We've been struggling with the naming of Jack! I know that Jack has always been a nickname for John, but I don't know if I want to name him John and him have to correct his teachers and write down John (Jack) Michael Satterfield on formal papers.
We decided on Jack Michael, thinking that Jack as a nickname is more for older people, and that you can name a boy Jack now. I don't want him to wish he had a more formal, traditional name down the road, though. What are your thoughts on this??
I think we'd be fine either way, and I love both ways, but I'd love your help! I put a poll out to the side, or you can leave a comment. Thanks for your help with this!
My Life. My Boys.
Monday, June 30, 2008
16 Weeks Update!
I thought I'd give a quick update on my pregnancy. I've been feeling Jack move for about a week now! Every couple of days, it gets stronger, and Josh got to feel him last night! I LOVE feeling him move around, and I'm so excited that I get to connect with him in this way for the next 24 weeks!
This pregnancy seems to be very similar to my last pregnancy so far. I think I'm the same, size-wise for 16 weeks, although it's really hard to remember. I feel great, besides still getting tired every afternoon, but when I have energy, I have tons of energy and am loving it.
My back hurts much worse than last time. I tried to simply do laundry last night, and I've been limping off and on since. Stopping MDO REALLY helped with my back, since I was constantly bending over with the kids, but I still manage to reinjure it almost every day!
My cravings are subsiding, but I have had a major craving for fruit and snow cones!! So I guess they really haven't subsided, just changed a bit. With James, I wanted nothing healthy...just sugar, but now I have to eat fruit all throughout the day. I didn't realize it, but one day, I came home from the grocery store with I think 7-8 different KINDS of fruit! I felt like I had to have each one of them! At any given day, you can find a good selection of grapefruit, oranges, apples, bananas, blueberries, strawberries, pears, or grapes at our house. I'm trying to limit myself to 1, maybe 2 snow cones per week, but now that I'm thinking about them, I don't know if I can wait that long!
That's pretty much it for now! I go for my 16 week checkup today and then my big ultrasound will come in the next few weeks. I'm anxious to find out if our doctor was right about us having a boy!
*Update, his heartbeat was 148 bpm. I told the doctor that HE had been kicking a lot this week, and he said, "He, huh?" I said, "Remember we saw it at the last appointment??" and he said, "So you believed me, huh?". Ahhh! He was kidding, but I think he might have either been trying to cover himself in case he was wrong, or maybe he's gotten a couple wrong recently and wanted to prepare me! I will get seen within the next 3 weeks for my big ultrasound, so I'm anxious to know for sure!!
This pregnancy seems to be very similar to my last pregnancy so far. I think I'm the same, size-wise for 16 weeks, although it's really hard to remember. I feel great, besides still getting tired every afternoon, but when I have energy, I have tons of energy and am loving it.
My back hurts much worse than last time. I tried to simply do laundry last night, and I've been limping off and on since. Stopping MDO REALLY helped with my back, since I was constantly bending over with the kids, but I still manage to reinjure it almost every day!
My cravings are subsiding, but I have had a major craving for fruit and snow cones!! So I guess they really haven't subsided, just changed a bit. With James, I wanted nothing healthy...just sugar, but now I have to eat fruit all throughout the day. I didn't realize it, but one day, I came home from the grocery store with I think 7-8 different KINDS of fruit! I felt like I had to have each one of them! At any given day, you can find a good selection of grapefruit, oranges, apples, bananas, blueberries, strawberries, pears, or grapes at our house. I'm trying to limit myself to 1, maybe 2 snow cones per week, but now that I'm thinking about them, I don't know if I can wait that long!
That's pretty much it for now! I go for my 16 week checkup today and then my big ultrasound will come in the next few weeks. I'm anxious to find out if our doctor was right about us having a boy!
*Update, his heartbeat was 148 bpm. I told the doctor that HE had been kicking a lot this week, and he said, "He, huh?" I said, "Remember we saw it at the last appointment??" and he said, "So you believed me, huh?". Ahhh! He was kidding, but I think he might have either been trying to cover himself in case he was wrong, or maybe he's gotten a couple wrong recently and wanted to prepare me! I will get seen within the next 3 weeks for my big ultrasound, so I'm anxious to know for sure!!
San Antonio trip that ended short
Josh, James, and I left last Thursday afternoon for Josh's annual summer regional. We had a really fun beginning to the trip. Something in me gets really happy when we go south on I35. I just love so many places down there and always seem to have a great time without feeling too road-weary by the end of it. San Antonio is about 3 hours from us, but it literally seemed like an hour after our drive to and from Atlanta last week! I couldn't get over how quickly it felt like we got there. Anyways, we got to see a little bit more of downtown San Antonio, since we stayed in a hotel right in the middle of downtown, and we loved it! The first night, we just strolled along the Riverwalk, which was just a two minute walk from our hotel, and James loved the baby ducks, mama ducks, and all of his "friends" on the Riverboats as they would pass. He would say very excitedly, "Hi friends!! Bye friends!!" It later turned into, "Hi peoples! Bye peoples!". I don't know what happened to make them go a step down in his book! Saturday, I left the hotel early with James in his stroller while Josh was in meetings, and I pushed him around for 4 hours! Boy was I hurting that night and the next day. My left hip and right knee were in so much pain I could hardly walk. I forget sometimes that I'm pregnant and can't do things like that! Josh got out at lunch, we had an Edward Jones lunch, and then we took a nap that afternoon. After his nap, we got dressed and went down to the Riverwalk again. We ate an incredible meal at Boudro's (sp?) and then took a Riverboat tour. We loved that, and learned that every week, 7-10 people fall in the River! The drunk people get a fine of $500, too!
This is where the fun trip takes a sharp turn for the worse. We put James to bed around 9 and stayed up until 11 watching a movie. James was perfectly fine. Around 1:15 am, I wake up to James having labored breathing and a croupy caugh. I jumped out of bed to grab James, and Josh ran into the shower to turn it on hot and create steam. That didn't work, so we decided he need to go to the ER. Almost as soon as we stepped outside, the labored breathing stopped (night air will usually clear it up). We called our doctor, who was the oncall doctor that night, and he said that since he cleared up outside, we didn't need to go to the ER. We were so glad to hear that! Around 2 am, we went back upstairs and tried to get some sleep while I held him upright. None of us got much sleep, but thankfully he had no more labored breathing. Just a high fever.
