To Infinity And Beyond

We made a little road trip loop around East Tennessee last week, and had so much fun house hopping from one daughter to the other, then back again. It's a three hour drive to Daughter 2's house, a gorgeous drive actually if you go the back way-

Twenty miles of the road look like this-

The road hugging the Ocoee River, with lots of pull offs that are hard to resist. 

We headed to Daughter2's house first and spent the night, treating her to dinner out, then spending the rest of the evening sitting beside her on the couch so I could keep my hand on her belly and feel baby boy kick. 

She's used to me. Plus, isn't that what all mothers do? 

Daughter1's house is another three hours further so we got back in the car the next morning and made our way there. We'd given Daughter1 and her hubs a hotel gift card to use in Nashville one weekend and since my son-in-law was celebrating a birthday this was the weekend. They don't live far from the city, but live music venues + toddlers don't make for the best mix, and we wanted them to experience the music while they're living nearby. We were in charge of the boys. 

Or they were in charge of us? 

The grown kids didn't head into the city until Saturday so we had one day with our daughter too. It was absolutely gorgeous weather wise, and she took us to a nearby trail for a walk. 

The boys brought their scooters and we brought the dog, and everyone enjoyed the morning. 

Hubs and I had a full day planned for Saturday because when you're in charge of littles distraction is the name of the game. We went to a nearby park and did all the things. 

We see-sawed...

and climbed-

and swung-

and picnic-ed-

Hubs taught the men to play horseshoes...

Which he would say was a little bit like grenades, but they had a lot of fun. On the way home we made a stop at a shop we'd passed that advertised fish and reptiles. As it happened a family was in the store with their ginormous boa constrictor wrapped around the dad so that was pretty exciting. The mom told me they had four more at home. Shudder. 

Everyone was good and tired but we opted to skip naps and watch Encanto instead, all snuggled up on the couch. We liked it and the music is good. 

There's a big pond in the kid's neighborhood with a nice paved walking trail all the way round and it's a great place to walk the dog. After the movie was over it was back outside for a trek around the pond. Everyone wants to hold the leash so there's always a bit of negotiating, but life is all about taking turns and we make it work. 

Our pup is off-lead trained and very rarely on a leash, but he's patient with all the clipping and the unclipping and then the re-clipping and more unclipping. Perhaps he remembers the mancub from his puppy days and knows he was loved by him from the beginning?

After our walk we loaded back up in the car for an early dinner at Chick-fil-A then home for showers and bed. The kids too. Ha! Seriously you don't have to worry about getting your 10,000 steps when there are toddlers in the house. 

Their parents arrived home late Sunday morning, which meant there was time for one more game of Guess Who before we said a tearful goodbye and made the three hour drive back to Daughter2's house. 

Her hubs grilled wings and we spent a relaxed evening sitting beside the firepit in their backyard. Then we got up Monday and drove another three hours home to our own house and felt happy and sad all at the same time. 

If ya know ya know. 

While there's still quite a bit of to-ing and fro-ing in getting to our girls and our grandchildren, there is far less than at any other time in their married lives. We'll happily take it. We're so grateful for the time we spend and the memories we make with these boys who love us big and wear us out...who keep us young and fill our hearts to 'infinity and beyond'!