Monday, December 1, 2008

Road Trip

We spent the week of Thanksgiving in Six Mile, South Carolina. As small as it is, I don't think I've ever actually been anywhere in "town" except for Gin Shoals Road and Durham's! I know there must be more to it, but maybe next year.
We spend each Thanksgiving week with Stefan's family. This year, I was able to leave work a little early, and we thought, logically, that we would not have to spend the night on the road, and we would arrive earlier than in past years. We were wrong. First of all, we had to turn around because SOMEONE forgot to put all the necessary items in the car. By the time we backtracked, the kids wanted lunch, and it was 12:30, which was still earlier than we usually leave, so we stopped and got them some food. Finally on the road, we made good time until Dayton, Ohio. Construction. Three lanes down to two. Almost 2 hours just SITTING there, and because of the sitting we were unlucky enough to be in a congested area at rush hour. As soon as we made it to where the road opened up, BAM...accident right in front of us. Luckily we were able to swing around it and hightail it to Cinci, where we waited in more traffic. It just took forever. I-75 was closed because of a tanker fire, so congested, so we finally stopped in Eastern Tennessee and spent the night and made it to South Carolina at the same time we usually get there each year. I guess the fact that we had good intentions counts for something!







It's always nice to see Stefan's extended family; we aren't able to spend much time with them throughout the rest of the year.
There was a lot of eating and laughing and talking going on, and the we had a chance to see some of Stefan's family history on his dad's side.






Later in the weekend, we had the opportunity to go horseback riding with Stefan's dad, brother, sister-in-law, nephew, and our family (except Scarlet, who was napping with Grandma Ruby). Spencer was allowed to ride his own horse, and he did so awesome! It was NOT an easy trail. It was up a mountain, down a mountain, across a stream with a waterfall, and all around the woods, but it was a lot of fun, and it happened to be the nicest day of the whole week with warm sunshine and temperatures in the 60s.
Now we are back to the daily grind, however, Stefan reminded me that there are 13 workdays left until our long Christmas vacation, and that is a very good thing! Although, I still have LOTS of shopping to do, but thankfully I can do much of it online.
On Monday, I took Spencer to the library to paint windows for the holiday season. All the library windows were painted, and Spencer and I were assigned one right by the front door, so we took the opportunity to say Merry CHRISTmas in a festive and creative way.







1 comment:

Jessica D. said...

It's great to spend time with all the family. Glad you had a great time. Sorry about all the slow drive time. Been there, done that!

This Christmas were going up north to Tree Tops Ski Resort to stay with my mom and dad, Brian and Kristen and the boys. Looking forward to it.

Those are priceless times when the whole family comes together.