One Week on the Road

So it's been a week since we left home. It's been interesting and monotonous at the same time. On Sunday we stopped in Republic to visit my younger brother Kevin. We had a nice visit. I always enjoy getting to visit with him. The kids enjoyed ransacking his kid's toys! They were in Vegas at their Grandma's house so we weren't able to enjoy a visit with them. We got on the road about 9:30 and headed toward Kansas City. We made a stop in Lexington, MO at Wentworth Military Academy, where Jess attended his first year of college. There was a sweet woman who was a mother figure to all of the boys when Jess was there. She works in the alumni office, and she was still there. When Jess walked in, she jumped up and was so excited to see him. I was a little surprised that she remembered him since it had been 20 years since he was a student there, and it was only for a year. The kids enjoyed looking around the campus and hearing stories about when he was there.
After that, we continued on our way to Kansas City. We drove through Liberty, MO and realized that this was the same Liberty, MO (duh!) where the Liberty jail, an LDS church historic site, was located. We decided that a stop in there was a must. You know how I like old things! It was a great break from travelling. While we waited for our tour, I took the kids outside and they ran up and down this grassy hill for 20 minutes! Anything to burn the energy off when stuck in a car all day is awesome! The tour was great. My favorite part was witnessing Summer put her arm around Matthew and comfort him when he got scared because it was dark. Nothing makes me happier than watching my kids show kindness and compassion toward one another.
Once we arrived in Kansas City, we changed for the pool and headed over. We ordered pizza and spent the rest of the evening swimming and eating. Not the best food, but who wants to go to a sit down restaurant with four kids who have been couped up in a car all day?! Pizza by the pool sounds even better, right?!
Today our plan was to drive from Kansas City to Sioux Falls, SD on I-29 N. This proved more difficult than we anticipated. With all of the flooding that the overextended Missouri River has caused, our route was crazy. Several sections of I-29 were closed, and we had the pleasure of exploring several scenic routes through Missouri and Iowa. I had to work really hard at reminding myself that as annoying as it was to have to detour every 30 miles or so to back roads, it is a whole lot more annoying to have your home and farm flood. Why is it hard to keep perspective sometimes? I felt guilty several times today for being annoyed. That being said, the flooded areas were something to behold. It's kind of crazy how nature can wreak such havoc on mankind. It's totally the boss of us!
We finally made it to the Ramada in Sioux falls. We stayed here last year on our summer road trip. The hotel is nothing to write home about, but they have a great pool with pirate ship children's pool and spiral slide! The kids played as hard as they could for three hours. More sub-par food for us, but convenience won again. Who wants to tear four kids away from the "most fun pool ever" to shower, dress and go sit in a restaurant? Not me! It paid off, because the kids fell into bed, and once again, bed time on the road was a cinch!
Tomorrow, we are crossing South Dakota. We will make a stop at Wall Drug, and maybe something in Rapid City. I am excited for the drive. I will feel a little nostalgic as part of our drive will take us through this canyon that we would drive through when we drove from ND to CO. It's breathtaking! Thursday, we will finally pull into Montana for a great week at the ranch. I can't wait to see all of the progress there, and hopefully get plenty of relaxing in.

End of school

The end of school awards ceremony. Summer earned the top reader award for the second year and got a shirt.

Cutie!

Perry Pride the panther, Pinewood's school mascot.

T Jay also earned the top reader award for the 3rd year in a row. Between Summer and T Jay, we now have 5 of these shirts!

T Jay also was awarded the reading award for his class.

Matthew with one of his many older friends. The 2nd grade went to the park for the last day of school. Matthew was thrilled to play with all of the big girls!

I gave T Jay my camera and sent him on his way to photograph all of his friends.

T Jay and his teacher, Mrs. Greiner. He loves her!

Mrs. Greiner's second grade class.

Happy summer! Lots of changes are coming our way. We will try and keep up while we are transitioning. The packers are coming to begin packing next Monday. I am leaving with the kids next Tuesday and Jess will finish up with the packers, cleaners and such and then catch up with us in Pensacola! Here's to a new chapter...

