Pics from our fun weekend in Fayetteville...read all about it below!

Our weekend getaway

After weeks, yes weeks, of being sick with one illness or another our family had a great weekend. We spent quality time together and enjoyed a day of exploration, all without coughing, sneezing, or whining! So much so that it deserves an entry in this otherwise neglected blog of ours!

We knew we had to take advantage of the weekend after waking up to smiling children and happy voices. Where to go? What to do? Something different sounded good, somewhere we hadn't been before. Our destination? Fayetteville, NC - not too far, not too close and we had never visited that town in all of our 5 1/2 years here. For those of you who have never had the pleasure of living or visiting NC, Fayetteville has had what we like to call a 'bad rep'. It is a military town for Fort Bragg Army Base and Pope Air Force Base. Its been given the stereotype of 'run down', 'burnt out' and has even been affectionately christened 'FayetteNam'. Lovely, right? Wrong! I'm sure there are areas of the city that deserve the reputation that they've been given. But, don't you find those in every city? What we found was charming, quaint, and fun! The downtown area came with bricked streets, great architecture, and too many shops to visit in one afternoon - or at least one afternoon with three kids!

Two of our favorite finds in the downtown area were the Airborne and Special Operations Museum and ....the TRAIN STATION! As luck would have it, as we visited this lovely old station, an Amtrak arrival was imminent. I can't tell you how excited Jacob and Chloe were. They both enjoy all things train more than most kids enjoy candy. Even Jonah could be heard giving a 'choo choo'! But when the train came into the station, the kids were a bit intimidated by the loud noise so they greeted this great diesel from behind closed station doors. Thank goodness for large windows!
The museum was a great adventure as well. More so this time for the grown ups though. This building housed all things Army - from WW1 through present day operations. As we were walking up to the entrance, we found the stone plaque that was dedicated to the unit that my dad served with in Vietnam. I can't say that Dad and I have talked much about his military service - besides knowing he had a pet monkey that loved to fly and didnt behave herself - but touring that museum with him in mind was an honor.
Our last stop was the mall - what would a visit to a new town be without it. Compared to what we have here in Goldsboro it was exciting and huge! Stores, stores, and more stores than we've seen in months called our names. I'm proud to report that we resisted the temptation and left with only a couple gourment cookies. The kids topped off their day with a ride on the carousel. Wheee!

It was a great weekend, as are most of our weekends. This one just happened to include an adventure to a place unknown, a locomotive, a trip back into history and a ride on a musical horse. If only every day could be this exciting!