Made it Back

Grandpa's funeral was a celebration of his life. Our family and his wife's gathered together, some of us meeting for the first time, to share our loss at his passing. After the viewing, most went in to the prayers (not a service as we're used to), while the parents of younger children stayed to let them get out their energy on the playground. Then we caravanned to the cemetery and witnessed the burial together. Afterward, most of the group had dinner together.

The drive down there, though, had been trying. I've driven it before, with four children, in 7-8 hours. With a 2 week old, it took about 10. It's six road hours, mind you. He's not used to the car seat, he's used to Mommy pottying him each time (which can range, at this age, from every 20 minutes to about an hour apart, tops; we got disposable everything we could for the trip), he was up to nursing about every hour or hour and an half; well, he's new! The drive back was better, he went more like 1&1/2 to 2 hours between stops.

Sadly, not all the relatives had kept their contact info up to date. I'd expected a couple others to be staying at Grandpa's house and made arrangements to stay with friends (which I think worked out well this time, especially for the children -how often do you get to be one of a dozen children in a house?).