Alabama 2008

The day after Christmas, we loaded up our family and headed out for Alabama to visit Matt's family. We left at midnight and arrived at about 4:00 the following day. The drive down there took about 16 hours because we stopped at Natches Trace in Mississippi to let the dogs (that's right, Owen and Rudy went too) and Sammy, Mama & Daddy out to run around. The trip down there was really pretty easy. Sam slept most of the way and didn't get restless until the last hour or so...nothing a Blow Pop couldn't fix :) We had a great time celebrating Christmas with his family. Below are some pictures from our trip....

Natches Trace

Just before we got there, we got a little lost. Wonder why?

We hadn't been there 3 minutes and Sam was already taking a tractor ride with 2Dad. The view from KC & 2Dad's porch (Matt's dad & StepMom). As I was standing there taking these, a Bald Eagle flew over! (pic #3)

Sam went fishing with Daddy and caught his 1st fish! (He's wearing Matt's life jacket from when he was little :) )
Playing football with Daddy. (or "set" as Sam calls it)

Hanging out with his cousins, Josie and Molly.

Sam and 2Dad in their flight jackets. The drive home was much more difficult. Although it only took us about 14 hours, it felt like 114! We tried leaving at noon, thinking Sam would take a nap and sleep most of the way. Well, he took a nap and then wouldn't go back to sleep. I mean, have you ever heard of a toddler riding in the car at 11:00 at night after riding for almost 12 hours at that point and NOT sleeping?! What can I tell you, Sam never has been and never will be a good sleeper. Finally, we stopped at an Academy in Louisiana to let him play on the equipment they had displayed in the parking lot. It was my idea and Matt told me that I was a genius and it was the smartest thing I've ever suggested. (Why has it taken 14 years for him to realize this?)
The person that wrote this sign had not been in the car for 14 hours with a toddler and two 100 lb. dogs.

When we got home, we carried Sam inside and layed down with him in our guest room. He layed there for a minute and then said, "Cee Cee Gone. (KC)"..."Da Dad Gone.(2Dad)"..."Vroom Vroom Gone."..."Home.....Hay (how he was saying yay at the time)....home!"