Road Trip Recap

Six and a half months pregnant, 8 hours in a car, and lots of potty breaks later, we are home safely.

We started out by dropping my middle brother, Matt, off at his very first year of college at Rose Hulman in Terre Haute, IN.  While he set up his dorm and otherwise wasn't too concerned about being on his own for the first time, the rest of us waited around held back tears at the thought of him growing up so quickly.

Yaniv and I spent a few hours with my paternal grandparents in Terre Haute, enjoying the countryside air on their front porch.

Then we headed to Aunt Charlotte's lake house for Hayward family fun time, a surprise baby shower, smores by the fire, and picnicking on the lake.  I know my family is crazy, but there is such love and joy when we have everyone together that it couldn't make me any happier.  BTW: The picture below is not representative of the 4 generations, 6 daughters, 12 grandchildren, and 12 (including ours) great-grandchildren Pat and Ruth Harward somehow managed to produce without going completely insane.

We were able to spend Monday with my Grandparent Haywards at their home in Lafayette, where Yaniv showed off his ping pong skills against my mom and 85-year-old grandfather while I finally had a chance to rest.

In St. Louis, we stayed with our friend from college, Kelli, and her beau, Ravi.  She suggested we visit a sculpture garden and the zoo, both of which were spectacularly amazing.  Kelli and Ravi made us homemade Indian food from SCRATCH that wowed me.  We also went to a place called The Fountain that had the most amazing ice cream desserts I've ever tasted!

On our way to the big event, the Lancaster wedding, we stopped by Meramac Caverns and my old home town of Bartlesville, OK.  All I can say is that they haven't changed much...

Then the wedding was upon us!  Tulsa, OK; Harwelden Mansion.  Beautiful, fun, elegant, and simple.  What a fabulous way to wrap up a trip.

And once we arrived home, we were greeted by Yaniv's brother Zvi in town for the holidays, and we put the final touches on the east side of the nursery.  More on that later, as this is already too long to read, right?