Charlotte Weekend

Last weekend, after a very very rotten horrible day, we headed to a Panthers game- well, technically, we were cheering on the Chargers (Eddie has a client who plays for them), but we were there cheering!

I wasn't sure I would be able to make this trip.  I was just too sad- literally, I was walking around the house openly sobbing.  Everything I saw made me think of Hank and I kept turning around expecting to see him.

Turns out, God knew what he was doing with his timing-- getting out of the house was probably just what we needed.  While I was still heartbroken and sad beyond words, I did my best to put on a happy face for the boys.  I faked it.  And they believed it.  I read a post another blogger wrote about faking happiness through a tough time and I was channeling her this weekend.

We left Saturday mid afternoon and Manning climbed in a plastic tub and left a note asking the boys to show him Charlotte-- since he was in the tub, they were able to carry him without actually touching him.  It was amazing to them. 

We checked into the room and the view was shown to Manning.  (side note here- I cried the majority of the car ride here-- walking in the hotel room where the kids let out a gasp and they were so excited, I could feel tension release out of my chest- it was the weirdest thing...almost like "hey, the kids are going to be okay, time for me to be okay too....." kind of thing....)

It was sooooooo COLD this weekend! Holy cow, we were freezing!!! We bundled up and headed out to explore. . We were not staying downtown, but over by some boardwalk area. 

There was an awesome playground right outside our hotel-- the kids played so hard on this and we watched them as long as we could stand the cold-- not very long. 

We went to dinner and then I went up to the room with the boys.

The next morning they were excited to go see Melvin (Eddie's client) and throw the ball with him in the hall of the hotel-- I am sure the other guests were excited too. 

Then it was time to bundle and layer and layer some more-- it was going to get COLD out there. 

We got to the game and parked and added more layers on....

and then a jacket on top!

We got to the stadium early and walked around a little bit.  They love to take it all in. 

Cal got a program and studied the lineups.  He was telling us the players names during the game.  His memory is crazy. 

Faking it! And looking awful-- but you know what?? I am here with my kiddos-- making memories!

We had great seats and settled in early to watch all the pregame action (of course we did).

Pretty sure Andy couldn't see much, but he didn't seem to mind. 

At half time-- trying to stay warm!

We went to meet Melvin after the game, but it started to rain, so we hiked it back to the car. 

Driving home, I started thinking about how Hank wouldn't be there to greet us so I cried most of the way home- I am typically NOT a crier so poor Eddie wasn't sure what to do with me. hahaha Coming home was hard, for sure.... thank goodness Bruce was here to wag his tail doubley hard.

Thankful for small trips like this one-- memory making!