Longest car ride...ever. (road trip recap)

A 7 hour car ride turned into a 10/11 hour car ride...both ways. 

On the ride we took about 30-45min breaks every 2 hours. 

Each break everyone had to get out of the car. There was no such thing as a quick stop. Once we stopped it would be a trickle effect and they would wake up when we stopped moving (thank God we never hit traffic!). 

We had potty breaks, nursing breaks, snack breaks, which then turned into coffee breaks and "here, go run around and get energy out" breaks. 

before our take off

the seating positions

rest stop! 

All in all, it wasn't that bad. 

We had the occasional crying and fighting but I think it definitely could have been worse. 

Poppi (Great Gpa) resting with Elena

Lucia getting down on some milkshake deliciousness =]

That trip actually gave me time to get to know my nieces some more and have fun with them. With my sister living in Maryland, we miss out on a lot so I thoroughly enjoyed my time with those two littles. 

Being in Arizona was great. Super humid and hot but when you're with great company it's hard to even care about the weather! 

We spent time sipping coffee, watching all of the second cousins run around and get to know each other, sipped more coffee, spent time catching up with my cousins, aunts and uncles, sipped more coffee, swam a little, did a coffee run with my Uncle Henry, sat with my Oma as she played the piano and sipped some more coffee. 

What can I say, our family runs on coffee. It is what it is :). 

that is not including the soon arrival of another great grand baby and her 1st great great grand baby :)

My Oma looked frail and in pain. She's having a hard time with her broken rib(s) and having to stay put. If she had her way she would have been in the kitchen the whole time making us bean burritos on homemade tortillas in between meals and making sure everyone's mug was full with fresh coffee. So to tell her that she needs to stay put and use a walker if she gets up is no bueno. She's still quick for being 93! And man, the older she gets the dirtier her jokes lol. 

I love her so much! 

My Auntie May is actually finishing a book about her so soon enough the whole world will be able to see just how amazing this woman is!

To get an idea how we all fit, here is a quick video on our way back home...This was one of few quiet moments: 

(please ignore my awkward narrating)