Wonderful Family Weekend

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Monday! Dani and I are well. We left the little Saturn, Celeste, in Lake Charles, LA. There was a mighty big hole in that engine, and we hope that the good folks at Habitat for Humanity will be able to get some good building materials with the eventual repair and sale of that car. At least we left it in a region that really could use as much help as possible, so Dani takes some solice in that idea.

Of course, we made the most of our time stranded, enjoying an amazing cajun dinner at the Steamboat Bill's right next to our hotel room that overlooked Lake Charles. There was excitment in the air as the region kicked off its Contraband Days festival (see www.contrabanddays.com), but we avoided the lights of the ferris wheel as a major storm brought lightning and tornado watches. Being from Texas, Dani especially enjoyed the lightning storm as the flashes fingered horizontally across the sky instead of straight down as it does up North. Gorgeous. We also watched Grey's Anatomy, which was a treat since we've been months now without cable to help save for this trip! Add in a little refridgerator to keep our cooler goods cooler, and it was really a nice break in driving. Eh hem. Yes.

Our rental car worked just fine as Friday we arrived in Atlanta a day late to visit with Dani's extended family there. The 10 hours from Lake Charles to Atlanta passed as we caught up to the storm from the night before, our second time in the downpour. Aunt Toni and Uncle Bruce were so kind as to wait up for our 10 PM arrival and then spend a few hours catching up. We were so sorry to miss Uncle Mat and family, as well as Dani's grandparents, but will have to make another trip down to Atlanta upon our return to make up for it! An hour and a half of sleep later, and we were back on the road to try to make Jorge and Jennifer's wedding at 11 AM on Saturday! Just a six hour drive ... no problem!

We took turns sleeping and, on the first leg of the trip, I got to enjoy driving through the storm system a third time! We arrived just about on time to the church and had SO much fun with Jorge's and Jennifer's families (now family). Thank you again so much for including us!! Congratulations!!

Yestrerday we enjoyed a relaxed morning at John and Ivonne's with the kids, Ivonne's mom, and her uncle and aunt from California before heading over to Jorge and Jennifer's for ceviche and dinner with both sides of the family gathering once again. Delicious, and wonderful to get to spend some more time with Jennifer's lovely crew of parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Today, we will return tuxedos, figure out our rental plans for tomorrow, and connect with the Lee and Heckels in Virginia to see how we're going to manage to see three groups of family in one day now that we have cut the trip a day short so we can get the title to the Saturn faxed to Habitat asap so that they can take control of the Saturn.

Congratulations to Stacy and the Wroths for setting up their own blogs to keep us informed of their worlds! Thank you so much for sharing them! I will post links to blogs of friends on this page as soon as I can, and look for a link to our Road Trip Photo Journal as soon as I can pull it together! Take good care of each other!!

Much love,

Martha