Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Sciworks more pics
Dayne playing the Invisible Strings. You could run your hand thru it and it sounded like a piano. It was really cool! The boys dancing on the giant piano. Dayton and Dalton banging on the xylophones. The giant learning doll...oooh gross!
Sciworks more pics
Dalton and Mom inside the kaleidoscope
Dalton on a bike that you have to create the energy to push a ball up the tube.
Dad, Dayton & Dayne shooting water into a target to make the clown hit a bell.
Dayne and Dayton fishing in the pond.
Dalton on a bike that you have to create the energy to push a ball up the tube.
Dad, Dayton & Dayne shooting water into a target to make the clown hit a bell.
Dayne and Dayton fishing in the pond.
Sciworks
First pic with Mom's new camera. Then the kids each in the air chair! You hit the buttons on the chair and air blasts you straight up!
Tuesday - June 10th
We started off this morning with a continental breakfast at the Fairfield Inn in Winston Salem. First thing on the agenda was a can of "chew" for Dad. He was starting to get a bit crabby. Then we headed a couple of blocks down to Wal Mart to pick up a larger memory card for the camera. When we hit the electronics department we looked at cell phones. Jerad's battery on the razor has been slowly dying. He has been looking at the palm centro http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phone-details/?device=Palm%C2%AE+Centro+-+Obsidian+Black&q_sku=sku1260003
so he picked up the new Centro, then Dalton was checking out the Blackberry Pearl see here
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phone-details/?device=BlackBerry%C2%AE+Pearl+8110+-+Red&q_sku=sku2430221
and they had such a good deal we allowed him to get a new phone. He is very, no make that VERY excited about it. He thinks it's knocked him up into a new cell phone bracket!!
Then we finally got to the task at hand - a new memory card - which took a different turn. I have fallen in love with Dalton's new camera and I have been using it a lot on the trip. My big camera is great and I love it, however, it's extremely bulky and I have to dismantle it everytime I use it and pack it back away safely. Jerad said I should just get one like Dalton's. Well we couldn't find the bargain clearance one we picked up for Dalton so I opted to get the same kind of camera only in the updated version. It's wonderful! For those who care it has a 3 inch lcd, Image Stabilization and 10 mega pixels...now for those who don't care this is no big deal - but for me I'm as happy as a lark on a spring day. It wasn't exactly what I thought I'd be purchasing today, but it turned out to work well in my favor!
Dayton also has managed to only spend a few dollars on the trip and up until this point was only the proud owner of a trick ice cream cone. Today we let her browse the toys and she picked up a Bratz doll that you can color it's hair and style it and such. She thinks it's cool!
Dayne was the loser in the Wal Mart trip. No phone, no camera, no bratz doll. He was a great sport about it. He did find a game for his PSP, but we asked him to wait in case he found something else he wanted to purchased later. He agreed but said "I get to pick out where we eat!"
So we dined at Applebee's and we all played with our new toys! After we poisoned ourselves with too much food we headed out to www.sciworks.com it's a science museum with interactive displays for children (and us silly parents) We really breezed thru it pretty fast due to the time we had left before they closed. The kids were all going in different directions so it was hard to see everything, but we did enjoy ourselves. The one thing that grossed me out was this HUGE doll that had a vertical slit down the torso and you could pull out or put back in the internal organs that were all pillow like. Even though it would be a great teaching tool for kids...I was a little put back by it...it was dirty too so that added to the "ickiness"! I did enjoy a lot of the museum b/c it really had a lot of neat things to learn about. I've noticed browsing thru the brochures that there are several science and children's museums. Something I wish there were more of in Kansas. Oh well!
Anyway we hit the road and headed towards Raleigh, then somewhere along the way we pulled over at a McDonald's play yard to let the kids burn off the rest of their energy. They were about to put mom and dad over the edge. We got back in the car and headed down the road and ended up going all the way to Rocky Mount. We checked into a Quality Inn (with a pool of course) and then went to eat mexican food at Chico's. It was pretty good food, but we all agreed El Pueblito's is still our favorite! The neat thing about Chico's is that it's in an old building with a smoke stack outside of it, next to the river. It has been converted to an office building and when you enter it and look straight ahead you can go up steps and into the foyer of the restaurant. It had a bar and dining rooms, and an outdoor veranda that was right over the river. It was a little bit warm to dine outside for us. So we opted to dine in the air conditioning. We noticed by the doorway there was a small sign that said "Hurricane Floyd - 1999" then on the other side of the door way was another sign that read "Water Line" with dashes underneath. If one was to guess based on the measurements marked on the outside of the building it must have been about 30-40 ft higher than normal for the river. I had noticed that the markings to the underneath of the dining area read 19 ft and it was still below where we were sitting. After last year's flood it is a reality to imagine water up where it "shouldn't be".
