Travis turns 10!

As you already know, Travis celebrated his 10th birthday earlier this month. We decided to make a real big deal about him turning double digits!

First, the day before his birthday, we put him in the car (which was already packed) and took him to the Pope's house. There, we swapped one boy for another. We left Riley with them and took Miller with us. We then drove 3.5 hours to Charlotte. The only thing we told them was that we were taking them to see Madagascar 3 that night, and that we had a surprise for them, but that they would have to wait to find out. That was enough info for them apparently, because they happily rode the entire 3.5 hours without asking anymore questions. They played their video games and watched Madagascar on the DVD player and said lots of "Dude!"!

We got to Charlotte, checked into the hotel and honestly, I think that alone would have been enough for them! We got a suite, and they had their own room and beds and bathroom and they felt BIG about that! Then we grabbed dinner and went to the movie theater.


They choose the 3D version. We all really enjoyed the movie!


The next morning (Travis' actual birthday), we told them we were taking them to Carowinds which is full of roller coasters! They were excited, but you could tell they weren't real sure what we were talking about, but once we got on the highway, it was right there and they could see the rollercoasters and THEN they were REALLY excited! It took a little bit for Travis to get over his nerves, but once he did...it was ON!

We were there when the park opened.


The park was NOT crowded at all, and we walked right on pretty much every thing we rode. This was the first ride of the day.


Lots of little boy giggles over this!


Now...something y'all may not know...Jay does NOT enjoy rides.  But he took a few for the team! I don't ride hang upside down rides, because they give me migraines. So...Jay hoped right on the pirate ship with Miller (Travis didn't want to ride this one...this was in the first hour, before he warmed up to the thrill rides)


Miller and I braved Afterburn right away.


Then, we got Travis on it. We are in the very last row..Miller is on the outside, then Travis, then me. You can kind of see us waving. This is the very beginning. This is my new favorite roller coaster. Miller and I rode it 6 times total, Travis 3 I think and Jay twice!!!


Here we are after

And this one, although it's only our heads...you can see the ride behind us! Yep...those two 10 year olds rode it and loved it!


Here they are on the Windseeker.

It goes waaaay up high.

We rode lots of other rides too and roller coasters, including the Vortex rollercoaster, which you stand up on! And we did the water park for a little while. But the boys FAVORITE ride of all, was The Intimidator. It is billed as the tallest, fastest and longest coaster in the Southeast! Jay took another one for the team their first ride on this one, because I was fighting a headache from riding bumpy old Thunderroad. 



There the go! Up the incline...


Look who survived!


The boys loved it (Jay HATED it!) and they rode several more times in a row...including in the front seat!


We closed down the park, went to dinner, and then back to the hotel to shower and rest. The next morning, we got up and the boys played in the pool for a bit, then we drove home. Travis said it was the best birthday ever! 



Then on Saturday, we celebrated Travis with friends and family. We rented a big, inflatable water slide for the party. Even though the water was freezing, that slide was used a lot!




Look who will swing in a big boy swing now! 






It was a fun day!