Fun! Fun! Week-End!!

I've been wanting to post for the past few days because I have some awesome pictures of my Birthday week-end at my Mom's house!

To begin our trip, the kids and I got up at 4:45am to drive Glenn to work. I know it sounds a little crazy but I didn't want to waste any time trying to get to my Mom's house! Glenn never really knows when he'll get off work so I wanted to be able to just pick him up on the way instead of waiting for him to drive home. I then proceeded to pack, deposit some checks, run to Walmart to buy some gifts of birthdays I hadn't been able to buy for yet, cleaned out the van and had it detailed, took Glenn's work clothes to the dry cleaners, and then put gas in the car. When Glenn called at about 3pm, we were off!

It took us 3 hours to drive to my Mom and Chad's house. We made great time considering the funky weather that day. But because of the headwind most of the way, we only got 22 mpg!! Any of you who are paying $4 a gallon will understand how frustrating that is!

A side note: When we went to pick up Glenn on the way, Charles asked us to stop the car so that he could give me my birthday gift. For the past few days he'd had a gift on the piano with a sign next to it that read, "No Peeking!!!!". But he wanted to give it to me before we got to Grandma's house. I opened it. Inside was a $5 gift card to "Coldstone's". This might not seem like a big deal, but that gift card was given to him by his baseball coach for playing an awesome game. He was so excited that HE was the only one who got it and couldn't wait to use it! For a few days he talked about it and made plans to go to the shop. Then one day he came to Glenn and asked him to help him wrap a gift for my birthday. Glenn usually takes the kids to the store to get me gifts but Charles wanted to give me this. It was the only thing that he had. Knowing how much he valued it, it really touched me and broke my heart a little. That kid has a huge heart. To say that we love him isn't quite enough. I wish there could be a stronger word.

Back to the week-end. We got to my Mom and Chad's house and had dinner and played in the jacuzzi. My mom had squirt toys in there so the kids had a blast! They also had their new puppy, Emmy, that Earl had given them. She was soo cute and gave us hours of entertainment while we were there!

The next morning we took it easy and just visited. At about noon we drove to Cider Creek apple farm. We picked up some pies Glenn had wanted for his trainer and other treats. Then the kids played at the park for a few minutes before we met my brother Earl and Amiee at Big Bubba's Bad BBQ! Glenn had a huge piece of tri-tip and I had the BBQ beef ribs! So good! Earl treated us to the dinner and then treated us to the new candy shop in town. He got me an Elvis keychain and Elvis mints. Then we all went to Earl's house to see his gigantic African Mastiffs (Boerboels) and puppies. After that we went back to mom's house.

The next morning my mom cooked a huge breakfast for us! Earl and Amiee came over with Jesse and Slade. The kids played in the jacuzzi. After that we all drove out to Earl and Amiee's new property. Their house is all ready! But it really is out in the middle of nowhere! My newly-cleaned van is coated with dirt from the back roads! We had a great time having a picnic outside and Amiee even taught Charles how to ride a bike!! We had the delicious birthday cake that my mom made for me! Jesse and Charles played so well together. Charles was crying when we left because he didn't want to leave Jesse. Baby Slade is the smartest, strongest kid ever! He isn't even 2 years old yet and he jumps better than Maryn! He talks in sentences!

All-in-all, we had the best time and it was hard to leave. We hadn't been up there in over a year! We will have to try to visit more often.