We got up earlier today-heading to Omaha to go to the Zoo. We had 11 of us ready to go by about 8:45. (Anessa took the day off of work to join us-thanks Ocessa!) We had a girl’s car & a boy’s car. Omaha is about 2 hours away to the north. (Diller is in the South East of Nebraska.) The zoo was very pretty & big. We didn’t quite make it to all the exhibits before closing time. I think my favorite exhibit were the penguins! It was feeding time & they were swimming back & forth-so it was quite the show! We even got Maddie a little stuffed penguin.
We stopped in Lincoln at Valentino’s for dinner. It is a buffet-type restaurant. So many good choices to choose from. Of course we all came out too stuffed! They even had clowns going around making balloon animals for the kids. The older girls got their princess crowns, the boys got a sword, bow & arrow & an octopus/space alien & Ellie got a puppy & Maddie got a love bug. She wasn’t too thrilled about it at first, but Mark played with it on his hand & she warmed up to it.
Then we were on the road again, heading back to Beatrice to Walmart. Maddie & Ellie kept us laughing with their singing of Elmo’s Song. Maddie would sing it almost at the top of her lungs. We were laughing so hard. (yes, I cried I was laughing so hard) Note to myself-maybe not a wise idea to let Maddie have cotton candy & m&ms for dessert! She was wired! We made a brief stop at Walmart & met a few friends of Mark & Rachelle & then headed for home. Got the girls bathed & attempted to get Maddie to bed. It took quite awhile-she was still on her sugar high!
Friday, August 15, 2008
Day 5 Diller, NE 8-11-08
After a good nights sleep, we got up, chatted some more & had a very yummy meal of bbq hamburgers & hot dogs, we had a tour of the farm & all the different pieces of equipment. I know we all enjoyed the rides on the gator & the tractor, but I’m not sure who enjoyed it more, us or Ethan & Cole?! Even Maddie liked the ride on the gator. (Yes, Nai-Nai, she had her seat belt on! J) The Weers’ farm wheat, corn, soy beans & sunflowers. Speaking from the tour that I received from Ethan, he is incredibly knowledgeable about their farming operation. He was so patient with me & all my questions. Thanks Chicken Legs! There are tons of grasshoppers & locusts. We also met all 4 of their orange & white kitties. Lindsay & I are ready to take them all home with us. If it wasn’t so far & having to deal with a litter box in the car & hotels, we would have taken 1 or 2 of them home.
Driving lessons today too! Ethan taught Lindsay & Matt how to drive the gator! Then they got out their 91 Honda & took Lindsay driving-dad went too. She did really well. Later they took Matt out driving too. He had a bigger audience-in the car were Matt, Michael, Lindsay, Ethan & Cole! Rachelle & I stayed in the house with the little girls-to keep them safe! Haha They weren’t gone too long before Lindsay & Ethan bailed on that car ride! But Michael said he did pretty well for a first time driving!
We again had another yummy meal-chicken & rice! (Yes, Rachelle, we need to have that recipe please!) Another pleasant evening spent giving baths to the girls, going for a walk and talking late into the evening.
Driving lessons today too! Ethan taught Lindsay & Matt how to drive the gator! Then they got out their 91 Honda & took Lindsay driving-dad went too. She did really well. Later they took Matt out driving too. He had a bigger audience-in the car were Matt, Michael, Lindsay, Ethan & Cole! Rachelle & I stayed in the house with the little girls-to keep them safe! Haha They weren’t gone too long before Lindsay & Ethan bailed on that car ride! But Michael said he did pretty well for a first time driving!
We again had another yummy meal-chicken & rice! (Yes, Rachelle, we need to have that recipe please!) Another pleasant evening spent giving baths to the girls, going for a walk and talking late into the evening.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Day 4 Diller, NE 8-10-08 (part 2)
Hi! Sorry to have left you hanging with our vacation tales! We had lots of fun & did things that we don’t normally do and I didn’t want to take any time while we there to post, so we will try to fill you in now.
So, let’s start on Sunday evening (8-10). We arrived in Diller, Nebraska about 9 pm to a great welcoming party from Mark & Rachelle, Anessa & Curtis (her boyfriend), Ethan, Cole, Ellie & the farm dogs-Max, Daisy & Albert. (We met the kitties the next day!) After meeting everyone & getting the Tahoe unpacked, we were served some yummy brownies that Rachelle had made & home made ice cream that Curtis & Cole had made! We also had a tour of their house-wow! It’s huge & very pretty. Lots of space. Thanks to Anessa who gave up her room for us & then Cole gave up his room for Matt & Ethan had Cole in with him. Thanks for doing that for us! I hope we didn’t inconvenience you too much. We stayed up & talked for a while & then it was time to hit the hay! We were pooped!
