Cousins, Carowinds, Zoo, Pony Ride, Ropes Course ~ July 14th - 21st 2012

We have cousins in Charlotte!!!   My distant cousin Matt Cloward and his family moved here while we were in Wyoming and we couldn't be more excited.  While growing up, my family spent a great deal of time at the Cloward's house and our parents were best friends. I have many fond memories with that family and look forward to making new memories with Matt's family here in Charlotte.  The picture above was taken down the street at the fountain by our swimming pool.  Ava, Layla, and McKay are in the picture with AJ and Audrey. There are also twin baby boys who are 5 months old and Adele is the mom.  She is great and I enjoy being with them all.

Spending the day at Carowinds with Karin Blauer and her family.

 

We dressed up like cows and got a free lunch at Chic-fil-A.

They do this once a year and we gladly joined in the fun!

 

AJ wanted me to take a picture of him getting an x-ray. He has been having throat pains and stomach aches several times a day and we are trying to figure out what is going on. He ended up having an endoscopy and we found out that he has some kind of allergy that might be causing the discomfort. He is also taking some medicine to help his stomach aches. We got an allergy test and AJ is allergic to dogs (which he is terrified of and now has another reason to avoid them at all costs), dust mites, and pecan trees. We are  giving him an inhaler and nose spray steroid treatments that will hopefully help relieve him of the discomfort of his throat.

 We went with our cousins and some friends to tour a historic firehouse that is still operating. The firemen were so nice and let the kids have full rein of the fire truck and fire house. They handed out fun coloring books and stickers.  The fire fighters told us that if the alarm went off we would need to let ourselves out and close the garage door after them.  Right after that the alarm did go off and we all hurried out of the firehouse and the firefighters were out before we were. They are pretty amazing!

Aaron goes to Columbia, South Carolina every 3rd Saturday to serve in the temple. It is about an hour and a half drive.  We went with him to Columbia and visited the zoo while he went to the temple.  It was a great zoo and the weather wasn't too hot. It did rain once on us, but it was mild and and passed quickly. I took lots of pictures and AJ wanted almost all of them included in the blog.  Some of the kids favorite parts were the pony ride, train, and ropes course.

Riding a pony was an extra special treat at this zoo.  AJ and Audrey loved it and they did great for their first pony ride. AJ and I rode an elephant in California one time, but this was definitely a different riding experience.  Audrey was especially cute and excited.

This was AJ's first ropes course. He was nervous and scared at first, but was so brave to attempt all the courses. Soon he was at the top with only his harness to keep him from falling.  He loved it and didn't want to leave when it was time to go.