Raleigh NC

On our previous trip to NC, we never went to Raleigh so this time, on Saturday afternoon we drove there to have a first look. What we found was tons of people crowding downtown for something called First Night Raleigh which is a festival celebrating the new year. The night culminated at midnight with the dropping of an big acorn from a huge crane. We were long gone before the dropping. What we did find while we were there was lots of Victorian homes in the downtown area. Of course we took many photos.

It's as if Meet Me in St. Louis could Meet Me in Raleigh. Doesn't sound as good though.


Big pretty homes near downtown.


Love this one.


Seriously meet me here.


I mean really.


Then we found this neat looking red building with lots of wrought iron.


And a beautiful golden tree.


And who knew this? I didn't. I guess this is what you call humble beginnings.


Then we rode by a natural history museum as well as a huge Ferris wheel. Some of our peeps wanted to go to the museum, some wanted to ride the Ferris wheel and some wanted to sit in the car. So we did the drop off for them accordingly and then the car dwellers found a parking spot which had a view of something incredibly huge and silver. The car dwellers took an ever so short tiny minor nap. And when we awoke, we had a scathingly brilliant idea about the large silver thing nearby.

Caitlin and Olivia, the Ferris wheel people, were unsuccessful in their attempt due to the incredibly long line.


They soon gave up their quest to ride the very large circle to the sky and puke off the top. At least I think that's what would've happened. Again I love the walking while someone's taking your picture and they don't know it.


Love.


This is where our brilliant idea came into play. Now just about everyone's probably seen those optical illusions pictures where people look like they're holding the sun or something equally as huge. Well, we thought we'd try to do the same. With a highly anticipated result.

Here's Caitlin and Olivia's multi attempts.


No matter the angle...


Or the semi squatting....


Or the distance....


They couldn't pull it off.....

But they get a low C for effort.

Then here comes Emma and Maggie, just a walking down the street singing, "Do wa diddy, diddy dum diddy do." Anyway....


We decide to use them and give it one more try.


Maggie's trying to keep the ball from falling over, while Emma's still getting into position.


Ummmmm, that's a no for this attempt as well.


Now Maggie's trying to hold up the building and not so much the silver ball. Emma's may be as good as we get.


This is very close....


To any epic fail.....

Even through the windshield.

I wish we could have recorded the instruction that was being yelled to them as well as the convulsing laughter as these pictures were taken. It was seriously some funny stuff. We'll just have to be satisfied with our effort for now. BUT! This isn't over yet! I will try and try and try again until I accomplish this feat!

Well, maybe.

I'm off to herd kids again and then if the rain holds off, it's a baseball game in the country. Updates will be coming on how it went.

TTFN

Exploring Chapel Hill and UNC again

We're traveling back to North Carolina for a few more posts and then I'll be moving on, and quite frankly I'm sick of NC. But I'm gonna finish.

On a Saturday now a forever ago, we went to Chapel Hill which is where the main campus of UNC is located. It's quite lovey (spoken with a think Southern drawl) and I'm thinking that due to a rather warm winter, the flowers were blooming around the campus. I'd love to see it in the spring when it's at its best. Have a look for yourself.

The town of Chapel Hill


It was a gorgeous day for browsing.


The ice cream store is just down the way. You know the one that was never open when we wanted ice cream? I'm still not over it yet.


The girls are standing in front of a famous walkway that's covered with wisteria. It's got to be stunning when in full bloom.


Sans sunglasses. I couldn't choose which pics I liked the best, so I posted them all!


See? They're all good.


Last one.


This is the UNC campus. So beautiful.


And more.


Emma took some lovely photos.


Of the blooming trees.


And once again, it was too hard to cull any.


Love this.


And this.


More UNC campus.


And one more.


And while Emma was taking pictures of flowers, I was taking pictures of her.


It was such a pretty day.


I like taking pictures of people when they are unaware. My people that is.....I'm not a creepster.


Almost finished.


It was enchanting.


And there's the morning we spent at Chapel Hill. It was a lovely day, but we weren't finished yet, we then went for the afternoon in Raleigh, were we'd never been before. What's the city like? You'll just have to come back and see.

Now I'm off to herd small children for a couple hours.

Later....

Can last week be over please?

What a week it was. One very close call on the highway, followed by three days later one accident in town. What are the odds?

On Friday night Emma and Olivia were on their way to a baseball game and about 3 minutes after they left I got a phone call from Emma saying they'd been in a wreck. I've gotten these calls in the past and it's never a good phone call. John and I QUICKLY got in the car and drove to the scene which was very near our house. By the time we arrived, the police had already been called and the little old lady, whose fault it was, seemed fine. Our daughters, who were fine as well, explained what happened involving a traffic circle and yield signs and they had the right of way and the lady may or may not have seen the yield sign, but even if she did, she didn't think it applied to her. Whatever. The policeman was soon there to sort the whole thing out and after a bit of discussion, I overheard with the "blue hair," it was evident she was throwing Olivia, who was driving, under the bus! Pu shu. In other words, she said it wasn't her fault. My sympathy for her was waning as the officer then went over to my girls and asked for their version of the incident, and quickly told them he knew from the damage and point of impact that it was clearly the lady's fault. So after a very short discussion, he let the four of us go, and off they went for a brief stop at Melanie's, only to discover when they got back in the truck, it wouldn't start. Oh happy day. So off John went again to see what the problem was and what he discovered first hand was, it wouldn't start. Duh, did you think anything different after the week we'd been having? Anyway, the girls, using my car, finally made it safely to the baseball game in the 7th inning.

