Mountain Adventures

More bloggy catchup.

A month ago I took my Do it With Kids policy to a whole new level by taking my boys down to Lookout Mountain for my sister's college graduation. It's about 700 mi. At the last minute, my mom did the drive down with me, which was really helpful. We did it all in one day. What took me 12 hours in college took about 17hrs with kids. But it was a great trip. I plotted the whole trip in terms of Chik-fil-a and its great indoor playground. I actually found a fun castle playground just off the interstate in Virginia, with a Starbucks nearby. That was fortuitous! And I bought a portable DVD player. Result, kids with nary a squabble about being shoved in the car over the course of 17 hours.

We stayed with our old friends, the "other" Joneses, of Jonesville fame. Their youngest two are the same ages as my two, almost literally. Just weeks apart, the both of them. It was way fun meeting Jonesgirl for the first time, too. Really the Jones's house was like Graduation Resort Paradise, an oasis in the midst of a crazy weekend. So, thanks, friends.

Since my sister's college is my alma mater, as well, going down to the Chattanooga area is a familiar, happy thing. I run into old friends at every turn. Literally, turn. Driving up and down the mountain remembering each curve.

The first day I drove down into Georgia a bit to meetup with my old friend, Joanna. We were in freshman music theory together and have been friends ever since. I FINALLY got to meet her twins!

I had lunch with an old professor, walked around a campus that looked totally different with all the new construction, but still felt the same. The students looked the same, too. Just younger than I remember. I still feel like I just graduated from college like last year or something...but it's been nine years, which admittedly isn't a huge amount of time, but it's a lot longer than yesterday.

And my sister done got graduated. Congratulations, Luisa!!

I did the drive home by myself. I spent the night with another college friend just north of Chattanooga. So I head start the next morning. I did the drive home in two, spending the night half way in Roanoke, with Chris's grandma. It was a long trip by myself, two long days of driving. But, again, my kids were awesome!