Road Trip...

I am pretty sure my Mom and I choose the coldest and windiest day for our 5 hour road trip...We drove in my parents big 15 passenger van...and if you have ever driven one you know what a boat of a vehicle it is...now imagine driving it through very heavy winds! My mom drove the whole way...I am sure her arms were throbbing by the time we finally got to Ana's house! This was the first time my mom drove all the way to Ana's house without my dad...so of course we picked the worst day ever...by the time we got to BE the radio was saying the schools were going to be 2 hours late the next day due to the cold temps...it was about -33' without windchill! That is just a bit cold!
The kids all road extremely well for the long car ride...with the exception of James! He does not like being confined in his carseat for any long periods of time...and 5 hours is kinda a long time! I now realize part of his "not so happy" attitude was probably because he was coming down with 5th disease...poor boy! All in all he did pretty good...going home was better.

The other kids all road very good...Elsie and Emma shared a seat...and they happily played games, coloured, talked and giggled...they get along like sisters! Marissa chose to sit next to James...she is a baby lover! She did very good to do her best to keep James busy...and was very patient to play "pick-up" over and over with him! Colter was our map reader...he kept us all informed of what town we were in and what town was next...he survived being the only guy traveling with all those girls!

I took pictures of all the kids while we were in the van...but half of them had eyes closed or just silly faces...plus my camera lens completely broke on this trip...so I had no choice but to use Jon's point and shoot Nikon...which I hate with a passion! So that is my explanation of why we hardly have any pictures of this road trip!

And after what felt like a super-dooper, long, long time we pulled into Ana, Brandon and Oliver's house! They kids all did a little clapping hootin' and hollerin' when we pulled into town! Ana's in-laws own a little Furniture and Coffee Shoppe downtown...and we stopped there first since Ana was working...and the kids ran off some energy by zipping up and down the rows of couches...soon they found a stroller and buckled James in and took him for some wild rides zipping around the furniture store. They all had fun...I mean really, how often do we let the kids run wild in a furniture store of all things!?

We went back to Ana and Brandon's house, had a nice little dinner, watched some Dish TV (what a treat!) and watched the kids all play together. The only reason all the kids agreed to go on the long car trip was to play with Oliver...and they played hard until well after bed time! Ana and Brandon have a 2 bedroom house...so my children and I took over Oliver's bedroom floor and everyone else slept in the living room...2 on reclining chairs, 3 on a blow-up air bed and one on the couch...it was good close bonding time! Our purpose of the road trip to BE was to pick up Laura and Lisa who had spent the week with Ana...so it was a whirlwind little trip. We left our house at 10am Thursday and left BE at 10 am Friday...a fast little trip...but good memories were made. We will be heading to BE for another whirlwind trip any day now...as soon as we get a phone call saying Little Gus is born we will be back in the car again!