Transition

So, life has been nutty since we returned from our "out west" trip. I feel like I need to consult my calendar each morning to know where I am supposed to sleep each night. This could get old, fast. But, we're constantly reminding ourselves that it's a temporary state of transition and that we are cramming what would normally be a couple of years worth of visits and trips into a few short months.

Here are some highlights since my last post.

Our last night cross country involved a visit to my brother in Louisville, who I rarely get to see. I finally got to meet his firstborn, who just turned a year old. The kids loved "baby Maddox."

We returned to mom's house on Good Friday and along with us, there was a house full of company. On Saturday night, there were 17 of us staying there, but we managed just fine with air mattresses, couches, and doubling up. We had a great weekend visiting with some special cousins and celebrating Easter. It was one of the only Easters any of my kids remember where their daddy was not organizing a massive egg hunt for 500+ children, so that was different.

We celebrated cousin Steve's birthday with an Easter Bunny cake. Abe was totally into the action!

Isaac anxiously waited to start hunting eggs at Grammy's annual egg hunt. He found about $15 in quarters, along with his fair share of candy.

Abe had a great time hunting, but didn't find nearly as many eggs. He had to stop after finding each one and open it up before he would go look for another one.

The next weekend, we went to Hanging Rock State Park with our camping buddies, the Nemitz family. We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon of hiking, visiting, and some awesome Bingo prizes. It was all fun and games until I woke up the second night around 12:15 AM with the worst pain of my entire life. It turns out, that the Stokes County Hospital gives great morphine, and I can now say I've passed a kidney stone. I definitely needed to head home the next morning, but the Nemitz insisted that we leave the 4 oldest kids to camp with them for the last night as scheduled, so Ryan took me home, got me settled, and went back the next day to pack up and gather the young'uns. They had a blast without us, and I enjoyed hearing their stories.

Lizzy and Alexa, playing around at the campsite. Two peas in a pod, to be sure!

Owen and Abe made great hiking buddies. Abe LOVES Owen.

Isaac and Ian had a great time, all weekend long. Hiking, boating, fireside, you name it, they'll try it.

After getting in another week of school work, we packed up again and now we're in KY, visiting Ryan's parents. We met them at their hunting cabin, which is the kid's favorite place to be. They love exploring in kubotas, riding 4 wheelers, and catching any unfortunate frogs, crawdads, salamanders, or turtles that don't escape their buckets.

Isaac and his cousin, Christopher riding with Pap in the Kubota.

Here's Abby taking Nana for a drive on the 4 wheeler.

Isaac and Pap managed to get a turkey on the last day of turkey season. The kiddos all wanted an anatomy lesson when they returned. Can I just say, eew, gross!

Heading up the road for a morning hike, wherever Pap leads!

One of the trees we saw during our hiking adventures.

This kid was so filthy every night that we stayed at the cabin. Some of the clothes went straight to the trash can, but boy...did he have fun, compliments of the little creek that runs in front of the cabin!

Ryan and I are actually flying to TX tomorrow for an anniversary getaway. We have been married 16 years tomorrow and we had flight vouchers that expire in July. We thought that an anniversary trip was the ideal way to use them. The in-laws will be wrangling the kiddos, and we're looking forward to some R&R before heading back to NC next week.