Road Trip Day 4

Thursday morning we woke up to a beautiful day in Nashville and spent some time in the Hotel Indigo lobby. I wanted to take Cate and Lucy's photos in front of this AWESOME wall.

Note to self...I'm totally doing this with teal books in our next house. But it will probably be a shelf/vignette. Love it.

Miss Cate cooperated, but Lucy was not in the mood. See below. Hmmph.

I quickly stopped by Hatch Show Print (one of the oldest working letterpress shops in America). And y'all...BY FAR my favorite thing I saw on this entire trip. I could have stayed there for hours and hours.

I wanted to purchase SO many posters, but time (and space) was very limited so I got a few small items:

Next we drove down the road to Local Taco to meet my sweet (and longtime!) online friend -and rockstar mommy blogger- Jessica Turner.

She is wonderful. We are a lot alike and it was so easy to talk to her about life and motherhood. There was a LOT of talking and a LOT of laughter. :)

Jimmy and I both agree that we'd be great friends with her if we lived closer. She's a doll.

The babies clearly took to her too. And I'm so grateful that she thought to ask to take our first family pictures from our road trip. Love these so much.
After reluctantly saying goobye we hit the road. Our goal was to make it to Little Rock, Arkansas.

These two monkeys were worn out and fell asleep really quickly.

We made it into Arkansas...

And here's where things got a little bit cray. We all got a little stir crazy. The roads were bumpy, there were lots of detours (without warning) and major traffic due to construction.

We went a little cuckoo.
So what else to do? Stop at the proverbial road trip restaurant...Cracker Barrel!
Some yummy food, a little checkers and a lot of rocking made everyone feel much better.
We also snickered a little bit of Jimmy with his man purse. Bahahaha. Yes, we were loopy.
We decided that we were ready for this trip to be over and that we just had to book it to Texas. So that's what we did.

We spent the night in Texarkana and woke up ready to get on the road. One last road trip breakfast and we were out of there.
We had one lunchtime stop at WHATABURGER. Oh how my Texan heart has missed this place. Can you tell we were a tiny bit excited?

And we drove alllll the way to Waco. Where we arrived at BB's magical house. Seriously. Magic. If you don't believe me, just look at these photos.

We had a really good time, y'all. The girls were SO good. We saw so many wonderful places and people. It was truly a gift.

Many of you asked how we kept the girls entertained. Truth is...we really didn't. We were crammed in a Pathfinder with luggage up to our ears.

There was no DVD players or games for them. We just talked to them and sang with them...listened to music. And they entertain each other.

I don't have a magic formula or road trip survival kit for this one. We just said a prayer and drove.

Army kids are pretty good at traveling!

Now I will do a survival kit for each girl for the trip to Italy (Houston to Philadelphia, Philadelphia to Venice) and I will make sure to share it.

Love you all!!

xo

S

Comments

[JillT]

Love this post but especially love pics I have seen of the girlies w/ your friends along the way. Love that they "take to" everyone after raising very shy kiddos.

[Radhika]

i always look forward to your blog posts...you all are so adorable! wishing you all the very best..!!:-)

[Jessica @The Mom Creative]

I love you so much. It was like we had spent 1,000 lunches together. Maybe some day y'all will live in TN. For now, I'll take road trip lunches anytime. xoxo

[ginny]

Oh my, BB's house IS magical! When Harper told me BB's house was just magical, I really didn't expect this! Enjoy your Texas family time & safe travels to Italy.

[Kirsten J]

What a great job of capturing that road trip. Your girls are looking so grown up! And lol - around here we call that a "murse".

[laurielariviere]

these photos are why I love your blog so much, I get to see things I didn't even know where out there, thanks for sharing! your kiddos look like they were having a great time :)

[JoLynn]

That IS a magical place! Sounds like you are having fun. Where there is family...what else do you need? Good luck with your next leg! I enjoy following along.

[novafan]

This road trip was so much fun to watch unfurl. After all of the years we've lived overseas, I dream of a big USA roadtrip in an RV. Are you getting excited for Italy? I'm driving down there tomorrow with my son. We're going to a cooking class!

[Ginna G]

Silly little diaper heads!!!!!!!
Love the little red table picture. Just BEAUTIFUL!

[Mary Jo]

Just wanted to say thanks for sharing your adventures on your blog!

[Laura]

I'm sort of sorry you have to fly out of the Philly airport for your trip...I've never had a flight leave on time from there. (and now that I live here I hate it a little bit more!). Will be thinking good thoughts for you!

