and went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch (the strawberry lemonade!) and then got caught in a massive rainstorm on the drive back to the "E hotel." :)
Steve went out to grab us Panera for dinner, and Charlie got a little sad, so Gracie asked him if he wanted a cuddle.
.jpeg)
He did.
Adorbs, huh? These two melt my heart.
Our final morning we ate another extravagant breakfast and, on the way home, we may or may not have (but definitely did) chosen to stop at Ikea. And bought a coffee table for our new house. And ate lunch. And then made our way back to Winston with two very wiped out kiddos. :)
There has to be nothing better in the entire world than an impromptu trip complete with E hotel's breakfast, sibling hugs on the hotel bed, and Ikea. I am totally inspired!
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