Happy 1st birthday Toby!

On Tuesday (April 7) my grandson turned 1 year old! Grandma missed the big day, but i got to see him on Thursday.

It’s amazing how much he has grown and how good he is walking! My lil man goes all over. I have to share these pictures, he is such a lil ham and loved Grandma taking his picture!

We wasn’t suppose to head out until Thursday night but ended up heading out Wednesday night instead. So I spent the entire day Wednesday packing and getting things ready to roll. I was planning to clean the car out & make my list Wednesday night and do it all Thursday since it rained all weekend and Monday & Tuesday between the rain it was just too cold. Well it didn’t work out that way so Wednesday was an exhausting day and then a 13 hour day of non stop travel! Although around 3 am we stopped at a rest area in Missouri and took a 3 hour nap, i couldn’t hold my eyes open any longer!

It was an adventures venture in 2 out of the 4 states we were pulled over! Both officers were really nice. Just at the edge of Mississippi we got pulled over and asked if we were drinking. I think the officer was nice because of so many killer attack dogs … LOL He approached my side of the car and we had the back windows cracked for air for the dogs and he went to shine his light in and instantly all 5 dogs were at the window growling/barking and ready to attack. The officer jumped back and said wow killer attack dogs and decided that he would walk on over to the driver side … LOL the dogs settled down then.

Apparently when we went off the side of the road to let a car go by whom cut us off, the officer only saw us. He did mention that Lenny’s license were almost expired and we told him that was one reason for our trip back to Illinois.

Then in Missouri Lenny decided to let me drive a bit so he could get some needed sleep as he hadn’t had any rest, after all we packed up and headed out the door when he came in from work. I wasn’t behind the wheel 10 minutes when i got pulled over. Apparently one light over my license plate was burned out and the other very dim. While looking it over he seen the sticker was expired. I got out my registration and sure enough there was the sticker! LOL the officer was very nice and just gave me a warning and said to find a gas station ahead and put it on. The dogs barked at the second officer but nothing like the first as he didn’t shine his light right in their window on them, just behind me as they were barking at him. He laughed that we had so many children with us and how protective they appeared to be.

We stopped for a bite of lunch, Lenny was craving Woody’s chicken as he hadn’t had it for a long time, we had to wait for them to open and we purchased a big 16 piece bucket and took the rest home to the kids. We arrived at our son’s house around noon.

Toby got to meet his Grandpa for the very first time! Of course Hailey was thrilled to see us and esp. her Papa! She is a papa girl big time! Toby went right to me as he remembered me from my visit in Jan, i wasn’t sure he would but the minute he saw me his arms went out to take him. I introduced him to his Papa and he wasn’t sure at first, but once he saw big sister going crazy for the strange man he decided he wanted some of that attention to and from that moment. Toby was taken with his Papa!

Hailey got a bit jealous as she wasn’t sure she liked sharing Papa with Toby, she would get a bit discouraged. So Lenny and I took turns playing with each one so that the other could get their desired love and attention. Toby even got a bit jealous of Hailey, he liked the attention that his Papa gave him. The strange man ended up being a pretty great guy!

It’s amazing to see how much spike has grown and how he is just like his mother (Bambi) boxers are such a good dog with kids. These 2 dogs adore both these children and esp. Toby the food dropper! It’s so funny to watch these dogs follow Toby around, waiting for him to drop the next snack! Of course Toby knows that these dogs are just waiting and as you can see here he was hiding his cookie and enjoying a bit of tease.

As you can see in this picture Spike didn’t know exactly what Toby had this time, but he was waiting and watching to grab what ever it was … LOL

Toby is just as fascinated by my cane as his big sister Hailey was. Toby was really checking out the thing, although he wasn’t sure why he couldn’t put it in his mouth. Yes, he at that stage still where everything goes into the mouth!

Of course Spike had to be center of attention to, he is just like his mother Bambi, gotta have grandma/papa attention and his picture taken

Even though it was a bit cool, i took the kids on a walk. Hailey wanted to show me her new bike and i pushed Toby in his stroller. Of course Papa was taking a nap while i took the kids on walk.

Sorry no more pictures as my camera battery went dead and i forgot to grab the extra battery i had in the charger … grrrr One thing i hate about car road trips is that when you forget something too bad, at least when road trips with Ms. Southwind everything you need is always with you! Oh how i love Ms. Southwind!

Our son Gabe showed up around 4 pm with his new girlfriend and it was great spending time with the kids. Finally around 8 pm it started raining and the weather was predicting some heavy rain storms, so we decided we better hit the road again. So we said our good byes and headed back on the road again.

Traffic was horrible on Interstate 270 and even worse on I-44! We saw several wrecks and the rain was getting worse! About 3 1/2 hrs on the road, the rain wasn’t letting up and after passing by a really bad wreck that we were only minutes from being involved in we decided to get off at the next exit for fuel. While inside getting fuel the lady working told us to be careful that Tornado warnings & severe hail and wind was headed our way. Well we have stayed in this town many times years pass. St. James MO was one of favorite vacation spots and very bad area for severe storms so we headed across the street and got a motel room for the night. I was so glad we did as i was exhausted from lack of sleeping and playing all day with my precious grand babies!

A nice hot shower was taken after getting the dogs settled in and caring our bags in. It didn’t take me long and it was lights out! I was amazed how well i slept. I didn’t wake up until 6.30 am! I got up and looked out and yep my back had confirmed it, raining and cold outside. So i went back to bed and slept until 9 am!

We finally got packed back up and on the road by 10.30 am (check out was 11) back on the road we went. I wanted to check out the place i plan to spend the summer at. Although it was raining off and off and a bit on the cool side … a high of 47 degrees, we stopped and looked around. The place was pretty full with holiday campers. We spent only a few hours there and then it was time to get back on the road.

We still had a another 11 hours ahead of us. We finally arrived back at Ms. Southwind around 12.30 am. Although it was a ruff night for sleeping as it was very humid and warm and no air conditioner! I think i finally got to sleep around 2 am!