We're Baaaccckkkk!!!!

This is why we left Oklahoma and travelled 2200 + miles across the country. My brother and his wife and his  brand new little baby girl! But the biggest excitement for us was just VACATION!

John and I haven't had a vacation in so long that we almost didn't know what to do! Don't worry it quickly came back to us!

So when we started planning our trip to go see my brother's new baby, we saved some money and started dreaming about what we would do and see along the way.

My worries started piling up along with excitement that we finally got to leave this state for a little bit! Who would keep the dogs, would our apartment be okay, how in the world would Joslyn do in the car for that long of a trip?

Of course, like most worries, many of them were in vein. Thursday night we packed and dropped off the doggies at my sister's house. We got up Friday morning all packed and ready to go get our rental car. Joslyn and I stayed in the car while John rented the vehicle. He splurged a bit and got us an SUV and I was so excited to get to have all that room. The SUV was so nice and really was great on gas. Since we have been Mitsibishi owners for awhile, it was kind of fitting to see if the Endeavor would fit as our next vehicle. It sure is a contender!

So we packed up the SUV and off we went! Our first stop was to see Granny and Pawpaw at their new home in Checotah, OK. They moved out to Checotah for good in December of last year and Joslyn has been missing them so much! So we spent about an hour with them getting caught up on all the recent news. Then hit the road again.
We also wanted to stop and see my mom on this trip but scheduling never worked out.

We tried to make it to Memphis the first night, but fell short about 30 minutes. Joslyn, who had been a gem for most of the trip was getting extremely hard to deal with and was hungry and ready to get out of the car. So we stopped in Forrest City, AR. Whatever you do don't go to this city for vacation. It was really dirty and just not desirable for a stay. John picked a cheap hotel that looked okay from the front, but when we drove around to the back and entered the room we were not happy. Unfortunately, Joslyn was just not going to be able to get in the car again, so we stayed. The floor was wet and the room smelled musty and there were mold spots on the ceiling. The wall paper was peeling up and I was very nervous about the neighborrhood. I was up most of the night, checking for bed bugs and John was up most of the night checking on the car. It wasn't until the next morning, in the daylight that we realized the whole reason the room was awful. In the picture you can see that there was some kind of fire in the room above us and for some reason they didn't feel concerned about the obvious water damage. Not enough to remodel or at least put us in another room. Not like they were full of patrons either. So we learned our lesson, and gave them a really awful review and hit the road.

The second day was a much longer drive then the first, so we got on the road really early, that and we couldn't wait to leave the hotel. So our plan was to make it to Tim's house that night, no matter what we did! We were so excited to see Tennessee! The drive through Tennessee was long but very plesant. We made pit stops and enjoyed our drive through the swampy part of Tenn as well as the Mountain parts. We took a little detour and drove through Nachez State Park and got out and toured their tiny musuem to let Joslyn stretch her legs.

The museum was full of artifacts from the earlier centuries of settlers. We stopped to admire this hand made wheel.

After a much longer drive we stopped for lunch at Loretta Lynn's Restaurant. They had a buffet of down home country food. The food was okay, nothing spectacular, but it was really neat to see the pictures and memorabilia of hers. During the summer months you can tour her ranch and stay at her campground. We didn't have time to check out the campground.

The best part of the drive was the mountains! At the edge of Tennessee and through North Carolina and South Carolina are the smokey mountains. They are so beautiful! I enjoyed every scenic view! I couldn't stop talking about them. The coolest thing I saw was the way there were natural waterfalls next to the highway, plummeting down the rocky cliffs. Just gorgeous!

We arrived around 10:00 our time 11:00 their time. And of course the first thing I had to do was hold my little niece! Isn't she precious! I was memserized by her tinyness and her cuteness. Joslyn kept saying is that my baby Selah? So cute. Joslyn only got jelous once when momma changed Selah's diaper. Otherwise she was very good. We tried not to have daddy hold Selah while Joslyn was awake to make sure that she didn't get jealous.

During our visit, we had a wonderful time reuniting with my family. We really enjoyed every moment catching up with them and getting to see their beautiful house and meet some of their friends. Sunday we all slept in a little bit and Tim made us a big breakfast of French toast with Holla bread and turkey sausage and hashbrowns. I helped him in the kitchen a little and we enjoyed talking about food and spices. After awhile Tim took me to town and we checked out their local grocery stores and I made the purchases for that night's dinner. I made my famous guacamole and chicken enchiladas. I got to accomplish an adventure, which I will blog about later.

