JUNE 11, 2010

We arrived safely at 6:30 p.m. Today was a MUCH better day - got off that horrid Ohio Turnpike and onto some beautiful roads and scenery of northern PA! We went through rolling mountains of trees - with blue sky and white clouds above. The kids were pretty much plugged in all day to their game machines and DVD player, so I listened to "The Trial of Mary Lou", chuckling all through it, then some talk radio, then golden oldies. No demonic outbursts (even though I was really worried, because I had insomnia the night before, not getting to sleep until 3 a.m. Luckily Liz called me at 9:20 that morning and woke us all up, or we would have snoozed the morning away) But I felt rested and alert and did well.

When we crossed over into New York, I got SOOO homesick for Tony.....we spent 2 1/2 years in Connecticut, then 6 years in New York, so I was flooded with memories of our time together in these states. Lucille (theGPS) directed us through little backroads through small towns through New York and Connecticut to get to Liz's house. IT WAS AWESOME! As I wound around the narrow roads, with trees canopying the stretch of road, I felt like I'd come back home.

Enough of that sniffy stuff - - we pulled into Liz's and Jon's to a yard and driveway full of wonderful kids. It was sooooo good seeing Liz and Jon again, and all the little Vancies!! My, how they've grown! They've got a nice place here - quiet and trees all around - neighbors, but you have a lot of privacy because of the trees.

All in all, it was a very good trip - now we can't wait to see Jenny and kids, and Mary's daughter, Hannah - they'll be coming Sunday, as are Corrine and Bill Zembrowski, and their son, Brian and his girlfriend.

JUNE 10, 2010

Day Four - random things from a very long day:

Riley's losing her purse full of her camera and mp3 stuff (luckily her mp3 player had fallen on the car floor) really got me down. Not so much that she left it there - easy mistake - but it was left in an LDS run establishment, and wasn't recovered.....sigh.....I really feel let down by our fellow man!

At the Nauvoo restaurant, Jude had made an ice cream cone, but when he'd licked it to a flat-top, he didn't want to eat the cone. He ended up shlurping up all the ice cream in the cone and swallowing it all. He got red in the face and said he was having a cold throat attack. As the ice cream went down, he clutched his chest and said he was having a cold heart attack. I think he'll think twice before swallowing that much ice cream at once.

Today we hit some pretty irritating places - at one gas station, the bathrooms didn't work, so we went to the Wendy's next door. I stood outside the bathroom, waiting for the 3 kids to come out (a one seater), when I heard Calvin yelling at the top of his lungs. I went in, and he and Jude were fighting over the hand dryer. Because there was a long line of women waiting for the bathroom, I shouted in a demonic whisper and told them if they didn't stop fighting I was going to chew my finger off and spit it into the trash can....WHERE IN THE HECK DID THAT COME FROM?!?!? I've been chuckling semi-hysterically about this one all day long.

We've named our GPS "Lucille". Sorry Patricia Lucille - it definitely was named because sometimes it just gets confused about where it is! hahahahahha

The last stretch of today was stop and go traffic in the middle of nowhere that lasted about an hour.....it was sooooo frustrating, because I had to pay $15.00 in tolls for that wonderful experience!

Now that the kids are done swimming and plugged into the Disney channel - I got to watch the Glee finale and am definitely relaxed - I'm ready for another day. I need to get us all to bed because WE GET TO SEE LIZ AND FAM TOMORROW - YAYAYAYAYAYAY - AND JENNY'S FAM SOON, WITH HANNAH YAYAYAYAYAYAY

JUNE 9, 2010

Day three has gone wonderfully! We got up when we wanted to, then drove for 4 hours to Hannibal, Missouri. We didn't stay long - would have loved to have taken a riverboat ride, but not enough time.

Then on to Nauvoo, Illinois - what a BEAUTIFUL drive - first over the Mississippi River, then following it north on the Illinois side until we got to Nauvoo. We only spent a little over an hour there - got to see the General Story, Brigham Young's House, The Nauvoo Mansion, then to the park where the kids dressed like the 1800's and played with 1800's toys. They had great fun.

I told the kids that I just gave them a taste of Hannibal and Nauvoo - that when they're older, they can go there again and stay longer to enjoy more of it. I think that if we'd stayed any longer at either place, they would have gotten bored fast. It was hot and humid, so getting into an air-conditioned car was a great incentive to get on the road again.

The backroads of Illinois were a nice change from the Interstate travel we've done and will be doing again tomorrow.

Now we're in Montrose, Illinois -relaxing and swimming and getting rested for two straight days of travel.

Yesterday, I had a tough time with my orientation - although I was driving due East through South Dakota, I felt like I was driving North and North East. It was freaking me out. Today the compass in my head finally swung the right way, and I did fine.

