Essary Family Vacation 2008-- The Prequal

Hey, if Star Wars can do it, so can I! I just wanted to tell you (and to remind myself) of the day before our big trip of a lifetime. It is a miracle we got on the road at all.
The first thing that was irritating was the mower was broken. It didn't happen the day before we left, but I thought I'd just throw that in, because it annoyed us that we couldn't mow before we left.......oh, okay, it annoyed ME that DON couldn't mow before we left. LOL!
So, Don finally gets around to greasing the wheels on the trailer the night before, and discovers his grease gun is broken, or it breaks while he is doing it. At least I think that is what happened. I was so annoyed at him because he waited until the last minute to do it......All the while I am washing clothes at the last minute.....virtually doing the very thing that I was annoyed with him about. LOL So Don goes to Atwood's to get another grease gun and of course gets there right after they closed......AND the water pump went out on the van. He called me and let's just say I was less than friendly......Meanwhile, back at the ranch, my dryer quit. The drum wouldn't turn. So, I had to take everything in the dryer out and go to Mom's and use her dryer. I was there until 12:30 or 1:00 a.m.
I just thought it was a mildly amusing story.....Well, I think that NOW!!!! LOL
The most amazing part of this story is what my family did for us while we were gone. Joey came over and mowed our yard and took our dryer apart to try to fix it. Mom and Dad came over and cleaned and vacuumed our house and washed our clothes after we got home.

One funny thing is, Andy is such a home body. He asked when we were still about three days out from home if we were going home that day. He asked if we could please hurry home. We dropped the trailer at Mom and Dad's since it had rained so much and washed our driveway out. Andy decided to stay there that night. He was laying in bed there and said, "Ahhhh, Home Sweet Home!" We thought it was funny because he still wasn't home!
This trip was definitely a trip of a lifetime for me. There was so much to see and do in D.C. that we barely scratched the surface. So many things there really make you proud to be an American. I am proud that Emily appreciates her country and the sacrifice of the founding fathers and our soldiers past and present. I hope that it is something our children remember the rest of their lives. Life is all about building memories.

HodgePodge of pics

These are mostly from our last couple of days on our trip home.

This is Emily and Andy in front of Graceland. It was really surprising to me to see how run down the neighborhood around it was (think red light district). And also, the graffitti all over the rock wall in front. We were there too late for the official tour (much to my family's delight), but I think that would have been pretty cool. Across the street from Graceland is a complex where the Lisa Marie, one of Elvis' two planes are. You can tour it, too.

Included in the complex is a museum of Elvis' cars.
I think we did really well the whole time and only ate out 1 meal a day, and that wouldn't be anything expensive...just fast food. Sometimes we didn't even eat out a single time in a day. So, we rewarded ourselves the last night with a nice meal at Appleby's in Memphis, TN. Don is lookin' all gangsta in this pic. LOL