As most of my readers know, last week my little lovely family went on a road trip to head to the
Schumacher Family Reunion.
Schumacher Family Reunion.
The chaos began in our home long before the actual trip started. With cleaning, packing and preparing to leave our pup, Marley, at home for his first time alone. It was a little hectic to say the least. I cleaned for three days straight to make sure that our beautiful little home was left just like that, beautiful. I swept, mopped, laundered every piece of everything we own, washed every single dish and made each and every bed. By Tuesday night, July 3rd, I was pretty proud of all of my hard work.
Then the packing began.
Thankfully Rafal got home from work early on Tuesday and was able to help me pack everything up. Not only did we each have a suitcase of clothing and shoes, but because we were RV'ing we also had to pack sheets for the beds, towels for the showers and for the pool. Packing turned into a three hour process but we actually didn't forget a single thing!
[That's sort of a lie, I forgot my razor... but I bought a different one, so all was good! haha]
After Rafal & I had our bed covered in suitcases and big bags full of stuff he started to load the car to head to my folks house, Nana and Papa. It was well after 11pm before we ever left our house, which turned out to be ok. After we got to Nana and Papa's house I went inside and put Dylan to sleep while Rafal packed our stuff into the RV!
6am on the Fourth of July came EARLY.
But Breakfast at Cracker Barrel made it all worth it...
With bellies full, hearts happy and minds ready for the journey we were on the road, heading North bound towards the Alabama/Georgia line!
We made several (and when I say several, I mean SEVERAL) stops along our journey to Carterville, Illinois. Including but not limited to, multiple rest area's along our route, Starbucks, and a few gas stations. The best part about traveling in an RV...
When you have to pee, well you just get up, walk a few steps to the bathroom and go!
We drove
......and drove
and drove........
........and bounced
......and drove
It was a very long day to say the least.
When we finally go to Southern Illinois it was, hot.
It was so awesome to get to see my little/big sister! We didn't get to visit too much that night though. We all were so tired with it being the middle of the night. So we all went to bed.
Guess what time Dylan woke Mommy up??
4:45AM?
YES!!
He was wide awake, and ready to see Nini (my sister, Dominique) and her boys! I made him lay back down with Rafal and I for about another 15minutes telling him it was too early, and he needed to go back to sleep. Well that didn't work, and finally I gave in.... I took him into Nini's room and let him crawl into bed with her and Connor to snuggle. Then I ran back out to the RV and went back to sleep with Rafal for about another two hours.
Thursday, July 5th was a perfect southern Illinois day. Started with biscuits and gravy from Dairy Queen and was followed up by pink cookie's from Cristaudo's in Carbondale and washed down with a QQ Bubble Tea! Delish!
I had such a wonderful time taking Dylan around to my old neck of the woods, and letting him try the many tastes of Carbondale! That night we all went to Quatro's for a yummy pizza dinner and we even met up with a good friend, Jerrod! He said that watching Dominique and I parenting is a great method of birth control!
[haha]
We should've charged for it!
Being silly at Quatro's <3
The dinner at Quatro's was followed by an amazing photography session with the amazing and talented Cassie Stearns in Carterville! The pictures came out so wonderfully, and choosing favorites has truly been a difficult task.
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| ❤ The Sweet Cousins ❤ |
I love this picture of us so much, it captures the sweet perfection of our love these days, and I want to remember these moments forever. One day we will be growing old and I am so grateful that we have these amazing pictures to look back on and smile. These are some of the best days of my life, and I hope the rest of my new little family can agree with me. I pray daily that Dylan carries these good happy thoughts with him as he grows up. That he always knows what love is and is never afraid to say it or show it. I often read that the best thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother, and that he does. I am truly blessed, we are truly blessed, and we thank God for these blessings everyday!
After the great photo session we made our way over to the baseball field to enjoy watching my nephew, Connor, playing baseball! What an arm that kid's got! I was SO impressed! Although, it was 98 degrees and 8:45PM and I was dying in the heat. So Rafal, Dylan, Carson and I went and sat in the A/C of the lovely RV. Thank God for that RV!
That was one of the best Thursdays I have ever had. [Minus the Thursday I went into labor with Dylan, although that one was pretty terrifying as much as it was amazing.]
Friday was the start of a new travel day! We were off to Springfield, Illinois to stay at a campground for the weekend. It took about four hours of driving to get there, and the best part was that Dominique and both of her lovely boys, Connor and Carson were able to join us in the RV for the whole weekend! By the time we got to the Double Jay Campground right outside of Springfield we were all a bit stir crazy, and that swimming pool was calling our names!
I don't think any of us have ever changed so fast! Before I knew it almost the whole Schumacher crew was in the pool. With dinner plans at 6pm we were slightly rushed, but we didn't mind, the cool water was like a breath of fresh hair on a hot day, and thats EXACTLY what it was.
That night we met up at my Aunt Faye and Uncle Harry's home to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Schumacher as well as my Aunt Jill who had all flown in from Portland, Oregon. It was such a blessing to get to visit with them a little. After lovely conversation we all headed for dinner at a local Friday Night Fish Fry joint, and let me tell you, Rafal, Dylan and I tore up that country cookin' buffet! It was like a little slice of greasy heaven! Turkey, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, biscuits, and for dessert I shared some red velvet cake with my two favorite men! After a filling dinner we played a small game of bowling to please the children in the group, and I think it was well worth the fun had. Even Nana AND Papa got in on the action.
Friday evening was a little like hell when it came to sleeping. The plan was good, the arrangement was perfect, but my comfort level and Rafal's back, well they were not so good. Which equaled very un-rested parents come Saturday morning. Which wasn't so bad considering Saturday was to be a lazy day at the camp ground. Complete with all day swimming and BBQ'ing over a fire. That made it all worth it, until the power in the whole RV park went out. Just in time for showers. So not only did the RV start getting really really hot, but there wasn't even A/C in the park office to escape to! So this fat preggo momma started getting cranky.
After everything was figured out and we had power restored to our little RV we were off to another dinner with my extended family. Aunt Faye, Uncle Harry and Aunt Jill all met up with us at a local Route 66 hot spot. Where to be completely honest, nothing on the menu looked even slightly appetizing. So I opted for a strawberry milkshake. Much to my excitement, the waitress then informed me that the milkshake machine was broken, and that's when I too broke. I cried. Yes, I said it. [haha] Well I had tears in my eyes, maybe they weren't streaming down my cheeks, but everyone at the whole table saw my sadness. After an eventful dinner with cranky children and crankier adults we went back to the RV park to get some much needed sleep before the big family reunion the next afternoon.
Thinking that all the children might fall asleep in the RV on the way back to the campground we prepared the beds ahead of time so they could just lay down during the drive. When sleep didnt seem like it was in their plans we stopped off at a gas station and Rafal and I picked up some s'mores fixins!
The boys, ALL of them, even Papa, had a great time roasting marshmallows and dancing around the fire being silly.
Sunday morning brought excitement as we were about to meet family members we had never even seen before! How crazy!
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