Christmas Road Trip: Raleigh

I realized I haven't blogged in forever, but life is just not very exciting in Oklahoma.  I am going to try to be better in the new year, but resolutions are for another post.

Anyway, on December 17 we departed Oklahoma and set out for Raleigh.  Instead of powering through in 1.5-2 days we took our time this time and spent 3 days on the road.  We left after Brian got off work on the 17 and drove to Hot Springs, AR to visit a family friend from his side of the family.  We were able to have breakfast and visit with them for a little while before he was off to work and we set out for our long day of driving.  Before we took off we found a little park for Mikey to run off some energy.  He ran around and really enjoyed stretching his legs.

Its so nice that he knows how to operate the iPad and play lots of games on it.  He was entertained for hours!

Potty break!  We brought the potty chair so that we weren't rushing to find a bathroom for Mikey, we could pull over anywhere!

Mikey insisted upon sleeping with his Dusty slippers on

Hot Springs

Our next stop on the 18th was in Jackson, TN where we found a train museum.  Mikey thought he had died and gone to heaven.  It was right off the highway and had way more than I would have thought.  Mikey ran around for a good 15 minutes screaming "CHOO CHOO!!!" in excitement.  When we finished with the museum part there was a gift shop that had train table set up.  We let him play there for a bit before we shoved him back into the car...where he repeatedly screamed for help...lovely.  From there we headed to Johnson City, TN to see one of my best friends that I hadn't seen in 6 years!  We got in super late and she had to be at work really early, but she stayed up and visited with me for a few hours.  It was so awesome to finally see each other in person and catch up a bit.

Casey Jones Museum

Thankfully, Johnson City isn't too far from Raleigh (comparatively) so we took our time with breakfast before setting out on the 4 hour trek home.  We stopped in Boone, NC at a park to let Mikey play some more which he REALLY enjoyed.  While we were there we caught a few cops playing "hide-and-seek" with their K-9 counterparts.  It was pretty cool to watch them train.  We arrived in Raleigh in the late afternoon and I think all three of us were thrilled to be out of the car.

While at home we pretty much went non-stop.  We visited with Christy and Trey, Franny and Christian (and Colt and baby Jules) at Shelly Lake, our old neighbor, new neighbor, ate at Philly's (my favorite), went to see A Christmas Carol (a must see if you've never seen it, IDW puts on a phenomenal show), I got a haircut, and we tried to sleep a little too.

The same woman has been cutting my hair since I was 12.  I've gotten 3 other haircuts in that time...all of which I hated.  I wish I could bring Maria with me everywhere :-(

Enjoying being back at NayNay's house

Early on the morning of the 22nd we set out for Orlando with our cars packed full of Christmas :-)  Check back for that post in a bit.