Trip to Raleigh

We had a great time in Raleigh this weekend. Gabriel, David, Cyrus, and I drove up there together and stayed with Clayton and Olga (who just got engaged, by the way). While there, I also got to see my dear friends Sarah and Deena, and their boyfriends Barney and Chris, who I like a lot. It was a fun group when both sets of friends melded and we ate dinner, played games, and were merry.
I'm home now and ready for my last week of externship in Charlotte before heading back to my "real" life in Athens, where I will have to start shopping, cleaning, and doing laundry again. Gabriel is driving back to Athens as I write this, poor guy. It's a pretty long trip to make for one weekend, but I think he had a great birthday weekend with lots of fun people.
I should also mention that we had our little guy with us and he was quite a trooper. I also have to thank our friends for being patient and allowing Cyrus' sleep schedule dictate our activities. I'm really grateful for that.
-Shirin

Swimming at the pool on Saturday. Gabriel got to take the picture because he's so averse to cold water and took so long to jump in. This was Cyrus' first real pool swim. He did pretty well (better than his daddy).

Hanging out in Raleigh across the street from NC State. Here you see Sarah and Deena with their men (and Sarah's doggie).

At the restaurant, Cyrus poured a cup of water over his head when trying to drink it. So, he got a mohawk hair-do.

Here he is devouring part of my sandwich.

Sarah and Barney bring babies along with them too. Boston and Frankie are very well-behaved doggies.

Gabriel left the restaurant a little early to take Cyrus home to bed. We soon followed and met him at Clayton's for games.

The girls.

The whole group, except for David. (From left: Barney, Chris, Clayton, Olga, Sarah, Deena, me, and G).

What are they watching?

Gabriel on power stilts!

Cyrus wanted a ride and got to bounce around with Gabriel (Clayton was standing by to catch the baby if needed).

Getting out of his gear.

Now it's my turn to try.

Whee! Clayton was my crutch, but I was able to do a little bit of walking and jumping on my own. Fun, fun.

The happy new fiances.

Today at the pool, Sarah and I swam Cyrus around back and forth. He really liked it, until he got a mouthful of water. Oops!

I loved swimming with Tia Sarah and Cyrus (thanks to Barney for taking this picture and contributing to my blog despite being morally against blogging or reading blogs). :)

The rest of the gang sat over at this table and talked about their new game. Clayton's pool was really nice.