Sunday, June 19, 2011

The Interstate Again???

This is what Ella-Ann always asks me when we get anywhere near the interstate so you can imagine how delighted she was when we hit the road, after just getting back from Hilton Head 6 days prior, to head to Tennessee and then Kentucky to visit family. Despite all of our travels, though, the kids were rock stars in the car. No whining or complaining that was too annoying! We mainly headed to Tennessee so that Spencer could get finger printed for his Tennessee medical license so we spent the night at Gary and Gayla's house on Friday. The Evans family came over so the kids were thrilled to get to play together so soon after just seeing each other.

On Saturday morning we headed to Central Kentucky to visit Nanny, Spencer's grandmother. The kids were excited to see her and I know Nanny enjoyed seeing the two big kids and cuddling Pierson. I was so proud of Ella-Ann and Rane who easily scarfed down the fried chicken, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, peas and angel food cake that Nanny had prepared for us! I didn't hear a single complaint out of Ella-Ann, who easily finds something wrong with "other people's" food!

That afternoon we headed 2 hours west to my parent's house to spend the week. It was my last trip to their house until we move! I cannot believe my 5 1/2 to 6-hour trips to and from their house is over! Our main reason for going last week was to celebrate my Dad's 60th birthday. Mom and I had a little surprise party planned for him later in the week with many of their friends. We had a wonderful time at their house and thankfully Spencer didn't get bored! We relaxed a ton but we also got out and had some fun. Spencer and I went to the movies all by ourselves! We haven't done that since before Ella-Ann was born! We also took Ella-Ann and Rane bowling for the first time while Mom watched Pierson one afternoon. They absolutely loved it! We played two games and it took about 2 hours! Ella-Ann also played Pac Man for the first time, which I played a lot (I know my Dad did too) when I was a kid so that was kinda cool. However, she enjoyed the driving video game a whole lot more!

My friend, Sara, came over with her little ones, Lucy and Jay, one morning. It was great to see them and catch up with Sara. Ella-Ann, Lucy and Rane had a blast running around the house!

Tuesday my Dad turned 60 so we had a little family celebration for him. We grilled some food, ate some cake, opened presents and did sparklers in the driveway. Ella-Ann had sparklers for the 4th last year but this was Rane's first time. We went through 5 boxes! My Dad thought that was it for his birthday celebration but little did he know Mom and I planned a party for him later that week with their friends. We had an amazing cake made for him that suited him well, as you will see from my pictures! He walked in the restaurant and we all yelled, "SURPRISE!" He was floored and had absolutely no clue we had something up our sleeves! It was fantastic! We had such a good time at the restaurants and the kids were wound up like crazy because of all the people, volume level and good time that was being had by all. Rane stuck his fingers in Dad's cake no less then 4 times before we had even cut it! He was SO excited to eat that cake and boy did he enjoy himself with it! I think more of it ended up on his clothes rather than in his mouth! The party was a great way to end our last big trip to my parent's house. We left for home Friday morning and I am happy to say I am staying put for quite a while!

I took a lot of pictures so click HERE to view them.

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