Overnight in Charlotte

Tim and I had an AWESOME overnight in Charlotte on Friday night. Thanks so much to Katie & Chad for keeping Izzy for us! She had a great time with you guys and it was nice to know she was safe, happy and being loved on! I planned out the getaway and only told Tim that he needed to be off on Friday and that we were spending the night somewhere and the Wilson's were keeping Izzy. FOR ME THAT IS HUGE! I can never keep secrets.... poor Tim usually knows all the sup rises, birthday gifts and Christmas presents long before the event. So I was proud I could keep it a secret! Anyways... we went to Charlotte and stayed in the Westin hotel in downtown. We were on the 18th floor and had a really cool view of the city. On Friday night we went on a date.... here is me in a dress!!!!

The restaurant we chose was in downtown and there was a really cool fountain and common area that we hung out in for awhile..... got someone to take our picture :)
Speaking of the restaurant...... it was FANTASTIC! The guy at the check in at the hotel recommended a few and this one he said was his favorite. Upscale with a Southern twist.... just up our alley :) MAN was it good! The only thing we managed to take a picture of was the appetizer..... and that was after I had taken a bite!

The restaurant was called Mimosa Grill. They get all of their fruits and veggies from the local farmers market and all of the meat and fish in fresh everyday. The server said the only freezer they have is a small one for the ice cream! You could tell by the taste of the food that it was fresh! For appetizer we had his recommendation- hush puppies stuffed with crab meat and shrimp with a creole type seasoning.... YUMMY!

We managed to get him to take our picture too! For our main entree I had a rib eye with new potatoes, mushrooms and onions. It was THE BEST STEAK I HAVE EVER HAD!!! Tim and I were supposed to share...... well lets just say I ate more than my half :) It had a brown sauce it was cooked in and a hollandaise sauce on top! My mouth is watering now just thinking about it. Tim had a roasted chicken dish that was pretty tasty too. Sorry we devoured them before pictures could be taken! For dessert we had a pumpkin spice creme brulee' and chocolate gelato. We went home very full!

On Saturday we slept in...... if you know my early riser this was huge! Izzy is up most days at about 6 or 6:30. Of course she slept in for Katie til 7:36!!!!!!!!!! Life is not fair! Oh well :) Anyways when we got up we had breakfast in the hotel and then got ready to go to Dave & Busters! My hubby loves video games and I thought he would really like it.... HE DID! We actually both enjoyed ourselves. He played all the fighting, shooting action games and I played Whac-a-mole, skee ball and all the ticket getting games. We also played a couple driving games together- I actually won one!

So we had a great time! Wanted to share it and recommend the Mimosa Grill if you are ever in Charlotte! Thanks again to Katie & Chad- or as Izzy calls them- "Katie mommy and

Chaaaaaad (breathlessly)" I was happy to get home and see my little girl. She didn't hold us being gone against us for too long. One last pic to leave you with.... Izzy and Nay Nay in Izzy's Princess PJ's :)

Adorable!!

ANIMALS!!!!!!!!

I don't know if every child is so obsessed with animals but I hear "ANIMALS!!!!!!!!!!!" at least once a day. My kid loves animals. She doesn't care if it is pictures of animals, the see n' say with animals, animals on TV, books with animals, or just the dog next door.... she loves animals. This past week we went to the Lazy 5 ranch in Mooresville. They have TONS of animals and none of them are scared of humans. We did a wagon ride by Nathan, a horse drawn wagon ride, the walk through petting zoo and we drove through again before we left. Izzy had a blast. She loved feeding the animals but would say "ewwwwww" if one licked her. She wasn't a fan of the big buffalo with their huge tongues but enjoyed everything else. She had a great time and I did too!!

Wagon ride by Nathan :)

She loved to pat the animals on the head

Do you see that tongue?? It licked my toes........... I screamed!

You get incredibly close to the giraffes!

Amazing creatures.....

Nathan liked feeding the baby one

Izzy and "Katie Mommy"

Doesn't it look like the sheep is trying to shake hands with her??

We ran out of feed- Nathan thought they might like to eat a rock :)

Izzy thought that was a good idea (sheep not so much)

Don't ask me what this face is.....

Stopping to smell the flowers

Awwwwwwww

Izzy loved chasing the poor birds around.....

there was a baby bird making it oh so much more exciting!

This is the drive through.... a little too close for my comfort! I would turn around to look at Izzy and Nathan and turn back around to being nose to nose with some big antelope or llama! I would then scream making Katie and the kids laugh- glad I am entertaining :)

hahahahahaha- I love this pic :)