Donohoe Family Blog: 2010-07-11

The next leg of the journey.

It's been a long time coming and it is finally here. I can't believe this is the day we are moving back home. Well, most of us anyway. Tom left this morning at 6am. Kennedy woke up just in time to see Daddy off.

Last family picture at Tea Garden Way.

Leg one of the baby relay is finally complete. I left the house at 6:30 this morning after dropping Kennedy off at Debbie's and went to work. I got off of work at 11:30 and got home and packed up Kennedy's things, picked up Kennedy and was on the road at 1:15. We made it half way... Just past Marion, IL around 5:00. We chatted for a little bit and had a snack at Arby's and it was time to say goodbye for a week. Alan and Cate will keep Kennedy over night and finish the relay tomorrow with Mom. I drove back home and made it in around 9:30. I am beat and ready for bed.

Kennedy with Uncle Al and Cate, taking a break from the drive for the hand off.
Kennedy is looking forward to getting to spend the night with her Uncle Al and playing all morning together with him and Cate.

Tom should be pulling into Mom and Dad's within the hour. I can't believe he is still driving, but I am sure he can't either. He has been a real trooper today and just taking it slow and steady. I am sure he will be tired and ready for bed when he gets there. I will be staying here in Nashville tying up loose ends and finishing up my last week of work and then heading to Iowa starting next Friday. Wish us Luck!

Packing up...

After Tom got home Monday night, we knew we had a big day ahead of us on Wednesday. We spent a little bit of time together, catching up and watching the last of our TV for a while then it was off to bed. Wednesday morning we got up and got right to work. We spent the majority of the day packing up the rest of the "stuff", mowing the lawn, trimming the bushes, cleaning out the gutters and whatever else we could think of to do for the last minute. The big packing day however, was Thursday. We finished up the little stuff in the morning and then took Kennedy's crib apart and got organized for our moving helpers to arrive. Our friends got their around 6pm, it was still over 100 degrees with the heat index, and we got to work.

The van in front of the house. 26 ft plus a hall behind trailer. Tom has his work cut out for him.

Kennedy has been spending a lot of time at Debbie's house this week. This is Kennedy's babysitter and our neighbor and friends. (That's Sarah to the left of Debbie and Rachel next to her)They brought her over to see us a few times during the day. We are going to miss them so much! Kennedy loves them all so much and has such a good time over at their house. The only better option she could have is to be watched by our family, AKA Grandma, and that's where we are going so they know she will be in good hands.

The van is almost full! And Boy is it still hot at 10 o'clock at night. Mindy, Robert and Mike, you are great friends for sticking this one out!

Trying to get the trailer hooked up in the dark. It took a while but we finally figured out to park the Tacoma behind the trailer and use the headlights to see. Ahhhh... Pure Genius!

Missing Daddy.

It's been a long couple of weeks and we have been going though a lot of stress getting ready for our big move. Tom's last day of work was July 9. To celebrate our move and to say goodbye to some good friends, we had some people over to our house that Saturday. Sunday we packed up some more stuff and had one last "hang out" day outside and then out to dinner together that night. Bright and early, well dark and early, Monday morning; Tom left to go to Birmingham for a couple days to outprocess from his reserve unit and make up his August days early. He got everything turned in and made it back Tuesday evening. Tuesday night before Tom got home, I met another friend, Lisa, out to dinner so that we could say goodbye to her too.