A LONG weekend

For Labor Day weekend this year we traveled to Knoxville to meet up with some of my college buddies and their families. We had a wonderful time! The traveling just took longer than we expected (both ways), whew.

We borrowed the Armstrongs' Expedition so that we could cram more stuff in and ride more comfortably. Michael and Kai picked me up from work on Friday and we hit the road. It wasn't long before a potty stop was requested. (We were still putting Kai in pull ups when we knew an accident was likely, but we still pretended it was urgent that we stop in order to assist with the training.) We probably ended up making a couple of these stops before we made it out of Alabama. When we hit Chattanooga, traffic all but stopped and we crept along for quite awhile. We finally made it out of there and decided to stop for dinner. We chose a mall so that we could all get out and walk around some since we already felt like we'd been in the car far too long and we were just a little more than halfway to our final destination. Kai was ready to see his friends but we knew they would likely be in bed by the time we got there so I dialed my parents and Michael's parents to entertain him for awhile talking to them. He's pretty good at carrying on a conversation these days but he did forget that he was on the phone and not face to face several times while talking to Michael's parents and held the phone up to different things to "show" them something.


We made it to Vonore, our resting spot for Friday night, around 9 I think, our time. It was so good to spend time with the McBride family before they left for Zambia. We stayed up too late chatting and catching up. Then Kai was WIRED and had zero interest in sleeping. The three of us were crashing in the living room so I kept dozing off and then waking up and realizing he was still playing and being loud and thrashing around in his 'bed'. Sigh. He finally went to sleep and so Michael and I followed suit. Morning came early but with it came breakfast! And more friends! The Center family (minus Kaleb) joined us and we played and talked and swam and ate some more and watched some football and had a good time all around.

They played with cups and the hose and even washed Mitzi's van.

We fed them picnic style in the house. (My child doesn't care for the picture taking.)

Kai swam like an old pro with his life vest on. Something he'd not done until we went to the lake in August. Was fun to see him do it again. And nice to be in the water. It was HOT!

Swim time meant no naps for the kiddos so we headed on to Ginny's house after we got dried off and changed clothes. About the time we got there, it started pouring rain...and it didn't really stop until Tuesday...

We had a great time with Ginny and her girls (while daddy Kaleb was working for the weekend) and Kai really enjoyed playing with Sofia and her tractors.

We ate pizza, played Wii, watched fireworks, ate pie and ice cream, and were sad when it was time to pack up for home. And the rain was not letting up for anything! We got on the road on Monday morning in a downpour. We trudged through Knoxville and met Mitzi for lunch on the other side. One last time for goodbyes. And Kai declared that he wanted to move to Africa with his friends. =) (THANK YOU McBs and Centers for your hospitality. We were so glad for the time we got to spend with you and appreciate your friendships so much!)

There just isn't a whole lot to say about the rest of the trip home other than it rained more than you could think was possible. We stopped A LOT just to take breaks and get out of traffic. And we ended up making a 4.5 hour trip take 9 hours. Some lovely family bonding time in the car. It was a long weekend and a long trip and we were so glad when we finally made it home. I hope it will not be 5 years before we do it again guys.

Michael and Kai hit the playground down the street one morning the following week once everything had finally dried out and they needed to escape the house. This little guy loves playing on the playground and missed having friends to share it with him after our friend-filled weekend!