We just returned last night from the road trip that we almost didn’t take, and I’m so very glad that we made the journey. As I mentioned before, I had all kinds of worries about the drive, the heat, what we would do while we were there, but none of those things posed a problem. The kids were absolute troopers on the drive. Sure, they watched a million movies, but they really were pretty amazing about the whole thing.

We took I75 instead of I77 this time because I wanted to check out that route, and it turned out to be great. We found worthwhile stops in Knoxville and Asheville, and picked out a spot or two that we want to check out next time. We love stopping at children’s museums when we can (we spent a couple of hours at The Muse in Knoxville), and finding restaurants with great outdoor space to let the kids blow off some steam (Asheville Brewing Co. was particularly great). We also realized that staying in a fun AirB&B beats staying at hotel any day, so next time we’ll do even more pre-planning to find some gems.

I have far more photos than I have things to say about the trip. I mean, how many different ways can I say how wonderful it is to see these kiddos with their cousins, and to spend quality time laughing with my family, so prepare yourself for too many photos.

A few highlights:

The beach. Despite my sun-phobia, I was way more charmed than I expected to be. Watching our kids learn to love the ocean was amazing.

Going boating: Dewey lovingly wanted to help Jonah with his, “ride more boats” resolution for 2018. We took a catamaran ride one evening, with eight strangers who probably wished that there weren’t a bunch of small children on the boat, but whatever, it was amazing, and Kira only had to bribe them once or twice to get them to stop singing Moana for two straight hours.

Hitting the Marion Square Farmers’ Market on our last morning of the trip, and watching the kids climb the magnolia tree.

And last, staying in a truly magical AirB&B in the mountains of NC on our way home. Sitting on the huge front porch with the kids before bed and watching a thunderstorm pass through, eating breakfast outside the next morning in our PJs and then following the kids as they ran off to feed the donkey, the goat, and the chickens. Watching Vivi catch a tiny toad yet again. Wading into the freezing cold creek just across the road.

I’m so glad that summer isn’t over quite yet, and that we have one more (smaller) family road trip coming up. If we’re lucky, we may even see these cousins we love so much in our neck of the woods before long.