Road Trip.

One of my favorite things to do is travel. Growing up, my parents gave us (my two brothers and me) one of the greatest experiences a child could have (in my opinion)...we traveled. A lot. Here's a list for perspective:
-All 48 continental US states
-Mexico
-Canada
-Israel (and Jordan)
And one of our most treasured feats is visiting:
-All 30 Major League Baseball Stadiums (a few have since been rebuilt)

And, I have done more international traveling:
-Ecuador (Missions trip in 2005)
-Thailand (lived there during the summer of 2005 after the Tsunami)
-Indonesia (visited in 2005 during my time in Thailand)
-Burma (my mom and I went in 2006 and did a women's retreat)
-Bahamas (our honeymoon)

I love traveling. I love having a date on the calendar to look forward to. I love getting everything perfectly folded and placed in my suitcase. I love the memories that traveling allows. I love flying. I love sleeping in the car. I love eating at new places or places I love but we don't have near us. I just love it all. But, I do love coming home, too. It's just the overall experience that thrills my soul.

This past week, we made a road trip..."we" being Andrew, Sybil (my mother-in-law), and myself. We packed our bags and hit the road for Louisiana to visit Andrew's sister's family. Both of Andrew's parents are from Louisiana so, since 2007, this state has been a frequent road trip locale. I will confess, Louisiana has had to grow on me...I didn't love it, at first. But I do love to see family, so I always look forward to that aspect. And this trip included a new city which made the trip even more exciting!

We arrived to Mandeville on Friday night and were reunited with our family, including our nieces who we affectionately call our "Southern Belles" (Isabelle, Annabelle, and Mirabelle). On Saturday, we caravanned over to Baton Rouge (said "new city") for a swim meet. It was the first time I had seen the LSU campus, and it was impressive. The swim meet was exciting/crowded/noisy. But it was fun to cheer on our little competitor. We stayed in a great hotel and ate at some delicious restaurants. Oh, and shopped at some of my favorite stores- J. Crew and Anthropologie. I found some GREAT deals...which is one of my very favorite things to do! It was such a fun trip! The only negative is that we were on the go so much we didn't have a lot of time to just sit and visit.

Being with family IS my very favorite thing to do. I'm so grateful we had the opportunity to go see our family and enjoy being together...it was a visit long overdue. I am so thankful the Lord has given us genuine love for each other. And although I wish they lived closer, I still love a good road trip, and this was a GREAT one!