Many of you may not know this, but I talk on the phone, email or text Jim's sister Lisa on a regular basis. You may have seen those cards or sayings "sister -in -law by marriage, friends by choice." I can honestly say this about Lisa. I wanted to spend some time with her and her critters so I put it on my calendar. The trip to North Carolina takes about 9 hours so when Parker had a 4 day weekend at school, this was the perfect time to go. Jim had a deadline at work, so I went with the boys by myself.
Our first stop was Bruceton Mills to have a brief visit with Grammy and Grandpa Rayburn.
My boys are pretty good travelers. I attribute this to the fact that it takes us 30 minutes to get to most places. The have logged many hours in the car seats and they were quite the troopers on our trip to North Carolina. Parker often keeps me company asking me questions from the exit signs, to passing Sheetz trucks, number and word questions.
The boys loved having the animals at Aunt Lisa's house. This particular week she was fostering some extras. This kitten has splashed in her water and then rolled in the litter box, that explains the towel. Parker loved holding her.
Parker also made an obstacle course for the kitties. I am not sure that they appreciated it as much as he did.
Our mode of transportation for the weekend was a mini van. This allowed all or part of the dogs to accompany us and had room for car seats too. This was new for Lisa, driving a van with kids. I joked that she looked like a soccer mom.
You can see we brought our snacks along. Later I learned that Pip makes an excellent car cleaner, she eats the crumbs.
We were there to witness Lisa becoming a local celebrity at the school. She did a demonstration with Pip. Later on people would come up to her and say "you were the lady at my school" or recognize Pip. Here is one my action shots. She had learned to wave, but I was never quite quick enough with the camera to catch it.
Lisa was willing to sit with the boys while I went and looked at a few shops. Somehow running wild boys and blown glass don't mix. I appreciated the break to go by myself and not have to worry about them breaking something. I fell in love with the blown glass.
We went to lunch at a lovely restaurant with a view. The food was really good. And the best part was, there was a dog waiting for any leftovers, no waste.
Lisa took us a to a park so the boys would have something fun to do. While there, she took a run with Ben. Parker joined her at the end.
We ended the day with a bon fire at her friend John's house. I would never turn down a chance to make s'mores. It was great. He had quite the set up for outdoor entertaining. A pond, bench, and a firepit. And as is with most guys, bigger is better when it came to a the fire.
Due to our big fire, we used bamboo posts that I have used to stake tomatoes on to roast our marsh mellows.
The dogs loved having my boys around. They anxiously waited for any crumbs to fall.
We set Pip loose in the car before I left. Her she is loving life.
And here is Preston telling Cleo good bye. I loved that Cleo was always happy to see us and greeted us at the door.
We had a fun time visiting Aunt Lisa. The trip home always seems longer than getting there. Wish she lived closer so we could visit more often. The boys came home knowing the names of her animals and knowing a little bit more of who Aunt Lisa is.
