After the craziness of traveling for the funeral last week and Vacation Bible School, I made it no less crazy by driving to Jackson on Friday with the kids by myself! I had never taken the kids on a road trip without Chris and I was quite nervous about it. I brought lots of snacks and technology and used both liberally! We only stopped in Tuscaloosa (about half-way) both times, and the kids did surprisingly well. On the way there, Luke screamed the last 10 or 15 minutes because he was just DONE with the car, but other than that it was uneventful. I rigged the iPad where both kids could watch instead of hanging it on the back of one of the front seats and that worked great!
At our half-way stop, we met Chris’ sister Carrye (who goes to school at UA) at a McDonald’s that had an indoor playground (yay!). It was fun to have someone else to talk to and the kids enjoyed getting some energy out! The kids didn’t nap and we arrived in Jackson around 4 and they just played until dinner. Afterwards, we took a short walk to see Bubba George (the gorilla):
The kids weren’t quite sure what to think of the neighborhood watch-ape, but they warmed up to him. Luke tripped and scraped up his knee, so we headed back for an early bedtime after a LONG day!
Then Saturday, my mom and I took the kids to the Mississippi Children’s Museum for some playtime before we picked up my sister from the airport. They had a blast!
Pulling up rocks is hard work!
And they loved the car:
Then we picked up Aunt Sarah and had lots of fun!
Later that evening we went out to dinner with some friends of my parents and my brother David and his family. The kids were excited to see each other and were a little crazy, but we survived and had fun visiting.
Then Sunday was Father’s Day and we all headed to church. My parents’ church doesn’t have nursery for 4 year-olds, so Caroline came with us to “big church” for the first time. (At our church she doesn’t go until September). She did great! She colored for a few minutes then played on my phone the rest of the time and only asked to go to Luke’s class a couple of times ;). After church we had my brother’s family over and all had lunch together at my parents’ house. The kids had fun playing together again:
The only shot I got of all 5 grands:
Then it was time for cake! My brother got Dad this mint chocolate chip ice cream cake – yum!
We were sad to be away from Chris for Father’s Day, but I made him this photo card to remember his little monkeys:
The next day we went over to my brother’s house to visit and let the kids play. Caroline and Aubrey had a great time dressing up and playing together:
And my beautiful sister Sarah being the “fun aunt”:
Then that evening my brother and his family came over to my parents’ again for dinner. The kids had fun playing outside and catching lightning bugs!
The girls:
DeeDee getting some Luke love:
Then Tuesday, my sister and I and Caroline went to our old high school to see some of our teachers and tour the new buildings. It was fun catching up with a few teachers and the new auditorium was awesome!
We rushed home to pick up my mom and Luke and headed over to church for the annual Mother/Daughter Luncheon. The kids did great in the nursery and we had fun seeing old friends and hearing about the Love of God.
My sister was flying out that night so we took her to the airport before dinner. We were all sad to see her go and the kids kept saying pitifully, “Sarah went bye, bye!” :(
Then Wednesday we headed back in the morning and the kids did great on the road. We stopped in Tuscaloosa again and saw Chris’ sister Carrye. McDonald’s was CRAZY this time with 100++ school kids plus adults!! We couldn’t even find a place to sit down and eat, inside or out in the play area. Finally some single lady let us have her booth and finished eating in the car! Anyway, we had a good visit and the kids got lots of energy out and we were on our way again. We got home a little after 4pm and Chris arrived home from work a little after that. We were so excited to see him and be home again!
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