The Great Road Trip of 2012

(Not to be confused with The Great Road Trip of 2009...)

Saturday morning (the 28th) we left D.C. and soon left Virginia for the last time. (Well, most of us. Jeremy actually returned a few days after we got to AZ to work for two months. More on that later) That day started off with a bang as we were reminded that Reilly gets carsick somewhat easily. After a day of not letting the poor kid eat or drink too much and constantly watch the road (Maryland and Pennsylvania have a lot of somewhat-windy roads, I guess) we broke down and bought some Dramamine that night. Best decision ever, in my eyes and in Reilly's. It didn't seem to make him sleepy (he never napped in the car in those 5 days) but he never got sick again either! Saturday night we stopped by the temple in Columbus before pulling into Fairborn, OH to stay the night with some friends from Palmer. It was so good to see them, and our kids played hard for about 2 hours before we finally made them go to bed.

Katy was having a rough time with all the changes and became firmly
attached to having her pacifier in almost 24/7 for the duration of the trip.
She wouldn't let us take it out and still be part of the pictures...

Sunday (my 30th birthday!) we dragged ourselves out of bed and went to church with our friends. Reilly and Jaina thoroughly enjoyed each having a friend to sit with during sacrament. After taking a few quick minutes for some pictures, we piled back in the car and drove on through Indiana, Illinois, and into Missouri. We passed right by the St. Louis Arch. It was so amazing! I'd seen it in pictures, but it's much more impressive in person. I'd like to go back and check out St. Louis again some day. (Without tired, grumpy kids and a schedule to keep) We also stopped at the St. Louis temple before heading to our hotel for the night. It was pretty amazing, too!

The St. Louis temple - Jeremy took and edited this shot
on his phone!

We grabbed a quick birthday dinner at Chevy's. The kids were
pretty impressed that we got to keep the hat.

Did I mention that they insisted on all wearing it after me while
we sang "Happy Birthday" to each of them?

We stayed in a nice suite that night (for my birthday) and would have slept really well if it wasn't for Katy waking at about 4:30 and needing some distraction from teething. Oh, and if the fire alarm in the hall hadn't gone off at about 6 am. That was a little more excitement than we hoped for as well. Amazingly enough, the kids slept through that one, and I was even able to get back to sleep after I finally reached the front desk to confirm that it was a mistake.
Monday we drove from St. Louis to Wichita, KS and stayed with a great friend from Chesapeake (the one that let us sleep in her house the night after loaded our truck) at her mom's house. They had a big full basement, and since that drive didn't take nearly as long as we though, we had several hours of down time that evening, which the kids loved. Sadly, the only picture I have was taken with my dinky little phone.

Katy and Evie fight over...er, playing the piano.

The next morning (Tuesday the 31st) we got up and trekked onward to Oklahoma, through the Texas panhandle, and all the way to Albuquerque, NM. We decided to really get a good marathon day in so we would be able to make it home before evening on Wednesday and not have to stay "on the road" another night. We were in the car about 12 hours that day. It was long, but the kids were troopers.
There were almost no meltdowns the entire trip, really. We had prepared a box for each day and even a tentative schedule of events to keep everyone busy. (And Mommy from going crazy) We had lots of sticker books, some travel games, magnets, stories, and movies, with everything being almost completely new to them. We saved the movies for late afternoon and evenings, when everyone was tired of being in the car and needed some distraction. It was a little chaotic with all the stuff we had with us (necessities plus entertainment for a family of 5 for over a week is not small thing) but it made the trip pretty bearable.
Wednesday morning we pulled out of Albuquerque (and saw a car absolutely engulfed in flames on the side of the road that my kids are still talking about) and headed for home. We stopped just short of the Arizona border, in Virden, NM to visit my sister and her family for a few hours. That was so enjoyable and restful! When we finally headed for Pima we only had an hour left to drive, and after about 40 hours of actual driving time behind us that week, that seemed to fly by.

It was hard to leave our little life in Virginia, but we feel so blessed to be "home" by both of our families, where we have a chance to spend time with them and with friends we've had for years but haven't seen much of lately. The kids and I are staying at my Mom's house until Jeremy gets back into the state and we start figuring all the business stuff out, probably down in the Mesa/Gilbert area. We're so happy to have survived our huge road trip, and I'm so thankful we never have to do it again!