NC TRIP: DAYS 1 & 2, NASHVILLE & MEAT EXTRAVAGANZA

We kicked off summer with a driving trip across the country towards the East Coast.  John's oldest sister, Becka, her husband Jessee, and their son, Shane, live in Charlotte, North Carolina as of last summer.  Since we hadn't yet made the trip, we decided it was time.  We broke up our trip to make the 12 hours of driving a little more palatable to our crew.  Amazingly enough, we have much less stuff to take than we did last summer, which was a breath of travel fresh air.



Because we have had many a stressful take-off morning, John and I wisely packed up almost everything on Thursday night before we left.  We didn't even let the kids eat breakfast at our house, because we didn't want to have to clean up the breakfast.  Panera to the rescue - this was our first stop.  As such, it took us quite a while to get out of town.  Worth it to not have to sweep.  Or wipe down the table.  Again.




We drove to Nashville and stayed with dear friends who left Little Rock a year ago.  It was great to see them, and the kiddos were all thrilled to be reunited.


(I know the girls don't look thrilled here.  This is the "No Picture" treatment I sometimes get.)

(Who doesn't love friends who set up a bounce house in the living room?)

(William loved Mr. Matt.)

After staying up late talking, we were sorry to say goodbye to the Kosses.  Thanks for letting us crash your place with our circus.  This is what the girls looked like in the car after partying the night before.



Also, in that last picture, you may notice that there are TV screens for each child.  That is our own little road trip special that John rigged up for us.  The babies spent some of their awake time taking in Praise Baby DVDs with no sound.  What a great life.  And the girls took in movie after movie.  It makes for happy little travelers.  I also kept passing back snack traps full of treats like it was my full time job.

As we headed for North Carolina on Saturday morning, we texted with Becka to let her know our ETA.  Great - she says, you'll be mostly in time for the party.

Uh Oh ...  We thought that party was on Monday.  Though we had had plenty of communication and had even RSVPed to the Evite, we thought the Meat Extravaganza was happening on Monday.  Thankfully, we had left in enough time and made it before the meal started.  There was time for playing in the sand with our cousin, getting our sweet cousin to push our car and swinging with aunts and dads.

Their home is old and charming, and the evening light was perfection.

My brother-in-law, Jessee, loves meat.  He loves grilling.  He loves going over the top a bit.  He and his dad decided to grill an entire pig, which they spent the day doing.  By the time we got there, all 123 lbs of the pig was cooked through and ready to go.  The head was a part of the line of food to remind us all that he had been wholly roasted.  They named him "Dinner."

Dinner was good.  It was delightfully capped off with cupcakes to celebrate Jessee's upcoming birthday and adult drinks.  Cheers to the great start of a vacation!