bbq and kernel kustard

After our fun in Mayberry we headed south to Lexington for some yummy bbq! Now, as any connoisseur knows, Lexington, North Carolina is the Barbeque Capital of the world. :) In a city of seventeen thousand, there are over twenty barbeque restaurants.

In North Carolina, there are two completely different schools when it comes to barbeque: Eastern style and Western style.

In Eastern North Carolina, from Raleigh to the coast, barbeque means a whole hog cooked over the coals and served with a spicy sauce made from vinegar and red pepper pods. In the Piedmont and Western North Carolina mountains, Western style barbeque is king. Western style is pork shoulder, slow-cooked and served with a thin, slightly sweet tomato-based sauce or "dip".

We ended up at Whitley's Restaurant and we were not disappointed!! We had delicious chopped barbeque with barbeque slaw. Barbeque slaw is similar to coleslaw but it's made with ketchup (or tomatoes) and vinegar instead of mayo! Very yummy!! We completely forgot to take any pictures while we were there, so here's one courtesy of slashfood.com. And those are hushpuppies in the back! :)



Once we were done with lunch we headed back to the hotel so that Lexie could take a nap. And then it was back out to the streets of Winston-Salem for dinner! We ended up at Kernel Kustard near the hotel which serves hot dogs, sandwiches, frozen kustard, and popcorn! Of course we had to try it all! :)

Ben's ready for dinner!!

A Kernel Kustard Chicago Dog

Daddy and Lexie

And after our hotdogs for dinner it was time for kustard!! Christopher and Nick shared a "Cereal Killer" Jumble: Captain Crunch, Fruity Pebbles, and Cocoa Pebbles mixed with vanilla kustard. They thought it was pretty silly!!

Christopher

Nicholas

"There are gummy bears in my kustard?!?!"

Jacob had the Buckeye Sundae: chocolate kustard, peanut butter topping, and Reese's peanut butter cups , topped with chocolate whipped cream and a cherry! Lexie and I shared a Kernel Kustard Sundae: vanilla kustard, warm caramel corn, and warm caramel, topped with whipped cream and a cherry!

Kernel Kustard Sundae

We bought some popcorn on our way out and walked back to the hotel in the pouring rain! We should really invest in some umbrellas!! :) Everyone was exhausted and headed straight to bed.

She takes after her Mommy (she's sleeping with a Carrowinds Amusement Park brochure)!!

mayberry days

On Saturday we drove up to historic Mount Airy for the annual Mayberry Days festival. Mt Airy is the birthplace of Andy Griffith and it's no coincidence that Mount Airy's Main Street reminds people of the town of Mayberry from the Andy Griffith Show.

We saw a squad car downtown.

And even ran into Barney!

Christopher and Nicholas got their picture taken with Aunt Bea

Oh no! Christopher and Nicholas are in jail!!

Christopher pretending to be the Sheriff of Mayberry

Sheriff Nick

While we were up in Mount Airy, we also visited the Old North State Winery for some wine tasting. The kids were fairly cooperative and ate oyster crackers while we tried the 15 varieties of wine. We ended up joining their wine club and buying a case of wine!

a day in raleigh

Last weekend we packed up the kids and headed to Raleigh to go to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. It take a little over an hour to get to Raleigh, so we brought along some drinks and snacks for the car.

Lexie's ready to go!!

We were very excited that we made it for the last day of the Chocolate Exhibition. It is a traveling exhibit on loan from the Field Museum in Chicago and chronicles chocolate through the ages. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside.

Christopher and Nicholas ready for Chocolate!

After learning all about chocolate, we set off to explore the rest of the museum. We learned all about the different areas of North Carolina!!

North Carolina from the sky

Acrocanthosaurus

The museum even has a living conservatory with butterflies flying all around. The kids were so excited to be up close and personal with them!

Once we finished at the museum, we went for a walk around the Capital.

Nick thought this was a porcupine!

And also wanted his picture taken next to a cannon.

We stumbled upon the artSPARK event while we were walking around downtown. Over 400 street painters decorated the street and there were all kinds of unusual pieces of art.

Raleigh artSPARK

We headed back to the Capital and walked around the grounds for awhile.

Entrance to the Capital

Jacob was a good sport and pulled the stroller up the stairs!

The grounds of the Capital.

On the way back to the car, Nick wanted to stop and get his picture with the replica of the Liberty Bell. He's just like his Auntie Janne!! :)

Nicholas and the Liberty Bell

the little gymnast

Lexie's newest trick:

toys 'r us

This weekend we went to Toys 'R Us so that the big kids (Christopher and Nicholas, not Jacob) could finish up their Christmas lists. After over an hour there, Christopher and Nicholas weren't any closer to deciding what they wanted for Christmas, and Ben and Lexie were in love, with a motorcycle and a quad. I think their father is starting to feel guilty that he's going to be gone next year so $100 later we left Toys 'R Us. :)

Lexie can't figure out how to go forward so she drives backwards and pushes it forwards!

Wow! I'm fast!!

Thanks Daddy! You're the best!!

nick's pizza

My conversation with Nick while he was eating pizza:

Nick: What's this pink thing on my pizza?

Me: Sauce?

Nick: Well, it tastes like crap!!

Me: What does crap taste like?!

Nick: (matter-0f-factly) It tastes like scum.

myrtle beach... part five

After our fun at Alligator Adventure, we went to Dick's for lunch, where the waitstaff are, you guessed it, dicks! We ordered gator bites (haha!) and crabby balls for an appetizer before a lunch of shrimp and crabcakes! Lexie didn't like her chicken strips so she finished off the alligator!! :) The waiter made hats for each of us to wear:

Lexie

Christopher

Nick

Ben

We forgot to get pictures of the grown-up hats! :( Jacob's said "Even UPS couldn't find my package" and mine said "Got Milk? I DO!!" with a couple of arrows pointing down!! After lunch we walked around the boardwalk at Barefoot Landing. We found lots of fun shops and a couple of bad pirates!!

Christopher

Nicholas

It was a great way to finish off a fun trip! We really enjoyed Myrtle Beach and I'm sure we'll be back soon!

myrtle beach... part four

On Monday after we checked out of our hotel we went to Alligator Adventure to see the alligators.

We watched a reptile show and learned all about snakes, alligator snapping turtles, and alligators!

Alligator snapping turtle

The kids were able to pet a baby alligator after the show!

We walked around and looked at some exhibits before heading over to the main boardwalk for the

alligator feeding!

Look at those toothy grins!

They know when it's time to eat!

It's just like Sea World and they do tricks for food!!

It was amazing to see how high they could jump!

Chasing some chicken.

Family dinner :)

Look at how big that alligator is!

Lexie loved the alligator feeding!! "Daddy, I want one!!"

We continued walking around the park. The kids were fascinated with all of the different types of alligators that we saw.

Taking a break on a bridge. It was dirty so Nick didn't want to touch it!

Wildlife

Ahhhh!!!!!!

Christopher with a Red-Tailed Asian Ratsnake

Ben passed out and slept through the rest of the park.

A ring tailed lemur!

The rare albino alligator

Once we made it to the gift shop Lexie finally got her alligator!