Raleigh NC

Friday we picked Mark up from his school and headed down to Raleigh.  Its about 3.5 hours away and will now be our closest operating temple.  This past Saturday was the first day of the open house for the Raleigh temple so we spent Friday night in Raleigh and got to the temple around 8:45 Saturday morning.  We are glad we got there when we did as it still felt pretty nice out.  We had to wait in line outside for about 25 - 30 minutes (they did not have you go online and reserve a time slot) but it worked out fine. The tour was a little more "on your own" than previous open houses because of that.  There were people in the rooms to answer questions and talk about what happened in the room but you did not go with a tour guide.  We had a much better experience this time then in Oakland.  Looking back I know I just built that up too much in my mind, had too high of expectations.  Too many memories attached to that temple. (But I am still glad we went)

It was nice to check out a new temple and take Jared and Lydia through. As we were doing so I was reflecting back on my own "first temple experience" and how much I didn't know.  I really had very few ideas what to expect.  It was all a big "surprise".  By the time Jared and Lydia will be deciding to go through the temple they will have already been through quite a few.  They are at 3 now and have at the minimum Richmond and Washington DC to come. There is so much more information available now, its nice.  We enjoyed running into a few Charlottesville friends (we ended up at the same hotel as some 1st ward friends), exploring the temple grounds and checking out the reception in the cultural hall where they had samples of the resources they used inside the temple. It was a nice way to start the day. 

Jared has had fun getting to know the Hendrick's who moved into our ward this Summer.

We headed back to the hotel to change clothes and check out.  A mid morning snack of donuts was our next stop and then we headed to the Children's museum downtown. Jared and Lydia love this museum.  We spent a few hours there and met up with some friends there for part of the time.  I mostly stayed with Lydia in the museum so I have very few pictures of Jared.  I am not sure how much longer this or any children's museums will be at the top of their list of places they want to visit. It was good to go on a trip and just let it be what Jared and Lydia really hoped for.  Some of the things we do on bigger trips are probably not at the top of their lists so this was a good trip for them. It was interesting to see what held their interest this time as opposed to previous trips to this museum.  Lydia was all over the place.  She really explored all that the museum offered.

Museum Fun

Geography/map/travel lover

This is the money room and Lydia had a lot of fun in here.  Collecting the "money" and having it dumped on her and playing in the pizza and pet shop. 

It was amazing how easy this trip was. All we had to do was get in the car and go.  No backup plans needed.  No worries about luggage or security.  It was nice.  We still plan to fly as much as we can but it is good to appreciate what we have close by.   On our way out of town we stopped for Dames Chicken and Waffles which was delicious.  I am pretty happy with my version of chicken and waffles but Dames will always hold a special place in our family.  

On the way home we stopped in Danville so I could go to Hobby Lobby and we could all get a fun drink from Sonic for the drive home.  I can't say that I like their soft serve very much and I have never eaten their food but I do love their drink selections.  Jared and I got slushies.  He picked limeade and I got vanilla raspberry.  Mark and Lydia got ice cream.  For once I was the best at ordering.  Normally I always wish I had gotten what Mark ordered but not this time.  We stopped by Mark's school so he could pick up his car and made it home just before 9:00.