We left Gramps and Grandma's house on a Wednesday afternoon the day after the movers successfully packed and arranged all of our stuff (and I do emphasize the word stuff) onto a big trailer headed south. We arrived at Nana's house who just so happened to be hosting my sister-in-law and nephews. So the boys all got to have one last fling before we became southerners. I was graciously hosted by my sister-in-law's cat-tolerant mother for the night, she lived close enough to my mom's house that I could let the boys stay with Nana and yet still leave at a decent hour in the morning.
Thursday: we headed south through Wyoming stopping at Casper, WY for a lengthy romp at a local park. I have to give a shout out to Google maps because they were really, very accurate on all my adventures. I had a three ringed notebook that had tons of maps in it to friends' houses, parks, and grocery stores along the way. All I had to do was go to Google maps, click "search nearby", type in "park" and Google would give me several options of parks right off the interstate. I would check the aerial and street view and then print directions! Completely invaluable to our daily trek success. The only thing I forgot to map out was local Starbucks, but fortunately those are in ready supply and we always found a friendly barrista for Mom's afternoon pick-me up. =) We made it to the hotel in Cheyenne, a little later than I had liked but safe none-the-less.
Heading out from Montana in style.
First of many parks, in Casper.
Friday: We went east and stayed with the Nebraska clan: Nathan, Julie, Sylvie, Evie, Abraham and Mordechai. The boys went wild with the girls and burnt off a good amount of energy. Again we had stopped at a park half way and given the boys a break which worked like magic for enduring longer hours in the afternoon. Today was the day that I realized I logged a "fail" in the packing portion of my trip preparation. I had planned for several days of cooler march weather in the "northern" parts of our journey. Nebraska was *not* cooler and we have not yet seen *cooler* since we left Cheyenne early this morning.
Park in North Platte - I thought we were making good time till I realized at this point we had lost an hour going across the Time Zone line. This is also the point I realized we were not in "spring" weather anymore.
These bristle blocks, from Grandpa, were one of the boys' favorite activities. They constantly made airplanes out of them and then shouted, "Mom, take a picture!" but only after they were "done decorating" them.
Desmond with his "decorated" airplane.
Another favorite activity was these rubber stretchy bugs. I got these for $1 each at Target and they more than paid for themselves for the time put in.
Saturday: After a valiant, yet unsuccessful, attempt at leaving early in the morning we pulled out of Nebraska at about 9am toward Missouri. What nostalgia as I drove through Kansas City. So many memories of Marc and I's year there and all the fun activities (and great restaurants) that we took part in. We were sad to not get to see our Kansas City friends but on a positive note this was the only stop I didn't need a map for as I remembered enough of the area to pull off into a interstate close park/ice cream shop. This was one of two days (our long days) that I bribed the boys with an ice cream cone and a movie for taking a good nap and staying quiet(ish) in the car. All the other days we just read books and used our activities that I brought along in the car.
First of two parks on this lengthy day (in Lincoln, NE). This was the only time we saw wildlife in our stops, not my preferred species of wildlife, though. They were two dark green with two stripes snakes. Eep!
My boys found these and gave them to me at our stop in Lincoln.
Loggin' the hours - too bad they don't get minimum wage! =D
Our second stop: in Kansas City.
Sunday: Spent the morning with Tressa and Scott in CoMo. We visited a great little breakfast dinner (our only restaurant on the trip) and found a smashin' park just south of their apartment to run wild in. After lunch by the grilled cheese master (Scott) we headed out to our next stop: Southern Illinois.
This was by far the best park we found in our travels. Well, actually, Tressa found it (woot, woot, Tressa!). This isn't even half the play equipment and it had a true rock wall that lil' ones could climb. I would give a fair amount of money to do weekly visits here!
I made swinging off-limits at all the parks (because swinging is just sitting and that defeats the purpose of going to a park to get a break from sitting!) but Jaxter determined to do it his own way at this park...
This park also had a fair number of trees and Desmond took it upon himself to try climbing it - did pretty well.
Monkey see, monkey do.
Monday: Our day off. We went to a shady park for play and picnic with Caleb and Luke (twins of our good friends' Andrew and Kristi), did laundry and just took a break. There was a lot of giggling and laughing as the boys all played together. This was the site of my first (of two) injuries. I lost my footing while unloading our car topper and banged/scratched up my arm on the door.
Another great park - this one water side.
Throwing rocks/sticks with the boys was on the must-do list.
Tuesday: In the car again for another long day (the second day that an ice cream and movie bribe was used). Stopped in Nashville to play and snack (Desmond asked: "Mom, why do we just keeping having snacks?!").** Then on through Chatanooga (awful traffic, added close to an hour to our time) and Atlanta (not bad traffic but some construction) and finally to a beautiful little nitch in the woods to stay with a high school pal of Marc's. Again, there was much laughter as 4 kids ran around and played together. What fun. This is where my second injury occurred - totally fell off a bar stool because I had thought there was a back to it and there wasn't. Oops. I have really impressive bruises from the fall but haven't thought of an appropriate story to explain them, yet.
**I determined early on (with some other long drive experiences) that resuraunt eating would not work for us. The boys' appetites would not be the best after just sitting in the car all day, park stop or no. And resturaunt food is not the most healthy (or cheap) of fare. Grocery store yogurt, fresh fruit, smoothies and fiber bars were more than enough and kept our tummies from getting upset from too much processed food. Also, sitting still and using good manners in a public eating setting would most likely have proved to be too much for restless little legs.
Notice how the car is getting fuller and fuller? No, not really. This was just at the end of the day so things are piled a little high. I bought two boxes, one of each boy, and each morning I would give it to them in the car with new activities, a present from Jacoby and Morgan (read: A.Erin), a snack and a school activity. It worked really well and they were always anxious for the "activity box".
Nashville, TN. It was so hot that I had to bring Tana with us - I'm sure people went home talking about "that lady from Montana who carried her cat with her everywhere she went". Ha! =)
There it is: Georgia! Almost missed the sign but it was a traffic jam going 5mph so I got it just in time.
Wednesday: Last day in the car! Woot! We headed SouthEast and made it to Ft. Stewart, GA in time to have supper with Dad! =D The boys were ecstatic to see him and didn't stop talking his ear off till.... well, actually they are still telling him all sorts of stories and showing him things (Dad! Watch this!).
YEA FOR DAD!
We are in temporary housing and are praying that there will be a house for us sooner than later and that it will be a good situation (read: no cockroaches and good neighbors). I'll post again in a couple days about our adventures since we got here. I am so very thankful for our health, safety and friends on this long trip. There was so much that *could have* happened and the Lord was gracious to prevent all of it. Praise be.
Post Script: What about Tana? Ahhh yes. The cat. I am very relieved to say that she did very well. She did, actually, exactly as I anticipated. Spending the day holed up in her carrier (that I bought specifically for the trip to cater to our space needs) and the nights curled up under my chin asking for love.
Here she is, sleeping the day away and holding my maps firmly in place, who says cats are worthless? =)
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