Road Trip Stage 1 - Florida, Georgia, South Dakota, Montana

Hello everyone. This (and a few others) are guest posts from Jess. Kelli is on another one of her "Best Summer Ever" trips and I told her I would post some pics for her when I got home. I have been on the road for about 55 of the last 60 days so this is my first chance to fulfill my promise. Enjoy!
The first stop was Savannah, Georgia. Kelli's cousin was graduating from High School and the whole family came down and rented a house right on the water. The kids loved it!

Sum Sum, Monkey Boy, and TJay Bear just hanging out.

Aunt Susan, Grandaddy, Aunt Sherry, Uncle Steve, and Cathy. The best part about trips is getting to be with family! Kelli's trip this year will end up with our kids getting to see everyone on both sides of the family - all of the Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. I'm so glad my wife takes these trips. She is awesome!

Some really good looking lady with my kids.

I was a geography major at the Academy and have always loved maps. I still do. It's good to see that Matthew is following in my footsteps!

Cowgirl Lexi-Lou!

After being in the car all day Kelli stopped at Wall Drug in South Dakota and let the kids tame a wild Jackalope!

That hot blonde with my kids again. This time in the Black Hills Caverns. I'm going to have to find out who she is...

Matthew panning for gold near Mount Rushmore.

I have no idea where this pic was taken.

Modeling to be the next face on the mountain.

This is in my brother's back yard in Livingston, Montana. He has dozens of different flowers in his yard. Summer really took to tree climbing this trip. In fact when we told her she had to take a nap at my mom's house we found her laying down up in the apple tree in the back yard!

Whitefish, MT

So, I absolutely love Whitefish. If I could, I would move there in a heartbeat. Here's what we did: Saturday we took the train ride from Whitefish to East Glacier. It was phenomenal and miserable all at the same time. Why? Well, imagine driving four kids from Florida to Montana (with a few days of break here and there) and then giving them one day to play and then driving them seven hours up to Whitefish and then the very next day taking a 6 hour train ride with a bunch of senior citizens. I know, we are either incredibly insane or incredibly stupid. The scenery was breathtaking and the train itself was fun. It just happened to be about 4 and a half hours too long. The last hour and a half was basically misery trying to keep Matthew from offending each and every senior on the train. He just wanted to run up and down the corridor. It took doing a puzzle and eating ice cream to recover that evening. And just for the record, I don't tend to be an emotional eater either. On Sunday we went to church, where the governor of Utah sat behind us. After that, we had sandwiches at the park and playground time.
Next we went to the Conrad Mansion. It was insanely cool. As most of you know, I love old things. This was a huge treat. The house was built about 1898 and is still in the same condition as it was when the family lived in it. The decor, paint, knick-knacks- everything! They even had the family's clothing in the closets and on display. Oh to have seen it in it's heyday! Now, as cool as this was, this was also phenomenal yet miserable at the same time! The tour of the house was about an hour and 20 minutes and we were on it with about 12 little old ladies. Some of them seemed like really sweet Grandmas and were offering help whenever they saw opportunity. A few, not so much. Imagine a tour where the guide wore gloves so that she could touch things and then throw Matthew into the mix, my little toucheroo! I ended up carrying him and Lexi pretty much the whole time. I was wishing that I had brought my Ergo baby in so bad! By the end of the tour, my arms were shaking. Let's just say, it took another little cup of ice cream that night. I think I need to do yoga or something instead or this ice cream habit could become a problem for my waistline!
On Monday, Jess had conference (Western Governors Association) meetings in the morning, so I did laundry in a teeny, tiny, stackable washer and dryer. Two normal loads were four in that little guy. I was glad to be able to wash though. Lexi also got a good nap in. When Jess returned, we went over to the ski area. We rode the chair lift up to the top of the mountain (Big mountain, it's called) and saw some incredible views of Flathead lake, the valley and the surrounding mountains. The children also got to play in snow!!! That was one of the highlights for sure. We have some fun videos of the kids sliding down the little hill on their bums and throwing snowballs. It was great. We also hiked a tiny bit and rode the Alpine slide. That was a kid favorite, so much so that we rode it several times. Once we exhausted our tickets, we dropped Dad and Lexi off at the room so he could work and she could nap. The older three kids and I headed to the public beach at Flathead lake. They have a great swimming area! I wish I had brought the kids bathing suits, but figured that it was a bit too glacier like to swim. Oh not so. They got soaked in their clothes and had a blast throwing rocks in the lake. Numbness shmumbness!
Tuesday we checked out of our room and drove home via Glacier National park. Oh the majesty and beauty of that place. We took a nature walk on the cedar trail, played in more snow, and took in all of the scenery. To finish the day-a bowl of bison & elk chili, salad and the lazy hiker burger! Yum! Then, of course that 7 hour drive home. The drive has been pretty and did I mention that I haven't had to drive at all? Awesome.
We are gearing up to have a little Melin family reunion over the 4th of July weekend (Happy birthday weekend, Suzi!) Jess and all of his siblings are in town. We have hiking, camping, the parade, craft show, fireworks and who knows what else on the agenda. I absolutely love Livingston over the fourth! I hope that yours is fab, too.