So, let’s start on Sunday evening (8-10). We arrived in Diller, Nebraska about 9 pm to a great welcoming party from Mark & Rachelle, Anessa & Curtis (her boyfriend), Ethan, Cole, Ellie & the farm dogs-Max, Daisy & Albert. (We met the kitties the next day!) After meeting everyone & getting the Tahoe unpacked, we were served some yummy brownies that Rachelle had made & home made ice cream that Curtis & Cole had made! We also had a tour of their house-wow! It’s huge & very pretty. Lots of space. Thanks to Anessa who gave up her room for us & then Cole gave up his room for Matt & Ethan had Cole in with him. Thanks for doing that for us! I hope we didn’t inconvenience you too much. We stayed up & talked for a while & then it was time to hit the hay! We were pooped!
Day 4 Diller, NE 8-10-08
We finally woke up early enough to have the hotel breakfast. After we ate it, we wished we had slept through it instead! J Translation: not worth getting up for! We are all kind of tired today, except for Michael. Matt is feeling a tad under the weather-cold symptoms. (both he & Maddie have it). But we were on the road close to 10 after checking out of the hotel & getting gas.
Today’s trip is about 538 or so-another long day. But we’re making it to “Diller-world” (Family Vacation movie). The Weers are our light at the end of the tunnel today.
We stopped for a drive-thru lunch at Dairy Queen in Ft. Morgan, CO. We wanted to keep moving & figured it would be faster to feed Maddie in the car. Time of stop: about 10 mins. Back on the road again!
Approx 2:45 central time we passed into Nebraska! Our ETA for Diller is about 8:45 (& that is if we went straight with no stops!)
Today’s trip is about 538 or so-another long day. But we’re making it to “Diller-world” (Family Vacation movie). The Weers are our light at the end of the tunnel today.
We stopped for a drive-thru lunch at Dairy Queen in Ft. Morgan, CO. We wanted to keep moving & figured it would be faster to feed Maddie in the car. Time of stop: about 10 mins. Back on the road again!
Approx 2:45 central time we passed into Nebraska! Our ETA for Diller is about 8:45 (& that is if we went straight with no stops!)
pictures Day 3 Engelwood CO 8-9-08
I am reposting this blog, because I finally have the pictures done to go with it! I hope you enjoy.
This morning started a little too early for all of us! The alarm went off at 10:15! Yucky! I got up to take my shower & noticed that Matt was still asleep-he who wanted to get up at 10 to go work out & go for a swim! J We were on our way by about 12:45. Today’s meal of a "place we don’t have at home", was Sonic. We were finally on the road by about 1:30. Our ETA for Engelwood, CO (which is just outside of Denver) is about 6:30. Yeah! Short drive, about 265 miles! Piece of cake! This drive has been pretty, following along the Colorado River. (It’s day, so we can actually see something!) It was beautiful to see God’s handiwork. We all enjoyed the scenery, except for Maddie. She slept for about 3 hours-the whole time we were going through the mountains! Good for her. She also missed seeing some snow.
We have had quite the range in temperatures today too, from low 50’s to the low 90’s. We also had a pretty good rain shower on the way. Maybe cleaned the car a little.
We made it to Engelwood, CO (just outside of Denver) about 6:30 tonight. After getting unpacked, going out to dinner at Macaroni Grill (& being serenaded by Tammy, this woman with a magnificent voice, for my birthday) we came back to the hotel & went swimming. Maddie is a water bug. She will have to have swim lessons next year. She loved it.
It is after 11 & time to get ready for bed. We have a long drive tomorrow & then we will be in Diller! I can’t wait. We are all getting so excited!
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Day 2: Grand Junction, CO 8-8-08
We started getting up around 10 & were out of the hotel by about 12:30. True to our trips, we always like to try to eat at places that we don’t have at home. (Ok, so we blew it last night by eating at Carls Jr.-kind of. It’s in SLO, not MB, so technically it wasn’t home! Cut me some slack here, ok? Haha) We
found a Tommy’s world famous hamburgers. It was pretty yummy! J
Then we had to have Krispy Kreme donuts. Double yummy! We also got gas for $3.89 a gallon! Wow!!! We did actually find it for $3.69, but we didn’t need it then.
As a family we decided that we wanted to go see Hoover Dam. It was only 15 miles away & who knows when we would be back this way during the day again (other then our trip home). We got some beautiful pictures there-it looks like they are building a new bridge that will be soooo tall. There was a lot of traffic & people, so we decided to just drive & not take a tour. But we did make it into Arizona, briefly! We even got some rain & it was 102 degrees!
