The last stretch

On the last leg of our trip, we made a huge addition to our travel party---DADDY!!!!!

He met up with us in Colorado where we had a nice relaxing stay with Uncle J and Aunt W.  

Highlights included the kids hiking in Castlewood Canyon while I spent a day in bed recouping from the first two weeks of our trip.

  

When he grows up E wants to be a builder, chef, or a miner so we took a little trip to a mine to let him live a third of his dreams. 

  

E decided he was going to find enough gold to buy a model train. 

Although we did discover Br's hidden talent of panning for gold, we did not collect enough gold for that model train.  We sure had fun trying.

Before we left town we took advantage of the beautiful weather and hit the lake.

 

(I swear they had more fun than it looks like in the pic)

 

In my opinion, the best part of our trip was just relaxing with family and a lot of just hanging out.

 

(Get it hanging out...because they are hanging)

  We had good food, good conversation, good times.

Overall, the trip was amazing.  It had its ups and down but overall lots of great memories were made.  I will admit that after 3268.3 miles on the road, I was certainly happy to lay everyone down in their own beds.

On the road again

Our journey this summer continued north and west to UTAH!  We tried to make the journey part of our adventure by doing things like stopping in Dove Creek's laundry mat/butcher/movie rental/grocery/florist/gift store for a pit stop and then making a scenic side trip in Moab.   

 

Thank goodness Auntie Beth was with us to help carry the little crazies up the trails and help me keep them from sliding all the way back down.   I'll be honest-- seeing all those rocks really made me miss Br. (But he was having a fun time looking at rocks in England so I'm not going to feel too bad that he missed out).

Once we got to the Wasatch front we decided to just stay put for a while.  Thanks to the most amazing family friends (the Dahls) we were able to do just that.  

In an attempt to make Br proud of me I tried to entertain the kids as inexpensively as possible.  The first day we took it easy and only took a short walk in a canyon and checked out the granite quarry.  The next day we went to temple square where we were in awe by the use of the granite pulled from the canyon.  

 

There was such a wonderful spirit present, especially when we were at the visitor's center.  As I was showing the kids the huge pictures depicting scenes from scripture stories I was amazed by what E had retained.  He kept trying to rush through it and would say "I know all of this already".  He did pause with me to listen to Christ's words at the Christus statue.

 I really appreciated the moment of peace as the kids sat calmly and had a little snack. 

We headed over to the (free) Church History Museum where the kids enjoyed experiencing some of the history.

During our visit to the grounds, E became obsessed with trying to figure out how he could build his own temple.  He insisted that he'd need lots of Legos to complete it.  We made a nice compromise by getting a little 3-D temple puzzle at the bookstore. 

Unfortunately, he was a little too determined to have a temple of his own that I HAD to put it together the second we got home (and I say home because the Dahl's house feels like home to me) resulting in us being late to meet up with some of my favorite people from my days as an RA at Utah State.  It was so fun to catch up with everyone.  I have some great happy memories made with my RA buddies (during a rough time in my life) and they will always hold a special place in my heart.  I love them (and those who weren't there) "all my heart". My kids didn't mind the get together since they finally got to hang out with other kids. I did feel bad for poor Beth and the spouses.

Our fun continued the next day reconnecting with other important people in my life at a Sunday Dahl family dinner (thanks for including us!).  After stuffing our faces with some great food with even better company, we headed over to see my Auntie A's AMAZING new house.  LOVED IT!  E was in heaven playing with cousin B (and his Legos). In fact, E spent the rest of the trip begging to go back.  It was a relaxing night with the people I love.

Monday we headed to a (free) tour of the Sweets candy factory where I got to see them make some of my favorite treats. Let's be honest, most any candy is my favorite kind of treat.  I was a little sad it wasn't as cool as the Wonka factory, but it was still really fun.  Plus it's probably good it wasn't like Wonka's, because with my luck, my daughter would have fallen down a trash shoot and my son would have ended up needing to be sent to the taffy pulling room.

Our adventures then took us to the Discovery Gateway where we took advantage of our science museum's reciprocity program for some more free entertainment. Miss A found her niche.
 
As did E.

They even worked together for a little while.

The fun continued that night when my Auntie M was nice enough to meet us at Chuck-E-Cheese (with a coupon in hand-- thanks Auntie!).  The kids blew through the tokens while my aunt and I had a nice chit chat.  Thanks goes to Auntie Beth for keeping tabs on my crazies who ran around the place like slot machine addicts in Vegas. We finished off the pizza, cashed in our tickets, said our goodbyes and then headed to bed.

Tuesday started off with a little sleeping in, followed by lunch at a place with a play place (to give Beth and I a little reprieve).  Then we headed to yet another museum that offered us free admission. We uncovered dinosaur bones, excavated ancient artifacts, tested structures abilities to withstand earthquakes and examined the details of a cell.

