Farewell Fayetteville

 And we're off again!

It took us a little bit for the Martin Crew to make Fayetteville home after leaving such a strong community in Las Vegas. In the end, though, we put down roots and they took hold! This is a hard goodbye, but we have officially started our journey back to our Vegas Parkies!

We spent the last two weeks seeing as many friends and making as many memories as we could before hitting the road.

Vania and Luan have become such dear friends. Vania has been so generous to our boys, including putting together a fabulous going away splash pad party.

Soccer Camp 2025

Summer Life. Soccer Life. Friends for Life.

Sweet Frog with Sweet Friends

I'm so glad we were able to match up with the Challens one more time before hitting the road. The dads were both working, so we'll just have to have them out to Vegas so we can get everybody together again!

Popsicle fun with the Garcias and the Hernandez-Chapas!

It started to rain after this. Core memories made for my boys, who had their first rainy trampoline adventure!

Our little unicorn

Mikel was our first NC sleepover and our last as well. We really think of him as one of the family.

Teaching us his Pierro's pizza skills. It runs in the family, for sure!

The boys wanted to do VBS with their last week so they could see as many friends from Village as possible. It was strange to be just a parent and not a volunteer, but it definitely helped me to check some things off my list!

Mia joined us for VBS pick-up. She has been such an amazing neighbor and friend.

I know we will stay in touch!

Another goodbye hang went down at Urban Air

We are so grateful for our amazing friends

Big hugs!

Before we hit the road, we celebrated Father's Day with the best dad around.

We did a cookout with a fire pit and let the boys chop down our old rocking chair to add to the fire. We set up tents for backyard camping, but it was just too hot!

Daddy has the best ideas!

Jan flew in to start the journey with us. She has done the first leg of every cross country move with the boys.

Daddy love!

The boys made 3D Mario landscape cards for Daniel. They turned out so amazing!

The Garcia Group stopped by for one more hug before we hit the road. It feels like we have always been besties, even though they just moved here last summer. We are so grateful for the year of memories we've made!

Huge hugs!

We wrapped up our Fayetteville chapter with How to Train Your Dragon in IMAX

It was incredible!

Someone is super excited to have a pool again (and carpeted stairs!)

We are planning to take it slow and make a summer vacation out of this long cross-country drive. First stop, Atlanta! Cousin time, friend time, pool time, good times.

Here's to our next chapter!

The Martin Crew takes on Universal!

Before our move to NC, we took the crew to Disneyland and Universal California. With Epic Universe opening just a month before we leave NC, we figured we should keep the tradition going! As soon as school let out, we hit the road and headed to Orlando. 

On our last day, we were in line for Epic early enough to be the first wave through security and got to see the entrance tower come to life.

Alexander's view from the backseat. He learned so much from Mrs. Johnson in art these last few years. They formed a special bond, with him saying she is one of the most influential teachers he has had.

We began our Universal week with Volcano Bay

This one immediately got buried in the sand!

One of our favorite parts was the fast-paced lazy river. The boys ended up getting swept away from me and had to have a lifeguard help them exit and find the entrance that was our family meet-up.

This ride, y'all! It's one of those tubes where you stand and then the floor suddenly drops out from under you. Niko was measured three times, by three different measuring instruments, and was cleared to ride! He gave other riders the courage not to travel back down the 200 stairs to the bottom, and the whole crowd cheered for him as he plunged down! The lifeguard said Niko is the only five-year-old he knows of to ride this ride.

These two have gotten so close

Bros doing Bro things

 

We spent our second day at Island of Adventures

With our resort, we got early entry and fast passes, which made the parks a breeze!

Niko was scared of rides at the carnival just weeks ago, but he was in for every thrill ride he was tall enough for on this trip!

Park days were long, hot, and exhausting for all of us!

Hagrid's Motorbike was a favorite for the whole crew, and with our early entry, we were able to ride it on two different days.

Of course we spent a lot of our time with the dinosaurs!

Skull Island

Universal definitely holds some of our favorite movies! The parks really transported you to a new 'universe' and we were all in for it

We did all the treats, too

River Taxi back to the resort

We did an Epic preview store

Universal Studios to start day three

Niko loved the Men in Black ride the best, so we have now watched both MiB 1 & 2 since getting home. Krusty's ride made Daniel and me sick, but the boys loved it. Rip Ride Rocket was a hit, with only Niko not being able to ride, so Alexander got to ride with each parent separately. Of course we loved Escape from Gringotts

Though the Hogwart's Express was closed while we were there, the parks were a short walk from each other, so we were able to do some park hopping on day four

We stumbled on this amazing, secluded pathway through Camp Jurassic

Niko and I won trivia by default (being the only team) one evening while Daniel and Alexander went back to the parks

The next night, our family of four won for real, with many teams battling it out!

After long days in the park, poolside was the perfect place to be!

We had to wait until our last day for Epic Universe tickets to be available. We knew we might not get to ride all the rides, but we really wanted to see the brand-new park and experience Mario World and the Isle of Berk

It did not disappoint!

The escalators into Mario World were a green tunnel that shot you with the classic Mario sound to a different dimension

Bowser's Castle

We were so early, I was able to snap a few pictures of a near empty park!

Unfortunately, many of the rides were experiencing technical difficulties, so everyone was in line together in Bowser's Castle waiting on Mario Kart. It took us an hour to get through the line, but this allowed us to look at every detail in the castle. Some highlights were a Mario world made entirely out of cardboard, a 3D stained glass Piranha Plant, and the titles of all the books in Bowser's library.

This was easily the coolest 'world' I've ever seen created

Mine Cart was closed, but we loved going through Donkey Kong Country anyways!

We kept hearing how cool the monsters ride was in Darkmoor, and we loved it!

Bad weather rolled in while we were in Isle of Berk, which shut everything down

That did not stop us from enjoying the How to Train your Dragon scenery and snacks

Somehow these two snagged one last ride before the lightening rolled in

The playground was open for play!

Amazing view

The snacks!

We walked over to the Ministry of Magic

Enjoyed a Butter Beer

And snapped some pictures

Five days straight of amusement parks took its toll and I think I am still recovering. My to-do list before we hit the road is a mile long, but this week, I've been focusing more on the friends we need to hug up on! Tasks can wait. Memories and Mayhem are in full force!