Our First Road Trip!

At the end of August, we set off for our first road trip to visit my family and to attend my 20 year class reunion.  We had decided to start our trip after I got home from work and do the overnight trip so  the kids could sleep through the whole thing.  We got them fed, bathed and pj'd and loaded up in the car by about 9:30pm and started our trip shortly after because Tony's dad decided that this was the perfect time to take a look at someone's tax return (don't even get me started...).  Tony began the drive and lasted just a bit longer the kids.

 I took over and got really tired at a few points, but shortly after pulling over got another wind and was off again.  We arrived at my parents house at 5:30am.  The kids had been awake but quiet for the past hour or so and wanted to play when we arrived.  My parents were awake and little Amelia was the most unsure of the 'strangers' (my parents) in a strange house.  She quickly warmed up to my mom who was playing with her and my dad shortly after.  After chatting/playing for about an hour, we decided to get some rest and put the kids upstairs to get a little more sleep too.  Luckily they adapted to the pack n plays well and we all slept until about noon.  I'm not really remembering what else we did the rest of the day but I think Tony and I drove into town during their nap and got something to eat and visited the local grocery store for a few items.  Mid trip my mom called and let me know that they didn't nap for very long and they were already up and visiting with their cousins from Ohio.

I had originally planned to go to the 'bar night' part of my reunion, but ended up not going because I thought most people would have been gone by the time we'd get the kids in bed and we were tired and had a long day the next day!  This would be a decision that I currently regret.  I missed out on seeing quite a few people that didn't go the next night.

My sister had made an appointment at JCPenney portait studio as she wanted to get the whole family together for some family pictures.  We loaded up our crew and headed to the mall.  They did as well as could be expected for having to sit  for as long at they needed to with people they didn't know that well.

We obviously went with the whole pink/blue thing - except for my one sister - even though it was her idea to wear pink and blue.  The latter part of the day was a birthday celebration, but it was tough making everyone happy.  My one sister is in the middle of a diet/crazy work out regime and preparing for a 'fitness competition' where she actually is having a custom bikini made.  My other sister and her family are vegan and she's training for an Ironman triathalon.  So coming up with something everyone will eat is... impossible.  I have to admit, I get annoyed by it, even though it shouldn't bother me.  Apparently I didn't get the workout gene - or the passion one that makes someone stick to and throw themselves so into something like they do.  Oh well! 

My dad had asked their neighbor Ruth to make a cake - I recall that she used to do some pretty elaborate cakes back in the day.  It was a simple cake and very nice of her to make it and it was tasty.  I brought my camera, but it seems I didn't take a whole lot of pictures.  That's typically what happens but my sister took some that I can share.

Later that night, T and I got ready to go out to my reunion.  We arrived and I immediately noticed that there not very many tables set up - meaning that there wasn't going to be a very big crowd.  As expected, not too many people were there and alot more went to the bar night but it was a fun night.  I got to see a bunch of people that I hadn't seen in years and caught up with one of my best friends that I'd lost track of.  She's not on facebook!  She filled me in on our other best friend during high school.  It sort of made me feel bad that I hadn't stayed in touch but realized that we'd all grown apart because we changed and change isn't all that bad.  At time time, we bonded again over our children - she has 4 kids now and her youngest is just a bit older than mine.  Tony ended up talking to her husband who is a lawyer and another old classmate who works in the culinary business.

The original reunion plan was to also have a family picnic, but that part got cancelled sadly.  I was looking forward to seeing everyone's families.

The rest of the weekend was a blur, but I know my parents had a great visit with my kids and got to see how much they've grown since they saw them last.  A few other pictures of the weekend...

Savannah gets a "Triple HUG"

Our trip home was an eventful trip.  The longest nap taken was by Amelia for about 45 minutes and we never had everyone napping at the same time.  Once Olivia fell asleep, little Tony decided it was a great time to start kicking her legs and pinching her arms which woke her up of course.  They all annoyed each other for what felt like hours and what normally takes 8 hours to drive - took almost 12!  We were exhausted and even had little Tony throw up whilst navigating the many hills and curves through the Pocono mountains in central PA.  I was really glad to have that trip overwith, but again overall, it was a successful trip home and we had a nice time.