Cousins reunited!

My sister's family moved to Shalimar, FL (just outside of Pensacola) over a year ago. We were so excited to have family nearby! In Florida, however, "nearby" is a relative term. We learned that it's still almost a 7 hour drive from their place to ours. They made a trip to Tampa when Abby was born (just 3 weeks old!) and that was the last time we've been together. How sad is that? Bethany and I are pretty sure this is the first time we've ever gone over a year without seeing each other. So when I learned that Mike and Cadence were headed to Gainesville to see the Gators play the Seminoles, I knew Abigail and I had to head North to meet up with everyone. Unfortunately, Robert was on-call for work and couldn't go with us. More sad news: game day traffic on I-75 was a nightmare. We came to a complete standstill several times and spent about 45 minutes going less than 20 mph. Ugh. But it was totally worth it when we finally made it to the hotel and Clay and Abby were reunited.

Think they're related?!

Sweet hugs.

Clay is very good at sharing and thought Abby would like some of his banana. He also shared celery (her first time eating it since I don't like it) and carrots with her.

We hung out in the hotel room for about an hour and then headed into Gainesville to meet up with Cadence and Mike after the football game. Cadence makes an adorable little cheerleader.

Gainesville has the best grocery store ever: Trader Joe's! Robert and I used to love shopping at Trader Joe's in both Cincinnati and Columbus. We can't wait for the Tampa store to open down the street from us in 2014. 

Cadence knew what she was looking for and filled her basket with her favorite strawberry cereal.

  

Then we headed over to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. While we were waiting for our table, a lady asked Mike if Clay and Abby were twins!

Abby had all kinds of new food: corn and steak and Clay even slipped his cousin a few bites of cheese fries!

Our visit ended way too quickly. After only 5 hours together, it was time for Abby and I to head back home. We decided to stop into Barnes and Noble so that the kids could wiggle around a little bit first.

We love you, Mike, Bethany, Cadence and Clay! We'll make sure it's not another year before we see you again. Abigail can't wait to play more with her sweet cousins.