Home Again, Home Again

We pulled out of the hotel parking lot at 6:00AM this morning and 8 hours 49 minutes later we pulled into our driveway. After driving through 7 states in 2 days, Jason and I have some wisdom of the road to share: Florida has the best and most rest stops (there's one about every 30 miles) and Louisiana has the least. Feel like eating at a Cracker Barrel? Just head down I-10W through Florida, you'll pass about 50 of them. Finally, no matter what state you might be driving through, if you see a loaded down SUV it probably has a Texas license plate.

Are We There Yet?

We left Charleston at 7:00AM central time and it was a 10 1/2 hour day until we made it here to Pensacola, Florida. Day 1 of the road trip home wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either. Everybody in the car under 6 months old had a little trouble. Reed protests the long car ride by going on hunger strike. We couldn't get him to take more than an ounce out of his bottles until we got to the hotel tonight. Kyle protests by taking his pacifier for about 30 seconds, spiting it out, and then crying for it again. JR has handled the drive great, the only time we hear his voice is when he tells us to start his movie over or to change it to a new one. We're looking at about 9 or 10 hour day tomorrow, depending on the traffic in Louisiana.

Charleston Day 5- Last Day

It was back out on the boat for 4th of July in Charleston. I celebrated the 4th by staying home with the babies and hanging out with them. We headed down to The Battery (which is downtown Charleston) for fireworks over Charleston Harbor. Oh, I also forget to mention that one of the days we also went to the neighborhood pool. I'm including a picture so you can see what JR did the entire time we were there. The babies even went swimming! Jason and I have really enjoyed the weather, I wore jeans last night (because I thought the ocean breeze was a bit chilly for this native Houstonian.) I can honestly say I have NEVER worn jeans on 4th of July before. Can you imagine jeans in Houston on the 4th?...it makes me sweat just thinking about it! See all these cute little girls in sundresses? They were so cold they were wrapping themselves up in towels and blankets and JR, our child that sweats nonstop, even said he was cold.
A huge thank you to our Beijing buddies, Gary and Anita, for showing us such a fabulous time and to Meredith and Madison for being perfect hostesses to JR!

Charleston Day 4

Anita and I tried to recreate a China day yesterday. We went to the Charleston Place Hotel and had lunch (yum) and them massages (ahhh). We almost had a celebrity sighting. After my massage my masseuse asked me if I was in town for the Dave Matthew's concert, I told her no, and then she said, "Oh, well, he's having a massage in the next room." So since we didn't actually see him it's definitely not up there with my seeing Mary Lou Retton in a parking lot or seeing Jessica Simpson, Nick Lachey and entourage at Chuy's in Houston, but I figured it was blog worthy to mention.

Jason and Gary took the kids to Patriot Point yesterday. Now we all know Jason has a lack of descriptive writing skills, but he's taken it to a new level on this one. The only details I got for all these pictures is, "We were on the deck of the Yorktown Aircraft Carrier." I wasn't there so I can't give you any creative embellishments. So, enjoy some cute, patriotic pictures suitable for 4th of July:

Charleston Day 3

We were the first passengers on Gary and Anita's new boat. JR loved the boat ride so much he didn't even comment on having to wear a pink life jacket! We started out in Charleston Harbor and drove over to one of the islands on the intercoastal canal that a great view of the Atlantic Ocean. The kids (and adults) played in the sand, swam, and looked for sea shells, while I kept my milk-toast skin covered up and enjoyed the beach from underneath a big beach umbrella!

Charleston Day 2

No pictures to post today. The adults drove to Myrtle Beach yesterday (about an hour and a half from here in Charleston) to see Jason's dad. (He works in Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head.) We stopped off in Georgetown, which is a cute little fishing town, to have lunch and then drove on to MB where we looked around Gary's property developments, checked out his apartment, and had dinner at a great Italian place. The kids stayed here at the house in Charleston with 2 babysitters and had a great time. JR told me he had pizza for lunch and dinner, (what could be better?) and that he got to watch Zach and Cody (which would be the Disney show Suite Life) and that he DID NOT watch Hannah Montana because that is a giiiirrrrllll's show! I guess all these girls really wore him out because JR is still asleep this morning! The babies are loving staying home and just being played with; it really is easier on them to be able to stay home than having to be drug all over the East Coast. It will be back to vacationing with the bigger kids today, as soon as they wake up!

Charleston Day 1

Here's where we're staying. Isn't their house awesome?! This is the front and side view. I feel like such a Southern Belle.

Here's JR and Meredith on Market Street in Historic Downtown Charleston.

At the Aquarium...Lots of native South Carolina sea life.

The kids loved going to Blackbeard's last night. It's like a better Chuck E. Cheese or Incredible Pizza. Here they are playing golf...I'm loving having Anita's girls with me for pictures. I'm used to begging JR just to stand still, and the girls want to pose and take multiple pictures, they even make recommendations on good picture spots....ahhhhh, girls.....

We ended the night at Blackbeard's with a go-cart race. Madison and I came in last, but she told me I was a great driver. Jason said JR screamed, "We're Winning! Do we get a trophy?!" the whole time. I'm not sure who was the true winner, but I do know that Jason/JR and Anita/Meredith passed us up.... twice.

We're Here

After 11 hours of driving yesterday and 1150 miles total, we are finally here in Charleston, South Carolina. An 11 hour car ride is almost as hard as a 14 hour flight to Asia. "Almost" being the operative word. We only made 2 unplanned stops. One because Reed just couldn't stop crying (he just needed to be held for awhile) and one for JR to go to the bathroom. JR did great, but the poor babies just wanted to get out of those carseats. When we pulled up to the guard house to enter Anita's neighborhood, Kyle was at his wits end. I have to admit it....I pulled a Britney. I jumped out and let Kyle ride in my lap the last few streets to their house. We promised the babies we wouldn't strap them back in those carseats for awhile, and they are loving having lots of laps to sit in. Anita's house is gorgeous, just what you would imagine a South Carolina home on the coast would look like. I'll post pictures later, I just wanted to let y'all know we were here.

Sweet Home Alabama

Day 1 of our road trip was quite successful. I'm writing to you tonight from Daphne, Alabama. Tomorrow it's another 8 or so hours of driving until we arrive in Charleston, South Carolina to spend the week with our friends from Beijing, Gary and Anita. Here are the highlights from today.
Here's my view of the car as we were pulling out of the garage at about 7:00 AM. Think we've got enough stuff?

I have no documentation of our drive through Louisiana, and if I did, it would only be pictures of road work and stand-still traffic. Houstonians, if you're tired of the traffic around The Woodlands or on the Katy Freeway, just take a drive through Louisiana, you'll start thinking Houston traffic is fabulous.

We stopped and had lunch in Mississippi. We kicked it old school style and ate sandwiches at the rest area. It actually worked out great since everybody needed to run around and stretch.

Of course the babies weren't running around, but they did need to stretch. So, we brought out to bouncy chairs so they could kick and rock for awhile.

And we wrapped up tonight here in Alabama with a trip to the standard vacation eatery, Cracker Barrel. As you can see JR kept himself busy, Kyle just wanted a nap, and Reed was playing his new favorite game, "when I get in a restaurant I'm going to scream at the top of my lungs and disturb everybody around me so Mommy and Daddy have to hold me the whole time we're there".