there and back

I love road trips.

I always have.

Before we had kids, Jamie and I drove across Canada, down through the states to Florida and also to visit friends in South Carolina. We've driven to Chicago with Noah and we've done shorter trips with both boys. 

We really wanted to visit our friends in South Carolina and spend some time with them as whenever they come up to Canada, their time is mainly spoken for by their family (as it should be).

So we left last Monday. In the past, we've just taken a day or so to travel, but this time we decided to try driving through the night.
We left at 8pm and this was Jude

And this was Noah

Oh my boys. So so so different from each other.

Anyway, I didn't pack the little DVD player this time (partially by accident) and no one missed it or asked for it. Love it. (We don't use it much anyway.)

The boys did great on the drive down and were cute and funny whenever we'd stop for gas - all of a sudden they'd wake up and squint from the ridiculously bright lights and point out trucks or whatever they happened to see.

We got to Florence, South Carolina at 11:30am and unpacked and settled in.

It was a great 5 days with our dear friends, having many conversations and laughs in the evenings after the kids were in bed and breaking up fights watching the kids play during the day. (In all seriousness, Noah and Leah played great together, it was my wild child, Jude who kept terrorizing poor baby Steven. *insert Mommy lesson of choosing to teach and instruct your child, rather than be embarrassed and ashamed of them* *also insert a heaping helping of humble pie - it's hard to be the Mother of a "hitter"*)

We also went to the beach and while it started off with a brutal nauseous migraine for me, the wonder-drug ibuprofin kicked in about halfway through our day and I was able to enjoy our time there. 

It's always so refreshing to spend time with good friends and for a short time to be able to "do life" together. {Now if only we could get them to move to Uganda with us!}

Our trip home started a little earlier with us leaving at around 5:30pm and getting back to Toronto at 8:30pm yesterday morning but I think we all had a much more rough time. I couldn't sleep until 2am or so just being kinda stiff and uncomfortable and the boys slept for most of it, but Noah was awake from around midnight 'til 2am (that and he didn't fall asleep until 9:30pm made for a tired boy tonight at 6pm when he was about ready to fall asleep in his dinner!). Also, at 3am Noah woke up and asked for sunglasses because the street lights and car lights in oncoming traffic were hurting his eyes. So there he sat, with my big purple sunglasses on and his fuzzy green neck pillow. This kid cracks me up.

All in all, it was wonderful. We got a taste of summer weather, time to spend with lovely friends and a fun family vacation. 

Perfection as far as I'm concerned.