It was time to find a park to let Maddie run. There was a great looking park that we saw off the main road. Once we got over to it, we weren’t sure if we should get out or not-there were about 30-40 wild mountain sheep grazing on the grass! There was another open grassy area, so we let Maddie out to run around. We kept her in the middle of all of us, just in case. Michael was the brave one & took her towards the playground. What a great park it was. It had the rubbery padding on the ground, so the sheep didn’t go on it. After about 30 minutes of running & playing, it was time to hit the road. It was well after 4 by now & we haven’t even started on our trip! We have over 500 miles to go before our next hotel in Grand Junction, Colorado. Our estimated time of arrival is now 1:00am & that is without any stops.
By 6:00 Maddie still has not fallen asleep. She has done so well. What an amazing girl! Thank you God! Thank you too, for Lindsay & Matt helping out so much with her.
We stopped for dinner in Mesquite, NV around 6:30-7 at a place called Buffalo. From there we hit the long dusty trail to get to Grand Junction, Colorado. Maddie fell asleep around 9:30 or so & slept until about 1:45. What a great nap she had. She woke up in a pretty good mood, but still wanted Mom back by her. So we did the seat switch-a-roo again. We watched several videos together. We were all getting pretty tired by this point & we still had a few hours to go. Poor Michael with all that driving. I wonder what that part of the world looked like! We did see lots of signs to watch for deer & elk!
We arrived at our Holiday Inn Express about 4:15 mountain time. What a neat room we had-it was a suite, with our room separate from the kids. Both Lindsay & Matt got to have their own beds! They were so jazzed-they didn’t have to share with us. After 10 mins of trying to figure out how to set up the crib the hotel provided for us, we finally figured it out! We ARE smarter then the crib! Wohoo! Again, Maddie was afraid of going to sleep in the crib, so I brought her to bed with us. We had THE biggest bed! It was awesome! When Maddie finally fell asleep she was laying perpendicular between us! It did take her a while to unwind! I think I was finally able to put her to bed about 5:30, but then I was wide awake! Thought about going to have breakfast that started at 6! LOL Didn’t. Time to get some shut eye before we start out again. Shorter trip from Grand Junction to Denver! Thank goodness! Until then…
found a Tommy’s world famous hamburgers. It was pretty yummy! J
Then we had to have Krispy Kreme donuts. Double yummy! We also got gas for $3.89 a gallon! Wow!!! We did actually find it for $3.69, but we didn’t need it then.
As a family we decided that we wanted to go see Hoover Dam. It was only 15 miles away & who knows when we would be back this way during the day again (other then our trip home). We got some beautiful pictures there-it looks like they are building a new bridge that will be soooo tall. There was a lot of traffic & people, so we decided to just drive & not take a tour. But we did make it into Arizona, briefly! We even got some rain & it was 102 degrees!
It was time to find a park to let Maddie run. There was a great looking park that we saw off the main road. Once we got over to it, we weren’t sure if we should get out or not-there were about 30-40 wild mountain sheep grazing on the grass! There was another open grassy area, so we let Maddie out to run around. We kept her in the middle of all of us, just in case. Michael was the brave one & took her towards the playground. What a great park it was. It had the rubbery padding on the ground, so the sheep didn’t go on it. After about 30 minutes of running & playing, it was time to hit the road. It was well after 4 by now & we haven’t even started on our trip! We have over 500 miles to go before our next hotel in Grand Junction, Colorado. Our estimated time of arrival is now 1:00am & that is without any stops.
By 6:00 Maddie still has not fallen asleep. She has done so well. What an amazing girl! Thank you God! Thank you too, for Lindsay & Matt helping out so much with her.
We stopped for dinner in Mesquite, NV around 6:30-7 at a place called Buffalo. From there we hit the long dusty trail to get to Grand Junction, Colorado. Maddie fell asleep around 9:30 or so & slept until about 1:45. What a great nap she had. She woke up in a pretty good mood, but still wanted Mom back by her. So we did the seat switch-a-roo again. We watched several videos together. We were all getting pretty tired by this point & we still had a few hours to go. Poor Michael with all that driving. I wonder what that part of the world looked like! We did see lots of signs to watch for deer & elk!
We arrived at our Holiday Inn Express about 4:15 mountain time. What a neat room we had-it was a suite, with our room separate from the kids. Both Lindsay & Matt got to have their own beds! They were so jazzed-they didn’t have to share with us. After 10 mins of trying to figure out how to set up the crib the hotel provided for us, we finally figured it out! We ARE smarter then the crib! Wohoo! Again, Maddie was afraid of going to sleep in the crib, so I brought her to bed with us. We had THE biggest bed! It was awesome! When Maddie finally fell asleep she was laying perpendicular between us! It did take her a while to unwind! I think I was finally able to put her to bed about 5:30, but then I was wide awake! Thought about going to have breakfast that started at 6! LOL Didn’t. Time to get some shut eye before we start out again. Shorter trip from Grand Junction to Denver! Thank goodness! Until then…
Day 1: Henderson, Nevada 8-7-08
We left today for our longest driving family vacation that we have ever taken. A little over 1600 miles, one way! We are planning on it taking us 4 days. We should roll into the thriving metropolis of Diller, Nebraska sometime on Sunday evening. We are going to visit some special friends of ours (The Weer’s) that we met in China when we received our girls. They came out to see us in March & now we are taking the family truckster to Diller.
