DC Bound Day 2

This is how day 2 started... with Jonah spilling my coffee all over the van.  Of course, he THOUGHT he spilled his. So he gave me the cup that hadn't spilled. The first sip almost ended up spit over the inside of the van as I wasn't expecting flavored creamer. Luckily, I caught myself and had gotten a second cup already so I wasn't totally out of luck. 

When he went to get himself a new coffee, he grabbed a couple pieces of bacon for the road. 🙄

Selah got a little exercise giving Elijah a ride at a rest stop.  

Missed the photo op, this was the handful of grass Jonah scooped Upton smell at the rest area.  Freshly mowed grass, or grass in general, isn't really a thing in CO. And it was a long winter in Michigan.  It's been a good 8 months since we've smelled that smell. 

The song seemed fitting this morning as we finally made it to IN. AMD still had 11 hours to go...

Then it seemed like we spent most of the day in Ohio, as we traveled from one corner to another. At least it wasn't as bad as Kansas. 

Noah asked for a picture of this when we stopped to get water at an overlook. 

Beautiful view at the overlook. 

So incredibly green. Jonah commented to the other kids this am, "y'all need to look out of the window at all that foliage! "

Caught a rainbow in Maryland. 

We finally branched off of I-70 for a couple hours in PA and MD...only to pick it back up.  Almost the entire trip was on the same road. Keeps it easy,  I guess. 

Mother's Day Wishes Come True! (Sort Of.)

E: Sorry Mom, I got a little confused when I was writing MOM. I spelled it O-M-O on accident.  

I wrote my name really big for you, so when you're old you can still read it! 

All I ever want for mother's day is to spend the day with my kids. Certainly got my wish this year...2 whole days just the kids and I! Bryan has his AT in DC and they made him fly. So we drove  by ourselves. Exactly 24 hours from our house. 1641 miles.  It's even longer than it sounds. 

Almost the entire trip is on 1-70. It'll say only x number of miles but it just keeps telling  you to stay on 70 east. Days of 1-70 and acorn fields. 

An hour in and we have our first stop. 

By Kansas there was quite a bit of greenery. They were all loving the grass.  

They took a vote while I was getting gas and wanted to pitch in for Dickies for dinner. Kids eat free on Sundays...and to quote Selah, "I don't come here for the free ice cream, but it sure is a nice bonus!"

I should have said no...this was stop 5. At 5pm. And we were only in Topeka. It was the day that never ended. Kinda literally as it was after midnight when we finally made it to the east side of St Louis and stopped.  3 hours burned at 6 stops... hoping tomorrow goes better! 

At least everyone ate well!

Hard to believe but Baby Shark is a real song played on the radio late at night! For all those kids who refuse to sleep? 

The Mighty Mississippi!  It's not so mighty looking in the dark but I was still happy to see it! BED TIME!

Old Memories and New Memories on a Saturday in May.

Bryan and I ran some kidless errands and finally stopped at Jamba Juice. When we were in Monterey, we used to walk down the hill to Jamba Juice and grab smoothies. He'd usually drink his and most of mine because I really don't care for smoothies. But it's always been a happy memory, we've just never lived by one since then! (Actually a couple of years ago they put one inside of a Meijer in Michigan.  Not my normal Meijer, but I did bring him back a smoothie once. Unfortunately,  they had a very limited menu and it was pretty much juice by the time I got home. This was a better experience.)

We then spent the afternoon at the USAFA baseball game. Elijah has been so sad that we canca go watch the Indians play anymore so Bryan came up with this substitute. Not the same, but besides the weather, he really enjoyed it. And he knows his baseball! Provided all kinds of commentary throughout the game.)

8 inches of Fresh Snow in May

We woke up this morning to a beautiful new coating of white snow. It's only early May...I hear this isn't that unusual. 

We loaded up the kids and the car and headed up the mountains where they had gotten 8 inches overnight.  Such beautiful scenery along the way.  I have to say,  virtually all snow we've gotten since we moved here is a thick, wet snow that piles on the trees and is just gorgeous.

Breckenridge Ski Resort. We all thought it was better than Keystone except for the fact it doesn't have a gondola (except from parking in town to the base) nor the super long runs. Much more pretty with the trees throughout the trails, though. 

Can't beat those views! 

There was lots of powder, especially through the glades. Resulting in quite a number of spills! 

Sitting under one of those beautiful pines for lunch is probably not wise... especially if the sun peeks out. Watch for falling snow.

The sun was out just long enough to provide a stellar lunch experience.  And melt the snow just a bit on top which promptly froze ruining that perfect powder we had prior to lunch.  

Commence snow and wind. Pretty but cold on the chairlift and all open areas on the runs. Shortly turning into blizzard-like conditions.  

One run we found was a disaster and resulted in lost of us going down a time or two....or in Micah's case 5 times. He was pretty frustrated and then couldn't get his skis back on thanks to all the snow caked on his boots.

Mellow Mushroom for a special treat on the way home!

Leaving...On a Jet Plane...

Mom, we're all packed and ready to go to drill with you!