well, we made it! and this is what we did...
drove 32 hours - left wednesday and drove 6 hours. stopped at a Holiday Inn Express with the worlds largest bathtub. it was AWESOME!! had whirlpool jets and everything. we all took a swim in it! got up thursday and drove 10 hours. left sunday and drove 6 hours then got up monday morning and drove 10 more hours home. i have to tell you that my 11 year old is the most perfect kid. say what you will about yours but mine really is. not a peep out of him about being tired, bored or when will be there. he helped with the little one and just made the whole trip easy. on the other hand. there was monkey. he really wasn't too bad. just hard for an active 4 year old to be in the car for that long. thank the Lord for Toy Story.
ate - thursday night when we got there we hung out for a while then piled back in the car to go to RED HOOK!! we love that place. actually angela had to pick up the keg for the party so we just decided to stay and eat dinner. my kids were really tired but they hung in there like troopers. mikey had to go #2 while we were there and they have those toilets that automatically flush. I HATE THOSE THINGS!! and it scared him so bad he could not go. great. now i have a stopped up/tired kid. we got back to the house put everyone to bed and sat on the new deck and talked for a while. angela had to get up to take the kids to school the next morning so we were in bed early.
shopped - friday morning i got to sleep in!! well 8:30 but that's way better than 6:45! got up, had some breakfast and noticed there were several men outside. they were setting up for the party. one of rand's friends, steve has a bucket truck and they were hanging up lights and the disco ball. they looked like they were having a blast! so angela and i got ready and headed off to sam's. first we had to go to the liquor store. holy cow. new hampshire must be the most liquored state in the country. after dropping 100 bucks there we hit sam's. let me explain about this Chicken Jam thing. 8 years ago angela and rand's friend chris had the idea to have his friends band, Big Chicken, come to angela and rand's house for a small party. there was music and food and about 35 people. now it's a HUGE event in the small town of Deerfield. angela and rand, being the super generous people that they are, invite almost everyone they know and they feed them!! and provide the alcohol and 2 port-a-johns. so that's is why the sam's bill was almost $300. everyone is supposed to bring something to share. and they did. but still. after the keg, the liquor, the food and the port-a-john's, (not to mention the electric bill) this party must set them back about $1000!!
worked - after shopping it was cleaning time. the goal was to not let anyone in the house during the party. (of course we were exempt as we were actually staying there). but there was lots to do outside. i cleaned the party porch. and cleaned chairs. and helped set up tables. and cleaned off the bar. and put supplies in the port-a-john. and more stuff i can't remember. there were several other families there after school let out. thank goodness they were there to help. and some of them had daughters who loved monkey! that was huge! i almost brought 2 of them home with me, they were such a help. that night we got pizza and turned on the disco ball! wow it was so cool. the kids went inside and the adults hung out on the party porch and talked. ah my favorite place.
partied! - saturday was the party. we got up and got back to work. putting out table cloths, prepping the bar, setting up tents, laying out the food. people starting showing up about 2:00 and they kept coming. we figured there were 450 to 500 people there. it was INSANE!!! this thing is so big they sell shirts and hats and thongs! and there were kids everywhere. they have a huge piece of property and they cars were in the back and the kids were on the sides of the house. they ran and ate and made a huge mess of everything. i walked around to the side at one point and someone had given the kids (middle school to high school age) a huge bucket of ice cream and they had poured it all over the glass table. ??? i hate kids that have no respect for others stuff. anyway the party was awesome. the music was great, tons of food and no lack of people to talk to. there were all ages represented too. a 2 week old (what was she thinking!) to an 80 year old! there were 3 bands that played until 9:30 then went unplugged. (this due to the cops coming last year) we danced and danced. my feet were so gross from dancing in the grass with no shoes. then i went to bed. i was so tired. and i knew mikey would be up early. lots of people brought tents or campers and slept in the back. not me.
recovered - got up and started the coffee. peggy was up cleaning and brough some doughnuts and muffins. people started wandering in and having coffee. then we sent the kids (who were sleeping all over the house) outside with garbage bags to pick up the trash. what a mess. but we got it done. put the tents up, put away the tables and then some of the guys got the bloody mary's going. puke. sorry but i can't do that. anyway they families that stayed the night helped clean up too. and they were great!! really nice people. about noon they lit up the grills and cooked some burgers. we packed up the car and got ready to leave. huge sendoff! there were like 25 people to hug. what a great time. but really too short. and i didn't get to spend as much time with angela as i would have liked but this was better than nothing huh?
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i have to add that angela and i have know each other for 20 years. she used to live in charlotte and i was her pharmacy tech. we were really good friends when she lived here then she married rand and moved to NH. we try to see each other at least once a year. her oldest, will, is the reason we decided to get pregnant. and jessie is 6 weeks older than Big C. don't they all look alike? jessie was telling all of her friends that i was her aunt. they are they closest things to cousins that my kids have. i ♥ the beans!!
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and another thing. when ever we travel we always check out license plates. this trip we found 43 different states!! not including Quebec and Ontario. we were stoked!
10 comments:
yippeee!!! great pics and stories. they have a HUGE house! how big is that thing? glad you had such a good time. that's not all the pics you took is it?
Love that house!
I don't know how our parents did long trips without DVD.
the house is almost 300 years old. don't know the sq footage but it has 4 very large bedrooms 3 living rooms and a great big kitchen. there is an enclosed breezeway that goes to the barn. the people who built it are buried across the street. and it still has the indian shutters in it. they were used to keep out the indians. !!!!!
Sounds like an awesome trip - it's so great to get away from everyday concerns and be together!
Isn't it great to go to the biggest party of the year? Only 5 months til mine.
It's nice to know that there are cool things in New Hamster. During my one trip there, all I did was barf.
how odd. i've done that in NH too!
That could be NH's new tag line for their license plates -- "The Barf State"
And again, so cool about the house. Bet that breeze way is an old Summer Kitchen?
i don't know kim. they made part of it a mud/laundry room. and in the breezeway the side move back and there is screen. that is the party porch. then rand has a workshop. then you get to the barn so the breezeway is pretty big. it is an awesome house!
wow how fun is that! a huge amount or work too but so cool and very fun! the kids looked so cute together! long drive and tons of work but sounds totally worth it! glad you are back! i missed your posts and comments!
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