We're Gonna Break This Up

::BEEP:: Download complete ::BWONK, WONK::

I've downloaded the pictures from our camera tonight, and instead of trying to do one post and fit the whole past week into it, I think it better to make a few posts and spread things out. Anticipation makes the whole thing worth more, at least that's what Rachel tells me. So, in that vein, I'll begin:

I took Friday, May 9th off of work to help with getting the luggage/car packed up for the trip and to help make lasagnas for our dinner on Saturday night down in North Carolina. Rachel and I thought that we needed to make things simple for dinner that night, so that everyone could unpack and unwind from the drive down from Virginia. With 28 people in the house, we figured to make 4 or 5 pans to make sure there was enough for dinner and have left over's for lunches and such. Well, I made the decision to go ahead and make 6 pans, just to be sure. We were able to freeze 4 of them, and they all made it down. We left on Saturday morning about 6:00 AM, and started the trek down. We used Google Maps to see what the fastest way was going to be, and we also got the address of the house in North Carolina to plug into our GPS. Both points of reference agreed that going down the DelMarVa peninsula, then across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel into Norfolk and then continue south to Nags Head. The total trip was only about 6 to 7 hours that way, so I was stoked. With some gas in the tank, food in the belly, we started.

Nothing really fun to report, we made a few bathroom breaks for Allison (okay, us too ...) and found that the "5 Dollar Footlong" Subway marketing campaign has worked on Allie. We stopped at one to use the bathroom, and I look in the mirror and see Allie miming the TV commercial. (I hate this commercial, and all like it for some reason.) Rachel usually is pretty nervous going over bridges, but she only got edgy a few times going over the span of bridges and tunnels that make up the span of 17 miles. We even stopped at a rest stop to take in the view, change diapers, and snap a few pictures.

There were a total of 5 cars making the trip on Saturday (Andrew and Amy came on Sunday), and we all kep in good contact over the trip making sure everyone knew where everyone else was. Since we left from the furthest away, we ended up in the lead. Well, since we left earliest and my family's penchant for dragging ass gave Rachel and I the lead. Once we got about 30 miles from the Outer Banks, we decided to stop and give Ben and Sarah a call to see where they were. They were the ones picking up the house key, so no reason to haul buns to get there to sit in the driveway of the house. We needed to pick up a few things from the store anyway, so we stopped and gave them a call. We were just ahead of them, so our stopping gave them the lead. They called us to let us know they were able to get the keys early and the race was on. Ever notice that traffic just seems to know you are in a hurry? We ended up behind every pokey person on HWY 158 ..... I used some fancy driving to get around them, but from what Ben said, they were in the lead to stay. I followed the GPS turns, and wouldn't you know it ... We WON !!! Apparently, Ben had directions that took him the long way around and gave the contest to us.

We got into the house, and unloaded our cars. Rachel and I started the lasagna, and finished unpacking our stuff. Vicky, Zac, Mom, Nancy and Rachel all arrived at about the same time, so we got them unloaded as well. Rachel and I paid for an extra room for the girls, so we got two rooms on the middle floor of the house. Now, this is a twelve bedroom house we were staying in ( I'll be posting pics of that later), and the middle floor had 6 bedrooms. Both our room, and the girls' room looked out on the beach and the Atlantic Ocean, just like I wanted. So, with dinner started and our van unpacked, we helped get the kitchen setup and finished dinner once Beth, Chris, Thad and Brooke showed up. Vicky had made some spaghetti for the kids, which most of the adults ended up eating as well. I was annoyed that more people didn't eat my food, but it was all good in any case. Saturday ended with most everyone turning in early, which was just fine with us. More to follow.

Love to all.