We decided to leave the next morning and take him into see our doctor. He confirmed it was croupe and said his throat looked very swollen. He's now on prednisone and antibiotics (bc croupe now is considered somewhat bacterial) and is doing remarkably better! His prednisone makes him hyper, but tonight will be the last night for that one.
So, we think that James is trying to tell us to not go out of town anymore! First Costa Rica, and now this! :)
This is where the fun trip takes a sharp turn for the worse. We put James to bed around 9 and stayed up until 11 watching a movie. James was perfectly fine. Around 1:15 am, I wake up to James having labored breathing and a croupy caugh. I jumped out of bed to grab James, and Josh ran into the shower to turn it on hot and create steam. That didn't work, so we decided he need to go to the ER. Almost as soon as we stepped outside, the labored breathing stopped (night air will usually clear it up). We called our doctor, who was the oncall doctor that night, and he said that since he cleared up outside, we didn't need to go to the ER. We were so glad to hear that! Around 2 am, we went back upstairs and tried to get some sleep while I held him upright. None of us got much sleep, but thankfully he had no more labored breathing. Just a high fever.
We decided to leave the next morning and take him into see our doctor. He confirmed it was croupe and said his throat looked very swollen. He's now on prednisone and antibiotics (bc croupe now is considered somewhat bacterial) and is doing remarkably better! His prednisone makes him hyper, but tonight will be the last night for that one.
So, we think that James is trying to tell us to not go out of town anymore! First Costa Rica, and now this! :)
Sunday, June 29, 2008
6th Anniversary!
Today is our 6th Wedding Anniversary! It's so hard to believe that we've already been married 6 years! We have enjoyed our quiet, simple anniversary at home today and are going to grill some steaks after James goes to bed!
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| Make a Smilebox photobook |
Monday, June 23, 2008
Atlanta!
I have officially ridden in the car about 5,600 miles over the past two months, between driving from Atlanta to Waco two months ago, to the trip with Elizabeth, to driving to Atlanta and back this past week! I don't want to get back in the car for a while, but we'll be right back in there driving to San Antonio in a few days! I must say, the DVD player made the trip soooo much easier. I highly recommend it to anyone taking a long trip with little kids.
We had a whirlwind of a trip, and all three of us are exhausted. Here are some pictures, the rest are in the June 2008 album.
We were so excited to meet baby Scotty! He's Jo Anna's new foster-to-adopt child. He was precious and so good!
I love this picture of the boys. These boys are ALL boy and the two on the right were hilarious together and up to mischief the entire time. From the left, Jeb (my cutie patootie nephew), Jacob (Jo Anna's newest addition...Scotty's older brother who the just signed papers to foster-to-adopt him as well! Sweet as he can be!), and Jackson (my hilarious, sweet nephew)
James with all of his cousins.
I told Jeb, "You look SO cute!", and he said (in a "duh" tone), "That's why they asked me to be the ring bearer!"
Before Jayme's wedding.
The beautiful bride, Josh's cousin Jayme. It was a gorgeous wedding!
I didn't take anymore pictures after the wedding, but we also went to Jennifer's (Josh's cousin on the other side) bridal shower. I got to hold Scotty most of the time while he was sound asleep and enjoyed every second of it! We will be heading to this wedding next month!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Busy Summer!
We are coming to the end of the last weekend here and without company until August! We have so much going on this summer, but I'm looking forward to all of it. I'm also excited that it will really help in making this pregnancy fly by.
*We have been having such a fun summer so far. I really thought I'd miss teaching Mother's Day Out, but I am having more fun just staying home with my little man everyday! I like having my week ahead be a blank slate to plan and space things out. The first week of summer was on the trip with Elizabeth, and we will be gone most of June and July, so we packed in lots of fun this past week. James got to play with buddies 4 out of 5 days last week (while I enjoyed getting to chat with their mommies). James and I made some kind of outing (light and easy), just the two of us, every day too! I think I'm REALLY enjoying having some of my old energy back! I love the second trimester! My wonderful mother also watched James two nights this week so Josh and I could go to a dinner and a wedding! It's fun to go to a wedding, sit there and hold hands, and watch the cute newlyweds take in their "Big Day".
*Josh and I savored this weekend before the craziness begins. We got up early on Saturday for a good hearty breakfast at Cracker Barrell (James always does well there because of that triangular toy, which is an added bonus), and ran errands for our upcoming trip. We are driving to Atlanta soon, and we finally bit the bullet and bought a portable DVD player for James. I think it'll really help make the road trip much easier. We had a wonderful Father's Day. I feel overwhelmed by God blessing me with first, my dad, who has provided nothing but unconditional love, is always encouraging and supportive, and is just always there for us. Secondly, by my husband. I am so blessed and proud to have Josh to raise our boys with. I truly feel like I hit the jackpot! We had my parents and grandma over for a nice dinner after church (everyone else was out of town), and we all enjoyed celebrating two incredible men!
*I will not be able to update very much over the next few weeks, but I hope everyone has a wonderful start to the summer! Here are some pictures from today. Check my family pictures album to see more pictures throughout the summer!
*We have been having such a fun summer so far. I really thought I'd miss teaching Mother's Day Out, but I am having more fun just staying home with my little man everyday! I like having my week ahead be a blank slate to plan and space things out. The first week of summer was on the trip with Elizabeth, and we will be gone most of June and July, so we packed in lots of fun this past week. James got to play with buddies 4 out of 5 days last week (while I enjoyed getting to chat with their mommies). James and I made some kind of outing (light and easy), just the two of us, every day too! I think I'm REALLY enjoying having some of my old energy back! I love the second trimester! My wonderful mother also watched James two nights this week so Josh and I could go to a dinner and a wedding! It's fun to go to a wedding, sit there and hold hands, and watch the cute newlyweds take in their "Big Day".
*Josh and I savored this weekend before the craziness begins. We got up early on Saturday for a good hearty breakfast at Cracker Barrell (James always does well there because of that triangular toy, which is an added bonus), and ran errands for our upcoming trip. We are driving to Atlanta soon, and we finally bit the bullet and bought a portable DVD player for James. I think it'll really help make the road trip much easier. We had a wonderful Father's Day. I feel overwhelmed by God blessing me with first, my dad, who has provided nothing but unconditional love, is always encouraging and supportive, and is just always there for us. Secondly, by my husband. I am so blessed and proud to have Josh to raise our boys with. I truly feel like I hit the jackpot! We had my parents and grandma over for a nice dinner after church (everyone else was out of town), and we all enjoyed celebrating two incredible men!
