Quick trip to Jacksonville

Collin's parents were in Jacksonville this past week visiting Collin's grandfather, Abie, so we headed down there to spend a little bit (literally!) of time with them. Collin had a wedding this past weekend, so we couldn't leave for Florida until Sunday. We didn't get to Jacksonville until 5:00 Sunday and had to leave just after lunch on Monday, but it was still a great trip. The kids were AWFUL for the drive. Seriously, they were little monsters. They argued a ton, and sweet Miss CB didn't fall asleep until the last 10 minutes of the drive (grrr...). I was pretty nervous about bringing two over-tired grouchy toddlers into an apartment filled to the brim with breakables, but all went really well. It seems a 10 minute power nap did the trick for Clara Beth, and they both dug REALLY DEEP and found their adorable little personalities to show off. And, of course, having Ma-Ma there helped. She let them visit with their great grandfather for about 30 minutes, and then whisked them off to the lobby to watch the trains and birds. Don't you just LOVE cool grandmas? Thankfully, my kids are blessed with two of them and I don't know what I would do without either one! While Ma-ma had the kids downstairs, Collin and I were able to have a great visit with his dad and grandfather. Thanks, Ma-ma!

Playing when we got there
Here's something that I think is pretty cool. My kids see Collin's parents just a few times a year. Two, maybe three times with months between the visits. But, there is NEVER a warm-up period. They always run to them immediately. I love it!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this picture! My boy with the one he was named after.

We met back up mid-morning Monday for a final meal together before we had to take off for home. After brunch, I tried to get a shot of the whole group. You can see how well that worked. Makgill wasn't so into cooperating.

Bye-bye loves for her Ma-Ma
Mak SOOOOOO does not do well with good-byes. He HATES them and totally can't deal when it's time to leave. That's why I love this picture so much. It's completely HIM.



All in all, we had almost 10 hours of drive time for about 5 hours of visiting with family. But it was still a great visit, and we wouldn't have missed it for anything. I just wish we could do it more often!

The drive home was a little better than the drive down there. CB slept some, but we made the mistake of giving Mak a water bottle to keep with him in his seat. He drank it. And as a result we stopped 5 times to go potty. He would go, we would get back in the car and he would immediately have to go again. And it was the DESPERATE "I have to go potty RIGHT NOW" kind of thing. We had to stop on the side of the road once. Note to self: NO more water bottles for Mak on a long trip! And evidently Miss CB has motion sickness sometimes because she woke up from her nap and threw up EVERYWHERE. And it STUNK. But we made it home safe and sound.

The kids both asked for their grandparents the whole way home and up until it was time for bed last night, so I know they enjoyed themselves. And Mak can say he went to Florida for his first-ever Spring Break! Pretty cool, huh?