North Carolina - Drive Down

This has been such a whirlwind month! We had a wonderful time in San Diego then it was back home to celebrate two birthdays, two Thanksgivings, and a photoshoot. We were only home for 11 days before we left again for North Carolina, our second time this year! 

We left early on Saturday, we were on the road by 5 am which is a first for our road trips. We are not morning people at all but there is something exciting about leaving for a trip before the sun comes up. I was afraid of hitting holiday traffic but we didn't run into any until midway through Pennsylvania. 

James and his sons

The biggest benefit to making such good time was that we were able to stop at the Army Heritage Center right outside of Harrisburg. It is such an awesome place! They have a huge field with tanks, helicopters, and war time exhibits ranging from the Revolution to the Iraq War. The boys favorite place is probably the World War I trenches. There were a few other kids there on this rainy afternoon and they all ran around shooting each other. Will and Jon have been listening to Rush Revere so they kept yelling "The British are coming!"

Christian runs through the trenches

Jon waves a flag in front of the Vietnam area

Will relaxes after climbing a wall

All the buildings were locked, as well as the underground bunker. But that actually worked out for us because it gave us time to explore the whole place. There was a Revolutionary War Redoubt that the boys scaled and an army obstacle course that the boys loved. Will and Jon struggled at first but they actually climbed the wall all by themselves! Will was so proud, "I could be a soldier!" And they loved crawling through the dirt under the wire.

Christian crawls under the "wire"

Will lets himself down from the wall

Jon made it to the top!

Daddy helped Christian overcome his fears

We only spent an hour there before it was time to hit the road but we will be back again! I love this place and want to bring my dad to visit too. It is such a great and hands on way to teach the boys about history.

Christian in the wheels of a tank

James and Christian made it to the top.
Christian was too scared  to make it up on his own.

Monster tank!

                    












The rest of our two day drive wasn't very exciting. We got a late start on the second day and never managed to stop anywhere fun. But we did enjoy listening to and discussing A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. And the very best thing about a long car ride is that James and I are able to talk for hours on end. I feel a little bad for the boys because once we get started on a topic we just don't stop!

We hit a lot of traffic on Sunday and saw a surprising amount of fender benders on the highway. Eventually we just got off the highway and took back roads to our hotel. I don't know if it was faster or slower but it was a lot less frustrating than sitting in traffic. We are finally here in our familiar and comfortable hotel. The boys were disappointed not to hit the pool tonight but James' has studying to do and I was just too tired. 

I wonder what adventures we will have tomorrow!