What a trip!

We woke up bright and early Saturday Morning, bathed the girls, ourselves, packed up the Yukon, dropped Riley at Four Paws and hit the road...only about 2 hours late. HA. We woke up at 6am to get this whole process started and at 9am we were pulling out of the McDonalds just down the road from our house. Hey - whatever it takes, right? We bundled everyone up, it was a chilly morning. We arrived in Durham around 11:30am at Southpoint Mall, which happens to be a FABULOUS mall, equipped with every store a girl like me could ask for, too bad I had the TSC (Two Small Children) with me and couldn't browse the racks like I would have liked.

I don't know if I have mentioned the purpose for our trip...we were meeting up with friends. I had planned to meet up with 5 other March Mommies and Brad arranged to meet up with one of his friends that moved to Raleigh about 12-14 months ago (Surgeon that operated on Brad's knee back in February of 2007). So about my March Mommies...we have been planning this meet up for several weeks now. There were 5 of us, all with our little ones.

• Amanda and her darling son Danny - from Ft. Stewart, GA.
• Jeni and sweet Lily - from Durham, NC
• Crystal and precious Bella - currently living in Atlanta, GA
• Stephanie and darling Alyssa - Outer Banks, NC
• Rochelle and her cute little man Ronin - Chesapeake, VA

We had Reservations at Maggianos at 1pm, can't you just see that table, all those highchairs lined up, it was a sight to see. People were staring at us for the majority of the day, especially during our photo shoot session outside after lunch. We arrived a little early and met Jeni and Crystal at the Kids Play Area, so Olivia could run some of her energy out, it was so great to finally meet them in person. Jeni surprised Avery with an adorable handmade "beanie"/hat. I was so impressed, Jeni remembered that Avery had to see the Pediatric Neurologist due to her large dome, so she made sure she took that into consideration when picking the size, it fits perfectly, and I absolutely love it.

And have I mentioned that Jeni is a very, very talented photographer, can't you tell? She worked her magic.

After lunch we walked around a little, but I was wearing my "now too tight" cute black boots, and I was in pain, so we cut the shopping short, not to mention the girls were napless and it was approaching 4pm. We had planned on going to State Fair that night with a few other ladies and their babes, but plans changed and we ended up just camping out in our hotel room and getting pizza from Mellow Mushroom for dinner. The girls were sleepy and we needed some downtime, so it worked out perfectly.

So about the hotel...we booked a 2 Bedroom Suite, which turned out to be a 1 bedroom, which was also a loft, and a pull down bed in the "Family Room" area. So the whole area was open, which meant we had to basically watch TV on Mute after the girls were in bed. Avery went down a little before 7pm, we took Olivia up around 7:30pm, their Pack n Plays were about 4 feet away from each other, how Olivia's screaming didn't wake Avery up I will never know, but I am very thankful for it, it gives me hope that if down the road they have to share a room it might not be so bad.

We slept in...everyone was up at 7:23am, Brad and I took turns getting ready, Avery had a major blow out, Avery changed clothes a few times, Olivia ate eggs in the Residence Inn breakfast area and drank some of my Cranberry Juice and then finally we packed up and headed to "Brunch". We met The Butner Family and Dan and Erin at The Cheesecake Factory at 10am. Turns out it wasn't a great idea, while it was good to see them, two long, sit down meals in one weekend is a bit too much to ask of the girls. Olivia was ready to run before the server took our orders, Avery skipped her morning nap, so she was ready for another bottle and then ready for a snooze. So it wasn't very relaxing for me. I ate as fast as I possibly could and then walked around the Restaurant with Olivia while everyone else finished eating. We walked around the mall for a little while, let Olivia & Ford play in the Kids Play Area..

Before packing it all back up and heading back to Richmond. We asked Olivia if she wanted to pick out a present in The Disney Store...she walked around the store several times, but never settled on anything so we left empty handed. Within minutes of getting on the road, the car was quiet...both girls were out....FINALLY.