Hodges Family Blog: First Road Trip

How it all began

Ralph and I have been together since the summer of 2008 but it all began in 1992. Ralph's sister, Colleen and I have been best friends since 6th grade and we grew up at each other's houses throughout the years. Ralph was always around but being the younger brother was forbidden to be around us (not that he wanted to make up dances with us). We said hi during high school and when I needed a jersey to wear to school on Fridays, Ralph was nice enough to let me wear his. He visited Kent State while I was there once to look at the football team and campus but decided against attending. He joined the Marine Corps and we spoke through emails every now and then just to see how the other was doing. Life went on and our paths finally crossed again in 2008 when Colleen invited me to their families yearly 4th of July party. Ralph was home on leave from Iraq and I just moved back to Cincinnati. This time when we saw each other things seemed a little different and the rest is history. In December 2011 we were engaged, July 2012 we were married, April 2013 we bought our first house and March 2014 we had our first child, Braxten! Each year has been more blessed than the last and we are so excited to see where our future takes us!

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

First Road Trip

On Thursday June 5th we took Braxten on his first road trip. The longest he had been in his car seat was 45 minutes prior and we were going to have him in there for at least 6.5 hours! Luckily he loves the car and he did great! We stopped to feed him a bottle and change him about 3 hours but not because he was crying but because it was time to eat! He didn't fuss until 5 hours on the road and stopped as soon as I crawled in the back and hung out with him for a bit. We stopped again for him to eat and then made it the rest of the way! It took 7.5 hours in all. We decided with one stop to change him in the car - the restroom was disgusting!

We went to Georgia to Aunt Diane and Uncle Glenn's lake house on Lake Nottely to surprise Missi for her 60th birthday. She was shocked! We were not there for the initial surprise but we are told tears were involved as she walked onto the porch and saw most of her family standing there! The weekend was full of boating, wake boarding, knee boarding, jet skiing, pontoon cruising, family games, horse racing, golfing and lots of laughs! We could not have asked for a better time with everyone. Braxten was exhausted by the end of the day and passed out on Daddy before dinner. It is tough being the youngest person there out of 19 adults and 5 kids. He was able to melt the hearts of the whole family as each took turns holding him, making him laugh and filling his life with love! Thank you to Diane and Glenn for opening your house to us! It was so much fun!!!