A quick hello then goodbye for another week...

Whirlwind trip is what the past week and a half have been. After the engagement party we packed our car and headed south. Our first stop was in Va. where we saw my mom and stayed with Richard. This was the first 5 hours of our trip! On Monday afternoon my sister met us with her three kids and we headed off to Montreat, NC where we spent a 6 days and the 4th of July. This was the second 5 hours of the trip. So far so good with Margaret Ruth! She was a champ and slept at least 4 hours and then was fed then cooed the last hour of the trip. The boys were also amazing considering that they realized that the DVD player broke again...As soon as we get back someone is going to replace this player. They happily listened to their music and read their books. Once in Montreat we entered our childhood in the "Little House" the essence of Tai Tai still lingers in the house. During that week we saw my grandfather, my great aunt Rosa, visited with my brother and sister-in-law. We did so much...shopped, relaxed, the boys and my sister hiked, the boys metal detected, went to the 4th of July parade, hosted a cookout and saw many old friends. The highlight of my time in Montreat was when we were about to leave to head to OH and Chad (Aunt Gigi's husband) called me to ask me again to ride horses on the mountain with him. With a little nudging I agreed and met him at the bottom of the mountain. When we got to the trail we unloaded a horse once we were getting everything put together her comes the rain. Chad quickly got the horse in the trailer and we sat in the truck. Once the rain stopped we tried again; this time we got the horses saddled and were ready to go. Then the rain came again and once again we put the horses in the trailer. It rained for about 10 mins and we called it quits. While Chad was figuring out how to get the trailer turned around it stopped. Finally after two failed attempts we got on the horses for a quick ride. The ride was so beautiful and well worth the wait...Thanks Chad for asking me! On a side note...Chad had to back the truck and trailer down the mountain...curvy and steep. He managed to get us all back safely...WOW..I could have never done that!

When I got back home I fed Margaret Ruth and headed out to OH. This was 6PM and we figured we would drive as far as we could. Todd was feeling good and I was awake, so we drove 5 1/2 hours to Lexington KY (third 5 hour trip). Early the next morning (after MR woke up 5 times from 11:30 - 6:30) Todd took MR and the boys to swim, play basketball and arcades at the hotel. They also managed to order room service...Can you believe this was at a holiday inn? We left the hotel around 11:30 am and the fourth 5 hour drive. Once we made it to Dayton OH we stopped at Todd's fave. restaurant...Golden Corral...These parts have a lot of Golden Corral's so Todd is in heaven! Around 5:30 pm we arrived at Todd's mom's house! Since then we have spent a day with Grandma Jane and his aunts just doing random things. Today we drove to MI to visit his brother's family. Tomorrow we are going to Cedar Point...Mara and Patrick this rides for you!!! Friday we will come back up to MI for a 40th birthday party! Then we will spend the weekend hanging out with his mom! On Monday we head home, (an additional 8 hours). I will be sad to have our vacation over, but will be glad to be home.

Here's to another week...