*I will not be able to update very much over the next few weeks, but I hope everyone has a wonderful start to the summer! Here are some pictures from today. Check my family pictures album to see more pictures throughout the summer!
We could not get a good picture, no matter how hard we tried!
Trying to get a family picture.
The guests of honor
Trying to get a family picture.
Two "You are Special Today" plates for Father's Day
The guests of honorFriday, June 13, 2008
Video of James singing and chatting with us
When I write little things that James says, I can always hear his voice in my head. I don't feel like I've gotten enough video of him talking, and I started thinking today about how I never want to forget what his sweet two-year-old voice that I love so much sounded like! Tonight I took the video camera along with us in the car (thinking he'd be strapped in and might actually talk for the camera), and I just filmed him for a while. I edited out the boring stuff (this might all be boring to you), and got him doing several things...
*The "Where truck goins?" game...While Daddy was running in the grocery store to get something, James asked me, "Where truck goins?" (lots of words have an "s" at the end now). I answered him "I don't know!" several times. He kept asking, and then started mouthing along with me "I don't know!" That made me laugh, which egged him on because he thought he was being funny. It turned into a big game, and he started getting really silly towards the end.
*He also sang his ABC's for the camera finally (I had to pretend like I wasn't video'ing him to get him to do it) and started "Wheels on the Bus".
*We also got him to say his full name and his brother's. I'm so glad we got this on video, because I love the way he says "Satterfield".
*The "Where truck goins?" game...While Daddy was running in the grocery store to get something, James asked me, "Where truck goins?" (lots of words have an "s" at the end now). I answered him "I don't know!" several times. He kept asking, and then started mouthing along with me "I don't know!" That made me laugh, which egged him on because he thought he was being funny. It turned into a big game, and he started getting really silly towards the end.
*He also sang his ABC's for the camera finally (I had to pretend like I wasn't video'ing him to get him to do it) and started "Wheels on the Bus".
*We also got him to say his full name and his brother's. I'm so glad we got this on video, because I love the way he says "Satterfield".
Thursday, June 12, 2008
James' MDO performance on video
This is old news, but for our relatives who might want to see this, here is James' performance from his MDO program. He got a little shy up there, but you can really here his voice in the shouting parts ("yes sir" and "hooray") so listen for that. :)
Monday, June 09, 2008
My Lil' Stinker
I was very much inspired to write a blog about my lil' stinker THE DAY I had my appointment and found out I was having another boy! He was being particularly stinkerish that day, but it really didn't scare me too much about having another boy. Jack will thankfully start out as a newborn and slowly work his way into this age! :)
James has started manipulating us. Here are two funny (to me) examples...
*I was at Target with James one day, and he was in a slightly cranky mood. He told me "No, No, NO!" when I tried to put him in the cart. I put him in anyway, thinking he'd forget about it once we started moving, and he told me, "Onna walk." So, I abandoned the cart and let him walk with me. We got about 20 steps away, and he started crying for the cart. I said, "No, you wanted to walk." and he said, "Cart...Cart...Cart...Onna sit down!" So, thinking that he changed his mind, we walked back over to the cart. As soon as we got over there, he made it clear that he wasn't going to sit down at all...he just wanted to push the cart all along! I couldn't believe that he told me he wanted to sit down just to get us back over there!
*The only other time we've noticed him blatantly manipulating us is at bedtime. I always try to get in at least one yogurt a day, since he doesn't drink milk. Right before bed, I tried one last time. I asked him if he wanted it, and he said no. Then, I said, "It's time to go to bed!", and he said, "Ont yogurt." I gave him a couple of bites and then he wouldn't take anymore. Then, I said again, "It's time to go to bed!", and he said again, "Ont yogurt." and ate a few more bites. This continued on until he ate the whole thing! I opened another one, but I guess that was his limit, because he went to bed after that.
One more stinker story...
I recently wondered if I was ever going to have the classic public meltdown situation happen with James, and it finally happened! I went to Thomas' Kindergarten graduation early with Elizabeth and all of the kids to save seats. James had fallen asleep in the car on the way and woke up in the worst mood ever. I thought for sure he'd be happy once we got inside, because he was with his cousins and there'd be some room to run around. Nope! Not at all! I tried to feed him snacks, but that didn't work. I tried all of my tricks, and nothing was working. Just cries that turned into really loud meltdown cries. Josh was in a meeting, so I couldn't call him. At first I knew we were probably annoying the people around us. Then, I was getting the attention of possibly the whole room...at least half. Now I really feel for people who go through this. Even though it was the first and only time to ever happen, I felt as if everyone were judging me! I was never so happy to see Josh's name as my phone rang. He got out of his meeting early and took James home!
More on what James has been up to...
James has been crawling out of his crib every morning and coming in to see wake us up! We love this and look forward to every morning. We hear the door open and shut, then the pitter-patter down the hall, then he comes over to our bedsides and starts whispering to us. For a while, he said, "Yauren" at my bedside, which cracked me up every time. Now he whispers, "Good Morning". Nothing starts your day out right like snuggling in bed with your sweet munchkin with his sweet morning face!
James has gotten into singing since he turned two, and it's one of my favorite things in the world to hear! The sweetest thing ever to me was when he started singing "Edelweiss". I have sung that to him every night for I don't know how long, and he had not once sung it with me. He was singing in his microphone and started singing, "Aaaa bise! Aaaa bise!" He knows most of it! I try to get him to sing it to me every day. He also sings "Pee Pup, Pee Pup" (which is "Clean up, Clean up") while he cleans (he must have gotten that from school), "Rain, Rain, go away" when it rains, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", "ABC's"...even down to the "now I oh my abc's, next ont choo sing me!", the songs to his tv shows, "Wheels on the Bus", and "If you're happy and you know it".
James has a very good memory and will remember the name of something if I tell him once or twice. He is like my little GPS in the backseat, telling me the name of all of our stops as we pass them. Carbucks (Starbucks), Key Juice (Keva Juice), church...if we are in the vicinity, Gigi house, and on and on! He always is aware of where he is in space and will point the right direction to go home.
Every day, he comes up with two to three new sentences or phrases. It is amazing how much a two year old's vocabulary changes from week to week! Some of my favorites are, "Wha happened??", showing me a boo-boo, saying Please and "Thank you, Mommy" completely unsolicited when I give him something (in the sweetest tone), "I yuh yoo, Mommy". It's so sweet when he puts my name after that! A funny new one from today, "Onna watch choo-choo TB (TV)".
