I think with road trips that most people fall into the LOVE THEM or HATE THEM category. I used to be a LOVE THEM person, back in my carefree college days before I'd ever been in a real car accident and before I had 5 small people. Now I'm in a firm HATE THEM stage unfortunately. But alas, sometimes they must be done.
Like this year, for Easter, when it was just time for us to go visit the grandparents and bring some festivity to their big house before they move into their downsizing-empty-nester house.
So after the husband drove home from Virginia where he is working we loaded the kids up and piled in the car for the epic journey 5 hour drive to the grandparents' house. We, unfortunately did not go over many rivers or through woods to get there. Highways all the way.
It all started fairly serenely. I had dutifully packed everyone's bags, my husband had gotten the oil changed and the gas filled. The kids were excited and happy and not fighting in the backseat and abiding by our "no dvd's until 2+ hours into the drive" rule. But then, South Carolina hit. Have you ever driven through South Carolina? Because we have. Many times. And every.single.time there is an obscene amount of traffic and/or construction. I don't understand it. There aren't major cities on the route. There is no new big highway coming in. They just seem to be unable to handle weather, and road maintenance, and fender benders on the highway there.
And then, because of South Carolina, we got stuck in ATLANTA TRAFFIC!! If you have never lived in the ATL, let me educate you a bit. There are something like 8 lanes on the highway and ALL OF THEM will stop at rush hour. I don't know why. Nobody knows why, it's just one of life's mysteries like the Bermuda Triangle. We have lived many places and thus far nothing beats out Atlanta for traffic.
All this to explain the following picture....
Why yes, that is my 8 month old child and yes she has a LeapPad 3 in her hands....a video game system. ::hangs head in shame::
#fifthkidlife is all I have to say.
No, it's not. #roadtripssuck would also be appropriate to insert here.
In spite of the traffic and the fussy Mommy baby, we made it to the grandparents' house!
On Friday, there was church, and it was good. Get it ;) Also, it was dark and solemn, so no pictures.
On Saturday, things were still low-key but somebody had to color those Easter eggs so we jumped on that grenade. You're welcome.
We were big into the yellows this year. With some extraordinarily vibrant blues thrown into the mix! Whatever dye my mother-in-law found was an especially good one this year!
On Sunday, HE WAS RISEN! He was risen indeed!!
And we celebrated accordingly with not one, but two church services. First at the grandparents' church for the early service.....a great sneaky way to actually get seats on Easter Sunday!
We took pictures outside because everyone was dressed up and why not??
First, the teen. Isn't she lovely :)
(Cardigan: Target, Skirt: Handmade by me, Shoes: Payless)
Then the whole kid crew! This is as close as we got to everyone looking at the camera. Also, only the teal skirt and pink dress were made by me this year. That baby dress was a hand-me-down and originally came from Target.
With it being so close to our anniversary, and with us having been married in this very church, I thought a picture of just the two of us would be a good idea. Neither of us is terribly photogenic, especially myself, so I apologize.
(but....pretty wrap skirt I made myself for Easter!)
Cute baby + Flowers = <3
Then it was off to the nearest Ukrainian Catholic Church. Because we're unusual like that. No, neither of us is Ukrainian, I'll explain later....
(handsome little guy watching the blessing of the Easter baskets)
Back at the big house there was much playing with toys and eating of candy.
A LOT of eating of candy....
And we rounded out the trip with a visit to the Room of Requirement (aka Grandma and Grandpa's basement), where we found all sorts of treasures, some of which were packed into our van to enjoy at home. Yes, the tiger costume of course had to come home with us....it fit him too perfectly not to!
The road trip back up north was even worse than the trip down but I'll spare you the details on that.
We did get a call at the end of our road trip saying our offer on House #3 was accepted, which was super exciting! But then within a week that offer fell through because it turns out House #3 is termite-ridden, which we found out when the inspector put his hand right through a beam in the basement. There were also wasps and unknown critters living in the attic, and potentially leaking oil tanks in the basement. Fun times!
So after Easter it was back to the house hunt!
How was your Easter? I hope it was good and blessed and as beautifully cool and sunny as ours was. In spite of my tongue-in-cheek complaining about the driving we really did have a lovely holiday and it was so nice to spend a weekend just celebrating with our family.
