Our Vacation

I've wanted to type this for two days, but this is the first moment I've actually had to articulate all that's been on my mind.

Our trip to Fort Worth was very smooth on our drive up.  There is something to be said for planning your stops.  Our first stop was in Anson.  It was the mid-way
point.  We had a lovely visit with Melissa and Tommy.  They treated us to Dairy Queen!  I can't tell you how much I LOVE Peanut Butter Cup Blizzards. haha  We were able to sit in a back room which allowed Jadon to walk around, climb on chairs, etc.  We also visited Melissa's awesome antique mall.  I found the cutest bell Christmas earrings for 2 bucks!  We were there about 2 hours.  Once we got back in the car both boys crashed.  Our next stop was the Alder's.  Both boys were amazing travelers... until the last half hour.  My nerves were completely fried by the time we got there.  It took me a few minutes to unwind.  The portable DVD Player was a God send!

We had a lovely time with the Alder's.  I've had a lot of people tell me they considered me family and I've discovered their actions never really match up with their words.  Oddly enough, her parents never called me their daughter or my kids their grandkids, but they treated us as such!  We were both humbled with all the love, generosity, and hospitality.  We never once felt like we were putting them out or that Jadon overwhelmed them.  They truly seemed captivated with his learning, energy, and loving attitude.  Jadon was in heaven!  He ran and played the entire time.  Ethan, (Amy's nephew - Julie's son) was such a great kid!  He had this ability to make Joshua laugh whenever he played with him.  He and Jadon were great friends.  Jadon really took to having an older kid to play with.  He was a champion sleeper!   I was so worried he'd feel scared being in an unknown place, but He napped with NO problems and he slept hard 12 hours plus at night.

TuTu (Pamm - Amy's mom) really showered me with compliments.  She kept complimenting me on my parenting, how smart Jadon is, and what a great job I've done.  They were really impressed with Jadon's ability to know his colors, his vocabulary, his manners, and his shapes.  One night, during dinner, he pointed to his napkin and said, "rectangle."  I wish you could have seen Dennis' face (Amy's dad).  They were so impressed with that.  I left their house feeling like I really am accomplishing a lot with my boys... heck, even homeschooling them already.  I can't tell you how therapeutic it was for me to have someone see me in 'action', acknowledge all my hard work, and make sure I knew they believe I'm doing a good job.

The rest of the trip was wonderful!  Having all that time with Amy was priceless.  Julie and I really clicked too.  It was just so comfortable the entire time.  The food was DELICIOUS!!!  I've eaten a lot of turkey in my life, but the fried/marinate injection was DIVINE.  No exaggeration.  We got to spend time with Erin at the aquarium.  She taught Jadon what sounds an owl makes.  He remembered and said it today when he saw the owl in his book!  We also ate at a DELICIOUS hamburger place called, "Burger House".  A definite recommend!

The trip home was painful.  We didn't plan our stops, the gps went a little wonky, and the 6-7 hour trip took ELEVEN painful hours.  Neither one of us ever want to hear another Mickey Mouse episode again.  That's all that kept Jadon from whining.  Jason decided to take a 'short cut', that ended us up lost, and when we turned on the GPS to help us it sent us to the middle of a cotton field.  It really was scary because it was pitch dark (no lie) and we didn't know how we were going to get out.  I could have cried in relief when we finally got home.

But we did, safely! Thank the Lord.  I have so much more to say, but I'm going to end this for now because Joshua is sick and just woke up crying for his mommy.