It's no secret that Carolina and Duke are big rivals - especially in Men's Basketball. My aunt and uncle are North Carolina transplants, but since landing in Chapel Hill eight years ago, they have become huge UNC fans. What I never realized is how close the two schools are to each other - and how different they are! It's literally about ten miles between campuses. For our final day in Chapel Hill, Amy drove us over to Durham to check out Duke's campus. At approximately 6,500 undergraduations, Duke is merely twice the size of Hope College - and MUCH smaller than UNC. They also have about 8,000 graduate students, so overall the student body is about half the size of UNC, I guess.
Anyway, we drove around Duke's campus a bit. It is sort of hidden amongst the trees - the famous Duke Forest. From what we saw, the campus is beautiful. Old and historic. No pictures because it was a nap-in-motion, and we didn't want to ruin his groove. After our tour (lots of interesting tid-bits from our tour guide), we lunched at Whole Foods and headed home.
In the afternoon we took a walk to a nearby park. Last time I put Jonah in a swing, it was giggle-central. He loved it. This time? Eh.
The underside of the armrest on every plane, apparently, has a single, solitary screw. When the armrest is raised, the screw is visible - and, apparently, infinitely interesting to my child. Without fail, this little screw kept Jonah endlessly entertained. We're not sure if he thought it was a button, or something he could grab. But he went crazy every time he saw it. You had to watch him closely, though, because inevitable he tried to lick it (and everything else on the plane...yuck!). We've been home a week and he's not sick yet...so hopefully he didn't pick up SARS or something.
Anyway, we drove around Duke's campus a bit. It is sort of hidden amongst the trees - the famous Duke Forest. From what we saw, the campus is beautiful. Old and historic. No pictures because it was a nap-in-motion, and we didn't want to ruin his groove. After our tour (lots of interesting tid-bits from our tour guide), we lunched at Whole Foods and headed home.
In the afternoon we took a walk to a nearby park. Last time I put Jonah in a swing, it was giggle-central. He loved it. This time? Eh.
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| Better with Dad |
After the swings, Jonah showed off his iron cross. He got all excited watching the Olympics and went through this gymnastics phase. You should see his pommel horse.
When we got back to the house, it was time for the big weigh-in. See, Jonah had a doctor's appointment last week after we returned home - and after a poor showing at his four-month check-in, we were nervous about whether he was gaining enough. The verdict?
He seems sufficiently roll-y to me. (The doctor thought so, too.)
The cat. Kevin and Amy have this cat, Reese. She likes to eat. Apparently, she likes to eat at 5:30am. On the nose. They have a little automatic food dispenser that rotates around revealing Reese's food at 5:30am and 5:30pm. And apparently Reese has learned to tell time. Each day, twice a day, at around 5:15, here is where you could find Reese. Waiting patiently.
Okay, it's Paleo confession time. I had mentioned that we were eating grain-free, (mostly) dairy-free, legume free during our vacation. Amy did a fabulous job planning awesome meals - we're talking sword fish and tuna, bbq grilled chicken, squash soup and sausages, turkey burgers (no bun), bean-less chili. Awesome. Okay, so we had ice cream the first night, and Kevin and I had cheese in our eggs (we're rebels). But for the most part, we were eating pretty great. Except... when Brandon and I were walking around UNC's campus, we sort of cheated. We each had a Krispy Kreme doughnut. I love a good doughnut, and Brandon hates feeling left out. Or he was "saving me" from eating both of them, or whatever. So we ate a doughnut. All in all, I'd say it was a pretty good week, though. (I may have also had a cinnamon roll that morning. And a cookie at Whole Foods. Shoot. Maybe I didn't do as well as I thought).
We ended our final evening with....more Downton Abbey! Kevin and Amy had polished off season one while were at the beach, so we dove right into season two. It did not disappoint. Except that I fell asleep part way through the episode. Some things never change.
Bonus photos of Jonah:
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| Safe! |
The underside of the armrest on every plane, apparently, has a single, solitary screw. When the armrest is raised, the screw is visible - and, apparently, infinitely interesting to my child. Without fail, this little screw kept Jonah endlessly entertained. We're not sure if he thought it was a button, or something he could grab. But he went crazy every time he saw it. You had to watch him closely, though, because inevitable he tried to lick it (and everything else on the plane...yuck!). We've been home a week and he's not sick yet...so hopefully he didn't pick up SARS or something.
Not from vacation, but trouble for sure!
New favorite way to ride? Up high. Especially if Mom has a messy ponytail, all the better for grabbing!
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| (Go Tigers! Clinched their place in the playoffs with a win last night!) |
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