On the Road Again...

A couple months ago, my sister called to invite us to join her on a trip to Yellowstone to celebrate her husband's BYU graduation.  "Count us in!" I quickly agreed, thinking it sounded like a grand adventure.

The original "Plan" included Mark accompanying us, but unfortunately, he was needed at work because another coworker was on a three-week trip to Europe.  Boo!  

The revamped plan involved lots of pit stops along the way to make a 16-hour drive with little kids more palatable.  

I'm tempted to think I did something remarkable by taking on such a "daunting trip" solo, but every time my mind moves in that direction, I immediately think of the pioneers.  Suddenly, sixteen hours in an air-conditioned mini-van, with my kids all safely strapped into their comfortable car seats, with bags overflowing with food and snacks, and no poisonous snakes, howling wolves, attacking Indians, or unexpected snow-storms to thwart our efforts, seems downright appealing!

We left on a Monday morning and drove 4-5 hours to our first pit stop in Spokane.  Mark made us a stack of Cd's full of books on tape and music to help keep us entertained.  With the novelty of traveling and plenty of fun things to listen to, the drive passed rather uneventfully.  I was pleased and surprised to discover that Thane travels extremely well.  In fact, over the course of the following week, he proved to be my best passenger; he slept on occasion, but generally kept himself happily occupied chatting with his siblings and playing with anything within his grasp.

In Spokane, we stayed the night with Mark's Aunt Kathy.  I'd only met Aunt Kathy once before - 8 years ago - so I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from our visit.  She was wonderful!  The kids loved playing on the swing set in the backyard and enjoyed getting to meet their second cousins, Quinton and Ethan.  Kathy treated us to a buffet dinner, which was a smash-hit with 5-and-under set (okay, and the adults too).  It was fun to catch up with Kathy and get to know her better.

Before we left, Kathy gave Aubree a pseudo-American Girl doll, which Aubree quickly named Rachel.  For the rest of our trip, Aubree insisted that Rachel be considered a member of the family.

The next morning, after a filling breakfast, we left for the second, and shortest, leg of our journey.  After only 3 1/2 hours of driving, we reached our friends home in a little town outside Missoula, Montana.  I'd never been to Montana before and loved the scenery on our drive.  Bryce kept telling me, "Mom, Jesus made all of this for us."
While traveling, we kept ourselves occupied by playing endless games of 20 Questions, I Spy Colors, and Counting Colors (a game Aubree and Bryce invented where they count cars of different colors).  Additionally, I brought along my tapes of Great Mormon Women.  I grew up listening to and loving these dramatized accounts.  I was hoping Aubree was old enough now to likewise enjoy them.  She's not, but I liked them, even if it meant wiping tears from my eyes as I drove.

When we arrived at the Teeples' home, Sarah had a slip-n-slide set up in the backyard, which also meant she became my kids' best friend.  They immediately changed into swimsuits and spent the afternoon running and playing in the water and getting to know their friend Evan again (their family moved from Seattle to Montana a couple months ago).  

what? you don't use shovels on your slip-n-slide?

When the kids went to bed, I had very good intentions of going to bed early since driving is ridiculously tiring.  Instead, Sarah and I stayed up late talking.  I decided the only thing I don't like about Sarah is that she moved too far away just when we were becoming great friends.  I learned a lot and have a lot of neat things to ponder after our discussions.

Wednesday morning we geared up for our longest travel day yet.  We stopped briefly in Butte, MT to pick up some supplies and have lunch at Wal-Mart.  When I was checking out, the cashier asked, "Are you new here?  I don't recognize you."  Seriously??  I guess I never realized Butte was that small of a town.  

By the time we reached West Yellowstone, we were all pretty sick of being stuck in the car.  Alas, we still had an hour and a half drive through the park to get to our camp site.  At least then the kids were occupied with looking for animals.

*I will write about our Yellowstone adventures in an upcoming post - I'm still sorting through the 3.2 billion pictures.*

We stayed at Yellowstone for three nights and started our return trip Saturday afternoon.  Again, we stopped at the Teeples' home in Montana.  By this time, I think I'd started to get numb to driving long distances.  The kids were getting sick of sitting next to each other and their good humor (and mine) was wearing off.  Needless to say, I was glad to pull into our friend's welcoming home.

We tried to leave early Sunday morning, but couldn't pull ourselves away.  Still, we made good time across Montana and Idaho and were on track to reach church in Spokane by 12:30, which would give us enough time to have a quick picnic lunch before Sacrament meeting.  Then we ran into traffic and road construction.  That's when I learned (or remembered) that I'm not as patient a driver as I'd like to think.  Grrrrr!  

We got to church just a few minutes before Sacrament meeting began.  I threw snacks into my backpack and we snuck in the back, half-hoping no-one would feel the need to try and be-friend us.  We only stayed for the first hour, then had our postponed lunch on the lawn.  Then, back to the car for a few more hours to visit the Allred/Frank clan in Royal City.

As always, we love, love, LOVE Ashlee and all her family.  They are such great examples of generosity and acceptance and Christ-like living.  Visiting with them is such an inspiration.  We spent Sunday evening at Ashlee's parent's home with all the extended family and assorted friends and visitors.  Aubree immediately hooked up with Gracee, Kate, and Jaelyn, and they ran bare-foot around the yard picking raspberries and playing little-girl games.  

Bryce found a fast-friend in Maggie (who called him "Blyce"), and they too found countless ways to entertain themselves.  At one point, they wanted to go play outside.  "Sure," I told Bryce, "but make sure you stay with Maggie, she knows her way around here."  

A little while later, Maggie came back inside and Bryce wasn't with her.  I sought him out. "Bryce!" I complained, "I told you to stay with Maggie!"

"But Mom," he explained, "I DID stay with her.  She just didn't stay with ME!"

The next day we spent the morning playing at Ashlee's.  I think my kids could have happily stayed there forever.  "Blyce" and Maggie spent their time jumping from the couch onto love-sack, over and over and over...  

Aubree, Gracee, and Jaelyn pulled out their American Girl dolls and entered their own little world of make-believe.  

We spent the afternoon having a picnic at the Pond.  Bryce impressed me by being fearless.  He freely played in the water and even asked to go down the slide into the water when none of the other kids were doing it.  Then, he did it independently.  Well done!  He loved it there.

Of course, Aubree loves anything to do with water.  She also played and splashed and even hitched a ride on the kayak.

Finally, it was time to come home.  It's fun to travel, but also great to be home.