The journey began

We are back from Christmas in upstate New York. Our journey began on the evening of December 19th. We packed the car and headed to NY at 6pm that Friday night. The plan was to drive straight through the night. According to different maps the trek was to be 14-17 hours. It ended up taking us close to 19 hours due to snow and ice! The kids and the dog did great. Once we got to New Jersey, the temperature dropped to about 20 and my southern car went in to shock! The windshield washer fluid froze because of the cold temp and the fluid they have down here doesn't have enough anti-freeze to keep it liquid. Due to the snowy, slushy roads the windshield needed to be washed often to be able to see. We had to stop about every 20-30 minutes to wash off the windshield! Therefore it took us a while to get there. But once there everyone was happy to get out of the car! We got there just in time for a huge snow storm! They got a total of about 24 inches in a matter of 2 days! Carter had so much fun in the snow! Thankfully Brandon's mom (Mim) had snow clothes for the kids! Carter made a snowman, snow balls, snow angels and even snow ice cream! Campbell wasn't too impressed . . . she was so bundled up, she couldn't move! So on the 3rd day when the roads had finally been plowed and were drivable we were to drive up to Brandon's dad's house. Because of the cold weather my car battery was obviously low because it was dead! So we had to get a new battery and while at his dad's house Brandon and his brother thawed out the windshield washer fluid in the garage and put in some fluid that wouldn't freeze! Needless to say we had a rough start. The temperature the first part of the week stayed at about 12 and one morning the temp was 5! Burrrrr! We had a week of parties at various houses and enjoyed a wonderful white Christmas at Mim's house with Uncle Gary and Dandaddy too! The kids had fun and got so many wonderful things! On Saturday night the 27th started the journey home and it went much smoother. Could have been because of the 50 degree temp we drove in to! The drive was long but worth it to be with friends and family during such a wonderful time of year.