Road Trip Day 3

The last day of our road trip we drove from Provo, Utah to Colorado Springs. The drive went pretty well. There was snow on the side of the road along the way but none on the road, so that was good. Here we are driving through Spanish Fork canyon. As soon as we got into the canyon (15 minutes after we left), Matthew announced that he had to go to the bathroom. There is not much up there, so it was a little tricky finding a place for him to go. Luckily that was our only inconvenient bathroom stop. Here are some more pictures from the trip. Sorry, there are a lot of them.

Along highway 6 in Utah. I liked these rock formations 'cause they reminded me of Radiator Springs in Cars.

And here are a few more Radiator Springs pictures.

Our first glimpse of the Rockies as we drove toward Colorado.
They aren't that exciting from far away, are they?

Entering Colorado! The kids were excited, but that wore off when they realized we still had A LOT of driving to do.

Along the Colorado River

Big red mountains.

We started to see more and more snow as we got higher in the Rockies.

Some ski resorts near Vail. People were up there skiing and snowboarding.
We saw a lot them driving back down into Denver in the afternoon.

Red rocks and snow. Pretty.

Passing over Vail Summit - 10,603 ft

I wanted to take a picture as we crossed the continental divide, but the sign crept up on me. You cross it while going through this tunnel. Very exciting. Now we're on the east side of the Rockies!

More scenery

Driving out of the mountains into Denver. Sadly, you can hardly see Denver in this picture 'cause it was so hazy.

Turning off to Colorado Springs. It seemed to take no time at all to get to Colorado Springs from the south end of Denver.

The drive between Denver and Colorado Springs.

And our first glimpse of the greater Colorado Springs area. I was glad we were able to get there before the sun went down. By the time we got to our room on base, it was dark, but at least we got to see a little of our new town in the daylight (WE'RE THERE!!). And now, the members of our little excursion:

Anna, who finally fell asleep at the end.

Matthew who was still thought parts of the Dora video were funny after watching it for hours. Yea for the portable DVD player!

Me (and Anna in the background). I was the designated nose wiper, food distributor and entertainment coordinator. And I did it all without getting car sick. Success!

And Scott, who did all the driving on this trip. I think he liked breaking in his new car. We were happy to make it to Colorado Springs safely. Now we can take a break from traveling...at least until Christmas. :)

Welcome Christmastime

The shopping center near Cody and Alycia's house was having a lighting ceremony the night we were there, so we walked over. Well, some of us did. Anna had fallen asleep in the car, and since we've been having A LOT of trouble getting the kids to sleep while we've been traveling, I didn't want to wake her. So, Scott and Matthew walked over to check out the festivities with Cody, Alycia and Olivia. Matthew was super excited!

Here he is, pointing the way and holding his special flashlight that Alycia let him play with. He was looking for Santa with his flashlight in all the bushes.

He has to sit on the vehicles! I think this was in a special toy shop nearby.

Alycia and Cody stood in line with Olivia while Matthew ran around a little (thank you guys!!) and finally they got to see Santa. That's little Olivia on the left. :) Matthew told Santa he wanted a machine that makes shapes and is as big as a house. He's been telling us he wants that for a while now. Santa was just as confused as we were.

He did get his candy cane afterward, so that was exciting. He wasted no time eating that candy cane.

As they were leaving they saw an ice sculpture being finished. Matthew wanted to run up and touch it. Very exciting. Matthew was glad he got to see Santa and put in his Christmas requests early. Good luck with that shape machine, Santa!

Bouncing Off the Walls

We have been on the move for about a month know, and probably won't be moved into a house for at least another month. So, needless to say, it has been a little hard on the kids. Plus they've been stuck in the car for the past two days. So when we got to Provo, we wanted to make sure they got some time to run and play. We looked for good indoor play places in the Provo area and decided to take them to an indoor bouncy place in Springville. Alycia and baby Olivia came with us and I think the kids got some good bouncing in. Here's Matthew at the slide. Anna was worried when he disappeared into the bouncy thing, and happy that he came out again.

Matthew has to sit in every vehicle.

Riding the mini carousel - a bargain at 25 cents

So fun

Matthew did the big slide, so Anna had to do it too. She had her own way of climbing the ladder - all upper body. My arms would be tired after pulling myself up all those steps. The gap between the last step and the top was just a little too big for her to climb, so Scott helped her once, and then Matthew helped her after that, pushing her up (with all his might) from behind. Such a nice brother!

Anna looked so tiny, and almost comical, going down the HUGE slide, but she liked it, and wanted to go again and again. I was glad they were able to burn off a little steam.

Road Trip Day 2

I didn't get many pictures from the second day of our trip, but we drove from Mountain Home, Idaho to Provo, Utah. I've actually never been in western Idaho before, other than Coeur D'Alene last summer, so that was cool to see. The trip was pretty short, only about five hours, and the kids watched the DVD player the whole time. We got into Provo in the afternoon and met up with Scott's sister, Alycia, and her husband, Cody. We decided to stay with them for a day before we head on over the rockies to Colorado Springs. It's always weird going back to Provo - it's been ten whole years since I graduated from BYU - and so much has changed there and with me. But its still fun to go for a little visit. More adventures to come!

Road Trip Day 1

The last push of our big move from Okinawa to Colorado is a several day drive from Portland, Oregon to Colorado Springs. On our first day we drove from Portland to Mountain Home, Idaho. Here are the kids getting ready for the big drive. They were very well behaved, thanks to some car snacks, surprises and the portable DVD player.

I tried to take some pictures on our way out of Portland.

Goodbye Portland!

It was a little rainy as we drove through the Columbia River gorge.

Lots of nice scenery too.

The weather was good and we made it into Idaho with no trouble, although it was dark by the time we got there (Oregon is so big!). The next leg of our trip, we head to Utah.