Chinese Lantern Festival at Koka Booth Amphitheatre #NCChineseLanternFestival

The Chinese Lantern Festival Koka Booth Amphitheatre is live through Friday, January 12th, 2020! you've got to go! If you follow my sons and me on Instagram, you saw all of our activity when we visited the NC Chinese Lantern Festival! Here's more!

NC Chinese Lantern Festival #KokaBooth

You've got a perfect way to kick off 2020 and enjoy Winter! The NC Chinese Lantern Festival at Koka Booth is one of our favorite Winter activities!

Take a look at some of this year's creativity because every year is different and so spectacular! They out do themselves each year! We fell in love with the different displays. The creativity of the displays is incredible.

We look forward to this every year. It has truly become a highly sought after Triangle tradition. 

The Chinese Dancers acrobact acts are amazing - look at what he is doing! Adding these chairs himself in front of us! Children of from ages 2-92 will enjoy this talent! 

Happy to be here with our family! 

We all had fun with the color changing eagles wings!

Koka Booth Amphitheatre does a wonderful job of hosting and making you feel right at home enjoying the displays! Koka Booth has ample parking and attendants to guide you. 

Carolina Mama and Family! #TerrelTribe #NCChineseLanterns

Love was in the air at the "Marry Me" Diamond Rings display! We loved it! 

Fun for everyone especially those of us married many years. :) 

Boulder Mt. Man sang I "I'm think I'm going to marry you...!"

Our son, Stant, found the exercise bike! Taking a water break! When the bike is activated, it 

powers the elephant lights!! Super cool! He powered this up! 

More beauty on the water! By the huge dragon! 

Hilt found the light up swing rings! Happy place. 

I liked the ring theme, lol. These were so cool!

The dragons are fiesty! :) Too fun!  

We hope you get to visit and start your own tradition! 

There is truly something special for everyone! Get tickets here:  Chinese Lantern Festival Tickets!

Warmly, Carolina Mama

FTC Disclosure:  This post is sponsored by Koka Booth Amphitheatre/NC Chinese Lantern Festival. All opinions are our own. Go see the Lanterns! You'll love it! 

2019 Mazda CX-9 "Always Elegant. Never Ordinary." #MazdaCX9

"Always elegant. Never Ordinary." Mazda CX-9

Oh, happy day when this beautiful 2019 Mazda CX-9 arrived at our home! Immediately, I fell in love with the beautiful white exterior and the Nappa leather seating and genuine Santos Rosewood trim was gorgeous.  It has Standard i-ACTIV AWD. 

Look how beautifully it presents. Luxury and elegance all in one beautiful vehicle! 

Here is the view from the front! There is a lot of space and the cup holders the boys needed for our road trip to the beach! Again, we love the chic red leather seats! 

Here we are off to the beach in grand, 2019 Mazda CX-9 style! The guys in our family are six foot tall so it is wonderful to have lots of space. 

The music and technology with fabulous GPS and Bluetooth were commendable! 

We were very comfortable in this Mazda. Here we are all blissed out after the beach trip! 

"This was a really awesome and new treat to work with, the HUD or Heads Up Display.

The latest and definitely one of the highlights of driving this SUV was the Heads up Display (HUD). You look straight ahead and it tells you a lot of different, very helpful information.

It tells you how fast you are going and what the speed limit is wherever it is that you are driving. It will also indicate the cars coming up behind you, in front of you if you have the collision avoidance set, and even shows you the next turn from the directions on the GPS. Unbelievable, and not distracting at all. This is a new, exciting feature I very much look forward to in the future of automobiles."

Boulder Mt. Man :) 

We love time away and the beach makes it perfect! Love that my guys are checking out the waves for some body boarding! :) 

A little family selfie on the beach! Love us together even if I have on 5 layers :) since my beach run was epic, I didn't realize I was perspiring and was freezing in the wind afterward. :) 

Here, we wanted you all to see how spacious the trunk of the Mazda CX-9 is. My handsome Boulder Mt. Man is great at organizing our family travel and the Mazda makes it possible! 

Beach Bound! :) Thre is also a 3rd row in the Mazda CX-9! How awesome is that.  So, it seats 7 passengers or you can use the extra large trunk and seat 5! Or, a really spacious 4 like we did!  

We had room for our colorful and generous beach umbrella! :)

Our son loves his hammock life and it worked extra well for him at the beach! It all fit in the Mazda! 

We love the pier! And since he set up his hammock! This is a special spot and we have gone fishing on this exact pier in trips prior! :) Family travel memories are favorites! 

Check out our live video here! 

                                         

Another beautiful view of the Mazda in our town! I can't resist all the photos! :) 

Lovely and beautiful! Motor Trend said, "Like its SUV of the Year-winning predecessor, this new family machine might reset the bar for fun-to-drive, efficient family transportation."

We agree! 

The happy family rolling into Wrightsville Beach! Yes, "Hooked on a feeling...!" was a perfect intro! 

Mazda won the auto IIHS Award for Top Safety Pick 2018: 

“A 2018 IIHS Top Safety Pick (when equipped with available Smart City Brake Support and Adaptive Front-lighting System)."1

Are you a Mazda family?! Have you driven or purchased a Mazda CX-9? You'll love it, I'm sure! Just like we do! 

Warmly, 

Carolina Mama

PS: You know we love the sunroof life! So perfect at the beach! :) 

FTC Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Mazda. All opinions are my own. We fell in love with the Mazda CX-9! 

