I am Michelle D. Carter

For the last few years, an American Girl catalog would show up in our mailbox, Alyssa would look through it and show me the cute girls that she wanted. I would tell her that they were cute but I’m not about to spend $100 on a doll. No way, no how – my famous last words.

My neighbor told me about the unveiling of the new girl of the year at the American Girl store in Atlanta on January 1^st. The store puts on this big production and wanted to know if Alyssa and I would like to attend with her and her daughter. It sounded like fun so we jumped at the chance. I then started thinking WOULD WE GET WRAPPED UP IN THE EXCITEMENT? WOULD ALYSSA WANT A DOLL? HOW AM I GOING TO HANDLE IT?

Me: “Tim, I’ve been thinking about this trip to Atlanta. What if I talk to Alyssa and tell her that I would buy her an American Girl doll but this would be her present from us and her birthday party?”

Tim, much to my surprise: “Yeah, that would be OK.”

Alyssa was thrilled. She was finally going to get an American Girl doll.

New Year’s Day, I get up at 5:15 am and get myself ready for our journey. Around 6:00, I wake up Alyssa. We are ready and on the road at 6:30.

Just before we crossed into Georgia, we stop at a gas station. My neighbor wasn’t feeling very well. She decides she can’t go on and will have her husband come and get her. I felt bad leaving her. But the gas station had a restaurant attached to it and appeared to be relatively safe.

Once in Georgia, the girls are now thirsty. I stop at McDonald’s and get drinks for them. A few more miles down the road, Alyssa starts to complain about her stomach.

Me, very sympathetically: “Hmm, after eating three donuts, I wonder why.”

Alyssa: “Mom, it really hurts.”

Me: “What do you want me to do?”

Alyssa: “I don’t know.”

Me: “Do you want me to stop so you can use a restroom?”

Alyssa: “Yeah.”

Back in the car YET AGAIN. We discuss whether we want to continue on or should we just turn back around and go home. Gasp! Mom, how dare you think of not going on?

We FINALLY arrive at the mall around 9:30 am. The line to get in wraps around and around and around.  We wanted to be there early because the first 100 girls would receive a goody bag. I told the girls that I was pretty sure we wouldn’t be getting a goody bag. But we were there to have fun and that’s what we were going to do, with or without the goody bag.

The store opens! We finally make it around the corner. The store is in sight. We’ll be in soon. Oh look, they are handing out bags. We get up to the front of the store. This is the last bag. Yes, you read that right, THE LAST BAG NOT BAGS. One bag, two girls. I was able to resolve the situation though. Inside the bag was a copy of their monthly magazine. I was able to purchase an additional one. Also included was a poster of Lanie, the new girl of the year. After the girls did the scavenger hunt, they received the same poster. It was a disappointing goody bag to say the least.

We made our way to the Bistro because we had made reservations. The food was good. Then the girls were able to go make some crafts. Then it was time to shop! It was Alyssa’s first American Girl doll and I wanted her to pick one that looked like her. But we weren’t able to find one that we both agreed upon. The one I liked, Alyssa said the skin was too dark. When she found one where the skin tone more closely matched hers, the eyes were blue. Alyssa has brown eyes. I didn’t want one with bangs. She was also excited about getting Lanie. I told Alyssa it was up to her and that she needed to be the one who was happy with it. It was a big decision! The result… Lanie!

Around 2:00 pm, we are done and begin to make our way back home. It was a lot of fun! I would certainly do it again. Well, except for the getting up early and sickness parts.

Here it is the end of the week and the conclusion of our vacation pictures. You are probably tired of looking at all of them and are thinking WHAT IN THE HELL WAS SHE COMPLAINING ABOUT, LOOK AT ALL THE FUN THINGS THEY DID!!

Yes, we had the opportunity to see a lot of cool things. I am amazed at how close we are to all these wonderful places. There are still other places for us to explore that we haven’t been to yet. It certainly is a nice place to relocate!

The Biltmore was a destination I had wanted to explore for quite some time. I finally convinced Tim to make the trip AND the financial plunge. It was certainly our most expensive venture. Thank goodness the kids got in free!

