On Sunday we loaded up from Idaho Falls and I planned to drive straight to Colorado. 9 hours. I knew it would be long but the kids have been awesome travelers up to this point, so I wasn't too concerned about it. I was right. The kids did awesome! We all did awesome!
After about 3 hours we stopped at a great rest area, that had a restaurant, gas, and a playground for kids. We stopped there for a while and gave our legs a good stretch! It made for a great stop and also helped a lot for the next 6 hours.
All June wanted for lunch were crackers, cheese and turkey. So that is what we had for lunch! She was pretty proud of her stack!
And this little man was free and happy!
There was a large plastic dinosaur that the kids were having the best time playing on it, and sliding on the tail. It was hard to get them back in the car.
We drove and drove and drove some more. Had one more rest stop and then pulled into my parents house around 8pm. It took us about 10 hours. Only an hour longer with stops and everything! I was pretty proud of our timing!
The kids were pretty beat, but my mom had dinner waiting for us. The kids had a couple bites, then it was off to bed.
Owen is such a mischievous little man, and he definitely wears me down. I mean how can this precious little thing have so much power?! It's killer and on the road makes him even crazier, but when he lets me rock him, and snuggle him (Which he is the best snuggle) then just sleeps so perfectly... It fully consumes me and I love him to the fullest.
I stayed an extra day at my parents house, since Dan wasn't at home and we didn't really get time to hangout on my way to Idaho, so it was nice to let the kids play for an extra day.
We went and met a few missionaries at my parents mission office, and talked with the Couple missionaries working in the office. It was nice putting names to people who my parents talk about.
My dad got home from meetings and other missionary stuff and he let me and my mom escape for an hour or so to go get lunch and shop a little bit.
Once Owen woke up from his awesome 5 hour nap, we packed some snacks and went to a really fun lake surrounding a pond. It was really pretty there.
He's so grown up!
Feeding the ducks... even though we weren't supposed to. oops! Haha
Owen was loving the ducks and geese. He just kept chasing them around yelling quack quack! It was pretty adorable!
When we got home, we had dinner and then got ready for bed. My Dad was having is AP's over for a meeting and my mom had Sister Missionaries come over to practice a song, so we made cookies for them and of course June helped and was rewarded just how she wanted!
After getting the June to bed, I ended up falling asleep on the couch. Lame I know. I was really tired.
I ended up going to bed while my parents worked on stuff for their zone conference the next day.
So The plan was to do the exact same thing as I did coming down to Idaho. Stop in Colorado, stop in Kansas and then home. Two, six hour days.
Honestly, the thought of staying in a hotel again really didn't settle well with me. I was tired of packing and unpacking. Loading the kids up a million times and just not being home.
I talked to Dan about just driving straight from Colorado to Texas. 12 solid hours of driving. I had my mind set up, Dan felt confident that I could do it, as long as I felt good and the kids were ok.
So I woke up the next morning, and headed out. My parents had to be at zone conference by 8:30, so I left with them. Said our goodbyes and we both went our separate ways. After stopping for gas, and getting all situated with movies and snacks, we were officially on the road by nine. I planned in my head to stop every 4 hours. It worked out, though I think the kids probably could have used more breaks.... Sorry kiddos.
No really, the kids were amazing. They played, colored, watched movies, slept (though never at the same time) and really just were content. I was so relieved with how happy they were for sitting in a car that long!
This is my "I am going a bit crazy" face. I had been on the road for about six hours. Half way.
About seven hours in, both kids fell asleep. It was so nice! They slept for a good 2 hours too! I listened to my audio book and it made the time go by so fast!
Once the kids woke up, we stopped for dinner and had a really long break outside of the car. We stretched, we played tag for a long time and just got ourselves all refreshed. I knew it would be getting dark soon, so I gave myself a little pep talk, that I only had three hours left and I would be home! I can do this!!
I changed the kids into pajamas, got them all set up with new movies, games and toys and we were on the road again. It turned dark pretty fast once I hit Texas. A storm blew in. A big Thunder and lightning storm. The lighting across the sky was really cool to watch, but then the rain came and it came hard. I had to slow down to about 40, and watched the white strip on the side of the road to make sure I knew I was actually on the road. It was a bit scary for an hour or so. Thankfully the storm blew over, and it all cleared up. I had about an hour and a half left to get home.
With it being so dark outside, the kids actually ended up falling asleep! The ride was quiet. I just listened to my book on tape and thinking of walking into my own home and sleeping in my own bed! It made me all that more eager to get home.
It was about midnight when I pulled into the garage. 14 hours later. We did so good and I was so proud of the kids for being so amazing! And really I was amazingly proud of myself for doing what I just did. I got the kids to bed, and I headed to bed myself leaving everything in the car to be cleaned out tomorrow.
The next day we all slept in. It was a very lazy day of not going anywhere. Well except we did have to go get some groceries. Dan had left the Thursday before we got home, so there was literally nothing to eat, except he did get us milk! What a good man.
The kids reaction to getting back into the car. It was June who was not too pleased.
I took a picture of our speedometer for Dan and I guess for my records as well. It was a bit sad to but 3000 miles on a brand-new car that started with only 87 miles on it. But I was so so so glad to have
it!
In the end I totally would do it again. I plan to do it again. I really enjoyed it. I finished three audio books, Sang countless songs, played the alphabet game with myself dozens of times and I really enjoyed just the quiet time, talking with June, singing with Owen, and just being all together. It really was such a fun trip and I'm looking forward to our next adventure!!
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