Friday, July 18, 2008

Over the River and Through the Woods to Grandmother's House We Go!

Abby and Molly hangin' with Papa

My little camera ham Max with Nana and aunt Sue

We Made It! On July 10th the kids and I traveled to Indiana with my parents (John flew in on Saturday) to visit my grandparents and various aunts, uncles, and cousins. We left my parents house crammed into my mom's Tahoe and hit the road at 6:30am. With various stops and little to NO sleep from the kids we made it to my Granny's house at 6:30pm. Not a record but not bad considering 3 kids in the car. When we got there my uncle Bud and aunt May were waiting outside with a U-haul truck that they used to bring over lots of big outside toys for the kids to play with YEAH! Thanks uncle Bud and aunt May...the kids had a blast :)

Mallory came on Friday with Shea and John and their 4 kids all packed into Shea's Suburban. No, our family does not allow a seat to go empty! It's our contribution to conserving fuel (and $). Anywho, since my Granny had surgery a few weeks ago and has been recuperating at my aunt and uncle's place, all 14 of us stayed at her house and it was a tight fit :) We usually hang out in the kitchen when we are there which probably isn't the best thing since we always say that we seem to eat too much when we are there...but hey...it's vacation right?! Saturday night we went to the a surprise anniversary party for my Uncle Bob and Aunt Sue. We had a great time :) Sunday afternoon we headed to my Grandpa's house (my dad's dad) and the kids really enjoyed playing outside on the farm. It was a beautiful day and we had a nice breeze which made it easy to keep the kids outside. Unfortunately the blackberries were not ripe yet much to Max's disappointment. He talks about eating Papa Joe's blackberries all year long. We had some yummy food prepared my three of my dad's sisters (thanks aunt Connie, aunt Shelly and aunt Mary Jo) and had a great time visiting. Oh yeah, my mom struck it rich when she found a rock in the driveway with "gold" in it! My grandpa's been holding out on us :) Sunday night we went to my uncle Bob and aunt Sue's house for a family "picnic" where my aunt Sue outdid herself with cooking some wonderful food! The kids had a blast and may have worn out some more of their great aunts and uncles :) Thanks uncle Bob and aunt Sue!

John got to do some golfing with my uncle Bob and cousin Missy and her boyfriend Mike on Monday. Monday night we headed to Celestine where my aunt Nina had gotten a catered dinner and we went to a park where the kids had a great time playing! Thanks aunt Nina and uncle John!

On Tuesday I was supposed to take John to the airport to fly home but my dad had a slight emergency so John stayed and that night we headed back to my grandpa's farm to eat dinner and visit with my aunts and uncle Benjy (my dad's brother). Six out of the seven kids were there which is rare. It was great to see them and we once again had some great food (and lots of it!). Uncle John found some fishing poles so he and Jack and Max and John walked down to the lake to see wahat was biting. Not a whole lot but Max and Jack found a baby frog and thought they'd take it back to Granny. The poor little guy had died by the time we got it up the road to Papa Joe's house (it had been dropped a couple of times in the rocks and grass). The boys lovingly got a tupperware bowl and put water in it and rocks and sticks and grass so the frog would have a good home. on the walk back to the house I overheard Max tell Jack that "this little frog is going to have so much fun with me he'll never want to go back home!"

On Wednesday we loaded up the Tahoe again and set out for home. It was a VERY long ride and not a whole lot of sleeping happened. We made it home about 10:30pm and were grateful to fall asleep comfortably in our own beds. The time we spent in Indiana seemed to fly by as it always does and now we begin to prepare for the new school year.
*** Check out my sister Shea's blog for more pictures from Indiana***

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