Road Trip 2014 {OK, KS, CO, WY, UT, ID, OR, WA}

Road Trip 2014 {OK, KS, CO, WY, UT, ID, OR, WA}

Mark and I are teachers and every summer since we've been married (except for 2009 because we had a new baby) we've taken a road trip.  This year we took the longest road trip we've ever made.  We drove 5,515 miles total.  The first day alone we drove 22 hours.  Now that we're home, I can't believe we pulled off that trip.  We had such an amazing time, and we made so many memories.  This week I'll start posting about our road trip.  I'll start with the first few days of travel.  We left Texas on June 8th and stopped in Utah on June 9th.  

For the first time ever we drove through the night to start the trip.  Mark and I knew we were going to have to cover a lot of ground the first day because our plan was to make it from Texas to Salt Lake City, Utah.  The great thing about traveling at night is that the boys slept, and we didn't have to stop for gas until Wichita, Kansas.  Mark and I took turns driving and while he drove I tried to rest.  The craziest thing I saw while it was dark was miles and miles of red blinking lights in Kansas.  I finally realized that it was wind turbines.

Since it was dark when we drove through Oklahoma and parts of Kansas, I don't have any photos from those states to share.  Even though there are no photos on here from those states, I don't want to forget how cold and windy it was in Kansas.  I'd packed coats for our family because I knew we would need them in the mountains in the Pacific Northwest, but I didn't know we would need them for Kansas.  When we stopped to get gas around, Colby, Kansas it was 46 degrees and who knows what MPH the wind was blowing.  The rain was hitting us so hard when we got out that it was painful.  It felt like winter.

The Colorado blue sky was a beautiful sight after driving through the rain in Kansas. We made great time through Colorado.  One of the boys favorite stops was north of Denver.  We got candy bars and Icees.  Little treats like that made the boys happy.  I felt like it was a good compromise to keep them content since they'd already been in the car for a long time and we still had a long ways to go.

 This stop was fun and just by chance.  We needed a bathroom break and to refuel so we stopped at Buford, Wyoming since there wasn't anything else around.  Mark said he'd seen this on TV before.  I thought the sign was hilarious.  I made the boys pose for a photo with me.  It was pretty cold when we got out.  Will said, "I wish we had longs on." which translates to "I wish we had pants or jeans on." because if shorts are shorts, then pants should be longs.  Makes sense, right?  

Scenes from the road.

When Ben saw these rocks he said something cute like they looked like monsters.

This is what relief feels like after traveling for 22 hours straight (around 1400 miles).  The boys were so happy to be out of the car.  We made it to Ogden, Utah, which is just north of Salt Lake City.

This was on June 10th in Idaho.  We stopped for lunch in Boise and continued on our way to Washington, but first we had to cut across the Northeastern corner of Oregon.

The photo of the mountains in the distance in Oregon just don't do them justice. So many times on this trip I couldn't fully capture in photographs the beauty of all we were seeing. It was overwhelming in the best kind of way.

I-84 follows part of the Oregon Trail.  We made a few stops and each rest area had historical information about the Oregon Trail.  It was neat to read about.

This is what the boys look like in the backseat.  Ben usually watches movies and wear headphones.  Will doesn't like the headphones as much.  Both boys have favorite pillows, blankets and toys to keep them happy.  The first day the didn't use the iPads at all.  They watched movies or looked at books.  I packed paper and markers so they could draw.  We all like to listen to music, and that helped pass the time.

I think this is Oregon getting close to Washington. It could be Washington.  

This is Washington.  We stayed in Yakima because we were going to Mount Rainier National Park the next day.  I love all of the roadside stands selling fresh fruit.  It was nice to see all of the apple orchards and fruit trees growing just off the side of the road.  

If you are interested in my helpful tips in taking a successful road trip with children, then check out my blog post over at Unexpected Elegance where I shared what worked for us here.

InstaSummer 2014

InstaSummer 2014

On Monday, I'm going to start posting all about our summer road trip, but we've been busy with other fun things since we got home from our vacation at the beginning of June.  Lots of photos to share!

You can follow me on Instagram redbirdblue

Vacation Bible School at our church was the week after we got home.  Mark and I help coordinate VBS, and we love that it's such a fun time for our boys and the children of our church and community.  

