Canche Chronicles: Trip to PA Part 1

Dave and I had hoped to leave Texas for PA on the morning of Friday, June 20. As it turned out, David ended up having to work that day and we didn't get to leave until 7:30 pm. Our original plan was to drive a full day, stay the night somewhere Friday night and then finish on Saturday. Instead we decided to try and drive it straight through and if we got too tired during the night we would abort the mission and just get in super late on Saturday. I had packed dinner for Dave to eat in the car (the girls and I had already eaten) and he took the first shift. Our van gets almost 400 miles to a tank on the highway so we could easily drive 5 hour shifts. I had the second shift from 12:30 until 5:30. I had asked the ladies in my Bible study to pray that I would be awake and of course my family was praying. Anyways, it was nothing short of miraculous that I felt as awake as I did. I never once felt sleepy, it was absolutely amazing! On top of that, Libby did not wake up once during my shift so David did not have to give her a bottle or anything. David took over after my shift and finished the drive to PA. He claimed that he would rather drive than deal with the children. David picked up some donuts at the gas station when we stopped at 5:30 and then we all got out to eat lunch at our 11:30 stop (10:30 our time). The last stop was Elverson, we rolled in around 4:30. We decided that driving the trip straight through the night is not too bad as far as the children are concerned. They were only awake for one of the stops! The other two stops we just grabbed gas, used the bathroom and jumped back on the road.

Emily stretching her legs at Wendy's (our lunch stop)

Our goal had been to get in by 4:30 because Pops was leaving for Chicago at 5:30. I wanted him to meet Libby before he left to go help Carly make her 11 hour drive to PA (Jonathan had to work and was flying in on Wednesday).

Mission accomplished!

Saturday night Grandma had everyone over to celebrate Grandpa's 81st Birthday. It was so fun to introduce everyone to Libby and watch all the cousins play (minus the Brusts :( ). My cousin Katie just had a baby a couple weeks ago so I got to meet baby Caroline and hold her for a little bit.

Grandma holding Libby

After dinner we came back to Mom's house and talked for a bit and then went to bed. Dave and I had a lot of sleep to catch up on!

SUNDAY morning we slept in a bit and went to the late service at my parent's church. Aunt Kimi was in Libby's age class so I decided to leave her in the nursery. I told them she would probably get hungry and she did so I was buzzed out towards the end of the sermon. I fed her and then just took her in with me to finish the service. Haley and Emily were actually together in a class so I didn't feel too bad leaving either of them. Emily could have actually stayed with Libby but I didn't realize that until I had already dropped her off. It was too bad because cousin Ellie was in there and they could have had some bonding time! It was not matter because we got to see the Mountzs and Fentons over pizza for lunch. The girls took naps in the afternoon and I think we just hung out and talked in the afternoon and evening. Pops and the Brusts got in super late on Sunday night, we did not wait up for them.

MONDAY we woke up to see the Brust cousins! Pops made pancakes for everybody (on four hours of sleep no less) and the cousins played while we all caught up (the Fentons and Mountzs arrived before we were even awake I believe!). In the afternoon Grandma and Grandpa came over and we swam in the pool. We bought a puddle jumper for Haley and made the rule from the beginning that she always had to have it on around the pool. I thought she might give us a fight about it (she doesn't like to wear shoes or underwear) but she was fine and kept it on and was actually quite a fish the whole week. In retrospect, we should have bought one for Emily because she liked the water just as much and ended up borrowing Kelsey's once Kelsey learned how to swim (about mid-week). Libby did not get in the water on Monday, I brought her bassinet thing outside and she took her naps in the shade. Monday evening Mimi had Mom-mom and Linda Smith and Grandpa and Grandma all over to grille out and celebrate Kelsey's Birthday. Mom-mom and Linda got to meet Libby and we got to make smores on Dad's fire pit which the in-laws built him for Father's day.