Our Thanksgivng Road Trip

We decided the perfect way to celebrate Thanksgiving was with a two week road trip to visit family while we were in the process of moving to Florida. What part of Florida you might be wondering...the nice part I'll tell you. So nice in fact that the town was designated as Niceville, Florida. If you want more detail than that visit Google Maps, they offer a wealth of information and can be for more specific than me. "Beyond The Strip" will hence forth be known as "Bloggin' from the Bayou" although the web address remains the same.

Before we started the road trip we had a special breakfast with none other than Uncle Walt!


Mikayla took to him like a duck to a Junebug! We had a great time catching up and we were so glad we got to see him before we left on our road trip.

So, the road trip...It turned out much better than either Hubby or I expected. Only one 45 minute melt down to speak of and a couple of sleepless nights with Mikayla in our bed whispering "Momma" "Dadda" and bouncing on our heads. At least she had to courtesy to whisper so as not to wake the dogs!

Along the way we stopped to visit family in Tulsa, Oklahoma. First a visit with Aunt Karen and my cousin Bart.



I'm very happy to say that Aunt Karen is recovering from her stroke with Bart's expert care. The day we visited was the first day she was able to get out of bed and into her wheelchair, which was wonderful.

Aunt Karen is definitely improving now that she is not longer in the nursing home. Her speech is getting better and it was good to see her doing so well. Bart is doing an excellent job.

Next we were off to lunch to visit Granddad, Faye, Uncle Bub, and Aunt Nancy. Lunch was very tasty and it was so nice to see everyone and visit.



Everyone is doing really well and Mikayla had no trouble warming up to Faye and Aunt Nancy.



When I wasn't in the back seat entertaining Mikayla, she was snoozing like a pro.


Hubby drove all but 1.5 hours of our 40 hour road trip. I'm not sure why he couldn't do the 1.5 hours from Louisville to Cincy, but I guess I'll let it slide!

Our stop in Louisville was to meet our new nephew/cousin Braxton.


Ooooh my! He is such a cutie! And his Mommy and Daddy are so good with him, they make it look easy. Thanks to Mikayla we know the truth!

Here the cousins discuss the highlights from Pat's win over the Colts! Too many to count they agree.

We had a little outing to the zoo while we visited Louisville.



Mikayla and her Daddy.


Mikayla mimes the gorilla, or is it the other way around?


Braxton insists on a little privacy during his bath. Mommy and Daddy insist on not being peed on during his bath!


Braxton and his Daddy.

Then we were off to Cincy to see more family and meet another new nephew/cousin.


Over 4th of July weekend Mikayla was pretty hard on her Auntie Boo. This time she warmed right up and they played with "Baby" during football.


Mom and Don spent days in the kitchen preparing our Thanksgiving feast, which of course, was wonderful!


We made a trip to the Children's Museum and we would still be there if another kid hadn't taken this stroller! Thank goodness little ones don't know how to share!


This year Mikayla was old enough to have a great time playing with her cousins.


And this little sweetie is Weiler, the newest nephew/cousin in the family. He didn't stray far from his Mommy, maybe next year.


Aunt Sharon swore Uncle Matthew came with her on the trip, but we never say proof of him! I guess that's what a PhD program will do to you!

Our cross country trip to visit family was definitely more fun than if we had made a straight shot to Florida. We had a great time seeing everyone and meeting the newest additions to our family.

We are now moved into our rental and set up for Christmas. After spending the week in boxes saying there was NO WAY we would think about moving any time soon, we are looking at real estate, so who knows maybe we'll get to move everything again in six months!