Our Trip - Part 5 - The Road Home

We left Texarkana and began our trek home on Tuesday morning.

Jaxen is a pretty great little traveler. That being said…it is still not easy traveling with a 2 year old.

He loves to eat and drink all day long.

He wants to play with his toys…specific toys…until he drops one.

He thinks his world has ended when a toy has been dropped.

The person not driving has to climb around the car to find it - only to have him want a new one!

He enjoys watching movies.

But then you have to listen to that movie yourself.

He likes wearing headphones…but didn’t want the sound coming through them.

And he wants to be comfy. See below.

Even when we stop it is still not easy.

Nik pumps gas while I get Jaxen’s socks and shoes back on.

Nik then takes Jaxen while I search for a new pair of pants 

(if we did not stop before the diaper leaked through).

We walk into wherever we are going and I take him to the restroom with me.

No matter how much I need to use the restroom, I take care of Jaxen first.

Then I try to use the restroom myself, but it includes lots of this:

“Jaxen. Stop. Don’t touch. Don’t unlock or open the door. Leave that alone.” 

Sometimes, I’ll take him to Nik and then use the restroom in peace.

We tried to let Jaxen play as much as possible with a few bites in between.

But this one time, the playground was wet (we didn’t know) and Jaxen got really upset 

because he was wet and cold. And then would not come down.

See pic below.

Other times, he is pretty great about just sitting there eating. 

And drinking his dad’s shake.

He sleeps for about 1 hour of daylight in the car. That’s it.

So needless to say, the person not driving does not get much rest!

We did stop one night, and even though it was 10pm - we let him go swimming.

He had a blast. 

And was so happy to be free. And then he slept really well!

We had a very long drive on Wednesday (only stopping 3 times) and pushed through the night to get home. When we started our trek home, we planned on arriving on Thursday. We knew there was a big snow storm coming on Tuesday and Wednesday, but it was supposed to be clear on Thursday. Well, Wednesday the weather changed and it was clear all Wednesday afternoon, but another storm was headed in Thursday morning. They said it may be white-out conditions, because of the wind, so we pushed on. We had pretty good roads the whole way. We did have to slow down quite a bit but we wanted to be safe!

This is what Watertown looked like on our way home that night!

Our Trip - Part 4 - The Tail End

First, some updates:

1. We are home! We pulled in a little bit after midnight last night (this morning). Today we are working on un-packing, laundry and for some reason (because that is just me) I am re-arranging some things. I am stuck with my re-arranging and so I am taking a hot cocoa break (thanks for the yummy mix, Kay) and blogging!

2. Yes, there is a lot of snow here! I’ll share some pics later. But we definitely came home to a winter wonderland. It is beautiful…but very cold! When we pulled in last night it was a -14 degrees.

3. Our friend, Chris’ surgery went well! They removed his tumor with no issues and is out of ICU today. He is in a lot of pain still (they had to cut his jaw muscles to get to the tumor) but is recovering well and hoping to head home Friday. Thank you for you prayers for him!

On to our regularly scheduled blog post.

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Friday we left our friends, Chris and Kylee and headed back to Texarkana to spend the last part of our trip with Nik’s family.

On the road trip home - Nik and I were playing a marriage-card-game we received at a Marriage Conference we attended. This question was asked:

Question: Fill in the blank - I love you like a ________ loves a __________.

Nik’s answer: I love you like a fat man loves a cheeseburger!

Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!! I laughed until I cried - because for me, that is true love! Ha ha!

Just thought I’d share :)

Other pictures….

Jaxen loved wearing his Mamaw Kay’s glasses!

Mine and Jaxen’s selfie for the week!

He had the best time wrestling with his uncle Ryan...

 but after awhile, he needed some “daddy reinforcements”!

Sunday morning, we attended church where Nik and I were married 12 years ago!

We tried to take a picture with the church sign, but was super bright…

This is as good as we got.

