First Road Trip!!

I'm a little behind with this post, but better late than never right!

I was dying to meet my new niece, Charlie and was trying to decide on a weekend that I could travel to Indiana to meet her. I was going to head north after Matt got home on a Friday and take Anna with me for the visit. I realized that The Apple Festival (which is always the first full weekend in October) was coming up and decided to take the plunge! The only problem was I knew I couldn't leave Grace in Tennessee while I was having fun at "the fest". So what does any normal, sleep-deprived, new mother of two do.........take BOTH girls with me!! How bad could it be? I would be driving for at least 7 hours with a two and a half year old and a two month old!! No problem!!

As it turns out, I was right!! I loaded up the car with what I'm sure was our entire house. I REALLY need to hone in on the fact that Bloomfield is among the civilized and they do have places such as Walmart to get any needed items I may forget or not want to travel with!! I packed a lunch for Grace and I before we left on Thursday morning. This way I could let Grace eat a "picnic" in the car while I fed Anna and kill two birds with one stone. Who knew picnics in the car could be so much fun.....for Grace anyway! :) We only had to make one other stop to feed Anna and we made in a SHORT 8 hours! SHEW!! Both girls did fantastic!! Yes, I was definitely having one of those "I am woman! Hear me roar!" moments!!


I was SOOO excited for Grace to experience the Apple Festival for the first time! I had so many fun memories of it while growing up and I knew she would have a blast! The only problem is there's too much GOOD food to try in two short days. Plus, it had been several years since I had been back so I "NEEDED" to try EVERYTHING!! You see they have these cinnamon rolls that are near the size of your head and I start craving them in September! I included a picture of one and I'm proud to say I polished off 3 (yes I said 3) of them!! We also ate corn dogs, a taco in a bag, Happy Matt's BBQ, kettle corn......let me stop here because my mouth is watering just thinking about it!!

Grace wasn't afraid of anything and rode every ride she was "big enough" to go on.....and even one that she probably shouldn't have! The ferris wheel, tea cups, giant slide, roller coaster, boats, animal safari, she LOVED them all!! That's my girl!!

The Mohr family came on Saturday afternoon and I finally got to meet little Charlie!! Two words come to mind when I think of her: beautiful and teeny!! She was born 6 weeks after Anna and looked so little next to her! Charlie has a little patch of "Who-hair" that sticks straight up and it's pretty hysterical! I do love a baby with some wild hair! I can't wait for Anna and Charlie to start interacting with each other. It will be so much fun to watch them together as they get older! I wish we lived closer together so they could grow up together and buddy up in school. Makes me really miss being closer to home.....sigh!!



We headed to the parade on Sunday and had perfect weather!! Grace got tons of candy, a hard hat, pencils, more candy, and even a stuffed animal from "Elvis!" The infamous "Elvis" from a nearby town hands out stuffed animals to kids every now and then as he walks in the parade. When he handed one to Grace, she hugged it like she just got a souvenir from The New Kids on the Block!!! HILARIOUS!! She also got to shake the cardinal's hand! Yep, she's big time people!!

By Sunday night, we were exhausted and NOT looking forward to our trip home! I just knew I was in for it since the trip north went so well. BUT, I was wrong and it went just as well!! HALLELUIAH!! We only had to make 2 stops again and both girls did great!! One problem I see is we have to add an hour onto our trip with each additional child. When Matt and I first starting making the jaunt to Indiana, it took us 6 hours. Then Grace came along and it took 7. Now with Anna, it takes 8! Ummmmm 3 kids might be pushing the limit a bit! :)





We had SO much fun over the weekend and got to see so many people: Nana, Papa, Grandma, Aunt Maggie, Uncle Adam, Sophie, Charlie, Aunt "Wala", Uncle Brent, and Jack!! I also got to see some classmates that I haven't seen in a LONG time! We got to eat SO much good food (I'll spare you with listing that again)! And got to see Indiana in the fall!! Maybe we'll make the road trip more often!!