BTW, I put a picture of him sleeping, because he is soo soo soo busy during the day, that it's almost odd to see him so still now when he sleeps! As soon as that little guy wakes up, he's full of action, demands, laughs, words, needs, wants, etc., all day long! I feel so blessed to get to be the one to answer those needs, wants, etc, and really wouldn't know what to do with myself for too long without him!
James has started manipulating us. Here are two funny (to me) examples...
*I was at Target with James one day, and he was in a slightly cranky mood. He told me "No, No, NO!" when I tried to put him in the cart. I put him in anyway, thinking he'd forget about it once we started moving, and he told me, "Onna walk." So, I abandoned the cart and let him walk with me. We got about 20 steps away, and he started crying for the cart. I said, "No, you wanted to walk." and he said, "Cart...Cart...Cart...Onna sit down!" So, thinking that he changed his mind, we walked back over to the cart. As soon as we got over there, he made it clear that he wasn't going to sit down at all...he just wanted to push the cart all along! I couldn't believe that he told me he wanted to sit down just to get us back over there!
*The only other time we've noticed him blatantly manipulating us is at bedtime. I always try to get in at least one yogurt a day, since he doesn't drink milk. Right before bed, I tried one last time. I asked him if he wanted it, and he said no. Then, I said, "It's time to go to bed!", and he said, "Ont yogurt." I gave him a couple of bites and then he wouldn't take anymore. Then, I said again, "It's time to go to bed!", and he said again, "Ont yogurt." and ate a few more bites. This continued on until he ate the whole thing! I opened another one, but I guess that was his limit, because he went to bed after that.
One more stinker story...
I recently wondered if I was ever going to have the classic public meltdown situation happen with James, and it finally happened! I went to Thomas' Kindergarten graduation early with Elizabeth and all of the kids to save seats. James had fallen asleep in the car on the way and woke up in the worst mood ever. I thought for sure he'd be happy once we got inside, because he was with his cousins and there'd be some room to run around. Nope! Not at all! I tried to feed him snacks, but that didn't work. I tried all of my tricks, and nothing was working. Just cries that turned into really loud meltdown cries. Josh was in a meeting, so I couldn't call him. At first I knew we were probably annoying the people around us. Then, I was getting the attention of possibly the whole room...at least half. Now I really feel for people who go through this. Even though it was the first and only time to ever happen, I felt as if everyone were judging me! I was never so happy to see Josh's name as my phone rang. He got out of his meeting early and took James home!
More on what James has been up to...
James has been crawling out of his crib every morning and coming in to see wake us up! We love this and look forward to every morning. We hear the door open and shut, then the pitter-patter down the hall, then he comes over to our bedsides and starts whispering to us. For a while, he said, "Yauren" at my bedside, which cracked me up every time. Now he whispers, "Good Morning". Nothing starts your day out right like snuggling in bed with your sweet munchkin with his sweet morning face!
James has gotten into singing since he turned two, and it's one of my favorite things in the world to hear! The sweetest thing ever to me was when he started singing "Edelweiss". I have sung that to him every night for I don't know how long, and he had not once sung it with me. He was singing in his microphone and started singing, "Aaaa bise! Aaaa bise!" He knows most of it! I try to get him to sing it to me every day. He also sings "Pee Pup, Pee Pup" (which is "Clean up, Clean up") while he cleans (he must have gotten that from school), "Rain, Rain, go away" when it rains, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", "ABC's"...even down to the "now I oh my abc's, next ont choo sing me!", the songs to his tv shows, "Wheels on the Bus", and "If you're happy and you know it".
James has a very good memory and will remember the name of something if I tell him once or twice. He is like my little GPS in the backseat, telling me the name of all of our stops as we pass them. Carbucks (Starbucks), Key Juice (Keva Juice), church...if we are in the vicinity, Gigi house, and on and on! He always is aware of where he is in space and will point the right direction to go home.
Every day, he comes up with two to three new sentences or phrases. It is amazing how much a two year old's vocabulary changes from week to week! Some of my favorites are, "Wha happened??", showing me a boo-boo, saying Please and "Thank you, Mommy" completely unsolicited when I give him something (in the sweetest tone), "I yuh yoo, Mommy". It's so sweet when he puts my name after that! A funny new one from today, "Onna watch choo-choo TB (TV)".
BTW, I put a picture of him sleeping, because he is soo soo soo busy during the day, that it's almost odd to see him so still now when he sleeps! As soon as that little guy wakes up, he's full of action, demands, laughs, words, needs, wants, etc., all day long! I feel so blessed to get to be the one to answer those needs, wants, etc, and really wouldn't know what to do with myself for too long without him!
Summer Fun!
We bought a pool a couple of weeks ago, and we're actually getting our money's worth this year! Last year, James hated our little blow up pool, so we decided to get one a little more fun this year. He went from being slightly hesitant to have a blast! Josh taught him how to climb up the steps, so I feel like we're set for the summer now! I'm an outdoors person, so I am having more fun sitting outside with my swimsuit, with tons of sunscreen on, and actually staying cool with our little pool while watching James enjoy himself.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
2 year pictures!
My photographer just put up James' two year pictures on her website. If you are interested in viewing them, click this link...
http://www.lauraendsleyphotography.com/index2.php?v=v1
Then click on "Clients".
The password is James.
There are a ton, so to go through them faster, click "stop slideshow" and use the right arrow to the left of the pictures.
He was so active that I'm absolutely amazed that she got some good ones! You would have laughed to see what we went through to get these. Let's just say we got a good workout!
Friday, June 06, 2008
Trip Out West!
I just got back from one of the most incredible trips I've ever been on, with my sister and her two boys. Elizabeth did a wonderful job blogging about it today, so I thought I'd just copy and paste it onto here.
Elizabeth's blog...
Elizabeth's blog...
We got back home from our 2,800 mile adventure last night. What a trip! It was filled with so much magic...long drives in beautiful scenery, geological wonders, cool, crisp air, and ended with some terrifying weather. In some ways, it feels like a dream. There is so much I want to write to remember this trip. Feel free to read it all, or just skip to the pictures! All of our pictures are in the picture album under "Family Pictures" in the right hand column.
Day 1:
With the car all packed the night before, we woke up at 5 to get ready, and make sure we weren't forgetting anything. We headed out of Waco a little after 6 a.m. We decided to take Bryon's car, since it was a hybrid and gets excellent gas mileage. I must say that I am not used to the kids being so close to me in the car, and a times, the energy in the back seat was to immense to fill our little Honda! But it was worth it when we could drive 7 hours before filling up our tank!
