And We're Back!

So we just returned home from our family vacation to Arkansas.....

We left on the afternoon of June 17th and returned the evening of June 26th.  It was a great time and it went by way too quickly!  During the drive there Raymond and I were so anxious to get to Ozark and see our loved ones we drove straight through.....yes that's right.....19 hours only stopping for gas and caffeine.  We didn't want to waste a minute longer driving when we could be there instead. The boys did remarkable on the way there.  They both slept through the night and Blake was very well behaved when they were awake.  Joe... he is another story.  I don't know what happened to my sweet Joe.....he is still sweet, adorable, and totally lovable, but I feel the terrible 2's approaching us.  He was fine if you were looking at him and talking to him, but the second that boy feels ignored he lets you know about it.  Joe can go from total devastation...in tears barely able to breath, to laughing and chatting with you in a matter of seconds.  I think he knows how to work it?  He is so irresistible though :) 

The vacation there was wonderful!  Lots of family, visiting, fun, food (the scale increased 7lbs to prove this), site seeing (at least for myself this small town ND girl has never been anywhere), and a little shopping of course. 

The drive home did NOT goes as smoothly.  We left Memphis around 2:30pm and headed back with the intent of the boys sleeping through the night, so we could drive home like the drive there went.  The boys did fall asleep, but much later then the last trip.  Because of all the flooding around Omaha, NE we detoured on our trip to Arkansas which caused about an extra 2 hours of driving.  We went to Albert Lea, MN got on interstate 35 drove through Des Moines, IA and headed to Kansas City, MO.  The typical route is to go to Sioux Falls, SD and get on interstate 29 drive through Sioux City, IA and Omaha, NE to Kansas City, MO.  The signs said 35 is a better way because 29 was closed off in some parts.  It went very slick on the way there.  For some ridiculous reason on the way home when we arrived  in Kansas City, MO Raymond thought it would be better to stay on interstate 29 and use their detours.......I should of went with my womanly instincts and stopped him from that stupid decision, but for the fear of irritating him and still having 11 hours in the car together I said, "okay hun".  We arrived to the areas where the interstate was closed off.....some locals told us to get on a highway along the side of the interstate to drive around it and to get back on 29 when the closed off areas ended.  So it's like 1am and we get out the trusty map and I get on this highway 59 to head north.  Pretty sure I ended up driving backwards (south) to the town we had already drove through :)  Lucky for us it was only like a 15 minute mistake.  At that point we decided we better just call it a night and get a hotel room. 

It was morning and off we went with still about 10 hours to go and we wanted to make good time, so we could regroup at home a few hours before going back to real life on Monday.  It was my turn to do some driving, so we headed north on this little IA hwy 59.  I was driving along, Raymond instructed me just to stay on the highway and drive north while he napped.  I did this or so I thought I was.  Suddenly, I ended up in a town called Atlantic, IA hmmm.... I don't remember Raymond mentioning Atlantic??......and then I noticed the hwy was not 59, but 71?  Oh no!  I pulled over and looked at the map, and yes I drove about an hour the wrong way.  Raymond was still sleeping, so I nervously woke him to tell him my mistake, he was not impressed with me as we are all ready to get home and this obviously put a delay in the trip.  BUT.............. because he loves me sooo sooo much, he mumbled a few things under his breath so I couldn't hear him and we revisited the map.  While we were looking at the map an Officer pulled up behind us to make sure everything was okay.......he showed us where we were at on the map and pointed us in the right direction.  Thank you Officer!!!  Off we went, with basically an entire morning of driving wasted due to my error.  I was teased by Raymond for a good hour about this.......of course in my defense of making this his fault and not mine....... I explained to him how this was his fault for not taking interstate 35 in Kansas City to began with.  I had to blame this on him some how!  He did not buy it. Poor Raymond, but bless his heart for being so gracious with me about my ditzness.  He has to deal with this often people.

Well we made it home, a few bumps along the way, but we got here!  I really enjoyed the drive...honestly I'm not being sarcastic, it was long, but so wonderful to spend all that quality time with my babies and my hunny.  Raymond and I haven't had a chance to sit down and visit like that in forever and it made me appreciate my life again!  I love our conversations.....joking and laughing, talking about our big ideas for the future, and our serious conversations.  He is my bestest friend :)  I will post another blog about our actual vacation part and get some pictures up later this week!  Lots to share with you guys :)

Also, lets keep in our prayers all the people effected by the floods and tornadoes.  During this trip I seen a lot of damage from both these mother nature nightmares.  It was so devasting to see......but it made me realize how lucky I am to have a roof over my head.  A lot of families right now in our country don't!  Seeing it up close and in real life is much different than watching it on the news and seeing it in the newspapers.  Prayers their way!!!!