Up to Raleigh

My sister Nicki lives just outside Raliegh in Holly Springs, NC. She has 2 children from a first marriage, and just had her second child with her husband now, Robin. They have a really nice house and let us stay there the night we came in to North Carolina. We also came back up to Raleigh on the 4th to celebrate Nicki's birthday and also hang out with them for a couple of days.

We had a fun time spending Nicki's birthday with her, I think that is the first time in about 20 years I've been able to celebrate with her. Because the fireworks were rained out on the 4th, it ruined all of our plans for yummy dessert and that after fireworks, but we did that on the 5th. We had so much fun, it is actually the first time we've met Alison, Nicki and Rob's daughter who is a little over 3 years old. Nicki's daughter, Madison found a dog they named Munchkin (they call him Munch). He is such a great dog - if I were to have a bigger dog, I'd love to have him. He is a 7 year old yellow lab and was SO great with the boys. As you can see, Jax sat on him, pulled his ears, poked him, you name it. He would just get up and walk away. They played ball with him and just thought he was great. The worst thing was that Jax has this new "fun" thing he does, when he sees an animal, he squeals like a little girl being tickled - SO LOUD! After a while though he just laughs and follows it around, well, like a puppy! Thanks to Nicki and Rob for their hospitality - good food and great company!

The hotel we stayed in was PERFECT because you could sit on the lawn to see the fireworks. They were rained out on the 4th as I said so they had them on the 5th, which meant the kids stayed up late the night before we left for home. Because we were so close, though, it wasn't like they were out all night. It was going to rain on the 5th, too, so they let them all off about 8:30 so the kids were in bed by 9:00.
Thanks, Mom and Dad for the great hotel experience!!

We got off just fine at the airport - I would totally recommend to anyone if you can check in on the computer before going to the airport and then skycap your baggage - do that - now if you don't pre-check in and then go to the skycap, Delta will charge you $3 a bag! I love skycaps! Jax was a little more wiggly, and he threw up just enough to have a naked baby for 3/4 of the flight. The flight on the way home was over 4 hours - it didn't seem that long on the way there, maybe it was the extremely poopy diaper and the puke that just set me over. Eli was AWESOME - he just watched the dvd player the whole time. Jonah was very good too - it is hard being by the baby (on my lap) because he grabs at everything. But Jonah was very helpful. We were so glad to see Jory!! It was like Christmas again!

Thanks to my family for all the fun and hospitality - and Thanks Dad for making it all possible!!