The Devil went down to Georgia

So, this past weekend I took little Miss Jasmine with me on a little road trip. One of the beloved toys of the 1980's, the Cabbage Patch Kid, was having a 25th anniversary party in Cleveland Georgia and my friend Liz (high school friend) wanted to go. I agreed to pick her up in Christiansburg, Virginia which is near Virginia Tech in southern Virginia and about 4 and a half hours from our house.
Jasmine and I left Friday morning around 9:30 AM and arrived in Christiansburg around 2:oo PM. We had a bathroom break, installed the car seats for Liz's 2 boys, loaded them and their stuff into the car and took off.
It was another 5 and a half hours from Liz's house to Cleveland, GA and we pretty much only stopped once for dinner. The kids did great in the backseat, they watched movies and played and eventually all fell asleep. I regret that I didn't take a picture of all of them back there - it was pretty cute.
We arrived at our motel at 10:30 PM, checked in and all went to bed.
The next morning we were all up, showered, dressed and at the Babyland General Hospital (for those of you who are curious, Google it!) for the party at 9:30 AM. This turned out to be a very smart move because there weren't many people there yet and we were able to do all of the fun activities that we wanted to without waiting in line.It was quite a production. On the ground they had food vendors, a table where kids could get a free goodie bag, Carvel had a stand where they gave away free cupcakes, punch and ice cream, a moonbounce, a giant inflatable slide, kid face painting and a carnival ride. All free. They also had a large area where they sold merchandise and a DJ was playing music that was family appropriate.The kids had a great time and did all the activities they wanted to do. After we exhausted the outside, we went into Babyland to experiance the free tour. This company has taken a turn of the century hospital and turned it into a doll hospital and it is pretty neat to walk through and see everything they have done. I took a lot of pictures because I thought it was really neat. In the center of the building they had a large tree that has crystals hanging off of it and a cabbage patch they have created. They also simulate a cabbage patch birth - legend is these babies are born out of cabbages and then kids adopt them.I did buy Jasmine a 25th Anniversary Cabbage Patch kid and the box was even hand signed by Xavior Roberts, the creator of the brand. The doll comes complete with a birth certificate and the name on it is Emmie Wilhemina and her birthday is July 9. Jasmine was so excited to get her and we waited until we were home to open the box and carefully take the doll out.Around noon, we left and it was a good thing as the crowd has gotten HUGE and the lines for everything we had already done were super long. We had lunch at a small southern cafeteria and then headed back to the hotel to put the kids down for a nap. I napped with them and I let Liz walk back to the party as she wanted to do some more exploring.
Around 4 PM, the kiddies woke up and we hung around the hotel for a bit but then decided these kids needed some fresh air time. I decided that we should pack them all up in the car and drive around until we found a playgroun for them to play on. It only took about 10 minutes before my mommy senses found a playground and we let the kids play for like 2 hours.When we were all good and hungry we took a little drive (about 20 miles) to go have dinner in an intersting little town whose name I can't remember. The Italian restaurant we ate at was very good and the kids had a good time. Again, on the way back, they were all asleep and we all crashed into bed to rest up for the return trip the next day.
I drove another 10 hours on Sunday, taking the Vallejos back home and then returning to our home where Lorne was anxiously awaiting our return. It was nice to see him again and snuggle up to him in bed that night. I think I was alseep as soon as I hit the pillow. What a weekend!