Trip to Charlotte - First trip of many

This is Charlotte - our first weekend away as a family (a family of 11 that is!)






























This is the home of the Carolina Panthers the football team. One day we might go and see them but the tickets are not cheap.















I feel my blog is lacking nature so here is a photo of a butterfly that was outside the hotel. The butterflies are huge - the size of a small bird - no kidding!















And here are the lucky people who will be sharing the weekend with me. They are (from left to right) Paula (South Africa), Aoeifa, Hannah, Jodie, Martina, Orla and Penny. Also Sally is just hidden at the back.















Here is our lovely hotel - we only stayed here for a night. Bring the outside in!





























After settling in to our hotel, we went to a local Irish Bar - Ri Ra. Ri-Ra means "fun and merriment" and lots was to be had at this place. Both in the day time and in the evening.

In the day time we had food there.
















In the evening we travelled in style to the city centre. I knew nothing about the guys hiring this beast - it is the definately the highlight for me so far having never been in a limo.
















We hired it for an hour and travelled round in style. We stopped off at a dodgy store to get champagne (ok so $5 bottle of sparkling wine!) and this is what we got up to:















































We then got to Ri-Ra and danced the night away. This picture was taken at the beginning of the evening!















The next day we all went into one room to watch the Hurling Championship on a laptop! Martina's cousin plays for Kilkenny and Orla's dad is President of the Gaelic Athletics Association. It was much fun. Here is a picture at the start.
















Here is the middle of the game - it was tense!















This is a picture taken at the end - Kilkenny won! Yeah!
















After the end of the match we went to an exclusive mall to go shopping. I didn't buy anything - much to expensive for me. In one store was an old man playing hits from the musicals on a piano.















And this was a picture of a car that we saw in the car park. It is advertising sunflower seeds!
Interesting name on the side!