Missouri Trip Part 1 - The Great Idea

This year for my summer vacation, my sister and I decided that instead of planning some sort of awesome tropical getaway (because, come on - I have enough sand in my car and shoes as it is from living in Florida), it would be a good idea for all of us to meet up in Missouri at our parent's house to visit them and our grandpa.

Grandpa and I aren't getting any younger, and we wanted the chance to visit with him as much as possible this week, because he's definitely not up for 18 hour car trips to visit me. So we come to him.

And of course, I'm solo. Matt is up to his eyeballs in his Master's classes (last count was that he was on page 36 of a massive paper), so he needed some time alone to concentrate - plus he flew out today to go to Ohio for some big presentation or thesis discussion or something.

Thank you JESUS we don't have summer baseball this year.

So what do I do?

I come up with the awesome idea to drive to my sister's last Friday, help her and Cole load up the family van with a three-year-old and one-year-old, and drive from Georgia to Missouri.

Let me repeat: with a three-year-old and a one-year-old.

Seriously awesome idea, right?

They were waiting in the driveway when I arrived Friday afternoon, and Adelyn was beyond herself with excitement. Liddie kept playing with rocks and bugs...letting me know where I stand in her life.

Let's recap some highlights so far:

• I'm now referring to myself in the third-person as "Aunt Addie."

As in, "Aunt Addie has Twizzlers and Diet Coke and animal crackers and caffeine pills!!!! Who would like some??" And "Aunt Addie has to go potty. Does anyone else need to go potty?" And "Aunt Addie has a headache and needs to go lay down and her iPhone battery died so no, we cannot listen to all the Frozen songs again and again and again. And again."

• Speaking of, I've impressed not only my nieces, but also my brother-in-law that me, the Childless Wonder, knows every word to every song in Frozen.

• I now know the entire soundtrack to any Dora episode ever.

• Baby Einstein videos are referred to as "baby crack." And it's seriously true.

• I've taught Adelyn that when someone tells her she's pretty, she needs to respond with an "I know!" My sister loves that one.

• The sound of babies crying does not register with me anymore. It's pretty much white noise. All the time white noise.

• Adelyn and I have formed a gang. We're now called "The Addies."

We have our own hand signs and everything.

More Missouri posts to come...we're sneaking off to the store while the kids are watching Frozen with their daddy. Again. For the 139th time.

Wait. Scratch that. We're now all watching Frozen as a family. You know, more bonding time over Disney animation.

Today I love: The sound of Adelyn saying "Aunt Addie, you're my favorite Addie ever."