The Pierces finally got to take a family road trip back to Oklahoma for a few days to see family! We haven't gotten any visitors here in quite a while *ahem* so we took the plunge and drove the 2,800 miles round trip to see them!
We always rent a car to keep from putting so many miles and extra wear/tear on our cars. This time we got a 2022 Toyota Avalon! I was the chauffeur and Nick was the snack dealer. Brad ran the DVD system, and Jacob was moral support. We picked up the car last Friday evening, and headed out early Saturday morning.
We have a system down now--for our halfway point we always stay in Terre Haut, IN at one of the many hotels along the highway. As soon as we get situated we order 2 pizzas from Dominos and go to bed shortly after dinner. Then we hit the road early the next morning after breakfast and get to Oklahoma around 4-5pm.
This time in OKC we tried out a different hotel and it was nice! I upgraded us the Queen Suite so that we would have more sitting room for visitors. It's too hard to try and coordinate everyone at someone's house due to drama so I made sure our hotel room could be a meeting place. Gotta love family!
Our first evening there we met my dad and my brother Eric and SIL Amy at a great Mexican restaurant San Marcos. We had some delicious food and caught up a bit on happenings. This is the first visit for the boys since June 2020! Needless to say my kiddos have grown a bunch since they saw family last.
After dinner we all went to my mom and stepdad Gary's house for a visit. My brothers met us over there for a little bit and we all got to visit and make plans for the next day.
Brad is now taller than my mom! His papa Gary ended up inviting him to stay the night so I ran back to the hotel to pack him an overnight bag and brought it back to him. So I didn't see him much Monday or Tues!
The next day we all met my dad for lunch at our favorite Greek place Athena's. The owner remembers me every time I visit and remind her every time how amazing her food is and how I come all the way from NY to eat it!
After lunch we went back to my dad's house for a bit to see his work in progress on his woods and land. He walked us around his property to see what he's been doing. Then we headed out to pick up my brother Shane so we could head north to Yukon and visit with his daughter--our neice Kiara--who just had her first baby!
I brought Kiara and the baby a bunch of presents and goodies, and we stayed and visited her for a little while. I hadn't seen Kiara in a few years!
After that Nick dropped me and Jacob off at my mom's where we visited for a bit while he went to see an old friend, Larry. My brothers both met up with us later that evening for dinner where we ordered takeout from our favorite Chinese place TnT.
The craziest coincidence of the WHOLE trip is the fact that my best friend Jessica just happened to be driving back from California at the very same time, and ended up being in OKC on our second day there! I told her what hotel we were at and she booked a room (right down the hall from ours!) at the same hotel and we got to visit a bit and she joined us at my mom's Monday evening for Chinese food.
Tuesday morning Jessica joined us at the hotel breakfast then we bid her farewell on the next leg of her journey. Tuesday was also Jacob's 7th birthday!!!!! Bradley was still spending time with his papa Gary, so we tried to make Jacob feel special since he was stuck with us.
Nick had his friend Terry pick him up so they could spend the afternoon together, so Jacob and I made plans with my brother Shane to pick up his oldest son--our nephew Cameron--and take him out to lunch. Thus brings us to the next funny coincidence of the trip--we picked the EXACT same restaurant in a completely different town that Nick and his friend Terry were eating at!!! As the waitress was taking us to our table, I recognized Terry then Nick and couldn't believe it! I told the waitress "that's my husband and his best friend over there!" She asked if we all wanted to sit together, but I told her "no, we are visiting our own people". HA! They came and said hi/bye after they were done eating, then went on to their next adventure. Shane and I had a good visit with Cameron, then we took him back home and I dropped Shane off so he could rest.
When we got back to the hotel, I decided to take Jacob swimming while I waited for Bradley to get dropped off by his papa. So Jacob got some fun time in the indoor pool, then when Brad got there he put his trunks on and joined us for a bit!
That evening we were invited to enjoy a home cooked meal at my mom's house, so we enjoyed tacos and all the fixins with them! So nice to have real food when you are on a trip and stuck eating out all the time!
After dinner we packed up and headed back to the hotel for our LAST evening in OKC. I had made plans for a little birthday party for Jacob at our hotel, and had picked up a cake and some ice cream. It's a little tricky planning a birthday party away from home, but I made it work! I even remembered to bring candles and balloons.
I am happy to say that ALL of the family showed up (eventually)! Some were quite late but better late than never since they haven't seen the boys in 3-4 years. The whole reason for the trip was to see family, so I'm glad everyone was able to squeeze us in. Jacob got lots of birthday money and had lots of fun seeing everyone.
The boys with their papa Tony
Nick's mom, sister Sarah, and our neice Zoe even came! Sarah and Zoe hadn't seen our boys in at least 5 years so it was shock to see how much everyone has grown! Our neice Zoe is 13 now and growing up. Her and Brad had fun catching up.
We grabbed our last breakfast at the hotel Wednesday morning, then popped back in at my mom's to drop something off before hitting the road. Gary loaded us up one more time with road snacks and donuts, so we enjoyed the goodies on our way home!
As always we had a whirlwind visit and got to see all of our families this time. Lots of great memories to last a lifetime!
