The trip down there took 8 ridiculously slow hours. It was hot in the car - even though we had the A/C blowing full speed ahead. Ainsley did pretty well for having been stuck in her car seat. Christine and I did what we could to pay full attention to her by taking turns driving and sitting in the back with her. We gave her bottles, played with her, and when we stopped were able to change her diapers and such. She stayed pretty happy most of the time. But every once in a while she would just jolt herself awake and cry like hell. It makes my heart wrench every time I hear her scream like that! Thankfully she didn't do that the whole time. I would've cried all the way there too.
When we found the hotel in Franklin, we were so relieved - it took us four hours to get out of OHIO. Normally this is a short trip: 1 1/2 to 2 hours total. However, I had a mild case of cerebral flatulence and forgot my money - so we turned around before getting on 70. Thankfully this only took 45 minutes of extra travel time. We bought gas, and got on our way. We had pretty smooth sailing until we hit about a half hour north of Cincinatti. We managed to hit Cincinatti rush hour. That sucked. When we hit the sign for Kentucky, we did a little dance in our seats. We thought we were home free! However, once we got through Louisville (Watterson Expwy to 65 S), we hit a couple more traffic snafus. We sat at two different full stop traffic jams through the trip. Never was I so glad to finally see the "Welcome to Tennessee" sign. After checking into the hotel, Ainsley got a bath, a bottle, and a diaper change, and we crashed for the night. I remember Christine putting on the TV and watching Clueless, but about 5 minutes after that I was out.
Saturday morning we checked out of the hotel (Brent insisted we stay with them that evening!), did some quick shopping, and headed to the baby shower. What a fun time - we colored onesies for the baby (mine said "Poop is Earth Friendly"), and the hostess had all kinds of delicous food. It was fun to catch up with Cookie, Bethany, Heather and Jen and I think we surprised Cookie and Bethany! After the party, I headed out with Heather, Bethany and Cookie to Heather and Brian's house. Cookie, Bethany and I went shopping for burgers and hot dogs to grill, and the three of us bickered the whole time about who would pay for what. I was only allowed to assist in purchasing a couple bottles of wine for the group of us. (At least I got to chip in something!) We had a blast just catching everyone up on stuff, and chatting about kids and life and whatnot. Bethany and I have been drilled enough about our own baby timelines now to last a few months I think. We said by the time we have kids, theirs will be old enough to babysit. :) That night, late, Beth, Christine, Ainsley and I all headed to Brent and Jennifer's to crash. I slept like a rock, but woke up with a massive headache.
Sunday, it took us much less time to get to Ohio from TN - this trip only lasted about 6 1/2 hours, and we didn't fight traffic through the entire trip. I'm pretty sure all of us were so exhausted we could barely see straight. But I had a blast. It was truly great to catch up with all the Ulligs again - I wish we could see them more often. It's so hard to get schedules together with the ones you love, so when it is possible to see them, it always ends up being a fantastic time.
Of course, here are a couple cute pictures from the trip - I will post more soon.
This is, from left to right, Ainsley, Christine, Heather, and Madison.
This is post-trip, Nana working her magic and putting miss Ainsley to sleep.
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And this is a close up of my adorable, yet exhausted, niece.
I'll post more later!
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