We thought we had the move to our new house all planned out. The truck was rented, the closing date was set, and Aunt Claire was coming into town to help take care of the kids for us. Aunt Claire came and she was a godsend to us. She is the only reason we were able to move our whole house in one weekend. She took care of the kids by day and helped me clean the new house by night. The kids were super excited to have her back again and they have been planning a trip to go see her ever since she left. Although Henry has decided to postpone his travels a few years until his teeth grow back. Apparently where she lives is so posh they require all teeth to be in place. She was put to work even more than we had anticipated because we had to use a smaller moving van than expected. I had rented a 24' truck weeks prior. Upon going to pick up the keys, they said the 26' truck had a flat and to just come back in a few hours while they changed it. Uh....no. So I left with a 16' truck. Todd and I filled it up (fully) three times and we could really have done a fourth trip, but I was sort of over the whole moving van thing. So we took an additional 3 car loads (each). But we are in and we love the house.
A little over a week after moving, the kids and I took off for Virginia. Instead of traveling the usual southern route, we headed north and visited family and friends along the way. Our first stop was in Arkansas. I hadn't realized it at the time, but google maps gave us two routes to take. I chose the one that skipped Dallas thinking I could avoid big city traffic. What I did not realize was I had chosen the scenic route. It was very beautiful, no doubt, but definitely not the route I would have chosen with three small children and a tropical storm to contend with. We left a day late thinking we could stay behind the tropical storm, but we only stayed behind it for the first 90 minutes of our drive, then we drove with it for two days. So I was driving up and down mountains in Oklahoma with sheets of rain coming down. Not the wisest move. And who knew Oklahoma had mountains? I always thought it was flat. Not so. The kids, however, did excellent. Josiah was super helpful in the car. He could open up food packets for Henry. He drew pictures and Henry would color them in. They worked very well together and it was a very pleasant drive from that stand point (and Caroline took two naps). We spent the night at my aunt's house in Arkansas. The kids were bonkers for her cats. They cannot wait to go back and visit "Ticket" and "Mystery Cat" as Henry dubbed the second one that wisely hid during the entirety of our visit. During the next stage of our trip both boys drew many pictures of the cats.
The next leg was to Tennessee. I had never been through Arkansas or Tennessee before, but they are both very beautiful states - lush, green, and mountainous. We spent the next night with some friends I hadn't seen in nine years. It was great to catch up and Josiah loved their two small dogs. Henry and Caroline, not so much. We are super grateful for all the family and friends who put us up this trip. It made it so much nicer to travel knowing our destination was not some random hotel in a random city.
Day three had us traveling to Virginia. The wee travelers were growing a little weary on this leg of the drive, but they still did well. In the mountains of Virginia we hit a massive storm. The lightning was so close I thought it would hit the road. The rain was coming down so hard I could only see three of the dashed white lane lines on the road at a time. Of course, this was the time that Henry told me he had to go pee. Really? I asked him to wait a little bit for the storm to let up because the last thing I wanted to do was take all three kids out in this downpour. This was totally against my M.O., to ask any of them to wait for the bathroom. But when the storm was not letting up, I finally decided that the next overpass we went under I would just stop the car on the side of the road and let him go from the car. This was not usually something I would consider doing either, so that was how hard it was raining. But then I saw a sign for Chick-fil-a and decided that we could try that. They have the cleanest bathrooms by far. While approaching the exit, I asked Henry if he still had to go. "No," he said. "Really?" I asked. "Yes. I don't have to pee." he said. I did not totally believe him, but let it go and planned on stopping at an exit further down and hopefully with better weather. So we passed the exit when Henry piped up, "But I really have to go poop." Oh child. A little while later, we exited the storm and found a rest stop. We were all relieved.
Day three had us traveling to Virginia. The wee travelers were growing a little weary on this leg of the drive, but they still did well. In the mountains of Virginia we hit a massive storm. The lightning was so close I thought it would hit the road. The rain was coming down so hard I could only see three of the dashed white lane lines on the road at a time. Of course, this was the time that Henry told me he had to go pee. Really? I asked him to wait a little bit for the storm to let up because the last thing I wanted to do was take all three kids out in this downpour. This was totally against my M.O., to ask any of them to wait for the bathroom. But when the storm was not letting up, I finally decided that the next overpass we went under I would just stop the car on the side of the road and let him go from the car. This was not usually something I would consider doing either, so that was how hard it was raining. But then I saw a sign for Chick-fil-a and decided that we could try that. They have the cleanest bathrooms by far. While approaching the exit, I asked Henry if he still had to go. "No," he said. "Really?" I asked. "Yes. I don't have to pee." he said. I did not totally believe him, but let it go and planned on stopping at an exit further down and hopefully with better weather. So we passed the exit when Henry piped up, "But I really have to go poop." Oh child. A little while later, we exited the storm and found a rest stop. We were all relieved.
