*Sigh*

I woke up this morning wishing it was still yesterday. Yesterday was good. I need more of yesterday.

We headed out around 9 o'clock for Grandma M&M's house. It's close to a 3 hour drive if you don't stop, but with 4 kids, we had to stop 3 times. We got there a little after noon just as some of the great-aunts & Daddy's cousins were leaving. It's probably a good thing they were heading out because the house was pretty full with the rest of us there.

All of Daddy's extended family, were there except for QM, Daddy, Princess, Axl, Ht, Bubba, and Beck. Before the afternoon was over, Inkling's Younger Brother 1977 had QM & Daddy on a video conference on the computer so they could chat with everyone (someone remarked that it was very Star Trek to be video chatting...I agree).

My kids were thrilled to find cousins their own age hanging around Grandma's. Inkling's niece & nephews were thrilled for my kids to get there. Eventually, Aunt Anita sent her boys to the Dollar store to pick up some outdoor toys & they came back to play day care rec center with all the little ones. It was a blast!

And even better than all of that, I got to hold Grasshopper & enjoy his beautiful toothless smile. I got to hug his Mama & see that she is indeed hanging in much better than I expected. There were times I knew she was in pain, but she was happy & kind & so happy to be surrounded by family.

They had a short blessing/Christening ceremony for Grasshopper at Grandma's after lunch where the meanings of his many names were shared with the family. It was beautiful & funny when Inkling's youngest nephew decided to roll around on his Granddad's feet while his Granddad was trying to impart scripture on the rest of us. QM & Daddy got to watch the whole thing via video conference.

On the way home, there was an incident that nearly ruined the day for me, but I'll save that for a later post. In all it was a wonderful day full of love, laughter, and blessings!! Now I'm really hoping we can arrange another big family get away like we took when B.B. was tiny. I want to spend much more time with my family!