A brief history about the Biltmore (taken directly from their website): Building Biltmore was, at the time (opened in 1895), one of the largest undertakings in the history of American residential architecture and the results were astounding. Over a six-year period, an entire community of craftsmen worked to build the country’s premier home. The estate boasted its own brick factory, woodworking shop, and a three-mile railway spur for transporting materials to the site. The celebrated architect Richard Morris Hunt modeled the house on three châteaux built in 16th-century France. It would feature 4 acres of floor space, 250 rooms, 34 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, and 65 fireplaces. The basement alone would house a swimming pool, gymnasium and changing rooms, bowling alley, servants’ quarters, kitchens, and more. The grounds of the 125,000-acre estate were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the creator of New York’s Central Park and the father of American landscape architecture. He not only developed acres of gardens and parkland, but in his efforts to protect the environment and reclaim over-farmed land, Olmsted established America’s first managed forest.

Impressive right? Well, I guess, that would be a matter of opinion. I’m not sure what I expected but… Everything was kept authentic. Good for the historians. However, the huge damask prints, although a sign of the times, I thought were hideous. I kept telling Tim that this was our inspiration for drapes for our new home. He was not amused. They also had not upgraded to central air. Lots of fans were placed along the tour in an attempt to cool you. The heat sucked the patience out of us while the kids complained about how hot and bored they were. And don’t forget all the WALKING we were doing. The kids would complain MY LEGS ARE TIRED! C’mon, you guys will go outside and play all day, what’s the difference?

Apparently even the rich get bored. Back in the day when the Vanderbilts tired of all the amenities the Biltmore offered they didn’t know what they wanted to do. So they decided to start a winery. They grow and harvest the grapes on the property. I skipped the tour and went directly to the tasting room. For some reason after my fifteenth sample they asked me to leave.

All in all it was amazing to see the visions these men had back then and it still remains a major attraction today.

Triple Falls and Hooker Falls are located in DuPont State Forest near Forest City, North Carolina. I believe one of Tim’s co-workers had told him about the falls and after some research, Tim was ready to check it out.

I wasn’t so sure. In Tim’s research, it was highly recommended that you don’t climb on the rocks. There is typically one death per year at Triple Falls. GREAT! We are taking our wild kids who have been cooped up in a hotel room to a place for them to get rid of energy where death is prevalent. Probably not the best combination.

After the long winding drive through the mountains we arrived ready to stretch our legs and see the sites. WOW! The water rushing over the granite rocks was phenomenal!!

Signs were strategically placed WARNING people to STAY OFF THE ROCKS! Yet, look at all the people climbing all over the rocks. People are SWIMMING too! Some had floatation devices and were making a day out of it.

We finally succumbed to the pressure of the crowd and decided to let the kids take their shoes off and wade in the pool of standing water. BE CAREFUL! The green stuff on the rocks is really slippery. It didn’t take long and Andy slipped and fell. The water was cold and he was freezing. A few minutes sitting on the rock and he was warmed up.

Alyssa then decides she’s going to head over to the stream where the water is brisk.

Tim and I both yell: “I DON’T THINK SO, GET BACK HERE!! Hello, didn’t your brother just fall?”

Alyssa: “Yeah.”

Me: “Do you see the little rapids over there where you were headed?”

Alyssa: “Yeah.”

Me: “If you were to slip over there girlfriend, you’d be gone, down to the bottom of the falls. Don’t you think you should stay over here?”

Alyssa: “Yeah.”

Me: “Right answer.”

That was as close as we came to death. It was a great day!!

July 20^th began our fourth week of hotel living. Yahoo, what fun we were having – NOT!! Our good friends, the Hildreths, were visiting family in North Carolina, a mere two hours from us. They had graciously invited us to join them.

Grandma Glo runs a Mexican import store in Franklin, North Carolina. She has tons of amazing items. Her house is just behind the store. It makes a really nice commute! Our two families took over the basement and the kids had a blast. First of all, it was so wonderful to see our good friends and spend time with them. Secondly, it was nice for my kids just to be able to get out and run and act all crazy like kids do.

We spent time tubing (more like Laura and I pulling the kids in tubes), seeing Bridal Veil Falls, gem mining, visiting with Officer Leah, a North Carolina State Trooper (NO, I wasn’t being detained. This time I had the law on MY SIDE.), roasting marsh mellows and playing at the park. Grandma Glo also lit off fireworks each night we were there. It was nice and relaxing. The kids had a blast!!

