Andy's Big Trip Part 1

Sunday was an eventful day. We (Grandma, Grandpa, and the five of us) loaded up in the Excursion and headed for Garden Valley, Texas. It took about 2 1/2 hours to get there and it was somewhat stressful for me more than anyone other than Andy. He was nervous and excited all at the same time. This was the first time he would venture out without family or known friends traveling with him. We arrived at Garden Valley around 130pm and took Andy into the activity room where he got his name tag, took a picture, and finished up registration for his trip. This all took about 45 minutes. During one of the times that we were waiting for the next step, a lady got on the speakers behind Jeff and started encouraging people to go out and welcome the newcomers. She was really loud. Most of the staffers went out and cheered and clapped as the newcomers came in. It was neat the way they welcomed people in. We then drove Andy over to his hut to put his stuff up. It was males only but Jeff said that it was just a long room with big fans at both ends blowing hot air around and being really loud. After that we took Andy back to the activity center so he could meet people and see who all was going to Thailand with him. It appeared that there were more girls than boys going so......

Andy hugged everyone first and then he hugged me really tight. I had promised him that I would not cry (I had been doing that all week and even now as I write this) when we dropped him off. I kept my promise and did really well. I only had a couple of tears after we left him. As the momma, this is hard to have my first baby leave for so long (a month!). What am I going to do when he goes to college? I may have to chain him to the porch. HAHA!!!

Jeff sent the camera with Andy so we don't have a way to post pictures. You may want to check out grandpa's site for pictures. As we hear from Andy and get updates from Thailand then we will update the blog on his trip.

Will and Jesse say they are glad there is one less but I sure did hear how bored they were today. Will even cleaned his room.