Road Trip 2014 Day One
Well, it is finally time! This summer's road trip is going to cover the New England states and Canada. I am excited! I have always wanted to go up north, and have only been as far as New York. These trips are a lot of work, but knowing that there is only one more summer to go after this one, I am really okay with it :). Please do not misunderstand me, it is not that I don't like or appreciate these trips. They are just out of my comfort zone. If you know me well, you would know that I am really a bit of a "homebody." I love a good book and my house. But, a couple of months ago, it really hit me what we were doing and I became grateful in a different way. It dawned on me as our oldest was finishing his junior year of high school, that in a couple of months he will be a senior and then will go to college! The boy that made me a mom, who is busy with basketball six months out of the year and busy with his landscaping company pretty much the other six months of the year, will be leaving in just one year. How Harvey could see ahead to this moment when he first came up with this Road Trip idea years ago, I will never know...but I will always be thankful.
For those of you who are new to this blog, let me tell explain. Several years ago, Harvey came up with an idea to see all of the Lower 48 states with the seven of us over the course of five summers, ending the summer before our oldest was to go off to college. I thought he was crazy. I did not want to go. I gave him all the reasons why we shouldn't do it, the least of which was our youngest was still not potty trained (I know, I was grasping at straws :). It sounds terrible, but remember earlier when I said I was a homebody? Yeah, homebodies don't really relish the idea of road trips and living out of suitcases for a few weeks! But, in the end I went along with his idea, really not embracing it or thinking it would actually happen. I think I was in denial until we pulled out of the driveway the first year! But I survived and relished the time with Harvey and our five children. We had not spent that much uninterrupted time together since college!
Fast forward a few years to now, and I still look forward to the time with my man and our kids. Don't get me wrong. It gets tight in a van and in hotel rooms with seven people. It is not always "pretty," but we are together and that is what matters!
This morning we left Pigeon Forge, Tennessee from Harvey's annual family reunion. We have been driving all day to tonight's destination in Pittsburgh. We had one stop at New River Gorge, West Virginia. It was beautiful! It felt good to stretch our legs, if only for one hour, after being in the van for a few hours. Do you know they have the 2nd tallest bridge in the U.S.? Who knew?!
Below, are a couple of pictures from packing up our boxes last night. These are not all, but most, after they were loaded onto the cart last night. This year is different because we have a new van that is larger. We are not pulling a trailer, which is great, but it is a little tighter with our packing. We gave Harvey's parents all that we could spare to take back to Charlotte from the Reunion. If we didn't need it, we didn't bring it!
I hope I have not bored you to tears. This post was a little long and I apologize. Love & Grace to our loved ones back home!
For those of you who are new to this blog, let me tell explain. Several years ago, Harvey came up with an idea to see all of the Lower 48 states with the seven of us over the course of five summers, ending the summer before our oldest was to go off to college. I thought he was crazy. I did not want to go. I gave him all the reasons why we shouldn't do it, the least of which was our youngest was still not potty trained (I know, I was grasping at straws :). It sounds terrible, but remember earlier when I said I was a homebody? Yeah, homebodies don't really relish the idea of road trips and living out of suitcases for a few weeks! But, in the end I went along with his idea, really not embracing it or thinking it would actually happen. I think I was in denial until we pulled out of the driveway the first year! But I survived and relished the time with Harvey and our five children. We had not spent that much uninterrupted time together since college!
Fast forward a few years to now, and I still look forward to the time with my man and our kids. Don't get me wrong. It gets tight in a van and in hotel rooms with seven people. It is not always "pretty," but we are together and that is what matters!
This morning we left Pigeon Forge, Tennessee from Harvey's annual family reunion. We have been driving all day to tonight's destination in Pittsburgh. We had one stop at New River Gorge, West Virginia. It was beautiful! It felt good to stretch our legs, if only for one hour, after being in the van for a few hours. Do you know they have the 2nd tallest bridge in the U.S.? Who knew?!
Below, are a couple of pictures from packing up our boxes last night. These are not all, but most, after they were loaded onto the cart last night. This year is different because we have a new van that is larger. We are not pulling a trailer, which is great, but it is a little tighter with our packing. We gave Harvey's parents all that we could spare to take back to Charlotte from the Reunion. If we didn't need it, we didn't bring it!
I hope I have not bored you to tears. This post was a little long and I apologize. Love & Grace to our loved ones back home!
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