Toni's Birthday

After being home from Illinois for only 3 days, we packed up and headed out again. This time we were off to North Carolina to celebrate our friend Toni's 40th birthday and to see Big Papi.

We were scheduled to get in at 7:00 on Thursday, but our flight was late into JFK and we missed our connection, which meant we got to spend an extra 4 hours in the airport. Thankfully if you are going to get stuck in an airport, JFK is a good one to do it in. The only problem was we didn't make it to Toni and Tosha's house until midnight, and we all crashed right away.

Friday we were ready to make up for the lost time, and Jackson started off by getting showered with attention from his Aunt Tosh (above) and Aunt Toni (below).

We all went out and had Mexican food for lunch since we don't get anything ethnic in Fredonia, and then we walked around the Farmer's Market in Raleigh to find the perfect strawberries for the birthday party. Toni and Rachel tasted a strawberry from every stand in the place before deciding on the right one (which just happened to be the one with the cute salesgirl). That evening we ordered in pizza, and Rach and Toni talked Susie and Tosh into letting us watch the Celtics/Cavs game. It was amazing to have an entire day without something scheduled or on a deadline. We totally went with the flow for the first time in months.

Saturday, we woke up feeling rejuvenated, and it was a good thing we did because there was a party to be had!

The great Georgia Beers and her partner Bonnie came over early to help set up, and Rachel got Georgia to sign one of her books while they talked about writing a little bit. Georgia's birthday had been earlier in the week, so there was cause for extra celebrating there. Jackson of course was right in the middle of things as always. Here he is with the birthday girls.

The back yard filled up quickly as Toni's friends arrived. Everyone was treated to "Toni's Favorite Things," most of which were southern foods. We ate BBQ, fried chicken, strawberry short cake, shrimp, sweet potato pie, and washed it all down with sweet tea. We gorged ourselves all afternoon while getting to know a lot of really cool new people. Jackson didn't know what to do with all the new friends to play with him and tell him how pretty he was.

Later in the afternoon, Will and Brandy drove up from Greenville to join the fun. It is great to have two sets of friends so close together that they hang out even when you aren't there, which is the case with our Greenville friends and our Raleigh friends. Will had actually met many of the people at Toni's party when we was visiting the girls a few weeks before, so the party continued on into the early evening when we headed inside to play some Wii.

Toni and Will both have Wiis and are a bit fanatical about the tennis, though please note Will's super-aggressive stance compared to Toni's laid back approach. That is Brandy on the computer there showing Tosh a picture of her new love interest.

Will spent the night there with us all, and we wrapped up the evening by watching The Great Debaters, which we highly recommend for those of you who haven't seen it yet.

Sunday morning we all went to church together before going out to lunch. Jackson got a little more time with the T's before having to say goodbye.

We can tell he misses them terribly and all the attention they heap on him. We cannot wait to see them again in Baltimore next month.