Beautiful Day

Although a part of me is really homesick for the white winters we had in Germany for the last five years, another part of me is really enjoying the mild winter we're having here in North Carolina. We were finally able to enjoy the weather today for the first time in a couple of weeks. Everybody in our household has been sick for the past couple of weeks except me (::knock on wood::). I really feel bad for all of them, too, because P. took 2 weeks of vacation so he could have some time off while the kids were out of school, but none of us have really been able to enjoy it because they've been sick and I've been working constantly.

One of P.'s aunts (one of his mom's sisters) has been visiting for the past couple of days. She lives in West Virginia and decided to come down here while her husband and son were deer hunting. We drove up there last night and had dinner with them, and the kids are spending the weekend. We went back up today because there's a Classic Car place in Lillington that my father-in-law was wanting to take the kids to. Well, since the weather was so nice, we of course decided to ride the bikes up there. The weather was perfect for it, and we had a beautiful ride. By the time we got up there, had lunch, and drove up to Lillington, though, the shop was closed. They close at 2 on Saturdays. Oh well. Maybe next time. My mother-in-law is wanting a new car (really needs a new car) so we stopped at the Ford place so she could show us the Lincoln she wants. It's a nice car, but the price is a bit too high for them. He has a friend that may be able to get them a better price on one, so we'll see.

After that we stopped and looked at the progress they've made on their plantation house. It's coming along nicely. They'll have a really nice retirement home once they're finished. It was starting to get dark, so P. and I decided we'd better head on back to Hope Mills before the temperature dropped too much. Even after the sun went down, though, it wasn't too cold. I don't mind riding when it's chilly as long as it's not really windy, and as long as I am layered enough. Today I made sure I wore enough layers, and I didn't get cold at all on the way home. It's supposed to be raining for the next couple of days, and then P. goes back to work, so I'm not sure when we'll be able to ride again. I can't wait until we can start riding with the kids. I want to start out riding just around the neighborhood so I can get used to having somebody on the back and so they can learn how to ride on the back safely. We have to get a sissy bar for P.'s bike, though, before either of them can ride with him. Hopefully we'll be able to do that soon.

I wonder if we're really going to have much cold weather this winter. Here it is almost January, and the 10-day forecast on my Weather Channel Desktop says the temps are supposed to be in the 60s all week, even getting up to 71 on Friday the 5th. Gotta love the South!