Vacation 2013 - Part One - Visiting Our Elders

We embarked on Tuesday,  May 21st. I had to work on the 20th but we had spent the previous weekend preparing for our trip. I actually managed to pack all of my things and all the kids things into one suitcase for the three of us. Hubby paid me a huge compliment and said I packed like his parents - that is actually saying a lot. I was quite efficient. I did not need to pack all the shorts that I did because it was so cold and rainy most of the time we did not even use them. Still, we had plenty to wear especially after washing at the hotel.

We drove straight through the first day. We made several stops to let the kids rest and stretch. We did pre-medicate Lil Sister with low dose Zofran. She, like her mother, gets really motion sick. The meds worked like a charm, and she did great without a stitch of nausea or vomiting. They took their naps in the car and then woke up to watch one show. We arrived at our hotel just in time for dinner, baths, and bedtime. We tried to stay on our own local time but it was tough not falling into the other time zone since it allowed us to sleep in an extra hour.

The next day we met up with Grandma and Grandpa N in a neighboring town for visiting with family. The main reason for this trip was to visit with family, particularly some of our elderly relatives that we may not get a chance to see again. All in their 90's. They all still live on their own but some are moving slower these days.

First stop, Aunt P and Uncle B's place. Aunt P is Grandma N's sister. They only have one grandson and he has never been married so they will likely never have any great-grandchildren. We like to think of the kids as their surrogate great-grandkids. It was fun that several other family members who heard we were in town came by to visit as well.The kids had a great time recruiting new playmates in their elderly relatives, all of whom were eager to play or read to them. Plus, I had strategically packed some new toys to entertain them - sticker books, reading books, paper dolls, Lego action figures, etc. Uncle B had to show off his small garden. He is 93 years young and still plays three rounds of golf a week.

Then onto Aunt L and Uncle M's place - they have a giant garden and a rather large yard which we took advantage of as the kids were desperate to run around. Both were long time educators and Uncle M was the city's mayor for a while. Aunt L and Uncle M do not have any grandchildren so again, our kids are the surrogate grandkids. I love "chatting" politics with Uncle M although this visit I did not get much chance as young T kept asking him about his travels to Egypt and told him how he was already saving for a trip to see the mummies there. They kindly provided us some cuttings from the garden to plant in our yard (spinach and ground cherries) and also some roses for each of the kids to enjoy on the car ride back to the hotel, although our little super heroes fell asleep. Aunt L is Grandpa N's older sister. I definitely see a resemblance in the photo of them side by side. Sweet, sweet lady a lot like dear Grandpa N. I also had to sneak in a profile pic of my shadow.

 
After their power nap and dinner, we hit the pool. Stay tuned. More photos to come.