A Ballantyne Weekend

For those of you who don’t know, I have the coolest most awesome maiden name! My last name used to be Ballantyne before I found my prince charming. I tried to convince him that Ballantyne had such a nice ring to it, and he could be Jason Ballantyne. Well we all know who won that battle. Needless to say, he did not take my last name.

Ever since I was little I was obsessed with my last name. I thought it was the best name that I could ever have, and one day we found out that there was a place in North Carolina called Ballantyne. It looked beautiful in pictures and my sisters and I vowed we would make it there someday. Well, that day came true when we drove to Ballantyne North Carolina for the weekend.

Before we left, we stopped at Home Depot where Carter got to build a rain gauge before we left. He had so much fun building, and I think his daddy really liked it too.

Carter's rain gauge. He did such a good job!

Carter and daddy building a rain gauge

First we went and saw all the important sites. We stopped at Ballantyne quad and parked our car. It was a beautiful day outside, and we really wanted to go see the Ballantyne Hotel. Once we parked we got out and walked. Eventually we found ourselves inside a very fancy hotel and talked about my famous dad and how he was the founder of the hotel. Later we found out that it was actually named after a man’s grandma. I think Jason’s favorite part about the hotel was the bathroom. You are given actually hand towels to dry your hands after washing them. I told you my dad knew how to live in style.

Standing by the Ballantyne Quad sign

Walking to the Ballantyne Hotel

The Ballantyne Hotel. Pretty fancy....

After walking around and spotting all of the different Ballantyne signs, we headed over to Adventure Landing for some first time miniature golf with Carter. The three of us had so much fun, especially watching Carter try to hit his golf ball. He was treating his stick and the ball more like hockey than anything. He would get frustrated if we tried to step in and help him, only to revert back to the hockey stick and puck technique. That little boy of mine is so fun!

Getting ready to golf.

Carter and I golfing.

After we were all kind of done with the whole miniature golf thing, we went and played some arcade games. Carter loved earning tickets and we left with little trinkets for the little Mr. All in all I would say we had a pretty good day. Best of all, we ended up at home by the end of the night.

Here are some pictures of Carter finally riding his bike with his friends this week! He actually rode his bike! There were lots of moments where he wanted to stop, but that little boy kept trucking. Sometimes I wish he wasn’t afraid of everything like I am. 

He's riding his bike!!!