That night we celebrated Nik’s birthday with a chocolate sheet cake his mom made.

It was such a good cake!

And here is a picture of Ryan (Nik’s brother) with one of his daughters, Kyleigh and Nik with Jaxen!

Jaxen and Nik - on Nik’s birthday!

This was the one day it was sunny and not raining for us to go to the park!

The bad thing, was that it was still pretty cold. 

Those little fingers could only stand the cold for so long.

Jaxen and Kyleigh really began to play well together. They had a lot of fun at the park.

It is funny….because I always have to “force” Jaxen to go down a slide. 

He will eventually, and loves it - but he never gravitates to a slide first.

This day, he only went to the slide once he saw Kyleigh go down!

Wherever one went, the other followed. It was really fun to watch them!

We had a really great visit with our family and friends. I’m so glad we were able to come down!

Our Trip - Part 3 - Friends

Tuesday, we continued our trip and headed south to Temple...

Familiar, right? Our kid travels with food and drink at all times!

Our first stop was to see our (former) neighbors, Quention and Kris. We spent many, many days and nights with these people and they are some of our favorites!

Jaxen loved knocking on this door and peeking through their window! 

It only took a little bit for him to settle in…pants off and helping in the kitchen...

or hanging out with his favorite girls (Katie and Emilie)!

And of course…we had some beloved Bush’s Tea!!!!!!

I did not drink enough of this stuff while there. Shame on me.

Look at this announcement for the New Years Eve Party we attended.

Special guest: Jaxen Davis (and his parents)! Ha Ha!

We had a great time on New Year’s Eve with our (former) church family.

There was a great turnout and we enjoyed seeing everyone and catching up.

Jaxen had the best time running around the gym with all the other kiddos!

Jaxen and his buddy Alan!

I love that Jaxen is looking at him, like he is crazy…because he is! Ha ha!

Jaxen had to re-fuel at the food table a couple times that evening.

Chocolate-Peanut-Butter-Cookies and Grapes were his food of choice this evening!

I did not take many pictures. Oops! 

But it was too much fun just hanging out and seeing everyone!

We had a great evening and it was a great way to end 2014!

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New Years Day we headed north of Dallas to see some of our favorite and longest-time friends, Chris and Kylee. I did not take one single picture. I cannot believe it! We enjoyed our time with them - we always do. Please pray for them this week. Chris will undergo brain surgery on Tuesday to remove a tumor - and we want to cover them in all the prayer we can get! Thank you.

Our time is drawing to an end here….

Our Trip - Part 2 - Family

We spent the first 4 days hanging with Nik’s family. It has been so fun - with a little crazy and a lot of noise! And a few quiet, relaxing mornings. On Monday, Nik and I were hanging out watching TV while his parents were still sleeping. Jaxen was playing. At one point I looked at Nik and told him how this would be a perfect, relaxing, quiet morning - if it weren’t for Jaxen!!! Ha ha!

Here are some pics of the family I have captured so far -

Kyleigh (our niece) and Nik

We have played a little Five Crown and Phase 10 late in the evenings.

Jaxen and I had to take our weekly selfie!

We ate BBQ. It was amazing. I could eat this again.

BBQ French Fries (fries, pulled pork, cheese and lots of BBQ sauce)!

Nik enjoyed Brisket, Sausage, Sweet Potato Fries, Okra, Beans and Bread.

Me, Jaxen and Mamaw Kay

Jaxen, Mamaw Kay and Bella

Kayleigh and Nik’s brother, Ryan

Caleb, Jaxen and Bella

One of the best forms of entertainment has been this turn table on the kitchen table.

Kyleigh loves to be turned round and round on it! 

And of course, wrestling with the cousins is a must!

Kyleigh and I

She much prefers Nik though :)

This is how Jaxen has been sleeping…

on a little air mattress (just his size) that has bumpers on the outside so he does not fall off!

He has been sleeping really well while we are gone (minus the first 2 nights).