Road Trip - Day 12 (Going Home)

After driving four hour into the night, Jessie was pooped. We pulled over at a rest stop and took pause in our journey. After some rest, we carried on, through Tennessee, Arkansas, and into Texas! YEA!!!

My Dad used to take us on this same roadtrip every summer. I'm familiar with the freeways and with the views that let me know I'm getting close to home. I was so glad to see these familiar sights, signaling to me that we were almost there. I'm sure I looked like an idiot with my camera hanging out of the window.









We drove all the way home...well about 10 minutes away. After breakfast and lunch in the RV, dinner out sounded good, as did no dishes or mess at home :)




Just a few minutes later...we arrived home. Here's Jessie - signing off.



All the kids were happy to be home. We quickly got back to our familiar activities. Bessie and Sumo got busy using their imagination - building forts, houses, and a never-ending story line. This lasted until midnight. They were just so happy to be home. I didn't have the heart to cut it off. It was so nice to see them back to normal.



Uh huh...back to normal. :)



Thanks for taking this journey with us and for allowing myself to feel held accountable for doing a decent job of journaling. Now...whenever I get around to scrapbooking the trip, I won't have to think so hard about what we did, what I was thinking, and in what order things happened!

Road Trip - Day 11 (PM - Tennessee)

Following such an eventful morning, the girls spent the rest of the afternoon lounging in front of the flat screen :).



Sumo spent the rest of the afternoon playing with his new toys



and I started a load of laundry and then settled down to finish the lunch that I got from the pool cafe' (when is the last time you got a turkey wrap from the pool side cafe'!)




We hung out until Kano woke from his coma then we said our final goodbyes to Uncle Anthony's place.




Sumo is still talking about all the fun he had. I think he was more proud than anything to be at his Uncle's house. Here he is...ashy knees and all... on Uncle Nee Nee's doorsteps.




We hooked back up with Dad at the hotel, showered, repacked, and then left to go to dinner at Baja Fresh (one of my favorites), followed by some good 'ol Starbucks. I figured the damage had already been done so "why not live it up?"

We then proceeded to take the rental car back to the airport. The girls took the opportunity to do a photo shoot in front of some neat art sculptures.





Into the RV and off for the last leg of our trip (and yes...Jessie is driving all night again...he's amazing)

Road Trip - Day 11 (AM - Tennessee)

We started the morning heading down to the complimentary breakfast offered at the Embassy Suites. We did it in shifts to minimize the usual chaos found in trying to feed small children while older people feed themselves. I went down first with Sumo. He seemed glad to have me all to himself :) I then grabbed a bowl of oatmeal, a yogurt, and a banana and headed back to the room. I woke the girls up and told them to get dressed and hurry downstairs for breakfast. While they were gone, I woke up Kano and fed him in the room. This was so much easier than trying to have him situated in a highchair in the dining room. By the time the girls got back, the boys were both fed, dressed, and ready to go. Because I had the girls get their things ready to go the night before, we left the hotel in 1.5 hours from me waking up. This was great especially seeing as how we had to plan to be away for the whole day :)

Where were we going?...back to Anthony's to swim :)!!!!

On the way, we had to make a stop at Target for some essentials (swimming tube for Sumo). We couldn't resist our normal love affair with popcorn either.

Afterwards, we headed over to Wild Oats (similar to Whole Foods) for some fruit to enjoy in the hot sun, and the bank - Mommy still has to take care of business while we are on the road...

Anyway, my brother lives in the most beautiful neighborhood. It's one of those master-planned communities where you basically buy not just a home, but a concept, certain types of neighbors, and a lifestyle. Here are a couple of shots.

They have a wonderful community pool and we couldn't wait to enjoy it.

Enjoy it we did!

The entrance to the pool area




Sumo...testing out the water...




My kiddos...hanging together on this gorgeous day...




Sumo got comfortable really fast!




Do you see the girls? They are on the second level of the building waving at me. They are on their way to the slide.




Uh oh...Kano is getting a little bit too brave...




Then he got mad at me because I was close enough to get this shot but still wouldn't give him a hand.



There he goes again - being brave and chasing after his sisters.




OK...Gracie....this is not Hollywood!



Stopping for a bite to eat!




Back to the pool area for more splashing!




Sumo picked a fight...




Bessie joined him when she saw he needed backup!




All packed up and ready to go!




Afterwards, we drove around a few blocks to look around the neighborhood and see more beautiful homes. Here are a few shots...







When we got back to the house, I opened the door for Kano, he took off his own seatbelt, and motioned for me to pick him up. I did. From the car to the back door, HE KNOCKED OUT COMPLETELY. It was hilarious. We are talking a matter of 10 seconds!




Poor baby...

Road Trip - Day 10 (Tennessee)

Jessie pulled it off again....He drove through the night, catching a nap sometime between 6 - 8 in the am. We made it to Cookville, Tennessee for breakfast at Shoney's, barely missing the all-you-can-eat-breakfast-buffet (RATS! - like I needed that anway).

We loaded back up on the RV and headed towards Nashville to hang for a couple of days and to visit my brother Anthony.