Anyway, our first stop was in Amarillo, 7 hours away. I had been in contact with two dear friends from my teen years in Abilene. These two were my favorite friends in Abilene, and I haven't really seen them in 17 years. One of these girls lives in Amarillo, so I was so happy to see her! Jere' and I shared a love for the piano and choir. We shared the same piano teacher and played in the same ensemble festival that Matthew will play in next weekend. Jere', Emily (read further), and I were so close my two years at Abilene High. It was so hard leaving them when I moved to Waco. We stopped at Pei Wei and had a great lunch. Our kids were so cute together. Jere' looks exactly like she did when I moved, and I was surprised when she didn't come in wearing her Guess jeans!
After a nice visit, we headed for our next stop in Pueblo, Colorado, 5 hours away. Anyone concerned about the overpopulation of the earth needs to take that drive. We could probably give every resident of Calcutta and Hong Kong 40 acres and a mule in that area, and still have room to spare!
We made it into New Mexico late afternoon that day, the first of the states that the boys hadn't been to before. The drive was beautiful, but clouded with the irritation of the speed limit. There was almost nothing for miles around when we encountered the "safety corridor". There were times we had to drive 45 and 55 miles per hour on this stretch despite the fact that there wasn't another car on the road. They did warn that they had airplanes overhead that would give tickets should you violate the laws in the safety corridor. Grrrr!!
At long last, we spotted the Rocky Mountain ahead. What a breathtaking and welcomed sight! We stopped in Raton, New Mexico for a quick snack and took in the cool, dry air. What a gift! We then went through the Raton pass into Colorado. The boys loved seeing the mountains. Lauren and I loved every minute of it. After being on the road for 14 hours, we were thrilled to be in our hotel room in Pueblo.
Day 2:
After a long day in the car on Sunday, we were ready for a little fun! We left Pueblo early, then headed for Colorado Springs. We could have spent another day there, but made the most of our day. Our first stop was Garden of the Gods. We had such a great time here! The weather was gorgeous...cool,dry, blue skies. We went on a tour, then took a hike around the gardens. It was good to walk around. That is Pike's Peak in the distance.
Then we headed to Pikes Peak. We decided not to drive to the top, as the thought of hugging the side of a mountain with my precious cargo seemed too risky to me. Instead, we spent some time at Santa's workshop at the family owned North Pole at the base of Pike's Peak.
After a fun morning, we headed to Denver to see my other dear friend from Abilene. It was so nice for my two sweet friends to live on our route! The boys went crazy for Emily, and I hardly had a moment to speak to her, since they were talking her up the entire time! We picked up exactly where we left off 17 years ago. Old friends are such a blessing, and it is so much fun being with people that knew you during the awkward, green eye shadow, mall bangs, perms, and stone wash era! We promised each other that it wouldn't be another 17 years before we got together again. That would put us in our 50s!
After a nice visit, we headed to Wyoming. The boys finally conked out around the Wyoming border.
For. the. first. time. the. entire. trip.
I have been blessed with wonderful boys, who, apparently, think sleep is overrated!
The minute we entered Wyoming, Lauren and I were in awe. There are no words to describe our beautiful drive. We later found out from an employee at our hotel, that Wyoming hasn't looked this beautiful in years. It was green from border to border. What we witnessed was green, freshly mowed looking fields smattered with quaint homes and farm animals. I was talking to my dad on the phone, when I noticed that rain was on the way. I hung up just in time to enter a hail storm! That was slightly frightening since we were in the middle of nowhere with nowhere to take shelter. We just waited it out on the side of the road.
Fortunately, there was no damage to the car, and we headed to our hotel destination, Wheatland, WY. Oh, Wheatland. If there was a Starbucks within a 4 hour radius of this place, we would move here. Many of you have heard of Texas Friendly, but nothing compares to Wyoming Friendly. People went out of their way to be nice to us, and we felt very much at home.
Day 3:
Now for the day we had all been waiting for. We headed out super early and headed north in the eastern part of Wyoming. First stop would be Devils Tower, 4 hours away. The lady working at our hotel gave us an alternate route which was just as fast, but more beautiful. In the spirit of adventure, we took her advise, and were blessed with an amazing drive. While looking out at the views, we saw pronghorn everywhere. I read Undaunted Courage a few years ago, which chronicled the adventures of Lewis and Clark. Pronghorn were talked about quite a bit as they were their big source of protein, and something the Corp of Discovery had never seen before.
After 3 1/2 hours of driving, Lauren spotted Devils Tower in the distance. It is so huge, that it was visible 30 minutes before we could get to it! I saw Devils Tower when I was 10, but did not remember how huge it was. I was in absolute awe. Totally speechless. We found out that there is over an acre of space at the top. It was so huge, and so different from the rest of the surroundings, that it almost looked photo shopped in. We took some time there to walk up to it and take pictures. We found it interesting that Devils Tower was also hailed on the night before, and there was still ice all over the ground! Not something we Texans expect in June! Again, we were blessed with cool, dry air.
At some point in the drive, I stopped in to get a coffee. One of the locals there was talking to another about how unbelievable humid it had been yesterday. I, who was having trouble blinking my eyes because they were so dry, laughed out loud.
"Try living in Texas!" I said.
The lady working behind the desk said, "I know. I am from Kansas!" If only she knew!
We had told the boys the past few days that if they were really good, we would take them to Montana to add another state to their "been there" list. Montana was about 30 minutes out of the way, but we had some time to spare. After Devils Tower, we headed to Montana for 10 minutes. Right before the border, we ran into a cattle herd crossing the highway! It was so much fun to watch a grandad cowboy with his twin grandsons herding cattle. The boys were about my boys' age, and it was fun thinking about how different these boys' lives were.
After being escorted out of the cattle herd, we crossed over into Montana, reached our new highway, and then were quickly back into Wyoming. A few minutes later we were in South Dakota!
It was so nice leaving the beautiful, rolling hills of Wyoming to enter the Black Hills of South Dakota. Everything smells piny, and it was fun zipping around on mountainous roads. Our first stop in the Black Hills was to tiny Deadwood, SD. Deadwood is known for being an important town in the wild west. Wild Bill Hickok was assassinated there while playing poker. Calamity Jane also called it home. We got to watch a reenactment of the assassination in the very saloon where it happened. Then we made our way up Boot Hill to see where Wild Bill and Calamity Jane were buried. Unfortunately, it started raining, and they were charging an entrance fee into the cemetery, which I thought was absurd, so we took a few pictures outside, then headed to Mt. Rushmore.
