6-18-12

{...and the road trip commences...}

Our day began at 1:30 am when Ricky and I awoke, the kids' friends went home, and we loaded into the car for the first leg of our trip. Destination: Oklahoma City... about 1250 miles away. I knew it would be hard to leave Ricky, but with the busy-ness of the past few weeks, I hadn't taken the time to really think about it, beyond making sure that the house was clean, laundry was done, and he had plenty of food to eat. As he waved to us from the garage and then again from the front porch, Riley and I cried a little and we found our excitement at seeing our favorite Alabama people tempered a bit. We are so thankful to be able to make this trip to visit our family, but we hope that time will fly until Ricky meets us in Alabama and we can all be together again.  

The trip has been safe and smooth so far. We traveled on I-80 across Wyoming where I watched the sunrise as the kids slept. We stopped for gas and a quick potty break in Cheyenne, ate the breakfast I had packed in the car, drove through Denver, into Kansas, and stopped at a rest area for a picnic lunch. We ate, threw around the football, then after being stopped for only about 15 minutes, it was the little ones who asked if we could get back in the car to continue on our way. We stopped for gas in Salina, KS, ate dinner, then turned south toward OKC. Our cute friends, the Perry's moved from our neighborhood to OKC last year. When they moved, we promised to stop in to visit them on our way to AL this summer. Even though they are packing up to move back to UT next week, they welcomed us into their home for the night. 

Trent took this picture as we watched the sun go down over Oklahoma...

Grand total for the day: 18 hours away from home. 17 hours of driving. 1250 miles covered. 

The kids have been rockstars. So kind and pleasant to each other. Helping, playing, keeping their area tidy and the little ones happy and entertained.
We're kindof travelling ninjas... a good day.