Our trip started on Tuesday. Austin had to work so all day I tried to get everything ready to go. By the time he got off work, I had every article of clothing and dish washed and put away, every floor vacuumed or mopped, everything dusted and cleaned, and everything packed and in the car ready to go. So when he got home at 5:30, we hopped in the car and we were off! Since it was dinner time, we made what we thought would be a brief stop through the drive-thru at Dairy Queen. However, we had to wait FOREVER in line before we finally got our food. Then we pulled out onto the road and realized they had left out Makenna’s food. So then we had to fight traffic (which was really heavy due to people coming home from work) to turn around and go back and then wait forever in line again to get our missing food. We finally got back on the road when Makenna announced she had to go potty! So it ended up being 7 PM when we actually even got on the freeway!
We knew we would get a late start, so our first night we planned on staying in Dayton, Ohio, about four hours away. The kids did good in the car, but we realized the baby WOULD NOT nurse in the car. So weird, actually. So each time (and this is each time our entire trip) he needed to eat, we would have to stop at a rest area or restaurant or somewhere where I could get out and sit on a bench to nurse him. So that took a little more time than we would like, and we ended up not getting into our hotel until 11:30. By the time we got everyone in bed it was after midnight and we were all worn out!
On Wednesday I got up at 6 AM and got everything packed up and ready to go. Then the baby got up at 6:30 and nursed and then we got the big kids up at 7 and got them ready, went and had breakfast at the hotel, and were on the road by 8 AM. Everyone did great in the car and we only had to stop for meals, gas, and to nurse the baby. We actually had a system for stops. I would get out with the baby and sit on a bench with him and Makenna and nurse him. In the meantime Austin and Max would go to the bathroom. By the time they made it back to us, I was finishing up with the baby so we would switch and Makenna and I would use the restroom while the boys took the baby in and changed his diaper. Then we all finished up at about the same time and were off again! This worked out great! In the car we had very little problems. In the morning the kids watched movies on our DVD player and Makenna entertained the baby. For lunch we stopped at KFC. We thought it was pretty clever of us to eat at Kentucky Fried Chicken while we were actually in Kentucky. : ) I had to take this picture because Max ate his very first chicken leg. He loved it and was super impressed that his food had BONES in it!!!
After lunch we had quiet time. The kids were allowed to read books, watch TV, or sleep but NOT allowed to talk or touch each other. This gave Mom and Dad a MUCH needed break and the kids even napped for a little while!
After quiet time, the kids played with their toys and video games until we reached Columbus, Georgia. They did great! The baby did pretty well too. He would fuss a little bit and Makenna would hand him another toy and he would be fine. He really only cried when he was hungry or for a few minutes right before he fell asleep. We made a brief stop at Arby’s for dinner (where they forgot to give us my food!) and then went to our hotel. The rest of the evening (it was probably around 6 PM when we got to the hotel) was spent hanging out with family. We were all so excited to see Grandma Becky, Aunt Melissa, Alexa, Jonah, Eli, Uncle Trevor, Uncle Cody, Aunt Hayley, and Baby Dalton! We were going to go swimming and even got the kids all dressed in their swimsuits, but by the time we got down to the pool it had started lightening so they closed down the pool. So the kids and Austin had a movie/popcorn night in Grandma Becky’s hotel room while the baby went to bed and I enjoyed a nice, long bath in the silence of our room!
The next morning we got up at about 7 AM and bathed and got everyone ready for the day and packed up. After breakfast at the hotel, we left to go to Fort Benning for Uncle Cody’s graduation from Officer Candidacy School in the Army. The graduation ceremony was about a hour and a half long. I did have to go out with the baby and then stand in the back for most of the time, but I think the other kids did fairly well and Austin enjoyed watching the ceremony. Everyone was so proud of Uncle Cody!
