From the South to the North

Though we had been on the South Louisiana to North Louisiana road trip countless times before, this time was quite different. This time was our mini-move in preparation for our BIG move. As I mentioned before, we left South Louisiana prior to moving overseas so that we could hang out in North Louisiana with family and friends for a couple of months. 

I wish I had gotten more pictures of this road trip...but I didn't. So, I'll share what I did get and describe a tiny bit of what I didn't. 

After working feverishly on packing up and moving out of our rent house until literally the wee hours of the morning...and sustaining a few injuries I forgot about until now...

I had a pretty mean fall coming down the short stairs on the side of our house carrying one of the many heavy boxes to my car in the wee hours of the morning. (The ground was slippery, because of course it rained while I was trying to pack my car.) This pic I took reminded me of it. I think I may have stopped and cried for a minute when this happened. Kind of the straw that broke the camel's back...almost literally! But I kept going...and going...and going. Couldn't stop. Wouldn't stop. Little Mama had to get the job done. BTW, this is the back side of my right forearm where I think I hit/scraped really hard on the stair railing. Left a pretty nasty bruise with a little bit of broken skin. All better now!

...we spent a few hours sleeping in a local hotel then swimming in their pool. As you can imagine, that was some much-needed rest, relaxation, and fun after our long night and before our long (>5 hour) drive north. Of course, just as we got in the pool to swim, it started to rain! It was just a heavy shower, no lightning or thunder, so we stuck through it. No stopping us from having fun!

After our R&R, we finally got on the road headed north. 

Reminder of how we were traveling:

2 vehicles (a mid-size SUV and a minivan) packed to the hilt with our things

2 children (a 9-year-old and a 6-month-old) packed into the minivan with my sweet mother

2 adults (one driving each vehicle)

Prior to pulling out of town, we got a small to-go brunch for us at a drive-thru. About an hour into our drive, we stopped in Baton Rouge at a Picadilly and had a real lunch together. It was a nice, enjoyable, bonding and refueling time for all of us. A nice man that worked there specially cooked some fried shrimp for my son since they didn't have any on the buffet line. Our waitress was extremely nice and caring. She also shared with us a situation she got a phone call about while waiting on us in which a young child she knew was being put in the hospital with a very bad sudden illness. She asked us to pray for him. We did. My son was very concerned for the child and was so glad to be able to pray for him.

Anyway, that little stop was really the only time I got pics of our trip. We thought it was cute that Baby Girl tried some of her first solid food (other than a little baby food) while we were there. She had some yummy carrot souffle and LOVED it! :) 

Mmm!!!

Big Brother wanted pictures taken of him eating, too! :)

That's a piece of his shrimp hanging out of his mouth. Silly boy!

 Once we finally arrived at our destination (around midnight, if I remember correctly), we crashed into our comfy beds at my parents-in-law's house. Those same beds in that same room would become our temporary little home for the next three months. 

The next morning I took a few pics of how my car looked prior to doing the final unpacking of it. Remember, this is just my car. My mom's had just as much in it! Whew!

Those big, colorful duffel bags are the ones we used to actually move overseas as well. We ended up buying one more and buying a large, hard-case suitcase as well in order to do our final move.

And here is our little "mini-apartment" (a.k.a. guest room) in my in-laws' house that became the cozy home to the three of us for the next three months.

2 full-size beds, a night-stand and baby pack-n-play in between.

Somebody wanted to be part of the pics! 

The pack-n-play complete with the diaper-changing station set-up.

Rocking chair (and cute kiddo) amid all of our bags and such. Oh, and the beautiful armoire. It is full of my mother-in-law's things, so our bags were our storage. I intended to go through all of our stuff so much sooner than the last few days before our big move. It didn't happen...until the last few days...of course. Oh well. We survived.

A better pic of the rocking chair corner

The view from the rocking chair side of the room. I do love that restful, cozy room. It's a beautiful room. And that boy, oh, that boy! I do love him, too. The fingers in pictures thing is cracking me up!

And this is that beautiful room once my little family vacated it. Told you it is a peaceful, cozy place. :)

Okay, so that's all I've got for this post. Hope you enjoy!

Until next time...