This post was mostly for my sanity on the car ride. It was fun to write and keep track of what we did while we drove across the country. Don’t feel forced to read this – just know that we made it and it wasn’t too bad.

Thursday July 2, 2009

5:30am roll out of bed, get dressed and load the last few things in the car. Pump Milk, Change Diapers, and load kids in the car. 6:15am ROLL OUT! … ready for 2 days of driving. Pleasant Grove Utah to Mukwonago Wisconsin! Forgot Bens retainer L 6:30am ROLL OUT (again). The strategy of leaving early so the kids will sleep the first part was semi successful. Benji was bright eyed and bushy tailed when we woke him up to go pee and get in the car. He made sure that I packed him some underwear just in case he pees his pants on the long drive!! He is ready for Wis Con Sin! He is still wide awake, keeping Dad company along with 107.9 and the morning Show. Packer was also excited and awake for the first hour, he‘s asleep now. Cali drank 2 ounces and has been sleeping. And Mom (me) took a nap on I-15 since I am very familiar with that road J

8:00am we just passed the Utah to Wyoming border. The sun was beating down on me so my nap is over. Benji needs some breakfast – hostess donettes and a piece of bread with his sippy of milk. He showed me the train that was on hill to the left. The first thing in Wyoming are a few firework stores and a few Utahish billboards ie. “this is the place”. Now we are passing some windmills. Ben has got the MP3 player going – a little mix but loaded on the country side for me J. Benji just spotted the windmills and is asking when we will be out of this town (state). He’s getting sleepy now.

9:00am We just left the Little America in Wyoming. Benji needed a potty stop so we got gas (25$) and changed diapers and ended up nursing the baby while the boys ran around the trees and sign. Packer is very happy about his Pinecone that he found under the tree. Events leading up to this included everyone being awake. Packer had thrown up his milk at some point along the way. And Ben and I started the first 20 minutes of “The Time Travelers Wife” audio book..

We just checked in With the Falabella car – they are just leaving Ogalalla where they spent the night and Pete and Amanda were at mile marker 191 – we’re at 81 – so about 100 miles off.  Benji needs chips. Back to our audio book, (I never made it to the restroom – hopefully I won’t regret that!)

10:45am I AM regretting not using that restroom!!

We are almost to Rawlins Wyoming (24 miles)! This part of Wyoming has a lot of wooden baracades out in the pastures. My understanding is that they stop the snow drifts. They intrigue me on where they are located. I wonder what it looks like out here in the winter time but I don’t plan on driving here in the snow. The Audio book is intriguing – it has a few parts/words that could be done without. P&A said that there is a cop sitting here waiting near Rawlins so we’re watching the speedometer. Cali has been angelic this whole trip – she is just starting to fuss right now – I can’t blame her. Packer is already asking to get out of the car seat and Benji is asking if we are there yet. Benji is begging for a Capri Sun but for potty stops sake I am not giving in yet. We just passed a passenger train, and Benji informed us that we are faster than all of the trains. Now we’ve got a little Gin Blossoms going.

11:05am 1 mile outside of Rawlins – found the cop – lucky for us he already has someone else pulled over.



Here I am on my little computer doing my Travel Log – this is fun – Mile Marker 209 – WY

Benji

Favorite Color: Blue

Favorite Food: Pizza

Favorite Toy: Spider Monkey

Favorite Animal: Hippo

Best Friend: Pacen

Favorite Thing to Do: Play with Packer

Favorite Treat: Fruit Snacks

Favorite Song: Frosty the SnowMan

Favorite Show: Dragon Tales

Favorite Shirt: Blue Super Heroes

Favorite Super Hero: Captain America

Favorite Icecream: Chocolate with Brownies

Favorite Book: Scooby Doo

Favorite Movie: Mike Wizowski (Monsters INC)

Favorite Toy: Purple Ball (wiggle toy)

Mom or Dad? Big grin… You and You

Packer

Show: Mickey Mouse

Color: Green

Ben:

Song: The Way You Look Tonight

Color: Green

Food: Hamburgers

Treat: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Toy: Computer

Super Hero: Captain America

Ice Cream: Peanut Butter and Chocolate

Shirt: Dinosaur One (exercise)

Book: Book of Mormon, Harry Potter

Animal: Cheetah

Show: LOST

Thing To Do: Dance

Best Friend: my wife? My siblings.

