Summer Travel

We've been gone for such a long time! I know, the advantage of going wireless is that it doesn't matter if you're home or not, you can take it all with you. But even though I had my computer, having the time and the mindset to blog was another thing altogether while out of town.

Quick summary - we first spent that weekend at the lake, which was amazingly slow and wonderful. We came home refreshed! The next weekend Aunt Nan and Uncle Beelo came for a visit (my sister, her husband Billy, children William and Olivia) on Memorial Day Weekend. A friend of ours was getting married, so we had an excuse to be together. They stayed with us, and the boys had a wonderful time together as we "embraced the chaos," in the words of my sister.

They left on Monday, and we began to get ready to leave a few days later for a full 2 weeks away from home. We left Friday and spent the night in Atlanta with the Riggs, then headed on down to Charleston. We spent 4 days with Mama Sue and Grandaddy Bill, then hit Sand Creek in Edisto with my family (sisters, husbands, children - 6 little ones with John Marshall being the oldest). We went from Edisto to Hilton Head for a few days, and then back to Charleston to stay with Marmie and Grandpapa for 2 days before we came on back home. Of course, our cats thought we had abandoned them, and treated our house accordingly...

Here are a few beach pictures from Hilton Head.

John Marshall turned 4 (!) on June 19. I had a great time making sure his birthday was really special. We served him breakfast in bed, and then later in the morning we went to our favorite hangout (Starbucks) and I let him pick out any treat he wanted. He chose the monster cookie with "M&Ms", and they gave him 2 for the price of 1 since it was his birthday. He looked like the happiest boy in the world! We spent the afternoon making his cake - his tall order was "a frog cake that tastes like bananas!" Well, I had to ask! His birthday dinner was just as detailed, with a long list of breakfast-type foods for dinner. I am proud to say I was able to pull it all off (using banana bread mix for cake, cream cheese icing, and little bouncy frog toys on top) and I ev

en got presents wrapped in time for a little party. He seemed to really enjoy the day this year, maybe for the first time realizing that he's a whole year older. He told me early in the day, "Even though I'm 4 now I'm still a 3-year-old." I told him no, he's actually a 4-year-old now and that's what a birthday is - turning a new age. He seemed astonished, and mentioned it again several times throughout the day. In fact, he's still talking about this big shift to being four, and has begun to look forward to being five (slow down buddy!).

John Marshall is looking at his new bicycle, given by Marmie and Grandpapa, that John had just brought into the room. It had a white bow on it to which John Marshall promptly requested, "Can you please take that thing off?"

This is John Marshall's birthday crown that I made for him this year. I'm not sure if I'm going to add anything to it, but he really loved wearing it. We forgot to give it to him when we brought out the cake, but he wore it to open presents. He's so cute!

After ALL of that we left the next day, Friday, to go to Hampton, SC for a Miglarese family reunion. You'd think we could work it so that it was all lumped together, but we missed by a week! It was absolutely worth it, since most of the extended family had not met Isabella, and if we didn't see them this year it could be another 2 years before we have a chance again.

So, we've had almost a month full of lots of family, hours on the road, and happy, tired children. Considering all that we've done, we were really pleased with how the kids handled it all. I think I had the hardest time out of anyone on the way back from Hampton. About an hour still from home I asked John to pull over and let me drive. He did (huh?) and I fished some earplugs from my purse and had what he called "Happy Time" the rest of the way home. I had had enough of entertaining kids from the front seat!!!!!

Well, today, at this moment, John has taken the children for me so that I can have a little quiet at the house for a few precious minutes. I've got dinner simmering on the stove, have listened to a little of the Dave Ramsey Show, and am finding a bit of order in the midst of our after-travelling-chaos. I'm going to find a bit more order...