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Sunday, June 03, 2007

Grains of Gratitude

We're here! Finally! We left Columbus, OH yesterday and arrived in MD last night. We're here for my sister's graduation. Can I just brag on my sister for a minute and tell you how proud of her I am? I just saw her sash for her graduation gown and all the pins on it. Besides all the athletic ones I saw a pin for Merit, Outstanding Athlete, President's Award for Academic Excellence, and Magnum Cum Laude! Wow! Way to go Kelly, we are so proud of you! Edited to add: I just found out during the awards ceremony she was also named the Top Female Athlete of the senior class!

I couldn't let Sunday go by without my gratitude post, and I have much to be grateful for this past week...so here goes...

1. Remember awhile ago I had my blog critiqued? Well I noticed Billy was having a contest to "Win $100 of Billy Mac's Money" and the drawing would be on Memorial Day. What the heck I thought, I'll go ahead and enter this. On Monday I was checking my email before we left and imagine my surprise (as I had forgotten all about the contest) when I saw the email saying I was the winner! I certainly wasn't expecting that I would win! What a great way to start out our vacation! Thanks again, Billy!

2. I'm grateful we were able to spend a couple nights with my in-laws on our trip out here, it gave us a little break in between this travelling! And we'll see them again on our way back.

3. I'm grateful for the IRL get-together we had in St Louis! It was so wonderful meeting so many great families I had "met" from the Trisomy 21 message board. Becky was such a great host having all of us over at their house for the BBQ.

4. We also had another IRL meeting...this time we met an online friend of my MIL's! We got to meet Kris before her and my MIL have even met in person :) She was on our way since we were going through Morgantown, WV so we stopped and met her and her husband. It was a nice break yesterday being able to get out and stretch at their place. They also grilled some hamburgers, brats, and kielbasa so we had a nice lunch before we got back on the road. She also sent us on our way with some homemade chocolate chip cookies. Thanks again, Kris, for your hospitality!

5. I'm grateful most of my mom's side of the family could be here too as we haven't seen them in a couple of years, it's nice for Kayla to see her great-grandparents and aunts/uncles again!

6. Last, but not least, I'm certainly grateful that we arrived here safely! It was a long trip, even longer for Kayla being stuck in a car seat, but we made it and she did pretty well all things considered! We had a nice drive, not too much construction, nor traffic (ok a little traffic when we hit the Beltway/495, but that's to be expected around here!) Kayla also did great with the bathroom breaks and having no accidents. She only cried "wolf" (p*ee p*ee) a couple of times, which was really just a ploy for us to stop and let her out of the car! LOL

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Safe travels for you and your family!

Your sister sounds amazing and the vacation sounds lovely!

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you had a safe trip!
Congratulations Kelly!! I remember her at 2&3 she was very smart then so it doesn't surprise me with how well she has done!
Tina is also graduating with honors. I can't believe our baby sisters will be graduating!! It seems like only yesterday we were graduating from Northern! time sure does fly. Just think in five years your goddaughter will be graduating. Now that makes me feel old! lol!!
congrats to Kelly again !!!!
love,
mimi

Anonymous said...

Kelly is certainly a remarkable young lady and Dennis and I wish her all the success in her future endeavors!

I'm very happy to hear that you are they safe and sound and was able to stop by Kris' :-)

Have a wonderful time with your family and we can't wait to see you on your return trip.

tracey.becker1@gmail.com said...

Good list, and I'm glad you're having a nice vacation!

Carole Burant said...

I so enjoyed your Grains of Gratitude list...congratulations to your sister, she's really done well and you have every right to be so proud of her:-) Glad you arrived at your destination safely and that Kayla did so well on the trip! Congrats for winning Billy's contest...woohooooo!!!! xoxo

Tammy said...

Gal, had I known ya'll were going to be in Columbus I would have met ya somewhere...I'm only 30 minutes away!
:)

Overwhelmed! said...

Oh, I'm so glad you have arrived safely and that the trip wasn't too bad.

Congrats on winning! You're so lucky with that. :)

How fun that you got to meet some of your online friends in person!

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you arrived safely!!
Wow!! Way to go, Kelly!! Magna Cum Laude! That's awesome!! I still always picture her as the little 7 year old on my trampoline, eating cereal for dinner. Time flies. I'm so glad to hear your trip is going so well and that Kayla didn't have any accidents the whole way. That's great. love yous!

Belovedlife said...

Glad that you have been having so much fun! It is always nice to make that ist of all the wonderful things going on in your life...Your sister must be proud! She sounds like a very accomplishe dyoung lady with a bright future ahead of her...I wish her the best.
Don't you find it amazing how our kids find ways to get out of their car seats...when I'm bored no longer works, they always go "potty"...ahhh the fun of a car trip...

Melanie D. said...

You are giving me hope - we have a car trip in two weeks with the kids. Heading to CO. We'll see how it goes. Not as worried about Brenna as I am about our 14 month old!

I'm glad you're enjoying your trip. And hoping that the rest of it goes so well!

Dori (Aviva's mommy) said...

What an amazig sister you have.

Sounds like you had a great week traveling. Even better getting to meet friends IRL!

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear you guys are having such a good time!! Congrats to your sister!

Anonymous said...

It was great to meet IRL. I'm so glad the three of you were able to stop. I've heard so much about Kayla from her grandma, and on your blog, that it was neat to meet her for real.

Congratulations to Kelly, and I'm so glad you enjoyed lunch and the cookies.

Unknown said...

Sounds like you are having a great time..I can see why you are proud of her!

K.T. is Mommatude said...

Go Kelly!!!!

Sending good vibes and lots of prayer for you and your family while you all travel!

Pendullum said...

What a greattripso far... and what a great occassion!
I could feel you bursting frompride all the way over here...
And what a wonderful road trip... I hope all could be as pleasant,,,

Barb said...

It sounds like you're all having a wonderful time, Michelle. And way to go, Kayla, for being so good about all the time in the car.

$100? Good grief. Congratulations!

Mayhem And Miracles said...

Hey,

I'm so glad you are having this time to enjoy. I'm in the OKC area. I didn't know you would be traveling through OK. If you'll be anywhere near us, I'd LOVE to meet you all for lunch or a coke and gas stop or whatever you would have time for!

Congratulations to your sister! What a blessing for her to have such a proud sister to cheer her on. She sounds very driven and committed. Good for her!

Shelley said...

Grilled brats huh? The choc chip cookies sound good... Glad to hear your travels are going well - hope everyone continues to have a great time

Linda said...

How nice to hear from you in the middle of your vacation. I'm glad you're safely there and had such a good trip. It was nice to be able to break it up with such fun visits.
Congratulations to your sister. She did a great job.
Have a wonderful visit.

Sonya said...

Glad you had a safe trip. My aunt used to live in Columbus and I used to spend my summers up there! We stayed on Indian Lake when I was there! It sounds like you had many opportunities to fellowship and enjoy the hospitality of others. I love this! Hospitality is so important and it's great to hear that there are many still practicing it! Have fun!

Amy Flege said...

wow on your sister!! thats awesome! so glad you are having such a good time!!! enjoy the rest of your trip!

Sue said...

I'm glad you arrived safely. Being in the car is so hard on them, but htey are troopers. It sounds like you had a great time with your IRL group. How awesome is that?

Congrats to Kelly - she's accomplished a lot. Enjoy the time with your family.

A Captured Reflection said...

Please see my latest posting "What is your dream", Sharon tagged me and I felt to tag you too.

Sara said...

Nice to hear from you! Continued safe trip!