800 in 4

It wasn't until our way home that I realized what I had done.

800 miles. 4 days. 3 girls. Combined age in the car of 37.

I'm glad I didn't know how foolish I was being because we might not have started out at all.

We'd have missed one incredible journey.

When we arrived in Wisconsin at 7:30 p.m., after having left home at 10:30 a.m., we were greeted by these adorable blue eyes. He even helped his Mommy hold the door for us, motioned with his little hand, and said, "Go 'head, Wadies." My heart melted. There's something about meeting a friend's child....seeing parts of my friend, parts of her husband, living, breathing evidence of their love and devotion to each other. I feel the same way each time I get to be with long-time friends and their kiddos; after not seeing each other for four years, in which time we added three children to our friendship equation, it was both overwhelming and relieving to finally get to meet Sarah's little ones!

Miss Mouse loved on Sweet Baby as often as possible.


Miss Mouse is determined that Sweet Baby wants to be held and cuddled. I'm thinking Sweet Baby wants to chew on some magnets. But what do I know?


Miss Mouse is determined.



The sweet smile of success! A compromise was achieved between the two of them, I believe.

Sunny Mouse and Sir Gentleman are the same age, nearly exactly...within a few weeks. They're also nearly the same size. They were fairly adorable together.

I'm still not sure what he was asking her, but after our chivalrous meeting our first night (I can't remember the last time anyone called me a "lady" and meant it in a respectful, loving way!), I'm sure it was entirely appropriate and sweet.

We did stop them from running into the cornfield, though. They're adventurous...but they're still two and fairly small...compared to a corn stalk, anyway.

Miss Mouse is really taking the backyard cornfield in, mainly because we had a discussion on the way there about how corn grew taller than Daddy. She didn't believe me until she stood right by the field. I like her discerning curiosity, but, really, I was right!

As I said, Sweet Baby got loved on at every turn.

If Miss Mouse loved on Sweet Baby, then certainly Sunny Mouse needed to, as well.

When we got home, Sunny told me that, "Babies are a lot like kitties. They like to crawl around and chew on things. Yes, they're a lot like kittens."

I should mention there was a cat and dog in Wisconsin, too. Poor Condoleza the Cat was being "loved" whenever Sweet Baby was not! Miss Mouse is quite adamant that she "taught" Condoleza to shake hands and to roll over.

This trip took place in August, so we were happy to have cool, wet relief from the heat. I love that they are so close to the same size and so interested in playing together, having their own conversation even.

We mommies laughed at how you can see their ribs. Whenever they'd get ready to run into the ice cold water, they'd suck in their breath, and their little rib cages would poke out.

Any poking rib cages were not for lack of yummy food! We gorged ourselves on corn and fresh tomatoes one evening (literally, my girls grabbed the fresh garden tomatoes from the counter...after permission was granted, I think....and started eating them like apples!), and, after running out of time our second night for a s'mores campfire, Sarah lit a fire for us to have our s'mores party....at 10:00 a.m.! The mommies decided we had to work with what we had, and in the evening we had four tired, exhausted children. In the morning, we had three that were pretty excited about s'mores!

I think Miss Mouse looks so hilariously dignified eating her s'more in this picture.

Sunny was determined that we were to eat s'mores at the picnic table...which was in the hot sunshine...and was across the yard from the shade and campfire. The rest of us stayed in the shade; she sat with her back to us and munched her treat for 20 minutes. That's my little determined Mouse!

But she's not really my dignified one.

The mommies desperately wanted a group shot of our kiddos together. I realize this one is out-of-focus, with an exhausted-looking Miss Mouse, but the two little big kids are so sweet looking, I had to post it! Plus, Miss Mouse has her "tree" that she made from random paper she collected from Sarah.

Our next attempt at a group shot now that Sweet Baby is up from her nap. The littlest girls are apparently not impressed with this idea. Big girl is trying her best to get them together.

Sir Gentleman is tired by now; he may have been still waking up from his own nap. Or it could just be that it is bright, bright, BRIGHT out, and two mommies are attempting to take thousands of pictures! This might be the winner of all we got.

Clearly it is bright outside.

This one is decent, too, but by now there is a definite interest by Sir Gentleman in his foot.

We had such a great time visiting our sweet friends in Wisconsin. Three hundred miles, nine hours, countless stops, broken air conditioning in the vehicle, four children ages four and under ( two 2-year olds), the closest daddy 300 miles away....farthest daddy half a world away, massive amounts of corn, one cat, one dog, 40 hours, two friends, one bottle of wine, several cups of coffee.....I'm attempting a bit of humor, but really, it was an inspiring weekend and one that I can't entirely put into words.

Possibly I should have put a disclaimer on this for Grandpa Dick not to look at this one. Sunny found his bear when we traveled to Auntie Steph's (we were, at that point, visiting our third state of our trip). She didn't hurt him, but she did kiss him several times and stare sweetly into his eyes.

Auntie Steph was incredibly prepared for our visit! She even had colored bubbles! It didn't even occur to Mommy here that colored bubbles = Super Mess. Thankfully they were also super washable, so there was no harm done. But there sure was a lot of fun had!

I really don't know what she found or how it got around her head. The girls pretty much attack and latch onto their aunties when they have the chance, and I just get to enjoy the photo opportunities!

Barkley - He's a sweetie and didn't seem to mind his home being invaded. I think we even took his room!

They were wired. It was so exciting for them to get to see Auntie Steph's place, though. The last time I was there, we were three months pregnant with Miss Mouse, so it was about time the girls visited Auntie Steph's house! As with many families, I think, it's so convenient to meet at the grandparents' place, and it's so fun to do that, too. But it really was neat for them to be able to see where their aunt lives.

Auntie Steph even handled the bathing.

She's so proud and so, so squealy!

Here we are at the last step of our journey of 800 miles. It has become a tradition, apparently, for Grandpa Dick to hold sleeping Sunny at a family wedding each summer. Her first summer, he had her to sleep for Daddy's cousin Chrisy's wedding to her husband Paul; Sunny's second summer, it was Auntie Laura and Uncle Jon's wedding where she napped on Grandpa Dick; this third summer, she fell asleep in the car (thank goodness!) after the wedding, so I gave her to him for the reception. She stayed asleep with him over an hour!

At that point, we were in our fourth state, on our fourth day of travel, 500 miles into our journey, and we were exhausted but were having such a fun time! Thankfully, Grandma Kathy rode home with us on our last stretch of the trip on Sunday. I'm not sure those last three hours would have gone very well without her along. As they were, we stopped once (twice?) for an upset Sunny-tummy, and our vehicle could probably have been shown on some type of reality hording show or something.

All in all, though, it was an incredibly blessed weekend for me, and I think for all of us. To be able to make it alone with my girlies on such a long trip is something of which I'm proud...but more so something for which I'm thankful. I'm thankful we can run as a well-oiled-machine together, but I'm equally thankful that at the end of the day, at the end of the trip, no matter how long a day or how many miles the trip, we have a Daddy who is home with us. Since August I've been inspired to work harder, to work smarter, to continue being consistent in discipline and in patience, to seriously pare down my priority list, to let go of work I don't have to do so that I can focus on that which I should, and to above all honor the calling which God has issued me and to honor the calling God has given my husband.

Yep, it was definitely worth pushing through the 800 in 4.