NC Courage Women's Soccer Team is #1 National Champs #CourageCountry

Congratulations to our outstanding NC Courage Women's Soccer NWSL Championship tonight! 

"In 2018 the NC Courage claimed a historic treble, winning the Women’s International Champions Cup, the NWSL Shield and the NWSL Championship, breaking multiple records along the way in the most dominant and most successful U.S. women’s professional soccer season to date." 

We're a sports-loving family! Recently, our family was so delighted to be guests of North Carolina's Coastal Credit Union to support for a home game of the nation's #1 Women's Soccer team: the NC Courage Women's Soccer Team.  We are all so proud of the NC Courage!

As you can see, it was a perfect evening at North Carolina's Wake Med Soccer Field! It was awesome to see this intense game up close and personal on the field! 

We loved field seats for a great view. Wake Med Soccer Park is fabulous and pretty much every seat is awesome.  My Boulder Mt. Man and I had the best time with the boys. NC Courage soccer is a perfect family night. We love all of the respect and discipline and focus of the athletes. 

Our son in his new Kenya Soccer jersey. He loved wearing his new soccer jersey he got this summer in Kenya while there on a mission trip. Love a little mother-son photo opp. 

Both sons really got into the game! Celebrating another goal!! NC Courage up by 3! 

And he won an NC Courage official soccer jersey for guessing the 1st goal scored! :) Whooo!  He was so excited. Their jerseys are so cool. 

Then, the NC Courage WON!! NC Courage 5 - Houston Dash 0!

It was an exciting game! You can follow them on Instagram: 

 @TheNCCourage

The field access got real! We got to meet the players for photos and signatures. The athletes were so great about pictures - even selfies! Check out this one! :) Too fun! #9 Lynn Williams is so great

to take selfies with the fans on the field! Thanks, Lynn! 

Or, letting the boys take selfies shown here is Cari Roccardo #16.  It was a great time all around! 

Fanning with the Courage! 

Here is Lynn Williams #9 did a great interview and I caught a clip for you here! 

We loved our evening with the NC Courage. It's a fabulous and exciting way to spend the evening with your family and friends. We loved connecting with the players after the game!

#9 Lynn Williams 

NC Courage won! It was a fabulous game! 

One of the players told us that they average 7 miles on a competitive game! We loved getting field access and photo and autograph opportunities with the team. They are such positive and vibrant athletes. They were so enthusiastic and answered all of their fan questions, took all the pictures, etc.  

We had great BBQ by Backyard Bistro.

As a family, we love sports and attending sporting events together. Also, it is fun to support the hometown teams.

It was fun to connect with Liz and Joe from Coastal Credit Union. They offer "Better Banking for Every Stage of Life!"

Check out Coastal Credit Union on Twitter: @coastal24  Instagram: @coastal24 




https://www.nccourage.com

Warmly,  Carolina Mama

FTC Disclosure: This post is sponsored by the NC Coastal Credit Union 24. All opinions are my own. 

Raleigh's Rush Hour Karting Best Family Fun, Summer Camps, Team Building and more

Love working with Rush Hour Karting Raleigh's best family fun, summer camps, team building and more! It is that time of year, Summer Camps, Corporate event and Birthday parties! and Team Building. Rush Hour Karting has the option for you, your family or team!

Here's a look at all of the family fun we experienced. Teens love Rush Hour Karting! 

Safety first at Rush Hour! They have all sizes of helmets to get you suited up and protected for your fun experience. 

Ready, set, #TerrellTribe Win it! 

The family that races together gets super competitive together! LOL Here we go!  This is the layout of Rush Hour. Plenty of space to officially get in the race. They have a lot of staff on hand to flag you onto and off of the track.

We love karting together. We get pretty competitive so everyone is powering up for a great race! 

Let's go! Can you see the big smiles on their faces! :) 

Our twin sons love racing! They lasted a lot longer than their parents! :)

While the boys enjoyed extra races we loved just chilling. There is a great area to 

relax and watch the races right off of the restaurant. 

It was all thumbs up after their face! 

Then, we had worked up an appetite and Rush Hour Karting has you in mind with a great kitchen of homemade items! Oh my goodness, we love their food. Here are the incredible Nachos! Boulder Mt. Man and I LOVE these. They pretty much have everything.

Check out the Corporate Lunch buffet! Any company would be happy with this fun activity, 

team building and then this spread of delicious foods. Starting with Buffalo Wings / Nuggets.

All the chicken wings. 

A little southern fried pickles and jalapenos!

Balanced with a great vegetable tray. Great vegetable options! 

We're ready for lunch in the Cafe off of the race track. 

They introduced us to their Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers! Life changed for us! 

These were delicious and all that gluten free, keto, paleo, too! :) 

Grilled chicken salads for our table! 

This was a shell free Taco Salad! I try to be 'good!' LOL I really didn't miss the 

taco shell since the chicken and the salad was amazing along! Pico de gallo and sour cream were dynamite! 

All American AMAZING (said our teen!) Cheeseburgers and great handcut fries.

Bacon Burger was delicious as well - another teen approved and loved burger option! 

Here's one happy family on the way home from an American great adventure 

at Rush Hour Karting! Have you been! Check it out! 

Rush Hour Karting hosts Summer Camps, Corporate event and Birthday parties! Connect with the Owner, Adam here. Remember to stay for a delicious meal, too!

We hope to see you on the track soon!  Thank you Rush Hour!

Warmly, Carolina Mama

FTC Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Rush Hour Karting! All opinions are our own! We love it there! *One more happy face! :)