Walk down Memory Lane

 Jake had a recruiting trip at Duke scheduled for the first part of November.  He wanted to bring me out too (with Lily...and get a babysitter for the older kids) so he could take me to a great southern restaurant.  I told him we couldn't go to North Carolina without visiting Charlotte...and then we couldn't go without Rachel who still has memories of it.  Well, turns out Jake now has a new client in Charlotte and had a meeting there too.  We couldn't pass up the chance to tag along on this mostly paid business trip.  However, miss Lily HATES the car and screams the whole time on most of my local excursions so it was tough decision whether or not to brave the 10 hour drive.  Rachel and Tommy had two days off of school as well, so we decided to go for it.

Lily ended up doing FANTASTIC in the car.  She took a bottle for her first time and slept most the way there (thanks to her 4 shots she received earlier that day for her two month check up). 

And we left about 4pm, so these kids slept a good chunk of the time as well.

 Our first stop, Nantucket Grill in Durham

Gotta love that "Carolina Blue" sky.  The weather was gorgeous! 
Let them eat cake :)

 

I figured I could make this post really fun with some flashback pictures...

Rachel (age 4) before Daddy's graduation from Duke

While Daddy was recruiting at Duke for Gallup, we roamed the campus

Tommy (age 2)

One of the big reasons to coming was to go to all of our favorite restaurants.  Jim 'N Nicks BBQ being one of them.  They have the best cheddar biscuit muffins!

Uncle Dan and Aunt Amy, Rachel (age 2) and me pregnant with Tommy

When we drove into Charlotte we said with excitement, "Tommy, this is where you were born!"  He looks up from his coloring out the window and says, nonchalantly, "Yeah, I recognize these trees."  We stopped off at the hospital.  Jake told him he wanted a picture of where he was born and this is what he got...

Tommy (1 or 2 days old)

 

Then we stopped off at the grocery store I frequented.  I couldn't tell if they changed it or if I just didn't remember it.  Rachel remembers the cookies and balloons.  Sadly they don't do balloons anymore because of a helium shortage??

Then we wanted to take a walk down our street.  We ran into one of our neighbors (who also belongs to our church) and talked to him and his wife for a while.  Jake said he took for granted Becky's great southern accent.  Afterwards we continued walking toward our house when our next door neighbor was driving home and slammed on the brakes when he recognized us.  We chatted with them quite a bit too.

Rachel (18 months or so).

As we walked by we noticed the owner out on the front porch swing (so glad she's getting good use out of that thing) and it was a little bit awkward for a moment.  She was on the phone, we didn't think she would recognize us but then Tommy starts yelling, "that's our house!"  She got off the phone and was super nice (nothing like how we knew her during the whole selling process).  Anyway, she took our picture and asked us if we wanted to come inside, which I wasn't sure if I wanted to do.  She told me she hadn't changed much.  She painted our red door black, painted neutral colors throughout the whole house and got new carpet (very much needed).

Rachel (2 1/2) Tommy (2 months)

Rachel recognized her room right away.  To me it looked a whole lot smaller than I remember it (I thought that only happens when you grow up).  Afterwards Rachel told us a couple random memories that came to mind.

She's a better decorator than I was...am.

While Jake was in his meeting, I wanted to take the kids to a park we visited a lot.  I asked which one Rachel wanted to go to and she told me "the blue park."  It was a little chilly this day but the kids had a blast.  At first they played all together playing spies on a secret mission and then Rachel finds a friend and then Tommy finds some boys to "put in jail" with Kate tagging along.

 

Rachel (11 months)

The thing Rachel wanted to do the most in Charlotte...Monkey Joes.  We have bouncy houses here but I guess it's not the same.  I kept waiting for them to slow down and get tired, but they never did and we were there for hours.

Rachel (age 2)

That evening we arranged for a bunch of our friends to meet up for pizza and root beer floats at one of their homes.  (There were 6 families, including us, and 22 kids...we sure have multiplied in 3 years).  It was so great to talk to these ladies.  I really enjoy their friendship.  They always inspire me to be a better mother, friend, and person.  How I miss the sociality we had there.

Ava and Rachel (I really wish these girls could be best of friends, they got along famously that night)

Ava and Rachel (age 4 I think)

Layne and Rian

We did our little home preschool with these girls

To finish off our trip we stopped at Allen and Sons (the restaurant Jake really wanted me to try) and had the best southern bbq ever.  Stew, fried okra, hush puppies, and the vinegar based barbeque sauce...SO good!  I LOVE North Carolina!!!  (And yes, I still would move back in a heart beat)

These kids were fabulous in the car.  They watched Monsters University 3 times, other than that they colored and colored and colored.  It was a last minute decision to throw the box full of crayons in the car, boy was it a good one.

There were still lots of people we would have loved to have seen, more restaurants we could have eaten at, and we really wanted to take Tommy to Lowes Motor Speedway with how much he loves race cars (but it was closed).  I guess that means we'll just have to do another trip.  We had a really great time!