Wednesday, June 3, 2009

A Whirlwind Trip

Update: found the camera!

our family with Grandma

my semi-friend's gift

I missed you all, but I also have to admit I loved getting away from being "plugged in" too. I loved it so much, I'm thinking about taking one day a week and not checking email, Facebook, phone messages, text messages, etc. Maybe I'll break out the board games and not put on the tv too! How radical! Ha!

We had a good trip back to the Midwest. The 4 days of driving were long, but filled with laughter, singing and good conversation. Grandma's house was filled with family from FL, VA and CA and my uncle even had two friends from Australia join in all the festivities. It was a whirlwind trip, but one of the best we've ever experienced there.

Grandma turned 80 on Sunday, a feat that none of her siblings have made it to yet. She has already lost several brothers and a sister and never thought she'd see her 80th birthday so it was a joyous time of celebration with her. I'm hoping we can make the trip next year for her 81st! That would be awesome!

I stumbled across a cemetery that was reminiscent of the one my grandfather was buried in when I was 13 years old. My mother said I had remembered it correctly so I called the cemetery office and got a map to find my grandparent's grave sites. On Saturday my kids and I drove out and found not only my grandparent's graves, but also some cousins and 2 sets of great uncles and aunts. I'm so thankful I got to share this with my kids.

On Saturday night we spent the evening with extended family on my father's side where several cousins in the group were between the ages of 26-16. We had so much fun laughing that night! Thank goodness, for Facebook - now we can all keep in touch a little better, hopefully! My kid's met their great-uncle and aunt for the first time and got to put faces to all those birthday and Christmas cards they receive. We also learned about Great-Aunt Ruth's dark side and her disdain for sparrows. If those poor little birds could only read the bluebird signage on the birdhouse they would increase their lifespans tenfold.

We did arrive safely in IL and back home on the return trip, but we did have one little incident. A semi-truck decided he didn't want me to merge in front of him and he rearranged my wheel-well over the back passenger tire. It's not pretty, but it was still driveable. IL law said I was at fault -you must be able to pass safely into another lane of traffic, but since the two cars in front of me where merging into their spots I wonder if my "semi-friend" wasn't trying to be intimidating. Either way...a lesson learned.

I hope you had a good end of May! Please, share if you had something fun & wonderful happen to you while I was gone! Talk to you soon... (I'll update with pictures when I find the camera.)

1 comment:

teters4 said...

It's amazing how fast you can get from state to state in the east! We drive for eight hours and are still in good ol Cali! LOL Great story of your time with your grandma. So great for your kids to spend time with family too. Scary about the truck and your car! Truck drivers don't seem to have the courtesy they used to..we notice that around here too. Glad you are o.k. though.