Saturay the reunion was offically over. We were told the cleaners were coming at eleven, so everyone was dashing around gathering up all their stuff and trying to not forget anything. We didn't technically get out of there until a bit after eleven, but the cleaners were no where in sight,so I think we were pretty safe. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone, although I didn't actually tear up until we were in the car driving away. I really hope we can make this a tradition. Not every year, maybe every 3 years or so, but it definitely needs to be repeated.
To ease the pain of saying goodbye to all our family, I had arranged to meet our good friend Dani, and her children in Charlotte that same day. Her husband is stationed at Fort Bragg, so she drove 3 hours and we drove 2 hours and we met at Discovery Place in downtown Charlotte. They used to live in Frankfurt, and we haven't seen them since May two and half years ago It was so nice to catch up with them again. Her children are way fun, and my kids get along with them like gangbusters. It also helped that we picked such a child-friendly place to meet. It was packed full of hands-on exhibits and fun things for the kids to try and do. We spent about 3 hours there, but we could have definitely stayed longer if they'd have let us!
We went to our motel and dropped off Chris, who wasn't feeling well, then headed out to Cici's Pizza. This is an all-you-can-eat type place, with tons of fun different pizzas, pastas, and a salad bar. We had never been before, obviously, but the kids really liked it. Chris asked to stop at Taco Bell and bring him home some tacos, which shouldn't have been too hard to do. Unfortunately, the Tomtom giving us directions decided to send us off on a wild goose chase, so it ended up taking a little longer than expected. The kids gave out a big cheer when we finally saw the Taco Bell sign glowing in the darkness. Corben rode with us in our car, and that helped pass the time for the kids quite nicely.
The kids really wanted to have Corben sleep in one of our hotel rooms with us, but they had to get up really early to be back in time for their home ward so we had to nix that idea. They were really disappointed not to be able to spend more time with him, but they are moving to Virginia next year so there is definitely the possibility of seeing them in the future. After the girls were asleep, I snuck back into Dani's room and we stayed up talking for much later than we should have. I can't believe we have managed to stay in touch through so many moves and so many years. She was my roommate back before I married Chris. There was a time when we lost contact for a while, but we have managed to keep it together pretty good for the last little while. The internet is a marvelous invention! Oh and Dani, the jam is way delish. The jar is pretty much gone, we ate it so fast. Thank you.