Summatime is flyin' by!

Wow! Where do I start? Summer is just flying by and I am so not ready for school to start again in August. 


The kids and I have been gone for 3 weeks with Neal joining us for 1. We are truly soaking up all of this family time together.  It has been a lot of fun!


We went to Yorktown for a week and stayed with Grandma Helen.  I love visiting the YC.  My mother-in-law spoiled us rotten and I was reluctant to leave!  Breakfast, lunch, and dinner served everyday and she was a huge help with potty training Beckett!


I also got to see some gfs from high school, which was so great to catch up.  I still can't believe we graduated TEN yearsssss ago.  I had 5 mojitos too many and was paying for it the next morning but my m-i-l came through with coffee, water and aspirin. :) 


After our Yorktown trip we headed home and unpacked/repacked for OHIO. (My favorite state to sing in the 50 states song - if you don't know it I will sing it for you.) 


Neal's dad lives in Cambridge and we really wanted to take Emerson up there to meet the family.  We left on a Wednesday and stopped halfway in West Virginia (Lewisburg).  Trying to book a hotel room was no easy feat - they were all booked.  We finally got a room at the classy Fairfield Inn and I think I slept about 3 hours because I was terrified that bedbugs were going to eat my legs alive.  Thank you sister for making me feel so much better about them.....


We finished our trip Thursday and were happy to be welcomed with open arms (and 4 bottles of Riesling) and just relax.  This was the first vacation Neal had taken since our honeymoon so that was nice for him!  


We practiced saying family member names in the car with Beckett - a lot - we had tons of time to do it with so here is what we have:


Grandma Helen, PopPop (Kim), YaYa, Grandpa (Ralph), Granddad (Gary), Grandma Jennifer, Unc Unc Jason, Aunt Ancy (Nancy), Maddie, Ayden, Uncle Richard (he got that one pretty good)  and Aunt Alexis (still working on it :) 


Friday in Ohio there was a terrible storm - like I have never seen before.   We had just gotten to the Mexican restaurant to celebrate Jason's birthday and the AC wasn't working.  The wind outside was blowing sideways but we were just enjoying the food.  Nancy and Ayden said they heard sirens going off....meh.  No one paid attention.  The restaurant cleared out but apparently we didn't notice and just kept on eating and singing happy birthday!  


The drive home we saw some damage.  I checked my phone that was in the diaper bag and I had a severe weather alert saying TORNADO TAKE SHELTER NOW.  Awesome. I felt like a horrible mother for not having done the proper action during the storm!  


Almost all of Cambridge lost power - EXCEPT for Gary - thank goodness!  We drove through town and saw a TON more damage and it was really devastating. We had already bought tickets to see Magic Mike and HAD to go so we went despite the storm. We only hit a little bitty tree on the way - I have never laughed so hard. 


The rest of our Ohio trip was spent swimming in the pool, eating lots of yummy food, making smores, playing pool and just hanging out. 


When we left Ohio Sunday we had NO CLUE that other states had gotten bad storm damage.  So, our trip through West Virginia was VERY scary.  It took us 5 exits to find gas. NOWHERE had power. When we finally found a gas station with gas we got in the line of 539834 cars and pumped 11 gallons when the pump shut off and ran out of gas. Luckily it was enough to get us to Virginia but every rest area and everything was closed. I just prayed for us to get through that freakin state and I never want to go back again.  


We got home after a 10 hour drive - only a few meltdowns by all 4 family members in the car - and slept like babies. 


Monday morning we packed the truck and headed south for Nags Head. We made a pit stop at the border station for bottle/diaper time.  Beckett was doing such a great job peeing in the potty.  This particular potty though was brown. Ew I know, gross. So the whole time we are in the rest area Beckett is shouting (because he is 2 and can't talk any other way) MOMMY POOPED MOMMY POOPED.  Super fun times. 


We had a great time at the beach - it was the first time all 6 of us (Routson boys and significant others) were together since Richard's wedding!  Emerson loved the sand and Beckett had fun with Grandma and PopPop. We were probably the whitest people leaving the island since we only went the the beach in the mornings - it was so hot and the kids napped in the afternoons.  But, we enjoyed eating out and visiting the aquarium in Manteo.  B wasn't a fan of the fireworks so good thing we only watched them from the deck :)


We came home Saturday and were treated to the Discover Dinosaurs exhibit from my mom.  Beckett LOVED the dinosaurs! 


Today was cleaning, laundry and turn the dining room into a playroom day!!!  Miss Emmason started walking with a push toy - very exciting!!  




We are very fortunate to have these memories with so many of our family members over the last 3 weeks!  We couldn't be more blessed. Love you all <3


~xo Libby