The Holiday Inn Coco Key sports complex was such a nice hotel, we really hated to leave...but leave we did and got as far as across the street to Denny's, where we had a great breakfast. Our waitress was wonderful and attentive. Her name was Mazey and she was a 20 something with red hair and freckles.
Getting on the road, we made good time getting out of Kansas City, MO and scooted into Kansas.
It had beautiful rolling hills at first, but quickly flattened out. The trees thinned out and got much shorter. It does have a charm of it's own though. There was a breeze blowing and the wheat fields and corn fields were waving like green and gold oceans.
The kids were tickled to get to see a coyote running across the highway and into the fields....
We got a kick out of all the cowboy stuff on the billboards, as well as the advertisements for OZ and for seeing Dorothy's house.
We were hoping to get into Colorado and stay on the east side of Denver, but the kids and are were bushed and just wanted a dip in a pool and order dinner.
So we are here in Goodland Kansas, in the Days Inn. It's a little run down, but has a great indoor pool that was heated and a sauna and jacuzzi.... Mary,,,where's my margarita??
We ordered Chinese and took turns jumping in the tub and shower....Jacob's in there now,,,I can hear him singing to the Hanna Montana that the girls are watching.... Maddy's laying down trying to get the water to drain out of her ear...I think she is developing swimmer's ear....
Tomorrow, it is onto Steamboat Springs, where we will visit with my niece Alicia and my big brother, Robbie....I can't wait for one of his bear hugs, and hopefully a cookout with his infamous rib spreading ribs....
Night All.....
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
6/29/2010
We started out the day by enjoying a very nice continental breakfast at the Quality Inn. We met a really nice young couple one their way home to Michigan. Jacob had charmed the lady attendant of the breakfast bar. Unfortunately, she was a cheek pincher and he was starting to get aggravated at being treated like a baby. He did finally told her don't. I explained quietly to her when I got more coffee, that the kids were older than they looked. So she left him alone after that.
The kids did great helping straighten up their areas in the van, while I loaded the van. We got on the road by 9:45am.
We drove past some beautiful horse farms in Kentucky, then things started flattening out, as we got to Indiana and Illinois. I grew up in Peoria and Washington Illinois and while I have fond memories of being in the cornfields and all the family reunions where we ate huge quantities of fresh corn on the cob, I definitely feel more at home in the BlueRidge Mountains of Virgina. The breeze caused the corn to ripple like green waves, it brought back alot of memories.
For lunch, I caved in and we grabbed Mcdonalds. Although the kids had cheesburgers with apple slices and milk. We have a cooler for rest stop picnics, but we had two different OI meet-ups planned and didn't want to miss one.
Around 1:30 we got to St. Louis and met Dottie George and Nick at Oberwies's where she very kindly treated us to ice cream at this local favorite. We all had a great time getting to know them. Since we didn't get to do Flat Stanley at home, I taped 4 pieces of paper together, drew a Flat Stanley, and the kids and I colored it. We got photos of all of the kids together..
We then hightailed it to Kansas City and checked into a very beautiful Holiday Inn and got cleaned up just in time to meet with Stephanie Guin and the wonderful Binning family. Sami truly has the OI social butterfly personality and my kids quickly fell in love with both Sami and her big brother Carter. Jacob and Carter got along like old buddies. We enjoyed a long vist of hot chocolate and coffee. We got Flat Stanley photos again, and let Sami try out one of the Ti-lite wheelchairs we had with us. We can't wait to spend time with all of them at the conference...
We missed supper and the kids weren't hungry until later, so we had ham,cheese and crackers and capri-suns for a quick bite and watch Cake Boss on TLC... All three kids are sound asleep.
I arranged for a late check-out for tomorrow so that we can take a quick swim before heading out again....
Tomorrow it is off to Denver and more adventures with my three amazing kids....Night all.....
The kids did great helping straighten up their areas in the van, while I loaded the van. We got on the road by 9:45am.
We drove past some beautiful horse farms in Kentucky, then things started flattening out, as we got to Indiana and Illinois. I grew up in Peoria and Washington Illinois and while I have fond memories of being in the cornfields and all the family reunions where we ate huge quantities of fresh corn on the cob, I definitely feel more at home in the BlueRidge Mountains of Virgina. The breeze caused the corn to ripple like green waves, it brought back alot of memories.
For lunch, I caved in and we grabbed Mcdonalds. Although the kids had cheesburgers with apple slices and milk. We have a cooler for rest stop picnics, but we had two different OI meet-ups planned and didn't want to miss one.
