Catching Up Part 2, the Road Trip

After the July 4th weekend, we finished packing up our stuff from Alabama and got on the road to head cross-country to our new home in Boise.  We planned on taking three full days to get there, which would equate to 9 hours of driving each day.  That's a pretty monumental undertaking with three kids age six and under!  But we've driven long distances before to and from Mimi and Poppie's house when we lived in South Carolina, so this wouldn't be much different, only it would be three days in a row instead of just one.  The first day we made it from Alabama through Memphis to Arkansas, Oklahoma, and halfway through Kansas.

First morning on the road

Our first casualty

Torrential downpours in Wichita, Kansas!

 

We stopped for the night in Salina, Kansas where we promptly found a hotel with an indoor pool.  As soon as we got our stuff inside, we had the kids put on their bathing suits and we went and played in the water for an hour and a half--just long enough to really tire them out.  We ordered a pizza in the room and went straight to bed!  The next morning at 4 am, I hear Marcus rustling in the bed and lo and behold he's ready to get up and go, lol!  But instead of getting us all up, he let us sleep and went and got gas and reorganized the truck and picked up doughnuts and milk for breakfast.  By the time he got back, we were slowly getting up and we were able to get back on the road by 7 that morning. 

 

The second day of travel, we drove from the middle of Kansas to Colorado and up to Cheyenne, Wyoming where we turned west and drove as far as Evanston, Wyoming.  We decided to stop there because we had gone through a lot of rain that day and were all tired, plus that gave us only a few hour drive to Grandma's house the next day.

 

The farther west we got, the more windmills we saw

Intently watching the movie

My chauffeur looks so serious! He's a man on a mission!

Kansas really is all flat...

Entering Colorado! This was a new state for me to check off my list.

A buffalo statue on a mountain marks the spot where we entered Wyoming.

At the time, I thought 58 was cold, but when we got up at 6:30 am in Evanston, it was 49 degrees!

About to hit a wall of rain.

Finally starting to get into some mountains!

The clouds were so low, we couldn't see the tops of the mountain

I thought this was the coolest thing!  We bought the chips in Alabama and didn't open them until we were in Colorado, so the change in pressure made the bag inflate!  Definitely had an impromptu science lesson with the kids, lol!

 

After spending the night in Evanston, we got up on the third day and hit the road for the comparatively short drive to Grandma's house in Burley.  We were only three miles from Utah, so we just had to cut through the northeast corner of Utah through Ogden and head north for Idaho. 

 

Finally some REAL mountains!

The clouds were playing peek-a-boo in the crevices of the mountains.

Leaving Utah and heading towards Idaho.

Our new home state!!

 

We made it to Grandma's house just in time for some fishing before lunch.  Overall, we had a fantastic trip and really could not have asked for better, besides all the rain that we went through in Kansas and Wyoming.  I got to see parts of the country that I had never seen before.  The kids did great watching movies and napping in the car and Marcus and I were able to swap out driving and riding.  We packed lots of snacks and lunch foods, so we didn't have to stop for food, only for gas and potty breaks, which were surprisingly few considering I was 34 weeks pregnant!  It was a really great trip, although I'm not sure I want to be stuck in the car for that long again any time soon! :)

 

Our full journey from SC to ID!





Catching Up!

Since my last post, there has been a ton of things going on in our lives, so it's going to take me a few posts to get it all in.  We spent almost the entire month of June in Alabama with my parents, mostly just hanging out and being lazy for the summer.  We got the kids going with the library's reading program and they devoured lots of books;  we even went on a bear hunt or two! ;-)  I was able to get a few books crossed off my reading list as well during my break from school. 

One of the few books I read

We took a few days to explore the area and visit a couple of museums and local tourist attractions.  The kids loved standing next to the waterfall at the dam because it covered us in a cool mist on a blazing hot summer day.

The overlook at Wilson Dam

One of the waterfalls by the dam

 

The bigger waterfall that gave us a good misting

The water temp was still pretty cool for June

The kids had to squint because of all the mist! It sure felt good though!

 

We spent a lot of time just hanging out and enjoying the company.  The kids sure loved hanging out with Mimi and Poppie.

 

Especially when Poppie gave them tractor rides!

 

Taking a nap with Mimi 

A lazy afternoon of Farkle and cheese puffs

Teaching Tay how to play War (that's Daddy's war face, lol)

The kids spent a week at VBS and had a blast!  They're still singing the songs they learned!

 

When Marcus and I were still dating, one of the first restaurants we went to in Alabama was Casa Mexicana.  We have a framed picture of the two of us at the table.  This trip, Casa was one of our last restaurants to go to, so we thought it was only fitting to get a new picture showing the difference of 10 years.  We've both aged a little bit and we've certainly added to our family a lot! It makes me wonder where we'll be in another 10 years...