Christmas in North Carolina

With both of our families so far away we have to alternate holidays.  This year Thanksgiving was spent in Iowa and Christmas in North Carolina.  We usually fly to NC, but airfare was so expensive, we decided to fly instead.  We spent Christmas morning playing with the fun things Santa left us and then got on the road around lunch time, thinking it would be a good time to be driving (no traffic); what we didn't take into consideration was that nothing would be open!  We got lucky and found a few restaurants and gas stations that were open along our route...our Christmas dinner was spent at a Chinese buffet (our own version of A Christmas Story!).

Both kids travelled pretty well - Cody did better than the last long trip, but we still have to stop every 2-3 hours, which seems to add about 2 hours to each day of our travel (making an 11 hour trip about 15 hours total).  Graecyn spent 90% of the car ride playing games and watching movies on the iPad and was good to let us know when she was ready for a nap (she liked to nap underneath one of her blankies).

The drive was pretty, especially going through the mountains.  I would love to make the drive in the fall when the leaves have turned; I'm sure the views are even more spectacular then.

driving through West Virginia

nothing like a diaper blow-out in the middle of a road trip

Cody & Mama Selfie

matching jammies

Cody came down with a stomach virus while we were there, which was no fun.  Fortunately, the vomiting only lasted a few hours and no one else in the family got it.

Despite the rainy weather (it rained 90% of the time we were there) and sickness, we enjoyed the warm temperatures and being with family!