July 22- July 31, 2022
Last “Vacation trip” before we hit the road full time.
Every two years we have a family reunion for our children and grandchildren at a vacation destination. So far we have done a Galveston Texas Beach House, a large house in Anaheim California and a family cruise. Due to Covid this reunion was three years after the last one at two houses side by side in Sandbridge, Virginia.
July 22nd– Our son William and grandson Liam drove in from Austin with his truck and trailer on Thursday night and then Friday afternoon we loaded Sara, Edwin, Claire, Daniel and Vincent in our motor home to head out to Virginia. Our daughter Hana will fly down as she had to work and could not travel with us. Our son Franklyn and his family Melanie, Joshua, Joran, Ian and Evie had the longest drive in their van from Utah. Good thing they had multiple drivers who could rotate on the trip. Our son Pieter, Leslie, Cordelia and Solomon had the shortest trip from Northern Virginia to Southern Virginia. We also had grandchildren Kai, Tully and Billie taking an Amtrak train from Boston to Norfolk, Virginia.
Since we had to be in Sandbridge in two days we rotated drivers and drove long hours. We managed to make it from Porter, Texas to Pearl, Mississippi the first day. We pulled in late at a Bass Pro Shop and slept in the parking lot. It was a little warm but we all passed out for the night.
July 23rd– Got up at about 5 am and started driving. Everyone got at least a 3-hour break before their next turn to drive. Edwin switched off driving the RV and Bill’s truck and trailer. Frank only drove the RV and Bill only drove his truck and trailer. We were able to cover a lot of area that day. We drove through Georgia, one of the many states we have lived in. We managed to eat dinner at one of favorite restaurants when we used to live in the South, O’Charley’s. By the time we hit North Carolina we were exhausted and ready to call it a night. We spotted all these bright flashing lights which came from a roadside attraction that had been around since the 1950’s. It was called South of the Border and had a campground that we checked into. We didn’t get in until about 11 pm and were soon fast asleep.
July 24th– Bill got up at 4 am to go ahead and pick up his kids at the Amtrak station in Norfolk Virginia. We managed to sleep in another hour until 5 am before hitting the road. Since we were in the RV and had a longer gas range than Bill’s truck we only had one stop before arriving in Sandbridge around 2 pm. We headed to the beach houses and unloaded our stuff. Pieter and his family were there and immediately the cousins paired off and started playing. It doesn’t matter if they haven’t seen each other for a long period of time, once they are back together they start off where they left off last time. Cordelia and Claire were playing foosball and Solomon and Daniel were running around and playing. Frank headed off to the airport to pick up Hana and bring her back. Bill got his kids from the train and arrived at the house an hour later and then a couple hours after the Franklyn and his family arrived. We have two houses and 23 people. The older grandkids and Bill and Hana are in one house and the younger kids, Pieter and Leslie, Sara and Edwin and Franklyn and Melanie are in the other house. We hit the pool and swam a bit this evening then everyone figured out their own dinner. Starting tomorrow each family will provide dinner one night and Frank and I provided all the breakfast and lunch fixings. Frank and I have the motorhome which we took over to North Bay Shore Campground and set up. It is only a couple miles from the house and Bill dropped his trailer there also.
July 25th– We all hit the beach today. It is really different than the gulf and the sand is super soft. That made it hard for me to walk on it with my hip issues. The cousins are all enjoying their time together either playing on the beach, swimming in the pool or hanging out and playing games. Tonight was Leslie and Pieter’s night for dinner and they made lasagna. Then after that we had ice cream and cake to celebrate all the birthdays falling this week which were Joshua, Frank, Claire, and Leslie. Then we played some games. One was Guess the Baby. Leslie had collected everyone’s baby picture and we had to guess who was who. I didn’t realize how much so many of our children and grandchildren look alike. I was able to guess about half of them right including all my children. Then it was time for Frank and I to head back to the campground to bed.
