Prelude to Vacation

William is now in third grade which makes all a bit more difficult. There is not much time left between school and bedtime. We really don’t want to interrupt the routine. Since there was nothing planned for Monday night we decided that we don’t need to be in a rush to get going in the morning.

Still, we were on our way at 7 am. I did the first driving this time. When we stopped the first time (for a quick breakfast and coffee) we looked for a post office first. James had bough soccer shirts for all the boys in Brazil but we had forgotten to take the ones for the little ones Sunday evening. We decided to mail them. At least we had not forgotten the one for William. The post office had a Halloween tree (???).

Altogether this was not the most pleasant drive (about 600 miles) we have ever done. Fog in the mountains and rain (drizzle or downpour) most of the way. James had the last turn to drive and I felt sorry for him but happy that I didn’t have to do it. The rain was so strong that you sometimes could not see the car in front of you. That is always scary but you also can’t pull over because someone might run into you then. We arrived safely and all was good. It helps to say a prayer before you start a trip.

Later that evening we learned on the news that there had been tornadoes in the area where we had driven through. Sigh.

Tuesday morning we took it easy. Helen had been at the townhouse the day before and left a gift from “her girls”.

James wanted one of the eggs soft-boiled. I lucked out. Fresh eggs cook differently and these are a little smaller too. But James thought it was perfect.

We had to do a little shopping and get settled. Sarah texted a photo of a cute drawing Caleb had done. It came with a video of him explaining who was who. One is his cousin. Caleb told Sarah that he thought William wanted to be in his picture.

Helen brought William around 4 pm. She and Ben wanted an evening for themselves and William was spending the night with us. She said he was excited and he was good as gold. We had a lot of fun. But first Papa quizzed him on his spelling words. After that we could play. He beat me at connect4 of course.

Wednesday morning James had to bring him to school. We had to set the alarm clock for 6 am. He sat up in bed, said "What is that noise? Oh, the alarm!" Jumped out of bed and got dressed. Then he ate breakfast like a champion. It was a pleasure to have him stay with us.

In the evening the two had to go somewhere so we met them after school for an ice cream in William's favorite place. It wasn't really an ice cream day because it was on the cold side, dreary and rainy. But we enjoyed it anyway.

Thursday of course William was in school and Helen at work but we had to get ready for our trip. Last minute things. 

In the evening Helen and William came to us and then we continued to Mt. Juliet where we met Ben for dinner. It was so nice all be together. After we all had eaten William of course was bored and we sat together and William took selfies and played with my camera. 

Ha-ha, Helen sneaked into the photos.

William wanted to be blurry and jumped up and down. Finally he succeeded.

When we left we had a beautiful sunset.

William was cold in the car. Of course his booster doesn't have heating but my seat did. So he enjoyed wrapping up in Omi's jacket.

What a great smile. Btw the third tooth is wiggly!