2 weeks in massachusetts...2.5 weeks away from georgia

finally, a recap of our whereabouts from july 15-august 2nd...

crazy plan of ours, rachel and i concocted a 2.5 week road trip via new york.
four of us in a toyota echo, packed in tight. movies, cd's with music from glee, snacks, books and a gps named "giles"....
we drove to virginia the first day, nine hours, through sc and nc. the road was rural, very few homes along the way, mostly farm land and hills.
we stayed in a super 8 hotel. it had a pool and a continental breakfast. the kids loved it.
we swam, ordered pizza, watched disney channel and skyped with todd.
the next morning, after breakfast we began the 6 hour drive to palmyra and the hill cumorah pageant where we would meet up with karen, tom and the kids.
we were so excited to see them, it could not be contained inside the little car.
arriving at the hill we quickly found karen, ate dinner with them (and the rest of the cast) and then found the seats they had saved for us. i didn't think the kids would make it after driving half of the day, but they stayed awake and into it the whole time. maybe a little wiggly, but that is understandable.
after the performance we drove to a red roof inn rachel had booked. unfortunately, the company rachel booked it with forgot to tell red roof inn. we ended up in a handicapped room, with a king bed and a shower you could walk into. poor rachel slept on the floor, while i managed to avoid getting kicked by two children.
the next day we went to the joseph smith home and the sacred grove. but it was hot and the kids just weren't feeling it. i ended up dragging them out of the grove because I feared they would cast a bad spell on the quiet of the woods. luckily rachel got a picture. it is classic.
but once we got back to the hill they were in good spirits again...seeing katy and chris will do that to them. they love love love them!
we stayed for the show that night too, ate salted potatoes and melting ice cream sandwiches.
slept in our red roof inn handicap room again, and then left in the morning for massachusetts.
a little bit of traffic on the pike, and we made it to the church building my parent were at on sunday night.
and then the fun began...

• sitting in friendly's chatting for two hours with karen, tom, katy & chris
• a touching memorial service for my Auntie Susie
• lots of family i rarely ever see :( (wish we were closer)
  
• swim at the hotel pool with katy and chris
  
• bowling with my friend ted and his entourage
• a walk in a park and time on a playground
• day at the beach on cape cod - skaket and nauset
• hunting for hermit crabs, burying children in the sand, and playing catch on the beach (and then just a hint of sunburn)
• new england aquarium
• boston harbor cruise
• movies, chuck e. cheese's, mcdonalds, and grist mill with rachel
• visit from mikey
• street performers in boston
• dinner at my uncle's house and a rousing game of badminton in the backyard
  
• papa ginos, china ruby and ericksen's
  
• children's museum
• dinner at Mother Anna's in the north end
• riding the "t"
• pretzels, candy & build-a-bear in faneuil hall
• staying up too too late
• skype with todd (and with me when i was in chicago for three days for cha)
• cassidy's fourth birthday
• disney channel at grandma & grandpa d's
• the organ and keyboard at g & g d's
  
• and last of all...ben's wedding!

and then began the drive back. we all knew we would be excited to get back to ga, but driving out of town was bittersweet. it seemed to take forever. we wanted to drive 10 hours the first night and then 8 the next day, but it didn't work out that way. we stopped for the night just outside hershey, pa. (would have been fun to bring the kids there.) we ate leftover chinese we had packed with us and watched more disney channel.
the next day seemed even longer. we were ready to all get tossed out the window. but we arrived home around 7:00 that night. with lots of smiles and hugs we were home.