A Journey Home... then back home.

This past week we took a roadtrip to Michigan... then to Illinois... then drove ALL THE WAY BACK to Alabama! Here is a little bit about how it went.

First we packed the van. Let me tell you how exciting it is to cram luggage, baby gear, two almost tweener girls, a baby, a 6'6" husband, and myself into a mini van. Even more exciting was the prospect of driving 12.5 hours to my parents house in Michigan. BUT we were bound and determined. We planned on driving all the way to Seymour, Indianapolis on Friday (7.5 hours) and then pit stop it. I was a little nervous because this was Jax's first major roadtrip... but I figured the boy was going to have to get used to it, because roadtrips are just what we do!

This is a little bit what we looked like...


We fed the kiddos, bottle and burgers, and hit the road at 4:00 pm.
And then stopped.
For 2 hours.
45 minutes from our house.


Nothing like getting stuck in a traffic jam right outside where you live, when you have HOURS to drive ahead of you. But traffic finally started to move as they towed the big rig that had crashed off the expressway, the cars that had overheated because of waiting, and the guardrail that had flown into oncoming traffic. YAY! for finally getting to press the gas pedal! (Jax slept through the whole thing, good baby.) We made it to Birmingham about 3.5 hours into our trip... (It is 1.25 hours from our home) and Ahna yells "LOOK, MOM! There is a hotel! Let's just stay there tonight!" It was then that I knew it was going to be a long night.

We finally pulled into our hotel at 2:30 in the morning, they had cancelled our reservation, given our room away, and then wanted to charge me an additional 30 dollars because they had to remake the arrangements. (I had paid online when I booked the room weeks prior.) I DON'T THINK SO. We got it worked out.... 30 minutes later. We were all asleep just a few minutes after that.



The trip the next morning was only supposed to take 4.5 hours... okay. We can do that, right?! Wrong. My husband got a "tad" sidetracked, took a wrong turn and we ended up adding another 2.5 hours onto our trip. **sigh**

BUT we have the most amazing children. Jax, 3 months old, didn't cry once. Not once. The girls did not complain. Not once. I am so proud of them!

So we got to Michigan and had a fantastic time with our friends and family, it was so good to see them. Too fast, but wonderful nonetheless.

We then drove to Illinois.... the trip was uneventful. This is mainly what we saw... for miles.

But then we saw this! Cool.


Again, we had a fabulous time with family and it was so hard to leave! Both Grandmas had decided to spoil our children, so now we found ourselves getting REALLY creative with our packing of the minivan...


We made a pit stop in Nashville, after promising the kids some swim time and a meal at the Rainforest Cafe...

I would show you pictures of Patrick swimming with the girls, but he was too mad at me for committing him to getting in that ice cold pool that I decided I wouldn't snap any photos of it.. besides, my hands were full of sleeping baby by the time he FINALLY decided to just rip the band-aid off and dive in!

All in all I would say that the trip was a success. Of course, disappointment ran rampant when the kids realized they had to wake at 6:30 am to go back to school.

I turned away, quietly snickered, and murmered... "Thank you, God."
I love Monday mornings.

Especially when they come after a 10 day school vacation.