At the end of June, Mark and I celebrated our 12 year anniversary. We took the boys to eat with us at Mi Cocina.  Twelve very happy years!

This is what they really wanted to do for the photo.  Will looks away and Ben does a crazy pose.  Typical.

Do y'all love Ingrid Michaelson as much as I do?  She's the cutest and has a beautiful voice.

Here's a funny story.  In her song, "Girls Chase Boys" Will thought she was saying "All the broken arms in the hospital" instead of "All the broken hearts in the world still beat" and now when we listen to the song we sing Will's lyrics instead of Ingrid's.  Too funny!  Listen to the song and you'll see that Will's fit in pretty well. 

We had house finch eggs on our front porch in the exact same spot as the last bird nest.  As Big Mama said on her blog about her birds, it was all Wild Kingdom.  I'm sad to say things ended all Wild Kingdom this time for this little birdies.  I checked on them every morning when I woke up, and one morning I woke up and saw that the nest was gone.  I was afraid to look outside because I didn't want to see little helpless birds on the ground.  When I finally got up the courage to go through the garage and peek around to the front of the house, I didn't see anything on the ground.  The bird nest was even gone.  So really, nothing at all!  The one thing I did see was a cat lying (looking very content) at the end of the sidewalk.  I'm thinking that explains what happened, but I guess we'll never know for sure.

 Do your kids ever do this at restaurants?  Sit right next to you, practically in your lap when you have an entire bench to share.  I posted this on IG with the same question and a lot of friends responded.  

Ben and Will both do this, and I think it's sweet except when I'm trying to eat, ha!

This is a photo of my fat crying.  Mark and I started running and watching what we eat.  

This photo is what summer is all about--no where to go.  I love to start the morning sitting on the back porch with a cup of coffee and my Bible.  

We can't grow certain plants and trees in our area because we have alkaline soil (or at least that's what I've heard my grandma tell me my whole life), but we can grow Crape Myrtle trees.  They are spectacular in the summer and bring really vibrant color to the landscape.  This beautiful pink one is my in-law's yard.  One of my IG friends said it reminded her of a watermelon.  That's a great description.  We have several pink, one white and three red rocket varieties at our home. 

My in-law's also have the best driveway for riding bikes.  Our driveway slopes and isn't that long so we loaded up the bikes and boys and took them over for some bike riding at Mamaw's.

Let's Go Rangers!

You'd think we've seen enough baseball for the summer since we followed the Rangers on their West Coast Road trip in June, but we'll never get enough baseball.  We're true fans because we're standing by our Rangers even if they aren't doing well this year.  Just the other night Will told Mark, "The Rangers will win again" kind of like don't give up hope, and he was as sweet and sincere as he could be.  Love him!

Do you ever take a meal to a friend just for the excuse to hold their new baby?  Just kidding!  I take the meal because I know those first weeks with a newborn are rough, and getting to hold the new baby is a bonus.  When I had my babies anyone who brought us food was my new best friend.  I always appreciated those meals because food was at the bottom of my list of concerns.  My friend Jourdan just had this sweet baby girl Emmie.  She was so teeny tiny, around 6 pounds.  Both of my boys were 9.5 pounds so I never enjoyed a sweet baby girl like this.  She was just precious!

We had a bridal shower for an adorable couple in our church, Cheyenne and Rex.  My friend Brandi made the cake.  I love cake!

This photo is totally random.  I'm looking for a new chair for our living room and I stopped by HomeGoods.  This red telephone booth was there.  You never know what  you will find.  I found a chair there about a week later.  I'll have to show you photos soon.

While out shopping that day, the boys got in their 20 minutes of reading for the day.  

Another fun thing about summer is the random things you end up doing for fun.  We invited our niece Maggie over for swimming, and then we decided to make a spur of the moment trip to IKEA that night.  I was still in search of a new chair, and I needed some storage for the boys Legos.  My boys like IKEA and love pretending they are at home in all of the different model rooms.

I'm happy to report that the Legos are more organized, and I've regained some of my sanity.

This week we went bowling for the first time this summer.  My boys love bowling. 

Ben and Will love board games.  Ben ask us almost everyday to play a board game.  Poor Ben got swimmer's ear so we've tried to play with him inside this week while his ear heals. 

