School's Out!

Well, at least for the kids. My online summer class started up this week and along with Corban's birthday and a sleepover with 7 other 13-14 year old boys, my days have been flying by.

So, let me back up a little bit. The kids had their last day of school on May 31st. Corban finished 7th grade, Sydney finished 5th grade and Jared finished 4th grade.

They only had a half day of school that day so I picked them up, we came home and packed up the camper and as soon as Mike got home we headed south. Once again we stopped at Tamarak for the night. 

We knew Mike's parents, Ron & Flo, were heading north from Florida (to stay at our house for the weekend and attend our nephew's graduation), so we called them to see where they were. It turned out they would be passing through Fancy Gap at the same time we were so we met them at a gas station and shared lunch inside our camper. How cools is that?

Once we finally made it to our campground in Selma and got everything set up, we went out to find dinner. We came across San Marcos Mexican Restaurant which had an absolutely packed parking lot so we knew it must be good. We went inside and there was no wait, so we had Mexican for dinner. Mike was in the mood for tacos and chorizo so he ordered the first thing he saw that had those in the description. Seems he missed the, "diablo" part of the description, though and they came out with the hottest pepper sauce on them either of us had ever tried! He couldn't finish one, so I traded him one of my tacos and ate one of his. It was SO good! But my mouth was completely numb by the time I was done - ha! I have no doubt we will be making a return trip there! We also fell in love with an appetizer that had several different dips (guac, queso, pico, etc) that made every member of the family happy.

That night we had our first ever bonfire at the camper (how can that be true?!) and ate s'mores. 

The cool thing about this trip was we really had no agenda. Our other trips have all been fun but they have also involved a lot of information gathering and driving around and thinking and praying really hard. This trip felt like a (short) vacation. We played, we rode bikes, we shopped, we swam. We wore ourselves out. And it was good and needed.

On Friday night we had tickets to see Rogue One at the Koka Booth Amphitheatre, an outdoor theater. We picked up Subway for the kids and Indian food from Cilantro and had a picnic dinner under the stars. What a seriously fun family night!

Saturday was another fun filled day. Mike and I got up early and left the kids at the camper while we went on a bike ride. That's practically a date for me and probably one of my favorite moments of the trip. We spent most of the day by the pool. The kids play so well together and it's fun to watch them swim and play - and wear themselves out!

For dinner we finally got to take the kids to one of our favorite restaurants, The Mason Jar Tavern in Fuquay Varina. The kids had fun, the food is good, all the drinks are served in mason jars - and so are the desserts! We love treating ourselves to the dessert flight - four small jars filled with 4 of their desserts. Seriously good.

The one thing they don't serve is coffee, though, and after a dessert like that one needs coffee. Well, our waiter, Burke, recommended we walk a block down the road to The Mill. Its actually a coffee, beer and wine bar. We walked in and Jared asked if that was how we could decorate our next house. He certainly has his own opinions and taste. Go ahead, check out their web site. I'll wait. And just like that we have another place I am sure we will return. 

Sunday found us back at The Summit Church in Cary which will be moving to Apex at the end of summer. Jared's teacher as actually from Cuyahoga Falls and we had mutual friends!

After church we went to The Cipher Escape Room. What a fun family activity! We didn't get out but the person that worked there said we got really far for it being our first time. I am sure it won't be our last escape room!

We visited the new church site (and took pictures of our reflection in the front windows - nerds!).

Since we were in Apex, we popped over the Salem street for dinner at Anna's Pizzeria and of course coffee at Common Grounds. 

We wrapped up the day with more pool time and dinner at the camper. Monday morning found us heading home. The weather was cloudy and rainy and that sums up how I felt about leaving North Carolina. However, we'll be back before you know it! More to come...