Pinch Me, I Think I'm Dreaming

Five days after pulling into town we went down to the feed store and brought home 12 baby chicks. On our way home I felt giddy with excitement. Animals are my thing and they haven't been part of our life for a couple of years.

We got 6 Buff Orpingtons and their names are Sunshine, Nellie Oleson, Dory, Chatty Cathy, Sammy, and Princess Leia.
We got 2 Ameracaunas (they will lay blue eggs!) and their names are Midnight and Busy Bonnie.
We got 2 Sussex and their names are Fluffy and Beatrice.

We got 2 White Rhode Islands and their names are Lucy and Susan (from Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe).

And they are lovely.

We had the privilege of seeing GG for a bit one day and Aubrey enjoyed showing her our treasures.

 We got to meet and hold these two beauties, Emrynn and Maelynn.

We still catch our breath when we remember that this is home. As we hang out with our brothers and sisters and our nephews and nieces, and parents and grandparents, it is so fun to know we aren't leaving in a week this time.

 

And here is what the kids are doing tonight: attempting to spend the night on the trampoline. Obviously.

The Last Half of the Road Trip

We left Grapevine, Texas, and made it to Clayton, New Mexico. After watching a movie together we went to bed and started off for a short day of driving. Cue the menacing music...

 

After receiving a call from a nice lady at the conference center we were going to stay at saying, "We have four feet of snow and more coming down. There is no way to get you in here so we need to cancel your reservation," we called our friends who we were going to stay with in Colorado Springs. Turns out the highways were closed down because of snow or accidents so we went straight across the bottom of Colorado. Our goal was to make it to Moab, Utah, which is home to the beautiful Arches National Park.

 

It was a really long day of driving and we were excited to pull into Moab. Turns out there must have been some sort of city-wide get together there because there wasn't one room available. John and I swallowed hard as we drove right by the grandiose arches in the dark, on our way to the next city that might have a hotel available.

 

We made it to Green River, Utah about an hour later and went to bed to the smell of skunk. In the morning John informed me that was the smell of weed. Fun fun. Apparently there was a sign in the lobby that warned guests not to bring that in. I guess that's a problem there in Green River.

We stopped in Ogden, Utah, the next day and played at the children's museum there for quite awhile. The kids loved it.

 Emmett met George, in real life! I don't know if you can see his ridiculous grin. He was IN LOVE.

We stayed the night somewhere in nowhere, Idaho. I honestly can't remember the name. The next morning we hopped back into the car (it was probably more like a crawl into the car) and made our way across Idaho. We made a quick stop to remember Grandma and Grandpa. I miss them intensely, 10 years and 6 years later. I think about them every day and know that they would be thrilled with where God has taken John, me, and our four precious kids.

We continued on to Baker City, Oregon, where we stopped at the Oregon Trail Interpretative Center. This was one of our favorite stops and we learned lots about the Oregon Trail. 

 They had a kids area where the kids could load their own wagon and that was by far the highlight of the visit.

 John's birthday gift to me was letting me pick out the Pendleton Wool Blanket of my choice. We stopped in Pendleton, Oregon, and had lots of fun browsing their beautiful items. This was my pick.

 We were going to spend the night in Pendleton but after asking the kids if they'd like to spend the night in a hotel or drive 4 more hours to our new house they unanimously chose driving. I think we were all a bit saddle sore and wanted to sleep in our own beds.

We pulled into our new house and are pinching ourselves every day, waiting to wake up from this incredible dream.

Road Trip Progress!

We're about halfway through our big trip! Our first stop was Raleigh, for another action-packed cousin time.

 Then we headed south to Hoschton, Georgia, where we stayed with the Woods' and Emmett got to hang with his friend, Parker.

 This guy is seriously a great travel companion!

 To avoid Atlanta traffic we pulled the kids out of bed at 5 am and booked it out of the city. 2 hours later we stopped at Starbucks for a little pick me up.

 Next we landed in Milton, Florida, our old stomping grounds. We got to meet Evelyn for the first time and stay with her parents, Kyle and Sarah, our dear friends.

 John was very excited to stop in Hammond, Louisiana, for a legendary Muffelatta sandwich that can be found at a gas station.

 John and I shared a small sandwich. This is half of a small.

Our next stop was with our dear friends Orion and Nina, who were so gracious, and we got no pictures with. :( They currently are stationed in Lake Charles, Louisiana, a place that does a lot of farming. I didn't know what kind as the ground is very wet (marsh-like), and Nina said they farm rice and crawfish. They even have some crawfish 'growing' in their backyard.

 

 Emmett has stayed pretty happy as long as he has his, 'goggies,' around him.

 We are currently at Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Texas. The drive here was beautiful. The stretch of Texas highway we drove had stunning wildflowers all over the median and big, mature trees and rolling hills and cattle ranches. We are loving Great Wolf Lodge and not one of our kids has a fear of big slides.

 

Emmett took his first slide backwards, head first, on his back. As water was rushing all over him (it was a kiddie slide, but a water slide, nonetheless), I ran over so I could scoop him up, sure he would be scared after getting turned around on the slide. He had the biggest smile on his face as he came around the corner at the bottom. Just laying in this rushing water slide.

 

Aubrey and Bryant love the inner tube rides, the faster the better, and Stuart loves the regular water slide. After our swim time today we are hopping in the car and seeing how far we can drive in one day.

Our Last Days in Virginia

Our last few weeks in Virginia were not dull! We had visits from friends, including the Carlsons'.

 Then we went to the Atlantic Ocean one more time.

 And to Colonial Williamsburg one last time. This is one of John's and my most favorite places here. Take special notice of Stuart's face. He was not actually sad. This is the face he made when I said, "Okay, smile!" And that makes ME smile.

The must-have picture in the stocks. Aubs and Bryant played along, looking sad because they were in trouble...

...but not Stuart. He had to look happy, because I asked him to look sad. 

 See? I do go on these outings with the family! It's not a phantom photographer! These kids are pretty great.

 And we began saying goodbye to our sweet friends. Aubrey and Skyler.

 Aubrey and Kathryn.

 Aubrey and Ava.

 Bryant and Noah.

 Ava, Aubrey, Eliana, Liberty, and Julia.

 Bryant and Thomas.

 And we packed ourselves up in the car, jammies on, and said, "Oregon, here we come!!"

Aubrey had tears until about halfway down to Raleigh. We will miss these sweet friends very much but are looking forward to practicing our writing with penpals!