Roadtrip

Love.



Love.

See the frog?

Sweet Addy looked like this a lot of the weekend. A three hour ER visit upon returning home revealed the culprit: a nasty sinus infection. Baby is now full of antibiotics and sleeping peacefully in her own bed. Sweet dreams Addy Bean!

Natalie and Grandpa on Grandpa's giant tractor!

Colton preparing for his tractor ride.

You can just tell how relaxed Natalie is when it comes to handling bugs. Just look at that face. :-)

This little man loved exploring and finding critters!

Natalie and Grandma.

Exploring the hay barn.

Colton adores this hammock...and his daddy.

Matt's dad...aka Grandpa.

Beautiful land.

This weekend, we traveled down to the country to visit Matt's dad. After five (or was it 6?) hours of driving (with three kids and a miniature schnauzer) we made it! The kids had a blast at Grandpa and Grandma's house going on long tractor rides with grandpa, walking on dirt roads, enjoying homemade waffles and bacon for breakfast (thanks Rebecca!), calling the cows and trying to feed them grass, swinging in the hammock, throwing grasshoppers in a garden spider's web and watching him wrap them up (very interesting), observing a tree frog, helping Grandpa get the giant caterpillars out of Grandma's tomato plants, walking in the rain, reading stories, and exploring the hay barn. I loved watching the kids enjoy life in the country, enjoy its simple pleasures, and reveling in spending time with their grandparents. Watching their little faces light up when Grandpa announced that it was time for tractor rides and seeing their delight when they spied a giant garden spider just outside the front windown on the porch spinning a web was so much fun.

One of the best parts of the weekend, though, was the fact that we didn't have cell phone access, didn't watch TV, and didn't check email the entire time we were there. It was so nice to get away and simpy be. We enjoyed good food, good company, and the beauty of God's creation. It was such a wonderful reminder to me that while I love the modern convenience of my cell phone and being able to get on the internet to check my email, blog, and update my facebook status, it's completely unnecessary. And to tell you thr truth, I really didn't miss it. That's not to say I'll be disconnecting my internet or cancelling my cell phone plan anytime soon, but it was a refreshing reprieve.

We're back home now and the house is quiet. The kids are tucked in their beds and Matt is reading on the couch. Think I'll join him! I'm going to miss him SO much.