Favorite Movie: Sandlot or ShawShank Redemption or Good Will Hunting (TV versions) All Super Hero.

Jana

Song: Upbeat Country – Brad Paisley, Tim McGraw White T-shirt, SOLD

Color: Blue

Food: Mexican – burritos

Treat: Chocolate

Toy: Puzzles

Super Hero: Jinx ( GI JOE)

Ice Cream: Chocolate Loaded with anything except nuts

Shirt: T-shirts

Book: Book of Mormon, Church History Historical Fiction

Animal: Monkey

Show: Pushing Daisies

Thing To Do: Chat with Friends

Best Friend: Ben. Family. Erica and LaNell

Movie:

11:30am I HAVE TO PEE SOOOOO BAD! I just gave in and gave the boys their Capri Suns.

11:45am grapes. I have requested the next available bathroom stop J

12:26 – finally made it to a gas station in Laramie!!!! Wahoo . 30$ in gas and everyone with empty bladders, grab a knife for sandwich making and we are off a little before 1:00pm.

1:00 PB and J in the car, Cheetohs and Grapes. Now I am tired and trying to get the kids to take a nap so I can too.

2:20 I fell asleep for a bit. We’re in Nebraska – almost to Sidney. The boys are napping. Ben ad I listening to our book, and Cali is trying to fall back asleep but fussing for now. There are cops out all over today. Udine already got a ticket so Ben has slowed it down to 80 instead of 83. They are in Lincoln NE, Pete and Amanda are about 40 miles in front of us.

3:30pm Ogallala NE – kids are still asleep. We are listening to our Audio book and I’ve been playing minesweeper. We’ve already been gone for 9 hours!! Still lots of green rolling hills and fields and very little population and settle land. I wonder if this part of the United States will ever get settled or populated.

4:40pm Everyone is awake again – we’ve gone 310 miles on this tank of gas – the light just came on so we’ll be stopping soon. Cali is trying to be good but chewing on the bottle and not really drinking it. The boys just woke up and are in good moods. They are watching Backyardigans ( they wanted signing Times but our Arcos seems to be broken – I couldn’t get it to turn on and that has all the movies so we are restricted to Backyardigans unless we get the Arcos working). 10 hours now – if we were going west we’d be to Oroville! We are crammed in here with ice chest and food boxes, diapers and wipes and diaper bag, my pump stuff and this computer, ekectronics bag, stinky jammies, my atlas, more food and drinks – water for me, Capri Sun for Benji, Milk for Packer and Diet DP for Ben. We’ve got the big jogging stroller and the Knee board that are taking up a bit of room in the back. Sounds like Cali needs some attention. We’ll be stopping soon. Maybe in Lexington, NE.

5:00pm  Stop in Lexington NE, 43$ on gas.

5:20pm McDonalds drive through – Angus burgers for Ben and I and Happy Meals for the kids. Cali is cranky.

6:20 Cali finally falls asleep. But now the boys are getting restless and mom is getting impatient and sick of crawling to the back seats to pick up toys, get taffy out of shoes, fix the DVD player, calm Cali, get them a drink… I can tell that we are all about done for the day. Just 50 miles to Lincoln NE so that is our goal for the day.

7:23 pm Now we are really done. Cali is crying again. Packer is whining. And I am done, I’m just sitting here typing and ignoring and hope Lincoln gets here fast! See ya there with happy kids that will get to run around a little bit before bedtime.

