Trip to Charlotte

Jason and I had a great time in Charlotte... so great, in fact, that I often *gasp* forgot to take pictures!  Don't worry, Daddy, yesterday's short blog will be MORE than made up with today's length!  You can see all of the pictures here, but here are some of my favorites:

Friday:
Jason and I stopped at IKEA to play for a couple of hours while J&J were still at work.  I had been once before, and I was happy to see Jason liked it as much as I had!

Falling in love with this pillow... and IKEA's affordable prices!

The highlight of visiting IKEA -- Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, and ligonberries.

We headed to Jill and Jodi's, visited for a while, then stopped by art called Metalmorphosis on our way to dinner.

Different parts of his head spin around, so it looks like a big jumble until it finally "matches up" to make this face.

Then, we ate dinner (Jason and I had BBQ sandwiches, J&J went for a variety of meats) at Mac's Speed Shop.

Go meat!!

Friday night was spent watching Harry Potter 6 and eating ice cream.

Saturday:
We got up early, ate some breakfast pitas, and then Jill, Jason, and I headed to Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens for flowers and photos while Jodi took a bike ride.

Sunflowers and bees

Can you tell we're sisters?

Jason with flowers and fountains

The green spider Jason was taking pictures of

Sniffing orchids in the orchid conservatory

After showers back at the house, we headed to Pike's, an old-timey soda shop, for lunch.  Jason got a black cow for dessert -- root beer syrup, ice cream, and soda water.

Delicious!

We walked around "Uptown" Charlotte, past the library, old hotels, and into Fourth Ward, an area of historic houses.

We had dinner back at J&J's, watched Harry Potter 7 (part 1), and stuffed ourselves with delicious French desserts from Amelie's.  They were all so pretty, but I couldn't manage to get a picture of my chocolate torte or my salted caramel brownie.  I blame all the drool.

Jason's fruit tart

Sunday:
After a leisurely morning, we headed over to the Flying Biscuit for brunch/lunch, where Shannon met up with us.  We ate lots of deliciousness (my fried green tomato BLT was yum!), and then the main event... Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2!  No spoilers here, just going to say that it was everything I hoped it was going to be.  If you're a fan, this is DEFINITELY worth the ticket cost and braving the crowds.  As the credits ran at the end, I seriously contemplated getting back in line to see it again.

Rocking the 3-D glasses in the theater

So that was our trip to Charlotte!  It was that perfect combination of relaxing and doing, doing, doing (with lots of yummy food thrown in there, too).  Yay Charlotte!