What we have been up to (Part 1)

Some of the more frequent readers may have noticed that I haven't updated in a while.  There is a great reason for this.  We have been on a road trip that spanned 3 time zones, 8 States, and 11 different families.  Our children slept in 7 different rooms over the course of 13 nights.   And actually, that number of rooms may be a little low as on a couple of occasions, 1,2, or all 3 moved from the room they started in to ours.  Needless to say, we were exhausted by the time we made it back.  Would we have traded any of it?  With the exception of one really bad night in western Kansas, absolutely not.

As is my habit, I do not have pictures readily available to show you of our travels, but feel free to snoop at either my sister-in-law's website or my father-in-law's picasa album for pics of our family enjoying several days in Colorado.  But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Our expedition started in the early morning hours of January 10.   We had made arrangements to stay with Katie's family in Lee's Summit.  The boys were extremely excited and tried to pack all of their toys to share with their cousins.  We assured them that Mary Ann and Rose had plenty of toys to share, and no, they did not need to bring 4 light sabers.  2 would suffice.  After a long day in the car, Dom popped up and said "That wasn't so bad" as we rolled into the Reddig's driveway.  And he was correct, it wasn't so bad.

The next morning, we arose to see the girls off to school and made our way to Omaha, Nebraska, where Molly got to meet her great-grandparents for the first time.  We had a really nice time at the Buschelmans and with our first experience of winter weather, I was reminded that I really don't like it.  While in Omaha, we also got a chance to see a few other members of Eric's extended family which is always a treat.  Dom and Will were a little upset that we weren't just pushing on to Colorado, but after a look at the map and some great gifts from Great-Grandma Norma, they settled in for the night.

A side story:  I had picked up several books about some of the states we'd be driving through as well as a book about the Rocky Mountains.  The boys knew we were eventually getting to Colorado and the Rockies, but were unaware of the time line.  As we drove through Council Bluffs, IA, Will sees a couple of bluffs standing along the highway.  He excitedly informs me that he sees the Rocky Mountains.   I don't suppose you could expect much more from the offspring of a girl from Kansas.

On Thursday morning, we set off for Denver.  Again, we had a pretty easy day.  Eric and I spent the majority of it listening to "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and admiring the beautiful scenery along I-80.  The boys spent the majority of it watching every DVD we own and eating sugar in various forms.  For the first time, we gave Dom full ownership of the DVD operation.  Incredibly, this lead to fewer fights and near silence from the back.  Molly, I think, just gets a kick out of watching her brothers watch movies.  At least, I didn't hear much out of her.  We got to our hotel in Denver about 5 o'clock.  I did not realize how tired I was until I was in the room watching our boys run back and forth screaming and knowing that I was about to go crazy.  Luckily, The Embassy Suites has a manager's special, and the boys were thrilled to eat chex mix and popcorn for supper.  I know, I know, the "Mother of the Year" committee has already notified me of my selection.