Road Trip

So guess who went on a most AWEsome adventure.  Me and my girls.  We went over 1000miles in a little over 48 hours.  The trip begins we are suppose to stay with our dear friend Katie, but she had a GI bug so we stayed at a hotel.  So sad for Katie.  There also was the possibility little Sarah might be joining us that day, but she held on until her due date.  A little added drama because I got of work really late (grr to myself because I have issues in passing work off.  Is that a pride issue? double grr).  We had plans to skip Macon and head for Atlanta and stay with some other friends, but they were leaving at like 5am for a flight and I didn’t know if I could stay awake until midnight driving to get there. (4hrs of sleep the night before because packing wasn’t as ready as I thought…triple grr now).  So my concierge (dear hubby) got us a hotel in Macon.  Esther in the gas station parking lot (next to the hotel) gets choked on water from a water bottle.  Why did I give the 2yr old a water bottle?) She vomits and I can’t get the door open fast enough because after driving 5 feet the doors locked and I had to run to the other side (quad grr).  She was and is fine.  Almost there without any incidents.  The next day I went to Walmart and got Febreeze to get the vomit smell out of her car seat. UGH! (cinco grr… though maybe not, because I really enjoy the febreeze smell now).

End of grrs!

After the trip to Walmart to get he Febreeze and yes a cheap bathing suit we played at the hotel pool. (okay one more grrr… I left my phone charger at the hotel)  Then we headed to Rossie and Daddy T’s.  Along the way I called my concierge again and he hooked us up with some Chick-fil-A that didn’t even have a sign on the interstate.  Love google!!!Thanks dear (and I love you more than google)!!!!  It saved the day!!!  The plan all along was to catch up with Rossie and T, my brother with his fiancé, and Uncle Eston, Sue and their 2 grown up cuties Jesse and Abby(Ross’ from New Hampshire).  We had a cute and awesome little hotel there in Easley.  Eston, Sue, Abby, and Jesse picked me up/car pooled over to Rossie and T’s.  On the way we hit a Radio Shack for a cell phone charger.  Sue stayed in the car with the girls (thank you!!!).  Guess what… on sale.  Praise God for some relief to the grrs.  Back up, so it was so awesome to see FAMILY we hadn’t seen in years.  Did I mention Sue and Eston haven’t changed a bit.  Abby went in my mind from 18months when I stayed up there for a week (my first trip by myself) to now a Senior.  Amazing and so so so sweet.  Jesse went from 2 (the next time I stayed there when Bryan and I were dating), he is the younger sibling…. I would have it in my mind all jumbled, it IS the Suzanne way) to High School Quarterback.  Ugh, I am getting or just AM Old. Ha ha!  Adeline automatically does this turtle sort of maneuver.  She shrinks into me.  I guess I am the shell.  She smiles HUGE, but can’t open her eyes or talk.  Esther on the other hand is all smiles and eating up the attention. 

Next we head to Rossie and Daddy' T’s.  Out comes Andy and Sandy!  So good to see them.  So sad that we didn’t get more time to chit chat, but it was a quick trip.  Is it okay to say it is sad to see your grandparents?  It was and it wasn’t.  Daddy T loves his grandkids.  He had videos all dialed up to show that had us grandkids as youngsters in them when we had visited decades ago.  All visits Rossie and T would have something fun for us to do, somewhere to go, and always an adventure.  Sometime in the back yard, sometimes in the work-shed, sometimes in the kitchen.  Always an adventure.  For me the adventure this time was keeping little hands off of breakables, not too rowdy, and cute.  Okay the cute part was easy.  I know they loved the visit, but it was just different.  They are really getting old.  The twinkle in the eye is still there though.  I got to love on them and that was neat.  I took a lot of pictures, but none show what I saw.  All the memories are hard to capture sometimes in a picture.  All the expectations of what my kids would get to do with them.  What was I expecting… some miracle of aging.  It was really good though.  From all Daddy T has been through the past couple months we are blessed to have him.  His mind was very sharp compared to what it is some days.  He knew us by name.  Daddy T even wanted to hold Essie.  I didn’t want her to break him and she was not in a sit still mode after traveling for significant times for 2 days.  That was sad.  He seemed okay with it and realized it wasn’t going to work.  Rossie was busy making sure all were comfortable.  She rested between.  I am sure we wore them both out.  We stayed with them for a couple hours.  Then were off to dinner with the Ross fam from New Hampshire, Andy and Sandy.  Jesse and Adeline hit it off.  He made a play dough Mickey Mouse and the deal was sealed.

The next day we had breakfast with the Ross’s and then headed over with Eston to see Rossie and T for a couple hours.  Great great visit.  Adeline and Esther were much more mellow.  Adeline and Esther were thrilled to leave with dish cloths made by Rossie.  It was so cute.  Then we headed over the the Ross’s hotel.  When we were surprised to have so many extended family join us for some family time.  Jan and Harolw came from Ashville, Fran came from Georgia, Cynthia with Heidi, Lindsay, and Emily from Gastonia.  It was a dream come true.  Though Adeline did the turtle shell thing for almost 15 min.  I finally got her to go swimming with Jesse in the pool and the world was right.  Esther loved swimming with Lindsay.  So sweet. We had lunch and then headed off around 2pm to head home to Gainesville. 

But wait… we took a delightful detour in Georgia to see some fab friends, The Judah Family!  So exciting.  They treated us to a dinner, tour of their home, smiles, water and rejuvenation to hit the road again.  Luke has grown so much in 2 months.  Such a big boy and will make such a great big brother.  Katie is such a hospitable 9month pregnant friend.  She and Joel really wanted us to stay, but it just felt like we had to get home.  We arrived home sometime after midnight.  What a journey.  So much fun.  We go to see so MANY people. 

Adeline still says she wants to spend the night again in Georgia since we didn’t on the way home.  She loved visiting Georgia and family she calls it.  I guess I didn’t emphasize South Carolina enough.  Though when we drove into South Carolina I was pointing out Lake Hartwell and she asked if South Carolina was an island.  Pretty smart girl I think. 

Talking with Daddy T:

    

Being silly with Abby:

Asking Rossie about her refrigerator magnets (one by one):

Adeline and Jesse:

Esther and Lindsay:

All the cousins (though some 1st and some 2nd if you were curious):

Adeline’s new best buddy (thank you Jesse!):