On the Road Again

Well, as much as I would like to, we can't stay within a 25 mile radius with all of these children. Certain events necessitate travel. Anyone that has ever traveled with young children knows this is an ambitious undertaking that involves packing vast amounts of bottles, diapers, sippy cups, snacks, blankies, clothes, etc., and forgetting at least two or three important things causing mass panic! This weekend's trip was to Houston for Robert's step-brother's wedding (Caroline was the flower girl) and spending some time with my Dad's side of the family that live in Houston. We had a special blessing on this trip though! My sister Meredith and her husband went with us to help with all of the kids and see some of their friends as well as our family! If Mer wasn't already pregnant, this trip would have been excellent birth control! We left Dallas over an hour after the time we had planned on leaving (typical) and headed South! After a stop at the Pizza Hut buffet in Fairfield, where Caroline managed to run through a gravel parking lot, face plant, bleed all over the parking lot in front of the entire Fairfield police department that was also lunching at the buffet, and scrape up her face before she was in a bunch of wedding pictures, the trip was off to a super start! We finally checked into the Four Seasons in Houston (thank you so much Auntie MerMer for the hook up!) and then made it to the rehearsal 45 minutes late. This is the one picture we got of everyone in their rehearsal dinner outfits!

Caroline practiced throwing crumpled up tissue from her flower girl basket, played with her cousins, and got yelled at by the church lady for having a little too much fun in "God's House". We skipped the rehearsal dinner and headed back to the hotel with some Whataburger - which we had to ask the bellman to take up to our room because our hands were full of screaming children.  I am not sure the Four Seasons was ready for the crazy Cochrans!  It was very Beverly Hillbillies! Everyone had dinner and tried to relax.

My amazing friend Monica drove 40 minutes and paid $15 to park to hang out with all of us even though we were cranky and tired! She's so awesome and it was great to get to see her! The next day we ran around to get ready for the wedding! We were still 45 minutes late. We try! We really do, but its a lot of people to get ready! Caroline was a beautiful flower girl and Robert was a great usher!

  The fabulous Auntie MerMer and Uncle Randy stayed   at the hotel with the babies for us!  It definitely lowered my stress level to know they were well taken care of and getting their nap in! 

After the wedding we headed back to the hotel, relaxed, and then went to have dinner at my grandparent's house!  Caroline had a blast playing with her cousin Sophie and it was fun to get to see everyone!  After such a big day, everyone slept well on Saturday night! 



Liam enjoyed the fancy bed!



Caroline and Sophie playing!



 

Sunday morning we got up, got ready, checked out of the hotel and met everyone for lunch at Pappasitos!  It was supertasty and great to get to see the family one last time before we headed back!  The drive home went well, but we had no idea it would be winter when we got home!  We left and it was 85 degrees!  After changing into warm clothes we unpacked and collapsed into bed!  It was wonderful to see everyone, but an exhausting weekend!  I look forward to getting back into our routine this week! 



This picture sums up how I felt at the end of the weekend too!