We retired back to the hotel and went for a swam. Originally I thought I'd do laundry and regroup, but I'm wasted tired and wanted to catch up the blog and get some rest. One night I would like for the winner of the most sleep to be ME!!!!!
oh and....the Quality Inn in Rocky Mount..not exactly as clean and nice as the one in Asheville. Folks are very nice, but it seems a little less than par.
Lots of pics from today. We miss everyone a bunch and can't wait to get home and share all our vacation stories. The big excitement will be tomorrow when we finally reach our destination - Nags Head, North Carolina!!!! www.outerbanks.org
nite
b
so he picked up the new Centro, then Dalton was checking out the Blackberry Pearl see here
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phone-details/?device=BlackBerry%C2%AE+Pearl+8110+-+Red&q_sku=sku2430221
and they had such a good deal we allowed him to get a new phone. He is very, no make that VERY excited about it. He thinks it's knocked him up into a new cell phone bracket!!
Then we finally got to the task at hand - a new memory card - which took a different turn. I have fallen in love with Dalton's new camera and I have been using it a lot on the trip. My big camera is great and I love it, however, it's extremely bulky and I have to dismantle it everytime I use it and pack it back away safely. Jerad said I should just get one like Dalton's. Well we couldn't find the bargain clearance one we picked up for Dalton so I opted to get the same kind of camera only in the updated version. It's wonderful! For those who care it has a 3 inch lcd, Image Stabilization and 10 mega pixels...now for those who don't care this is no big deal - but for me I'm as happy as a lark on a spring day. It wasn't exactly what I thought I'd be purchasing today, but it turned out to work well in my favor!
Dayton also has managed to only spend a few dollars on the trip and up until this point was only the proud owner of a trick ice cream cone. Today we let her browse the toys and she picked up a Bratz doll that you can color it's hair and style it and such. She thinks it's cool!
Dayne was the loser in the Wal Mart trip. No phone, no camera, no bratz doll. He was a great sport about it. He did find a game for his PSP, but we asked him to wait in case he found something else he wanted to purchased later. He agreed but said "I get to pick out where we eat!"
So we dined at Applebee's and we all played with our new toys! After we poisoned ourselves with too much food we headed out to www.sciworks.com it's a science museum with interactive displays for children (and us silly parents) We really breezed thru it pretty fast due to the time we had left before they closed. The kids were all going in different directions so it was hard to see everything, but we did enjoy ourselves. The one thing that grossed me out was this HUGE doll that had a vertical slit down the torso and you could pull out or put back in the internal organs that were all pillow like. Even though it would be a great teaching tool for kids...I was a little put back by it...it was dirty too so that added to the "ickiness"! I did enjoy a lot of the museum b/c it really had a lot of neat things to learn about. I've noticed browsing thru the brochures that there are several science and children's museums. Something I wish there were more of in Kansas. Oh well!
Anyway we hit the road and headed towards Raleigh, then somewhere along the way we pulled over at a McDonald's play yard to let the kids burn off the rest of their energy. They were about to put mom and dad over the edge. We got back in the car and headed down the road and ended up going all the way to Rocky Mount. We checked into a Quality Inn (with a pool of course) and then went to eat mexican food at Chico's. It was pretty good food, but we all agreed El Pueblito's is still our favorite! The neat thing about Chico's is that it's in an old building with a smoke stack outside of it, next to the river. It has been converted to an office building and when you enter it and look straight ahead you can go up steps and into the foyer of the restaurant. It had a bar and dining rooms, and an outdoor veranda that was right over the river. It was a little bit warm to dine outside for us. So we opted to dine in the air conditioning. We noticed by the doorway there was a small sign that said "Hurricane Floyd - 1999" then on the other side of the door way was another sign that read "Water Line" with dashes underneath. If one was to guess based on the measurements marked on the outside of the building it must have been about 30-40 ft higher than normal for the river. I had noticed that the markings to the underneath of the dining area read 19 ft and it was still below where we were sitting. After last year's flood it is a reality to imagine water up where it "shouldn't be".
