Several of my previous posts have been from our time in Missouri. I feel like I've missed the month of June trying to recap everything we did in May. We really did see so much family. Growing up I never realized how lucky I was to have almost all of my family in a small little area of North Missouri. I think this makes family trips up to see everyone easier and harder at the same time. In the four full days we were up there we saw something like twenty family members at eight different houses. The girls really did great for how much we were on the go. Blanche was going to bed later, she would be wound up from the day, and still waking up just as early each morning. Plus my plan to let her nap in the car didn't work because everything was too new to drift off. I've learned from past experiences that children have to sleep eventually. It was the last couple of mornings there that we started seeing wake up times close to eight thirty or nine over seven.
The girls did great but like I wrote previously about our car trip, it was my own exhaustion that surprised me. I figured not having to take care of a house or do the normal chores would keep me energized enough to see everyone. What I had not realized was that sometimes the routine of my own life is what keeps me going. I actually missed my own little space and keeping it tidy. Since we have moved to Austin I have become more of an introvert. I like being home. And maybe it is partly due to being a stay at home mom these past few years, but I have gotten really use to it just being me and the girls each day. Andrew coming home is our big bang. So, seeing lots of family nonstop really did wear me out. But I had the urgency to also see everyone while we were there. I felt a bit disappointed with the lack of time and even the quality of time I was able to spend with everyone. Andrew told me while we were up there that sometimes you do have to sacrifice quality for quantity. I really enjoy spending good amounts of time with just one or two people, but I know that this trip was about bringing up the girls and letting everyone see them a bit. Which is really what we achieved.
I love my family. I grew up knowing my aunts really well, and one of my cousins is a best friend of mine. I love that going back to Missouri just means coming home and being surrounded with family. The girls did everything from crafts with my Aunt Larissa and Uncle Doug, to strawberry picking with my Aunt Pam and Uncle Mike, to games in Papa and Grandma's driveway, taking a bath with their cousin, going out to Meme's and having fried chicken, seeing Aunt Jordan's goat, and playtime at Nana's with all her fun toys. They played so hard for so many days. They were loved by everyone they met and were reintroduced to. The time really did fly but the pictures remain telling of how many happy times we were able to squeeze in, in just four days.
Andrew also reminded me that other long road trips and visits to family won't always involve me being pregnant, while also caring for a one and three year old. It almost felt like a dream to imagine a vacation with our children being elementary school age. But once again I was so thankful for all of my family and the love they poured out on us during our visit. I told some family that if I would have truly known the road trip was going to take 16 hours... I honestly probably wouldn't have done it. But the nice thing about just saying yes and going is that after the hard parts are over, I rarely regret taking a trip to see my family.
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