Wow, have we been busy. Daddy came home from a business trip on 12 March and we left for Spring Break on 13 March. First we drove 3 hours south to pick up Russell Saturday morning. We left at 6am to be sure and pick him up as soon as he was released on leave for the week (9am). Then, we drove the rest of the way to our house in Florida. Yes, we did it all in one day. Exhausting. It was even more tiring because we had to drive Chris' big diesel work truck. My back usually hurts for days after a trip in that truck because of the awful seats, and Olivia HATES to drive in it. Surprisingly, I think we have turned a corner in Olivia's travel tolerance. Olivia has been our worst traveler. She sat in her seat the entire ride (except for food and potty breaks) from 6am to midnight, without one single fuss. She was so awesome. The trip down to FL was packed, and most of the events were not fun or social in nature. Chris and I had to get the house on the market and needed to finish some things up.
While we were in Florida, we put in new counter tops, touched up paint, fixed a toilet, had the pest control guy come, had new carpet put in one room, had the carpet cleaner come, had the pool inspected, CLEANED the house, took a run of garbage to the dump, and met with the Realtor. Of course we got there at midnight Saturday night, and I only had Chris there to help until Tues at 1400 when he flew from there out on another business trip. We actually succeeded in accomplishing the vast majority of what we had planned. Although horribly exhausted it felt good to sit back and look at how nice the house looked. Please pray that it sells, as it would be a tremendous burden lifted from us. Meanwhile, we did also have some down time. I was able to have dinner with my friend Mari at the Melting Pot (our favorite place), and Russell spent the afternoon one day with his friend David (whose parents have been wonderful in helping with our house down there). The boys also had to spend time with their father. I say "had to" because the really didn't want to. Russell has decided he never wants to go back, and Ezekiel refuses to spend the night at his father's house (For reasons too complicated to discuss here). For this trip I just told him the boys didn't want to spend the night at his place while we were down there. So, although he was not happy they spent the night with us and went to spend the day with him Sunday and a little Monday afternoon. I am sure there is liable to be a much bigger fuss this summer since we are not planning a trip down there and the boys don't want to go back. Pray that is all works out for the boys.
After we left Florida we drove up through Ohio, and visited with Great Grandma Hardcastle on our way to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a couple days. We attempted to meet with Zeke and Russell's Grandmother (their father's mom) on our way through. She has not seen the boys in 7 years. The last time she saw Zeke he was 2 and I took them through to see her. The divorce wasn't final yet then. Since then, although he has talked about it, their father has not taken them back to see her. She is almost 80 years old and I thought she should get to see her grandchildren. So, we called her and arranged to have the boys meet her for lunch. She said yes, but when we showed up in town she made some excuse about it taking too long (15 min) to get to where we were, and she needed to get back to work. I can't believe someone's grandchildren can mean so little to them. It was sad. So, we continued on to spend 2 days with grandma and grandpa (my parents) and took Russell back to school Sunday night.
It was a long trip but it wasn't over yet, because after we dropped Russell off we went to the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg for the Homeschool discount days. We shared a room with friends for 3 days and 2 nights, and played in the water park. It was a nice relaxing way to end vacation.
Later that week, 25 April, Chris came home from his business trip, and I met him at the airport all packed to go on my trip to Kansas the next day. We spent an outstanding evening on a double date with friends Pat and Joanne, and then enjoyed a quiet night at a Hotel before I left for 4 days. Yes, Chris had the kids all to himself from Friday Noon until Monday at 9pm. I spent the weekend with my best friend from Nav School (JO). We talked and talked and ran an adventure race, occasionally remembered to eat, and talked some more. We did awesome in our race (coming in second in our division). Her jeep broke down an hour from her house on the way back from the race (LOL). We had such a great time catching up, but I did miss the kids and was anxious to see them as I got off the plane in Baltimore.
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