PInewood Derby

Our last Pack meeting in Florida before we got started with the Pinewood Derby. T Jay earned his Wolf badge, as well as a few belt loops. I'm not sure I have ever mentioned it, but I have been the den Mother for the past year. It's been fun

The weigh in table. I mostly added this photo so you could see how round my belly is! Seriously round!

Lexi hiding out behind the table waiting for her daddy to return with the pizza.

Matthew enjoying the games. Every time I ask him why he's getting so big or why he won't stop growing, he tells me, "I just want to be a Cub Scout." It is the most darling thing. He was thrilled to be involved with this event!

He's back! Daddy's girl!

T Jay and Summer posing in the winner's circle with an awesome 4th place finish! Way to go Harry Potter car!

T Jay showing of his Harry Potter car. The pattern on top is Harry's wand creating his patronus.

Taylor Swift Concert

The girls before the concert began.
One of my friends asked me back in February if I would be interested in taking Summer to a Taylor Swift concert with a group of girls and their Moms. My first thought was, 'Are you crazy, she's way too young to go to a concert!" But as I thought about it, it sounded really fun, if nothing else for me! So we signed on to go! I am so glad we did, it was a great end of school/last hurrah with our friends before we move! I decided to get a hotel room so that I wouldn't have to drive home so late at night. Summer and I left around three and checked into our room so we could paint our nails, fix up our hair and primp before heading over to the concert! Summer was in heaven. I am not sure if she was more excited for the concert, or to stay in a hotel together!

Summer and I. FYI, that's about a 27 week belly shot right there!
Our seats were amazing. They called it the sunset terrace. We were at the very top, so it wasn't too loud. They had a bar like table with bar chairs around it. There were only like 50 people in the section, so I didn't worry about Summer getting lost or taken. They had a buffet table set up for most of the night that had free hamburgers, Chicken fingers, fruit and cheese tray, veggies and a dessert tray. They also had a woman serving drinks all night! It was perfect. You can tell from the pictures that there was enough room between us and the other tables that the girls could get up and play around if they wanted! Such a perfect setup.

Summer, eating and showing off her glow before the concert.

The girls playing a game before the concert started.

Summer was very intently taking in her first concert experience. She was so cute. She also enjoyed dancing and singing along with the show. She was probably most fascinated with all of the costume and set changes.

Me with my girl!

Dancing with her friend, Emilie to one of the songs.

We had a great time at the concert! We got back to our hotel around 11:30 and fell into bed. The next morning, we had breakfast and then went for a dip in the pool before we headed back for the Pinewood Derby. It was a great beginning to many awesome girls nights to come!

1st Grade Luau

Every year, the first grade holds an end of the year Luau celebration. The children get to dress up, and spend the day rotating around all of the first grade classrooms playing games and doing craft projects. It's a blast.
Summer with her friend Karoline.

The girls of Mrs. Taylor's class: Karoline, Summer, Nicole, Emilie and Lindsay Where's Karoline? She's the only one missing from the group.

Summer and her beloved Mrs. Taylor.

Mrs. Taylor's first grade class with Mrs. Rebbecca, a classroom volunteer and also our next door neighbor.

Another awesome year for the books! Thank you Mrs. Taylor for being the most awesome 1st grade teacher ever! We may just have to return to Florida when Matthew is ready for 1st grade!

YMCA Mini meet

Memorial day weekend, the three older kids participated in the YMCA's gymnastics meet. They had a ball, and more importantly received trophy's. I don't have any still shots of them actually doing anything, because I was too busy taking video. but here are a few shots of them sitting and with their trophy's. But like I told you, the trophy's are the most important part. Matthew referred to the day as "trophy day!"
Matthew, with his class full of girls!

T Jay, passing time.

Lexi's "spot".

Matthew with Coach Ed. Matthew thinks he is the coolest, Coach Ed is so good with the kids!

Summer, waiting to go on the beam.

Trophy!

Summer with coach Emily

The three trophies!

T Jay with Coach Ernie.

We spent nearly the entire day at the YMCA for three separate sessions! It was also Jess and I's 13th anniversary! Where's our trophy?!

