Hey, it's good to be back home again

Yesterday Uncle Trey, Maybelle, and I made the drive from Cookeville, TN, to Charleston, SC.  It's an eight hour drive, which can be a challenge for a three year old.

Guess how many stops we had to make.

Biffle generously guessed 25.  A little hyperbolic, but could have been within the right range.

But this time the answer is one. 

In some tiny town in North Carolina we stopped for lunch at a Waffle House.  A tangent:  I recognize that it's a bit odd that I could document a month of good times through stories of Waffle House.  Trey asked how often we eat at Waffle House during our regular lives, and I said once a week, on average.  I get that this is a little much for most folks, but, you know, Maybelle seriously loves her some Waffle House.  And she charms the pants off every Waffle House server she's ever interacted with.  Her gleeful request for a waffle, and then her hands-in-the-air delight when the waffle arrives--well, that's a high point on the Waffle House shift.  I see it once a week on average, and it's a delight for me, too.

At any rate, we made just one stop, and got back to Charleston with such ease that it was sort of astonishing.  Maybelle watched two videos on the computer, and she read books, listened to her playlist, sang songs, and whined a minimal amount.  Didn't nap at all, and was still easy to get along with.

Trey and I had a series of good conversations, and I got to listen to his podcast, Jawgrind, for the first time ever.  If you are a sweet human being with a love of nerds and dedication to Star Trek, you should check out this podcast.  I know this applies to several of you reading this blog.

It's now Saturday morning.  Not yet 2012, but officially new year's weekend, so we're celebrating.  In just a few minutes we're headed out to the beach (because, you know, late December weather in Charleston is 65 degrees), and we're going to soak in every minute of our time together.  We'll try to convince Uncle Trey to stay here longer than he was planning to.  Strategies:  beach time!  Biscuits and ham for breakfast!  Some sort of fabulous Charleston lunch!  Sherlock Holmes tonight on the big screen tv!  Hugs from the naked Maybelle!  Etc.

I'll let you know how it goes.