the view from erica: mr. bo's wild ride

Well, it wasn't just Mr. Bobo's wild ride . . . it was more like our whole FAMILY's wild ride. Two weeks hitting the road and suitcase-living at its finest. Even Moosey was displaced (thanks to our friends for adopting him for the whole 14 days!).

It starts . . . and we will wear that airplane backpack at every opportunity.

We split up at our first layover and Matt flew to my parents to pick up a car they have generously given us, and Bo and I flew to Nashville, where he promptly started sweating and his cheeks turned really pink. We're not in 65 degree weather anymore, Toto. He also stepped out of the clingy phase in order to party with his sweet cousins.

boys, boys, boys.

I love this picture so much - Pop and his grandsons.

And there is ANOTHER boy added to that bunch now - my nephew Grant was born yesterday!

I see fun times ahead, Grant!

After we met up with Matt at his parents' house in KY, we did a little spliteroo and left Bo with Gigi and Pop, where we thought he might ~~be spoiled~~ have more fun than accompanying his parents to meetings in Nashville. It was harder than I thought to leave him behind! We are NEVER separated . . . maybe it would be good for both of us to get a little more of that in.

We checked out our new place in Franklin, TN . . . that's a story in itself . . . I found it online before we left and asked my sister in law to check it out for us. She ended up having to race across town to put a deposit in for us before the other renter could - and she won! 9 months pregnant, too.

We're very thankful and super psyched about all of the 'normal' things that are luxuries to us . . . like a garage, fenced yard, central air, and a *dishwasher*. And everyone in the neighborhood waved when we drove in. I felt like I was in a parade.

Bo and I left Matt to his meetings and headed off on some more planes . . .

To Oklahoma.

Showing some Thunder pride with his new Rumble shirt from Uncle Ryan.

And the reason for the season - Elyse's graduation!

It was a really sweet ceremony and I loved watching my little sister give an eloquent speech! Also the added bonus of seeing my grandma!

Elyse has waited 10 years (eek!) to reenact the photo we took at my high school graduation:

Bo and Coco in the pool.

Back on the plane . . .

This time with a Sonic popcorn chicken clutched in his paw. Would not let that thing go. Got pretty gross.

Back to Nashville then on to KY for some family fun . . .

He reminds me of the dancing hippos in this pic:

Lots of time spent with Pop.

Matt and his bro throwing each other in the pool . . . boys are so funny.

Uncle Adam time:

And then Matt and I left Bo again with Matt's parents (Gigi said she didn't mind!) and went away for a couple nights. I kept it a secret for five months but spilled the beans immediately after we got into the car for the 3 hour drive to the Smokies - we were meeting Matt's best friend and his wife to celebrate their 30th birthdays. But first we had to see MY friend and her new baby - so darling:

Love you, Hank! So glad we will live in the same state soon!

The beautiful Smokies . . .

The sign said that since we were at the highest point in the Smokies, we could actually say we were "on top of old Smoky." So I did.

After all of the craziness and separation of the past couple weeks, it was great to get away for a day and not worry about work!

On our last day in Tennessee we were able to meet up with all of Matt's KY/TN aunts and uncles, most who hadn't seen Bo yet. And since we hadn't seen him in 3 days, we were shocked by how well he was walking . . . seems he's finally got the hang of it!!

We finally took a flight all together . . . there was no question that Matt would be restraining our sweet child on the flight!