Around 1:30 we got to St. Louis and met Dottie George and Nick at Oberwies's where she very kindly treated us to ice cream at this local favorite. We all had a great time getting to know them. Since we didn't get to do Flat Stanley at home, I taped 4 pieces of paper together, drew a Flat Stanley, and the kids and I colored it. We got photos of all of the kids together..
We then hightailed it to Kansas City and checked into a very beautiful Holiday Inn and got cleaned up just in time to meet with Stephanie Guin and the wonderful Binning family. Sami truly has the OI social butterfly personality and my kids quickly fell in love with both Sami and her big brother Carter. Jacob and Carter got along like old buddies. We enjoyed a long vist of hot chocolate and coffee. We got Flat Stanley photos again, and let Sami try out one of the Ti-lite wheelchairs we had with us. We can't wait to spend time with all of them at the conference...
We missed supper and the kids weren't hungry until later, so we had ham,cheese and crackers and capri-suns for a quick bite and watch Cake Boss on TLC... All three kids are sound asleep.
I arranged for a late check-out for tomorrow so that we can take a quick swim before heading out again....
Tomorrow it is off to Denver and more adventures with my three amazing kids....Night all.....
Monday, June 28, 2010
100_0599
I love driving through West Virginia, looks of course just like the area around our house. As you can tell, we love the Blue Ridge Mountains....
June 28, 2010
WOW, what a beginning to our trip...two days ago I had to exchange my cell phone and for got to redo my usual morning alarms, so paniced when I saw the 7:30am on the clock. Rushing around like mad, trying to drag the kids up... We were ready to leave by 10:00am. Doug, (My wonderful hubby) came home as we were leaving and decided to check all of my van's fluids, even though I just had the van fully serviced. Thank God he did, it was low in three fluids... I followed him to Advanced Auto and we filled what it needed... Arghhhh, Now it is 11:20am and as usual, but never for the same reasons, I am running late.... Oh, well, this is a vacation and the first rule is I refuse to start grumping about keeping a schedule...
With Maddy and Jake behind me, and Anna way in the back, we started on our over 7000 mile journey.. We have the country tunes jammin.... the new cooler is stocked with food and drink, have our usual first aid kit ready for any pain, or fractures, and sickness.. and of course the very necessary distractors from boredom, nintendo DS and of course a portable DVD player.
1:30--the kids are all quiet, they all brought 3 AR books to get a jump on required reading for school. I have The YaYa Sisterhood on CD and am listening to it down very low on the front speaker...
3:00--We just had a great little picnic at a beautiful rest stop in West Virginia with a view of the mountains.. We shared our table with an elderly man that was driving back to Indiana from a meeting in Richmond Virginia. We had alot of fun gabbing, as anyone that knows me, I am a self proclaimed jabberbox...
7:20-- Finally stopping at the Quality Inn in Louisville Kentucky. Took a quick dip in the pool and ordered a late night pizza.....We all snuggled up on one bed and watched the first half of Enchanted... the kids can finish it tomorrow...
10:48--All three are asleep, having dropped like flies the moment they hit the pillows..
Well, off to sleep and plan to be up early to take advantage of breakfast buffet and get back on the road by 9:00am...Hmmmm we'll have to see about that....Night all.....
With Maddy and Jake behind me, and Anna way in the back, we started on our over 7000 mile journey.. We have the country tunes jammin.... the new cooler is stocked with food and drink, have our usual first aid kit ready for any pain, or fractures, and sickness.. and of course the very necessary distractors from boredom, nintendo DS and of course a portable DVD player.
1:30--the kids are all quiet, they all brought 3 AR books to get a jump on required reading for school. I have The YaYa Sisterhood on CD and am listening to it down very low on the front speaker...
3:00--We just had a great little picnic at a beautiful rest stop in West Virginia with a view of the mountains.. We shared our table with an elderly man that was driving back to Indiana from a meeting in Richmond Virginia. We had alot of fun gabbing, as anyone that knows me, I am a self proclaimed jabberbox...
7:20-- Finally stopping at the Quality Inn in Louisville Kentucky. Took a quick dip in the pool and ordered a late night pizza.....We all snuggled up on one bed and watched the first half of Enchanted... the kids can finish it tomorrow...
10:48--All three are asleep, having dropped like flies the moment they hit the pillows..
Well, off to sleep and plan to be up early to take advantage of breakfast buffet and get back on the road by 9:00am...Hmmmm we'll have to see about that....Night all.....
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