A few hours later, the truck actually started, with no explanation from itself about what was wrong with it in the first place. I of course had earlier AND immediately pointed to the wreck as the reason for the not starting, while John was of the school that it was sheer coincidence, which I found completely RIDICULOUS. Especially when he said, "The starter is NO WHERE NEAR the point of impact." Impact shmempact. NO WAY was it coincidence! But then, after a few tense moments, he admitted he was wrong and then we smiled and laughed and had a long discussion about bunnies and happiness and then we went for the kind of ice cream you can eat forever and doesn't make you fat. OR we had a medium sized argument followed by the two of us sitting silently across the room from each other as I worked on perfecting my seething glare. Unfortunately the practice was to no avail, because he was too busy ignoring me and therefore it....the seething glare that is.

So, to sum up the weekend:
Two of our daughters were in a wreck.
The truck wouldn't start.
Then the truck started.
The truck is still starting.
The insurance peeps have been contacted.
My seething glare still needs A LOT of work.
And John's driving around in one classy looking crunched vehicle, until it gets repaired.

At least the little old lady was kind enough to confine all the damage to just the one door.

Just another weekend in the life....

Friday night update

Olivia and Emma were in an accident this evening. It wasn't their fault and the only thing hurt was the passenger door on John's car. Another reason to be thankful tonight.

More on this later.

Not a normal trip home

Once again the North Carolina trip posting will be suspended in order to discuss our trip home from Dallas. So, even though it makes me all jittery, I'm going out of order regarding the events of our lives.

Seventeen of us spent three days at my sister Becky's house for a girls only weekend before our niece Brooke's wedding in March. We had the best time ever being all wadded up while shopping, eating, and looking at old wedding photos. It was a great time. On Sunday the exodus began with seven peeps leaving while others were staying until Tuesday so we could celebrate my daughter Emma's 21st birthday on Monday. The weekend flew by as did the birthday celebration and before we knew it, it was Tuesday and time to go home. My three girls and I left Becky and Keith's house at 11:20 knowing we had several stops to make on the way out of town. It's one of the things I hate the most because after three hours of running errands, we still had 5 hours of highway to travel to get home, so at 2:00 we were on our way out of town. My sister Melanie, two of her girls and Grandma, who all left after us, were now ahead by about an hour. Well, when the Turners got to Shreveport, they became ensnared in traffic due to a wreck, and gave us a heads up which caused us to decide to take the loop around the city. By the time we left Shreveport, our two cars were now only 4 miles apart. As we passed a sign saying 70 miles to home, I got in the left lane to pass an 18 wheeler and I felt something weird. I was just about to tell the girls something was wrong when I heard a pop and was immediately fighting to keep my car in my lane. The 18 wheeler was right beside me, but a little ahead and I think the driver saw what was taking place because the truck sped up and moved out of our way. What in reality only took seconds seemed like forever until finally the car was stopped safely on the side of the highway. And we were alive. Never in all my years of driving has that ever happened to me. And once I knew we were still, safe and sound, I couldn't speak. I was shaking so much I couldn't get my bearings.

As I tried to gather myself, the girls jumped out to see what had happened.

The front right tire had blown and was shredded completely. We had ridden on the rim to the side of the road and somehow, miraculously lived to tell about it.

The girls and I quickly began the task of getting the tools out to change the tire, but before we could even begin, a state trooper stopped to help us.


He was so nice, and quickly began the tire changing for us. This is freaking unbelievable to look at and know that we didn't have a wreck.


By this time, Melanie and her peeps had turned around and come back to check on us, and it seemed as if we'd get on the road quickly.


But the remaining strips of rubber from the tire were wedged in, and no amount of pulling would make it come loose.


After much effort on the part of Brian, the trooper, we discussed my options and then called a tow truck to take my car the rest of the way home.




The girls rode with Melanie while I rode with Kenny the tower.


By the time I got home, it was 8:30, 2 1/2 hours late but alive.

Now that the facts of the incident are out of the way, I'll address what I've thought about since Tuesday. There's no doubt in my mind that God supernaturally helped me get my car safely to the side of the road. I believe God moved the trucker out of the way so we had a clear path to the roadside. He sent THE nicest policeman to help us, who called a good ole boy named Kenny to take me and my car the rest of the way home. People like them help renew my faith in the goodness of people. There really are lots of good and decent people in the world trying to do the best they can, but we rarely hear of them. And if Melanie hadn't been close by to come get my girls, we'd have been in a mess trying to get home with all of our stuff. Even though the stuff didn't matter AT ALL. And here's another thing. My family ALWAYS prays before we get on the highway. Before each trip and after all of us are in the car, we pray. Last Tuesday, I forgot. Which reminds me that God has grace and mercy even when I forget. He never forgets me.

And so this week I've thanked God over and over that my girls and I weren't in a hospital or that John wasn't planning funerals. I've prayed for Brian and his family, especially after I read that a trooper in Washington state was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop. I can't imagine sending my husband into harm's way every day of his life. If you can, remember Brian and Kenny and their families in your prayers, as well as all those who help to keep us safe. They really are valiant people.

So the trip to Dallas was fun filled, but now, for another reason, I'll never forget it. I'm not sure I can ever be grateful enough. But I'm very thankful to God for my happy ending, because I know not everyone gets theirs. And the thought of that breaks my heart.

Thank you Lord for my happy ending.