We retired back to the hotel and went for a swam. Originally I thought I'd do laundry and regroup, but I'm wasted tired and wanted to catch up the blog and get some rest. One night I would like for the winner of the most sleep to be ME!!!!!
oh and....the Quality Inn in Rocky Mount..not exactly as clean and nice as the one in Asheville. Folks are very nice, but it seems a little less than par.
Lots of pics from today. We miss everyone a bunch and can't wait to get home and share all our vacation stories. The big excitement will be tomorrow when we finally reach our destination - Nags Head, North Carolina!!!! www.outerbanks.org
nite
b
Monday, June 9, 2008
Day 3 - Transylvania County - Brevard, NC
Today was a great day.
We headed south out of Asheville towards Brevard. We stopped downtown in the historic district. Neat little shops. We first hit http://www.optaylors.com/ The kids had a blast! A two story toy store stacked to the ceiling with toys!!! Dayton bought a plastic ice cream cone with fake foam ice cream. When you hit the button on it the ice cream (foam) shoots out of the cone..connected by a string. She cackles hysterically as she shoots it at her brothers. She thinks it's hilarious! She was in awe of the baby doll room. Baby dolls and accessories everywhere. She was so EXCITED to be in there with all the babies. Dalton purchased juggling scarves. Dayne purchased a pucker powder...although he now tells me he wanted to get a Lego set. We left OP's and passed by a jewelry store..it was neat outside they had thrown old jewelry parts and pieces, batteries, etc into the concrete when it was setting up. It was an interesting little display...inside the door watch bands, more watch batteries and other misc jewelry pieces were in epoxy on the floor. It was pretty cool looking. Jerad purchased me a "Loving Family" pendant/necklace. It is a silver pendant that has a mother, father and 3 children all in a circle. It's very pretty!
We then made it into an old soda fountain shop. They were so busy. So we took a quick picture of the kids and then headed out. We stopped by the local Food Lion and grabbed a bucket of chicken and headed to Sycamore Falls picnic area in Pisgah National Forest. The kids played in the stream. Dalton caught a teeny tiny fish about the size of a guppie. Then Jerad found a funky looking fish between some rocks. Dayton had a blast "rock hunting" (i think a trend is developing with her and rocks!) Dayne was all over the place hunting rocks, playing in the water and who knows what all.
We then made our way out of the picnic area and headed up the road and stopped off and climbed down a revine type of thing to discover a hidden little waterfall. The kids were making us so nervous we didn't stay long. The rocks were about 8-9 ft boulders and they were jumping from one to the other. One slip and they would have been down river. I shot a couple of pics of them and then the beautiful HUGE butterflies that were flying around. We then headed towards Sliding Rock. This place was cool! The kids actually got to slide down a 60 ft waterfall over a huge rock and plunge into about 8 ft of water. The water was sooooooooo cold. I had my feet it in and was amazed how cold it felt. The kids each made two trips down sliding rock with grins from ear to ear. They insisted this was even better than the stream they had played in earlier. We then worked out way back down the road and stopped at Looking Glass Waterfall - (the larger waterfall in the picture) and we walked down a flight or two of stairs. Dalton and Dayne swam and Dalton even made it out to the waterfall. He said it felt like you were getting hit over the head with a hammer when you stood under it. It was very loud. The mist from the waterfall felt really good. The kids were so cold from being in the water, but mom and dad were roasting so the mist was a welcome change for us. After we forced them out of this waterfall they insisted -this was better than the last place. They really enjoyed the small piece of the Forest that we visited. Transylvania County sports like 260 waterfalls. About 10-12 really beautiful ones and we wanted to see more of them but it was getting later in the day and we decided we would head East.
We stopped to get gas and right next door was a Dairy Bar. So we had ice cream and sno cones to cool down. We then headed out towards Hendersonville, NC. When we reached it, everything except the eateries were closed so we headed back outside of town where we had seen a Gem Mine. It was closed also. So we decided let's head towards Durham and find something there to do. Due to a little storm we pulled over in a small town somewhere around Morganton and waited for about an hour. We then went ahead and drove thru a little bit of rain and finally drove out of it. Once we reached Statesville we decided we'd not drive as far and ended up planting our rears in Winston-Salem this evening. So we checked into a hotel, grabbed some McDonalds and now everyone is winding down for the day.
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