Road Trippin'

Last week, Kylie and I, along with Jon's dad and brother, Tony, and Ingrid, Elias, and Espen piled into an RV for a 40 hour round trip road trip to Virginia. Jon and his mom have tight work schedules, so they flew out and met us in VA for the weekend portion. We went out there to see Jon's younger brother, Greg, present his thesis for his master's degree in Athletic Training.

 Kylie enjoying the ride!

 This was our set up with the kids. 

Doug (our driver) and the RV!

The road trip went better than expected, especially with 3 children under the age of two! The kids were REALLY good, considering they were strapped into their car seats for 10ish hours each day! :) I guess the Barlow kiddos are some laid back people. I should add that we stayed in hotels each night, so that probably helped the mood (Except for Doug, Tony and Espen one of the nights). I can't imagine how we would have slept in there with 4 adults and 3 kids in cribs! I was probably the most high-strung person in the "big truck" but even I maintained my cool for the most part. No one had any huge outbursts, and we all survived to tell the tale!

The actual drive was scenic and beautiful, especially through the mountains of West Virginia and Virginia. John Denver's song, "Country Roads" (which is Kylie's favorite song), says it best, "Almost heaven, West Virginia!" :)

 

The Blue Ridge Mountains of West Virginia.

We spent about 60 hours in Charlottesville, VA where Greg did his master's program at the University of Virginia. The town and college have a lot of cool history behind them. The college was envisioned and designed by Thomas Jefferson! And it's easy to see that the entire place was structured long before most architectural master pieces in Minnesota. While there, we spent time swimming in the hotel, touring the town and college, eating at yummy restaurants including Chick Fil A and The Boathouse, and watching Greg present his thesis and complete his training! I HEARD that Greg did a great job, but I didn't actually get to see it because Kylie was being a pill that day. She needed to be quiet for about 12-15 minutes, but didn't even make it 2 minutes before I had to leave the auditorium with her. She is in this stage where she LOVES to hear herself talk. She says a word, and then repeats that word about 50 times before moving on to the next word. And this continues constantly. Most of the time it's really sweet, but I must say I was really disappointed to miss Greg's presentation. At least, everyone else made it through and got to see it! We are all very proud!

Greg posing for pictures after his thesis presentation!

 This is the pedestrian mall in Charlottesville.

It reminded me of State Street in Madison.

 An old building on campus.

 A door to a dorm room on campus.

 Inside the Rotunda, which was Thomas Jefferson's vision!

 A marble statue of TJ!

 The medical school at UVA.

 

 This is how Tony, Kylie and Elias traversed the campus! 

Who needs a double BOB?!?

After celebrating Greg on Saturday, we took off early Sunday morning for the 20 hour trek back to Minnesota! Again, it went well, but I was happy to be home and back in my own bed!