Vacation - Travel Day

Today we were off for a nice week long trip to Inlet Beach, Florida - where we will be bunking with the Conways. Originally we were going to leave sort of early and get to our destination without too many stops, but we heard news that my Great-Uncle Gene was not doing too well, so we planned to make a quick run to Bainbridge on our way. My mom rode with John, Heidi, and I so that she could enjoy a nice week long visit with our family in Panama City. It also works out having her nearby so that John and I can have one "adult night" with Kara and Colin :)

The night before, I gathered up all our crap important things and tried to get everything ready for John to load into the car. Once John got off work we realized we would be leaving things like the jogging stroller and Heidi's mattress behind. No worries for either one. Morning came and Heidi decided she would also get up at 6AM to get ready for our trip. I had definitely counted on her sleeping so that I could get myself ready, but oh well! We left our house around 8AM and headed towards my parent's house to drop off Hunter so that he could hang out with my dad for the week and pick up my mom. We loaded my mom's stuff tied her to the roof and she fit nicely in the backseat with Heidi.

Our next stop was in Valdosta (sorry V-town friends it was just a quick bite to eat at McDonald's) where we ate lunch and Heidi got her milkshake on. I always feel sort of loyal to the McDonald's in Valdosta due to my past marketing history with them. The one we ate at was the one I was working on opening back up after the reconstruction when we had to move away. We got back on the road and the next stop was my Great-Aunt Wilkin's house in Bainbridge. My Grannymom's sisters all live in three little houses all in a row in Bainbridge. Grannymom died 13 years ago, but it is so nice to have these ladies in my life as surrogate grandmothers. We arrived to our destination and met up at Aunt Wilkin's with Aunt Babs, Great-Aunt Sara, and many cousins. Visited there for a bit and then John, Heidi, and I headed up to the hospital (mom stayed and rode back with Aunt Babs since that was who she would be staying with) to visit with Great-Aunt Jeanne and Great-Uncle Gene. I had spoken with my cousin Kathryn and she told me that it would most likely be anytime and there was really nothing that could be done - that everyone was basically trying to make him feel comfortable. After we visited at the hospital we left and tried to stop at my cousin's B&B that she owns - The Commodore, but she was not there at the time.

John and I tried to let Heidi nap in the car, but she really had no part of that. I think she slept for about 45 minutes total for the day. We finally made it to our beach house and Kara and Colin had made it in a few hours ahead of us. We unloaded the car and got a little settled and then we headed out to eat for dinner. It was a sports bar and grill place just down the road. Heidi was all out of sorts but when her food arrived (fried shrimp!!) she sat right down and focused on her food. Right before dinner I talked with my mom and found out my Great-Uncle Gene passed away just a couple of hours after we had left. I was so thankful we were able to go to Bainbridge and visit with everyone. After dinner we headed home, put Heidi in her pjs and then got her to bed - around 8:30. I went downstairs and visited with everyone and then hit the sack myself. It had been such a long day and I had to wake up early the next morning to meet up with my mom. The plan was for us to go boating with Kara's parents and their friends and I thought it would be good for Heidi to stay with my mom for the day.