A Carolina Christmas

Our flight to North Carolina on Christmas day evening went really well! We had a direct, non-stop flight from Salt Lake to Raleigh and it was glorious! With enough snacks and the saving grace of the iPad, Charlie did wonderfully. We arrived in NC around 11pm or so and drove back to my parents' house so Charlie could go to bed after saying hi to everyone. A couple hours later, Trevor and I went to bed too (around 2am EST). Unfortunately, only about an hour or so after that, Charlie woke up crying, so I gave him some Tylenol and helped him fall back asleep. That only lasted for 45 minutes. From about 4:30am on, he was up crying because he was in pain and he was SO tired and just wanted to sleep but he couldn't because his ear was hurting him. He had been getting over a week-long cold that had finally subsided, but flying on the airplane caused fluids to get into his ear canals and he got an ear infection. It was SO sad and hard not being able to do anything to help him until the doctor's office opened at 8am. It was also so hard not to get any sleep after all that traveling. We went to a local instacare when it opened and got the beloved prescription for some antibiotics. Poor Charlie was so tired, he finally passed out in Trevor's arms while waiting for the doctor, just to be awoken minutes later when the doctor came in.

This picture shows the difference between my happy boy on Christmas morning, and my tired, sick boy just 24 hours later. Quite a big change in such a short time. :(

Over the next week, he was on a regimen of Tylenol, Ibuprofen, Zyrtec, and antibiotics to help with the pain, bacteria, and fluids. At least he was feeling back to his normal self within a day of getting the drugs!

Sometime the next day, we got to open our presents. Charlie wasn't too interested in the actual opening part (still!), but he did enjoy the gifts he got, especially the Mickey Mouse figurines from Uncle Mike!

Later in the week, after extended family from my Mom's side arrived in town, a few of us - me, Trev, Uncle Don, Caroline, and Margaret - decided to go to the local UNC basketball game! (We would have gone to Duke, but it's about 10x more expensive!). This was our view from our seats in the upper stands. The game was an easy one for Carolina to win, so it wasn't super interesting, but it was still fun to have the experience!

Trevor was pretty excited to see Michael Jordan's  jersey hanging from the rafters!

And we also were the LAST ones in line to get a picture with UNC's mascot, Ramses! (Darn it, I'm half blinking!)

After the game, we drove around campus for a minute and Trev and I got a couple pictures snapped at the old well on campus. Tourism at its finest. ;)

Other Christmas activities included roasting hot dogs and s'mores over a backyard bonfire, singing Happy Birthday to Jesus and eating cake, eating lots of delicious fresh mex food made by my Dad, and playing lots of games of nertz!

The weather was also pretty nice while we were there, especially compared to frigid, snowy Utah, so we spent a couple hours one day at Pullen Park, letting Charlie play on the playground and ride the carousel and choo-choo train! He really just loved it all, even though he was very ready for a nap when we were done! :)

At some point during the trip we went to Albemarle for a day to visit Nana and Granddaddy and my Dad's side of the family. I really can't remember what part of the trip it happened in. We did so much in just 8 days that it's all a bit of a blur when I try to pull it up from memory! Charlie loved seeing Nana and getting to play with all of her toys.

For New Year's Eve, we (Me, my Mom, my Dad, Mike and Trevor) rang in 2014 rather low-key by watching the Texas A&M vs Duke football game, where Duke lost, sadly, but just barely at the end. And then we watched the ball drop on the big screen TV in my parent's basement while sipping some sparkling cider. We are party animals!

We also visited the Marble's Children's Museum one rainy afternoon for a couple hours. I'm pretty sure Trevor liked it as much as Charlie did! Haha :)

The flight back home also went very well, and fortunately it didn't cause Charlie's ears to start hurting again (thank you Zyrtec and antibiotics!!). Here's Charlie looking so grown up in his OWN seat on the plane:

We had so much fun that it took me a few days to get enough energy to get back to normal life! Sometimes you need a vacation after your vacation, and here's me the next day after getting home in my sweats and no makeup to prove it! :)

Merry Christmas (and New Year's) 2013!