Warning: Extremely Long Post!!!
Well we survived our very first looooong road trip. By long, I mean 11 hours cooped up in the car with two kids under 3! Thanks to a DVD player, an iPad, and lots of snacks we made it. The kids did so much better than either Brandon or I expected. My grandparents were from a little town in Oklahoma called Ponca City. My mother moved them down to Albuquerque 5 years ago when both of their health started declining and my grandfather developed Alzheimer's so she could better care for them. Well my grandfather passed away from colon and lung cancer 4 years ago in which we traveled back to Oklahoma for his funeral in their home town, so now we did the same for my grandmother. The only difference was that 4 years ago we were newlyweds with no kids which made traveling that long much much easier. We left Sunday evening after Brandon got out of work. We drove until 12:45am, which ended us up in Elk City, about 3.5 hours from our final destination, we slept in a cheap hotel and headed on the next morning. We arrived in Ponca City at about 11am on Monday. Tuesday was the Funeral Service, burial and dinner reception for the family. Wednesday morning we packed up and headed out about 9:00am (Oklahoma time) and pulled in our drive way at 7:00pm (New Mexico time). It was a quick trip and the kids were completely thrown off their normal day to day schedules, but it was all worth it to say our final goodbyes to Great-Great. The service was great and Brandon wrote and read the Eulogy which would have meant so much to my grandmother since she absolutely adored him. Although the circumstances were not great, it was also very nice to spend some time with family we rarely get to see. Here are some pictures of our trip.
Monday:
After we arrived on Monday afternoon, we checked into our hotel and decided it would be a good idea to take the kids to the pool to burn off all the energy they had from being in the car for so long. They had a blast and were all ready for their naps after swimming for about an hour.
This was Autumn’s 1st time in the pool and she LOVED it. Both of our kids love the water and could spend hours swimming.
Owen warmed up really quick and was jumping into the pool in no time at all.
After a long drive and a dip in the pool, this little girl was exhausted!
After the pool, the kids took a much needed nap and then we all got ready to head to dinner and then to the mortuary for a family gathering to say goodbye to my Grandmother before the funeral service the next day. I was a bit apprehensive about taking Owen to it because I didn’t want to freak him out, but he did so well and I think he needed it. He looked at my Grandmother in her “pink and white bed” as he called it, and said, “goodnight great-great, have fun with Jesus. I will miss you.” O’ the innocence of a child. He really seemed so excited for her that she gets to go be with Jesus now. It was so sweet to see him say goodbye to her and defiantly didn’t help the tears from falling. Great-Great loved her great-grandchildren. After the viewing, we all headed for round two in the pool, this time with Nana, Pampo, and cousins Jonelle and Kamiya.
Autumn had no problem falling asleep that night. Especially since it was about 2 hours later than her normal bedtime. What a trooper!
Tuesday:
Tuesday was the funeral, burial and dinner reception. The funeral was planned for 2pm since family was still arriving into town. We kept the morning really low key since we knew the afternoon was going to be really busy. We started off with a breakfast, baths, lunch, and then naps.
They love taking baths! Like I mentioned, they love the water!
Autumn had so much fun crawling all over the hotel room. She spent much of her time crawling under the coffee table! Silly girl!
Since we knew the afternoon was going to be hectic we really needed the kids to take a really good morning nap, especially Autumn. We didn’t want to wake them but we really needed to eat lunch so we ate our lunch out in the hallway, lol! Parenting, you do what you can!
Once the kids woke up from their naps, we got all dressed and headed to the funeral service.
The kids all dressed up.
All ready to go!
Autumn hung in until after the burial. We headed back to the church for a dinner reception for the family and the poor girl passed out!
On the way back to the hotel following the reception, we decided to drive by my Grandparents old house so I could show Owen. My sister and I spent many many summers in Ponca City at my Grandparents so I also wanted a picture for my own keepsake since I am not sure if we will ever be back there again.
The giant tree in their front yard is a Pecan Tree. I miss the pounds of pecans they used to send home with us. We would store them in our freezer and always have fresh pecans at hand any time we wanted them. Yum, yum, yum!
Tuesday evening after the busy day we all headed back down to the pool for some family fun time following a very sad day. It was so fun to have the whole family together having a good time and sharing our fondest memories of Grandma. After swimming we ordered pizza and passed out as we were all so exhausted.
Me, Autumn, My Sis and Niece Abigail
Left: Sister, Brother-In-Law and Niece Abi. Right: Abi & Autumn. This was Abi’s first time in the pool also and her and Autumn had a blast!
My cousin Jonelle and her daugher Kamyia. She is about 6 week younger than Owen but she is one big girl, weighing in at 44 pounds! Too funny, she is so cute and her and Owen LOVE each other.
This picture was taken minutes after she got out of the pool. Poor girl was so wiped from the busy busy day. So precious!
Wednesday:
Wednesday morning we headed down for breakfast, packed up and headed home!
The kids enjoying their last few minutes of Hotel living! Owen loved the hotel and on the second day told me, “Mommy, I love our new house". He cracks me up! I think it was a combo of having all our family right next door, all sleeping in the same room, a very yummy breakfast every morning, and having a pool that he really loved! Lol.
Driving Home!
This was Owen’s very first car trip being potty trained and he did perfect, not a single accident! Okay, say what you want, but when he had to go he had to go. I am sure I am gonna get lots of remarks about our bad parenting choices, but I just don’t care. He kept saying, “Wow Mommy, I like peeing in the grass.” Lol, boys will be boys.
All in all it was a very sad and quick trip but I wouldn’t change a thing. We did exactly what we needed to, to honor my Grandmother. It was exactly what she wanted. The kids were great, even with a lot of firsts, so I couldn’t be more proud of the both of them. I think I needed this trip to take a look and evaluate what wonderful children God has blessed Brandon and I with. They were so well behaved the entire trip and went with the flow, napping where they could and sitting quiet through the church services so that Brandon and I could be a part of everything and more importantly be there for my Mom. Goodbye Great-Great we love you so much!
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