And then it happened… our final night… the grand finale… the Mother of all fireworks. Grandma Glo placed the GODDESS on her pedestal, the fuse was lit, one good shot off, awe, the next shot tipped it over and flames were going wild. I yelled at the kids to get in the house. They stood at the glass door yelling, “Mom, Mom, Grandma Glo’s going to die!”

“Oh sweetie, she’ll be fine.” This wasn’t an armed gunman after all.

The next morning we woke to say our good-byes. This good-bye was much more difficult because we don’t know when we will see them again. When we left them in Kansas City four weeks ago, we had this trip planned. It was more like see ya later. Now what?!! We’ve vowed to get together at least once a year. Hiking will be involved. When the boys are in their 20s, they’ll climb the Appalachians or whatever mountainous terrain they want to conquer. Until next time, my friend.

We have two water parks that are very close. We went to both of them during our “vacation.”

The first one was Discovery Island. It has two slides, a play area, lazy river and the Flow Rider. The Flow Rider is where you boogie board. We’ve never had the opportunity to boogie board in past so we were thrilled at the chance.

Alyssa, Alex and Andy all loved body surfing. It was tough to stay on with 52 gallons re-circulating through 16 nozzles at 28 miles per hour. It didn’t matter how many times they fell off, they continued to try. More than once it would throw the kids up over the wall while they struggled to keep their swimsuits on. I even gave it a try. It was fun! I didn’t wipe out, pretty amazing for this old lady.

At one point, there was a lady waiting in line for the Flow Rider right before the boys. She had on a bikini and covered it up with a t-shirt. When it came her turn to boogie board, they told her she had to take the t-shirt off. She was not happy! Apparently she was told by someone else that she could wear it but this guy wouldn’t let her. The reason she wanted to keep it on was in case she fell the t-shirt would prevent ripping off her top. She must have done this before.

I don’t blame her for being angry that they made her take it off. However, after she took off her t-shirt, she turned to everyone in line and yelled, “If you all get a look, I hope you enjoy it. It will be free this time.” WTF?! Are you a stripper and make people pay to see them? Seriously, what is that supposed to mean?

On her third attempt to knee board, she wiped out. Sure enough, her top went down exposing a breast. I felt sorry for her. I truly did. She knew it would happen and tried to make sure it didn’t. Yet the way she handled it brought little compassion. The tension was lifted by the laughter of the crowd. It was as if we had all been reduced back to grade school level. Grow up already!

The other water park was Shipwreck Cove. It was very similar to Discovery Island – water slides, lazy river and play area. However, it was a salt water park. That was kind of cool. It didn’t have a place to boogie board either. No exposed body parts at this park!

One advantage of not being able to get into our house for six weeks, it allowed us to be tourists. Our first stop – Chimney Rock. It was spectacular!! The views were breath-taking.

It was this destination that I realized just how afraid of heights I am. I made it to the top, but I was extremely nervous. I had to stand back about three feet from the edge of the rock. I would freak out when the kids would go right up to the edge. I’d start yelling at Tim: Get over here! Someone needs to be with them and it sure isn’t going to be me.

As we descended, Alyssa’s fear emerged. She didn’t like going down the steps and having so much open space around her. I held her hand while we walked down the steps. That seemed to help, BOTH of us. Thank goodness there were lots of places to stop along the way down. It gave us a chance to re-group and get our feet on solid ground.

We decided to upgrade our tickets to annual passes. I like to hike and spend time outdoors. I can’t wait until we go back in fall and see all the colors on the trees. It will be even more amazing!

We woke up, ate some breakfast and headed towards St. Louis. We were originally scheduled to close on our home in South Carolina on June 30^th. However, the builder, McCar Homes, (we purchased a spec home) needed to sign a form stating there was a warranty in place. They refused. They had been advised by their attorney not to sign. OK, this doesn’t make any sense. When you purchase a new home, the builder gives a standard one year warranty to protect against just about anything. That’s the advantage of purchasing a new home. Why wouldn’t they sign it? Is their product that bad that they won’t warranty it? What is going on? Another warranty was purchased and we were moving forward. The closing date was moved to July 1^st, then July 2^nd.

