First Day of School :: Willow

Willow started kindergarten today! (Class of 2027!)  She was So. Excited.  She kept telling me she was riding the bus to school, and I kept telling her than on her first day we were going to take her and she could ride the bus home.  I finally got a "fiiiiiiiinnnnnnne" out of her and we headed out the door.  :)
This girl.  She is excited to grow up and do new things.  It's gonna be hard to stop her and I'm just hoping I can keep up.  :)

Once at school, I could hardly get a picture of her looking at me, she was looking all around the room, so I have a bunch of pictures like this.  :)  hahaha

She had a great first day and said she made some new friends and she listened to her teacher and she drank chocolate milk and she got to do art and that I had to do some homework and that she was indeed riding the bus in the morning to school.   :)

And she held my hand all the way down the road, back to our house, which was extra awesome for me.

First Day of School :: Jayden

Jayden started school this Wednesday!  3rd grade!  I can hardly believe it.

He didn't even want me to take him to school on the first day.  He's all, "Nah, I'll just ride the bus."  What the??? 
This helped me feel better about our decision to homeschool him the past 2 years, as he was not ready to "leave" the house.  When we sent him to kindergarten, I had Royal come home from work at lunch because I knew I couldn't carry Willow and pick Jayden up out of the car and "force" him to go into the school.  My child who has been afraid of the world from the very beginning is starting to not be so afraid.  I just love him so.

Willow, left behind again (just for a few days), came home and read a book in the sunlight.  :)  Her 1st day is right around the corner!

Jayden was happy as a clam to get off the bus!  He has a very busy school day.  They only get 1 recess.  1?  Is that even legal?  I swear I had like 3.  Oh well, I suppose he will survive, even if it means we need to run up and down the street for like an hour to burn off some energy.

1 day down!  179 to go!

TWG :: vol 29 :: All the Way Back to Kansas

I'm just rolling all of our drive back home into one post!  :)

Chapter 1 : Leaving Kelso
On Wednesday, Aug 6th, we got up early said our goodbyes, and headed towards our Kansas home.  We had just a little ways to go.  :)

 We drove past one of the wildfires the PNW is fighting right outside of The Dalles, OR.  It's so sad to see all those beautiful trees on fire.  :(   I was really thankful they hadn't shut down the road!  :)

We drove for about 11 hours the first day and stopped in a KOA right off the freeway in Twin Falls, ID.  It was a brutal first day, but I felt like it was going to be ok because we thought we only had about 8 hours the next day and then we'd stop for 2 nights.  Wrong.

Chapter 2 : The Longest Drive EVER
Turns out day 2 of driving was more like 12 hours.  12!  Who did these driving time calculations?? They should be fired???  Oh wait.  It was me.  Major. Fail.   I am all about an 8 hour day being the longest.  I figure it's like working.  Even if you don't like your job, you can still survive for 8 hours and then be glad when the day is over, enjoy a little time off doing something you do love, and then be able to get up the next day and do it all over again.  But 12 hours?  No way.  That's like a life sucker.  You better really love your job if you have to work 12 hours!  :)

We did have a major malfunction.  Flat Tire.  Oy!  Why does it always have to happen on the freeway side of the trailer???

The kids and I sat inside the trailer, prayed for Royal's safety, and I fixed everybody lunch.  When the tire was successfully changed and Royal had not been flattened alongside the road, we said a huge prayer of thanksgiving, stopped a couple miles down the road to put a little more air in our spare tire, eat some ice cream in celebration that we were all still alive, and then got back to the driving at hand.

And 4 hours later than we thought it would take us, we drove into Estes Park, CO.  We actually saw a little black bear and a couple Big Horn Sheep alongside the road, but my camera was not in the truck, so I have no proof.  :)

Chapter 3 : Elk Meadow RV Park, Estes Park, CO
This campground leaves a little something to be desired.  I didn't even take a picture of it, if you can believe that.  It is a more expensive camp, but it's also 1 mile from the entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park, so I get why.  But it was a dusty, dirty, campground all on a hill.  They had a pool and clean bathrooms, but I would probably chose a different place if we ever go back to that area.

Chapter 4 : Rocky Mountain National Park
Hello Beautiful National Park!  This park was great, the roads are a bit scary to drive on, but the views are so beautiful!

The elk here are like the buffalo in Yellowstone National Park.  They. Are. Everywhere.  Both Royal and Jayden were drooling and dreaming about finding one of these guys in WA during elk season.

 Marmot!

Pika!

We did a few hikes and I was wiped!  The altitude totally had me huffing and puffing and I'm sure sitting the car for the last 2 days probably didn't help my dehydration problem (you just can't drink 180oz of water while driving with Royal.  He won't stop every 30mins so you can go to the bathroom :) )

At first we thought this was a bear, but after slamming on the brakes in the middle of the road, flipping the truck around (so my camera was on the animal side of the vehicle), we discovered it was a moose!!!  Just as cool!  Plus we'd already seen a bear, even if I don't have a picture to show you. :)

Chapter 5 : Fishing at Lily Lake
We did one more outdoor activity in the evening.  We walked around Lily Lake while Jayden tried to catch himself another fish.

Jayden almost had one!  You can't use barbed hooks in this lake and Jayden lost it right at the shore.

Found a beaver!

Chapter 6 : The Long Haul to Wichita
We left Estes Park around 8:30 and drove an hour to Loveland, CO where we met up with some of Royal's family that lives there.  We stayed for a few hours and had lunch before we climbed back in the truck around 12:30 for the 8 hour drive back to our house, which really took us 9 because people need to eat and go to the bathroom.
As we crossed into Western Kansas, my phone starts freaking out beeping.  We had a severe weather warning for where we were driving.  And we pretty much drove right into it.

Once we were past this, my phone freaks out again stating that where we were had a Tornado Warning and to "seek shelter now".  Uhhhhhhhhh.  Welcome home???  After looking at radar and out my windows I could see the storm to the SW of us and we decided to just try and outrun it.  The storm was moving at 20mph and we were going 80 and really what else were we going to do?  There aren't many places to hide along the freeway.  :)  But we made it home safe and sound, with no more storms, around 10:30 at night.  It was a hard 3 days of driving, but it's over, and next time we go to Washington we'll be flying.  :)