It's a party in the USA!

Blog silence for the past couple weeks is because.... I've been getting ready and traveling to the US!

Not to underplay how much I love my family, but one of the most magical parts of the trip so far has been this:

Yes, that is a whole row to myself on the 15 1/2 hour flight to Dallas! You sometimes see these lucky people but I never thought I would be one of them. I am not sure how I can ever go back to normal air travel after this. =)

The solid night's sleep set me up well for all the fun family festivities that happened non-stop once I got there. We had a retirement party for my Dad, which was a blast!

I was also lucky in that I happened to be home on Mothers Day weekend! And I was triplely lucky that my grandmothers were both there too. So the only thing to do to celebrate at that level is a high tea, which Holly and I put together for them.

We used my mom's wedding china and some other family heirlooms, which made it extra special!

Meanwhile, T went for a hike in the lovely mountains of Tenneseee.

Being with my family means spending time at the boat dock and enjoying the peacefulness of the river. I really miss being a one minute walk away from the water!

We also got in a visit with Toby's family. As always, there was plenty of time with the kiddos, and hang out time for the grownups at night. I think Toby's mom probably got confused about what year it was and at times thought we'd been transported back to Toby's high school days!

Celebrating May Fourth as only Mintons can

It wasn't all fun and games, though. T and I boldly decided to clean out our storage unit in one of the afternoons we were in town. It started off looking pretty intimidating!

But we are lucky to have so much helpful and generous family (with pickup trucks!) that we ended the afternoon with this!

No visit home is complete without spending at least a day with Holly. In this case, it ended up being almost two full days, for which I am so grateful!

Celebration dinner at Bonterra Wine Room, Greenville, the most southern food possible (pimento cheese with fried green tomato), and afternoon drinks at Northampton Wines

Greenville, Hudson, and Bonterra (in a refurbished church)

Being home after a year was interesting. I never before realized how "down home" being in the South can feel. From the signs along the road to the way people talk to you, it's a different feeling from anywhere I've been in the world.

The Gaffney peach of House of Cards fame

I also could swear that everyone's southern accents have gotten stronger, but T says they've always been like that. =)

The lovely Main Street in Greenville

The trip was such a whirlwind! I am not sure that such a short trip is worth the sadness of only getting to see our friends and family for a few hours (if at all!). Certainly all the people that saw the tears at the Charlotte airport would probably not think so either. But I'm so lucky and happy to have been able to see my most-loved ones, even if it was fast!

The farewell committee to see us off to the airport =\

Thank you to all the family and friends who transported us, fed us, helped us, and generally made our quick visit so very happy!

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