We made it!

We got home from NC Monday night around 8:00. Overall the trip went a lot better than I expected : ). We got to the hotel in VA about 7:45pm Thursday evening, stopping 2 times to pee and feed Brooke (once). Ryan was awesome and Brooke only got cranky when it was about time to eat. After we got to the hotel, we had a late dinner. There were some restaurants close to the hotel...Ryan had McDonald's and Doug and I had Taco Bell. The kids went to sleep relatively easy and slept all night, not waking up once! Brooke really surprised me with how well she slept : ).

Ryan wanted to know where the living room and kitchen were in the hotel. LOL. He's only been in a hotel room once before and it was when we went to VA Beach when he was almost 2, so he doesn't remember it!

Getting ready for bed. We took our own pack'n'play along.

We woke up around 7:30 and started getting ready. We pulled out of the hotel at 9:20 and we got to Doug's aunt and uncle's at 2:00, again stopping 2 times. And again, Ryan did awesome and Brooke only fussed when she got hungry.

The mountains in VA were gorgeous and it was a beautiful day, as you can see!

This was at the rest area/welcome center in NC. She loved standing in her carseat, lol.

Friday evening, his aunt and uncle went to the rehearsal and dinner and we left to get something to eat and go to Walmart to get a few things (mostly food stuff) that we didn't feel like packing to bring along. We ate at Golden Corral, which we don't have around here and we really liked it. Doug's parents and brother and his family got in about 8:30 that night. Ryan had a MAJOR meltdown that night when we tried to get him to lay on the couch and watch TV to go to sleep. Nothing would calm him down. He kept screaming that he was going home and he wanted to leave. We chalked it up to all the time in the car and being in a new place. Finally, when he stopped screaming, I asked him if he wanted me to hold him and he said "yes". He was sleeping in less than 10 minutes. Both kids had a late night that night and neither was in bed before 10:30 (their normal bedtime at home is 8).

Saturday morning Doug went golfing with his brother and cousins before the wedding and I ended up at Walmart again with my MIL, SIL, nephew, and Brooke. Ryan and our other nephew stayed at the house with my FIL. We came home from there and started getting ready for the wedding. The wedding was outside at the park. They got married at a gazebo. The weather held off. It was looking like rain, but ended up holding up until the reception was almost over. The reception was at a hall. The food was delicious! Getting Ryan to go to bed Saturday night went much better. Brooke fell asleep faster, too.

Saying their vows.

Right after the ceremony, which thankfully didn't last long because Brooke wanted no part of sitting still and being quiet, lol.

Too bad he's not looking at the camera : P.

They did a beach theme. The bride's aunt made the cake(s) and used crushed graham crackers to make it look like sand. The cake on the right has a heart drawn in the "sand"...very cute : ). Doug's aunt, mother of the groom, made seashell and heart shaped candy as favors. The cake AND the chocolates were delicious!!

Sunday morning we got up bright and early and headed out to visit another of Doug's aunts (his dad's sister) and uncle and their family that lives down that way and then left there to visit another uncle (his mom's brother) and aunt and their family that also lives in the area. His uncle has 3 horses and we got to ride 2 of them. That was really neat : ). I've never been on a horse before. It took some coaxing to get Ryan on one, but he did it and I was so proud of him : ). After we were done visiting, we headed back to his aunt's house for a cookout. There were a lot of people there and it was nice visiting with family.

They insisted I wear the hat : P.

Ryan actually went for a ride with Doug : ). And then went a 2nd time with our nephew, Cameron!

LOL. The look on his face kills me!

That's more like it ; ).

I had to include this picture because I JUST found this sling a couple days before we left after it had been MIA for a few months, at least. It turns out it was in the basket of a folded up stroller that I hadn't used in quite awhile. SO happy I found it before she's too big for it, lol. (Brooke was hot, hence being shirtless.)

We headed out Monday morning at 9:30 to make the L-O-N-G drive home! It went better than I thought it would, but I never want to drive straight through again. LOL. Ryan did AWESOME, never whining or complaining. He was a dream. Brooke did a lot better than I thought she would, but after about 6 hours, she started getting pretty miserable and alternated crying and sleeping. We ended up stopping a lot, at least 6 times on the way home. Mine and Doug's backs were killing us, too! It also sucked because we kept hitting rain on and off, but luckily it didn't rain the whole way home! We pulled in the driveway at 8:05pm and I was so happy and relieved to be home in one piece! It was a really fun weekend and I'm glad we went, but it is SO, SO nice to be home : ).