The next day was Tim and John's birthday! So us girls let the boys out for a little while and we hung around the house until we went out to dinner that night at one of Tim and Beth's favorite places. I will do a blog post on this restaurant in a few days, because of the spectacular service that was provided at this restaurant. The Sultan House of Kabobs is in Charlotte, NC and is a mediterranean food wonder! Tim and Beth invited some of their closest friends and we all met there. Beth had made carrot cake cupcakes for dessert and we sampled the different foods and enjoyed the good company. It was really neat meeting their friends. They have good taste!

The next day we took some time and took the kiddos to a really nice park in the area. Cherry Hill is a fantastic park, with a huge walking track and a great playground. Joslyn has been having trouble with grass and dirt areas lately. She won't walk in them because she says she doesn't want to get muddy, so it took some conviencing but I finally got her to play in the sand pit, and then we couldn't get her out of it. She found a couple of friends to play with and really enjoyed herself. We took a few photos of Selah while we waited on Joslyn.

She is a doll isn't she?

We really enjoyed our whole time with them and are so very grateful of their hospitality. Every moment spent will be captured in my memory banks for years to come. I really miss my family sometimes and a trip like this makes the time spent together all that more special. Thank you Tim and Beth and Selah for letting us come! Tim started a fire int their fire pit that evening and we toasted the end of our trip with smores and ice cream.



The ride back was just as nice. Joslyn rode in the car that first day back for 12 hours. We would stop for lunch at a place she could play but most of the way she watched her dvd player and would sometimes play with stickers and her books. I could not believe how lucky we got with her and how wonderful she was. Of course when we got out of the car that day we had to let her go unwind, as you see in the video. As a treat for her we got a hotel with an indoor pool and her and daddy went swimming that night. We ordered in pizza and really enjoyed the heck out of that hotel. This one was a Comfort Suites hotel and got many stars in my book!

 We had such a great vacation and I am so glad that we went. I want to especially thank my sister for watching my puppies while we went on vacation. She had trouble with Jinger, but kept them all the same for us! And she even gave them haircuts! Thanks Deb! Thank you friends for your prayers and well wishes for the trip. God is so good! Now it is back to the grindstone!

March!

March is a beautiful month! The beginning of spring! St. Patricks Day and Spring Break! It is also full of birthdays in my family. My hubby and brother and late grandpa share the same birthday, March 19th. I am super excited because I get to be with my brother on his birthday! I haven't gotten to celebrate my brother's birthday since he was eighteen! When he was eighteen he joined the Navy. As we were so proud of him to go off and serve our country, we were saddened at the distance he was away from us. The things he missed in our lives and we missed in his were harsh on us.
I grew up instead of a sister to my brother as more of a mom. Miss bossy pants as I was, enjoyed my role as mother in our household of 4 while my mom was off playing father, (IE working herself to death to feed us.) When I was in charge, usually nothing got done, we fought like crazy, and the real mom was called more times than not in a day. But even though our dysfunctional family had it rough, we are fiercly protective of each other now. My little sister was the survivalist, ya know the one who could be thrown into any situation and would be guaranteed to survive. Small and tough, she protected us. My brother was the good and decent one but with an anger streak you didn't want to see and I was bossy and boring, usually forbidding any fun. But we had this way of sticking together even if we couldn't stand each other at the time. Heaven forbid someone mess with our family. And since we have all parted ways we grow closer and deeper in love of what we had. We may not have had much growing up, but we had each other and that was what was important.

Now, my brother is married to a wonderful woman Beth, who is pregnant with their first child SF. Why only initial's? Well they have kept my little niece's name a secret to all but family, so I know and you don't. But in less than three days my little niece will make her debut into this world! And in about 15 days I will get to hold her! I am so excited! So we need your prayers for a healthy baby, a safe trip and a healthy and happy Joslyn. Because 2200 miles is a long way to drive with a very unhappy child. So I don't know how we are going to get to celebrate my brother's and husband's birthdays, but they will get to hang out together! We also are going to explore Tennessee a little, so if you know of anything we should see besides the obvious things in Tennessee, please let me know. So March is going to be so grand! What are your plans for March?