We drove to Charlotte

We drove to Charlotte.
It was a very impromptu trip. David came home from work Friday and asked, "What do you think about driving up to Charlotte for the weekend." And that was that. 20 minutes later, we were in the car on our way.

The drive wasn't too terrible. David drove most of the way and then we stopped ata Hamilton Inn outside of Atlanta for the night. We got up first thing Saturday morning and started driving again. The only person we told was David's brother, Stephen. And he did a great job keeping the secret.

Mom and Dad were at Lenscrafters in the mall when we finally arrived. They were completely shocked when they saw us. Dad saw us first and we sat with him and chatted for almost 20 minutes before Mom looked over and saw us. It was a very sweet reunion.

Then we all headed to Bethany's house to surprise her. We put Grace at the front door and rang the doorbell and waited for Bethany to open the door. Needless to say, she was pretty surprised to see Grace knocking on her front door. In fact, she thought she was dreaming (she and baby Stephen had just laid down for an afternoon nap). Then Jennifer came over and finally we saw Ed afterhe got home from the movies.

We had a lot of wonderful family time together. Stephen and Grace especially had a great time.
Monday came too quickly and we had to get back on the road to head home. There was a lot we had to plan for - like closing on our new home! Plus Gran was going in for his balloon on Tuesday. So home we went.

Fortunately, we were able to drive straight through going back. It helped that we bought a dvd set that hooks to the back of the headrests for Grace. Of course, after 429 minutes of SpongeBobSquarepants, I was really ready to be home. Just for those of you who don't know, 429 minutes translates into over 7 HOURS - SEVEN HOURS of nothing but Spongebob over and over and over again. I dreamed about Spongebob and it took three days before I finally got that song out of my head. You know the one:

Are you ready kids! Aye-aye captain!
I can't hear you! Aye-aye captain!
Who lives in a Pineapple under the sea.
Spongebob Squarepants!
Who is yellow and coarse is he
Spongebob Squarepants...

Oh no! It's back! That song is back in my head again! Sigh. Oh well. For the next trip we're definitely taking some other dvds...

Pictures to be uploaded soon...