In March, oh so long ago, I took B-10 Gatlinburg all by himself, as a Mummy/B-10 Homeschool trip. Well, this weekend was CW's turn to go on vacation alone - for three days to Huntsville, Alabama.
Late Saturday evening we left home, I had hoped to get on the road early, since it's a four hour drive, but alas that was not to be. We drove for almost two hours before stopping for dinner (yes, it was a very late dinner, and I wasn't going to stop at all, just drive through, but CW wanted Cracker Barrel and we just happened to find one).
Here is Jonah (the family travel pet) and CW enjoying Cracker Barrel
The drive was long, I only got lost three times, and someone needs to build a road straight from Atlanta to Huntsville.
We finally check in the hotel, to find out that it is under construction - oh, we HAVE a room, just on a floor with LOTS of construction workers and construction noise. And the pool is coming apart. (Literally, the floor of the pool is coming apart, but they let us play in it if we are careful).
This is noted by the fact that CW has already enjoyed the pool three times in two days.
Day One was spent at church (the oldest church in Alabama in the Southern Baptist Convention - with a freaky iron rocket-ship steeple). Breakfast at McDonald's. Lunch at Joe Davis Stadium where the Huntsville Stars AA Baseball team plays (we saw three innings from the VERY FRONT ROW)! Then, because it's so darn hot we went to the mall.
We shopped at the Disney Store and found a few cute items to bring home for B-10 and Cousin Irene. I also found an adorable dress from a place I'd never seen called B Moss Clothing.
In the mall was also one of those bouncy, flippy, things (I'm being very technical!) and CW wanted to spend part of his money there (he had $30 in spending money for the trip).
We ended up coming back to the hotel and swimming again. Also, we played an N64 game on the TV (Paper Mario) which cost $6.97 per hour, but was well worth it! Dinner was room service, because we were tired, and the bed was comfy!
Monday was all laid out. I did my research ahead of time and we went (after breakfast at the hotel) to the US Space and Rocket Center. It was nice to see, CW enjoyed what he could of it - but the place was overrun with the Space Camp kids. Now, don't get me wrong, I am SURE that the bread-and-butter of the place is these kids, but REALLY. At one point a 9 or 10 year old boy shoved CW down to get inside a simulator first. Half the simulators were roped off for the Space Camp kids, and then they brought them into the IMAX and most of the counselors left the kids alone. It was not fun (but we got great souvenirs.)
I promised CW we would go to a children's history museum afterwards, which would be more fun for him. Yeah - it would have been fun if it were OPEN! I was so fed up (because I had already put $10 in the parking meter to get us 3 hours of parking time) that I took the advertisement saying they were open on Monday to the Huntsville Visitors Center.
They couldn't do much for me, but they did give me two 20% off coupons to the Huntsville Botanical Gardens.
This is BY FAR the absouletly best attraction in Huntsville. Kids and parents alike will LOVE this place. Make sure to let your kids wear sandals and shirts you don't mind them getting wet. The Kid's Garden was beautiful, and the Butterfly Garden was exquisite.
This is CW in the 1/2 Acre Wood, being rained on by the giant watering can. :)
The only bad part was losing Jonah. Luckily, we left out name and phone number and recieved a call this evening saying Jonah had been found! :D
We came back to the hotel to play a bit more Paper Mario and swim until dinner time (room service again). We'll be leaving early tomorrow to head home, because B-10 will be having surgery this week (which is a post for later...).
CW's favorite color is red AND blue, and he loves salad. His favorite animal is a cow. (Which he says when he moos...). His favorite vehicle is plane (and rocket) which he got to see today on the big screen (we saw the IMAX "Magic of Flight").
He's my favorite CW. Ever.
~Lone Butterfly )i(