My frustration level was growing. We would be in Greenville on July 2^nd. However, we weren’t able to unload our stuff off the truck until July 3^rd so the couple day delay wasn’t too big of an inconvenience.

We decided to stop at the St. Louis Arch. The boys had never been. Since we didn’t know when we’d be back that way, we thought it would be a great opportunity. All the kids enjoyed it. The Arch is truly an amazing piece of history. St. Louis has a lot to offer. I wish we had made the effort to visit as a family before we moved.

We left St. Louis and headed for Nashville, Tennessee. It was another late night of driving. I couldn’t wait to lay my head on the pillow. However, with everything going on, I needed the help of my friend, Ambien. Out like a light, sleeping soundly while chaos was brewing.

We begin the day excited about our journey. There is a lot that needs to get done. The professionals will be here, all will go smooth and we’ll be outta here by 2:00 p.m. I just know it.

7:45 a.m. – The boys get on the bus for summer school. We decided it would be easier to have them go to school than hang around watching them load the truck, or more appropriately, in the way of the loaders.

8:00 a.m. – The van arrives to load us.

9:25 a.m. – I leave to take Alyssa to a friend’s house to play. Again, just to let her spend a little extra time with one of her friends and out of the way of the movers. I also drop off the cable boxes and do a little shopping for me. Gotta squeeze it in when you can.

11:40 a.m. – I arrive back home. Wow, have they done much?! Will they make my 2:00 p.m. deadline?

12:15 p.m. – Tim leaves to go get us some lunch.

1:45 p.m. – They are a long way away from being finished. My 2:00 p.m. expectation has been changed to perhaps 6:00 p.m.

2:05 p.m. – Alyssa gets home from her friend’s.

2:10 p.m. – The boys are home from school.

6:20 p.m. – Oh my God! When are they going to finish? It’s so freakin’ hot. Did I mention we had to shut off the air so they could keep the doors open as they brought stuff out of the house? Please tell me when you are going to be done!

6:25 p.m. – A walk to the park with the kids. They needed to get rid of some energy. It was not a good trip. HOT, HOT, HOT! The kids got bored very quickly.

7:05 p.m. – Back home. Tim leaves to go get pizza for dinner. Seriously, are they going to finish today?!! Come to find out, we should have had two more men on the job. And the men that were there were inexperienced. So much for professionals!

11:00 p.m. – FINALLY DONE loading the truck!! We then drove two hours arriving in Columbia, Missouri at 1:00 a.m. I didn’t want to stay in Kansas City. KC is home, I shouldn’t have to rent a room in my own hometown.

It was an incredibly LONG, HOT day!! Little did I know that was the beginning of the RELOCATION FROM HELL!!!

Well we FINALLY made it. We are in South Carolina. It was a very LONG and TUMULTUOUS journey. One that I am glad is behind us. I’ll bring you up to date over the next few days, weeks, whatever it turns out to be. Thank you for your patience and dedication. 

The story begins…

A girl runs off the bus towards her Mom yelling, “Mom, it’s worst thing that could have happened. It’s so horrible. I can’t believe it.”

“It’s just so terrible… Alyssa’s brother went home sick today. We’ve been planning a sleep over for weeks and now it’s ruined.”

Obviously you can see just how tragic life truly is for eight-year-old girls!

Meanwhile… I was in Ft. Lauderdale for a job interview. I flew in Wednesday evening. Rick picked me up Thursday morning for the interview. We spent barely two hours together (that includes the travel time in his BMW). He had been traveling and couldn’t take me to lunch. Umm… OK, I guess I’ll just go to the airport and sit for the next FOUR AND A HALF HOURS. You spent how much to get me out here for two hours and you can’t take me to lunch?

My flight didn’t leave until 4:00 pm and there wasn’t anything earlier. Well, there was, but it wasn’t direct, would cost me $100 and would only get me back to Kansas City 45 minutes earlier. Now we are talking calamity!

During one of the most enjoyable moments in the airport terminal, Tim calls to tell me he’s headed to pick up Andy. The school nurse called and he just threw up. Apparently there is a virus running rampant. More misfortune.

Back to the true catastrophe… the Mom from above calls me. She doesn’t want her daughter to spend the night at our house and risk getting sick. The audacity!!! Alyssa will be spending the night at their house instead.

Don’t you wish everything was that easy to solve?!!