How many more minutes?

Day 1 is officially complete and I know we are all happy to be in beds tonight and not the car.  It was a long afternoon of driving and we pulled into our hotel at the Grand Canyon around 2:30.  The drive was beautiful.  Winding roads, tall mountains and views you could never get in a plane.  

For me personally, even though the drive is long and yes we do have small children I enjoy road trips.  The memories and seeing this beautiful country we call home is priceless.  My favorite part of this afternoon was little Dylan asking pretty often… how many more minutes?  The first few times I laughed because these poor kids are probably wondering why we have been in a car so long to see this infamous "snow" we speak of.  After the first few times I of him asking I think we were all hoping to never hear those words again! Then we pull into a park this afternoon to see a big hole in the ground!  Ha!  

The Grand Canyon was absolutely majestic.  I keep trying to find a verb to better explain it, but can't seem to find one.  God's beautiful masterpieces just leave me breathless.  It was great to look at for a while, but honestly it was a quick visit and it was chilly!  I am glad I saw it though and would definitely love to come back again and maybe do the donkey ride to the bottom or hike.  Such a beautiful park.  

Well, it's 9:20 at night and I am officially the only one awake in our room.  Time to get some sleep and hit the road for Draper, Utah in the morning.  Looking forward to more adventures ahead!

12 hours in...

Well, we made the long 12 hours stretch….  I honestly didn't think we would ever make it out of Texas!  Jeeze Louise.  It has been a while since I have traveled across the state and it really is entirely too big.  It was about 3am when we finally crossed the state line.  Our timing is right on even with pretty frequent stops through the night for the bathroom and to stretch our legs.  

Nothing too exciting happened overnight.  In her exhausted state Jaclyn did try to get into some strange man's truck, but that is about it.  We were very glad she decided to come with us.  :)  The older kiddos woke up every few hours and thankfully were really good (the iPads strike again) and didn't wake up the baby who slept through the night.  Praise Jesus!  The daddies haven't slept but maybe an hour and the mommies only have a few hours more under our belts.  We are leaving Tuscon and our bellies are now full with IHOP and we are hitting the road to the Grand Canyon.  Jaclyn is taking one for the team and driving to Phoenix.  Only 6 more hours… Are we there yet?

The Departure...

After an hour of getting four adults, a 7,4 and 1 year old all packed into one suburban we finally hit the road.  We didn't get far until we realized that we forgot one of the kids iPads and had to turn around.  Honestly, what did parents do before technology on long road trips?  How did they survive and not loose all sanity?  My mom and I took a ton of road trips growing up and I can't remember what I did, but know I spent a lot of time staring out the window at the countryside.  I am pretty sure without Ipads, ipods and DVDs in this suburban, we wouldn't survive this trip!

Once we got on the road we had to stop by a store to pick up a cord to help the head phones plug into the dvd system for the older kiddos.  And then, we finally hit the road.  We actually weren't that far of our initial schedule and I have no clue how that happened.  Of course my child is about to break a tooth any minute and was being a nightmare the entire first hour.  Our wonderful friends weren't bothered a bit, yet I was about ready to jump out of the car!  Help!  After a few hours we stopped at the Texas Stop Sign (Dairy Queen) to get food and go to the restroom.  And if you know me well.... Blizzards  :)  Since we had already stopped for a break we also topped off our gas tank.  All of a sudden Jaclyn starts screaming.. its HOTT!  We all just stare at her and she screams, TAKE IT OFF OF ME!  Her and the gravy from her chicken fingers had a fight and well ....poor jaclyn lost!  Then, next thing we know it she pulls out a spare pair of pants out of her mary poppins mom bag (because doesn't everyone care an extra pair of pants), and her husband gets behind her with a blanket.  In the middle of a Love's gas station she changed pants and they got the rest of the gravy off with baby wipes.  HA!  HA!  Freaking awesome.  

It is now 9pm we are still on I-10 and the little girls are asleep.  Alll is good… for now.  :)  

Until tomorrow!