Here's a little recap for you:
We brought Freddie home June 1st this year but we live over 6 hours away from most of my family. He officially became ours on August 28th, just 1 week after he turned 14. He had only met my sister and brother-in-law and my dad prior to this fun-filled trip. We took our first official family road trip at the beginning of October.
Freddie had never been any further north that Georgia. So, to take him to winding South Carolina roads and the hills and mountain views of Tennessee were on my bucket list. He was amazed and the look of excitement in his eyes for seeing something new never got old- especially considering it takes a lot to get teens excited about nature and God's creative work.
Little Buddy (Tobie) didn't want his Big Buddy to leave. This was about 2am, just before we departed.
And this was just after the sun rose.
First up on the trip, we met my niece Emmy (Emelia Adair Nabors), who was born just 2 days after Freddie joined our family.
Aunt Va took him to a pumpkin patch in our hometown to pick pumpkins for us to carve. We made some delicious fall food and enjoyed the company of her infamous cats and their silly games.
On Friday night we introduced Freddie to our crew... these are our people- all of which were members of our bridal party ;) We took him out to Myabi (a yummy Japanese restaurant) and then to Frankie's Fun Park (side note: it was way better than when we were kids).
In case you didn't gather... I lost at both Connect 4 and MarioKart... I have some work to do. And... I think we wore him out!
After a fun time in South Carolina meeting my mom, stepdad, step siblings, grandparents, aunt and uncle, cousin, we hit the road again. To the mountains we ventured to stay at my dad's farm and lodge {the lodge is available to rent- and the hospitality is unmatched}! It's a true farm experience and filled with golf-cart rides, feeding the animals-llamas, goats, chickens, horse, donkey, and relaxing.
And then we took Freddie to Dollywood and the Dixie Stampede, now called Dolly Parton's Stampede.
This is my favorite photo- and describes our family to a "T".
"All good things must come to an end" they say... so we headed back home, to these sweet faces.
This trip wouldn't have been possible without a village though. Our girl Kenzie ran the market while we were gone, our family pitched in to help with the loading and unloading, the tickets and trip money and we are so blessed that we got to take this grand #JPFFamilyAdventure together!
We hope you enjoyed reliving our adventure as much as we did!
With love,
Joel, Lauren, and Freddie
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