What a trip!

The kids and I rolled into our driveway last night at 10 pm. That ended our 22 day trip across the western half of the USA. I'm really amazed that 1) we made it, 2) I drove every single one of the 5947 miles, and 3) my kids had a great time. One of my favorite quotes from Anna was "Mom, why is America so beautiful?" We saw such a variety of countryside from the deserts of Arizona to the California Redwoods to the plains of Kansas and everything in between. The scenery was great to see in between the family visits.

We didn't make many stops along the way home. I think we all were ready to be home. Hayden was a little car sick on Monday afternoon. This is the one and only time on the trip that any of the kids was sick. Not to bad. We also had a little bit of traffic right before entering Texas. Two miles to the state line and we had to stop. It was torture to be so close and yet so far. Once in the state, it almost felt like we were home, even though we still had another 5 hours to drive. We do the Dallas/Houston drive enough that it's not travel.

This trip meant a lot to me. First, I missed my family a lot. I mean, a lot! It's been a long time since I've seen most of them. Second, most of the family hasn't met Hayden yet. I really needed him to have a chance to get those early memories of the people I love. Third, there were so many places I used to go as a kid that were special to me. I wanted the chance to share that with my children. I know they got different things out of this trip than what I got, but that's okay. That's the joy of trip like this. Finally, I wanted to end the past year on a bang. Last summer was terrible. With chemo, we were so limited on our family fun. This summer, I just wanted to do something that we could talk about for years to come and have a smile on our faces. I think we did that.

Thank you to everyone that hosted us. My grandparents and dad were amazing to put up with us. The Ryans, Stiblings, Hoys and Granholms fed us and kept us entertained. The cousins were an absolute hit with my 3. Seeing my brothers and sister-in-law not once, but twice was great. And having my Uncle Steve and Aunt Holly along the way was very special. I even considered adding to our family by adopting a kitty and a puppy. I rethought that though when I considered our drive home!

Next trip though, Jason will be there. That was the only thing that could have made this any better. The kids and I missed him so much. I really wished that he could have flown out for part of the time. I guess we will have to do it all again so he can come. ;)