Visit to North Carolina

I just got back from North Carolina, visiting Rachel, Will and Jamie. It was, in a lot of ways, my first little vacation for myself since I went to Seattle four years ago.

I had so much fun with the kids. Our first night there, I asked Will what he wanted to do and he subtly suggested that there was a Toys R Us nearby. I had Kim with me, so she and I agreed to take him on a little shopping spree for his birthday (which is next month). I got him some Magic Rocks and Kung Zhu Pets (which look suspiciously like Zhu Zhu pets, but Zhu Zhu pets are for girls and Kung Zhu pets are cool).

The next day, we went to brunch at Cracker Barrell. I love the overly Americana-ishness of this picture, with the flag in the window, sitting on America's favorite front porch. I also love that Will is a disembodied head.

After Cracker Barrel, I hit the road to meet DebraLynn, one of my dearest college friends. We were supposed to meet at a Cracker Barrel in Greensboro, but I thought one trip to Cracker Barrel was enough for the day and we switched to Applebee's instead. Since we made many, many trips to Applebee's in college, it seemed fitting.

On Monday, Rachel wanted to show Kim and me the flags outside the Airborne Museum. This was part of the 31 Days to Glory done in May for Memorial Day. Any family could pay to have a flag in honor or memory of his/her soldier and they are leaving them up until June 19th and then the family gets the flag. All of the flags are labeled and have a grid system. James' flag is number 13 in row PG. So, yes, James is PG-13. Cute, huh?

The museum was closed on Mondays, but we walked around and saw some of the other markers. They had one for each airborne unit. James was in the 508th.

Then we went on base to see the museum for the 82nd Airborne. It was also closed on Mondays, but we were able to see the memorial outside. It was chilling to see James' name etched in stone. It was more chilling to realize that any name that came after his was another soldier from the 82nd Airborne killed in action after James. The latest ones aren't on there, yet.

After walking around the memorial, Jamie needed to nurse, so Rachel and Jamie and Kim sat in the car and I walked around looking at the airplanes and guns. I took pictures of all of them and then after each picture of the plane/gun, I took a picture of the sign with the information about it. Someone asked me what was doing and I told him I was making a game for my husband -- name that plane. The soldier said, "Now that's just not fair." No, Jeremy loved his game, and the only plane he didn't know was the Curtis C46 Commando.

This is a C7 Caribou, by the way.

All of the walking around made me and Jamie sleepy, so I took a little nap with her. When I was showing pictures of the trip, there were quite a few of Jamie and me on the couch with one or both of us asleep. Jeremy asked, "How many times did you fall asleep with that baby?" Um, every chance I got? Mostly it was at night, from midnight to four, but I also snuck in some naps, too. Jeremy should be grateful. Jamie cured me of impending baby fever by providing a sweet little outlet for all those maternal hormones that I swear kick in when the previous baby is about one.

I wanted to take Will out to do something fun by himself. We chose Fantasy Lake. He wasn't sure at first because he doesn't know how to swim, and since I didn't learn to swim until I was ten myself (also because of having tubes for so long, which is, I'm sure, part of Will's swim delay), I get it. But I swear, the water was not deep.

Over all, I give Fantasy Lake a thumbs up as a lake and a thumbs down as a water park. It was nice to be in the water, but I didn't understand how murky lake water is. Also, the bottom of the lake was gritty sand that hurt my feet. But Will thought the slides were cool.

After Fantasy Lake, I wanted a shower, so we went back to the house to shower and change before lunch. When I came out of the bathroom, I found this one the floor. A chocolate donut hole and two Reese's on a plate that says "Ante rebecae." Not only did Will think of a snack for me, but he got my favorite donut flavor and my favorite candy choices and labeled the plate for me. How much do I love that boy?

Lunch was at a Mexican place in Fayetteville with Joey -- another college friend (well, a college friend for me, high school friend for Jeremy, mostly though, we like to call Joey the guy who introduced us and convinced me to go out with Jeremy in the first place). But I digress. We went to a Mexican place in Fayetteville. Doesn't sound right, does it? Notice that the sign behind Joey is advertising pizza. At the Mexican place. In Fayetteville. But I shouldn't give them too much grief. It was actually more of a burrito place and the burritos were delicious.

After lunch, I was heading out to see Summer, my old college roommate and her husband Andrew, who together with DebraLynn were my three best friends the first year I was at Southwestern. But on the way out of town, I realized I was passing that Airborne Museum we had gone to Monday and couldn't go in because it was closed. I decided it was too good an opportunity and that Summer would understand if I was 20 minutes late and I could duck in and see what the museum had (and go to the gift shop).

What I'm really saying is that I got lost behind enemy lines.

But I did make it to Summer's house. Summer and I keep up mostly through blogs and so I had this weird sense when I got to her house. It was like jumping into a favorite book or onto a movie set. Hey, this is the pinwheel from the blog. Aw, there's the poppy wreath from the blog. Oh, Summer posted when she got this coffee table, it looks good in here. Hey, the play kitchen. I remember when she was trying to decide which one to buy. And all of those things (and more) were present in reality where I had kept them more in my mind's eye. Very surreal and very cool.

(See, even in the pictures, I feel as though I have been transported to Phoenix Berries.)

Summer's son is absolutely brilliant and it was so much fun to be around him. He found out quickly that I was happy to do whatever he wanted, so we read a lot (and now I have ordered my own copies of Piggins and Picnic with Piggins from Amazon) and then he asked me to join the band. Would I join the band? Of course! I expect that next time I visit, we will have a reunion tour.

The last day of my trip was Wednesday. Kim had to leave earlier than I did, so we had Starbucks and then Rachel took Kim to the airport while I went ahead to the paint your own pottery place with Will. Rachel and Jamie joined us shortly and all of us got to paint. I did some stakes for James' garden. Rachel did a turtle for Jamie. Will did a pirate bank for himself (which, by the way, is only for pirate money -- he already has a regular bank for real money, so this one is only for pirate money) and then he painted a teddy bear for Jamie. Jamie did her footprints. So really and truly, we all painted.

I had so much fun with the other Nolens. I did miss Sydney and Jack and Jeremy terribly and by Wednesday, I ached to get home to them, but it was a lovely little vacation for me and chance to get to know my sister-in-law and niece and nephew a little better, which was more than worth a little time away from my own family.