The Sherrards in Scotland: Our Holiday in the States (Part 1)

After a few days out of school and our first July 4th abroad, we packed our bags and headed for our summer holiday in the States. This trip was our third time to fly internationally with kids and we've figured out how to make it go as smooth as possible for our family of four. After arriving at the Edinburgh airport, we stumbled upon a playground and the boys ran off some energy.

wonderful gift to parents and kids: airport playgrounds!!

The boys did great on our flight. It is the easier leg of our trip since you don't feel pressure to try and get a good night's sleep and you just push ahead through a long day. This time, we chose to avoid London and head straight to Philadelphia from Edinburgh. The only trade off was a smaller plane with limited movie options. The boys watched The Lego Movie on the plane screen and then read, played and watched another movie before we landed.

Super dad sat with the boys and let me sit across the aisle.

We were so excited to land in Mississippi, get a good night's sleep, and wake up to a true summer day. We had wonderful weather before we left St. Andrew's but it felt great to finally wear shorts without a jacket every day! Gran and Granddaddy welcomed us home and we all acclimated quickly to the new time zone.

Baseball was a favorite sport of the boys before we left but not something that you hear much about in the UK. They loved picking up the bats and playing with Dad.

On Saturday, we headed to Starkville to see friends and visit our Church, First Pres! We pulled into town and grabbed some biscuits from The Biscuit Shop for Sunday breakfast. Yum!! Then, it was on to Oby's for a family lunch before heading to the Aarhus house. It was great to spend the afternoon hanging out with sweet friends. The grown-ups had time to catch up and the kids played and picked right back up where they left off.

We were craving some sushi from Umi (one of our favorites). We sat on the hibachi side so we could have sushi and everyone else could enjoy the yummy hibachi food and show. It was the boys first time to see the show and it did not disappoint!

sweet friends

After dinner, we headed to the MSU golf course for Cosmic golf. We played a few rounds of putt putt as the sun set. Such a beautiful night with good friends!! And, even a few holes in one!

Back together again

On Sunday mornings, it was just like old times with Joey leaving early to get ready for the 8:30 service while I got the kids ready. Of course, this time we had friends to hang out with while we did the normal Sunday morning routine. We had such a wonderful time catching up with friends at First Pres. The boys went to Sunday School and I walked around with Amy to see people and hear how things had changed. Joey had the wonderful opportunity to preach at both services (Here's a link if you are interested in hearing it http://fpcstarkville.org/media/071314Goodness.mp3). We headed to City Bagel for lunch with the Kemp family and then a fun afternoon of the kids playing in a blow-up water slide at the Ferguson house while the adults chatted.

After a full day, we headed to the Overstreets' house to see our home group friends and have dinner. Last visit, all the grown ups got together so it was great to have the kids join us and spend time together as well. It was a wonderful full day of catching up and spending good time with good friends!

Paxton, Joseph and Shelby armed and ready in the bunk bed

the whole gang

so many boys :)

On our last day, we did important things like fit a Dentist appointment for Joey (thanks Wesley!!) and a quick visit to the Warden house to see Lindsay, A. C. English, and their four boys:) We stopped by the Church to see Vicki and Kim. Then, it was one last lunch with the Aarhus family before heading out of town.