Alaska Bound: Day Ten

Well, we are in Butte, Montana at the moment.

Yesterday was a FULL day. We woke up in Dubois, Wyoming (a charming little town in the middle of nowhere, it seems) and headed straight for Old Faithful.

I am keeping a small written journal in the car, so that I won't forget what is what...it's kinda all running together for me now. I will try to get back to you tonight with a more detailed description of what the past two days were like. Hopefully, we will be in at least Calgary, Alberta by this evening.

Oh, and the pictures from the road are amazing, if I do say so myself. This side of the United States is just BEAUTIFUL, I tell ya! I'll also try to post some more pictures so that you can see.

Wish us well!

Alaska Bound: Day Seven

We are just below Denver tonight.

We left the hotel in Raton, New Mexico this morning and headed north on I-25. My friend, Melanie, was not expecting us until late this afternoon, so we killed some time touring Fort Carson, Colorado and the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.

Wow! What a day! Gabe barely played with his Ipod Touch or watched the DVD player...he was loving the sights outside.

As for our visit, with Melanie and her family, it was so good to see all of them. We spent the afternoon at her house, drank some Shiraz, and had dinner at a nearby restaurant...I really do miss seeing her on a regular basis.

Tomorrow, we drive on toward Yellowstone National Park, about 550 miles from where we are now.

Here's some pics from the trip so far:

A bird outside of our hotel in New Mexico.

The Garden of the Gods.
(there's a whole lot more to it...)

Balancing Rock at the GOTG.

The view from the road (just getting into Colorado).

The Big Texan Challenge.

I'm off to bed now, and hoping that little Miss Sarah does not wake up at 5 am again tomorrow...

Alaska Bound: Days One and Two...and Three and Four...What day is this anyway?

We've arrived safely in Raton, New Mexico for the night.

Tomorrow, we push on toward Highlands Ranch, Colorado (just below Denver) to see my friend, Melanie; I'm so excited to see her, as she has been truly been a great friend for fifteen years now.

Our adventure started on Sunday night, when we checked into the Shiloh Inn in Killeen. I wanted to make sure that everything that was being packed up on Monday was clean and ready to be stored for however long it will take to get to us in Fairbanks (I'm thinking that we will be without our household goods for at least a month).

Sarah's allergies have been doing a number on her, and so I took her to the doctor on Monday to make sure that she was clear for take off, so to speak (we called Phil's parents an hour after they left our house on Sunday morning, and asked if they could come right back to help us, when I realized that she was sick enough for a doctor's visit; it turned out to be a very busy Monday... they were visiting for the weekend because Gabe made his First Communion on Saturday).

So, we packed up on Monday, and loaded up on Tuesday. By 4 pm on Tuesday, we'd cleaned out what was left in the house (stuff that the movers couldn't pack, etc.) and said our good-byes to what had been our home for the past five years. I tell ya, it wasn't easy to drive away.

Wednesday was a day for us to tie up loose ends. I spent what was left of some massage gift certificates, and Phillip got his truck serviced for the trip. For dinner, we went down to Round Rock, TX to eat at the Saltlick one last time.

Yesterday, we checked our mail, one last time, at the house, turned in our house and mail keys, checked Gabe out of school early, and were in Dallas by 2:30 to get my car shipped (Military Vehicle Processing Center). We met Connie at Aunt Wendy's house. While waiting on Wendy to finish an important meeting, we ate ONE LAST TIME at Campisi's and brought the leftovers home to Wendy.

This morning, we left Wendy's house at around 7:45 am and drove toward Amarillo. Our plan was to make it out to Palo Duro Canyon (south of Amarillo), but it rained all day so we decided against seeing the canyon. We had lunch at The Big Texan, canceled our hotel reservation in Amarillo, and pushed on to where we are now.

All in all, it's been an exciting, yet exhausting past few days...
I will do my best to post something every night. I realize that tonight's post is a little "choppy", but jeeeze I'm tired.

Wish us a safe journey, please, and take good care of yourselves, as well.

Janet

A little story...

We went with Gabe's Cub Scout den to tour the CTC Flight School campus this past Saturday.

Here's Phillip and Gabe posing for the camera...

and Sarah, not to be outdone, posing too.

Here's Gabe checking out the view on a flight simulator.

But Sarah had to see the real thing (or as close to it as she could).

We all learned quite a bit; had lots of fun.

We met some good friends for lunch at The Dead Fish Grill on Lake Belton, and then went together to an airshow in Temple, TX afterward. Sarah told Clark about how much fun it was to run around the hangar, to see how many times Mommy and Daddy would tell her "Don't run, Sarah!". And then they watched the planes fly overhead and clapped at the appropriate times.

The End.

Oh, What a Night!

We had a post-birthday sleep over for Gabe this past Friday night.

We had pizza and ice-cream cake.

We watched Avatar until past 11 p.m., and the boys whispered until midnight...

And then woke up at 5 a.m. to play some more.

It got kinda noisy that morning until...

Phillip threatened that the person who wakes Sarah changes her morning diaper!

(It got very quiet after that.)

All in all, I think everyone had fun.

Bedtime was quite early for all of us on Saturday!

Remember Two Things...

Remember Two Things is the title of an album from the Dave Mathews Band.

And we are HUGE fans.

I'm doing this one for your entertainment value, as well as a way for me to remember some recent events involving Little Miss Sarah.

1. I did something for her; I don't remember what. And she looked at me and said (in her sweet little toddler way) "Thank you, Mom." She walked away and came right back (in an afterthought), and SHOOK MY HAND and said, "Very much", then nodded to confirm what she just did! I guess to get the full humor of it, you would have had to seen the look on her face...
2. We always tell her that she's a mess. As in, "Girrrlllll, you're a handful". You know what I'm trying to say? Anyway, this morning, as her Daddy is trying to load her up into her car seat, so that we can run errands, she runs from him and yells "I'm a mess!". And laughs..

Children: They bring such JOY! And make us shake our heads with disbelief at what funny stuff they can come up with.

Our litte birdhouse...

...which we had to build to complete in order to earn his Boy Scout Wolf badge.

(All achievements have been completed now....whoohoooo! I bought a kit at Walmart and secured the sides with tiny little nails. Ta Daaaaa!!!)

Happy Birthday to YOU....

On Tuesday, April 20th, our little man turned a whopping 8 years old!

Sarah goes to a daycare nearby on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Gabe thought I was coming to meet him for lunch at school, since I would have free time, but I decided that I would surprise him and check him out of school early so that he and I could spend time together (just the two of us). I took him to a movie (his choice, of course) and we did a little shopping...

Here he is, on the phone with his Daddy while he opens presents.

It seems like just yesterday, I was popping a couple of Tums every 20 minutes because of the awful heartburn that I had while I was pregnant for him.

Ahhh, where does the time go?