Mother's Day Vacay

We spent the weekend away visiting Daniel's Momma near the beach.  There was a time when we all attended church together and had family dinners weekly, but almost 2 years ago she moved East and while we don't see each other weekly, her visits here and our visits there are greatly cherished by all 5 of us.  In fact, last night when we got home, literally as we're unloading ourselves from the van, Hayden was already saying he was ready to go back to Grandma's.

We arrived to her place Friday evening and went out for a nice dinner followed up by dessert at her place.  Mother's Day pound cake!  I LOVE pound cake.... it seriously is the best cake.  Chocolate pound cake with chocolate buttercream frosting.

Saturday we went on a little adventure to the North Carolina Battleship.  It was about an hour and a half drive from "Grandma's house."  We typically go to the aquarium when we visit, but this time, I had lofty ideas of trying something new and thought the boys would enjoy the battleship.  Let's just say that the battleship visit had it's highs and lows....  There's a self guided tour and you can climb deep down into the battleship and see an array of things!  The tour is supposed to take about 2 hours for the average group.  I guess it depends on how many signs you read on your way through.

 The battleship trip started with 2 very excited boys ready and eager to explore!  (Daniel was wearing Joel in the Tula.)  .... Then when we got to the tour portion of going "down below" the deck, they just weren't so sure.  To their credit, the stairs are steep, and you can't really see what you're getting into so there's a certain fear of the unknown, AND in some places you are walking on metal grates that you can see through to the next deck below and the boys didn't feel they were stable or safe on them.  Add to that, some sensory quirks that Leeland has and it was quite an adventure.

Leeland and Hayden writing thank you's to veterans. 

Lots and lots of guns..... guns everywhere! ..and in all sizes!

I liked checking out the kitchens and the bakery of course!  I mean, check out the giant vintage mixer!!

Daddy Kroh got in a serious workout wearing our 23 pound baby through the tour.  (Which he loves wearing Joel.)  And he said his favorite part was the guns, (naturally) or the bit of video we saw down below deck of a veteran speaking about his experience on the ship.  We couldn't watch the whole video because our crazies were being a little crazy.

Once we got back on deck, a certain 4 year old needed to go potty which involved me scooping him up and jogging around small crowds of people to get completely off the ship and to the restrooms.  I blame myself for not making him try before we boarded... it slipped my mind.  But that's how our tour ended since I couldn't get back on the ship without going all the way back around to the very front. 

SO.... there was a little bit of whining and a little bit of coercing to get the boys to the tour down below since they were anxious about it.... and towards the end of the tour there was some complaining that it wasn't over yet and I sort of feel like the trip to the Battleship didn't go as I imagined it.... BUT then we got in the van and headed to lunch and I heard little boys say things like, "I loved the battleship" and, "let's go back again some time!"  Kids are funny!  Haha!  

Saturday night we headed to church service with Grandma and out to dinner. 

Then Sunday, Grandma cooked us up a yummy breakfast and we spent the afternoon at the beach!

Could not have asked for a better Mother's Day than sitting on the beach without plans or phones or watches or interruptions.... just playing with our boys and making memories!  

It was such a wonderful visit to Grandma's filled with good quality time together and it was also a much needed break for us to be able to get away from the busyness that consumes our day-to-day.