Lea-vin' on a jet plane

We wish.  Seriously, next time, we're taking a plane, and I don't care about the expenses.  So, the next several posts will be about the trip we took to Georgia.  A bit of info you'll need so things will make sense.  My sisters & I had been talking for months about making the trip with all of our kids to our Grandma's pecan farm in southern Georgia.  For many reasons, but one main one being that we'd like our kids to have some of the memories we have of Grandma's house.  Another big reason was that we still wanted to try for some kind of Sister Trip this year, and The Nurse is a couple hours from Grandma's house.  I had said that with the strike still very possible, there was no way I could go.  Well, that didn't work for The Nurse, so she was wonderful and paid for my family-being young and w/o kids, she still has a fair amount of disposable income. Remember those days?  Then The Teacher, The Quilter & I realised there was no way we were all going to fit into just one vehicle.  Renting was WAY to expensive, and it was decided we needed to adopt.  Someone with an SUV or van.  Someone we all knew, and liked.  Someone with kids that our kids loved.  There was only one person that met all of those requirements.  My friend, A.  (Yes, I know how to pick them)The Quilter had spent lots of time with her while we were preparing for the Steampunk Party, and The Teacher hadn't spent quite as much time, but still approved.  The Nurse had met her briefly at the party, and agreed, we were adopting A & taking her on our Pseudo Sister Trip.  At the time A was so flattered, but quickly realised we're a bunch o' loonies, and yet, she belongs with us.  I claimed A and her vehicle as mine, taking Lex, Casserole, and Big J to start.  You can tell this is one of the first times they've done a 12 hour drive in a crowded vehicle.  We said we'd leave my house at 9pm, but of course, we left at, umm...10, thirty-ish. Maybe 11.  We stopped for wine.  Not for the trip but for when we got to Grandma's.  And of course, we're a group of women packing two SUV's with a week's worth of everything.  Really should have gotten pictures of that.

The Teacher at a potty stop in the middle of night.  I think this was right after she made A do a 45 mile and hour U- turn in the dark.  I guess she kept yelling, "I'm sorry A!  I'm so sorry!"  While screeching thru turns that only Indy cars should make.  The trip down is always just as eventful as the trip, and sort of predicts the trip.  We had lots of laughs, which boded well for the rest of the week.  The adults were exhausted, which was true for the rest of the trip as well.  My sisters and I have made this trip enough times that we could probably do it without any map or directions, but A, well, she wasn't very confident.

 As I said, we've made this trip a few times, and have some...traditions.  Like trying to sell each other to people in other cars.  The more annoyed with each other we got, the cheaper the price for the sister.  Which is what this picture is about.  For the The Teacher, she's the oldest, though not the bossiest. 

 The Nurse works nights, and was having a very slow night in Labor and Delivery, so we all were texting back and forth.  I think it made the night go a little better for all of us.  We had funny mishaps, such as not realising we'd passed the other car until we were 20 miles ahead, getting to make fun of the way we looka fter 5 hours in  acar at 3 am.  Some Hot Mamas, trust me. In my opinion, there's one thing that makes the atrocity of driving through the night worth it.  The morning sunrise. 

 We stopped for a cheap breakfast, and a leg stretch.

 We took up most of Waffle House's, alright, ALL of Waffle House's seats.  We also found out that Waffle House is NOT cheap.  I think it broke everyone's budget, so we agreed on Mickey D's from then on.

My Aunt lives in Atlanta, we stopped for a few hours at her house.  It was a great rest stop.  We were kinda nasty, but she never said a word, and she had some yummy coffee!  We did switch adults and kids around, but mostly kept it like this.  Boys in the frint, girls in the back.  Share, SHAre, SHARE!  And stop TOUCHING!  Ahem, let's love each other, okay?

 And then, suddenly, we were home.  Another tradition; honk the whole way up the driveway.  So proud of A, she did!  If you can't tell from the picture, Grandma's house is on part of what was once a large pecan plantation.  Her house is way, way, way out in the country.

 And it's the best place on earth.