The world's longest series of posts about a vacation ever.

Okey doke. Here we go again!

Day 5 cont'd
We went to dinner that evening at Mrs. Yoder's Amish Kitchen. OH MY SWEET HEAVENS. It was beyond incredible food. I don't even know how to describe how good this place was. Like, if you could just take a trip to Ohio, just to eat there, you wouldn't be disappointed!! I made a vow to crack open my Amish/Mennonite cookbooks a lot more after eating all those great meals!!

Sigh. Ok, so anyway. We knew we had to leave the next morning, so we drove around at sunset taking some more pictures. It was so beautiful. My favorite shot was of this man plowing his fields, with his horses, of course. He made a turn as we drove by and he waved at us, that was really cool. I also took a picture of his/his family's farm. It was so amazing. Everything is just so tidy and neat, well-painted and organized. Just amazing. Everyone needs to go next year. Ok?!?!


Day 6
(Thursday)
We woke up and headed out to NC. We took a little detour, unknowingly and the GPS was beyond lost. "It" didn't recognize the roads and it's road names were NOT what was on the road signs. SO, we were pretty confused for a few minutes. Finally, we made it out onto a main road that had an interstate sign! We only had to head down one interstae all the way into NC.

As we came into WV, I saw a huge sign for the Coldwater Creek Clearance Center! I don't know if y'all ever buy clothes form there, but I really like a lot of their clothes! I was totally stoked when Dan said, "You want to stop?" DUH! Do monkeys hang in trees?! We swung on in and took our rowdy crew inside. We were the ONLY people there under 30/on a weekday/with children. But, I didn't care at all! I got a bunch of really nice clothes, none of them over $30! Hello! Definitely worth the stop.

Then we scooted on down to NC, enjoying the view as we came through the WV and VA mountains. We got to my aunt's with plenty of time left for dinner, which was nice. She also let us have her king size bed to sleep in, which was super duper nice! :-)

Day 6
(Friday)
We ate breakfast and then went to get ready. Not long after, Aunt B, Grandmommy, Uncle Matt and Krystle were there. Yeah! We loaded up and went "up the mountain" to Tweetsie Railroad. My family went there when I was younger, and we all had funny memories of being there. It was a little bit different being there as an adult, of course, but it was fun seeing the kids enjoy it.

After that, we went back to Aunt Patty's to eat dinner, and then we packed up the car to drive to Mom's house.


Day 7
(Saturday)
Daddy took the Suburban to get it cleaned. The kids and I went with Grandmommy to Target. It was actually not too bad of a trip, but it was hilarious to see her trying to cope with the chaos of my three and a huge shopping list! (Haha, love you Mom!) After that, we just hung out in the pool and enjoyed not being in a moving vehicle!

Day 8
(Sunday)
We got up and made it to the 8:30 service at our old church! What a feat! Everyone was excited to see us. Then, my cousin, Christy came down from Raleigh to see us at Mom's. We had a great time visiting and talking about her pregnancy! Twin boys coming early next year! SO happy for them.

Day 9
(Monday) Labor Day!
We went to a new park that afternoon, Pharr Mill Rd. Park. It was being built when we moved, so we had never played there! (Dan says he and Uncle Matt had been off-roading there before though....when it was in construction phase...hehe.) It had an awesome walking trail and playground area. The kids had a great time and I got a great workout walking around that trail! It was much-needed after all that Amish food... :-)

Next, we went home, laid the littles down for a quick nap and got ready for the neighborhood cookout at Mom's neighborhood. We had fun seeing her neighbors we already knew and meeting some new ones.

more tomorrow!