Road Trip 2009 Part One

Well, we made it. Almost 60 hours on the road within 10 days. Just me and the kids. Yes, I'm crazy. It's also been a bit crazy since our return. So, I'll try and be better with future posts.

We started the journey with an open mind. I had no idea how long it would take us and we planned a detour in Kansas to visit with Aunt Deb. I bought a super cute shirt for Andy and he promptly got car sick on it within the first two hours. Oh, well. It wasn't much, so we barreled on and he was able to change in Dallas at Aunt Mary and Uncle Ed's.

Aunt Mary had such a great idea. She took us to a local park for a picnic. It was so much fun, it became the new routine. We would drive for about 2-3 hours while Andy napped and then stop and burn off energy at local fun spots.
Aunt Mary even made Rice Krispy Treats. Mmmmm.
Andy is pretty much walking everywhere now. He grew up so much in such a short time.
The kids loved the park.

It was so hot outside. Aunt Mary took us back to their house and we had some super fun water play.
I love this series of Suzy and Aunt Mary blowing each other kisses. Such a great memory.


After the afternoon nap before bed, I tried to barrel on some more. I had two new rule breakers during the trip. The kids could eat junk food and watch DVDs. We hardly do either of these things at all at home. They were THRILLED. I was a little concerned, however, at Andy's lack of eye lid movement. He'd never actually seen a DVD until this trip. He's hooked.
We got to Aunt Deb's in about 14 hours. Suzy stayed up the entire time. Deb read books while I got beds put together.
While we were at Deb's, Uncle Bruce was making a new three car garage. The cement mixer was a big hit.

Aunt Deb also likes to hang clothes on the line. It was so great.
We next headed over to Illinois to Deb's mom's house. Although she claims they moved to "town", this was the view from my bedroom window. I absolutely loved it here. It was like being in a nice little country home in the movies.
Granny read stories and I think it was a sweet time for everyone.
We got to pick out our own peaches at a peach farm.
We watched humming birds.
We went to a kid's fair at the local IGA.
And one of my favorites, we caught fireflies. We don't see them very often in Austin. It's simply too dry around our house.

I didn't have the settings correct on the camera, but the memories are still there.
Another favorite memory is Andy grabbing Suzy's undies after bath and terrorizing down the hall. She wasn't too concerned about it, but I can just see this in about five years.... hee hee hee. My little naked panty snatcher. Did I mention how Andy is into EVERYTHING these days?
After Deb's family visit, we headed over to the last leg of our tour to my Dad's house. Suzy and Mamaw shared a little breakfast party on the porch the first morning we were there. It was so sweet.
Maybe I'll update the rest by tomorrow.....