NC round 3

We love going to North Carolina. This is the third time we have gone. We usually go during the summer and go camping, but it worked better for some of us to go during the winter time. It was a crazy good time. There were 12 kids and 5 adults in a 4 bedroom house. 

Highlights of the trip

• The airplane ride to North Carolina went down without a hitch! Sienna seemed excited to be on an airplane. The people I sat next to were grandma's and grandpa's so they were actually excited to have a baby sitting next to them.
• Sienna loved the walking escalators. We rode those things up and down during our layovers
• Got to be outside! We went for walks, rode on scooters, and went to the park.
• Marbles Children Museum. This place was so cool! They had so many different centers for children to explore. There was a ambulance, firetruck, helicopter, vet, farm, grocery store. We are talking like equipped with things that could be in those places, Clothes, firehouse, electric shock paddles, all sorts of grocery items. That was on the bottom floor geared more towards younger kids. Upstairs they had a pretend ice skating rink, a rock climbing wall, a kids playground and some other things. It was so much fun. A kids dream! And it's not even that expensive to go.
• We were almost in a tornado! We had to take the I-95 home from the childrens museum and a tornado was en route to go thru it. Our 1.5 hour drive home was windy, rainy, and scary! We stopped once and later found out that 10 miles up ahead was the tornado!
• Good food. We went to Red Robin and to tepanyaki. Amazing. We had home cooked dinners and breakfasts every other time. Oh the food was good.
• Strawberry pizza and coffee cake. More food. The food was so good (this line is Matt).
• We played cards almost every night
• We made Family reunion shirts
• Took family pictures
• birthday cupcakes.everyone gets to decorate a cupcake, then we sing to them and take pictures for next years family calendar
• Lastly, all of us being together. I'm so glad Sienna got to spend that time with cousins and develop a relationship with them. She came to love Brooklyn. We loved spending that quality family time together. We miss it!

LOWLIGHTS

• Almost everyone got sick. Sienna and David both had really bad coughs and David had a fever for 4 days. Got back home to find out they had ear infections and bronchial infections. :(
• Lack of sleep. From sick kids to playing cards. There weren't many nights we didnt go to bed before midnight and we were often up by 7.
• It was windy and rainy a few days
• The airplane ride home. We had given sienna gravol on the plane ride there but forgot on the way home. This resulted in her throwing up all over during landing. Luckily she had only ate a sucker and drank a bunch of water.
• David threw up all over my lap in the first plane ride. Of course I didnt have a change of clothes so I got to sit in wet stinky pants for the next 8 hours.
• We ran out of gas on the way home and had to take a small detour in order to find an open gas station at midnight.
• We couldn't stay longer!