We got a little later start then we had wanted-even though Lindsay was done with her final by 10, she could not leave school early without being docked some serious points. She got home from school a little after 1 & we were on the road by 2:30.
Just outside of Morro Bay, on 41 between MB & Atascadero, we started plugging in all the different electrical devices-ok, the GPS, Lindsay’s phone charger & my laptop. The necessary things in life! J But one of our power inverters was not working. It was brand new. So we stopped in Atascadero at Kragen auto parts to buy a new inverter. We left home at 2:30 & stopped at 2:52! LOL Michael found a new one got in the car & plugged it in-it didn’t work. Now both the cigarette lighter & the aux power weren’t working. We figured it must be a fuse. We found the fuse box & after changing several fuses, we got the cigarette lighter fixed & could plug the GPS into there. That was the crucial one! We’ll just work on battery power with my computer & keep reading the owners manual to see if we can find a different one. So by 3:45 we were on the road again! We do have another aux power outlet in the back by Matt & I’m able to plug my laptop into that one. So life is great again! Haha
I think we made it to Bakersfield for dinner. Then our next stop was Barstow for a little bathroom break & change into jammies about 9:30 or so. Our ETA at that point was about 12:15 am. Then about 11 or so we hit a major traffic jam. I couldn’t tell you how many miles long it was. We could see red tail lights for as far as the eye could see. Not a good sign at all. They were working on the road. I think it took us over an hour and a half to go a short distance.
Madeline finally conked out sometime after 11. She was such a good trooper. She really just wanted to be held. So after some heart-wrenching cries, I climbed into the backseat & sat next to her & held her as best I could with her in her car seat & my seatbelt buckled. She slept for about an hour & then woke up again crying for Mommy. So I climbed back into the seat next to her. She had been sneezing a lot & a little runny nose, maybe allergies?
We finally got to the hotel, I guess about 2:15 am. I think by 3 we were all getting to bed. Maddie didn’t want to have anything to do with the crib in the room, so I brought her to bed with Lindsay & me & she fell asleep on me in about 20 mins. So put her to bed about 3:30.
Sleep well everyone!
We got a little later start then we had wanted-even though Lindsay was done with her final by 10, she could not leave school early without being docked some serious points. She got home from school a little after 1 & we were on the road by 2:30.
Just outside of Morro Bay, on 41 between MB & Atascadero, we started plugging in all the different electrical devices-ok, the GPS, Lindsay’s phone charger & my laptop. The necessary things in life! J But one of our power inverters was not working. It was brand new. So we stopped in Atascadero at Kragen auto parts to buy a new inverter. We left home at 2:30 & stopped at 2:52! LOL Michael found a new one got in the car & plugged it in-it didn’t work. Now both the cigarette lighter & the aux power weren’t working. We figured it must be a fuse. We found the fuse box & after changing several fuses, we got the cigarette lighter fixed & could plug the GPS into there. That was the crucial one! We’ll just work on battery power with my computer & keep reading the owners manual to see if we can find a different one. So by 3:45 we were on the road again! We do have another aux power outlet in the back by Matt & I’m able to plug my laptop into that one. So life is great again! Haha
I think we made it to Bakersfield for dinner. Then our next stop was Barstow for a little bathroom break & change into jammies about 9:30 or so. Our ETA at that point was about 12:15 am. Then about 11 or so we hit a major traffic jam. I couldn’t tell you how many miles long it was. We could see red tail lights for as far as the eye could see. Not a good sign at all. They were working on the road. I think it took us over an hour and a half to go a short distance.
Madeline finally conked out sometime after 11. She was such a good trooper. She really just wanted to be held. So after some heart-wrenching cries, I climbed into the backseat & sat next to her & held her as best I could with her in her car seat & my seatbelt buckled. She slept for about an hour & then woke up again crying for Mommy. So I climbed back into the seat next to her. She had been sneezing a lot & a little runny nose, maybe allergies?
We finally got to the hotel, I guess about 2:15 am. I think by 3 we were all getting to bed. Maddie didn’t want to have anything to do with the crib in the room, so I brought her to bed with Lindsay & me & she fell asleep on me in about 20 mins. So put her to bed about 3:30.
Sleep well everyone!
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