Category: family

The highlights and the lowlights (I will let you decide which is which):

• The kids were SO GOOD in the car.
• Having internet in the car so I could chat and goof off for the long drive.
• The iPod FM thingie didn’t work as well as hoped.
• Anne’s packed goodies for the kids, including stories on CDs, were awesome tantrum-savers.
• Only eating fast food twice the whole time.
• Leatha’s for ribs; my first ever trip to Stone Cold Creamery; some backwoods (literally, it was in the middle of some forest) restaurant for awesome, awesome steak and fried catfish; fried turkey for Christmas dinner, which was surprisingly not greasy at all. As Kevin said, “There is no reason to eat turkey any other way.”; Glazed Heavenly Ham which was better than the Honey Baked Hams I have had; Mom’s home cooking- yum!; Cherry Cordial Kisses, courtesy of my SIL, Jo. Apparently they are in a limited release since I couldn’t find any to bring home with me.
• Seeing my aunt, Edna, my brother, George, his wife, Jo, and his kids, Skylar and Skyanne.
• Watching my kids interact and bond with their cousins.
• Max threw up multiple times the first night we were there. Thankfully, he is old enough to know to head for the bathroom. He didn’t quite make it to the toilet each time though, but the tile was so much easier to clean than the bed or the couch.
• My dad walking in on my mom and me trying to hide the giant present we’d just gotten him.
• The view from my parents’ house.
• The Tylertown light show.
• My mom and Kevin laughing at their many shared jokes and experiences.
• Watching Brian love on my parents’ dog, Buddy.
• Liking each other enough to make plans for another visit.
• The first four places we stopped at after leaving Miss. didn’t carry People or US Weekly. Hello, I need my trashy magazines to supplement the needed twizzlers and peanut M&Ms!!!
• Being smart enough to get Brian a new toy for the drive home. (Cuz his Christmas presents weren’t the kind to be played with while stuck in a car seat.)
• The Country Inn & Suites we stayed at on the way home sucked ass. But, whatever, it is over and we won’t be staying at that one again. The one we stayed at on the way to Miss. was very nice though.
• Looking at pictures on the computer via my parents’ large flat screen tv.
• Brian and Max sharing a bed for the whole visit. They would giggle and tickle at first, usually, then settle down. Kevin saw them spooning at one point. At another, Max was barely on the bed, and Brian was sleeping perpendicular to the mattress and had stolen all of the covers.\
  Pictures are coming soon!

We made it home! Splitting the trip up into two even days instead of trying to front-load it like the trip there worked really well. We were in no shape for the long day (although two short days would have been nice). We made it home this afternoon after leaving Knoxville at 7:30 this morning. Jen is dozing on the couch, Brian is being annoyed at everyone’s lack of energy, Max is drawing, and I’m waiting for the pizza.\
I declare this trip a success. We had a good time with family, ate wickedly good food, laughed a lot (sometimes at each other – but we deserved it), hung out, played a lot of games, and no one killed themselves or cried too much. The boys have been promoted from Awesome Travel Kids second class to Awesome Travel Kids first class with honors. They were both unbelievably good – much better than I remember Tim and I being on car trips that long.\
I’m exhausted, though. I’m gonna go crash on the couch until the pizza shows up. Then, I’m going to watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special after the boys go to bed, and then go there myself. Tomorrow, it’s presents at my parents’ house. Whoopie, two Christmases!! It’s like Jesus was twins!