Let the Games Begin!

On June 14, we started off on our annual cross-country trip to North Carolina to visit my parents. Every year my mom flies out to make the drive with me. I am so lucky to have great company and help on my drive (probably wouldn't be visiting every year if I had to do THAT alone).

If I remember right, last year Robert asked us if we were almost there when we were about an hour into our trip. That made my mom and I laugh (the first 10 times) considering we still had about 29 hours of driving time left to go. This year we made it all the way to Arizona before Robert asked for the first time. It was our first pit stop, to use restrooms, and he thought we were there. WRONG!

We had not seen our friends in a long time because we kept going out of town opposite of each other. Laura and Don were on their way back from a trip to NC and VA, we were going to miss each other by a half of a day. After our bathroom break we called to check in on them and it turned out we were going to be passing them in a little bit. We decided to make a quick detour off of one of the exits and pulled up to each other!



We would have tried to make it somewhere where the kids could play together, but two of Laura's boys were fighting something. As much as I love them, I had no interest in my kids getting sick on day of a three-day car trip!



About an hour later we stopped at a rest stop for lunch. We had packed our lunch for this first day, so we just needed a rest area. From previous years of experience, we have never cared for the rest stops in Arizona and New Mexico. We were lucky to have stopped at the one we did. They had covered picnic areas, so we spread out our food and let the kids enjoy. As we drove in, we had noticed that there were some rocks that the kids could go climb on. We figured we might as well let them run around for a few minutes before loading them back up.

My mom and my kids found this little guy as soon as they went over to play. He stuck around long enough for me to run back to the car to get my camera. That doesn't happen around my house. I just see a big blurr as they run into my bushes!



My mom gave my kids these Asheville shirts the year before. They were finally big enough to fit in them. Considering we were Asheville bound, thought it would be appropriate for my monkeys!


Leigha could barely keep her hair out of her face. The wind was blowing it everywhere!


We drove until we were well out of Albequrque, NM and getting closer to Texas, before we pulled over for the night. Just like last year, the kids were handling the trip well!