Well - we have made it so far. Two full days of travel followed by a fun day hiking. Here is the ups and downs.
Friday - the kids were good and I asked them to clean while i was working in the morning. Overall they did good and we left the house clean! We started packing the car around noon and it took a little longer than we thought. the kids finally jumped in the car around 1, but I still had work to do, like putting the bikes on, turning the heat down all that fun stuff. We headed to Davis' house around 2 and left there about 2:30 or so. The drive to St. Louis was quick and uneventful. We arrived there and spent an hour or so downtown taking pictures of the Arch. We tried to find a few BBQ places downtown, but they were all basically bars. we headed to our hotel, which was about 20 minutes west of the city by the airport.
Saturday - we left around 7:30 and grabbed Chick fil A and drove to the Moon Marble company. We watched the demo, bought some marbles and hit the road. It was a good stop, the place was a hole in the wall, but unique and lots of other spring breakers were there. Kansas played that night so all the Kansasans were in their gear and laughing at us for being in our UK gear. the rest of the day is just what you think, driving on 70 to denver. 70 was not great and we are going to go home on 80.
we stayed at a Towne Suite hotel and Kiersten and I had our own bed and Brandon and Reagan shared. It worked out well. the Easter bunny struggled, but showed up and left some food and goodies. It was a late night!
Sunday - We all slept in, had breakfast at the hotel then went to the local ward. It was fine, but nothing special. I was hoping for Easter it would be something unique, but really just a normal sacrament. We then retruned to the hotel, changed and hit the road. We had a good drive through the mountains, stopping a few times to see the sights. ON the way back we are stopping at one of the little hippy towns for pizza. it was a beautiful day, blue sunny ski with tons of snow. Once we hit the west side of the mountain, we hit the gas and did not slow down until we hit Moab. We were going to stop and get groceries, but just wanted to get to the house, so kept telling ourselves that we would get food in Monticello. Of course, Easter Sunday at 8, nothing was open.
we had microwave popcorn, apples and trail mix for dinner! We had burgers and dogs at a roadside diner at 3, so we were not starving, but that has been our biggest bump in the road so far. It was so dark that by 10, we were all out and slept til 7.
Monday - Kiersten woke up not feeling well. Her stomach hurts and I think it is from traveling. I took the little kids and we went grocery shopping in Blanding. When we got home, we made pancakes and then took our mountain bikes and explored the area. Kiersten was feeling better and came with us. They were all tired and could not breath. they don't understand how little oxygen there is!
We came back to the house and made sack lunches and headed out to Canyonland. We spent the day hiking and taking pictures. The kids did great and loved the sights. Kiersten did a few hikes, but then started feeling bad and spent the last few hours in the truck sleeping. I'm getting little worried, but we'll see how she does tonight. We headed out after about four hours of hiking, hit the Maverick for drinks then came home and made spaghetti and french bread. the kids ate a ton and now we are getting ready to spotlight deer from the porch. It is about 8 p.m. and my guess is that they'll be in bed, out by 9 or so. Reagan fell asleep in the truck coming home!
