So I’m finally caught up with my trip posts. It’s 10:20 PM and we’re in a hotel room in Dayton, Ohio. We traveled from Waxhaw this morning, picked up my sunglasses from the Cozart’s where I’d left them last night, then headed up through NC, Virginia, West Virginia, and most of the way through Ohio. It was actually a pretty good drive, not too tough, went pretty quickly.

We stopped in West Virginia at a Cracker Barrel for lunch. I’d never been in West Virginia before today. Well, not quite true; I think our college choir bus went through that little arm of WV and the little arm of Maryland on our way to Pennsylvania one year, but that hardly counts. Anyway, maybe the Cracker Barrel experience today wasn’t totally representative of WV and its people and culture, but maybe it is… I’ll just take it as a data point. So, we’re all familiar with the stereotypes of West Virginia and its people; of uncultured inbred toothless hillbillies… you get the idea. The funny part today was this: had I gone into that restaurant with no preconceived stereotypes about West Virginians, the ideas I’d have picked up in that hour would have pretty well matched the preconception I already had. I saw more people without teeth, in bib overalls, and/or just plain scary looking in one hour in that Cracker Barrel than I have seen in a month of Sundays at home. (Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t fearful or anything… more just amused.)

Over the Rhine graced the CD player this afternoon in honor of our Ohio travels, and tonight we hit a shopping mall to stretch our legs and eat some supper. Tomorrow morning I think we’ll be hitting the local Tim Horton’s in honor of my favorite Canadian *Dan (who speaks so highly of them!), then it’s back onto the interstate through Indiana, Illinois, and finally into Iowa. It will be good to be home.

Thursday was get-ready-to-head-home day. We picked up a cartop carrier that Ernie had salvaged for us. It is in excellent shape, and with all the post-Christmas shopping Becky did, it’s a good thing we have it! There’s no way we’d have fit all the stuff into the van. Then we started packing up to go home. Can’t believe we brought so much stuff along. Seriously, we took the back seat out of the Caravan, and it’s still packed up nearly to the ceiling, then we have the cartop carrier almost full, too. Goodness.

Thursday evening we headed in to Charlotte to meet some of our “weird internet friends” for supper and to hang out. We met Brandon, his wife Sarah, and Andrea at The Penguin near downtown Charlotte. The Penguin is a nice hole-in-the-wall place; very small, very loud, very eclectic. The jukebox would be playing heavy metal one minute and jazz the next. Very unpredictable. The burgers were good, and the specialty that we had to try was deep-fried dill pickle chips. They were fantastic.

After supper we went back to Brandon and Sarah’s apartment for dessert and to watch Brandon’s beloved Texas A&M Aggies who were playing Cal in a bowl game. The Aggies ended up losing. Sorry, Brandon. We ended up getting back to Waxhaw about 11 PM. It was a fun night, fun to finally meet some people we interact with online all the time. And yes, they’re normal people… not weirdos… just like I’m a normal, non-weird person. Heh.

December 27th found us hanging out with Becky’s family in the morning, then going in to Charlotte in the afternoon. Becky’s Mom’s 64th birthday was on the 27th, so we took her out to dinner. Actually, Faith, Ernie, and Brandi surprised her, too, by meeting us for dinner. We had a fun time, and the food was excellent. Then it was off to a mall for a little post-Christmas shopping.

To my surprise, Blockbuster allowed me to return the previously-viewed DVDs I’d gotten for Christmas. So, I managed to return them and then order the complete Firefly series on DVD for about the same price. Woohoo!

Only a few more trip days to go…

The day after Christmas found us trying to sleep off all that food we ate the day before. We enjoyed leftovers for breakfast and lunch, again ate too much food. We played Upwards for the first time. It’s like Scrabble, but gives you the opportunity to stack letters on top of other letters to make new words… kinda fun.

We took a little walk and Brandi drove herself and Laura around the yard in her little battery-powered Corvette.

Then late afternoon came and it was time to pack up and head back to Waxhaw. We just barely fit everything into the Suburban. Traffic was kinda heavy but we made it back and crashed. Another enjoyable day. Pictures below.

This post is only a day belated, but let me wish my parents a very happy 35th anniversary! Don and Marj Hubbs were married on December 26, 1971. 35 years and 5 children later they are still going strong, and are a blessing to each of us. Congratulations Dad and Mom!

Christmas morning dawned and we packed up four adults, two small children, and lots of presents and luggage into the folks’ Suburban and headed up to Faith and Ernie’s home in Conover, NC. It was just about a 2-hour drive from Waxhaw - not bad at all. This gave Laura the first chance to meet her cousin Brandi, and oh, did they ever have fun. Brandi is almost 5. Faith and Ernie adopted her from China 3 years ago. She is a sweetie.