Since it was a Tuesday, my plan for the rest of the day was to swing by Ikea where I was going to feed my kids free dinner and then stick them in the smaland while I found a comfy place to sit (child free) for one hour. We made it to Ikea only to find that most of the Salt Lake Valley takes advantage of free kid's meal Tuesdays.  We did get the kids fed but it took so long we missed the smaland hours by a couple minutes--no longing on a futon for me.  The adventure continued when we went back to the car only to find that the lights were left on (duration and cause still to be determined).  The battery was completely dead.  Fun fact-- the majority of people visiting Ikea on a Tuesday evening in UT do not carry jumper cables in their car but know exactly where they are in their garage.  After finally finding a kind, responsible automobile owner to jump my car, I immediately drove to Walmart and bought some jumper cables to permanently ride around in my backseat.

Wed morning I woke up and decided to blow the wad I'd been saving by being frugal.  What better place to blow through your entertainment budget than an amusement park?  (although to my credit I did use some coupons for our admission) We had an AMAZING day!  My little thrill seekers were right in their element.
 

Auntie B made a great ride companion.
 
The kids loved everything-- the rides, the food, the waterpark (even though they froze after about 15 minutes), and even the little old western town.  E cracked me up when he suddenly found himself standing in front of a steam engine.
 
My favorite part of the whole day was watching the two of them get along miraculously well on the kiddie rides.  I even caught E leaning over and giving his little sister a kiss on the cheek as they rode in the little boats (I may or may not have gotten a little misty).  

With just a few minutes left in the night, the kids were able to make one more ride request.  E insisted on another kiddie ride

but Miss A demanded something that would provide a little more of an adrenaline rush.

 Thursday morning we decided to finally let the Dahls have their basement back and headed to Park City.  We rolled into town with just enough time to check out the Olympic training museum.

 
We even saw a few people training.

 Then we headed to get a few last thrills at the Alpine slide and coaster. The rides up the mountain...
 
 

...were almost as fun as going down...almost.

We finished off the day with some swimming and a pizza dinner before we turned in for the night and braced ourselves for yet another day on the road. (to be continued)

The first 650+ miles

The 3-week adventure on the road this summer all started with an overwhelming desire to buy an RV and spend the entire summer just driving wherever the winds took me and my kids.  After a little research, it turns out that all I was probably only going to be able to afford was a used RV circa early nineties/late eighties. Considering I have never driven something so big, and have no idea how to begin to fix it if/when it inevitably broke down on the road 50 miles from civilization, I decided to tweak my dream and resolved to hit the road in the Highlander and limit my trip to a manageable duration.

Auntie Beth was forced to excited to join the kids and me for the adventure.  It was her first road trip with my kids, and actually the first real road trip she's ever taken.  I'm not sure at what mile marker she decided that my little crazies might just end up being JoJo's only grandbabies.  

My initial goal for our trip was to make it at least to El Reno, OK (mile 40ish) without having to stop to fill up, potty, eat, or strangle anyone (although I may be blocking out having to hold my kid in a hovering position so she could take care of business).  I am pleased to announce that we made it 270 miles (That's halfway almost to the exact mile) until we took our first break for a little chick-fil-a in Amarillo, TX.  

After a rundown of all she'd need to know before meeting the members of the Hobbs family, and listening to the majority of the Hunger Games Miss Elizabeth was finally introduced to members of my family at mile 547. And because we were at my sister's house it meant we were just minutes from Dion's so you can probably guess where we went for dinner. 

Mile 558- Father's Day dinner of meatball subs and homemade potato chips.  Plus it was the first and only gathering to date of all the Hobbs grandchildren.  Thanks to the newest addition, the numbers have finally evened up.

Mile 564- Swimming at Bob and Lu's.  This is where we found out Miss A actually does know how to swim on her own (she's been pretending that she knows how for the past two and a half years). 

Miles 585-593-  Dinner at Little Anitas with Pappy, and my sister's and their families.  After dinner we headed to the park to let the kids (and uncles) run wild.  

 

 

E discovered the joys of rolling down soft grassy hills.  

 

And Auntie Jess made the nieces the finest in clover flower accessories. 

Mile 610-  Bowling with the cousins.  The best part is it was FREE!

 

A few of our little bowlers even got some lucky strikes. 

 And even those that didn't get a strike found a reason to celebrate.

 Since we were only a mile from Dion's, mile 611 took us there for more pizza for lunch.  

Mile 625-Zoo with the cousins.

We had an insider to give us a tour of the exhibits (Auntie Jess who works there) even if Miss A was convinced she could lead the way.

 We took a couple pauses to do a little posing.

 And then wore ourselves out playing.

We couldn't rest for too long though since we had made a date to meet Uncle Sam at Explora! for some quality time with our new cousin at mile 627. (Apparently, I was too tired to lift the camera up to my eye to take any more pictures).  

