Easter roadtrip recap (and a good laugh too).

I promise you're going to laugh. But first I'll get down to recapping our visit to Ohio for Easter. We left last Thursday on our 6 hour jaunt to the North Coast. Our families live west of Cleveland. No, Cleveland is not the mistake on the lake. We prefer to think of it as the Jewel on the Nile. Sort of. Actually, there are many fun things to do there in the summer; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; great restaurants like Pier W; nightlife in The Flats, and even islands like Put-In-Bay (I spent a few summer weekends there with one of my highschool friends and we used to take our kids there for the day when we still lived in Ohio).

Where in thee blazes was I? Oh yeah, Easter visit. We had a wonderful time. We visited Brandon's social worker on Friday, then drove to Kimberly's house. Kimberly is my Reece's biological sister who was adopted by another family, the "L's". Reece and Kimberly are the splitting image of one another. I mean, I realize siblings often look alike. But in my family and in Carl's family, there isn't this "amazing" resemblance. Reece and Kimberly look amazingly alike. Between our two families, we had seven children, ages 7, 6, 5, 5, 4, 3 and 3 months. Phew! They had a great time playing together while the adults caught up on lives lived in two different states. We used to live thirty minutes from the L's, but now live more than 6 hours away. Sadly, this means Reece and Kimberly see each other much less so this time was really important for them. On a cool coincidental note though, we moved into a town that is of the same name as Kimberly's hometown in OH. What were the chances?

Saturday we took the kids to see Meet the Robinsons. It was a bit over their heads with a "Back To The Future" feel to it. It begins with a birthmother knocking on the door of an orphanage on a rainy night, then leaving her baby boy on the doorstep. I had to wonder what might have been going through my 7yo daughter's mind as she watched that scene (it made me quite sad, actually.) It was a scene of abandonment as I experienced it. Our children's birthmothers did not abandon them. There were also references to "real mom" (Um, I had something to say about real moms recently.) Okay, so I wasn't thrilled with the overall message sent about adoption in the film. And if I were Siskell and Ebert, it would get one phalange up (for the record, you have three phalanges on each finger).

Sunday was so awesome. We were thrilled to be able to worship on Resurrection Sunday at our former church. It's a large non-denominational church with a contemporary worship style. I really do enjoy our new church home, but we had to readjust to a very conservative worship style (hymns only), where we used to enjoy songs by Darlene Zschech and Hillsong, Casting Crowns, Don Moen, and more. Now, I have enjoyed learning hymns I've never known before, but I do miss "singing a new song unto the Lord" as well. How nice it was to hear our former pastor preach and to meet up with old friends like Veronica, whom I worked with for many years at USAirways.

And then there was Sunday dinner at my parents' house. We had 3 tables and 19 people present. Ham, colored eggs, au gratin potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, kielbasas, pretzel jello salad, horseradish sauce and more. We talked too much, ate too much and spent waaaay too few hours together before we had to bring the day to an end and head back to respective homes. How difficult and rare it is to bring so much family together anymore. I thanked God for blessing us all with health and time off to be together on Resurrection Sunday of all days. My glass truly is half full.

Monday found us making our way home again, slowly,...ever so s-l-o-w-l-y. We had to stop for gas,.....twice. For potty breaks,...I lost count. For feeding the baby,.....twice. For dinner. Just how does a family leave point A at 2 o'clock for a six hour drive and arrive home at 11:15pm? It's all a numbers game, folks. Pack six H's in a minivan and ease on down the road. Presto! A six hour drive becomes a nine hour drive. We're just crafty that way.

Okay, now that you've been home and back with me, I know you're thinking, "Not so funny, Toni." Hey, this aint no Comedy Central. No, but I did promise a laugh and a laugh I shall provide (unless of course you've already heard this elsewhere, in which case here's your Consolation Giggle).

As for the rest of you, turn up your speakers and get ready to laugh. Hard! Here it is, as heard on CHUM FM.