Thank you & please don't come again!

We woke up on Saturday morning with an itch to go somewhere and do something cool. We've explored north of Richmond (Fredericksburg, DC, Annapolis, etc.) west (Charlottesville, bunch of small towns) and east of Richmond (VA beach, Williamsburg, Newport News, Norfolk, etc) but we've never gone further south than Petersburg. If you've been to Petersburg, you'd know why!

Road trip to Raleigh, NC! Why not less than 3hrs away, we'd do some sightseeing, shopping, and eating.

I was running around that morning getting quick breakfast for kids, cleaning the house in case we had buyers looking (go ahead let's laugh together...HAHA!) and someone asked me if they could pack some candy for the trip. Sure, why not, and the girls stuffed stuffed their pockets with left over gum, lollipops, and now & laters from the pinata at Nora's bday.

Check out Charlotte's lips above. Let's not forget the box of munchkins we bought with our coffees at Dunkin Donuts. Charlotte loves mini donuts. She's known for it, her thing!

First stop in Raleigh was the welcome center downtown which was housed in the Museum of History. Pretty cool place and Nora and Charlotte made a quick weaving craft.

Charlotte seemed more impressed with the sample provided than the craft she made with her Dad. Nora's little place mat came out wonderful!

Next stop had to be lunch because I was starving and I did not partake in the candy extravaganza happening in the backseat. We passed by a cool looking outdoor pizza joint called the Mellow Mushroom. The place was very busy and we had a 30 minute wait and we were given one of those lighty buzzy things and off to the bar area to wait. Craig got a Hefeweizen, me a Woodchuck Cider, and two sweet teas for the girls. We opt to pay for our drinks then and it only costs $8. We're in love with this place, Craig & I are gushing & enjoying our drinks when a little voice says.....

"I'm going to puke"

"What?" says Craig

My eyes get huge! It's Charlotte saying this...dejavu...holy crap..she'll really do it!!

"Grab her!!!!" I yell at Craig

He grabs her and in a split second decision he runs holding her to the men's room.

He just opens the door, the whole bar is watching, and Charlotte's vomiting major into the trash can right inside the door.

The door swings close, some people are still staring at the door, then they turn to look at me.

He took her into the men's room. What can I do?! I stare at the door with huge eyes and then Nora and I are just sitting there looking at each other.

Then the buzzer light thing on our table starts jumping around like crazy which would have attracted attention if people weren't looking at us already.

Craig and Charlotte return to the table.

"Our table's ready" I say uncertainly.

"Grab your beer, let's go" he says.

And we went...right to our outdoor table and ate the best pizza ever! I don't know if we're evil parents, but it's not like we could just go home!

Charlotte was absolutely fine after she threw up. Lesson learned.... pinata candy and Dunkin Donut minis + road trip = near disaster. Must pack GOOD healthy snacks for road trips! Disaster was adverted by quick thinking!

Look! Buffalo Rd, I mean BuffaloE RD.

Then we went to the Triangle Township Center for some retail therapy. I bought some little things in Archivers. Then we went to Z Gallerie and some woman who worked there yelled at Charlotte for touching a water fountain in the store. Come on, you can't tell children not to touch falling water! It seemed like she was following us around, so we took off.

Raleigh was nice to visit, but we probably won't be going back again any time soon!