Butterburgers and Head Trauma!

We worked up an appetite after our morning with the horses. In Megs honor, we headed to "Culvers" to give it a try. I looked back and saw Bryce peaking over his car seat - just staring at me. It was the sweetest thing. Maybe he knew what was about to happen. He was about to cross a new threshold.

It was his first time sitting in a booth like a big boy. It was his first "Culvers" crinkle fry. He entered a baby and emerged a mancub. I think I even saw a hair on his chest.

The butterburgers brought out the love. Everyone was hugging all of the sudden. There were kisses ..... bursts of laughter.....tears of joy.

Was it worth it? After consulting the nutritional information I calculate and found that this lovely meal cost me 1,610 calories 84 grams of fat Wow. I had to recalculate the shake, since mine was NOT strawberry. It was Peanut Butter Cup. This is one of those places I need to PRAY does not come to town - or within a 60 mile radius.....ever.

Even Tommy T broke into the dance.

The Culvers dance of joy.

The sugar highs kicked in rather quickly.

We didn't buy little, fake redneck teeth at the gas station and those aren't chicklets. Those teeth are real....and will likely be the reason I stop breast feeding in the extremely near future.

The rest of the day included more outlet mall shopping. I was sure to make a grand entrance by slamming the trunk door of the Odyssey on top of Bradley's head - causing him to crash to the ground in the parking lot of the Tanger Outlet Mall. It was horrible. That kid is so tough though. He had a huge knot - and started making faces and kicking - which indicates if he were an adult he would be dropping major expletives. I felt horrible - but luckily for both of us - he is resilient....and didn't slip into a coma later that night :)

We rewarded the kids for being so well behaved in the stores by taking them to a fun track.

This one was so much fun because it looped around so you went a few stories up in the air. Extreme GoKarting!

Karah's turn came and she was NOT into the idea. Adrenaline is NOT her friend. She was good sport and gave it a try though.
Bradley supervised the action from up above. While Bryce enjoyed the wind blowing devil horns into his hair.


We then tried the bumper boats. This is yet another thing that Karah prevails at. Tommy T laughed on the side - watching me try to steer the boat. I am such a source of entertainment for him - I am just realizing this.

We then stuck around for awhile on the park bench and had a mini photo shoot. My settings had been all messed up on my camera - so I thought I would try to figure it out by trial and error.

Here are a few pics of our shoot!

We went out to dinner at McFarlan's. It is nothing special ... but our pizza cruise that we had tickets to go on was cancelled at the last minute. It was no dinner cruise, but we still had a great time.

We topped the night off with what else - but a dip in the pool and hot tub. This was where we had the run in with the man with meaty nipples. Other than that - we had the entire place to ourselves!


Nobody required coercion to get into bed that night. They were out.
We headed back home the next morning......crossing my favorite bridge.

We got stuck behind a parade or bikers.

Bryce entertained himself with Oreos on the way home - and this is what I found when we pulled in our driveway.

The trip was sticky from time to time, with a few random tears....but more than ever I have found the value in ocassionally ditching school - so we can have this precious time to decompress together. To leave our worries at home and just take what matters most....each other. I hope our children can look back on these memories with joy and a knowledge of how completely they are loved.

If we accomplish nothing else as parents.....but for them to understand the depth of our love for them - it is well with my soul.