Other happenings!

While we were in Cheyenne we headed out to Big Country to watch a race. It's a quarter mile track I believe and always a good time. At first the different classes of cars had races and not much was going on. Cody then asked "Mom when does all the crashing start?" We did have the camera, but the pictures didn't come out very good especially once the sun went down. It was a long night of racing, but the fireworks at the end were worth it!

We also went to an airplane museum in Colorado. The kids had a fun time checking out all the different displays and Ryan even tried the Wright Brothers simulator. I think he stayed in the air about 10 seconds! It was definately harder than it looked. They had a cockpit for a DC-10 which is the commerical version of the KC-10 so it was fun for Zach to show the kids what all the buttons and levers are for.

ANd of course there was the in between hanging out with family, days at the park, and other fun stuff. We put together a big box to send Aunt Jenny on her mission. Since she is in Texas we had to help her beat the heat with Kool-Aid ice pops! We also sent her silly things like giant sun glasses and bubbles! We even managed to get a ton of pictures printed to throw in to make up for the lack of them up to that point.

Fort D A Russell History days

We went out to FE Warren for their History Days celebration and had a good time! They did a cavalry demonstration and battle re-enactment.

Aquarium, Train museum, Mini golfing and Wyat''s Birthday

 

These are some fun things we did, but I didn't have very many pictures so I combined them into one collage. We went down to Fort Collins to mini golf with Zach's parents his youngest sister, Christen and one of his brother's Scott. Another day we went with my parents to the Denver Aquarium and then to Golden, CO to a train museum. At this point in the trip (the first week) I misplaced our camera completely so we were using the backup camera which only had a few pictures left on it. We didn't want to delete things off the memory card since we couldn't remember if it had been cleaned off receently. The aquarium is pricy, but a lot of fun for those that might be in the Denver area. The trains are something special we always do with my dad. No matter where we are we manage to find trains when they visit! And then we had one of many July birthdays! Wyatt turned 2 the day we arrived so we had a belated party for him. Zach's brother Shawn had a birthday July 2, then Scott the 9th, and my sister Heather the 20th. A few weeks before we arrived, Sally turned 8 and was baptized so it's a busy time of year! Lots of fun too!

4th of July!

It's been a long time since we have been with family for the 4th of July so we were very excited this year. We spent quite a bit on fireworks and having connections with Zach's brother working at a fireworks stand this summer also proved to be very beneficial! Again my camera is not the greatest, but you get the idea. We did sparklers at my mom's house then moved to a designated field where they had around 20 spots set up for people to safely shoot of the big stuff! I think it was a great idea! We waited in line for a little bit, but all in all we got an awesome view of fireworks being shot off in every direction. At one point I said "Wow we are completely surrounded by fireworks!" Cody responded "We surrender!"

Daniel and Derek

This is the only picutre I have of them unfortunately. I didn't do very good with pictures and several times we went places and I didn't even have the camera! I even misplaced it at one point! I was glad to get one of them together.

And the journey begins.........

July 1st we left the house bright and early (wasn't so bright since the sun wasn't up) and headed west! We had the trailer loaded with our suitcases, the dog in her kennel in the back of the truck and all three boys piled in. It was a tight squeeze considering each kid brought a backpack, pillow and blanket! A four door truck is NOT that spacious, but they were happy. We ended up paying about $45 for toll fees which got us just about the whole way through Pennsylvania. We stopped for picnic lunches and to let the dog free. the first night we stayed in a hotel in Indianapolis, but the seonc night we stopped in Griswold, IA to see my brother and his little guy Derek. Unfortunately his new dwellings are not very big, but the yard was plenty big for camping so that's what we did! At least we had hot showers, food and good company. It had been quite a few years.......I think almost 6 since I had seen my brother. Zach caught up with him in Kuwait during a deployment. It was good to see them and we were surprised to find out he would be following us to Cheyenne the next day to spend the 4th of July weekend!

We set out the third and final day for the last 8 hour stretch. It sounded great until we got into Nebraska and the state kept going and going and going and going! I have driven across it before, but it's been many years! Let's just say it may have been the shortest part of our journey, but felt worse than the 12 hour days before!

Last Day of School! and Father's Day

If you watch the grocery store ads you can find some good seafood deals. The week leading up to Father's day the ad came in the mail and the boys were so excited that their seafood feast idea would work out! For less than the price of two at a restaraunt we got these lobsters as well as some shrimp! It was funny to listen to Cody as the lobsters were waiting to be cooked then being cooked. He talked for days about how the lobsters were saying "NOOO don't put me in the boiling water.....AAAGHhh!"



Zach had his regular day off when the kids had their last day of school so he came up with a plan. He filled a bunch of water balloons up and put them in the bed of the truck then went about washing the van as a cover. He had already washed the truck for those that wonder why he didn't wash it instead. As each one came home he threw the water balloons at them. It took Cody a minute to figure it out then he waited anxisouly for Tyler and Ryan. Tyler came home next and so it was now Tyler and Cody ready to hit Ryan. And of course this did not make Ryan happy. None of the pictures came out. It's time to get a new camera!