Starting Time: 9:12 am
We actually left the house at 9:00 on the dot, but we needed to get our first family photo and hug our neighbor one last time.
Starting Mileage: 134,310 miles
First random song from Scott’s phone played in the van: “Good Life” by One Republic “It’s going to be a good, good life…”
First photos – still in the driveway!
Before I begin the official record of our adventure I want to share a quote from Lysa TerKeurst, “What happens in between the smiling snapshots of life isn’t all pretty. I’m willing to admit that. And I love my friends who are brave enough to admit the messy stuff as well…as we set out to make some imperfect progress together.”
I’m sure we will have some “not so pretty” moments of sibling rivalry and other misunderstandings along the way, but I usually try to find the humor in the moment. Of course that is after the fact while I’m reflecting and recording, but first and foremost I will try to focus on the smiling snapshots we create along the way. So if you want the nitty gritty details you’ll have to get those later!
We did it!
Scott reflected at our extended family dinner last night that packing for this trip has been similar to packing an entire house into our van. Scott had the bulk of the packing to do. The little bit of packing I did do: clothes, kid’s entertainment, and food was sporadic at best. First of all, there were a few organizational things I wanted to wrap up before my vacation brain settled in. Secondly, I was trying to fit in as many last minute visits and hugs as I could. Thirdly, the dryer decided it was on strike this week. Thank goodness for amazing neighbors and in-laws who were willing to lend their dryers. The warm sun helped too. Lastly, while the kids are much more independent than our last trip three years ago, packing with kids can be a challenge. It is similar to a dog driving down a highway littered with frequent running squirrels. Every time I would get into a packing groove…”Squirrel!"
It is all done though. At least we hope so… We have the most important things, each other.
We are headed to the family and home of my college roommate. We have not had a chance to see the whole family together in almost two years. Last time we saw them they were a family of four. Now they are a family of six.
The first stop was about an hour and a half South on Route 39 just South of Rochelle. The kids played at the playground for about ten minutes before we hopped back in the van. Brooke loved the monkey bars and the wiggly balance beam. I enjoyed tickling her belly mid-monkey bars.
The kids were perfect angels for the first few hours. Scott and I looked at each other and thought, “This is too easy.” It didn’t take long for the wiggles to settle in. My neighbor, Carla, brilliantly offered coloring/activity trays for us to use. The kids kept themselves busy coloring with supplies from my teaching teammate, their grandma, and things I picked up. We decided to stick with markers and colored pencils as crayons present a serious melting hazard in a mobile metal oven.
Brooke’s first requested song was Dr. Jean’s “Tooty-Ta.” My friend, Meghan, was the first one that encouraged Brooke’s love of Dr. Jean. Then Brooke’s preschool had the parents perform “Tooty-Ta” at the Mom’s and Dad’s Days. It is a little more difficult to perform the actions strapped down with a seatbelt, but it was still fun. Scott made it through two Dr. Jean songs and then plugged himself into a podcast about investing.
We stopped at 1 in Atlanta for lunch. The small local park proclaimed, “Atlanta, the midway between Chicago and St. Louis.” We found a picnic table under a tree in front of the library. Lunch was relaxed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with Scrabble Junior Cheez-Its and apples. My teaching teammate was kind enough to send a bag full of surprises and the Scrabble Cheez-Its wound up being a good distraction from a little Miss who was not so happy about PB & J. In fact, Brooke had just peanut butter and Cody had just jelly on their sandwiches. With the Cheez-Its we practiced word families, spelling, and homophones. Cody gets distracted while eating, so we worked on subtraction with each Cheez-It he gobbled up.
We had a long walk to the small town staple Casey’s Gas Station for the bathroom, as the librarian must have gone to lunch, but the walk back was much faster since I asked the kids to race me. They are super fast!
Before we left Atlanta we stopped at the local park along Route 66 and read a sign in front of a tiny water fountain. It was one of the first water fountains installed in the town in 1934. Upon reflection of the fountain’s importance in the town and eventual removal, “Old timers remember older boys placing younger boys on top of the fountain.” This made me giggle.
Scott took a quick video of the park, but left out the fun water fountain.
We arrived in Gillespie around 3:30. The kids have been in heaven playing with the “new” toys and friends.
Brooke rode a four wheeler all by herself for the first time. Thankfully, Matt had a remote that shut the four wheeler down when Brooke veered too close to the street.
Scott took video of Brooke driving the quad.
Brooke has been having so much fun with the 18 month old twins Lucy and Larry. It is nice to see her being a little nurturer. Wendy and I are having fun reliving the college dorm days, catching up on kid stories, and swapping stories of volunteer work at church. I don’t know how she does it with four kids and hosting a family of four. We are so thankful for the time to catch up and create some memories together.
