The Parken Family: Trek to Mississippi

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Trek to Mississippi

Everett is nearing 15 months now and he's been eating table food for awhile. The next thing on his list was to head to the family restaurant to dine and feast like we all love to do in our family. So, we made the 12+ hour trek in the car. The drive started last Thursday night from Raleigh to Greenville, SC. Friday lunch in Birmingham and headed into Greenwood, Mississippi about 6pm. Not many people have heard of Greenwood. It's a small, charming town, but not too much there. Greenwood is home of the Viking cooking equipment and the downtown is quaint for an afternoon stroll. Other than that, we are just there for the family. My aunt and uncle own "Mai Little China" and my grandmother was in town for a visit too. We got to surprise my grandmother with our visit and she got lots of sweet time with Everett. Of course, LOTS and LOTS of food was involved during our weekend stay and I'm sure we gained a few pounds along the way.

Lunch stop in Birmingham, Alabama

We were not in the restaurant for 2 minutes and
Everett is already getting fed!

My grandmother was so surprised to see us
and LOVED seeing Everett

My grandmother, Aunt Cathy, Uncle Matthew, and Everett

Enjoying one more meal at the restaurant before we leave town

These two had so much fun together

Everett LOVES LOVES his great-grandmother!!

From Greenwood, we took the short drive to Madison, Mississippi (right outside Jackson) to my great-uncle's 80th birthday. We got to see many more family members there and share in the special occasion. The trek back home started after the birthday party headed to Atlanta, GA. We were blessed to spend time with the Rollmans and truly appreciated their hospitality. We left Atlanta around 11am and made it to Charlotte for a late lunch and shopping at Ikea! This was our first time there and it was a perfect outing before heading home. Lunch was great (and cheap!) and Adam and I spent time oooing and ahhhing at all their furniture and things at reasonable prices. We will be back! We got back home to Raleigh by 7:30pm and Everett headed to bed. It was such a great trip and we are so thankful so many family members got to meet and spend time with our little boy!