Crazy is the New Normal: The End

Day seven, Saturday

Once we all got up and moving we pretty much started packing and cleaning. For some reason, Mom had woken up sick in the night and was still not doing so hot that morning. (we now think she had heat exhaustion) We had til noon to be out, and it took dang close to that to get all 15 of us packed and out the door! One last thing that we wanted to make sure happened before we left was to take group pictures. I can't believe that we were all actually able to be there the whole time together, what with all the crazy schedules everyone has. So it needed to be documented! Much less, we wanted some good pics of all Nana's grandkids! Since I have joined the family almost 4 years ago, she has gone from 2 grandkids to 6!! Picture taking time was quite a feat, but we actually came away with some good ones.

Just before heading out of town, we stopped at the beach one last time for our annual family picture. Every year that we have been to the beach Christiaan and I have picked out together a frame and made sure to take a family picture. Then we hit the road! This time I gave mom the front seat since her tummy was still betraying her somewhat, despite the fact that I had doped her up with no less than one Ranitidine, two Pepto, a few swipes of essential oils, and Candice donated a Dramamine to the cause. As is typical for the return trip home, we had gathered significantly more than we came with, so our close quarters were bordering on sardine status. I literally was sitting on my own pillow and stuffed all the others around the kids, which meant I had to unstuff the backseat every time we stopped!

On the way home, we stopped for lunch at Rudy's just before we reached Houston, then needed a bathroom break and diaper change stop just north of Houston, and then stopped for beef jerky at Woody's Smokehouse in a town who's name escaped me. Had I been able to see out the windows, I might have noticed it. :) We pulled into our driveway sometime around 6pm, where I had mixed feelings about being home again.

What a fantastic trip we had! I know how stupid and cliché that sounds, but its the truth. I am grateful for our extended family, grateful for all the time we got to spend together, grateful that my mom got to come and had a great time too, and for so many other things I could keep listing. I can't imagine being part of a family that I didn't enjoy being with, or that didn't accept me. Which I know is a lot sometimes, HA!! I hope that they all feel the same way! And that we can keep going on vacations every year. Its not a glamorous cruise or trip across the ocean, but the quality time we get on these trips is worth more happiness than any of those could bring! I've been seriously missing the beach, Galveston, fun outings, ~~an excuse to day drink~~ (HA!), and our family that we rarely get to see, so so much!! Thanks to everyone for such great memories!

A few last jumps on the bed

D and Jaden doing some last minute playing

The man that owns the house came to mow while we were packing up. Elan spent a good while staring out the window at him saying TRACTOR in that distinctive deep voice of his!

Nana's grands

A bunch of Romero's

Jason, Edna, Juju, Jazzy, and Jaden

Brandon, Candice, and Elan

Seriously, these guys are a mess! They are also both pretty obsessed with their older cousin Juju, who I am sure probably got tired of being followed/chased by them. Funny fact: Although Carter is a little over 3 and Elan will be 2 in October, they are only one pound different and wear pretty much the same size clothes and shoes. Essentially Carter is a shrimp(albeit a tough one) and Elan is what we refer to my mom's family as a big'un.

Nana loves her some Delaney!

Mom looks really dang good for someone who as recently as a half hour prior to this picture may or may not have tossed her cookies. May I add though, do you see where my humidity induced hair frizz comes from? She was frustrated with her hair the whole trip!

Poor little black eye!

Our house! That window sticking out was a window seat in our bedroom. The porch wrapped around 2 sides of the house with a picnic table and several lounge chairs around. The downstairs patio had an outdoor shower, two hammocks, a porch swing, and another picnic table and several more lounge chairs. It was pretty perfect. And the owner told us that they are planning on finishing out another bedroom and bathroom downstairs by next summer! We loved this house!