From Michigan to North Carolina and back in pictures.

Here are the pictures as promised. :) Please don't judge me for our 3 day fast food binge. It was delicious.

At 4:00am bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Reading in the car.
Coloring to pass the time.
Welcome to North Carolina!!! FINALLY!!
Our first Chick-fil-A experience. It was heavenly.
Bojangles breakfast with fountain Cheerwine.
Emma with her bacon and cheese biscuit.
Hamming it up at breakfast.
The most amazing dinner ever- Cook Out!
My Cook Out (Carolina) style burger. (Chili, slaw and mustard)
Carolina Bar-B-Q for lunch, complete with sweet tea.

The girls outside after lunch.
Emma with her house mouse.
Emma at Maw's.
Arabel running around at Maw's. Bill is in the background.
Playing with rocks at Maw's house.
Not listening.
Thumbs up from Daddy.
Enjoying the ride.
The view.
Bells being silly at dinner.
Smiles from Em.
Laughing it up.
smiles.
My anniversary present from Rob. :)
Welcome to Michigan. Great Lakes, Great Times.

Part Duex

As I write this I am sitting in a hotel in Marietta, Ohio. (By the way if you get the chance to stay at a Microtel Inn & Suites you should. They are modern and super sleek looking. We have stainless steel appliances- and by appliances I mean mini fridge and microwave, and a flat screen tv. Emma is most thrilled with the window seat that has a cushion, which means you are supposed to sit there. ) We decided it would be best to break the drive back into 2 legs. The girls did fantastic on the way down, but I didn't want to tempt the beast twice. Rob completely agreed, and I think that he was more than happy to not spend 13 straight hours in the car.

Yesterday, we hit up Carolina Bar-B-Q for lunch. It was imperative that if we were in BBQ country to get BBQ. Neither of us were thrilled with the actual pork but we loved all of the sides. I now realize what actual hushpuppies taste like. (Sorry, BGG those hushpuppies are fake.) I had slaw, potato salad and hush puppies. Rob picked fries, pinto beans and hush puppies. Emma hoovered a whole BBQ sandwich and applesauce. Arabel got mac and cheese with sweet potato sticks. Our eyes have been opened to the wonderous deep fried sweet potato. It was amazing. We WILL be figuring out how to make them at home, that I promise. Dinner was Maw's chicken casserole at her house with the family. Emma and Arabel met their cousins for the first time. Emma adored them. I managed to weasel some Waffle House for a late night snack after hanging out a bit more with Steven.

As we headed out of town today we stopped by Cook Out, which is hands down my new favorite fast food joint. (Dear Michigan, Please get a freaking Cook Out. Thanks, Kimm) Carolina burgers have made their way into my heart. I was slightly disappointed that the weather wasn't cooperating with my wishes of getting a tan. I guess Mother Nature wants me to be pale forever. :) Emma's favorite find was a kid sized toilet at a rest area in West Virgina (?) She thought that was pretty sweet.

On an unrelated note: Today is our 5th anniversary together. Rob surprised me by bringing me a dozen red roses, a bottle of Chianti and a Hershey pie to the hotel. I couldn't be happier. :) Hard to believe that it has been 5 years.

Pictures to come. I have to work this weekend, and I will do my best to get them uploaded and posted for you.

Carolina on my mind

I decided that it would probably be the smartest to break our road trip post up into two. Here is part 1.

It was storming like crazy in East Lansing on Sunday night/Monday morning. It was pouring down sheets of rain, the wind was whipping and the thunder and lightening never let up. Rob and I actually talked about trying to wait out the storm and push back our departure time. (Which I was totally against. I was running on a total of about an hour of sleep and was exhausted. I was ready to get the car loaded, the girls in and us be on our merry way so I could catch some sleep.) We decided to change our route a bit in hopes to "out run" the storm. The car gets packed and the girls get buckled in (wide awake might I add) and we pull out of the parking lot at 4:03am. We were shooting for a leave time of 4am, so I was more than thrilled that we actually made it. The weather was TERRIBLE. It was nerve wracking to say the least. I managed to drift off just before the Ohio border. We stopped for breakfast around 6 am for breakfast in Ohio. (Did I mention that the girls were still wide awake? No? Well, they were awake as they could possibly be.) The rest of the drive was uneventful. The girls did awesome being in the car so long. Arabel would get crabby, so we would stop and stretch our legs for 20 minutes and get back on the road. We managed to get to the hotel 12 hours and 43 minutes after leaving East Lansing. I think that we did pretty darn good on time considering we had the girls with us.

Monday night meant relaxing after spending the day in the car. We ran to Target to get some water wings and water toy for the girls, got dinner (Chik-Fil-A... which is awesome. It was my first experience and I was a happy girl.) and then hit the pool. The girls were worn out and slept like babies all night.

Tuesday: The girls woke up around 9am and we headed off to Bojangles for breakfast. Rob has been craving a country ham biscuit for ages now. Emma got a bacon and cheese biscuit, I opted for biscuits and gravy. After breakfast we lounged around until we met up with Rob's grandma, aunt and mom at Golden Corral. We got our a/c re-charged because the poor thing couldn't keep up with the hot North Carolina weather. After our short detour to the shop we headed back to the hotel for nap time. Arabel went down for a nap, Rob was working and Emma and I headed to the pool. We were enjoying the perfect afternoon when a storm blew in and sent us back to the room. We hit up Cookout for dinner. (Holy moly, the Cook Out style burger is amazing. A burger with chili, cheese, slaw and mustard is A-OK in my book.) After dinner we just hung around the room and visited with Rob's childhood best friend.

I know that we are planning on dinner with the fam again tomorrow, but that is all that is set in stone so far. I am loving all of the new food I have been eating. :) I will have pictures up soon.

To be continued.

Road Trip!!

Rob and I decided that it was high time that we got out of town. We have a road trip in our immediate future. In the wee hours of Monday morning (think like 4am) we will be packing up and heading to North Carolina. Rob's family lives there, so we will be visiting them. This will be the first time that Rob's grandma has met the girls so it should be fun. While we are there we will be paying a visit to Rob's best friend, and meeting their little boy for the first time too. (Parker and Arabel are 11 apart.) I am looking forward to lounging around the pool in 100 degree weather, and not being in Michigan. It is the 11 hour drive there and back that I am not thrilled about. I will be taking lots of pictures and will update when I can.