We finally made it to Grandad & Nana's house late that night. The boys decided to tell them everything they missed for the past 6 months all in one night. The next day we drove to the beach, but only after I decided to keep things interesting by locking my keys in the car. AAA to the rescue.
This was Father's Day, so a shout out to a great dad right here. We all missed him a lot on the trip (we won't leave without him again). He was a beast in moving the house, too.
This was Father's Day, so a shout out to a great dad right here. We all missed him a lot on the trip (we won't leave without him again). He was a beast in moving the house, too.
It was really great to see Grandma and Grandpa again at the beach. They were brave and took the boys to the bookstore to pick out two books each (up from the one book each that was set at the beach house). Of course Josiah's "book" was a 5-book boxed set. He knows how to work the grandparents.
A snippet of a day at the beach:
Josiah loved the water still. He loved pretending to surf in/on it. He is a beach lover.
Henry loved to sit under the umbrella, in the shade, on a chair, eating goldfish, and sipping on a Gatorade.
Caroline loved to get a bucket of water from the ocean, bring it up to the beach, dump it out; hit repeat x50. She also enjoyed flattening any sand castle the boys attempted to make.
The boys loved the putt-putt golf place. On our first visit, I spent the first four holes attempting to show them how to hold their golf club properly and how to hit the ball so that it went in the hole with the least amount of shots. Then I realized it was fruitless and just let them play. Henry got a par 2 on every hole. He would hit his ball initially, then he would pick it up and move it to within an inch of the hole and push it in. Josiah averaged 10 shots per hole. He at least showed improvement from hole 1 to hole 18.
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| Aye, Matey. |
From there we traveled to see Great Grandma and got to catch up with her. Josiah told her that when they woke up in the mornings that he would teach her to draw. And so he did. They drew the Cat in the Hat the first morning and then Pete the Cat the second. What made this humorous is that Great Grandma is an artist and has been painting for many, many years. But she was a very good sport.
We even got to spend a day with their cousins who traveled all the way from Africa. They played really well together, too, until Caroline used a golf club to clonk one cousin in the head. It was an uplifting day - we really enjoyed being around family.
Finally we made it back to Nana and Grandad's and spent a week with them. The weather was perfect for the first four days or so and the boys loved playing baseball & frisbee outside. They climbed their "climbing tree" a lot, and even Caroline fought them to get up it. They got to eat pancakes and bacon for breakfast every morning and their favorite pork chops for dinner. Nana got a lot of praise for her cooking. (I make some pretty skimpy meals in comparison down here.)
We even got to spend time with friends playing at Blue Bird Gap Farm. Josiah always calls it "Blueberry Gap Farm," so of course, Henry calls it that as well. Upon arriving Josiah could read the sign with it's actual name and noted that they had printed the wrong name on it. He was so excited to see friends again, he probably scared them a little jumping up and down while making giddy sounds. He saw friends at church as well and later we got to spend time at a friend's house. They were thrilled to spend time with everyone (as was I).
Finally, we got some pictures made with the wonderful Ms. Ginny. I don't know what got into Henry, but he all of a sudden decided that he wanted to streak across the grass. He's never been a streaker at home and I don't know where he got the idea, but there he went trying to pull all his clothes off, laughing his head off. It was funny in a confusing sort of way, at least for a moment.
We drove back the southern route. Not quite as pretty as Tennessee and Arkansas, but we could do it in two days instead of three. All-in-all the kids did super well on the drive. I used to complain about a three hour drive to the beach every summer when I was a kid. It felt like forever. Now when I tell the boys we have three hours of driving left, they get excited that it's almost done. They have a totally different perspective. We even did it without electronics in the car which was an achievement for me. I'm holding off as long as possible for them. We are very, very blessed that the boys like to draw because it keeps them entertained for a long time in the car. Caroline will look out the window and suck her thumb for a lot of it, too. We are blessed she has that thumb. :) That and a children's CD set on repeat.
We are glad to finally be home. Let the unpacking begin!
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