Over the River and Through the Woods...

Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go...

That's the tune I've been singing this weekend! Yes, we went to Grandma Amy's house in Ritzville! Here is a photo of Jay before we left on Friday, September 19.

Karen, my really good friend who I used to work with at SPU for nearly 6 years, came with us. What a BLESSING she is to me, to my family, and to everyone she meets. Truly, she is just the greatest and I feel so blessed that she is a very close friend of mine. I've missed seeing her every day so it was really good to reconnect and to spend such quality time with her this weekend. She came to Ritzville with me in June 2007. I hope we can make this an annual thing - and if it happens more often than that - even better!

We left around 4:30 p.m. Friday. Jay woke up from his nap just before we left so Karen kindly sat in the back seat with Jay and held his bottle while he ate and then she entertained him until we came to Ellensburg. We pulled off the interstate around 6:30 p.m. to get a bite to eat for dinner, a restroom break, and I changed Jay's diaper. We were back on the road around 7:15 p.m. Jay was entertained and fed once again by Karen. He then fell to sleep, but just 30 minutes into his normal 1+ hour nap he woke up (around 8:00 p.m.). We were on the west side of Moses Lake when he started crying. And he cried, and cried, and cried. Nothing Karen or I tried seemed to settle him. We even pulled over at an exit and thought maybe he needed his diaper changed (turns out it wasn't very wet at all). We both needed a restroom break (thanks to our drinks during dinner) so we stopped one more time at a rest area about 20 minutes from Ritzville. Karen and I took turns holding Jay. He stopped crying the minute we took him out of his car seat so we were able to easily calm him down. We had just another 30 minutes to go before we'd be at Grandma's front door, so away we went. Not 2 minutes into our drive Jay started crying/screaming again. UGH!

Let me tell you, that was the LONGEST hour in the car. It is NOT FUN to travel with a screaming/crying baby in a cramped space. We surmised that Jay didn't like waking up in the pitch black darkness and being strapped in his car seat to boot. Thankfully future road trips we have planned are all in the daylight hours. And true to theory of day vs. night road trips, today's trip back home this afternoon was wonderful - he ate and then slept the remaining 2-1/2 hours. He woke up as we pulled off the freeway less than 10 minutes from home with a couple remaining hours left of daylight to our day.

We had a fun, relaxing weekend. We didn't do much - just hung out at the house and visited family and went to church this morning. Below are a few photos I took yesterday.

Karen and Jay

Jay's Great Aunt Joan
(Jay LOVES to stand)

Jay's Great Grandma Alma

I didn't take a photo of Jay with Grandma Amy or Great Grandma Dorothy on this trip home - oops!

A note on Great Grandma Alma (my Dad's Mom) - she is 94 and is doing wonderful. She lives in Ritzville in the terrific assisted living facility there. Currently the only thing she is "fighting" is severe arthritis (therefore the arm brace). When we arrived for our visit with her she was enjoying a game of BINGO with the folks there. What fun!

A note on Great Grandma Dorothy (my Mom's Mom) - she is 85 and is doing good, too. She lives with my Mom (my Mom is her caregiver) and has been a brittle diabetic for many, many years. The diabetes has taken its toll on her eyesight (she just sees blobs - she can't see fine details anymore) so you have to tell her who you are, but her hearing is just fine and her personality is still there. She's a crack up.

We are certainly COUNTING OUR BLESSINGS having them in our lives. Both of them are the best grandmas a person could ever hope for and we love them SO MUCH!! It seems we'll be able to make a trip home to Ritzville once a month through the end of the year for one reason or another. Hooray!

And what did Matt do this weekend without Jay and me? I'll be posting again soon to answer that question...