The trip

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I am at least half crazy...this post is just a little more proof.

 I decided to take the kids to see my parents, by myself.  I wasn't sure how the 10 hour drive would go given that one of the 4 kids was 8 mths old, but I decided not to think about it too much and just do it.  We planned the trip for the week after Katie got out of school.

Two days prior to the trip, the AC wasn't working in the car so I took it in to the mechanic and got that fixed. 

Wed, after a morning at the park with friends we jumped in the car and took off.  Everyone was super excited so the trip started off with a bang.  About one hour in I realized it was almost as hot inside the car as it was outside.  After playing with the AC, I realized it wasn't working.  I thought about turning around, but...I didn't.  We rode with the windows down.  The kids watched movies but couldn't really hear.  I had my book on tape blaring.  A couple hours into the drive we stopped for slushies, that helped a lot.  Around 6 pm we stopped at our halfway point and had dinner at CAFE RIO!  Yes, that made the heat worth it. (I even grabbed an extra burrito to take on the trip with me.)  After dinner we played at the mall for an hour and then put the kids in their jammies and got back on the road.  The heat didn't really let up until we hit the mountains, but the kids fell asleep and we survived!  We got in around 1am. 

We spent the next day recovering from our trip.  The kids, as always, were so excited to be in the mountains with their cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents and all the animals that live there.  Marcus and Cohen quickly became inseparable.

I have no idea what the kids did while we were at my parents house.  I saw them here or there as they were running in and out of the house from milking goats to visiting the cow to hiking to pick berries.

Katie petting the baby bunny that Caleb found and is raising

  Friday afternoon we met Flossie, Crystal and Bryan and kids at the pool.  It started raining after we had been there for an hour so we decided to go to the movies instead. 

Sat morning Jax and I went on a hike up the mountain.  Jax would have been happier crawling beside me as I walked but he survived in the carrier.

The view

Saturday afternoon my parents rented out the roller skating rink.  The guy who owns it was awesome--he taught all the 4 yr old boys how to skate.  Katie quickly remembered from last time and Addy put on some slow rollers and called it good.  The owner bribed Marcus with some candy and had him skating on his own in about 10 mins.

Jaxon and Caden enjoyed being pushed around by anyone who needed a little help staying upright.

Scotia

Tony

Cohen

Scotia, me, Flossie

Jaxon screaming after Caden's head pat turned into a pull

We ate dinner as well.  I think roller skating is one of our favorite past times while visiting my parents!

Sunday after church we went to Joey and Crystal's house to meet their new horse and for Joey to look at my AC.

My kids were so excited to ride the horse.  The saddle was being fixed so they rode Annie bear back.  Katie was old enough to be cautious.

Marcus on the other hand thought he was a cowboy and got on and told the horse to 'giddy up'.  That boy has no fear, he is a little too much like his dad.

Addy was surprisingly unafraid as well and rode like a pro.

After riding the horse, Bayleigh and Marcus decided to ride the goat.

Of course Chloe had to join in.

Meanwhile, Joey was trying to milk the cow, but he had to catch it first.  In true cowboy fashion (minus riding on a horse) he chased it around with a lasso.

Addy meeting the new baby calf and watching crazy Uncle Joey

They finally caught the cow when she tried to jump the fence to get away from Joey and got entangled.  My city kids thought the whole thing was pretty entertaining.  I was laughing as well right up until I got cow dung on my shoes!
After the cow was under control, Joey looked at my car.  He figured out the problem but didn't have all the parts to fix it.  Boo!

There was a fantastic nature camp at the local park the week we were there.  Monday morning my younger siblings, my kids, Bryan's kids, Flossie's kids and Sarah's kids all met up at the park for camp.

View from the park

Mom, Flossie, Sarah, Alisa and I and the kids that were too young for camp went on a hike.

That night at dinner Addy said to my mom "Grandma, Grandma, Seth get Grandma."  Once she has my mom's attention, she proceeded pointing to her food "Grandma, is this Blackie?" (Blackie is the cow they like to visit.)  "No, Addy, it's not; we probably won't kill Blackie until next year," my mom said.  Addy let out a deep sigh of relief; "Whoo, thanks Grandma!"

Tuesday was Katie's birthday.  My little girl turned 7!  The day started with a trip to Flossie's house where we had a crepe breakfast, then another day of camp. 

At camp with their counselors

We picked her up from camp and stayed at the park to have her birthday party.  Colby was turning 4 the next week so they had a joint birthday party.  My mom put in a lot of effort and threw a fantastic birthday party for Katie and Colby.

Katie and Carson

Colby

No Dalia party is complete without feeding the missionaries--one just happened to be having his birthday as well

The night ended with Katie going to a concert with my parents and me taking the other three back to get ready for bed and pack.  

We decided we would get up at 5am and drive half way, spend the day/night at a hotel and then get up again at 5 am and drive the rest of the way--thus avoiding the heat of the day.  We did get up at 5 am and made it to Cafe Rio (of course) for lunch.  

Afterwards we played at the mall for a while.

Thankfully the day was pretty overcast and we decided that we could make it home.  We had an awesome trip but we were so happy to be home with Mark after a long road trip.