Peter Cottontail

We had a lovely Easter Sunday.  Our friends Sandy, Joe, Sophia, Gary, Patrick, Gabe and all of us had a delicious dinner.  Sandy brought all the sides, including her famous mashed potatoes and a delicious cake.  We provided the ham and atmosphere.  The atmosphere was in the form of a religious revival CD that I played during dinner.  When we were at a farm stand, they had a basket of free CD's for travelers.  The sermons were all different topics and have lots of singing on them, not all of it good!

Our favorite part of Easter is always the egg hunt.  Sophi and Gabe were "too mature" to participate, but everyone else got in the spirit.  Can you say "competitive?", Patrick?!

 

Home Sweet Home, Saturday

Yeah, we made it!  We got home at 2:00 p.m.  We got the girls up and moving by 9:30 a.m. and in the car by 10:30.  The good news was that a half hour down the road, we switched into central time so it was still really 9:30!  That worked out really well!

We got up to cold, rainy weather.  It poured rain the entire drive from Lafayette to Rockston.  For some reason our GPS took us off the interstate and through all these back roads in Gary, IN.  We have no idea why.  It made for a very interesting route.  Driving through Chicago is always a challenge, but in the rain with tire spray blowing everywhere was a hand clencher.  But, we got home to a beautiful sunny day.  Our daffodils are bloomed, tulips have huge buds, bleeding hearts are up, and the lakes are all thawed.  People are out in their shorts running and biking.  We got home just as Kiel was dropping Digger off.  Digger was so happy to see everyone, even the pups.  It took all afternoon to unpack the car and dig all the garbage out of its crevices. 

All in all we had a great trip.  Hugh managed to fit in well enough. There were a few power struggles between Millie and him over NPR vs. Adam Lambert, but they always managed to compromise!  Living for a week in close quarters, all cooped up in a small car, is my idea of a family vacation.  I know where everyone is at every minute, and I never felt safer!

Friday night

Another day of driving over hills and mountains. We went through Tennessee, Kentucky and half way through Indiana.  More beautiful scenery, but no pictures.  The girls and I thought we could make it home in one day.  Only five hours left, easy.  But our knight had other thoughts of accidents and over tiredness.  So, we landed in Lafayette, Indiana.  We've told the girls that we are going to get them up EARLY tomorrow and hit the road. It would be nice to be home in the afternoon.  I'll let you know what time that actually ends up to be!  

Friday morning

Well, we made it through another night in a hotel.  Barking dogs, bad beds, snoring noses.  Hugh is playing the girls a good morning, wake up song on the cello.  I was hoping to be on the road by now.  We are still at least 12 hours from home, not counting all the stops we make.  Maybe we'll make it into Indiana tonight and have a short ride home tomorrow. 

It's interesting, when I traveled with the girls when they were little, we had so much stuff.  Portable cribs, strollers, car seats, toys, favorite stuffies and blankets, diaper bags.  Every night, it all had to come out, every morning it all had to go back in.  Then there was a small period where I could pack all their stuff in with mine, one, maybe two suitcases.  Now, we are back to lots of stuff.  Everyone needs their own suitcase with lots of clothes, curling irons, makeup, special facial products, dog beds, dog bags, dog toys, not to mention a cello.  Every night we have to unload the entire car and bring it all in; every morning it all gets repacked into the car.  Some things change but they always stay the same!

Buckets of shells, scenes from Edisto State Beach

Packing up

It is a sad morning.  The sun is shining, it's going to be 80 degrees, and we have to pack up and leave.  When I look at the room, it doesn't look possible that we can possibly get out of here by checkout time.  There is stuff everywhere!

Yesterday was beautiful.  Warm and sunny.  We had lunch with our friend Broxanne, who lives on Folly Island, then drove to Edisto State Park, about an hour away.  The girls and I walked for miles on the beach, collecting shells in our Dollar Store buckets.  Flocks of pelicans were flying overhead.  Sophie got a cut on her foot from a shell, and declared she was walking back to meet Hugh, for a consult.  She left us with all the buckets of shells and two dogs.  By the time we got to the car, our arms were burning.  Who knew shells were made of cement.  Then, of course, there is always the perfect shell you see on the way back. 

On the drive back, we stopped along the road so Hugh could pull some spanish moss off the trees.  He filled up four bags.  He assures me there are no bugs in it.  Then we stopped at a local farm stand and picked up a fresh homemade keylime pie.  Before we went back to the hotel we took a detour to Folly Island for a little shopping.  Millie got a cute dress, and Sophi a shirt.  We were planning on looking for a place to eat dinner but someone's annoying dogs were barking incessantly.  Oh, guess what, they were our dogs!  We quickly got in the car and skedatled before people started throwing fish at our car.

 Today we drove all day.  Hugh decided to treat the girls to an audio story about the Mayflower.  They were really thrilled, and soon the ipods came out with a request for ear phones. We passed a terrible car/truck accident in North Carolina... my thoughts are with them still.

We had to deal with the rock slide detour through the mountains again.  By the time we came out, we were in Tennessee.  We saw an ad for a hotel and took a chance.  We followed all these winding, rolling roads for about 45 minutes before we finally found it.  Sophi was freaking out about the isolation and worried we were heading for another Bates Morel.  But, it was really beautiful scenery.  Lots of fields with horses, goats and cows.

Now we are waiting for our supper to be delivered from a biker bar across the street.  Sophi has all the doors locked and double locked.  Hugh just serenaded us with a pre-dinner cello concerto. The pups are relaxing on the beds, and Millie is scrolling through pictures of Adam Lambert.

That's today's scoop.   We'll see how far we get tomorrow.  Hopefully we will be home before Easter!