Where you goin' Coen?: We should do this more often

Last weekend we packed up the car and headed to Raleigh, N.C. to meet up with my Grandpa C and all of his kids, their spouses and their kids and go to the State Fair. It was A LOT of sun spending time together as one bid family. I got to play with all the kids and with my Aunties and Uncles, too!

We arrived around 3pm Friday afternoon and got to see Auntie M and her kids, Sammi & J at the pool. I wanted to join them, but there wasn’t time before we had to go get ready to go to The Angus Barn for dinner.

Me, Grandpa C, J, LA and Sammi

I had a lot of fun playing with Auntie M.

I understand the food was AMAZING from all of the “mmm-ing” I heard that night. Mommy had Rack of Lamb and Daddy had bacon wrapped steak and crab claws. The big kids got to go back to the kitchen to pick out their own ice cream and toppings! Auntie M said it was really neat to see the working kitchen – she said she felt like one of the guys from “Goodfellas.” We topped the night off by sharing three desserts: Chocolate Chess Pie, Blackberry Cobbler and a Grand Marnier Parfait that made for more mmm-ing.

Everybody at the mall

The next day we had breakfast with a scattering of family members, Grandpa C and Aunt S, who is pregnant with twins! I’m so excited that there’ll be more cousins for me to play with! Then we packed up and headed off to Crabtree Valley Mall where we ate some good kabobs, took a family photo and bummed around a few stores until it was time to head back to the hotel for a quick nap before the main event: The Fair!

Me & my wacky travel companions

The fair was so much fun, despite the chilly weather and the crazy crowds. There was one point where it literally took us 20 minutes to move through a gridlock of people who were apparently all either trying to get some of the fried specialty foods (oreos, ho-hos, bacon, to name a few) and the line to get into the tractor pull event.

Hanging out with false Mickey and Minnie

The whole thing was pretty thrilling; from the loud tractor pull engines to the smells from the food vendors to the whirling lights atop of the ‘Scrambler.” There were some stressful moments when we lost track of each other (not me personally!) but I think we all went home with smiles from having this rare chance to hang out and fun with each other! The next morning I had more playtime with Auntie Lexi, Uncle Bob and cousin Ian - once in our hotel room and then again later we met up at Concord Mills in Charlotte. So cool.

It definitely makes me wish we all lived closer to each other, but I guess the point is that we love each other enough to make the time to come together and enjoy each other when we can.