Afterwards we went outside and attempted taking some pictures. It was SO hot and SO humid and the sun was SO bright that it didn’t work out as well as we would have liked though—everyone was squinting in the sun and sweating up a storm by the time we were done!
The brothers: Austin, Cody, and Trevor
The siblings: Austin, Cody, Melissa, Trevor
The family: Trevor, Austin, Cody, Grandma Becky, Melissa
Our little family.
Next we went to a shopping center on base and had lunch at the food court (where they gave us the kids’ kids meal bags but NOT their food—seriously we had the worst luck at fast food places this trip!!!) and then bought the kids Army bears.
Makenna’s bear wears Army sweats and dog tags. Max’s bear wears a dress outfit and looked just like Uncle Cody so Max named him Uncle Cody Bear!
Afterwards, we went to a tank and had some family photos. Grandma Becky got us all coordinating outfits: Uncle Cody’s family was in blue, our family was in orange, Aunt Melissa’s family was in green, Grandma Becky wore pink, and Uncle Trevor wore red. Everyone was there except for Uncle Tyler who had to stay in Idaho to work.
We took a lot of pictures, but it is hard to get a perfect picture with everyone looking, eyes open, and smiling when you have so many people! This picture was probably the best in the bunch, but I wasn’t paying attention and left my sunglasses on in the picture! Oops!!!
Grandchildren picture:
Family photo:
We were going to be leaving Columbus and travelling to Atlanta, but first Uncle Cody wanted to stop by a monument/museum in Andersonville. Well it ended up being about a two hour drive there, and poor little Myles cried most of the time (which made Makenna sob as well). He was just too tired and hungry and ended up having a blow out diaper that got all over his (and my) clothes. By the time we got there, we were all pretty grumpy. We found out they closed in 30 minutes and after getting everyone changed and took everyone to the bathroom, we didn’t have time to even really look around much. Then it was a 2 1/2 hour drive to Atlanta. I was a HUGE grump about it all until we stopped for dinner. We stopped at a BBQ place and it was so yummy! Yummy food definitely makes me feel better! : ) Afterwards the kids went outside and ran around and played for a little while, so by the time we got to the hotel we were all much happier!
Max was so tired that he fell asleep while pushing his glasses back up!
That night everyone went for a late swim while I stayed with the sleeping baby. They came back exhausted but so happy to have finally gone swimming!
On Friday we got up and got everything packed up and went to the aquarium in Atlanta. We stayed for about five hours and had so much fun! There were so many awesome things to see, so get ready for picture overload!
We started our visit by watching the dolphin show. I had never seen a dolphin show before, and it was amazing! It is crazy how talented the dolphins and trainers are! They didn’t allow photos during the show, but I took some of the dolphins in their tank afterwards.
Makenna hung out with Alexa most of our trip. She loves that Alexa and Alexa is SO good with her!
I thought these Dragon fish (I can’t remember what they were actually called) were the most awesome thing!
Austin and the kids crawled for a close up look at the penguins.
We had lunch at the aquarium and by our table one whole wall was a fish tank and a huge whale was swimming around. So awesome!
We felt like we were on Finding Nemo and swimming around with the jelly fish!
These were pretty awesome! They changed colors—blue, green, orange, pink, etc.
There were a ton of fish tanks that took up the whole entire wall. The fish were so bright and so colorful!
Max really liked looking at all the different types of frogs!
Both kids agreed that their FAVORITE thing was getting to pet the sting rays!
We went in a big tunnel where the walls and ceiling were glass fish tanks. It was pretty awesome to see giant sting rays and sharks swim overhead!
One room had a wall fish tank that was bigger than even a giant movie screen!
Getting to pet the sea urchins and crabs was another favorite of the kids!
Albino alligator:
Another family photo in front of a waterfall:
We left the aquarium and Austin’s family at about 3 PM and left for a 5 hour drive to my parents’ house in Alabama. Our Georgia portion of our trip was over and was so much fun! It was great to see everyone and get to see some fun sites as well!
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