We got almost to the entrance when we happened to see Bighorn sheep on the side of the road. We loved the unusual wildlife on the trip!
Mt. Rushmore was everything I had hoped for for Matthew and more. Again, this was the one place he had been dying to see, and his idea for a reward for reaching his reading goal. It was almost like he entered the Emerald City at this point. He was in awe and so grateful. We heard lots of thank yous, and were given numerous hugs, which made the trip so worth it! We ate in the cafeteria that part of North by Northwest was filmed in. This was also the restaurant that we ate at 23 years ago when we first visited Mt. Rushmore. We then took an audio tour walk up to the base of the monument, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. After we finished the tour, it was getting dark. We went to our car and changed into sweats. It was in the 50s that night. We watched a movie about the presidents and watched the monument lit.
This was a great day, and we ended it at a wonderful hotel that I would highly recommend to anyone. I hope to stay there again on our next trip, when Mary Beth can go.
Day 4:
We woke up Wednesday morning, and headed down to breakfast. We were greeted by Belgium waffle makers, and loved every bite of our waffles! We, at this point, were sad that it was time to start heading south. Lauren and I agreed that we stayed the perfect amount of time. Better to leave before we were ready, than to have stayed too long.
Our first stop this day was to the Crazy Horse monument. This was the dream of one man to build a huge monument honoring the revered Lakota leader. The sculptor refused federal funding, and all of the work in the beginning was done by him, then eventually 7 of his 10 children. The scale of this thing is enormous. It puts the size of Mt. Rushmore to shame. The model in the picture below, is 1/34th the size of the one on the mountain! We enjoyed 1 1/2 hours here, then it was time to make the long jaunt to Nebraska.
After driving for many hours, we stopped at Chimney Rock in the panhandle of Nebraska. This was an important landmark on many trails heading west, most notably, the Oregon Trail. We all pretended that we were pioneers in our Honda hybrid looking out for Chimney Rock. We took a few photo ops, then it was time to drive to York, NE.
Not long after leaving Chimney Rock, we encountered some nasty weather. Pouring down rain followed by a bad lightening storm. The lightening was dangerously close to our car. After getting out of that storm, and hearing that York was getting pounded, we decided to stay in Kearney, NE. My brother had looked up the area on the internet and found that there were many nice hotels in the area.
We pulled in around 9 p.m. and saw that most every hotel parking lot was filled with cars. Really? Kearney, NE on a Wednesday night? After hearing our first 3 hotels were filled, we stopped at a hotel that was a little older than the rest. The lady at the desk had one room left...a king sized suite with two rooms and a large jacuzzi tub. Only $170! I told her no thank you. We were getting up at 5, and didn't want to pay that much for a room. I had just about decided to drive another 50 miles when she agreed to take $30 off the price. That, I could swallow a little better. When I asked what was going on in town, she said that there were a huge tornado there last week (I remembered watching the footage on the Today show, although not remembering what town it was in) and the town was filled with insurance adjusters.
The kids loved this room, and thought it looked like my grandmother's apartment. I enjoyed soaking in the jacuzzi. I had been missing my nightly soak! After getting the boys to bed, Lauren and I turned on the weather. Glorious. Two monster storms were colliding right in Kearney. I watched in horror as the rain and winds pounded the parking lot. The parking lot light was swaying back and forth. It looked like the footage they show of hurricanes. A tornado was spotted 3 miles from our hotel. We were up well after midnight very fearful.
Day 5:
The next morning, many of the insurance adjusters came into the hotel, swearing after looking at their cars. We decided to take a look at Bryon's car. It had dents all over it. I read last night that there was golf ball to billiard ball sized hail right where we were. This sort of reminded me of those great 80s travel movies where the car gets more and more damaged as the vacation goes on. At this rate, we would be lucky if the car made it home. This event was the only ding in the entire trip. Sorry, I was just dying to use that pun!
I did cry as I told Bryon what happened. He was sweet about it, and was just glad we were all safe, but I wasn't looking forward to the Bryon/car reunion.
I have got to say, that this was my least favorite day of the trip. We left Nebraska with gusting winds of 45 mph.
This didn't let up one bit during the 800 MILES THAT WE DROVE YESTERDAY. Who knew a weather system could be so big? Our little hybrid was blown all over the place, and I have quite the sore neck to show for it today.
Once we finally hit Waco last night, it was all joy and elation. Lauren was so excited about seeing James and Josh, and I couldn't wait to see Mary Beth, who was with Mom and Dad. Bryon was out of town at a conference. My sweet parents drove half way to Houston to pick up Mary Beth, who was with my in laws, so I would have to drive anymore today. No "thank yous" were big enough for that gesture!
We enjoyed breath taking beauty for 5 days straight, but somehow, nothing was more beautiful than our little city at sunset.
The trip was a memory I will always cherish. We felt so many prayers for our safety, and never had a scary moment during the trip, excluding Mother Nature's wrath the night before.
Here is what I learned on the the trip:
1. The "is it a hotel or motel" question from the boys can get old after 4 nights.
2. My boys can talk for 5 days straight and never run out of things to say to each other.
3. I have the greatest sister in the world. We too can talk for 5 days straight and never run out of things to say.
4. I can't answer, "So what is the U.S.S.R. and what happened to it? What is it now?" question on 4 hours of sleep.
5. It isn't fun driving in wind for 12 hours.
6. My boys can go from laughing, to fighting, to laughing again in 30 seconds.
7. I love road trips.
8. It is possible to listen to 300 songs on an iPod in a single day.
9. The beauty of God's world will never cease to amaze me.
10. Central Kansas ain't as pretty as South Dakota.
11. My hair looks better in arid conditions.
12. I am ready to go back to the Black Hills!
13. Sometimes it is fun to do something way out of the ordinary.
14. It is possible to ask your child to please put his hand down while giving the peace sign or bunny ears during the taking of over 300 pictures.
15. Two stay at home moms enjoy the change of scenery probably more than most.
16. It is possible to enjoy the journey as much as the destination.
17. The spirit of my father was very present in the car as I told the boys, "Stop playing games and look out the window! When we were your age, we fought to see who would sit by the window!" Well, that and, "Stop kicking my seat!" ;)
We feel so blessed by God for our amazing adventure, and keeping everyone safe.
Day 1:
With the car all packed the night before, we woke up at 5 to get ready, and make sure we weren't forgetting anything. We headed out of Waco a little after 6 a.m. We decided to take Bryon's car, since it was a hybrid and gets excellent gas mileage. I must say that I am not used to the kids being so close to me in the car, and a times, the energy in the back seat was to immense to fill our little Honda! But it was worth it when we could drive 7 hours before filling up our tank!