Later that night Auntie Jess, Auntie Beth, E and I headed over to meet Auntie Patty and fam for a little dinner and Jumbo eclairs at Flying Star (mile 647). E and I didn't stay long because we had a big date planned at the theater to see the traveling Broadway production of Mary Poppins (mile 650).  E and I LOVED it! He was on the edge of my seat the whole time.  As we were leaving he let me know that dates were really fun and immediately asked what we'd be seeing next time we went.  He put in a request for a stage performance of Indiana Jones or Pirates of the Caribbean (I'm guessing it might be a while before/if I can ever fill those requests).  I'm glad I have a new theater partner.  

Then after 657 miles of driving and 5 days "on the road" we hit the sack to prepare for the next big leg of our adventure. 

The comings and goings of August

I know, I know, I know,  I've been really slacking off when it comes to this whole blog thing.  I'm AM going to do better.  But I guess since I forgot to post during the month of August, it's time for another summary.  

The month was filled with birthday and anniversary celebrations, good bye's with lots of loved ones in OKC, LOTS and LOTS of cleaning and organizing, driving to and from Houston a few times for house hunting, reuniting with friends from our past, first days of work and first days of school.  

On the way down to Houston, we made a little stop at the perfect destination for a little R&R and escape from reality-- Rough Creek.  In addition to the usual activities Mr. E decided to add zip lining to his repertoire (yes the same zip line I did the walk of shame after I chickened out at the top a year ago) Miss A cried and cried that she was just slightest bit too small for the harness.  I have no idea where these thrill-seekers came from. 

We had a week in H-town to recoup a little before E's first day of Kindergarten and our first experience being on a very regimented early (for us) daily schedule.  The day finally came and surprisingly he sprang from his bed and was ready to go.  

 

He still had the smile of his face when Miss A and I came to pick him up.  

 

I burst his bubble a little that night when I told him he needed to go to bed because we had to get up early again for school.  E- "I have to go again?  I thought you said it was the only day of school?"  Me-"I said first, not only". E- "Ahhhhh".  Despite the reluctance to return, he had a good first week.  He only went to time out once.  I asked him why and he said "well it's kind of daddy's fault.  He told me to count my friends and so I was counting my friends and the teacher told me to stop talking but I wasn't done counting so I didn't stop and so I had to go to time out."  Definitely daddy's fault.

Miss A and I kept busy doing this and that, discovering things to do around our new home.  We went swimming, went to Vegas for toddlers (A.K.A Chuck-E-Cheese), did a little shopping, toured our soon to be new house (fingers crossed), and shopped around for a new gym.  Shhhhh, don't tell E that we have fun without him. 

And lastly, my favorite line from this month was from Miss A as she was watching a Goofy cartoon and Goofy literally got his socks knocked off (or knocked out of them):
Miss A--"Hey, he's a dog.  Dogs don't wear socks!"

And now to attempt to FINALLY post about our summer vacation.

The comings and goings of July

Things have recently gotten very stirred up here in the Melton pot.  At the tail end of our 3-week road adventure (which I started to blog about but got sidetracked for reasons I'm about to explain) a head hunter made Br aware of a position in Houston that would provide some great career opportunities.  Ironically right before I left on my trip Br was thinking about interviewing for a few positions in DFW but decided that it was time to resolve to stay in OKC and embrace the opportunities we've been given there.  Over the past few years, every 4 to 6 months Br would interview for a position with various companies in Texas. The interview would go fabulously and while we'd wait for the official offer we'd start to make preparations for the move.  We'd get really excited about things because it would always seem like it was a perfect choice.  But after prayer to confirm what we wanted we'd get the answer over and over that we were meant to stay where we were.  It was quite an emotional roller coaster.  In any event, we had just resolved to stop the nonsense and bloom where we were planted.  When the head hunter called, Br was initially going to say no because of our new resolve, but something made him say that at least he'd interview.  He spent some time before meeting with them to reexamine his career goals and for the first time ever when he explained them to me I thought, "Hey, that actually sounds like you".  Fast forward a little (only maybe a month) to me typing this in a hotel room on a house-hunting trip to Houston.  I could explain more everything that went down, but what it really boils down to is that when we prayed about this opportunity, even though it doesn't make any more sense than the other opportunities that have arisen in the past, the Lord made it clear that this is right.  So we're diving right into this new adventure.  Wish us luck. 

And now to my favorite lines of July.

We were getting ice cream cones.  E heard Br order 4 ice cream cones and got really concerned.  E-"why you not ask for ice cream? You just asked for the cone."  Br-"I did order ice cream" E- "Oh they just know to ice cream in the cone?"

E-"Mommy, do you pay daddy."  Me-"No, why would I?"  E-"Because of all the great things daddy does."

I got into the car with the kids. As usual, E was trying to convince me that I needed to buckle him.  I told him he was capable and needed to do it himself.  He also needed to put his shoes on.  Then he complained about having to do that by himself and gave me a list of reasons why I needed to do that for him as well.  A few minutes down the road E started to be a little bossy with Miss A telling her she was too little to do certain things so he could do it but she couldn't because he was older.  He said he had to teach her how to do this or that because he was older and wiser.  Miss A paused for a second and then responded, "yeah, but I can put my own shoes on".  -- well played little girl.