[Stephanie Howell]

Well thats encouraging. :(

Sent from my iPhone

[Sharon]

I love all of your posts and really like the pictures. Can't wait to see the pictures from Italy. Have fun while you are in Texas. You know...it is sort of hot here:)

[Monica Brown]

So cool that your mom lives in Waco! I lived in Marlin as a child. ;) Glad you survived your road trip....it looked like so much fun! Enjoy the rest of your pre-move vacation!

[Jean Bullock]

How fun. I love the diaper hats.

[Pam]

So glad you made it! Love your posts and of course, the pictures are fabulous!

[Bessie Segal]

Your road trip blogs are fascinating; you have such a great way with words & pictures. It seems so weird to me, as a Brit, that you can be traveling for days & still be in the same country & also, that each place you stop off at is so different from the previous one. I'm sure none of you will ever forget this amazing journey.

[Ret Cudmore]

hi Steph, I've loved your road trip posts, and envy all your adventures. I was an Air Force Brat as you know, and I'm missing the "old days" LOL

Love all the pics and can't wait to learn about Italy thru your eyes.
Steph, can you please give me the addy to BB's blog again. I use to read it, and was mesmorized when she was prettying up her fridge! but I lost it and haven't been able to find it since. thanks so much! have fun with friends & family!!! Enjoy! Safe travels. Love!

[Kathy]

Oh, you are having so much fun and making special memories for the girls....enjoy your precious time with your mom. I do look forward to see what's up and going on with the Howells! Take care, until next post, love from OKC

[Evgenia Petzer]

love to read your posrs!

[CJ]

Lovely pictures, the letterpress place looks fantastic. And what a beautiful garden you ended up at in the end. Hope you have a wonderful time there. I'm really enjoying your travels!

[dawn]

I've had so much seeing your IG photos during your trip, totally made me laugh and love your sweet girls even more!! Thanks so much for all the updates along the way, so glad you had a safe trip. I love that you didn't even have to entertain the little ones, that is so awesome and a blessing! I kept thinking how is she doing this and having them be so dang happy and cute.
WOW WOW WOW we all need a BB in our families, she is so awesome. I love the magical feeling in her yard, how fun for these girls. My mom would have done something like this in her young grandma days. Now she's the first to pull out blankets inside and make a fort with chairs.
Have a great time visiting and good luck on your trip to Italy!

[Christina A.]

You are so great to keep us all updated on your road trip....I feel like I went with you!! You are such a great mom :-) Praying for the overseas trip for you and your family!!

[Stephanie Howell]

http://wordfindmagic.blogspot.com/
xoxo

[Kathryn]

Ahh, diaper hats. I remember the years of making those! BB's house does look magical; love the flowers there! Glad you guys made it safely!!

[Steph in Canada]

Happy as well that you made it safely! Lots of fun watching your adventures!

As another twin mama of 4 (9 & 5 year old girls and 3 year old twin boys), I can completely agree that twins can strangely entertain each other for incredibly long distances in a vehicle! Weird huh?

Anyhow, my DH is a Canadian-born child of Italian-born parents. We've not made it there yet for a trip, but I am excited to follow this next part of your life (and, of course, the photos...can't wait!).

[gabby]

i love this.
i love BB.
i LOVE and envy how awesome your girls were on the trip.
you are super mama.
xoxoxo.

[[email protected]]

Hi Stephanie and gang!! Welcome to Texas!! How long will you be in Waco? It is only about and hour an a half from me. Maybe we could meet and do lunch, or does that seem scary coming from a stranger??!! I am so excited for you on the adventure of a lifetime you are preparing for and will be following you (I usually read your blog daily) all the way. Take care and let me know if you have time to meet a fan!!
Julie W, Arlington Tx

[kristine cline]

WOw! Loved seeing the trip through your eyes and the kiddos!
And I SUPER love the no DVD player line! Yeah! Tv is over used in today's society...I know I've fallen victim to it..we all have!
Talking and singing and music! Yeah!
(I've flown to Italy...nobody would blame you if you ALL had survival kits!)

[Stacey]

Your trip looks like so much fun! Our kids are the same way on trips, no dvd player, we just keep each other entertained. And for long trips for us, the younger our kids were the easier they were. I love all the pictures from your stops in TN! Looks like a fun place. Was your book good? I saw it at Target. Getting ready to go to the ocean for a month, and need good books to read on the beach.

[Christine Campbell]

So glad you made it to your Mom's safe and sound!! Precious pics along the way.

[Patricia Dunbar]

I just can't express how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE the photos especially of the girls. (the one of Lucy covering her face PRECIOUS)...THANK YOU so much for sharing these with us!
Patricia
the PaperTemptress