Anyway, our first stop was in Amarillo, 7 hours away. I had been in contact with two dear friends from my teen years in Abilene. These two were my favorite friends in Abilene, and I haven't really seen them in 17 years. One of these girls lives in Amarillo, so I was so happy to see her! Jere' and I shared a love for the piano and choir. We shared the same piano teacher and played in the same ensemble festival that Matthew will play in next weekend. Jere', Emily (read further), and I were so close my two years at Abilene High. It was so hard leaving them when I moved to Waco. We stopped at Pei Wei and had a great lunch. Our kids were so cute together. Jere' looks exactly like she did when I moved, and I was surprised when she didn't come in wearing her Guess jeans!
After a nice visit, we headed for our next stop in Pueblo, Colorado, 5 hours away. Anyone concerned about the overpopulation of the earth needs to take that drive. We could probably give every resident of Calcutta and Hong Kong 40 acres and a mule in that area, and still have room to spare!
We made it into New Mexico late afternoon that day, the first of the states that the boys hadn't been to before. The drive was beautiful, but clouded with the irritation of the speed limit. There was almost nothing for miles around when we encountered the "safety corridor". There were times we had to drive 45 and 55 miles per hour on this stretch despite the fact that there wasn't another car on the road. They did warn that they had airplanes overhead that would give tickets should you violate the laws in the safety corridor. Grrrr!!
At long last, we spotted the Rocky Mountain ahead. What a breathtaking and welcomed sight! We stopped in Raton, New Mexico for a quick snack and took in the cool, dry air. What a gift! We then went through the Raton pass into Colorado. The boys loved seeing the mountains. Lauren and I loved every minute of it. After being on the road for 14 hours, we were thrilled to be in our hotel room in Pueblo.
Day 2:
After a long day in the car on Sunday, we were ready for a little fun! We left Pueblo early, then headed for Colorado Springs. We could have spent another day there, but made the most of our day. Our first stop was Garden of the Gods. We had such a great time here! The weather was gorgeous...cool,dry, blue skies. We went on a tour, then took a hike around the gardens. It was good to walk around. That is Pike's Peak in the distance.
Then we headed to Pikes Peak. We decided not to drive to the top, as the thought of hugging the side of a mountain with my precious cargo seemed too risky to me. Instead, we spent some time at Santa's workshop at the family owned North Pole at the base of Pike's Peak.
After a fun morning, we headed to Denver to see my other dear friend from Abilene. It was so nice for my two sweet friends to live on our route! The boys went crazy for Emily, and I hardly had a moment to speak to her, since they were talking her up the entire time! We picked up exactly where we left off 17 years ago. Old friends are such a blessing, and it is so much fun being with people that knew you during the awkward, green eye shadow, mall bangs, perms, and stone wash era! We promised each other that it wouldn't be another 17 years before we got together again. That would put us in our 50s!
After a nice visit, we headed to Wyoming. The boys finally conked out around the Wyoming border.
For. the. first. time. the. entire. trip.
I have been blessed with wonderful boys, who, apparently, think sleep is overrated!
The minute we entered Wyoming, Lauren and I were in awe. There are no words to describe our beautiful drive. We later found out from an employee at our hotel, that Wyoming hasn't looked this beautiful in years. It was green from border to border. What we witnessed was green, freshly mowed looking fields smattered with quaint homes and farm animals. I was talking to my dad on the phone, when I noticed that rain was on the way. I hung up just in time to enter a hail storm! That was slightly frightening since we were in the middle of nowhere with nowhere to take shelter. We just waited it out on the side of the road.
Fortunately, there was no damage to the car, and we headed to our hotel destination, Wheatland, WY. Oh, Wheatland. If there was a Starbucks within a 4 hour radius of this place, we would move here. Many of you have heard of Texas Friendly, but nothing compares to Wyoming Friendly. People went out of their way to be nice to us, and we felt very much at home.
Day 3:
Now for the day we had all been waiting for. We headed out super early and headed north in the eastern part of Wyoming. First stop would be Devils Tower, 4 hours away. The lady working at our hotel gave us an alternate route which was just as fast, but more beautiful. In the spirit of adventure, we took her advise, and were blessed with an amazing drive. While looking out at the views, we saw pronghorn everywhere. I read Undaunted Courage a few years ago, which chronicled the adventures of Lewis and Clark. Pronghorn were talked about quite a bit as they were their big source of protein, and something the Corp of Discovery had never seen before.
After 3 1/2 hours of driving, Lauren spotted Devils Tower in the distance. It is so huge, that it was visible 30 minutes before we could get to it! I saw Devils Tower when I was 10, but did not remember how huge it was. I was in absolute awe. Totally speechless. We found out that there is over an acre of space at the top. It was so huge, and so different from the rest of the surroundings, that it almost looked photo shopped in. We took some time there to walk up to it and take pictures. We found it interesting that Devils Tower was also hailed on the night before, and there was still ice all over the ground! Not something we Texans expect in June! Again, we were blessed with cool, dry air.
At some point in the drive, I stopped in to get a coffee. One of the locals there was talking to another about how unbelievable humid it had been yesterday. I, who was having trouble blinking my eyes because they were so dry, laughed out loud.
"Try living in Texas!" I said.
The lady working behind the desk said, "I know. I am from Kansas!" If only she knew!
We had told the boys the past few days that if they were really good, we would take them to Montana to add another state to their "been there" list. Montana was about 30 minutes out of the way, but we had some time to spare. After Devils Tower, we headed to Montana for 10 minutes. Right before the border, we ran into a cattle herd crossing the highway! It was so much fun to watch a grandad cowboy with his twin grandsons herding cattle. The boys were about my boys' age, and it was fun thinking about how different these boys' lives were.
After being escorted out of the cattle herd, we crossed over into Montana, reached our new highway, and then were quickly back into Wyoming. A few minutes later we were in South Dakota!
It was so nice leaving the beautiful, rolling hills of Wyoming to enter the Black Hills of South Dakota. Everything smells piny, and it was fun zipping around on mountainous roads. Our first stop in the Black Hills was to tiny Deadwood, SD. Deadwood is known for being an important town in the wild west. Wild Bill Hickok was assassinated there while playing poker. Calamity Jane also called it home. We got to watch a reenactment of the assassination in the very saloon where it happened. Then we made our way up Boot Hill to see where Wild Bill and Calamity Jane were buried. Unfortunately, it started raining, and they were charging an entrance fee into the cemetery, which I thought was absurd, so we took a few pictures outside, then headed to Mt. Rushmore.