Here's Ben at the doctor getting diagnosed with swimmer's ear.  We've had rain in the forecast so that's helped us avoid the pool this week. 

Summer treats at DQ, this one is a S'mores Blizzard, and it was oh so good!

I'll share more photos of our pool fun later, but I liked this one of Will. He looks really old here.  Oh my!

Will's 1st Grade Awards Assembly

Will's First Grade Awards Assembly

June 6, 2014

I'm always behind on blogging about end-of-year school activities.  We finish up the school year, followed by Ben's birthday, and then we usually go on vacation or have VBS at our church.  With that busy schedule, there's little time for blogging.  Since this blog is my version of our family's scrapbook, I don't want to leave out important moments like Will's First Grade Awards Assembly.  Even though it's a month late, here it is.

Will and his first grade teacher.

Will's teacher said something nice about each student and also told what they wanted to be when they grow up.  Will said he wanted to be a construction worker who designs and builds roads.  Later he told me he wants to build buildings, too.  Maybe we have a civil engineer in our future.

Will getting an A.R. award from the principal and art teacher who helped with A.R. 

We didn't know about this extra award for reading. Will was really surprised (and so were we!). 

It's hard to believe how fast a school year goes by.  It seems like we were just dropping off his school supplies for meet the teacher.  It's been an awesome school year with an amazing teacher!

Will loved school and loved first grade this year.

Will and some of his cute classmates.  Good lookin' kids!

Will was so proud of his new Lego set that was his prize for A.R.  Will loves Legos.  They picked the perfect prize for him. 

I thought this was sweet.  These two will be going to school here together next year.  Ben's very excited.

Ben's Pre-K Graduation

On June 5th, Ben graduated from Pre-School.  

The ceremony was very cute, and I can't help but get a little teary-eyed when I think about how Ben is growing up and starting kindergarten in the Fall.  He's learned a lot in the last year (he goes to his Mamaw's 3 days a week and pre-school 2 days.  Mamaw has helped him learn many skills that prepared him for kindergarten.)  I know he's ready to go to "big school" and be with Will.

Ben is proudly holding his diploma like a big boy.

Of course, we needed a photo with the proud parents.

And, here's one of the entire family.

The director of the preschool is retiring.  We we lucky to have had Mrs. Jana take good care of our boys.  She's so sweet and such a good influence.  We had a positive experience at the children's center and peace of mind knowing our boys were well taken care of during the day while Mark and and I were teaching.

Mrs. Tammi and Mrs. Stacie were super sweet teachers.

Mrs. Sharla was Ben's teacher this year and she always had amazing creative projects for the kids to do.  

Look out kindergarten, here comes Ben!

A Decade Later

I love to see the time lapse photos of a person from year to year and look at the changes.  We just recreated something similar on our trip to Seattle.  Mark and I were there in 2004 and we went back earlier in June. I thought it would be neat to compare photos from 10 years ago to the photos we took on this trip.  We happened to be in the same location in some of the photos.  In the photos on the left, we are in West Seattle near Alki Beach with the city behind us.  On the right, we are at Pike Place Market.  It's pretty cool to see the difference that a decade has made in our lives.  In 2004 we still felt young and fun.  We'd only been married a couple of years, and that trip to Seattle was our first big trip since our honeymoon.  We have really good memories of that visit and spending time with Kayreen and her friends.  Ten years later, we are still happily married, but with two little boys along for the ride this time.  It was special to experience the city with kids.  Kayreen and her sister Kendra were the perfect hosts for our family and we did a lot of kid-friendly sightseeing.  I look forward to sharing more about our vacation soon.  I'm still feeling under the weather, but once I'm up to it I'll blog all about it.  Even though a lot has changed in 10 years, my love for Seattle has not.  Seattle was one of my favorite places then and it still is today.  

Our Road Trip in Numbers

A week ago today we made it home from our epic road trip to the Pacific Northwest and the West Coast.  I finally shared all the photos on Facebook.  Many of you followed our journey on Instagram.  If so, then you've seen this photo, but I wanted to put in on the ol' blog, too.

Here's our road trip in numbers.

5, 515 miles

16 days on the road

14 states

5 National Parks

3 Rangers baseball games

2 National Monuments

1 day at Disneyland

Countless memories

and 

4 people who are happy to be home

I'll be sharing lots of photos of our adventure very soon.