Photo drop spring break

Isaac has been off this last week on spring break.  It has been so nice to spend some time with him.  Here are some photos with what we have been up to this week.

Sunday we headed up to the Kings Mountain area, just by the North/South Carolina border.  We intended to do Kings Mountain Military Park and Kings Mountain State Park.  We started at the military park by having a look at their museum, then did the battlefields trail.  This is a 1.5 mile trail around the battle field from the Revolutionary war.  There were many informative boards on the way, and you can get a tour on your phone if you wish.  There are many monuments along the way commemorating the people who took part in this important battle.

The boys did really well walking this trail, and hardly got carried at all.  We did it in about an hour, and thoroughly enjoyed our walk in the sun.

By the time we returned to the car, we were all pooped, so decided to give the state park a miss, and save it for another day.

Monday we met up with some friends, before atrocious weather set in for a few days.

Wednesday Isaac and I went for breakfast at IHOP.  I like doing this with my boys when they are off.  Now Seb is in school 3 mornings a week when the other 2 are off, be it separate or together, it is nice to do things just us.

Thursday morning Seb was off, so we headed to the zoo.  In the summer, they open at 9am, though all animals are not on display.  It turns out this is temperature dependent.  It was cold Thursday morning, and I did not dress myself or the boys appropriately.  I think we were the first ones in the zoo!  It was lovely.  The lemurs were playing, there was a snake up close to the glass, and the lions were roaring.  It goes to show, you can got to the zoo numerous times, and still see something different

Still take the same pictures though!

It was so cold, that I was not up for supervising the boys in the park.  We headed up to Pelham Road to meet Paul for a coffee.  My car has been in the garage for about 2 weeks following my run in with a deer.  I have had an X3 in the meantime, an alright car, but not my beast.  Paul had to had his car back on Thursday, and had decided on a Mini.  So I went to meet him to pick it up

It is an alright little car.  I quite like it.  A few differences to the X5, size being the most obvious. But......it has no sun blinds in the back and no heads up display.  Hopefully my car will be fixed soon (it's supposed to take 4-6 weeks)

 Good Friday I spent most of the day lying on the sofa watching HGTV, while Paul built  this

It was a full on pajama day, as the weather was supposed to be atrocious.  It wasn't too bad, but we enjoyed the down time as a family.  The boys watched a film or 2....

Having been cooped up all day Friday, we had to get the boys out today.  Unfortunately it had been raining again, for most of the day, so we decided to take them to Monkey Joes.  I had a coupon to get one in for free, so it wasn't too busy, and I was suprised how quiet it was.  They had a few electrical issues, never good in a room filled with bounce houses....  But they sorted it out, and the kids had a great time.

Then it was lunch at Twin Peaks.  What's nice about this place is the fact kids eat free Saturday and Sunday, making it a reasonably priced meal out. 

Today is  Easter Sunday, we are going to do our first ever egg hunt for the boys. Paul watched the Liverpool game this morning, followed by the F1, then a nice roast, and I think a day around the house.

Happy Easter everyone!

Sebastians 3rd birthday implosion and Cowpens.....

Today is Sebastian's 3rd birthday.  The boys have been very good about it.  Just goes to show how much their relationships have changed in the last six months or so.  Seb did well, he loves the box of wooden track, his scooter and his new car garage.  

Here is Seb with his garage and wooden track, just before we got dressed to go out for the day.

Amazingly we left the house before 9am on a Sunday!! We had word of a scheduled building implosion in Greenville.  We have never seen one of these in the flesh before, so we could not miss the opportunity.  We gave the boys a quick snack and headed out the door with directions in the sat nav.  We didn't really need them.  As we got nearer we started seeing people on the bridges in town.  Scott Towers has been home to low income seniors for decades.  Recently some significant structural problems with the building were discovered, so it was decided to bring it down.  We arrived at a junction off Church Street, where people were gathering.  It was hard not to miss the 14 story building against the line of low level housing surrounding it.  We parked up, and walked to a better vantage point.

We heard a series of explosions, and seconds later, the building began to fall

The building came down in about 14 seconds.  I am going to try and upload the video of it, Isaac's commentry is just too cute. In fact, here it is  They were plenty of people watching, the last time a building was imploded in Greenville was in 1997.  Not sure we will ever see another of these in the flesh, it was so worth leaving the house early.

This gave us the opportunity to try and eat at IHOP.  We normally try and go between 10.30-11.30, and it has always been too busy before.  Not today.  We got there about 10, and managed to get a parking space, despite how busy it was.  We walked in, Paul gave our name at the door, and we only had to wait 10 minutes for a table.  It was well worth the wait.....  Everyone (except Isaac) cleared their plates.  While we were eating, we were toying with what to do with the rest of the beautiful day.  I had read somewhere that it was the 233rd anniversary of the Battle of Cowpens.  We looked it up and discovered they had lots of things happening.  So we jumped in the car and headed up the interstate.

45 minutes later, we arrived at Cowpens National Battlefield.  We parked up and headed towards the visitor centre, past the memorial.  There were people dressed in clothing from the time of the revolutionary war.  We were lucky enough to arrive in time for a guided tour.  It was absolutely fascinating, and was one of the decisive battles in the South.  This was such a good guided tour, and we learnt much about the battle.  We were on the tour for about an hour, double the time the actual battle took place! If you want more info, please check out the link here.

There were people of all ages participating in reenacting the battle, and the lives of the people who played a part.  Once the tour was over, a couple of young lads invited us to see the cavalry horses, all kitted up I the gear they would have carried at the battle

This was not exactly the boys idea of fun, but they were very good.  They didn't really listen, but I think they enjoyed seeing the people all dressed up and the tents that were set up as the camps.  It was such a beautiful day, and so lovely to be outside

We drove home, with Seb having a sleep on the way.  He then skyped with various grandparents, so they could see him open his presents.  Thanks guys, he loves all of them (apart from the remote control car thing mum, seems to freak him out!!!!)

The boys had dinner (Paul and I were still full from breakfast!), and we sung happy birthday to Sebastian, and he attempted to blow out his candle.  He did a fairly good job, with a bit of help and encouragement. He looks scared of it here, but honestly, he loved it.

See, here he is tucking in!

I think he had a good day.  He has certainly gone to bed happy.......