Ring out the Old...with a walk

 After lazing about in our pajamas and playing new Christmas games for a week, we decided it was time for some fresh air. So we donned our gay winter apparel and started tromping through the forest.

Cece picked out Bryn's earrings as a sibling Christmas gift.

Not sure about this whole frozen pond thing

 Our first stop was the frozen reservoir. It wasn't that frozen, and acted more like jello when one jumped upon it. Or broke entirely when Peter stomped on it.

 We then headed on to the woodland destination- McD's. It was either that or the gas station. Glamorous, I know.

I'm a little obsessed with the brooding hemlock forest behind them.

Camping in the cabin of fire

I volunteered to take the YW (all three of them) to the Stake Youths camping trip up in Raymond, NH where the church has a camp with cabins and a lake and such. It was a perfect chilly fall campout, and our cabin came equipped with a wood stove which I had roaring well into the night until it felt like Phoenix AZ on a July midday. The next day we helped take the docks out of the lake for the winter and then went for a hike to a lovely but closed weather tower.

I struggle with camping menus because I'm always trying to find the balance between deliciousness, healthiness, and easiness. I think I balanced it just right this time. For dinner we procured hot subs from the local subway. For breakfast we ate bagels and cream cheese and scrambled eggs and sausage (I did bring my camp stove). For lunch we had PBJ bagels and a variety of snacks and fruit and veggies.

Our glorious Young Women

The surroundings we were forced to behold

Bottle flipping by the docks

In Fourteen Hundred and Ninety Two...

We took a Columbus Day hike to Bear Hill Tower in the Fells. The frigid air held the promise of warmth in the sunbeams that hit our backs.

Troll Hidey-hole

After the hike we hit the Museum of Science.

Refuge, I'll never Stop

Raleigh (JonesRoadTriptoNC)

We made it to NC just in time for the wedding Sanjeet (sort of a meet and greet) in the evening at the hotel we were also staying at.

The main motivator for this road trip was that Peter's work friend, Gokul, was getting married to Brinda in an elaborate and traditional Indian wedding ceremony. We warned our kids that for a couple of days there would be nothing to eat but Indian food (they're pretty picky eaters and we were unsure of how this would go over). They said they were game to try lots of new and potentially spicy things, so we didn't have any "regular" food on backup.

The Sanjeet provided many new experiences- Bryn, Ivy, and I got henna tattoos. The kids tried lots of new things (and even liked some of them). There was dancing, toasting, a fun song (Brinda and Gokul set to Titanium), and lots of meeting new people.

my outfit for the Sanjeet. Bryn had a pink one in this style

The next morning we attended the wedding (at a Hindu temple). It was a long ceremony, but fortunately decorum was neither expected nor observed. People came and went, kids played in the aisles, chatting and low-level noise were no big deal. After the ceremony, we had an amazing luncheon. The kids drank their weight in mango lassi. Unfortunately, I spilled something on my only dress, so after the luncheon we made a quick trip to Ross and I found a great dress for the reception that evening.

Ivy and Calvin cut the rug

wedding luncheon food- my plate

We stopped at a custard place on Autumn's recommendation, then drove over to an awesome park in Cary. After that we wanted to go for a hike/walk, so we drove to a lake and started walking on a trail, but it soon became apparent that the hike was going to be more miserable (bugs, heat, humidity, us in nice clothes, too long) than it was worth, so we turned around went back to the reception hotel.

Frozen custard- yum!

The Lake of heat and bugs and misery, formally known as Lake Crabtree

The reception was yet another amazing cultural experience, and we loved being able to be with Brinda and Gokul on their special day. We ate another fabulous meal and our kids spent some time dancing before we called it a night and got in our car around 11pm. AND DROVE ALL THE WAY BACK HOME IN ONE GO.

We tag-team drove (I'd drive for a couple of hours while Peter slept, and then we'd switch), figuring we'd stop at a hotel if it got to be too much. Everything went pretty well until around 6am when we were both dog tired and Cece woke up fussing. Somewhere in NY my eyes started closing on their own while I was driving, so we pulled over and switched for the last time. I slept straight until we pulled in our driveway just before 9am and we stumbled up to our house, told the kids they were on their own, and went to bed. The End.