When last I left off, we arrived in Kansas. We stayed with my friend Amanda, whom I've known for well over a decade now. She has take upon herself to be an adoptive aunt to our kids, and has yet to miss a birthday--it's truly impressive! I mean, we have like a lot of kids, y'know? So I was sooo happy to be able to put the kids down in the evening and then come out and spend some time with her, as if no time at all had passed since I was sitting at the end of her bed at the end of the day while we were roommates.
Aaaaaand, I didn't get a single picture with her. Again.
It occurred to me that we would be in the area for Father's Day and I honestly could not remember one single year that I'd spent that day with my own father...so we gave Poppa his first real Father's Day in Kansas City, he treated us to Legoland.
SUUUUPER fun!!
We made a number of other visits. We stopped by for a playdate with the Bryants--I went to high school with Josh but as my male friends marry, I befriend their wives and Leah has become a dear friend. They have twin girls a few months older than Elliot and a boy who shares a birthday with Paxton. Fun fact: their fathers also share a birthday (like, the exact same day and year and the whole bit). We also popped in on my friend Brandy, who had ADORABLE twins herself the winter before.
I can't decide what is more jarring--seeing people I knew as toddlers grow up into adults, or see people I knew as adolescents with babies of their own. WEIRD.
BUT I did get some pictures with the Deans--Halley and I lived on the same floor in the dorms our freshman year of college at KU. Fun, fun, fun times. It was so cool seeing our babies all playing together. I also happen to have an invested interest in her youngest baby, so it was particularly gratifying to see that lovely face in person.
SO. MANY. BABIES!!
Besides their grandparents, I was also able to take the kids to meet more of their relatives. Their great-great Aunt Susanne, who sent the beloved Little Lamb to Kendra when she was born...and with whom I did not get any pictures (I suck at taking pictures). And their great-grandparents. My grandpa is pretty awesome with kids we had fun stopping by to see them.
It was a pretty fun week. I took the kids to a park with a retired train engine parked. It used to be something you could climb up into the car and play in, but we found it closed off. The boys still appreciated the up close view.
We had a lot of fun--I reeeeeally loved going HOME, and bringing my children through was so gratifying. But, all good things must come to an end so we eventually said our goodbyes to hit the road again.
I saved the two most important stops for last, simply because of geography. We left Lawrence one rainy morning and made our way down to north central Oklahoma to visit my Grandpa. I'd only seen him once in the past 15 years, simply because I've lived so far away for so long and just never made it down. So, we did it. I knew going in that short and sweet would be best, so it really was a brief visit--we were in and out of his house in less than an hour, but it was a really, really sweet hour. It turns out that both of their surviving great-grandfathers are awesome with kids.
From there, we headed straight east to Joplin and spent the night in a hotel. The kids were pretty into hotels, and even though this day by far at the most driving in any given day on the trip, we actually checked in the earliest of all the times we stayed at a hotel. Woohoo!
The kids were awesome. Like, SO awesome the whole trip. This last hotel was pretty busy and there weren't any luggage carts available, but it was no problem! I had lots of valets with me who were all too happy to help!
The kids were awesome. Like, SO awesome the whole trip. This last hotel was pretty busy and there weren't any luggage carts available, but it was no problem! I had lots of valets with me who were all too happy to help!
We got a good night's sleep and then headed over for one final visit. My Great-aunt Fayanne. She. Is. AWESOME. She probably would have kept us a week if we'd let her, but I decided to do just another short visit. We also got to see my dad's cousin Tracy, and her daughter Whitney, who is my age and we grew up attending family events together, and her awesome son Mateo, who is in between Paxton and Bridget. Paxton and Mateo have a LOT of overlapping taste in toys, and when I said that it was time to go, Paxton really melted down about getting pulled away from Mateo's really cool stuff--I had my camera with me but had put it away thinking it was out of the question, but Tracy convinced me to go ahead. I'm so glad she did! I hadn't seen any of them since my grandmother's funeral almost exactly 15 years before, and it was sooo nice to. My Auntie is one of the most vivacious people I've ever met and has incredible spunk! She's pretty fantastic.
By this point, we'd been on the road for more than a week. It was time to get to Daddy and see our new home, so we went from Joplin down to Fort Worth to see the house he bought for us for the first time. It was a really pretty drive down Oklahoma and into Texas--there's a really nice-looking visitors center at the border on the highway we took but I drove right on past it because we needed to get to Daddy way more than we needed to get a picture of finally arriving in Texas.
And of course, I didn't get any pictures of our reunion with him, or of seeing the house for the first time. But, spoiler alert: I love it. There's a bunch of stuff we've already changed and more we want to do, but I really love this house!
Even though it's been so long since we took it, itt's important to me to document this trip because this was a pretty big game-changer for me. I moved 4 children 5 and under more than halfway across the country. By myself. While 20-22 weeks pregnant. As the Hungarians say, "That's not nothing!" But I did it. And not just by the skin of my teeth, either, we had a really good time. We were exhausted, but in a good way. It was huge and daunting, but manageable.
It showed me a lot about myself. Before this trip, I knew I wasn't a bad mother, but this trip convinced me that I actually kind of rock this gig. And our kids...man, we just have really, really, REALLY amazing children. I mean, they're not perfect--I just told a story about a pretty massive meltdown at one of our stops. But that's pretty typical of a two-and-a-half-year-old getting plucked from a toy he's super into before he's ready. So while I do feel that I rock this gig, I only rock this gig because I'm playing it with them. It made me SO excited to meet the baby that was on the way...and spoiler alert: he's just as awesome as the others.
I've had a lot more confidence in myself since we did this. I didn't do a whole lot in State College because...I dunno. But now? I have already proven to myself that I can go anywhere I want to, regardless of how many children tag along, and y'know what? I DO. I do tons of stuff now that I wouldn't have done with 1 baby! (But to anyone reading this who thinks they "only" have 1 baby--honey, there is no "only", there is merely "zero" and "nonzero" and once the number of children you're raising is "nonzero", you're in the club--and there are soooo many ways that "only" 1 baby is so much harder than 4, so give yourself some credit--you ROCK this gig, too!!)
So, I'm incredibly grateful for this trip. I'm so glad that we happened to move in a direction that allowed us to spend time with soooo many loved ones. My heart has been longing for Home, for all the people we visited and so many more we couldn't squeeze in, for years now.
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like Home.