DAY 2

9:00am Check out of the Econo Lodge in Lincoln, $20 of gas in the old silver mini van ( that is trucking along most nicely ), complimentary donuts for the boys, raisin Bran for me and a Bagel for Ben. Ben is just remembering the Midwest to Utah trips of his youth and how they would get Dunkin donuts around 4am on the first morning out and then the 2nd morning they would get to eat Sugar cereals – like honey smacks!

Everyone did good last night – we got in around 8pm which was really 9pm in NE. We let the boys run around a little on the grass and then we just chilled in the room. Watched kid shows jumped on the beds, Cali was so happy to roll around and be free, Ben and I played online Settlers and chilled. The boys stayed up late since we were all in the same room but we all woke up feeling good this morning.

9:30am Are we Out of Nebraska yet?

10:15am Benji really needs to go to the bathroom so we stop in Council Bluffs ( or just East of there).

10:25 back on the road, eating some tootsie rolls and tootsie pops.

10:40 Packer stinks. He has a sore bum already so I go ahead and change him in the car. Now I am enjoying the Iowa cornfields and a little morning rain. The corn is definitely knee high by the 4th of July – that is tomorrow! I’m excited for the 4th. I love our country. I am thankful for my freedom and the land of plenty that I live in. I believe that America was set aside for the restoration of the gospel and that God prepared it for these last days. O beautiful for Spacious Skies for Amber Waves of Grain for Purple Mountains Majesty Above the Fruited Plains! We are passing some big wind mills on the right – the boys are very intrigued J.

12:00pm I just fed Cali. The boys are watching Signing Times. We are listening to our Audio book and eating Beef Jerky. We are just rolling through Des Moines Iowa.

2:23pm We just filled up at a stop between Iowa City and Davenport, $41. I took a nap for a good hour and am feeling rejuvenated now. Ben got the MP3 videos working so the boys are happy with that and I gave Cali some formula a while ago so she has a full happy disposition for now.



199 Miles from Chicago on I-80, Still in Iowa.

4:50pm  we just paid our second toll and are crossing the Illinois to Wisconsin border!! SOOO CLOSE! There was a detour from I-80 we had to take the 280 near the Illinois border but not to bad. I finally beat minesweeper! The kids have been good. Our Audio book is good but they keep swearing and it is driving me crazy. We just got on the 43 which will take us to Mukwonago. It’s been a good trip. This morning was a little rough but the afternoon was a lot better. We are super excited for the fun week ahead of us. Excited to spend it with family and see lots of extended family. Excited for Kopps Custard and lots of custard in general. Excited to each cheese and candy raisins and shop for Packer and Brewer stuff at the local Walmarts. Excited to swim and play in the sand and … I’m just excited for vacation.

Saturday July 4, 2009

10:30 am Happy 4th of July!! We are just leaving Rick and Jen’s house in Mukwonago and heading for Kopps in Port Washington. We told the kids that custard is magic ice cream so they are excited to get there and Benji is hoping that Custard doesn’t taste like mustard.

11:00am We just passed Miller Park where the Brewers play Baseball – lots of excitement from the boys. Cali is asleep Packer is asking when we go to the Con-Do. Benji is asking if Pack is awake for icecream. And we are trying to explain to Benji what 1.5 or 1 and a half means. He can’t quite grasp that concept. It’s either 1 or 2 – 1.5 means nothing to him.

12:30pm Mmm My tummy is full of custard! Vanilla Kopps custard – that was good. Ben and I also shared a burger, Fries and onion rings. Benji loved the Chocolate and Vanilla. Packer ate a little and loved the onion rings and fries. Cali whined the whole time because she wanted some. I let her eat the wafer that comes with it. So we are back on the 43 heading north and still deciding if we will take this all the way up or if we want to drive the Lake Michigan coast.

1:45pm I will admit that Wisconsin in the summer is beautiful. The big trees are amazing and it is very green. Now they just need to get their winters under control! We just drove through Manitowac and are looking out over Lake Michigan. Wow! This is pretty much ocean front property. I am always amazed that this is a lake. I’d love to come and explore it sometime.