A long journey

Mimi, Bean, and Me
Originally uploaded by gennabby.

We are settled in enough for me to blog some pictures of our summer... I'm not very good at blogging multiple pictures at once, so I'll explain the pics now: We got to visit with my fam in San Diego. The pic "Mimi, Bean, and Me" is of my mom's mom with Noah and me. Next we went to St. Louis. We caught fire flies, stayed up late talking, went to the pool, cooked, ate crawfish pie and ahi salad and many other Melanie-made dishes. YUM. It was a great visit! Next it was off to Memphis for the 4th of July family reunion. I only caught a pic of the ladies, not the whole group, so this is half of us. While in Memphis we visited with the Cunninghams; the last family pic we have together is from four years and THREE new kids ago! We hadn't actually MET two of theirs, nor had they met Noah! Unbelievable. Our long road trip took us to Nashville, where we spent 2 days with our dear friends, the Haynes Family. Jeff and Lucy sent Matthew and I off for a night in Nashville! As part of Matthew's graduation gift, we had a lovely dinner (ALONE!) and stayed at a beautiful new hotel (ALONE!). This was the first time we'd been away from Noah for a night, and perhaps the second time away from kids in four or five years. It was a gift for sure. Lucy was a saint to take on a no-so-happy Noah, who was under the weather and grouchy. The visit went so quickly, I have no pictures to share--I think this is a sign of a good visit. Next, we traveled to Knoxville, where we stayed with the Miller fam (Drew, Em, Sadie Parker, and Ruby!). This was another first time for meeting new kiddos! Bean and Ruby hadn't met before. We had a gourmet meal prepared by Drew and Em. (Can we just hire you guys to make our lives beautiful? Drew is a landscape artist, Emily is an all around culinary, home, and textiles artist). Em gave me the most exciting house warming gift: a set of jadite green fire king dishes. GASP. They are so so wonderful Pics are sure to follow. Our night in K-ville was tumultuous, with the Pearson four playing musical beds, crib, and couch the whole night--a night that included much Noah-coughing (with croup) and a middle of the night headache/throwing up bout for Abby. We hit the road to DC via Charlottesville, VA, where M's cousin Meredith and her hubby Chuck hosted us for dinner and a break from the road. They are delightful folks, and I'm glad we finally got to meet! We made it into DC near midnight, after a wrong turn, which was fortuitous--it ended up providing a great driving tour of the major monuments at night. The Bridges family hosted us for two days. Most of you will recall that Scott Bridges married Matthew and me 9 years ago in San Diego. Their new church is in DC! Matty, Abby and I took a walking tour of the white house. No Obama sightings, but it is positively breathtaking to be IN the white house! Abby took it all in with wide eyes. And she had to, because there were NO cameras allowed. After a "big, bad , breakfast" feast with Scott, Julie, Em, and Jack, we took our last big drive. FINALLY, we were home. We've left stuff at almost every place we stayed: shoes, stuffed animals, blankets, clothes, crayons...It was all a ploy to get mail at our new address. We've been unpacking, working, baking, enjoying our own beds again, and (DRUMROLL, PLEASE) Matthew has been building and customizing! I leave you with pics of "Camp G"--this woman's dream room! Noah is asleep and Abby is at day camp, so I am going to go upstairs and MAKE SOMETHING. Miss y'all.