Also, I feel like David Seville with very loose dentures - instead of yelling "Alvin" all the time, I'm yelling "Calvin" over and over. Not that he's doing anything wrong - he just focuses so hard on what he's doing, that it's hard to get his attention.

(More pictures from today will be posted tomorrow)

JUNE 8, 2010

Whew, Loooong Day! But wonderful!

The kids loved Mount Rushmore - even wanted to go in the Museum and watch the video. They were so excited. What a contrast to a father and son that sat in our row at the movie. The kid walked in with so much boredom on his face, that his neck couldn't hold his head up, so his head bobbed limply to one side as he tried hard to convey to his dad that his being there was the pits!

And the kids were very good about not begging to go to all the other attractions in the area - except when we passed a waterslide park, Riley said: "I want to live in South Dakota and Mom be rich."

The tedium of crossing South Dakota was broken by stopping at Wall Drug - the kids loved it!

We got to our hotel here in Rockport, Missouri at 10:00 p.m. - popped popcorn in the microwave, so kids are watching some Disney channel and eating popcorn.

I'm ready for a shower and zzzz's.

JUNE 7, 2010

"RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS WILL NOT GET ME DOWN"

or

"SWIMMING IN THE RAIN, JUST SWIMMING IN THE RAIN"

Can I just say that my GPS, gameboys, and diet Pepsi are my best friends!

We traveled for 12 hours, with only two breaks in the rain. We started out stopping in Ashton to give Grandpa Bainbridge hugs, then on up through my favorite drive - following the Gallatin River! It was awesome with the low-lying clouds. Even the kids were impressed. ( At this point Calvin asked, "Grandma, are you sure you know the right way?)

Then up into Montana and east then south down into Wyoming. I felt myself grousing because the roads were so wet I couldn't use my Cruise control - but remembered the pioneers and what they had to endure - having to travel at least a month to get as far as I got in one day. Shame on me!

The GPS is wonderful! The kids have been great - it wasn't until 6 p.m. before Jude and Calvin had an altercation about the gameboys - which were promptly put away for the rest of the day. Riley is a jewel - a lot of help!

Thanks Patti, for letting me take your kids.

And thanks Charley, for letting me take your gameboys.

And thanks Brad for the GPS and the money it takes for us to have this summer fun!

So, Riley - how was your 1st day on the road?

It was trying because we had to sit for a very long time and we only got three or four breaks (including bathroom and stopping by G-pa Bainbridge's house to give hugs), and (not including lunch and dinner breaks), we were traveling for 12 hours.... luckily we had some entertainment: a portable DVD player, little nintendo DS's, and a game boy. Calvin got a little annoying because every 5 to 10 minutes he would ask "How many more miles till we get to Devils Tower??" ( And yes... We got to see Devils Tower).......... "How many more miles till we get to the hotel"

Sadly when we finally got to our hotel, even though G-ma made sure all the hotels had pools and Internet, when we got there, the pool was an outdoor pool and we had no internet service. But get this, we got dinner, come back it wasn't raining..... we come back... still not raining... we get done eating in our swimsuits and it was raining AGAIN....... but we still go swimming, I just tried to stay under water as much as possible.

I got to touch the GPS!!!!!!!!! and the Nintendo DS's had touch screens!!!!!!!!

Calvin - how was your day?

I liked to go to devils tower on monday the seventh of june 2010.Right now i am in a hotel.THEY HAVE A T.V. HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!f

Jude, how was your day?

first we went to Grandpa Bainbrdge. After that we went to Devils Tower . Then we went to a hotel. WE WHER SWIMMING IN THE RAIN!

WE'RE ON OUR WAY! WE'RE LEAVING AT 6 A.M. - HAHAHA PATTI, I THINK THIS IS THE FASTEST I'VE EVER SEEN THESE KIDS GET UP EARLY, EXCEPT FOR CHRISTMAS! IT'S A RAINY DAY, GLAD I DECIDED ON LONG PANTS FOR US ALL, SINCE WE'LL BE GOING THROUGH MONTANA AND WYOMING TODAY.

"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...."

We're excitedly getting last minutes things done for our trip:

* got my summer haircut

* got the kids "R WE THERE?" T-shirts

* got the car serviced

* got things lined up for the Family History Center and the Family Crisis Center, visiting teaching, piano playing for church.

* burned on CD "The Trial of Mary Lou" (never travel without it!)

* taught Brad how to water my plants (may they rest in peace!)

* defrosted the freezer and used up the meat so Brad can load it with his TV dinners (have you ever seen the movie "Adam"? Yeah, it's real!)

* moving Marina over to Patti's place so she can walk to campus.

* programmed my GSP for the trip.

Whew - what am I missing? S-C-A-R-Y!