North Carolina...part II

This is the reason we made the trek.

Look at how happy they are to be together!

Well it is almost a week since we got back from Wendy's so I thought I better get this posted before it is a distant memory. We had a great time. The drive although a little painful at times was much better than I thought it would be. I told Kate that I am going to hear Matthew say "I want Thomas HeeeRooo" in my sleep. The past couple of days I have heard Sydney and Jason ask each other a couple times, "do you want to play Matthew?" and then they start the Thomas chant. It is mildly amusing.

We didn't really do anything event-wise, the kids just played together. We could not get over how well the girls played together- it was amazing. I was worried about how well it would go with there being 3 of them & 3 can be a bad number, but they did great. We did not have daily meltdowns and they slept pretty good all being in the same room. The boys had fun too, but they did have more meltdowns than the girls...but they are 2-3 years younger too.

Kate & I would like to do the trek again, but we would like the next time to be just a girls vacation & we would make it a little shorter. I think Wendy & Jason did enjoy having us even though it meant that they had 6 kids in their house, but taking the boys just put too many extra house guests in the house. I have another year to convince my husband of this plan. If he doesn't agree, then he may need to get his passport so that we can go there as a family.

Before hitting the road on the 2nd day of driving, we enjoyed some time at the pool.

Portable DVD players...godsend.

First meal & the beginning of the knock, knock jokes.

Nothing like a little sidewalk chalk after dinner.
Kate was determined to make it warm. Nothing like wearing flip flops with a winter coat. ;)

Movie night

Bedtime

Welcome home Jason!

Buddies.

Buddies x 3

Lazy 5 Ranch- kind of like a miniaturized African Lion Safari that you take a horse & wagon through. And you get to feed the animals! The kids loved it.

Jason got a kiss from the giraffe too!
After this he got very brave & was feeding the animals without any help.

Our hosts

Sydney was leery, but she did finally agree to feed the goats.

We got one girls night. Unfortunately Wendy was a little under the weather during our visit, but we made it out the night before our departure. There is an area, Birkdale Village, where there are a lot of higher end stores & the aesthetic beauty of the area is stunning. Can't imagine that much care being put into a shopping area anywhere around here.

One more group shot before we load them in for home.

12.5 hours later- almost home.
Notice that Matthew is the only one awake? He napped for an hour around 7pm & that was it for the night. He was still awake when Kate dropped us off at home at 11:30 pm. Almost 14 hours after we left Huntersville, NC

Jason too was out!

North Carolina...part I

Currently I am at my friend Wendy's in North Carolina. Kate & I came down with our kids for a visit. A man saw us at a rest stop & asked me "what were you thinking?" I told him that "2 women & 4 kids is no problem". Kate & I were prepared for the journey to be a little painful with the 4 of them, but figured it would be worth it to see our friends. We were very pleasantly surprised with how well the kids did in the car. We drove for 8 hours on Thursday & stopped in West Virginia for the night & then only had 3.5 hours of driving for the next day. After a very poor sleep both Kate & I woke up thinking that on the way home we are going to try driving straight through. Yes, it will most likely be much more painful than the drive here- but worth it to just get home. Why spend $100 each to get no sleep?

Sydney & Emma are having the time of their life playing with Ellie & Katie. It is so great for them to be able to see where their friends live now. Sydney is having so much fun that I have on two occasions had to beg her to come see me for a bit. The boys are getting along pretty good, but being a bit younger they often present different challenges. I really hope Kate is not cursing me for convincing her to bring Matthew because with just the girls it would be an "easy-peasy" vacation, but Matthew is placing some demands on his Mommy.

We have a few more days to visit & then we are heading home. I will post pictures then since I did not bring my cable to upload my pictures now.