Zio's for dinner

Our son-in-law Henry and his parents Henry & Liz will be traveling to Homestead, FL to watch the last Nascar race of the season. Tonight we all went to Zio's restaurant in Charlotte for dinner.  The owner of Zio's is a personal friend of Henry and his parents and is from the same home town in New York.  He is about Henry Jr's age and they seem to be good friends.

We tried to get there early and beat the rush, but didn't make it in time.   We did luck out and get a parking space right in front of the restaurant.  There was an hour wait for a table for seven, so we had a few drinks in the bar area.  The place was a mob scene and busier than Henry has ever seen it.  I guess the economy isn't that bad down here in Charlotte.   

We stopped by Larry Jr & Jane's house and picked up Grant for the night.  They are going out to dinner with friends and will be up too late for Grant, so we volunteered to have him do a sleepover with us.  Grant really enjoyed the pizza there and said it was one of the best he had ever had.  That is from a pizza fanatic, so I guess it must have been good.

Gerry and I had the Lasagna and I liked mine better than she did hers.  She thought it had too much cheese in it, but mine seemed to have more meat than hers.  

The owner came by a number of times to chat and when we were about ready to leave he brought plates of desserts for us to try compliments of the house.  The desserts were very good, but I was so full from the Lasagna that I couldn't eat that much of them.  Maybe next time.

We made it home very quickly since we hopped on the expressway and then caught I-77 to I-85 north to our exit.  That was a lot faster than the route we took to the restaurant since we didn't have to travel in rush hour.  Charlotte needs some more decent routes out of town in the worst way.  We saw backups at lights that were at least a mile long on two lane roads.  What a mess.

Now it is time to hit the hay since we have an early wake up on Saturday morning so Gerry, Jane, Barbara, Taylor, Vicky and Stephanie can go to the Southern Women's Christmas Show in Charlotte.  Thank God men aren't welcome.  Whew!!!!

Our friend Ron will turn a day older on Saturday and we want to wish him a very special birthday.  Last year we arrived in time for his birthday, but can't make it this year.  I think he already got his birthday present since his beloved Green Bay Packers are 9-0 this season and looking pretty good to repeat as champs.