Monday, August 30, 2010

I {heart} I-90 West

My heart leaps when we get on I-90 West.  It's the road that leads to home.  It leads to the family and friends we left behind 8 years ago.  

At the beginning of August we embarked on a road trip with all our kiddo's, a "super duper cool" cargo topper on our van, and dubbed ourselves the "van griswalds."   There were a lot of people that really looked at us like we were nuts to be driving halfway across the country with 4 kids at the ages they are at.  We looked at it as a grand adventure, full of memory making opportunities.  And it was just that.

Here is part 1 of this grand adventure... the trip out.

day 1:

We left at 5am (well okay it was 5:15... pretty standard for us to leave 15 minutes later than what we say) it was in a huge downpour, which thoroughly woke up our kids.  The rain ended shortly and we watched the sunrise which shed light on the fact that our trip would NOT go as planned, as we planned.  (we kind of had an "idea" ie: plan of how things would go, but we expected that things would not go as we planned.  clear as mud, right?)  We "planned" for them to go back to sleep until our first stop in Chamberlain, SD.   The reality is that plan completely backfired (see what happens when you make plans?!?)  They did not go back to sleep (well, except for miss baby, cause she is just so darn sweet and good like that, ha!)  By the time we got to Chamberlain, SD for our "planned" first stop, we had stopped 3 times.  Once for a diaper leakage issue and once to re-arrange the carseat positions... miss j was being an absolute pest in the backseat by the older girls.
                                                                 















At our stop we had yummy cinnamon rolls and chocolate milk for breakfast overlooking the Missouri River.




















did some exploring























                                                        













Then hit the road again in our super sweet ride as seen above. 


















Our lunch stop was at a rest area near Spearfish, SD, before getting on "212" (the road with pretty much NO services, including bathrooms).

On 212 we stopped a couple times for bathroom type emergencies and DD#2 was able to learn the art of squatting on the side of a road, of course the one vehicle that probably drives that desolate gravel road we stopped on happens to come by as DD was finishing up. she says in horror: "mom, i really hope they didn't see me!"  the vehicle that drove up behind us just sat there in front of us for a bit even though we were all back in and waiting to get back on the road.  sort of freaked us out a bit.  and of course the sheriff drove by too.  nice.
the second stop on 212 consisted of something i can't believe i am actually going to post on this blog.  miss baby is going to really be angry with me for this someday.  (come to think of it, DD#2 won't be super happy with me either for the above story)  anyhoo, we are driving along and all is peaceful. i hear miss baby smacking her lips and turn to look at what she is doing to be making that noise.  she looks as though she is eating something and i can see something on her hands.  i wonder who gave her a cracker without me looking??? hmmm, she can't have crackers yet.  i get out of my seat to look closer. upon closer inspection the dirty truth is revealed.   "PULL OVER RIGHT NOW!" i exclaim.  miss baby is eating what has squished out the of side of her diaper. (i can't even bring myself to say the words, ugh)  i wipe her down including the inside of her mouth and change her while hubby works on cleaning the car seat.  another sheriff pulls over and asks if everything is okay.  "oh, yes, just fine" with fake smiles planted on our faces "just need to change a diaper"  lie. lie. lie.  not fine.  gross. gross. gross.

day 1 continues.  the kids are getting a bit restless.  miss j is uncomfortable in her car seat and only takes a short nap.  montana seems to never end. (and it won't for day 1 as our hotel reservation is in bozeman)  all in all they are super troopers and seem to be enjoying the ride and of course all the "new" stuff we packed along for them to do while traveling.  the weather is fabulous, no traffic, and our van is driving nice and smooth with no breakdowns.

we arrive in bozeman at about 8:30 mountain time.  (if my math is right that means 16 hours of traveling for day 1)  our hotel has overbooked and has no room for us.  super. thanks.   but they got us a room at the best western next door.  that turned out to be providential.  which i will tell you why on "part 2 of the grand adventure: day 2"  ;)

stay tuned....

(sorry about the odd spacing, don't know why it's doing that, but i'm sick of trying to fix it since this post has taken up my whole morning!)

Sunday, August 29, 2010

awesome august

i had a fabulous month of august,

i spent the entire month with my mom around and was able to see all 4 of my sisters at some point during the month as well. 

hence i have been a bit too busy to have a chance to blog about it.  i plan to play catch-up over the next two weeks.  so stay tuned for lots of updates! :)