Home Sweet Home

our travels looked something like this: GA --> NC --> DC --> NJ --> VA --> GA

(all in about a week)

We had a great time at each of our destinations, but packing & unpacking, sleeping in different beds, and riding in the car for 1800 miles is hard on all of us... especially when mother nature throws us a curve ball such as a major snow storm!!

Our trip started in North Carolina - visiting my mother's family. Literally, as soon as we go out of the car & inside, Mercer spotted a "low-rider" car that played music and immediately went into dance. We haven't posted a video in quite awhile - but enjoy this one & notice Mercer's signature moves: a cartwheel... him going into a wind-up with his arm... and a kick over the car! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N4KayeiTo0

Mercer "got it" this year and enjoyed opening presents more than playing with the bows and boxes. We didn't take any group photos at this family gathering. Uncle Eddie's son, Michael, posed for the only picture while others who I won't mention (Uncle Mel) hid behind stuff to avoid the camera. Shout-out to Michael !!

We also got to see my dad's mother, Edith, while in town. Mercer is always a star at her nursing home as the residents and workers there enjoy watching him. He brings energy there and makes lots of people smile. Notice grandma is smiling at Mercer as he is "digging for gold." Ha! Near grandma's nursing home is an interesting development called Fearrington Village. Mercer & I paid a visit there last year and he ran around these sculptures in the field. This year, he was a little more interactive with the sculptures that were decked out for the holidays.

We continued our journey up the road - stopping in D.C. to visit Todd's brother and family. While there, Mercer's cousin, Marley, doted on him and played with him 'til it was time for him to go to sleep. She even read him his bedtime stories! Check out their awesome hats!!

The following morning, we continued our journey up the highway to New Jersey. At one point, we got off of the highway to avoid some holiday traffic. We ended up driving through the town and campus of Princeton - which is really beautiful. This was a nice diversion for us while Mercer was in the back seat napping. The following day, Todd's sister and Mercer's cousins arrived. More arrived on Christmas day & the house was full (9 adults + 9 kids under one roof). Mercer had an absolute blast playing with his cousins. At some point, a full-blown game of Nerf gun war was "on" and everyone was running around the house shooting nerf pellets at one another. Mercer hung right in there with them!!

We got a little bit of a later start on journey southward after Christmas. Overnight, New Jersey was to have gotten hit by snow - so we waited 'til daylight to see what the conditions were. Things were fine & we made it out. Later that day, however, NJ and many other states got buried by the white stuff. We drove through some beautiful postcard-like farms with a dusting of snow covering the rolling hills. Some farms had silos attached to stone farm buildings. Some farms had dilapidated wood structures that added a lot of character to the drive. If not in a hurry, it would've been great to stop and shoot some pictures. (Maybe we can explore that part of the country at some point in the future??)

We had to stop in Virginia to stay the night because as the sun set, the roads were getting slick. We were only a couple of hours from my mom's house in North Carolina, but we called it a night, then drove to her place in the morning - encountering some rough roads. Unfortunately, we lost about 1/2 a day, so we couldn't stay for a visit with my mom. We headed back to our house & when we made it home. When my head finally hit my own pillow that night... it was pure bliss!