full circle

1,678 miles, $245 in gas, 30 hours in the car with two small children and a dog, personal time with 42 friends and family, 11 days away from home. What a trip! Our “circle” began here in Saline, and our first stop was in WV to see my grandparents and several other friends and family. It was the first time that my uncle and grandparents were able to see Kailyn. I was also quite excited to be able to see three of my high school friends and spend time with them and their families. From there we traveled through the night to Scranton, PA to go to Graig’s parents’ house. We enjoyed a couple of days with them before the extended family arrived. Seeing the cousins and Graig’s aunt and uncle was very fun. One evening we had a campfire cookout for dinner and almost everyone played volleyball in the rain. (not me, I had to stay with Kailyn, of course). We also were very excited to be able to have dinner with some college friends who recently moved to the Clarks Summit area. We began our third leg of the trip on Monday at 6 am. We drove across Pennsylvania to Erie to meet up with my brother, sister-in-law and brand new niece. McKenna was born in late April, so this was the first time we were able to meet her. What a cutie!!! We had hoped to go to the zoo or the beach with them, but the weather was rainy and cold, so we headed to the mall. Yesterday, we made our way back home. We were a little nervous about each car ride, not sure how the girls would do being confined in a car seat for so long. We stopped about every 2-3 hours, and we are SO amazed at how well the car time went. Both Melia and Kailyn did a GREAT job! I took a lot of pictures from our trip, and I haven’t even looked at them yet. I’ll try to post a few soon. We are tired, but very happy and have many happy memories from our trek around the midwest.

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