Charlotte, NC

At the end of October we took a trip to Charlotte, NC for a wedding.  Charlie has an aunt & uncle that live there and they were kind enough to let us stay with them.  We also flew Charlie's mom Janelle out for the weekend so that she could help watch Isaac.  It was a quick trip but we had a nice visit.  It was Halloween weekend, so you may notice that Isaac is wearing the vest from his Go Diego Go costume in every single picture.  

Aunt Kathy & Uncle Scott have a gorgeous home and were fantastic hosts.  Kathy's boys are all grown up but she still has a lot of their old toys.  Isaac was in heaven!  There were boxes and boxes of Playmobile, train sets, construction vehicles, dinosaurs, Matchbox cars, a garbage truck, a fire engine, etc, etc.  He is still (6 weeks later) asking to go back to Kathy's house!  He also loved staying in such a big house with lots of stairs, a big yard, and best of all - the Halloween decorations.  Isaac was obsessed with all things Halloween this year, especially ghosts.  These ghosts in the front yard were his favorite!  

Isaac also loved their dog, Brooke.

While we were there Kathy took us to a place called Lazy 5 Ranch.  I had never seen anything like this before.  You could either drive through in your own car, or ride in a big wagon.  We purchased three buckets of food and opted to stay in our car.  Immediately as you drive past the gate your car is surrounded by hungry animals.  It was actually pretty hilarious.  There was a sign at the ticket booth warning not to feed the zebras, but apparently Charlie didn't see it.  The zebra grabbed an entire bucket of food and took off!

Isaac's favorites were the pigs and the llamas which he calls "mamas" 

Here's a quick video of Janelle feeding the ostriches.  We could not stop laughing!  It was so funny because these animals would just go crazy really trying to get as much food as they could.  They made a huge mess out of Kathy's car.  Even when you were done feeding them and trying to drive off, they would chase after the car and try to get more.  And then if you had your head turned to one side watching an animal, you better watch out because some other animal would come stick their head in the other side.  Isaac of course loved it, but the adults all had a really fun time too.  

We thought these guys were pretty gutsy to drive through in a convertible!  

On Friday night Charlie had to take one of his customers out to dinner, so I went along with him while Janelle, Kathy, Scott & their son Jeff took care of Isaac.  The next morning we headed over to a local pumpkin patch.  We rode a big wagon out to the barns where they showed us how to milk a cow and let the kids feed the baby animals.  Isaac's favorite part of this activity were all of the old tractors parked out in the field of pumpkins.

The wedding was at 2:00 that afternoon, so Isaac spent the rest of the day with his new entourage.  They played at the house, rode on the neighbors Power Wheels tractor, went to a Trunk or Treat, played at the park, and had dinner at Chik-Fil-A.  Isaac was totally spoiled and had a great day!

Charlie's first job out of college was working for Calphalon.  His position started out in CA but he was eventually transferred to Toledo, OH.  I have never been to Toledo, but from what I hear it was a pretty miserable place.  Charlie became very close friends with some of his co-workers who had also been transferred.  Everyone eventually left Ohio and ended up at various new jobs around the country.  We were in North Carolina that weekend for Kristin's wedding.

I had only ever attended one Catholic mass before, and it was a funeral.  The wedding mass is a little more cheerful.  The church was beautiful and the couple was beaming the entire time.  The ceremony was over an hour and I wasn't feeling that great, but I survived!  Then we had a couple hours before the reception so we headed over to a local pizzeria with some friends.  We stayed for most of the reception, but left a little early.

Charlie with his Calphalon friends Melodie & Kristin (the bride)

We had a nice weekend and were sad that we didn't have more time to visit and had to leave so soon.  We were so grateful to Kathy & Scott for taking such good care of us all weekend, and for everyone making sure that Isaac had such a fantastic weekend.  We hope to get back there again sometime soon!