California with the kids

We decided to take the kids out to visit in California to hopefully get them excited about our upcoming move. We flew on a non-stop flight out of Ft Lauderdale. 6 people = 1 whole row on an airplane! 4 kids + 6 hour flight= a little bit of stress! The older three did pretty good, but Lexi got a little testy around the 4.5 hour mark. We got through it, but it wasn't my favorite hour and a half of life.
Loaded in the elevator in Ft. Lauderdale, and loaded with excitement!

In the terminal.

T Jay and Summer on our side of the aisle. They loved watching the TV screens and plying video games on the seat backs.

Jess' side of the aisle. I think I got the easier seat! Lucky me!

Lexi is ready for take off. She loved being able to buckle her own seat belt. She was also very possessive of her seat. No Chinese fire drills for this girl, she wanted her seat.

We flew into San Fransisco, and were able to meet up with my younger brother, Chris and his family. Lexi was thrilled that they had a little baby for her to plat with. She was thrilled that Brynlee was so cooperative about letting her hold her.

I guess Brynlee was equally as excited to check Lexi out. She was fascinated by her face. It made Lexi shriek with glee. Priceless.

Chris and Caevin, checking out the Sea lions that have taken up residence near Fisherman's Wharf.

Behind Summer and T Jay are the Sea lions laid out for our viewing pleasure, and boy did it bring pleasure to them, especially when they would knock each other off of the dock, or climb over one another.

We went to Rainforest Cafe for dinner with the gang and had no fewer than four spills. 4 kids + 4 spills = business as usual!

We made a stop at the Oakland Temple. The grounds and visitor's center were beautiful!

This is carved on two sides of the temple. I thought it was neat.

I like how Lexi is touching his feet. Kind of makes me think that's what the children in the scriptures looked like, too

The view from the overlook was amazing! You could see all of the way to the Golden Gate bridge as well as the whole city of Oakland and beyond. I can't wait to see it at night.

Lexi was willing to remove her "bink" for the photo, how sweet is she?!

Matthew was not willing to drop the pretzel bag, but he looks mighty cute anyway!

This is right outside of the office building where the new west office is for NextEra. It's a nice little part of downtown. A little walking area with cafes and small shops. The kids were big fans of the fountain. I like how someone puts out mats for people to sit on. I'm sure it encourages people to gather and...

Relax, nap, eat, whatever!

We found this cute little ice cream parlor called "Fenton's" You know how I like old things, and this place didn't disappoint. I loved all of the vintage decor and machinery. They even had a bar that they served ice cream and drinks from the fountain. How cute would it be to have ice cream parlor chairs at the kitchen table. I may have to look into that!

Check out my brownie Sundae! It's enormous!! And Yummy! What's not to love!

The children had a great time and learned that California is mostly like anywhere else they have been. They have the stores that we need and parks and schools, church was the same and even more taxes! Yeah! I think the trip was a success. They still aren't thrilled about leaving their friends and our house, but really, that's the hardest part about moving.

The trip home was a little trickier. After we made our travel plans, we found out that Jess had to stay in CA for a day longer for the office opening. That meant that I had to travel home alone with the four kids. The thought of this brought on borderline panic attacks for me. Jess kept all of the luggage for me, so I wouldn't have to wait for it, nor transport it to the car when we arrived. He was also able to walk us to the gate since he had a ticket. It was good that he was there, because he got to work with the desk person to get our seats together. Could you imagine 5 hours with 4 kids spread out all over a flight? Nightmare! They were able to get T. Jay and Summer together, and Matthew, Lexi and I together. Let me just tell you how many looks of bewilderment, concern, need for being committed, shock and terror I received as I we walked through the airport and then proceeded to board the plane alone with four kids! It's almost comical. I am used to it mostly, because it happens everywhere I go, but this was a little something extra. These people knew they were about to be trapped with us. Thankfully, the children were magnificent. I was really worried about Lexi getting a nap. That was the problem on the first flight. My neighbor let me borrow her portable DVD player and I put Dora the Explorer on a constant loop for her. She wore Jess' noise reduction headphones to listen. As she got tired, she just feel asleep. Since the headphones block out noise, I just unplugged them from the DVD player and she slept for just shy of 2 hours! God's little gift to me! Everything went off with out a hitch and we were home and in the car before we knew it. The hardest part was getting the kids back on East coast time! Now to get ready for the move...