Road Trippin'

Well, we finally did it. We braved our first road trip as a family of four. Our family has been gracious enough to come to us repeatedly and we've had to do very little traveling since the kiddos arrived. Except for jumping in a plane to see David and Liz tie the knot, we have scarcely left town.

Soooo . . . as we had anticipated, the journey out to Arkansas was not to highlight of our trip. Whoever said that "getting there is half the fun" must have either had a miserable trip with no fun at all or wasn't traveling with a teething 17-month-old . . . with a cold . . . and an aversion to being restrained. In spite of our best efforts, which I must say were valiant, our car trip wasn't terribly fun. We did stop halfway there and run around the best place we could easily find. Yes, that would be the Home Depot. And that was apparently super fun to the little ones. But the rest of the trip, not so much. Anyway, eventually we arrived. I'll go ahead and skip to the end - the journey home wasn't really better. Maybe a tad. But not much.

It was wonderful and refreshing to enjoy the great outdoors, but moreso, to enjoy family. We did go to some pretty cool places, but the people we were with made the trip. Ah, and help with the babies, help with dishes and cooking, help with everything . . . so wonderful. I got four consecutive unhurried showers.

Here are a few highlights. Pardon the photo onslaught. And try to remember that we took 600 pictures. There, now this doesn't seem like soooo many. Right?

Most of the photos were just from hanging out around the lakehouse, which was as much fun as anything we did!

 

And then there was the fake mustache affair . . .

Canoeing with Daddy and Grandpa

Jam session

Cuddles with Daddy

Feeding the Koi at Garvan Gardens (This place was so fantastic!!)

Peacocks at the Gardens. Not even our future vet could get them riled up enough to spread their feathers. Guess we aren't too intimidating.

At the Gardens, with Caroline sporting her favorite "hold me" pose.

Catherine LOVED that we went to Lake Catherine. Got in the water but we didn't last long!

Coldest day at the lake . . . it was 70 and overcast. August??? Seriously!

Aunt Allison was such a good sport. I don't think this was Caroline's idea of a good time.

We went to a restaurant called "Fisherman's Wharf" the last evening we were there. Got some super yummy seafood, but the best part was the basket of crackers they brought your table, asking you to go feed the ducks in the river. The girls thought that was awesome. They have lots of practice giving food they don't want to Flash. Caroline enjoyed this way more than sitting in her high chair and eating her food. (Not interested in food or being restrained, as I mentioned...)

What a wonderful trip with excellent company. Between this trip and getting to see my mom the week before, we are super sad to say goodbye to family for a few months. It's never too long (hehe, they want to see the babies!), but we sure miss them all.

Let's do this again sometime, eh? Yes, it was definitely worth the drive. Are y'all interested in Lake Guntersville, perchance, though?