New Year in North Carolina

My mother [Sarah], my brother [Keith], his wife [Jolene], and my 1 year old niece [Maddy] all live in Greensboro, NC and I decided to brave the cold and pay them a visit over the New Year holiday. I have very few winter type clothes on the boat outside of tennis shoes, blue jeans and fleece, so my brother provided a winter coat and my mother rounded up some sweaters, long pants, dark socks, and shoes and so I could stay warm and still look presentable during my stay. I left Ft. Lauderdale at a balmy 80 degrees and arrived at RDU to a not-too-terrible-as-long-as-you-stay-out-of-the-wind 50. My brother found it quite amusing to not unlock my door and leave me shivering outside the truck. Sadist. I vowed then to remain inside for as much of my stay as possible.

When I did venture out, I saw one of the coolest things I have ever seen. One of the neighborhoods, Sunset Hills, started decorating with lighted christmas balls several years ago and it has since become quite the phenomenon. It's very hard to get pictures of what it's like to drive down these residential streets with hundreds of colored balls of light strung throughout the trees, so this YouTube video gives you a better idea and the story of how it got started and what it's turned in to.

Very cool.

But the very best part of being in North Carolina is my niece, Maddy. She's changed quite a bit since I saw her 6 months ago for her 1st birthday. She has teeth in the plural whereas, last time, it was tooth in the singular. She's added quite a few words to her blossoming vocabulary and she's got her sign language down for when she's hungry, wants more, or has had enough - done. I saw her take her first wobbly steps on my last visit, but this time she's fully mobile and pretty fast. Her laugh is contagious and to her, most things are pretty funny so, we spent a lot of time giggling over not much of anything.

Here you can see her sporting both presents I gave her: a hand-knitted scarf [mom got a matching one] and a FL Keys t-shirt [dad got a matching one in green] - "Everyone Needs a Porpoise in Life."

We had an interesting New Year's Eve when our simple plan to stay home, eat snacks, play games, and watch the ball drop where interrupted by EMS taking my sister-in-law to the emergency room after a violent bought of vomiting came on suddenly and left her deathly dehydrated and unresponsive. I met the EMT's at the door with directions to the bedroom upstairs and shhh'd them all so they wouldn't wake the baby...who slept through the whole ordeal. They pumped Jolene full of fluids at the hospital and sent her home weak, sore, and very tired.

So we had a New Year's Eve do-over Sunday night with more snacks and some Wii bowling. Having never bowled on a Wii before and very rarely in real life, I tied for last on the first game but came back with respectable 179 to win the second round and a another win on the 3rd round as well. I am currently trying to figure out how we can fit a Wii on the boat...it's pretty fun.

It was 20 degrees when I left NC on Tuesday. In the meantime, a cold front was residing here in the Keys, and my very first day back was the coldest day of the winter with a low of 46. A bit of blame has been placed on me by friends here in the harbor saying that I drug the cold air back with me when I traveled south. We're expecting even colder weather next week with wind chill advisories for Monday.

Brrr...again.

I had a great time in Greensboro and thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with family.

Happy New Year, Everyone!