May 2022 Update

As I reviewed my calendar for the last month since I wrote, it looks like there’s only one newsworthy event, but I think it will still take up about the usual amount of space.  Plus there are pictures!

 

Every couple of years, my whole family tries to get together for a big vacation.  Last time we did an Outer Banks vacation that got canceled by a hurricane and turned into a Hamlin vacation.  Last week, we had a large house rented in Outer Banks again for a wonderful week together with our whole family:  20 adults and 12 children.  The weather wasn’t very good—in fact our weather at home was better than what we got in OBX—but we know how to have fun even in lousy weather!

 

Ella and Amelia had come up with a plan for who would drive what so someone could pick up Kortney’s family at the Norfolk, VA, airport.  Krista and I drove Ella’s minivan, Ella and Cody drove Amelia’s SUV, and Amelia, Zach, Jem, and Levi drove Ella and Cody’s Tesla, so it became known as the “party car.” 😁

 

Krista and I left Friday morning, May 6, and drove to a hotel near Washington, DC.  We had a nice little mini-vacation alone time as a couple, even with the difficult traffic in places.  I guess that’s to be expected traveling on a work day and being near big cities during rush hour.  I don’t know why people are so inconsiderate as to be on the roads I want to drive on.

 

Saturday, May 7, we had plenty of time to get from our hotel to Norfolk to pick up Kortney’s family, so we found an outlet mall right near that airport, and did a little shopping but mostly just looked around.  We found a candy shop that we of course had to try, and it was really good.  Then we picked up the Rhodes, and all of us went to another hotel near the airport for that night because we couldn’t get in to the OBX house until Sunday.

Happy couple at the Outlet Mall

Sunday, May 8, was (I hope you all remembered!) Mothers’ Day, and when we stopped at a Wendy’s for lunch on our way to OBX, they had pink tablecloths on all of their tables.  We thought it was a nice touch.

With the Rhodes at Wendy's on Mothers' Day (Daisy is hiding behind Krista)

Finally everyone got to the big house in OBX, and the fun began!  Each family took turns making a big supper for everyone, Krista made pancakes for breakfast two of the days, and she and I made a hot dog picnic for one of the lunches with Rochester’s finest, Zweigles hot dogs.  Needless to say, we ate well all week, and not just at the regular meals, because our four youngest kids got together and provided snacks and special drinks for everyone for the week.  I don’t know about the rest of the family, but I have about 10 pounds to work off.

 

The big announcement of the week was Cai and Amy telling everyone about their first child being due in September!  And, if you know them you know that they wouldn’t just tell us.  Cai had run a Survivor game for our family a while ago, and he said he had one more challenge left over from that for us to do.  It was a word search, and once you’d found all the words, the remaining unused letters would spell a special message that announced their baby.  Then they had us all guess the gender before telling us it would be a girl.  So we have Ella due in late July, Abigail due in late August, and Amy due in late September.  That will make 15 grandchildren for us, 11 girls and 4 boys! 😮

 

As I said, we didn’t have the best weather while we were there.  I ran into a fellow Bills fan who worked at a convenience store (I was wearing a Bills hoodie), and he asked me if I lived in OBX now.  I told him, no, we just came for your great weather, and he apologized. 😂 However, it did get better as the week went on, and we were able to spend some time once or twice at the beach enjoying the ocean.

The view from our bedroom on a rainy day with a stormy ocean

Playing at the beach!

Levi and I took the Rhodes back to the airport on Saturday, May 11, then we all left the big house on Sunday.  Krista and I went to the ocean one last time before heading out.  The Sommers and we traded cars so they had their own van for the ride home, and we drove Amelia’s SUV.  We again ran into some bad traffic on the way home.  We had planned to drive all the way home on Sunday since I had to work on Monday, and the rest of the families made it, but Krista and I decided to stop in northern Pennsylvania.  The mountains north of Williamsport were very foggy, rainy, and dark, and it was just too stressful driving.  We don’t need more stress in our lives, but if any of you do, I recommend driving on Route 15 in northern PA at night in the fog.  We just missed a deer by a few feet.  She was just standing on the side of the road looking like she wanted to cross, but God gracefully kept her where she was as we drove by.  I didn’t see her until we were right next to her, and it really got my heart going.

Saying goodbye to the ocean

We woke up early Monday morning and got home by about 7:30AM.  My nice boss had agreed to let me work from home on Monday, so that made that day a little easier.

 

Now we’re back into the regular routine.  Krista mowed our long lawn on Monday and Tuesday, so that’s looking normal again, although it was a bigger job than usual.

 

I am very thankful to God for allowing us all to be together again and for giving all of us safe travels to and from OBX.

 

Talk to you in June!