two girls, three guys, a trip to louisiana and a wind up sushi (part 1)

so, joel's sweet meme died a little over a week ago. she had a stroke 11 years ago that left her paralyzed on one side and unable to talk or walk. now she is singing and dancing in heaven. i am thankful that she is in a better place, even though she will really be missed here.

when we heard the news, craziness ensued here in the parker house. waiting to hear when the funeral was, packing, making a decision about the trip (would we all go, or just joel, etc.) we decided that it would be best for all of us to travel home, even though it meant us missing our hannah's wedding. davis was so excited about being the 'ring carrier' in the wedding- and i reallllly wanted to be there, but it was important for us to all go to louisiana. my heart is still really sad about not being at the wedding, but the Lord knows- He has a reason for the timing.

do i even need to say that the trip was tough? i have just erased a long paragraph going into some of the reasons why it was tough. i will summarize. no sleep the night before we left. pulled out at 3:30 am. still nursing every 3ish hours. infant that decided to spit up enormous amounts in the car. 15 hours. mcdonalds for bfast and lunch, burger king for dinner. not sure of where we were staying once we arrived. thankfully, joel let me sleep a LOT of the time on the road and the boys did really well. joel's aunt dianne (davis nicknamed her 'aunt' while we were there- "hey aunt, i'm hungry!" "where's aunt?" it made me laugh) has a great friend, moon-ying, that let our family plus joel's mom and sister stay at their lake house in st. francisville. it was such a nice place, and even though we were there for a tough reason, we have lots of great memories because of their generosity.

davis loved playing with extended family. ellen was treated like a princess. lane loved chasing the puppies around. joel was able to spend time with family that he hasn't seen in years. it really was a great time being outside- (i had forgotten how stinking hot it is in la.) on the boat, kayaking, throwing rocks in the lake. what fun to have memories with joel's family!

lane's second birthday happened while we were gone. debbie had a little party for him. he loved the balloons and the ice cream and the toys. he is getting so big and really talking more and more. i just love that kid. he is grumpy and difficult some times, but on the flip side, he is just so fun to be around.

okay, so more later. you will have to stay tuned to find out exactly what wind-up sushi is.