We are back from our vacation. It was alot of fun to be home for a while. It was great to not have to worry about anything as well. I’ll start at the beginning.
We left at 8pm July 1 after Shea took half a day and slept what he could until about 6 or 7pm. The girls were thrilled with the DVD player and I don’t really remember what they watched to start with, my best guess is Phineas and Ferb or Cars. We drove through the night and got to Roanoke, VA at around noon, where we were able to check in. We crashed and rested until about 6pm when we started to settle in for bed.
Samantha had a horrible night, she wouldn’t go to sleep so it in turn kept us all awake until about 10pm when the sun was finally down. Kathleen ended up sleeping on the floor, which is pretty typical of my eldest daughter. We got up an moving and were on our way north around 6am. We reached my parents empty house about 6pm after stopping at Pizza Hut to eat.
I took the girls over to Grams house to tell her we were here after I unlocked the front door with my house key. She was suppose to let us in but I got in with my key. Shea started putting everything in the house. We went over to Uncle Albs & Aunt Barb house so they could introduce us to Ebony and Mica – my parents dogs. They came over about half hour after we arrived. Ebony took to everyone real well and Mica was overly shy. But the next morning after we woke up the dogs were more than happy we were there with them, even Mica was all waggles now.
We spent the fourth of July down to my Aunt Sylv’s house. It was too cold for the girls (and me) to go swimming but I think everyone had a good time. My parents came down there when they got home and the girls ran and practically jumped into their arms. Everyone was really excited to see each other!
The following day was Sunday, which me and the girls (and Mom) spent the day at Grams house playing May I. Or that was the plan, but we instead moved the card game to my parents house so that the girls would be more comfortable. That evening we went to Walmart. Why you ask? Well we realized after coming up from the heat that it was a bit too cold in the morning. I had only brought the girls one pair of socks each and Shea didn’t pack any pants, so we went and picked up those few things and a few additional groceries we needed for the next few days. Mom and Aunt Sylv helped plan the following weekends menu plan as Gram was having lots of company up. I cooked two of those days for the whole family and cooked dinner for the immediate family the rest of the time except those days we ate at Grams house during part of our vacation.
On Wednesday my Brother and his girlfriend Stacey showed up after having been to Michigan where Stacey’s family lives. We hung out talked and got to meet Maggie, their dog.
At this point things started getting blurred. We ate dinner on, my dad made omelets for breakfast. We ventured down to Aunt Sylv’s house for an hour or so for the girls to go swimming. While the water was FREEZING the girls both had a blast.
Kathleen started out in her life vest but it kept filipping her on her back (it’s suppose to do that) we put her in a tube and she went all over the pool. It took Samantha a bit but she did eventually get in as long as I held on to her at all times.
The next day Mig made breakfast with love. He shredded his potatoes by hand using a knife to cut each piece up. To accompany his hash browns he made french toast and sausage. We went down to Jenn’s house to see the chickens and goats (and jump on the trampoline). The girls enjoyed both parts. Kathleen got a goat to eat from her hand and petted a chicken. Samantha liked the dirt in the goat pen, thankfully the goats don’t relieve themselves in that particular area. Mom’s camera crapped out there so we don’t have a lot of pics as Mom would have liked.
I’m probably confusing days so chronology may be off but the events are still sound lol.
Thrusday night we waited for Aunt Eileen and Uncle Al to show up and we all went over for a little visit then came back to relax.
Friday night was “Family Night”. Now you ask what this might mean if you don’t know the Talbot Family. Basically it’s when all of Grams children, and their children and their children get together at Gram’s dinky little trailer. This is generally only seen at holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. But when Aunt Eileen or Uncle Jim come down (or any of the other out of state family come in to stay) they all get together. Usually it’s 40+ people, but be cause so many people showed up it was more like 50+ people. Gram ordered 10 pizza’s and there was only about 1 pie left over in total. I’m not sure what-else made it with dinner, tossed salad perhaps but pizza was the main dish. All in all it was good to see everyone. I got to meet some “family” I have only heard about and not really met, and Shea got to meet more too I think.
Saturday we went to Cooperstown to play Minature Golf. Dad won. (He was score keeper – and he’s a golfer.) Kathleen had fun hitting the ball. Samantha not so much, she really didn’t enjoy herself much except for playing in the dirt/rocks. That night I made spaghetti and meatballs.
Sunday night Suzie and Andy (and the boys) showed up but we didn’t stay long, Samantha was already home after having had a bad time while we were playing cards with Aunt Eileen – Mig played too. Mom and Aunt Sylv were trying to take pictures of each other’s cards to “cheat”. We all had a good time.
Mig and Stacey left Monday morning and Mom and Kathleen helped the Talbot clan put in hay. Kathleen had fun despite falling into Aunt Barb’s fish pond right after I got done telling her don’t lean over like that or you’ll fall in. Like my words prompted it in she fell. Thankfully she didn’t go under as she landed on Aunt’ Barb’s lilly pad pots. She was upset, but she later told Grandpa she went swimming with the fish.
Not much really happened eventful after that. We spent a good majority of the Wednesday the 15th outside with the girls. I got a slight sunburn on my thighs and Kathleen has a great tan. We left my parents house around 8pm (after waiting for a call back from Shea’s parents to tell us what was going on with Diamond.)
We drove all night long and reached Virginia Beach, Va around 7am. We ate breakfast at Denny’s then everyone but me slept in the van while we waited for 11am check in when we were able to get into our room. We waited around for Shea and Sydney (and Gabriel) to show up.
Shea got dropped off at the hotel and while we waited for Sydney and the baby to show up we went swimming. The girls pretty much played on the steps and Kathleen tried to go under water which scares me to death now. I am avoiding baths with her for the time being hoping the desire to swim under water fades just a little. Samantha got into the water of her own accord, she even got in up to her neck of her own violation.
Sydney showed up with our grandson and we all chatted and took pictures and had a decent time. They left around 8pm which was good the girls were getting sleepy and they had to be up early. Shea is going to Iraq at the end of the month so he had lots of things to do these last few weeks.
We drove to Atlanta, GA and stopped there for the night. While there we picked up a nice flat rock from the motel hillside to use as Diamond’s head stone. (Side note: I’ve purchased Georgia Clay red for the base of the rock color to pain). We left around 7am and got home about 1pm give or take.
All in all it was a very good trip. I miss home, and I miss my family but I am glad to be here with my things in what we call home. We are not back to the grind stone and things are back to usual minus one family member. I do miss her so much.
I will have pictures soon, I’m missing a few yet so I don’t want to post any. You can check out other family members pics if you can’t wait that long.
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