Week One of R&R

We're on a 'Rest and Relaxation' trip to the U.S. right now.  This is an official term and it means my employer pays for the family's tickets to travel either to a designated R and R point or home.  In the case of Barbados, we are permitted 1 such trip during the 2-year tour and the designated R and R point is Miami; we opted to come home.  The leave time is my own, from my annual leave allotment, which I don't have much of since I started this job not too long ago, We landed in CLT the afternoon of Fri, 9/30 and it has been a whirlwind.  This is how we spent our first week:

• Dinner with my parents and bro at a nearby Mexican place.  It was delicious!
• My BFF came on Saturday, and we had a really fun time spending her birthday together by going shopping. 
• We held a surprise early 60th birthday lunch for my father on Sunday and it was a success.  It was great to get to see my extended family all at once... I truly miss our fairly frequent and loud gatherings (and experiencing them occasionally via Skype just isn't the same).  Sunday evening, we visited with a few of our oldest friends at one of the friends' homes.  This also meant a play date for 4 kids since we all have kids born within a few months of each other.  It was wonderful, and so comfortable, to just hang out over pizza and watch the kiddos run amok.  
• M took care of a couple of errands on Mon morning, and then we all went to see my favorite stylist-friend of 9+ years for much needed haircuts for S and me.  We left feeling much lighter, from good company and less hair, and had a nice lunch at Qdoba while S napped. Third full day back in the U.S. and we finally made it to Target... well, technically, M had already been on Sat night to pick up a few items for the baby which I purposely chose not to lug over here with me.  We only had an hour, and it was only enough to get through a few aisles of baby items!
• Tuesday meant eye doctor appts for M and me (yes, they have eye docs in Barbados, but we prefer to see our regular eye doc in CLT and avoid the insurance reimbursement hassle), then lunch with friends at a Mexican place, and we hit the road for Durham.  We spent Tues evening and Wed morning visiting my other BFF and her family.  My how life looks different now that we have 4 little boys between us (she is clearly doing the heavy lifting with 3!).  It was lovely to catch up and to watch our boys interact with one another as though they had been friends for longer than their little memories really allow. 
• On Wed morning, we left for DE to spent time with M's parents and bro and any visiting family.  Road trips that used to be fun are now a bit more challenging with a small child who would prefer to be moving around and not stuck in a car seat for hours.  But, we managed.  We were in DE from Wed evening to Sat evening, during which time we caught up with family, celebrated M's Mom's 60th birthday (I know, we planned it so well!), and did a LOT of shopping at the nearby outlets.  
• In one week's time, we managed to eat twice at Mexican restaurants, once at Qdoba, and twice at Taco Bell.  We also ate pizza 3 different times.  So there it is folks... after missing family and friends, we miss Mexican food and pizza!

In retrospect, it was probably too much to do in one short week with a small child.  But, it was really nice to see everyone.  The best part is that thanks to technology/social media (email, Vonage, Skype, Facebook), we are not that out of touch with most of our loved ones.  I will tell you about Week Two when it's over...