We have been traveling quite a bit during this fall season, and it all came to a head over these past 2 weeks! The 6 younger kids and I drove back to VA on Tuesday, Oct. 16, for 2 cross country meets. Bob ended up coming for the weekend, so he bought the 3 littles back to Ohio with him so they wouldn't have to do so much driving at once. The girls and I drove down to Williamsburg for a meet Tuesday, Oct. 23 (about 6 hours round trip), then we drove back to Ohio the next day (8 hours). Thursday we attempted to get the house back in order, did a million loads of laundry (the only drawback to staying in our VA house is we don't have a washer and dryer there!), started packing again, baked cookies, etc. All this activity meant we really got no school done last week at all. I've never before taken a "fall break" but we did this year!
Friday afternoon we left to drive down to Huntsville, AL, to see Luke. We left later (2:45) than I wanted to because I just couldn't get everything together. As a result, we had soooo much traffic in Cincinnati and through Kentucky. The drive ended up taking 9 hours in a drizzly, depressing rain.
It was Luna's first long car trip, so we were very curious to see how she would do. She was pretty nervous at first, and she sat on the middle seat, in between Caleb and Jonathan. We stopped for dinner at a McDonald's right off a busy road, and she was so scared of all the cars and trucks whizzing by. Bob and the kids ordered while I walked her around in the rain, but we ate in the car, so it wasn't a very long stop. The only other time we stopped was for gas and bathrooms, so the 9 hours was not because of stops! Anyway, Luna was so thankful to be back in the van after all the noise of the McDonald's parking lot. The rest of the way she slept on the floor, under the van seats.
When we got down to Huntsville, around 10:30 central time, we drove straight to the house of a family we had never met before! They had been at WSS this summer and so met Luke there. Their oldest daughter was at Camp Caleb with Anna, so we had that connection too. They had just PCS'd down there in June, so when they realized Luke was close by, they had him over several times during the semester, and they told him our whole family was welcome to stay there! They had a huge, lovely house, with plenty of room for all of us, including Luna, and we had so much fun with them! Luna bravely met their ancient dog Kodi, and also had tons of fun running around their yard with the kids, and also taking walks around the big lake in the middle of their subdivision.
We had planned on stopping by the college to see Luke first, but when it got so late, we sadly realized we just couldn't. But we were so happily surprised when the doorbell rang not long after we got there, and it was Luke! Everyone was so thrilled to see him! He ended up staying the night too, which was fun.
It was actually Family Weekend at Luke's college, so there were a lot of activities planned for Saturday. After Bob took Luke's car into Costco to deal with a tire issue, we all headed over to campus.
Verity was especially happy to see Luke. She has really missed her big brother!
We stopped by Luke's dorm room, and we met his good friend and workout partner that is his suitemate.
Then we headed back over to the student center, where they had bouncy houses, and all sorts of other activities for family members. Here the kids are stuffing mascots to take home. Caleb and Anna also made some sand art.
We got cotton candy, and we also ate lunch at some food trucks. We had some BBQ pork sandwiches, and we also got a plate of kabobs from a truck called "Highway Kabobbery", which made us laugh.
They had facepainting as well, and Drew and Verity picked up some NASA tattoos from the Space Hardware Club booth.
After watching Luke play an intramural game of ultimate frisbee, we headed back over to the B's house for a delicious dinner of chili and pork steaks.
Then it was time for the hockey game! We had a bit of a time getting our family weekend passes exchanged for the actual tickets (which we hadn't realized we needed to do, lol), but it all worked out just fine. Hockey is really a fun game to watch, and I brought tootsie pops for when little people got too antsy, so we had a great time!
Sunday we met up with Luke at his church. It's a primitive Baptist church, which means they don't have instruments with their music. I found it amazingly refreshing. We sang a ton of beautiful hymns, and everyone just launched out into parts! I had read an article on facebook talking about how people no longer learn to read music or develop any kind of an ear in churches anymore because the music is usually so loud, and no one looks at hymnals anymore. You have to be able to hear the people around you if you want to learn how to sing in parts! I was also amazed at how much more engaged Micah was in the singing because he was actually trying to follow along in the hymnal. Now that he can read, he is reading a lot!
After the sermon, it was time for Luke to get baptized. This was actually the reason that we came down this particular weekend, and I'm so glad we were able to be there. Luke gave his testimony in front of the church, and it was very special to hear. I'm so thankful for all the events and people the Lord has used in Luke's life these part years, especially the people at WSS this summer. Such a blessing!
His church has an actual permanent baptismal pool!
After the baptism, everyone filed up and shook his hand or hugged him to welcome him into church membership, which I thought was neat.
Then we went over to the pastor's house for an incredible Sunday dinner of pulled pork, mac and cheese, green beans, sweet potatoes, and salad, with brownies and ice cream for dessert! It was really great to get to know them better, and we had such a fun time! In fact, we didn't want to leave to the drive back, lol. Eventually we knew we'd better get back to our friends' house to collect Luna and our stuff, or else we would never get home! But first, they took a nice picture of 11/12 of us!
So by the time we got loaded up and actually left, it was almost 4:00 Eastern time. We knew there would be less traffic on a Sunday, but still--we didn't end up getting back home until after midnight. We did make a longer stop for dinner, though, stopping at Culvers. Luna was much friskier on the ride home, trying out several spots, including Bob's lap before we could get her back into the back!
But eventually she settled down back on the floor. By the time we got close to home, she had decided the best place was on top of backpacks and our snack tub in the middle of the driver and passenger seats. It looked a bit uncomfortable to me, but she was completely racked out! She was sooo happy when we got home though. Yesterday she had the most energy she's ever had, racing happily around the yard and frolicking around the kitchen! She is definitely a homebody.
But unfortunately for her, we are not, lol. She's going to be taking a trip to VA this coming weekend for the girls' last cross country meet! At least she travels well and doesn't get carsick!
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