While we are pit-stopped here Jessie has to take a quick day trip for work, so knowing how much we enjoyed the last hotel stop, he put us up in our favorite - Embassy Suites and got me a car so we could get out and about. While he went to get the car, we got settled and put the boys down for a nap.

When it was time for Daddy to leave us :(..., I went down to the lobby with Jessie to wait with him for his cab. Unexpectedly, Anthony showed up and told me that he wanted to take my boys with him to a friend's son's birthday party. I asked him three times to make sure he really wanted to do that :)...he assured me he was up to the challenge!

The boys were overjoyed to be going somewhere with their Uncle Nee-Nee.

Completely free and unfettered, the girls and I headed for the nearest mall!
(I couldn't decide which picture of Bessie and I that I liked better so I'm posting both)






We basically followed Gracie around.




Then we headed to Anthony's to meet him and the boys there with pizza. We were responsible for picking up the pizza.






This being the girls' first visit to his home, they made it their business to show themselves around, looking in every closet and cranny. Gracie discovered Anthony's guitar and made good use of it.




Wow...boy...the Mellow Mushroom Pizza was really good!
(And yes...check out the background...my brother is a bachelor and keeps a very posh and neat pad!)




Uncle Nee Nee brought my boys home wired, full of sugar, and with new toys. Needless to say, his pad wasn't so posh when we got ready to leave. I tried, really I did but being as how he made it like Christmas with new toys, and made sure they were full of energy, I just did the best I could :)



More tomorrow!

Road Trip - Days 8 & 9 (Sandy Cove)

Wednesday - Day 8
OK...I got a little lax in my reporting of our family vacation, but with good reason - I was actually vacationing! Sandy Cove is a family camp where they have activities for the children separate than the adults. We got 3 hours free of littles in the morning and another 3 hours free in the evening. When you throw in the fact that my boys still nap for 3-4 hours in the afternoon. That meant that I had a lot of free time!

It was nice to know that the kiddos were having a good time even independently of us. I put in my time with the kiddos on day 7 @ Sandy Cove. It was nice to have days 8 & 9 for me. (I feel a bit guilty saying that out loud, but it's true!)

Wednesday, I woke up early enough to go to breakfast by myself and then took a light breakfast back to the RV for the boys and for Jessie (There are hotel-like facilities available at Sandy Cove as well as campgrounds - we were late in deciding to come so we were camping out in the RV by night and hanging out in the lodge/hotel by day in my parent's room. I dressed the littles and then ran them to "Club Cove". One of the boys went swimming and the other got to do a lot of free play with a wagon ride all over the beautiful campus. I picked them up, fed them lunch, then threw them in the bed for a nap.

My mother offered to sit in the room with them so I went down to the bookstore and hung around in there for about 3 hours. Talk about heaven. I ended up buying this book for Sumo. I've heard it highly recommended multiple times. We love it so far.

We then woke up everyone up for dinner and took them back to "Club Cove". More free time for me. My brother, Anthony, gave his concert this evening and we were able to sit and give enjoy his ministry fully. I'm so proud of him. If you would like to sample his music, visit his website! His new album comes out in September. It is SO GOOD. It is his third album and I think that it is the best one. It's straight praise & worship. Awesome, awesome, awesome... (Yes, I'm shamelessly pluggin' right now).

Here's Anthony singing his brain's out...






Gracie and Bessie helped out by manning his table and helping him to move product.






Daddy even joined in the fun!




After the concert, we picked up our boys and headed back to the RV to get some R&R. Well, instead, after getting the boys settled into sleep in the RV, I ended up pulling a very late night/morning - I was up to 5:30 am enjoying the silence and piddling. This is in direct contrast to what I know to be true about sleep. I'm still growing in good habits :(

Our girls slept in my parents room so they enjoyed lots of free time and independent time from Mom and Dad. We enjoyed the independent time too :)


Thursday - Day 9
The next day was a bit more eventful. The camp sits on the Cheasapeake so I spent lots of time catching beautiful glimpses of the view. When naptime rolled around again, I put the boys down for a nap with my Dad. This time we put the boys IN THE BED with him so that history wouldn't repeat itself.

My mom, Bessie and I headed into town. I just wanted a change of scenery and to get some laundry done without fighting over the shared facilities at Sandy Cove- my Mom and Bessie wanted to shop :) Because I had gotten out of the habit of using my camera ever five seconds, I didn't have it on me. I wish I did so I could show you the beautiful, quaint, town of Northeast, Maryland. There were lots of boutiques with neat and different things: jewelry keepsakes made of broken china, earring or rings made of old but sentimental buttons, an old school house with classic books for children, a coffee shop with fresh roasted coffee, and Woody's - the best local place for crabs. There was a light mist going on and off while we were out but it was so nice and free. I put a load in...walked down the street to "window shop" for awhile, then walked back to put my clothes in the dryer...only to step back into the light rain to find my Mom & Bessie again. So nice...

We came back, woke the boys up, fed them dinner, then jumped into the RV to start our trip back home. Jessie was in again for another all nighter.