Tuesday, July 4, 2006

We made it home safely and exhausted. It was great to have a trip but we did a lot of driving and then last night Rocky Mount had some of the worst thunderstorms I have heard or seen in a long time. I was up from 2:30 to 3:30 or 4:00 and then back up at 4:30. Luckily Landon and Ella slept right through them somehow, for me they sounded like fireworks in the room with you and so much lightning that it was similar to having a strobe light in your room.

I don't think we could have packed more into the time we had. On Saturday we went to Bethel where Eric and Christy live and there we went swimming (in the picture it is Karl, Aiden, Maddie, Maggie, Landon and Mike), played outside, cooked out and caught up. Later we headed back to spend the night with Nannie and Pops. Sunday we went shopping to get Landon some new shoes and ended up with Thomas sandals even though he opposes sandals with a strange passion. We played a lot before heading down to New Bern to catch up with our friends at Eric's mother's house. After dinner there the guys went out for a night sail and Cindy and I stayed back to play with the kids and get them to bed. The next morning we set out for a sail which after a rough start for Ella she finally calmed down and then slept the whole time. After our sail and some lunch we then hit the road to go back to Bethel for some more time in the pool and some pizza. Later we again headed back to Nannie and Pops and went out to see the fireworks which Landon really enjoyed and met a new friend to watch them with. The next morning even though we were all tired from the loud storms we headed out to feed the ducks and then hit the road for our journey home. Landon was worn out and slept almost the whole way home, Ella only slept for 30 minutes or so and poor Mike had to drive the whole way. We were all so worn out that everyone was in bed by 9:30 and heard fireworks as we drifted off to dreamland.

I have tons of pictures from all of our adventures but will have to post them over several days.

Thanks to everyone for all of their hospitality. Thanks from Ella and Landon for all of the spoiling.