It's a road trip

Fair warning: There are no images in the post because I was under strict instructions that there were to be no distractions while driving. Desert, oil pumps, windmills, Indian Reservations, then the awe inspiring Southern Utah; time to think. Terry usually drives the majority of our Road Trips, this frees me up to pass snacks all around and do some reading. On our move in December I read the Twilight series. This time it was All Mom, All the Time; Driver, Snacker, and Herder all in one. Day 1 started full of anticipation and our first audio book, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”. Things got really “funky junky” when Olivia asked why we were broke, too broke to buy those crystal light powder packs to make flavored water, priced at a whopping .39 each. Everyone picked out their own special flavor; which led to a large amount of water intake and a forced stop on the side of the Interstate to pee. We ended the day playing go fish, reading books and arranging 5 people into 2 Queen beds. There’s nothing quite like a Road Trip! We finished Diary and started Island of the Blue Dolphin. Talk about nostalgia; Island was one of my favorites as a kid. Another roadside picnic, strangers telling me how nice it is to see a family with well mannered kids, and time to think. Lots of thinking, reflecting and projecting. 12 hours on the road and we were all ready for a stop. If you ever find yourself in a small town deciding between the National franchised hotel and the Local Inn, which is claiming to have the best rooms in town, my suggestion would be to go for the Franchise. In general I try to buy ‘local’ and ‘indy’ and I wish I could leave the cookie cutter ‘burbs, with the HOA telling me that my grass is too long or too dead or has too much dog poop on it, behind. However, IF we really had the best room in town, I can’t imagine what the other 2 hotels’ rooms could have possibly been like. Ahhh, day 3. We’ve reached the 4th and final state in our 3 day adventure. Everyone’s happy. Grace is master train spotter, Maiah is all about the horses. Jackson is totally into The Hobbit audiobook. Olivia is so excited to see her cousins that she can hardly sit still. We’ve taken to accessorizing our meal toys and seeing how rainbowish we can make our baby wipes. Lucky for everyone the long day yesterday means today we can climb out of the van by 2 today! Hip Hip Horray