Party of Five: On the Road Again....

I can hardly believe our summer is over. So much planning and worrying about how the kids would do for days at a time in the car all behind us. Many friends have asked if I would do it again...and I quickly answer...YES! I know it sounds crazy but really the boys and I had such a fun summer...even the long days (which sometimes led into late night arrivals at our destinations!) in the car had more high points than low points.

The planning began in January when our friends from Sweden wanted to come for a visit. We already had many things we wanted to do this summer so coordinating when they could come took weeks. We finally had a plan...we could make it work but it was going to require lots and lots of coordination! So after hours of checking on flights we determined that driving was going to be the easiest and most economical...really I couldn't believe I was saying that...I am the worst road tripper and I really hate riding in the car and I was agreeing to spend days and days and cover more miles than I ever thought possible with 3 kids in the car...ugh! But what is life without a little adventure?

I knew we could not do this alone and Dan did not have that much time off (the schedule we were looking at was going to take about 6 weeks)...so the next part of the plan was to enlist some help. Phone calls to Grandma and telling her of the plan began. After a little persuading my parents were on board for this adventure (we couldn't have done it without all of their driving and flexibilty!). We were ready to set off.

So here was the schedule:

June 20th-The boys and I would drive from Seattle to Southern California with our friends from Sweden. (5 children and 3 adults...every seat in the van taken). Talk about one really full car...we had to get a Thule for the top or we would have never all fit! I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of this! The kids were amazing for this part of the trip...we asked a lot of them...2 long 12 hour days in the car!

June 21st-My parents flew to Southern California and met us at Disneyland.

June 25-after a very busy 3 days at Disneyland we said good-bye to our friends from Sweden. They flew to NYC for a few more days of sight seeing and we were on the road to AZ.

The COOL guys!

The crew spliting down to 5 as we said good-bye to our friends from Sweden.

June-26th We got to AZ a much later than planned because of a late start out of LA and more traffic than we anticipated-by far our latest night of the trip. 20 Year Reunion for Blue Ridge in Pinetop/Lakeside. What a great couple of days to show the boys where I grew up and went to school.

June 27th-Drive back down to Phoenix and have a fun few days with friends and family in Phoenix. Even with the hot temperatures we managed to have lots of fun and do lots and lots of swimming! Kellen quickly got over his fear of water...which was great with all the swimming we had coming up over the summer.

July 1st-leave AZ and drive to CO. Along the way see the Grand Canyon, Four Corners, Mesa Verde, Sand Dunes National Park, and Monument Valley.

At the Grand Canyon

Mesa Verde

Sand Dunes National Park

July 3-arrive in Colorado...where Dan was anxiously waiting our arrival! We had a fun week with daddy before he flew back to Seattle for work (someone had to pay for this trip!) After a fun week with daddy we had a wonderful month in Colorado with friends and family-lots and lots of warm weather, swimming pools, water parks, and sports camp. We were even there for the birth of my sisters little guy.

July 30-leave CO and drive to WA. Along the way see Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone.

Grand Teton National Park

Yellowstone

Aug. 4th-We arrived back home in Seattle. Just in time for Sea Fair-the Blue Angels and Hydro-Plane Boat Races.

Wow looking at that schedule in writing it is hard to believe we completed it and with every person intact and mostly enjoying the trip!

Some highlights from the trip:

-Car DVD player broke as we were leaving Denver. Good news...we could still play the movie that was stuck inside. Bad news we watched Cinderella about 6 times between here and Denver. Good News...Kellen LOVES Cinderella so he was always very happy when we turned it on.

-4 National Parks. What an amazing way to see such beautiful areas of our country!

-10 States. 2 states were a rather quick visit at the 4 Corners but still we were in 10 states! :)

-Lots and lots of rest areas...the kids did so well with very few stops on our longest days even.

-We managed not to lose and have any melted crayons in our car (even in 100+ degree temperatures in Phoenix).

-Lots of scenery that looked like we had driven onto a set for the movie CARS!

-Very rarely did the boys ask how much longer or complain about all the time in the car.

-Driving through a herd of buffalo at Yellowstone National Park. And then seeing a deer and a buffalo on the trail as we were walking to see a geyser.

-The 5 kids were soooo excited when we hit LA and were about an hour from Disneyland. The car was full of so much energy :) Very quickly we realized that we would be visiting Disneyland that night...even at 8 PM there was no way we were going to hold back 5 children after strapping them in the car with few stops for 2 days and the promise of Mickey Mouse if we didn't stop much! Luckily we had annual passes & our friends from Sweden thankfully had got an extra day on their passes-so it was possible.

-Snacks, Snacks, and More Snacks....certainly a life saver! Wow what a mess to clean out under the car seats once we were back!

-Kellen's security blanket on the trip was his Storm Trooper figurine. We almost lost it several times which caused quite a panic. When he went missing Kellen would constantly ask until it was found..."where is my Storm Trooper?" After several near losses in Colorado the rule became that the Storm Trooper was not allowed out of the car. A small miracle to return home with such a small toy!

-My job was mostly to sit in the back with the kids and entertain...I did some driving but mostly I was the snack getter, movie player, game leader, mediator, crayon and toy finder :)