We’ve returned from our grand family tour of the SE. My joke was “6 days, 3 states, 1 car, oodles of family.” This is pretty much true, since we flew into Atlanta, drove to watch Greg graduate from Office Candidate School, spent a few days in Montgomery, Alabama with Aunt Donna the Great and her husband Mike, and finished with a few days visitin’ the McPherson relatives in Nashville. It was a great trip, with lots of time doing this (see picture below). Well, not necessarily sleeping but riding in the car.

First stop was Columbus, Georgia to watch our favorite soldier graduate from OCS. J’s best friend/brotha-from-anotha-motha Greg finished a long training and we were proud to stand up and cheer for him when he received his honors.

Then we moved on to spend a few days with Donna and Mike in Alabama. We had a nice time at their beautiful home and took these pictures on our little hike near Fort Talouse.

After that we drove up to Nashville for some country music, bar-b-q (and sushi), and more family visiting. It was a lot of moving for our trip, but it was worth spending time with everyone. The trip was actually a lot less stressful than I was worried it would be. We all traveled well, especially Lil’ Miss. Several people complimented how well Clare did on the planes, in restaurants, and everywhere in between. Considering how structured we keep her routine at home she really did well with catching naps in the car, lunches consisting of cheese, fig newtons and cheerios, new foods (including Clare’s first sushi!), and lots of hugs and kisses from new people.

This is me, Darlene (Oma), J, Wayne (Papa), Jan, Clare and Nanny at the Chihuly Installation at the Cheekwood Botanical Gardens in Nashville.

Three generations of McPhersons

Clare and her beloved Papa. He just adores her!

Finally we finished our last day at Centennial Park in downtown Nashville with Papa and Oma. We fed some geese (until they scared Clare), watched the squirrels, played in the dirt and on a train, and just enjoyed the end to a wonderful trip.