"Leavin' here, arrivin' there"

I figure I should keep up the trend of banging one of these out every blue moon.

We faced our parenting fears this weekend and traveled back to Charlie's grandfathers' stomping grounds in Andrews, SC.

We did have some foresight and split the ride up into ridiculously small legs of 2 hour drives each day. Compared to some of you out there, it's like we're going to the grocery store or something, because we are such scaredy cats for babies crying in the car.

First, we left on Friday night and made the trip to Laurinburg, NC to squat at our friends' house while they were gone for the night.

Not only did was assume they didn't use the A/C, and apparently V hates sleeping with wind on her or something, because she was a real pill that night. I ended the evening by 1/2 sleeping with her snoozing beside me in bed, until I gave in and got up.

Saturday we jumped in the coche' to make it down to Andrews. We got there just in time for lunch and for MM to get attacked by fire ants and ruin everyone's mood for .8475 seconds. Because through her crying, she wanted to jump on the tractor that was among the farm equipment and the 100 acres of farm land.

Nothing like rockin' Lilly among her ant bites. Back to normal.

This is day 3 after the bites, they last a while and are super itchy. She had about 25 bites on both feet and legs. Poor girl, she is such a tough little trooper.

We had a great time celebrating Charlie's Grandfather's 90th birthday. The hospitality was outstanding, including 15 additional grandmother-ish ladies to push the sugar on MM including cookie, cake and icing which she would run over and pop in her mouth before I could stop her.

It was certainly worth the trip south and we may even make the trip again 'round Christmas as they promise pulled pork, and I am certainly fond of the pig.

We did the same wimp-like 2 hour trip back to Laurinburg to camp out with our friends who were there and also showed us fabulous hospitality. We even got one of those cliche' bath time pictures.

Ruthie loves to drink bathwater and was working on some beard action to keep up with her dad's outstanding beard.

Back at the homestead we're back to lovely play dates (LOVING THEM! Let's keep them coming!) and weekly (sometimes bi-weekly) trips to the library where MM uses them also as a playground, and I sweat to keep V from crying because, hello, we're at the library and I imagine a crying baby isn't the norm.

My goal this week has been to get a handle on V's naps and clean the bathrooms. I can confidently say I've done neither. I have one day left.

AND, Charlie and I will be going to dinner without either babe, for the first time this weekend. Wish me, V, and my soon-to-be-busting boobs luck that we all survive.