Race City USA

This week, it has been 1 year since we moved to Mooresville, NC. So I thought it was time to introduce our little town to you. The town is located 25 miles north of Charlotte and has a population of approximately 35,000 and growing. It is a very transient city, meaning lots of people move here due to jobs and move away from it too. But lately, more people are making Mooresville their permanent home. The city is located right next to Lake Norman, the largest man-made lake in NC, which is great for boating and relaxing. 

Through years of change, this city went from railroad town to textile center to Race City USA. But despite the changes, it has kept a strong sense of it's past. Mooresville was founded (as a direct result of the railroad expansion) in the 1850s by John Franklin Moore and was incorporated in 1873. Today, the Mooresville Historic District represents the most intact remaining area of architecturally and historically significant structures, which reflect the early years of the town's development.  

Large scale industry began in Mooresville toward the end of the nineteenth century with the organization of the Mooresville Cotton Mills in 1893. By 1914 there were 4 cotton mills in town, 2 flour mills, two cotton seed oil mills, a furniture factory, a large lumber plant, automobile and vehicle shops,a  bottling works, an ice factory, a mattress factory, and several other minor industries. The flour mill in downtown  is still in use today and owned and operated by Bay State Milling Company since 1973.

Once part of the Mooresville Mill Village, this old cotton mill has been revamped in to an antique furniture mall. It also hosts an authentic Napoletana pizzeria.

Mill Village around 1910

Another textile mill was converted into an indoor go-kart racing hall and activity center. 

The Mooresville train depot was once an important hub for passengers and freight trains. Today, it houses an art gallery and the train tracks are only used for transporting goods to the flour mill. 

Train depot around 1940

The town's history commemorated on a wall in downtown:

Today, downtown's Main Street houses banks, shops, restaurants, art galleries, the town hall and a citizen center. 

The iconic Mooresville Ice Cream shop, which is churning out ice cream since 1924. Their Front Porch ice cream tastes delicious!

Murals can be found throughout downtown: 

 

Old fashion drive-thru burger place on Main Street:

Mooresville Public Library, which was started by a group of people around 1890. The kids and I spend many hours here and renting lots of materials from this great institution.

Nowadays, Mooresville is best known as the home of NASCAR racing teams and drivers (i.e: Kyle Bush, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski and many more), along with IndyCar team and drivers, as well as racing technology suppliers, which has earned the city the nickname "Race City USA". Also located in Mooresville is the corporate headquarters of Lowe's Company and Universal Technical Institute's NASCAR Technical Institute.

By the way, the town's sister city is Hockenheim, Germany, which is home to a well-known German racetrack. I thought that was neat. Mooresville definitely has an interesting history and despite the city's changes throughout the years, it continues to grow and develop.  

Easter 2016

Happy Easter to you all! I hope you all enjoyed celebrating our Savior's resurrection. 

We were out of town for Easter and I had the best intentions of still making it a fun, family holiday. However, it all worked out different than I had planned since we spent the morning at the pediatric ER instead of at church. Elliot has been fighting a high fever since Wednesday and at first I wasn't too worried about it as Amelia just had the 3-day fever and it literally was gone after 3 days. But his just doesn't seem to go away and I assumed that it may be strep throat. And so did the doctor. After testing him twice, his results were still negative for the flu or strep. So we left the ER without any remedies and just hope that this fever will go down very soon. At least they served the kids some Popsicle while we were there.  

Instead of having a fancy ham dinner, we indulged in Firehouse Subs. The kids were really patient and never asked for their Easter baskets, so they were delighted to see that the Easter bunny stopped by after nap time to drop off some goodies for them.

The chocolate bunnies didn't stand a chance:

 

We even did a small Easter egg hunt outside before it started raining. Ready, set, go!

 

We finished the day off by blowing bubbles on the balcony, coloring our Easter pictures and playing a new memory game:

It may have not been the day I planned it to be, but it was what He had planned for us. So we trusted him and followed his lead. Honestly, I really didn't mind that it all turned out differently because we were all together as a family and that's what matters most to me. 

Egg Hunts

On Monday, my MOPS group organized an egg hunt for all the kids to participate in. Unfortunately, the temperatures had dropped to the low 30sF (1C) over night and even with the sun out at 10am, it was so breezy and chilly that we had to move the egg hunt inside the church.

And today, Amelia's class held their egg hunt and Easter party. Elliot and I went over to help hide the eggs on the playground and my little sidekick did an awesome job. He was so eager to place each egg in the right location. All 5 girls were excited and ready for the egg hunt:

And off they went hunting. Each of them had to find 12 plastic eggs.

Everyone seemed pretty pleased with their treasures: 

While the children played a while longer on the playground, another mom and I set up the classroom for their Easter party. It looked so pretty and once again, the girls were happy to see how it turned out.

The girls (and siblings) enjoying their party foods while listening to a story:

Now, it is spring break and we are looking forward to having a joyful and low-key Easter weekend. Happy Easter to all of you!

Easter activities all around

It's the week before Easter and to welcome spring, we have been out and about and have participated in a few Easter activities over the past few days. Despite fighting off a fever, Amelia desperately wanted to go and see the Easter bunny. So on Friday evening we went for a quick visit. We were there early and the first ones to meet Mr. Bunny. 

The church, which hosted this event, also had some fun games and coloring activities for the kids.

The next morning, our church hosted a Family Easter celebration called Road to Resurrection. It was an hour long journey through Jesus' experiences from Palm Sunday thru Resurrection. They decorated the entire church and had 5 stations set-up. The first destination was Jerusalem, where everyone awaited Jesus arrival on the donkey and sang Hosana to him. 

At the second destination we met a servant who prepared and served a passover meal to Jesus and his followers and invited us to have a taste of some of the foods Jesus ate. 

At the third destination we entered a dark jail cell and heard from Barabbas- a prisoner who knows he doesn't deserve to be set free. 

Next, we headed to the Cross, where a roman soldier wondered if he did the right thing by being part of Jesus' road to the cross. 

The last destination of our journey led us to the side of a road, where we met Cleopas who informed us that Jesus has conquered death and is alive today. 

The event finished with a picture and a cookie and a better understanding of the Holy week. 

This was a fabulous family activity and the volunteers did an awesome job and it inspired the kids to ask questions and learn more about the life of Jesus.

Then it was home for a quick nap as we had planned to go to the town's annual Eggstravaganza at a local park in the afternoon. After a week of temperatures in the mid 70s F (24C), a cold front came thru on Saturday afternoon and it was quite cold during the egg hunt. Nonetheless, we put our jackets on and headed out. Both kids participated in the egg hunt for 1-3 year old and had fun collecting colorful plastic eggs, filled with candy, stickers and other trinkets. 

Showing off their treasures: 

Please notice that Amelia only collected purple eggs!

There was not only the egg hunt but the town offered free train rides, face painting, bounce houses and other fun family activities. We went to ride the Choo Choo train first since Elliot was so excited about the train. 

There were also some princesses and action figures walking around. Amelia loved seeing Jasmine, her favorite princess: 

To finish of this fun-filled day and to warm up our stomach, we enjoyed a funnel cake before heading home. 

Our Easter activities have been plentiful and we are excited about Easter to be here in a few days. We have nothing special planned except for being together as a family and hunting for some more eggs in the park, Hopefully by then this cold front is over and Spring will be back in full bloom.