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Today was my MIL's family summer picnic. Every summer, she and her 6 siblings get together with their children and grandchildren for lunch and an afternoon of extended family time. This year, the oldest son was hosting, and the gather was in Dinwiddie, VA (about ten miles southwest of Petersburg). Mrs. Qgeek worked last night and is working tonight, so she wasn't able to attend (sleep being a priority!), so I got our daughters up this morning, fed them breakfast, and bundled them into the car by 8 o'clock. I headed west to my MIL's house, with one eye nervously glued to the fuel gauge. The car was running on vapors, but the gasoline prices near my MIL are almost fifteen cents a gallon lower, so I decided to stretch the tank. Lady Luck was apparently smiling on me today and we made it to a lower priced station, and then reached my MIL's house shortly after 9 o'clock.
We let the girls play for a while, burning off some energy before forcing them back into the car. We switched to my MIL's car, and got back on the road by 10 o'clock. Unfortunately, I-95 traffic was heavy (which isn't unusual) and came to a crawl every time we hit a pocket of rain. Only after we passed through Richmond did the traffic finally thin out a bit and settled into a steady pace. But, even with the traffic, we managed to arrive in Dinwiddie by 12:30.
This was the smallest turnout I've ever seen for one of these family gathering. My MIL's siblings all made it, but there were less than a dozen members of the younger generations. My MIL was very disappointed with how few people came. I was a little worried that my daughters were going to get bored, as none of the other kids their age were there. Luckily, one of my wife's cousins just loves kids, and played silly games with the girls, so I think they had a good time.
By 3 o'clock, everyone was packing up to head home. We gathered the girls back into the car and started north on I-95. However, just north of Richmond the highway became a parking lot, so we bailed for the country roads, which might have taken longer, but was a LOT less stressful. We rolled back into my MIL's by 6:00. The girls wanted to jump into the pool, so we went swimming for a while. MIL made BLT's for supper, and then it was time to make the hour long drive back home.
Tomorrow's agenda -- mowing the lawn, fixing a toilet, and any other chores that need to be finished before we leave the country for two weeks!
We let the girls play for a while, burning off some energy before forcing them back into the car. We switched to my MIL's car, and got back on the road by 10 o'clock. Unfortunately, I-95 traffic was heavy (which isn't unusual) and came to a crawl every time we hit a pocket of rain. Only after we passed through Richmond did the traffic finally thin out a bit and settled into a steady pace. But, even with the traffic, we managed to arrive in Dinwiddie by 12:30.
This was the smallest turnout I've ever seen for one of these family gathering. My MIL's siblings all made it, but there were less than a dozen members of the younger generations. My MIL was very disappointed with how few people came. I was a little worried that my daughters were going to get bored, as none of the other kids their age were there. Luckily, one of my wife's cousins just loves kids, and played silly games with the girls, so I think they had a good time.
By 3 o'clock, everyone was packing up to head home. We gathered the girls back into the car and started north on I-95. However, just north of Richmond the highway became a parking lot, so we bailed for the country roads, which might have taken longer, but was a LOT less stressful. We rolled back into my MIL's by 6:00. The girls wanted to jump into the pool, so we went swimming for a while. MIL made BLT's for supper, and then it was time to make the hour long drive back home.
Tomorrow's agenda -- mowing the lawn, fixing a toilet, and any other chores that need to be finished before we leave the country for two weeks!
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