Spring travels and some other stuff :)

So the tornadoes that blasted through the south last week? Pretty much followed the path we drove from our home in Virginia to Matt's parents' house in Louisiana. It was surreal to hear about all the damage to places we'd driven through only 6 days before - Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, the northern corner of Georgia, then Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Bristol, VA. Two of my big fears are tornadoes and nuclear radiation - and yes, I stayed up pretty much all night last Wednesday because we were under a tornado watch - when it changed to a warning at 3:30am, I got the kids out of bed & we snuggled under the basement stairs until the warning passed. Better safe than sorry, but I think next time we have a tornado watch at night, maybe we'll all just sleep in the basement.

Anyway - I've finally culled through some pictures from our trip, so here they are! We arrived on Sunday afternoon and relaxed on Nana's back porch with hula hoops...

Evie has mad hula hoop skillz - I had no idea!

Jason showed Nana how to play Angry Birds...

After a good night's sleep, we all went to the duck pond. Matt remembers going to this pond every summer growing up during their 2 week trip to Shreveport. The ducks are amazingly tame :)

'Can you hear me??'

Matt's grandfather came to sit with us and enjoy a picnic lunch of fried chicken, a rare treat :)

Matt's dad, Matt, Matt's grandfather (O'Pa) and Matt's mom (Nana)

Nana and O'Pa

The next day went went to the Norton Art Gallery & walked the amazingly beautiful grounds before heading inside. It seems like there were just acres and acres of azaleas planted amidst fabulously huge trees, with immaculate walking paths throughout - gorgeous.

William has a big love of sheep :)

While Matt finished up inside looking at some things, I amused myself by taking pictures of Jason :)

The next morning while Matt spent some time with his sister, my kids and their cousin Madeline spent some time coloring in the shade on Nana's back porch.

Shortly after this picture was taken, Evie leaped out of this chair to chase a squirrel. The chair did not survive the leap.

We had ice cream....

...and dinner (and margaritas!) at this fabulous Mexican grill...

Evie, Aunt Amy, Evan, and Madeline

This was our last night, so we went back to Amy's house for visiting, and I took some final pictures...

Evan and O'Pa

Matt and his sister, Amy

All in all, despite William adding to my gray hairs the first night, we had a great trip. The 20 hour drive was surprisingly uneventful, and the kids held it together really well.I don't think we're quite ready for a trip to the Grand Canyon, but maybe someday we'll pile in the family truckster and give it a go!

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Call us silly, but Friday morning my neighbor came over with her daughters and we had breakfast while watching the royal wedding :) I had tiaras for the girls to wear, and we drank mimosas and munched on scones.

Sarah's friend Rebecca brought all of Sarah's Disney princesses down from her bedroom and played with them on the couch while William and Kate said their "I will's" - Rebecca was the only one who actually watched the wedding with us, and I got a kick out of her raptly watching the service at different points :)

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I was outside with Jason and William on Saturday and we noticed that a bird had nested under the shelter of the fort on their swing set! We peeked inside and on Saturday there was only one egg in this perfect little nest. Evie took the camera out on Sunday morning & snapped this picture, now we have TWO eggs! I only hope my kids can stay out of there and keep their hands off it long enough for Mama Robin to hatch her babies. Any idea on how long that will take? Guess I can google it...

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And finally - this is REALLY cool, take 2 minutes and watch it :)