Wide Open Spaces

Everything’s bigger in… North Carolina?!? I thought the saying ended with Texas… Of course, one of the first things we noticed in America was how big all the cars are. And we really enjoyed the big parking spaces, especially since we were driving that huge van! And speaking of big, it was several days before I went into a Target and let me tell ya, HUGE! It was very nice to be able to get everything we needed from one store. In Wiesbaden our shoe store is nowhere near our furniture store, or toys, or sports equipment… We have different places we have to go for each specific item. It was very convenient to be in one store and able to get everything we needed in one stop.

After we left Charleston with Nana and Papa we went straight to visit Nana’s dad, a man we lovingly call “Gramjack.” As the story goes, my cousin, Jason, called him Jack. Trying to get him to say “Grandpa” didn’t work and Gramjack was the result. It stuck. Anyway, Gramjack has recently moved into a new home called Willow Grove and we were so excited to go see his new place. There was recently an article in Matthews Living Magazine featuring Willow Grove with three pictures of Gramjack included! Fun stuff! While there we also saw my aunt and uncle, Janice and David. Janice took Parker out to see the water fountain and he about leapt out of her arms trying to get it. She came back to get us and I followed mom and Parker with my camera ready. I had so much fun capturing his expressions!

David told me a great joke… he’s an Air Force dad: The pilot of a stunt plane came up beside a C-17 and said, “Hey, watch what I can do!” And off he went, doing loops, twists, dives, and twirls. As he finished his exciting demo he came back up beside the C-17. Unimpressed, the pilot of the C-17 said, “Okay, now watch what I can do.” After about 5 minutes of flying straight ahead, steady and smooth, the C-17’s pilot said, “How’d you like that?!?” Confused, the stunt pilot said, “What did you do?” The pilot of the large aircraft said, “I went to the bathroom and got a cup of coffee.”

This is the plane we rode home in.

We had a great visit with Gramjack before heading toward Locust. Mom, Parker and I stopped at the Tomberlin’s house to let me feed Parker while Mom ran to the grocery store. It was a sweet time for Brooke to meet Parker and me to see a side of Brooke I’ve never seen… Usually she’s being entertained by my big boys. This time she was working her hardest at entertaining Parker! She’s such a little momma!

By the time we got to Mom’s house, Hayden was already on the 4-wheeler! We had packed our motorcycle helmet for this very reason. I have to say, boys were made for the outdoors and Nana’s and Papa’s house is a great place for them to explore. Woods, fields, dry creek beds, galore. It is great to be able to send them outside to see what they can get into!

Over the course of our time in NC, we rode 4-wheelers at three different houses. Carson learned to ride Papa’s and Hayden actually learned to ride 4-wheelers that require him to change gears! Bailey was happy riding with either brother who was willing to drive him around. Such a fun experience! These pictures came out totally black and I had to edit them quite a bit in order to see the boys at all.

The next two weeks were followed by amazing fun-ness!