Our Moving Adventure, Part One

I know…aren’t you thrilled that I’m back from my two-month blogging break and have all sorts of fabulous photos and adventures to share?  Okay, I realize it’s kinda like when we were young and people would invite you over to see their vacation slides. All 5,497 of them. Well, on the bright side, I only have a (relative) few photos to show off, and you can click off anytime you’d like, whereas leaving a friend’s house mid-slideshow would be tacky. But I hope you’ll stick around!  I’m planning to blog about the move and adventures for the next few Mondays, but the other days of the week will still have crafting, cooking, and other fun posts…so don’t despair!

We started the moving process by moving out of our home in Wisconsin and staying at a cottage on a nearby lake for a few days, after the movers had packed all of our stuff, but hadn’t loaded it on the truck yet. We had a great time, hanging out at the lake.

After our household belongings were loaded onto a moving truck and headed for the Pacific Northwest (and the house was spic-and-span), we had no responsibilities for a few weeks.  My favorite GI Joe, however, still had a couple of weeks of transition time with his replacement, so the hooligans and I headed to Oklahoma to visit my family.

Since I was driving alone with them, I decided to split the fourteen hour drive into two days. It worked perfectly…we spent the night in Rolla, MO, where friends had recommended the public swimming pool/water park. Apparently a thunderstorm had hit the area an hour or so before we got there, so everyone had left the pool and my three kids had it all to themselves…along with two lifeguards, so I could relax a bit!

A friend also recommended a little hole-in-the-wall pie place, so we stopped and bought a few slices.  We took those, apple slices, milk, and a bag of baked Cheetos to our hotel room and called it dinner. The kids thought I totally rocked.

The next morning, we stopped at Fantastic Caverns in Springfield, MO. I had always wanted to go there when we visited the Ozarks as a child, and my parents would never go. I felt like a total lazy slob, since you just sit in a trailer and are pulled through the caverns, with no exertion at all, but the kids were amazed. The name doesn’t lie, I guess! The guide was funny and we actually learned a lot, too.

We spent a week in Oklahoma, catching up with family and relaxing. The kids played in my childhood treehouse, did lots of crafts I’d brought along, and Princess Thundercloud went with me and had her very first pedicure. She chose bright yellow polish with white polka dots, if you were wondering.

After our time in Oklahoma, we drove to Colorado to visit the other side of the family. Last summer we discovered (again with the recommendation of an Army wife friend…thank goodness for them!) that Hays, Kansas, has an absolutely amazing public water park…for $3 per person! After we played for a couple of hours, the kids were happy to leave…when I bribed them with their very first snocones EVER. Although they were a little annoyed when they realized I had never shared that deliciousness with them before! And see how huge those are?  For only $1.50 each! Stop in Hays if you’re driving I-70…you’ll be happy you did!

We arrived in Colorado late one night, and I flew back to Milwaukee the following morning for my GI Joe’s Change of Command Ceremony. After the ceremony, he and I drove to Denver (in no hurry) to pick up the hooligans, who loved the time the spent with his their cousins, aunt and uncle, and grandparents. Did I say thank you enough times, by the way?

We stayed in Denver a few more days, exploring Buffalo Bill Days in Golden, where the hubs and I met oh-so-long-ago. We met one of my best friends from college, along with her parents who treated me like family when I was a homesick Okie, and let our kids be catapulted into the air on the bungee trampolines.

We also linked up with some friends from Washington, who flew to Denver then drove my car back home for us, so we could embark on a real vacation en route to Washington. Again, I hope I said thanks enough times! We had a great time at the Coors Brewery tour with them…we used to do the short tour in college, wherein you ride the shuttle bus to the brewery then slip in the side door and go directly to the tasting room, so it was interesting to see the actual tour this time.

From Denver, we had a half day drive to Dinosaur National Monument, near Vernal, Utah. Although it’s out of the way from pretty much anywhere, I’m so glad we went. Our middle hooligan loves dinosaurs, and the monument proved quite interesting, even to the rest of us.

The visitors’ center is built over the mountain where the fossils were found, so most of the bones are still in situ. They’ve found bones from over 400 different dinosaurs there, deposited by a flood. The kids thought it was cool to be able to touch the fossils. And to pretend to be terrified of the dinosaur chasing them.

After we checked out the visitors’ center, we convinced the kids it would be fun to walk back to our car (you have to take a shuttle bus or walk about 3/4 of a mile from the entrance). Another good choice, since we saw petroglyphs (cave drawings) that we would have missed otherwise, as well as several fossilized footprints and interesting rock formations. Even though our only provisions were a bag of Skittles I found in my purse, and the hooligans thought they were going to drop from hunger in the half hour the walk took (and did I mention it was all downhill?). See, you can see the drawings above her head, then up a little and to the right.

So that’s the first half of our trip…next week I’ll show you the rest.  It might even be more coherent, since the kids start school this week, the hubs goes back to work, and my house is completely unpacked. Maybe, but I’m not making any promises!