Road Trippin'...

Well we made it. Looking back on it now, it's all just one big blur, but my sister and I made the trek half way across the country with our three children, and we're still alive to tell about it. We loaded up on Monday the 27th (three days after I got home from the trek) and headed out east. It was a tight squeeze and I felt bad for the three little ones jammed back in the back seat all together. Day 1 we drove about 7.5 hours and stopped in Livingston, MT where my brother in law's grandmother lives. It was so beautiful! She literally lives in Yellowstone. Her house had the most amazing views and she was so kind to have nice warm beds for us and a nice hot breakfast in the morning. It was a much needed break after all day in the car. (little did we know what lied ahead for us!) :)

Day 2 we got up early and headed out to Rapid City, SD. Another 7 hour drive or so. We wanted to stop there because that is where Mt. Rushmore is and we thought it would be a good resting place and you can't go much more than 7 hours with kids in the car in one day. We stayed at a hotel with a great pool! So, even though we got there like at 8pm and I should have put my kids to bed right away, they were dying to get in the pool. So we stayed up until 10 swimming that night! :) They had to kick us out of the pool when it closed.

And then after swimming we were starving so we ordered room service and got a pizza delivered to our room. We were in heaven. It was so nice being in such luxury after spending two days in a car!

This is what I woke up to the next morning. Both of my kids are wild sleepers! I was tucked in that upper corner there all curled up in a ball.

Day 3: The next morning we headed up to Mt. Rushmore. It was pretty cool. There isn't a whole lot more that you can do than just take a few pics. So we stopped and took a few pics, changed a few diapers and headed on our way.

Tucker found my camera and I found a few gems...

That third day was the hardest. We were driving for a total of 10 hours that day, not including stops. We drove through South Dakota, southern Minnesota and Wisconsin. There wasn't a whole lot to see than flat fields that went on forever and ever. The kids were rock stars though and were great! We did have to stop about every 1/2 hour to an hour for potty breaks, food breaks, leg stretching breaks. But it actually didn't seem all that bad.

We got to a place in Wisconsin that night around 11pm called the Wisconsin Dells. It is like a mini Las Vegas in Wisconsin. Well, without the gambling. But it is this tiny little town that has just blossomed out of nowhere and has all these huge themed hotels with water parks and theme parks. It is only about 3 hours from Milwaukee, but we needed to stop and I thought that Tucker would love to stay in a place like this. So, Jason drove out and met us there. He said that when we pulled in that night both my sister and I were bug eyed and laughing like maniacs. So maybe the trip did take it's toll on us, but we were just too much in our own little world to notice! :) We stayed at this really cool African themed hotel that night and woke up the next morning and stayed all day playing at their water parks.

The outdoor park:

This is cute little Kenzie at the indoor park in the baby water swings. One of her first times being in the water like this.

And here is Taylor in those same water swings...

My beautiful little lady...

After a while in the indoor park, we ventured outside. It was a nice and hot day, but the water outside was fa-reezing! We still enjoyed our time; and Taylor enjoyed these nachos :)

Later that afternoon, we headed into Milwaukee. Those three hours were nothing compared to what we had just driven over the past 3 days. I was so so so happy to finally be in Milwaukee and have one leg of this trip under my belt. I feel like after doing this, I can do anything!

Some highlights of the trip were listening to Justin Bieber over and over and over! He was our musical inspiration for this trip. Somehow we left without any CD's except Justin Bieber and Bruno Mars. So that was the only music we had the whole time! I have the entire Justin Bieber CD memorized now. Another memorable moment was the roast beef incident. Taylor was in the middle the whole trip; So that meant that Kezie's rear facing car seat was within arms length of her. We always found things in Kenzies car seat because Taylor loves to throw things. Well, one day we had eaten lunch at Arby's. After going through the drive through we were on our way. A few hours later when we stopped for a potty break we found Kenzie with a huge piece of Roast Beef covering half of her face. We were dying. It was the funniest thing in the world to us at the time. :) And cute little Kenzie didn't even ever complain about it, just went on her merry way with a piece of roast beef on her face, poor little girl. She definitely learned what it would have been like for her with older siblings. Taylor tormented her and Tucker just loved and loved on her! :)

We had 5 days to spend in Milwaukee and we were so happy to finally be there and get to spend this time with Jason, Kayla & Kenzie. Now the fun can really begin!