Ten days of playing--woo-hoo! We crammed as much fun and love and adventures and silliness as we possibly could into this winter break. It all started out with my birthday breakfast at Miss Shirley's with cheesecake-stuffed gingerbread French toast. Really. There's no way to make that up. After a scrumptious breakfast we played duck-pin bowling with our good friends the Lunkens. It took me a while to catch on and I felt like I was going to drop the ball each time, but I eventually got the hang of it. We exited from the bowels of the bowling alley (it's in the basement) to discover the most perfect snow! Gentle white flakes were falling to the ground, covering everything and making it beautiful, without being windy or cold or annoying. We returned home for pie-pie, my beloved newish tradition of eating pie for dinner (tarts from Neopol) and pie for dessert (a lemon tart from Dangerously Delicious). With all of my loot (toothbrush, jeans, neck pillow, Fizzy Lizzy, puzzle, cookie scoop, silk sock liners, Oriole's cup), it made for quite a wonderful 44th birthday.
By Christmas morning the gorgeous snow had gone, which was unfortunate but it did make it easier for us to get to the airport. We packed and schleped and flew on an Airbus 320 to JoJo and when we arrived we got the best present ever--Gabi! I can't believe it had been a year and half since we had seen our beautiful niece. We laughed and played and just looked at each other until it was time to go to diner. We headed out for Indian food, ran into a small snafu (they deserve a poor Yelp review) and ended up at a casual Indian dinner with really, really good food. We should make it a yule tide tradition! (Confession: I have no idea what "yule tide" means.)
Our big plans for the 26th were foiled by the weather. JoJo was devastated not to be able to show us Asheville, but the cold and rain and wind prevailed. Instead we went to expensive bowling followed by an expensive Italian dinner. On Thursday, the three of us headed out early to the Great Wolf, knowing it might be one of our last adventures there. We swam and laughed and ate and got wet and had a really, really good time. We took a break in the afternoon, ate some Mexican food with JoJo, and went back that night to play some more. Between the water park, arcade, odd show in the lobby with fake snow and JoJo battling the waves, the Great Wolf was a huge hit.
Gabi, not wanting to miss a thing, got up early on Friday to accompany us to the Lazy 5 Ranch, a Charlotte attraction we hadn't frequented since she was a little girl. We got there early enough that the ranch was fairly empty, making the animals all that more interested in what we had to offer (food). Romi was uncertain of the llamas and emus and pigs and whatnot that surrounded the rental car, but we all got into it.
We played chicken with an emu and lost. Steven's feelings of betrayal was palpatial when he called and discovered our location. We thought he had the last laugh when we came across the giraffe pen and it was empty. However, we soon learned that the giraffes don't come out until 11 so we hit the road again, only this time there were way more cars. With Shabbat coming in early we had to hoof it, so Rob used service roads and went up the wrong way to make certain we all got to feed giraffes. Gabs and I could have done without the giraffe spit, but that's the price we willingly paid.
Steven arrived Friday night and we had a wonderful Shabbat dinner. It was glorious to have all seven of us together. Shabbat was lovely and restful (for the three of us anyway). Once the sun went down we headed out to Cabo Fish Taco, where they take your cell phone number so they can text you when your table is ready. We went in and out of Hampden-wanna-be stores and Romi even got to explore the fire station as we waited for our table. After dinner, Romi made his first trip ever to a tattoo parlor while Gabi got her third nose piercing. It looks great!
Our flight home on Sunday afternoon was not enough to deter us from some more fun. We all loaded into the Dugie mobile and headed to O-Hop for breakfast. On the way there Morgan made the discovery that the day before she had been wearing her sweater upside down. Not inside out, upside down. Think twice before letting this one operate on you! We laughed almost as much as we did when JoJo asked if the guy with the fake ID was really 23.
Full and happy from a great breakfast we went to the airport. Our flight was delayed but we eventually made it home safe and sound. The next day was our anniversary and Rob and I had a lovely lunch in Fell's Point at the Black Olive. We rang in New Year's Day with lunch at our house with Holly, Phil and Janet.
Unfortunately, everyone is now back at work and school, and the 10 days of Winter Break are just a great memory. Here's looking to the next vacation where seven people, two cats and two dogs all stay in a two-bedroom house!
