North and South

Fred and I took off with the kiddos for a long weekend. We packed up Wednesday night and left Thursday morning and headed to North Carolina. Good friends of ours asked us to be the godparents of their second son so it was a perfect excuse to get away. If you read the last couple of posts I bet you never even guessed I was gone from my computer for a whole 4 days (except perhaps to think for a moment that I had grown very dull).

I have to tell you the weather was very cooperative being in the 80’s the entire visit. The trip would have been worth it for the temperature itself.But that was not the only benefit.Amazingly, our kids have always travelled well.Yes, really, I mean it.All of them. We pack a bunch of snacks and drinks, stop at the library for one or two books on tape, gas up and then we don’t stop until we hit our destination. Sometimes we are forced to make a pit stop for a bathroom break but that is only occasionally and it didn't happen this trip. We stayed in a Towne Place Suites down in Raleigh. It worked out just great for us all. 2 bedrooms and an open out couch ( a third bedroom) with a kitchen was more than doable even with such a large crew. We brought along one pack and play, and had the hotel set one up as well so we all had beds.Hooray!

I have so many nice things to say about Southern hospitality, warm climates, and good food BUT I do have to mention one major drawback. You know that whole Civil War thing? Fred and I are pretty sure at this point that we know the reason the South lost  and we're willing to bet it had a whole heck of  a lot to do with speed. My goodness people down south are S-L-O-W! To put a positive spin on it, nobody and I mean nobody is in a rush. Not in supermarkets, or shopping centers, or restaurants, or hotels or anywhere. Their racehorses all probably mosey on past the finish line. Being born and raised as a New Yorker, this will always be a problem for me. Fred and I thought the folks in Connecticut were slow when we lived there, (and compared to New York we were right) but the further down you go, the more the pace drops off. You have to wonder if Southerners ever really wake up. Maybe the reason they are all so hospitable is because they are still dreaming, having never been roused properly from their sleep.

I kind of think I have a lot of energy, and my husband, well he makes coffee tired; but we feel right at home in New York even if it has been ages since we lived there. Our children definitely do not get that pace from us and we are so sad they don’t know how to hustle but have long since given up trying to make them something they are not.

Ok, that is the worst part of our long weekend, hey- that's not so bad right?

Now, I also have a whole mess of pictures I can post to give visual aids to the blog. Fred thinks this part of posting is essential. He likes the pictures, I like the words. In fact I don’t think he’d ever bother to stop in here like all you good folks do unless I posted pictures, so pardon me if you think I post a few too many, I am trying to keep my marriage in tact. In fact I probably have enough pictures to post all week as I tell you about our little trip on and off. Below are just some teasers.