Florida and Father's Day

In addition to Eli turning 7 months old, this third week of summer break included a trip to Florida to visit my grandparents. It is the first time that both Emmy and Eli have been to my birth state. The last time Boomer and I were in Florida was in April 2016 when we went to Disney World and I was newly pregnant with Emmy. For this trip, Boomer (and Zack) stayed home while my parents, sister, and I took the four kiddos to visit Grandma Harriet and Grandpa Bill. It was a quick trip from Wednesday to Friday. To make for a more comfortable ride there and back, my dad rented a 15-passenger van. It was pretty spacious, and all the cousins loved looking out the big windows and watching movies. 

My Dad's diagram for seating in the van - which was not how we sat at all! :) (Love you, Dad!)

We made a couple of stops along the way for lunch and bathroom breaks. There is still a lot of concern with the spreading of the coronavirus, so we tried to take precautions by frequently washing our hands and using hand sanitizer. Of course one kiddo (ahem, Maddox!) decided to put his hands in the cigarette 'sand' at a rest stop in South Carolina, so I suppose you can only do so much to prevent germs! On our trip down, we made a detour to Gainesville, about 20 miles west of Hawthorne where my grandparents live. We were able to drive through the University of Florida campus and see the football stadium, the basketball arena, the student union, the dorm that my Dad lived in, and the Krispy Kreme that he often went to. Because of him, we are all diehard Florida fans, and it was memorable for him to show the campus to his grandchildren. Go Gators!   

After our stop in Gainesville, we made the last leg of the journey to my grandparents' house. The total trip time was about 12 hours, and all of the kiddos were troopers. It was around 8PM when we arrived, so we quickly got them ready for bed. Unfortunately, only Eli had napped during the car ride, so the other three were running on fumes. After a momentary panic when the pump for the blow-up mattress didn't work, we were all settled for the evening. I found out that first night that my bed mate likes to move a lot in her sleep. Although Mommy didn't sleep well, Emmy didn't seem too affected by sharing a bed! 

It was special for my grandparents to meet Eli and to see how big the other kids have gotten. Luckily nothing got broken or destroyed during our time there, and Zander, Maddox, and Emmy loved playing with Great Grandpa's cars and coloring with the coloring books Great Grandma bought. They also were fascinated by the cuckoo clock that chimed each hour. It sure was neat to have four generations together!  

I was so impressed with how well the kids did while traveling. There were still smiles on the way home when we ate dinner in the van during the final stretch and when we arrived home to be reunited with Daddy. We sure missed him while we were gone! 

We've had a fun weekend back at home with Boomer celebrating Father's Day. On Saturday morning, we went to the Farmer's Market in Greensboro. Our only purchases were some peaches from Johnson's in Candor (a competitor to the peach stand that Boomer worked at growing up!) After walking through the different stalls, we had lunch at the Moose Cafe. 

On Saturday evening, we went for a walk around the neighborhood. Our friends JR and Becki had a virtual birthday celebration for their daughter Madelyn who just turned 1, and in honor of the lemon theme, we turned our walk into a scavenger hunt for anything yellow. I didn't intend to post these pictures, but it turned out to be so fun, and Emmy really loved it.

Boomer's requests for Father's Day have been pretty simple: first we watched church on the computer; then we had a Taco Bell picnic at the park, and now this afternoon Boomer has had some time in his recliner. There are so many photos that I love of my crew, but perhaps one of my favorites from this past year is this first photo of Boomer as a father of 2. Happy Father's Day, Boomer!