A Trip to the East!

I spent the last week in North Carolina visiting family. I haven't been away from the kids in years. My last trip completely alone was seven years ago when I flew out to see my friend, Carin, in California. With Edward away for med school rotations then, traveling was so easy. The last time I was away from the kids was three years ago, so no one remembered me ever being gone! Fast forward to now, three kids to juggle and this trip. The purpose??? My sister had her first baby, and since she's been able to come and see me after each of the three kids, it was my turn to happily reciprocate.


While my sister lives in Charlotte, NC, home to a major airport, I chose to fly into Raleigh. Why? Southwest, which is becoming my favorite airline, still has two free bags per flight, and it has a nice direct flight from Phoenix to Raleigh. Plus, with Raleigh being in the center of the state, I can see many family members all on one trip. My parents drove up to Raleigh to see me, where we all stayed at my sister-in-law's house. There, we hung out, and I got to spend time with her and my nephew Wes. I even got to talk to my brother, who is on month nine of his Afghanistan deployment. I hadn't talked to him in MONTHS, so that was cool too. While in Raleigh, I got to see my wonderful friend, Jen, who happens to randomly live about five miles from my brother's house, small world :) We didn't get to do our usual outlet mall trip, but we did hit up a very nice kids' consignment sale in Raleigh and enjoy a kid-free lunch.

After my Raleigh visit, which included going to a real mall (don't have a mall in Yuma) and eating at The Cheesecake Factory, I drove my "interesting" rental car three hours to Charlotte to meet the newest princess in the family, Alaina. I "think" my sister was a "little" happy to see me, as she wasn't feeling well and well, looked totally exhausted. I took the book, The Help (which was excellent) on my trip and joked that it was my role at the house :) Seriously, I was so glad to help out with cooking and such. It was a nice break for me to not have kids under foot, tugging on my shirt, while cooking. Mer, Alaina, and I also got out some to do a little shopping, and I think that helped Mer feel human again :) It was a great trip, and I'm SO glad I was able to go.


The kids did really well with Edward, and it definitely helped to Skype every evening. Edward did tell me that Madison prayed every night I would come home. She really wanted to go and meet Alaina, but kindergarten keeps you from just taking off. The best comment came from Madison before I left:

Madison (to me): Well, if you are going away for a week, what are we going to eat?
Me: Daddy will be here, so he'll cook dinner.
Madison: OHHHH, are we going to have hotdogs every night? I don't want hotdogs.
Me: Madison, Daddy knows how to cook a lot of things (almost laughing at how funny the comment was), so not to worry. You're going to have tacos, goulash, and stuffed shells.

In his defense, Edward is a good cook. I wrote out the meal plan so that each day, which apparently helped, and the kids spent the weekend attending two birthday parties, which provided a great deal of entertainment.

I'm so thankful that everything worked out for this trip, and I really appreciate my neighbors who had to watch the kids at last minute emergency situations. Edward got called to the clinic at least once a day (even though he was on leave), and it was great of my friends to help with the kids. So, thanks everyone who made this trip possible!!!

And, thank you Southwest Airlines for your direct flights that were EARLY (yea!!) and extremely smooth. I also appreciate your two bags free so I could transport a ton of the kids' baby clothing to all the family in NC and return home with Christmas gifts for the kids from family in NC.

Finally, I know I am probably the only one who enjoyed the Tropical Storm that blew through while I was there, but it was WONDERFUL to see rain. We get a couple of inches of rain PER YEAR here, so the rain was awesome.

My nephew, Wes

Wes has just recently started walking and is doing really well!!

"I'll get you, Aunt Martha!"

Karen and I stopped at Toys R Us, where Wes picked up these Leap Frog fridge magnets (recommendations from his Arizona cousins).

On to Charlotte...here's Mer with Alaina

I must be a bore already...she's already tired of me!

This girl is ready to shop, and shop she did. Alaina was a trooper at Babies R Us (and our other stops). And, with that My Little Pony sticker, you would think my kids would have been there to put that on her. No, it's actually a reward for good behavior at the pediatrician's office.

I'd love to say that she did this the whole time I was there, but she wasn't feeling well and cried a lot. I'm happy to report that Meredith said Alaina is back to "Happy Baby" status now.