North Carolina - Day One

We love to travel. We have amazing adventures everywhere we go, even in unexpected places. (Our trip to Cleveland is still one of our favorites.) James and I love to dream about our travels and as soon as we get back from one we are planning the next trip. But we do have our limits. We've learned that anything over 12 or 14 days makes us homesick and now it has become apparent that two big trips in one month is too much. We are exhausted. 

This morning was really rough, it was cold and rainy so we couldn't play outside and I did not have enough energy or motivation to take them out to a museum. The boys were desperate to swim in the pool but none of them were listening. I tried to do school, which Will and Jon did fairly cheerfully, but Christian would not sit still. But eventually the morning passed and the boys and I headed out to meet James for lunch. 

It was still raining but the boys needed to run so we went down the street to meet him at his class. This is when the day started to turn around. James' teacher is fantastic. Not only is he a great teacher, James loves his classes, but he is always happy to see me and the boys. He gave us a huge bag of kettle corn when we came to pick up James, the boys were thrilled!

We had lunch at McDonalds because it was the only place we knew about that had an indoor play area. The boys made friends with this tiny little two year old girl who had no trouble keeping up with them. She was so cute!

After lunch I took the boys upstairs for a little rest. Christian was clearly in need of a nap and I was hoping that he would fall asleep. Unfortunately instead of sleeping he bounced around on the beds. At this point I didn't want to take them to the pool because of their behavior but I knew they needed some physical fun and I really didn't want to be stuck in the hotel room any longer. So with some trepidation I took the boys down to the pool. 

Christian ready to jump

The pool was exactly what we needed. There was no one else there so I didn't have to worry about splashing or jumping or any of the other things you have to watch when sharing a small pool with strangers. Christian was happy to use his float which meant that I could play with all of the boys and didn't have to worry about him jumping off the side. The boys love jumping into the pool and most of our time there was spent doing that. 

Jon loves playing in the pool

For some reason whenever I'm in a pool (alone!) I have a tendency to sing "I Could Have Danced All Night". I pick one of the boys and dance with them, spinning around, tossing them in the air, and dipping them under water. They are still young enough not to realize how strange I am and they beg me to do it again but this time throw them higher and spin them faster. 

Christian was chasing me around pretending to be a shark

We also played a variation on our mermaid game. I was a mermaid who would capture/rescue the handsome princes and bring them down to my watery castle. They could only escape if they sang the mermaid song or gave me a kiss. Eventually though they got tails too and we all lived under the sea. When I was chasing Will or Jon, Christian would swim around me yelling "I'm a handsome prince! I'm a handsome prince!" Children are a wonderful excuse to get lost in fantasy.

Jon spins around under water

We spent two hours playing in the pool before I made them head back upstairs. Christian was getting cold but Will and Jon could have spent another hour there. We were all in a much better mood as we showered and cleaned up. James came home and he and Christian went out to get us dinner. They brought home screaming sodas for the boys and a ton of food from Cookout. I've written about it before but Cookout continues to be one of our favorite restaurants down here. The food is good and no matter how much you order it is impossible to spend more than twenty dollars. 

After dinner we watched a movie and enjoyed some of our kettle corn. James had to study so he didn't stay long but bedtime went pretty well. And now sleep is calling me as well. I am hoping to get outside tomorrow if the weather clears up for us. 
Goodnight!