- Resting and relaxing at our vacation home here in southern Indiana (i.e. Eric's mom's house). We left our Alabama rental house at 10 a.m. Thanksgiving Day and arrived here at 12:15 a.m. We're celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow with Eric's family.
- Safe travels and a much-better-than-our-Suburban-in-gas-mileage van that is doing great.
- Family and friends all over the country who have blessed our trip in innumerable ways. In Ft. Worth:
In Houston (please note that the sign cut off in the picture first reads, "Do not feed the seagulls.."):
And in Alabama! When one of my email friends from an Internet group made up of mothers of larger families saw on the blog that we were going to be passing close to their home, she graciously invited us to their home -- even though it was Thanksgiving Day! The timing worked out great and we arrived at their home to find a Thanksgiving feast before us -- turkey, dressing (the best she's ever made, right?;), rolls, green beans, sweet potato casserole, macaroni and cheese, pecan pie. Needless to say, this topped by far the cheese sticks and peanuts we got at the gas station for lunch. Did I mention that they have five children under six, including boy-girl twins? Their spacing is almost identical to ours, but theirs are about 3 years younger. Our hosts had kid-friendly projects ready to make:
And here's a pic of all 10 children. How can we not be thankful for them?
Thank you to the Smith family for your generosity and hospitality. You are a blessing.
I also have to say on here how thankful I am for my husband. If anyone wonders how we can take a thousands-of-miles road trip with five young children, the answer is him. He works so hard to provide for our family and then loves nothing more than spending free time enjoying his children and showing them wonderful new things. He is so patient with his motion-sickness wife and her ever-changing rotation of CD's. He is a certified master mini-van loader. And when his children see the ocean for the very first time, he sees it all over again through their eyes and asks for the camera to catch the perfect shot. Thank you Eric.
5 comments:
They made it to the beach. Now that's a great picture!
Glad you made it home safe. Tell Sara that Ohio will still look the same. I go back often, just to check. ;)
Dear Nortons:
Thanks so much for chronicling your adventures! It's been great fun reading about what you've experienced. Luke wants to know if he can have the roach from your motel room for a pet...well?
Love, The Swensens
Luke will have to ask the hotel..they took the bug for inspection and then cheerfully informed us it was not a cockroach but a "waterbug." All my Texas transplants tell us this is somehow made true throughout Texas. The manager told Eric it wasn't a "cleanliness issue." I hate to let her know, but if I find this size bug crawling around in my hotel room, I do not consider my room clean, no matter what they call the bug! Sorry Luke -- I do think he could've kept it on a leash. : )
What a great picture of the kids on the beach....and great memories to be recalled for years!
Now,to the fantastic parents of this group,
will this be an annual thing?
Bill
Bill -- the leader of the family replies, "to be determined at a later date." : )
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