We opened presents and presents and more presents. Every time it seemed like we might be done, Ernie would find some more presents under the tree and we’d keep opening them. I can’t begin to keep track of what all I received; Becky is actually sitting right now documenting it all as I write this blog post… at least that way I’ll be able to write thank-yous! The one memorable thing I’ll mention here is a refrigerator magnet from Becky’s sister Cynthia; it has a cartoon of the Mona Lisa holding a fish in one hand, with the title “The DaVinci Cod”. Hehehe. [Edit: Becky corrects me that this magnet was given to her folks, not to me. Still, it is pretty cool.]

After that came Christmas dinner, and Faith had prepared enough for an army. We ate leftovers again on Tuesday and there was still far too much left over. But it was sure tasty. The rest of Christmas day was just a crash day; we watched some football, took naps, and enjoyed watching the girls play. God has certainly blessed us richly with family, friends, and material goods. I, for one, need to step back more often and realize how blessed I am.

For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given,
And the government shall be upon His shoulder
And His name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God,
The Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

Sunday morning of our trip brought us to Calvary Church in Charlotte for the Sunday morning service. It is Becky’s folks’ church, and she attended and was an intern there while in college. Then in 1998 we got married in the chapel there… so I guess we have a little history at the church. We got there early so Becky could see a few people she hasn’t seen in a while… and of course she could show off the girls.

After church we pigged out on Sonny’s BBQ, which has some phenomenal sweet tea. Then it was back to Waxhaw for an afternoon nap, and then the traditional Christmas Eve feast with Becky’s folks. Then it was off to bed for the girls as we packed up to head to Faith & Ernie’s for Christmas…

Day 4 of our trip (Saturday the 23rd) was a nice day to catch up. After sleeping in, we had a late breakfast with Becky’s folks. Or, I should say rather at Becky’s folks’ place; I’m sure they had eaten hours before we got there. The girls had some time to play with toys, and we helped prepare some food for Christmas dinner. Then in early afternoon while the girls were taking naps, Becky and I headed in to Charlotte to do a little shopping.

Charlotte is growing like crazy these days. There are new Target stores and Harris Teeter grocery stores seemingly every 2 miles or so. We stopped at one of those Target stores to pick up a few things. While there, Becky and I were browsing the toy aisles and noticed a little girl probably 4 years old with her parents in tow. She noticed a large stuffed pink unicorn slouching on the lowest shelf and told her father she wanted to get it. Without missing a beat, her father replied, “oh, but it’s asleep. Never buy a unicorn when it’s sleeping.” And that was the end of it. No questions why, no discussion; I imagine the little girl had something to think about for the rest of the afternoon. It was all Becky and I could do to make it ’round the corner to the next aisle before breaking into hilarious laughter. I can only hope I’ll be that quick on the mental draw when Laura gets a bit bigger.
Saturday night after supper we put the girls to bed and then Becky’s folks came over and we played games for a while; first several rounds of Sequence, then a few games of Pass the Pigs, which was a new one to me, but is basically a little dice game with specially-designed plastic pigs in place of dice. Then it was off to bed in preparation for church on Sunday.

Day 4 of our trip (Saturday the 23rd) was a nice day to catch up. After sleeping in, we had a late breakfast with Becky’s folks. Or, I should say rather at Becky’s folks’ place; I’m sure they had eaten hours before we got there. The girls had some time to play with toys, and we helped prepare some food for Christmas dinner. Then in early afternoon while the girls were taking naps, Becky and I headed in to Charlotte to do a little shopping.

Charlotte is growing like crazy these days. There are new Target stores and Harris Teeter grocery stores seemingly every 2 miles or so. We stopped at one of those Target stores to pick up a few things. While there, Becky and I were browsing the toy aisles and noticed a little girl probably 4 years old with her parents in tow. She noticed a large stuffed pink unicorn slouching on the lowest shelf and told her father she wanted to get it. Without missing a beat, her father replied, “oh, but it’s asleep. Never buy a unicorn when it’s sleeping.” And that was the end of it. No questions why, no discussion; I imagine the little girl had something to think about for the rest of the afternoon. It was all Becky and I could do to make it ’round the corner to the next aisle before breaking into hilarious laughter. I can only hope I’ll be that quick on the mental draw when Laura gets a bit bigger.
Saturday night after supper we put the girls to bed and then Becky’s folks came over and we played games for a while; first several rounds of Sequence, then a few games of Pass the Pigs, which was a new one to me, but is basically a little dice game with specially-designed plastic pigs in place of dice. Then it was off to bed in preparation for church on Sunday.