We got almost to the entrance when we happened to see Bighorn sheep on the side of the road. We loved the unusual wildlife on the trip!
Mt. Rushmore was everything I had hoped for for Matthew and more. Again, this was the one place he had been dying to see, and his idea for a reward for reaching his reading goal. It was almost like he entered the Emerald City at this point. He was in awe and so grateful. We heard lots of thank yous, and were given numerous hugs, which made the trip so worth it! We ate in the cafeteria that part of North by Northwest was filmed in. This was also the restaurant that we ate at 23 years ago when we first visited Mt. Rushmore. We then took an audio tour walk up to the base of the monument, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. After we finished the tour, it was getting dark. We went to our car and changed into sweats. It was in the 50s that night. We watched a movie about the presidents and watched the monument lit.
This was a great day, and we ended it at a wonderful hotel that I would highly recommend to anyone. I hope to stay there again on our next trip, when Mary Beth can go.
Day 4:
We woke up Wednesday morning, and headed down to breakfast. We were greeted by Belgium waffle makers, and loved every bite of our waffles! We, at this point, were sad that it was time to start heading south. Lauren and I agreed that we stayed the perfect amount of time. Better to leave before we were ready, than to have stayed too long.
Our first stop this day was to the Crazy Horse monument. This was the dream of one man to build a huge monument honoring the revered Lakota leader. The sculptor refused federal funding, and all of the work in the beginning was done by him, then eventually 7 of his 10 children. The scale of this thing is enormous. It puts the size of Mt. Rushmore to shame. The model in the picture below, is 1/34th the size of the one on the mountain! We enjoyed 1 1/2 hours here, then it was time to make the long jaunt to Nebraska.
After driving for many hours, we stopped at Chimney Rock in the panhandle of Nebraska. This was an important landmark on many trails heading west, most notably, the Oregon Trail. We all pretended that we were pioneers in our Honda hybrid looking out for Chimney Rock. We took a few photo ops, then it was time to drive to York, NE.
Not long after leaving Chimney Rock, we encountered some nasty weather. Pouring down rain followed by a bad lightening storm. The lightening was dangerously close to our car. After getting out of that storm, and hearing that York was getting pounded, we decided to stay in Kearney, NE. My brother had looked up the area on the internet and found that there were many nice hotels in the area.
We pulled in around 9 p.m. and saw that most every hotel parking lot was filled with cars. Really? Kearney, NE on a Wednesday night? After hearing our first 3 hotels were filled, we stopped at a hotel that was a little older than the rest. The lady at the desk had one room left...a king sized suite with two rooms and a large jacuzzi tub. Only $170! I told her no thank you. We were getting up at 5, and didn't want to pay that much for a room. I had just about decided to drive another 50 miles when she agreed to take $30 off the price. That, I could swallow a little better. When I asked what was going on in town, she said that there were a huge tornado there last week (I remembered watching the footage on the Today show, although not remembering what town it was in) and the town was filled with insurance adjusters.
The kids loved this room, and thought it looked like my grandmother's apartment. I enjoyed soaking in the jacuzzi. I had been missing my nightly soak! After getting the boys to bed, Lauren and I turned on the weather. Glorious. Two monster storms were colliding right in Kearney. I watched in horror as the rain and winds pounded the parking lot. The parking lot light was swaying back and forth. It looked like the footage they show of hurricanes. A tornado was spotted 3 miles from our hotel. We were up well after midnight very fearful.
Day 5:
The next morning, many of the insurance adjusters came into the hotel, swearing after looking at their cars. We decided to take a look at Bryon's car. It had dents all over it. I read last night that there was golf ball to billiard ball sized hail right where we were. This sort of reminded me of those great 80s travel movies where the car gets more and more damaged as the vacation goes on. At this rate, we would be lucky if the car made it home. This event was the only ding in the entire trip. Sorry, I was just dying to use that pun!
I did cry as I told Bryon what happened. He was sweet about it, and was just glad we were all safe, but I wasn't looking forward to the Bryon/car reunion.
I have got to say, that this was my least favorite day of the trip. We left Nebraska with gusting winds of 45 mph.
This didn't let up one bit during the 800 MILES THAT WE DROVE YESTERDAY. Who knew a weather system could be so big? Our little hybrid was blown all over the place, and I have quite the sore neck to show for it today.
Once we finally hit Waco last night, it was all joy and elation. Lauren was so excited about seeing James and Josh, and I couldn't wait to see Mary Beth, who was with Mom and Dad. Bryon was out of town at a conference. My sweet parents drove half way to Houston to pick up Mary Beth, who was with my in laws, so I would have to drive anymore today. No "thank yous" were big enough for that gesture!
We enjoyed breath taking beauty for 5 days straight, but somehow, nothing was more beautiful than our little city at sunset.
The trip was a memory I will always cherish. We felt so many prayers for our safety, and never had a scary moment during the trip, excluding Mother Nature's wrath the night before.
Here is what I learned on the the trip:
1. The "is it a hotel or motel" question from the boys can get old after 4 nights.
2. My boys can talk for 5 days straight and never run out of things to say to each other.
3. I have the greatest sister in the world. We too can talk for 5 days straight and never run out of things to say.
4. I can't answer, "So what is the U.S.S.R. and what happened to it? What is it now?" question on 4 hours of sleep.
5. It isn't fun driving in wind for 12 hours.
6. My boys can go from laughing, to fighting, to laughing again in 30 seconds.
7. I love road trips.
8. It is possible to listen to 300 songs on an iPod in a single day.
9. The beauty of God's world will never cease to amaze me.
10. Central Kansas ain't as pretty as South Dakota.
11. My hair looks better in arid conditions.
12. I am ready to go back to the Black Hills!
13. Sometimes it is fun to do something way out of the ordinary.
14. It is possible to ask your child to please put his hand down while giving the peace sign or bunny ears during the taking of over 300 pictures.
15. Two stay at home moms enjoy the change of scenery probably more than most.
16. It is possible to enjoy the journey as much as the destination.
17. The spirit of my father was very present in the car as I told the boys, "Stop playing games and look out the window! When we were your age, we fought to see who would sit by the window!" Well, that and, "Stop kicking my seat!" ;)
We feel so blessed by God for our amazing adventure, and keeping everyone safe.
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