I'm sitting on the veranda outside our hotel room in Maui. I wish I could capture this moment and go to it later but as I have learned life just keeps moving on and the present is immediately a memory never to be recreated again. So I try to capture the moment with pictures, thoughts and writings to help me remember all I am experiencing. It is sunrise, and I'm looking at a perfectly calm ocean through a grove of palm trees, there are birds chirping and countless flowers in bloom many I have never seen before. The mere existence of Hawaii makes you relax; you just can't be stressed here.
Anyway more about our honeymoon on a later blog, today I have to go back in time to May 6th, the day we left Phoenix on our drive to San Antonio. To the day of "The Move."
Looking back at the month of April/May Ginger and I have to agree with many of you at this time, we were a little crazy! I had been on a trip for work in Alabama on Tuesday - Friday. I got back to San Antonio on Friday afternoon and I started moving my stuff to our new home. I finished moving on Sunday at 1pm, well I had to quit but I was about 95% done thanks to my good friend Karl. The reason I had to quit was because I had a flight to Phoenix at 4pm. I made it to Phoenix at 5pm and we loaded the U haul for our drive to Texas. The next day, Monday the 5th the movers finished packing Ginger's stuff..."stuff" does not capture it, this was the second moving truck required to fit it all. But they managed to finish by 1pm allowing Ginger and I time to go get a marriage license for our wedding that was to take place in 5 hours!
The next day, May 6th is where I will pick up the story. We, Ginger and I, Ginger's mom Judi, and the three girls, Bella, Aspen and Annalise loaded up in the Suburban, U Haul in trail and headed of for Texas. We had two days to get to San Antonio as the movers were meeting us on Thursday to begin unloading. Did I mention that on Friday Anthony and I had to leave for DC for Nic and Kate's graduation? Yeah life was a little busy.
I was the only male in this carload of 6 and I would soon be baptized by fire into my new life. We had a lot of fun along the way. Once were were passing some trucks and the drivers were waving at us. We thought how nice it is to be back in Texas and friendly drivers. But it turns out the door to the U Haul was open and they were trying to get us to stop. Thankfully nothing flew out the back and we were soon back on the road.
It was not long when I realized how blessed I was to have Judi as a Mom, how hard it is to travel in the Suburban, how cute my three girls are, how expensive it was to fill up on gas, and what an amazing mom and wonderfully beautiful and fun wife Ginger is.
I snapped a few pictures along the way to help capture the trip.
The brave yet naive newlyweds ready for the adventure
Goodbyes are said to good friends, Aspen finds comfort in her Giraffe.
Friends for life
Annalise is ready for the trip, still not sure how the headphones work with the DVD player but they make a nice headband.
Aspen, not so happy, but just as sweet. Truth be told I felt the same after being in the car for 9 hours.
Ahhhhh the simple pleasure of an ice cream cone
We finally broke down and decided to find Benadryl to help the girls sleep, I mean help them with their runny noses. 15 minutes later I look up to find Judi and Ginger sound asleep while the girls were wide awake. Ummm who took the Benadryl?
30 minutes later victory. That is a sweet picture!
Our first night was spent at Ft Bliss in El Paso. This was breakfast the next morning when the Ravellas invaded the buffet. The night before we were greeted by 60 mph winds in El Paso which did not stop till we were approaching San Antonio the next day. It was blowing so hard it was windy in the rooms even though the windows were shut. So glad to leave Ft Bliss behind... Not sure where it got its name.
2 hours out of San Antonio we are almost there and we decided to stop for a lunch break. I left everyone on the restaurant and went across the street to fill up. When I came back this is how I found Ginger, on the patio of the restauranty telling me "Run get diapers and clothes!" Seems the twins decided to have diarrhea at the same time. Judi took the initial blow and Bella and I were running buckets of hot soapy water through the restaurant to the patio. "Never mind us just go about eating your meals." Lets just say I was broken in to being a dad again. Next time we fly!
We made it! Our first night in the new home. The kids are excited to find a "bouncy toy" and we are excited to have them burn of some energy. All in all we are all so glad to be here, but tomorrow the moving trucks arrive...That is another story all together!
WOW! Your life has sure changed! What a sweet family and adorable girls...crying and everything, they are still so precious. I know I don't need to tell you to savor the time...even those less than desirable times cleaning hiney's in diners. Yes, I too have been there and done that:-). Have fun in Maui...relax..more adventures are certainly awaiting you.
ReplyDeleteGina