I meant to post about our first day on the road but we arrived at the hotel too late. So here is a recap of the trip down to South Carolina and back.
We knew we were heading almost directly through Washington DC and I really wanted to show the kids some of the monuments there. We didn't have time to walk to all of them but we did drive by some and hopped out for a photo op. Most of the photos were taken as I was driving, hence the crummy quality.
Very cool rock formations through Maryland and Pennsylvania
Still lots of snow left in PA
And then on for some fun...I was able to meet two of my bloggy friends in North Carolina. Jeff and Taylor have bugged me to no end about meeting people I've 'met' on the internet.
Our husbands...who were good sports about meeting Internet friends
Lisa has a Kate, too. Isn't she adorable?
Lisa and I have a plot for Jake and Kate to marry--haha. They are both from Guatemala. This was their reaction to each other. The matchmakers will have to work a bit harder!
We managed to corral all of our kids for a photo.
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Sunday was our last day with Ryan. He was able to stay overnight with us at our hotel on Saturday night. We had originally been told we could have him stay with us on Friday night and planned to start for home Saturday evening. But in the Army, things change. Frequently. We were told after we got there that he could spend Saturday night with us, but not Friday. Sigh... We decided to stay an extra day so Ryan could get off the base, spend some extra time with us and wear civilian clothes for a few hours. (You have no idea how bad he wanted to wear 'civies.')
Jillian and Molly liked to feel Ryan's hair stubble
Ryan started to look very sad about his time with us coming to an end. His Mama's heart started to break.
Katie crawled into Ryan's lap for some snuggle time
Inevitable good-bye.
I think I cried most of the way through South Carolina. It was so hard to leave him there.
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We traveled through the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah Valley on the way home. The mountains really DO look blue.
We knew we were getting close to home when we started to see snow again.
It was a really nice trip. It was sooo wonderful to see Ryan but equally hard to leave him again. He will be staying at Fort Jackson for the next phase of his training which will last for 13 weeks. He then gets two weeks leave and will be able to come home for a visit. After that...he will be sent somewhere--we have no idea where.