Progress Report

We made it to Montana!! It was not uneventful, but we're here. I'll go back to where I left off in Atlanta. We were supposed to head back over to my cousin's pool, for more diving board fun, but when I tried to start my car, it barely cooperated. The oil pressure light was also on and flashing. A bad thing according to the owner's manual. My cousin's awesome husband took my three older kids to the pool and my Mom, Lexi and I headed over to the dealer. They were able to get me in that day and put a new battery in my car. That was the source of both issues. Since I was already there, I went ahead and had them change out my timing belt. My cousin, Wendy was kind enough to shuttle us back and forth to the dealer. What a blessing to have that trouble there, rather than all alone at some gas station in small town Iowa or something!
As I was dealing with that, Jess called me and told me that his flight had been delayed and would be getting into Atlanta at 9pm and would be staying the night there. Score! We all packed up and headed to the Hilton right by the airport to stay with him, so my Mom could get up at that unholy hour herself and catch the airport shuttle. His flight was then canceled completely and he never made it. It would have been fun to take him out to breakfast for Father's day. Instead, he had to settle for finding our fun surprises that we had hidden at home.
We stayed in O'Fallon, MO the next night. The one after that, we stayed in Sioux Falls. We got a hotel that had a little indoor water park. This was a big hit with the kids. We also did room service, which they thought was fun. The next day we stopped at Wall drug in Wall, SD. It was probably really charming 20 years ago. It was a huge tourists trap, but the kids got a kick out of all of the photo op set ups. Then we went to the Black Hills Caverns a took a tour. This was T Jay's favorite part about the trip so far. When we were finished the kids got a bag of dirt that they could use to pan for gold and rocks. It was a total set up, but the kids loved it. It will be fun to identify them on a slow day. After that, we headed over to Mt. Rushmore. We found a new nature walk that we missed the last time that we were there. Between the caverns and Mt. Rushmore we climbed some serious stairs! Lexi really wanted to do all of the ones at Mt. Rushmore herself.
We then head through the mountain to Deadwood. While on our way, the biggest rain storm I've ever driven in started. I was glad that the bugs of all of the previous states were being washed away, until it started raining really hard. By the time we arrived in Deadwood, water was rushing across the roads and the puddles were huge! I was a little nervous that a flash flood would wipe up away. The kids counted every puddle that we busted! Needless to stay, Deadwood is still on my lists of places to visit so I can comb through all of the historic places! We continued on to our hotel room in Belle Fourche, SD and got a really good nights sleep. The next morning, I gave the kids the option to swim or get on the road and get to grandma's. They chose get on the road, so we did. Half of the drive was through the mountains and it was beautiful. At the intersection of the highway and the I-90 we stopped at a gas station. As I pulled up, I noticed a sign that said park at your own risk. I thought that was odd and proceeded to take my kids into one of the smelliest bathrooms I've ever been in. Once I got everyone relieved and reloaded back into the car we headed out. We were stopped with a bang, literally. I had backed into a cement based light pole that was in my blind spot. Aaaaah! I was so mad that I was that careless and mad that the pole was essentially camouflaged (thin and brown) right behind parking. At least now I know what they meant by the sign. We arrived in Livingston and for a mere $3600, my car can be fixed up good as new!
Jess arrived today and all was right with our world. He's got the kids out at the ranch right now while I am doing laundry and repacking for our trip to Whitefish and Glacier Nat'l park. I hope that this one is uneventful. I'll check back in soon.

