This trip isn't just about us..

The thing about this trip is that it was torture to leave our home and say "see you later" to our family and friends. It was always wonderful that we had a village surrounding and carrying us through anything that we needed; and having both of our immediate families about an hour away was a luxury that fortunately we recognized.

What I didn't see coming was that this trip has largely been about Family and Friends. In almost every location that we have visited, we've met up with someone. Either new Fulltime Families friends or old friends or family members who we don't get to see all that often. It started right from the get-go on our first night out; we meet up with my wonderful cousin and had a great family breakfast in the morning. In Florida, we met up with new friends. In Georgia, I met an old friend for the first time and tried meeting up with a new Disney-loving fiend (but schedules didn't mesh). Lisa even got in on the action and got to meet a mentor, teacher, and friend (and made some beautiful jewelry to boot). Cincinnati was an attempted meet up with a long time customer who is much more a friend than client. Detroit brought us family visiting from back home (that's a lot of hours in the car for a few days of visiting!). Indiana was days and days of one of my favorite aunts and her kids. Branson was more Fulltime Families than you could shake a stick at (and my single-biggest influx of new Facebook friends that I ever recall). Kansas City found us visiting with Mandie's great aunt and cousin and one of my most favorite lines:

   "Annie, it's Mandie. Do you want to get together tomorrow or Friday?" "How about BOTH?" And we did.

In Colorado, Uncle Don became a constant  request from Logan, we caught up with a family from Branson, and we caught up with a friend/coworker of mine (eating an amazing home cooked dinner and getting to listen to the kids play!).

The time and effort that people have put into visiting with us has been truthfully heartwarming. "How about both?" makes me smile just thinking about it.

We definitely miss our family and friends back home, but this opportunity to visit with so many people that we don't often get to is amazing and has really proven that this trip isn't just about us- it's about our family, our friends, and everyone that we love.

(Plus, the cool part is- we are headed home for 2 weeks soon and we'll get some quality time with everyone back there!)