July 26th– Edwin, Sara and family headed down to tour an old lighthouse. Some went to an amusement park and others to the beach. Everyone had a fun time. Of course there was swimming in the pool and hanging out and playing games. Uncle Bill made sure everyone got to enjoy some whipped cream. Today was Edwin and Sara’s turn to cook and they did Taco Tuesday. They made tacos with hamburger, chicken or fajita meat. Everyone could pick and choose what they put on their corn or flour tortilla. They also made Mexican street corn and green lime cilantro rice. The kids played a game of crabs which they enjoyed and then everyone went out to have tortilla fights. You filled your mouth with water and slapped each other with a tortilla. The last one to have their water still in their mouth wins. We also played a game where we taste tested different sodas and had to guess which was which. Then this evening Mema and Papa had a sleepover for Evie, Claire and Cordelia at our RV. We popped popcorn and had M&M’s and they watched a movie. Cordelia got a little scared at bedtime and wasn’t sure she wanted to stay over, but she did and had a great time.
July 27th-Today we played with some old family pictures and used an app that added color to the old black and white pictures. It really made them pop. We had pictures of my mom and dad and Frank’s dad that we were able to colorize. It rained and thundered a bit today so that limited the time on the beach. Some of the family were actually on the beach when the storm came roaring in and they had to make a mad dash back to the houses. We got our Family reunion shirts today which say “We are all nuts – Mueller family reunion”. The weather cleared up later in the day, so we were able to go and take family pictures in our shirts. Franklyn went on a 31 mile bike ride this morning up to North Carolina. Bill, Frank and Edwin went driving in the sand on the beach. Tonight was Hana’s turn to cook and she did a Christmas dinner in July. She made ham and turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, mac and cheese and for dessert chocolate peanut butter pies. Then she had a game called musical ball. She had an aluminum ball and if the music stopped when you were holding it you unwrapped a layer and got whatever prize was in that layer. It was fun. It has been so wonderful to all get together and everyone has been having so much fun. Frank and I head to our RV every night and the craziness goes on after we leave like a big group game of Dragons and Dungeons.
July 28th – Today Sara, Edwin and family went to visit Williamsburg. After hanging around the house and the beach in the morning the rest of the family decided to visit the Virginia Beach Aquarium. At the aquarium someone left a duck on our jeep letting us know they like how our Jeep looked. We spent a couple hours there exploring all the exhibits. The sea turtles and sharks where a big hit with the little kids and the big ones too. When we got back we went swimming for a bit before a big storm rolled in and the wind picked up and blew things around. Franklyn and Melanie made dinner tonight and Franklyn did under the house BBQ in the craziness. Melanie bought Crabs for those who wanted them and there was also burgers and hotdogs for others. Melanie gave a tutorial on how to open and eat a crab. Tonight people started packing up as tomorrow most of the people head out.
July 29th– Sadly the family reunion has come to an end and we won’t get all back together for another two years. A group of people decided to go for a bike ride this morning which included Pieter, Leslie, Franklyn, Bill, Joshua, Kai, Tully, and Liam. The rest of the day was hanging out visiting and swimming in the pool. The beach had been invaded by jelly fish so no one spent much time down there. Tully set up a treasure hunt this evening for the littles which they loved. Bill did Fro Back Friday and made a lot of the old family recipes I used to make. He served Tater tot casserole, meatball sandwich and seven-layer dip. Hana unfortunately had to miss it as she had to fly out this morning so she could work tomorrow. After dinner those who had to leave tonight started packing up to head out. The rest head out tomorrow. Bill will drop the kids off at the train station in the morning and start his drive home. Pieter and Leslie will stay one more day before heading out. Franklyn and Melanie’s family left this evening about 7 pm and Edwin and Sara family and Frank and I hit the road at 9 pm. We were hoping to drive to South of the Border, North Carolina and stay at a campground but with the rain and the late start, we wore out and ended up pulling into a rest area at about 1 am to sleep.
July 30th– Got up early and hit the road by 6 am. Since only Frank and Edwin took 4 to 6 hours shifts driving before trading off and resting while the other one drove. We drove all day but travel was slow. There was bad weather and a lot of traffic accidents around Atlanta which slowed us down. We were able to make it into Pearl, Mississippi about 9:30 pm and spent the night once again in the parking lot a Bass Pro Shop.
July 31st– Left early again this morning and made it home about 3 pm. We were all exhausted. We came in and rested a bit before unloading the RV. Now we have the next two weeks to finish packing up our house and put things in storage and hit the road full time.
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