Road Trip

Well, my dear friends, summer road trip is here again! We left our home on June 15 and headed to Savannah, GA for my cousin's high school graduation from Savannah Arts Academy. We spent two fun days with a good portion of my Mom's family at a vacation rental on Wilmington Island. 26 people in one house without feeling cramped! Amazing! Before we headed out of town, we made a stop on River street to enjoy some history before heading to Atlanta with my Mom in tow. We are spending two days here in Atlanta at another cousin's house. Here, T Jay and Summer have discovered the joys of the diving board. They danced, bounced, posed and robot-ed their way off the board! It was fun to watch, I remember doing the same thing.
Tomorrow we will get up at a very unholy hour to get my Mom to the Atlanta airport for her flight back to Co at 6:40. I will just head on my way from there. Talk about getting an early start! I am really going to try and get as close to Columbia, MO. We'll see if it's possible. The next days goal is Sioux Falls, SD. The day after that we are going to stop at Mt Rushmore and Deadwood,SD. The kids are really excited to pan for gold there! Then we'll head on to Livingston, MT. Jess will meet us there on the 24th and the 25th we are driving up near the border to Whitefish, MT. Jess has a business something or other there. While there, we are going on a train ride from Whitefish to Glacier National Park.
When we get back from there, it's a fun 4th of July in Livingston and lots of cousin and time at our Ranch.
After that,we'll head to Logan,UT to see my brother Kevin and his family and then down to Kanab, UT to see my Dad and Grandma. We may try to hit the Grand Canyon and four corners if I can take the extra driving. We'll see. Then it's on to Colorado for a couple of weeks.
My Mom is going to drive home with me. We may stop in LA for Summer, she's been begging to see where she was born. We are planning a stop in Pace to see my Mom's sister and my brother Kenny and a trip to Enterprise AL to see my friend Molly.
We will hopefully arrive in enough time to put our things away and welcome Jess' parents to the Sunshine state for a little visit during the hottest time of the year. They are all coming to help celebrate T Jay's birthday and Baptism!
It should be a wild ride this summer. I'll keep you posted throughout the summer. I hope I don't lose any of my marbles! See you in August Florida friends!

T Jay's Life

T. Jay in St. Augustine

We have friends staying with us! My dear Molly and her family came to visit us while they are waiting to move into their house. We've (and our kids) been having a blast together. Yesterday the kids were jumping in the bounce house most of the afternoon. I decided that they needed to go outside to play while the Mom's got dinner together. We needed some peace and quiet to get the Costco pizza cooked! Moans of displeasure rang out when I turned off the blower and the house began to melt. T Jay looked at the two boys and said, "welcome to my life, boys." Such a sad, sad tale T Jay has to tell.
We are getting ready for our summer trek out west! The kids can't wait, and neither can I. I will try to keep posting as much as I can, but let's face it- It's summer break!! Two more days of school...

Ballet Recital

Summer's class did a song where Cinderella was cleaning and then began daydreaming about life's possibilities then ended sadly because she came back to reality. Summer got to do the end part where she walks around the other dancers and is sad and cries. She did awesome! We can't wait to pick up the recording of the show! I think we may have found Summer's niche!

The Sweetest Thing

We took a quick trip to St. Augustine over part of the long weekend. While we were gone, Summer was a little home sick.
At school today she wrote about it during writing time. This is why I do what I do.

In case you can't read her writing, it says, "On Monday I went to a site called St Agusting a I wanted to go home and my Mom picked me up and sed when you have yore Mommy and she gives you a hug everywhere feels like home."