Vacation Part 4

Are you getting tired of this vacation yet? :) Today's post will highlight our last day with Gabe's family, then our drive down to Ohio, and our first night with my family. So let's get to it.

We woke up at 430 Friday the 6th and started the drive back from the cottage to Gabe's mom's house. Along the way, we made a pit stop at what Gabe would consider his second set of parents' house. They were on their way out the door so we didn't get a lot of time to spend with them. But it was still nice to see them.

We made it back to Gabe's mom's house later that morning and I swear, this was the most MISERABLE day yet. The humidity was 60% (or more) with temps still at 100! We lounged around all day and we all took a nap that afternoon. I was so ridiculously hot, I could not sleep in bed, but instead, grabbed two fans and positioned one near my feet blowing up my body. And the other fan I put blowing from my head down my body and then slept on the couch. Even then, I was still hot, but at least it was more bearable.

Later that evening, we headed to a place called The Parlour. It's an old ice cream shop with HUGE portions. I got two scoops in a bowl and had trouble finishing it. Don't worry though, I didn't waste any of it. I stuffed myself to the gills getting it all in. :)

http://www.visualalchemy.net/deforest/parlourjackson/jackson_index.html

Alena and her cousin Emily

Picture courtesy of Alena

Gabe's ice cream concoction.

We headed back to the house and got ready for bed because it was going to be another early morning. (I thought this was a vacation?! Aren't we supposed to be sleeping in?)

The kids were exhausted so they fell asleep in the car. We made a stop to Cabela's because the kids love looking at all the animals and Gabe loves to gawk at everything in there. They even have an aquarium in there! I wish I would have thought to take a picture from the second floor overlooking the store just to show you how large it is.

After Cabela's, we stopped for lunch and continued on our way. We are so lucky to have such great little travelers. The kids once again fell asleep and slept the whole way to my mom's house.

We had a family reunion that night (you like how we're always having these reunions on the days we travel?) but I wanted to stop at the Ox Roast first to get an Ox Roast sandwich and lemonade. The Ox Roast, for those of you that don't know, is held annually in the community park and put on by the volunteer fire department. It brings in the money for the fire department for the rest of the year and is like a giant flee market where you can find all sorts of things. And they have some of the BEST food! It was another hot and humid day (are you sensing a pattern with this weather?) so we didn't stay very long. Just long enough to say Hello to some old friends, grab our food and drinks, and run to the air conditioning of the car. (Oh, sweet air conditioning)

We stopped by my sister's house for a little bit of sitting before heading off to the reunion. It was another great reunion with plenty of kids for Alena and Christian to run around with. Gabe and I teamed up for a game of Corn Hole and won best out of three! As the sun was setting, the adults started up a game of volleyball and played until the sun went down and it got to hard/dangerous to play anymore. I didn't even realize that it was already 10 pm. Ohio has daylight savings while Arizona does not. We get dark at 830 instead of 10 like Ohio. It threw us off on time for the entire vacation!

The kids loved going up the hill and then running/rolling/biking back down.

Austin and Prestin

Grandma and Christian

Then we  headed to my parent's house to rest up for the long days ahead.