March 14

Updated: Scroll down for new pictures from the big camera!

Sorry for the late post - I hope no one was too worried (I'm talking about you, Mom!). We're busy having adventures, so my posts will be a bit light for a few days. I can't get to the computer, so I'll be trying my hand at mobile posting for a little bit.

We spent a lot of time in the car yesterday, so we made a bold move: we switched Daisy's car seat to forward-facing and moved it to the center of the car. I'm a firm believer in keeping kids rear-facing for as long as possible, though. You just can't argue with the safety data! Once our adventures are over, I'll probably switch her back to rear-facing for another year or so.

In the meantime, Daisy loves being forward-facing! She immediately began listing all the things she saw: "I see trees! I see the library! I see daycare! I see a green light! Green means GO, Daddy! I see EVERYTHING!!!" 

But the whole purpose of the car seat switch was so that she could see our travel DVD player. Caleb was shocked and amazed that he could watch movies in the car. I think he'll be pretty upset when we put the DVD player away again!

And this girl. She barely nursed all day because things were so hectic. Luckily, she was willing to try to drink some pumped milk from a sippy cup while we drove. She's definitely not proficient at it yet, but she put forth a good effort!

More adventures tomorrow!

Now that we're home, I'm able to upload pictures from my big camera and share more information about our trip. I'm always hesitant about disclosing specific information about us being away from home on the Internet, so I tried to keep things vague while we were away.

Chris' sister, Grace, and her husband, Adam, have lived in Texas for nearly ten years, and somehow we've never managed to visit them. Finally, we realized how ridiculous that was and decided to suck it up and make the ten-hour drive, despite our three small children packed in the back seat of my sedan. This was our first long trip with all three kids, so we broke up the drive there with stops every four hours or so: a visit with Chris' grandmother, then cousin and family for lunch, then a visit with college friends and their kids for dinner, then finally to Texas. It meant a less direct route, which added 2 hours of driving time, but it was absolutely worth it.

First, we visited with Grandmother. Grandmother has pretty advanced Alzheimer's, but we were lucky to visit on one of her really good days. We are blessed that Chris' Aunt Mary desires deeply to care for Grandmother in her home. As Grandmother's disease progresses, it becomes more and more challenging to care for her, but Mary and a team of caregivers ensure that Grandmother is in great health, in good spirits, and as comfortable as possible.

Grandmother raised eight children and has always loved babies, so when we walked through the door with Lily, her eyes lit up. Though her memory is gone, that vital part of her personality remains. She kissed and loved on Lily for quite a while. Though Lily looks startled here, she and Grandmother actually got along quite well.

After she had kissed on Lily's sweet cheeks for a while, she looked right at Chris and said, "I love you! I'm so happy to see you!" and gave him hugs and kisses. For that brief moment, Grandmother was back. It was beautiful and bittersweet, and then it was gone.

We brought some chocolate for Grandmother, and she was eager to share with the children. Daisy was happy to partake, and Grandmother asked every minute or so if she could also give some to the baby.

Caleb is not in any of these pictures because he was feeling very nervous. In fact, it's a miracle I was even able to take these pictures because most of the time he was holding my hand or clinging to my leg. 

This may be one of my favorite pictures of the visit. Grandmother and Lily were deep in conversation.

Though Chris' Aunt Mary wasn't able to be there for our visit, his cousin Thomas was. We were happy to get a chance to see him, too!

We kept our visit very brief, then headed over to Chris' cousin Rob's home. Rob was working, but we ate lunch and played with Jodi and their kids. It was just the break we all needed.

I thought Caleb and Daisy would be the only ones who needed to burn off energy, but I was wrong. Chris spent a good twenty minutes playing "Broncin' Buffalo" with Trey and Carson.

They played until Chris could play no more!

Then we got back on the road. Sadly, I took no pictures during our dinner visit with Shawn and Rachel and their kids, but we had lots of fun. We got back on the road around 8 pm, and soon the children were all asleep.

Beautiful. It didn't last long, but it was beautiful while it did.

We finally arrived at Grace's house around 12:45 am, after leaving our house at 7:30 am. I had high hopes of carrying sleeping babies into the house, but of course that was a ridiculous dream. They were so excited to see Grace and Adam!

Finally, we got them settled in and we were all ready for  bed. Caleb and Daisy were so excited to share a room! It was a long day, but totally worth it.