Day 7: we hire a car.......

We all slept in and missed brekkie :( that should have forewarned us of the day that was to lie ahead......... The rental company came and picked Mark and Aden up (he was trying to get the best rate and still hadn't changed his money!) Paddy and I enjoyed the peace (lol) and relaxed in bed watching tv. When they came back we were ready to hit the outlets and go to Duke University.
Getting in the car, we all unanimously agreed, that I just wouldn't be the right person to navigate!! Seeing as I don't know my left from my right quickly, I get lost going anywhere and everything was the other way round..... It just wasn't going to happen! Aden hopped in the passenger side and we set the navman and we set off. We got to the driveway of the hotel about to begin our adventure, all looking right giving Mark the ok he placed his foot on the accelerator when two cars zoomed by! Thank God he was quick on the brake!! We would have been totaled before even setting a tyre (tire) on the road!!
Hindsight should have forced us to forget the car thing right then and there!
Now if you know Mark and you know Aden, just close your eyes and just imagine what happens next........... Now double it...........now triple it........ And that is only half as bad as those two arguing with each other. I spent the whole time trying to calm them both down whilst Patrick was miming shooting himself in the head in the back seat!
It was the most stressful time I've ever had! I was mentally trying to recall if our insurance covered driving over here!!!!
To make matters worse, we couldn't find a bank that would change Aden's money so we had to go to the airport! You can imagine Marks's supportive comments to that!.....
When we got to the outlets and I was so shaken I needed a strong coffee!! The boys went off in search of bargains and I went in search of a double shot of expresso!!
We met half an hour later and walked around and headed straight for the Nike shop. I bought a great little pair of runners for netball for $40 just like the pair I got this season for $170. Aden bought heaps of training gear and he knew his prices and got lots of value too.
Patrick also bought some runners and he was happy, I think we all walked away with something.
I decided that I would grab another coffee for the drive to Duke and also by unanimous family vote, it was decided that I should be the one to suffer in the front with Mark :(
All good....... For a couple of miles.....
Eventually, we arrived at Duke University. We knew we wouldn't really have a lot of time, nor access, either, so we headed to the bookstore, this was where they had all the gear and Aden's eyes lit up!!! This was his reason for coming and he was like a pig in mud! It was great to see him enjoying himself picking everything and anything with the logo on it. Patrick, Mark and I also got a little caught up in it too.
We tried to have a little look around after all the purchases, but working our times out and the drive to get to Lachlan's game, we were going to cut it fine. We decided to hit the road.
Blessing ourselves, we head off to Goldsboro, Wayne Country Day School.
When we finally arrived there it was just half time and they were down by 2 . We settled in our seats and watched the game. They did well but lost the game by 9 I think. I hope we don't get blamed for jinxing them! We watched the older boys play too and they all played well but unfortunately lost too. It was great to see all the Davey community hands on heart, heads proud singing their national anthem. The cheerleaders were great too, dancing and cheering. Lachlan told me later they were really bad and annoying! Compared to Cheerleaders from the other schools that is. The girls are so forward and love the Aussie boys. The Americans are having a hard time pronouncing Lachlan's name. On the tour I think he is Lochie on the team sheet. The have only pronounced his name right once.
After the game the school put on a supper of hamburgers and sandwiches and a lady came up to me and asked me to just speak as she loved hearing
My accent. "I just love hearing y'all speak" so very friendly and welcoming
Everyone called me ma'am, very polite.
When we left we decided to drive a bit for dinner and see what took our fancy. Now don't laugh but after hearing about how great Walmart is we spotted one and we took a turn off quick smart when we saw it. OMG we love Walmart!!! Mark and I spotted the alcohol and how cheap it is! Aden and Patrick filled up with chocolate pudding and lollies. We just didn't want to leave!! I saw bananas there and had to have a few! I couldn't believe how cheap they were! We still had a bit of a journey home so we quickly paid for our stuff and vowed to be back!!!
We got home and skyped Christie and ate all our chips and lollies while she made dinner talking to us. We were quite tired as it was
Nearly 2.30 am and thought we'd better go to sleep! Said goodbye to Christie and went to sleep.