Hamilton Family Vacation Summer, 2010

Hamilton Family Vacation Summer, 2010
While we actually did not take the Griswold Family Truckster, we did take our mini van.

Friday, July 30, 2010

You think I would have learned…

Ever shut down a pool because one of your kids vomited in the water because you kept throwing them up in the air? Well, I have….

About 4 years ago when Luke was 3, he and I single handedly shut down a pool. Yep—cleared everyone out. He pretty much threw up all over me, people scattered—it was a mess. No more swimming for the other hotel guests that night or the next day.

Flash forward to 7/28/10. Jacob just turned 5. He's learning how to swim, but we put a life jacket on him so he doesn't have any close calls. He and I are having fun in the pool. We're kind of wrestling, messing around…Michele had gone to get the pizzas so it was just me and the boys in the pool with a bunch of other kids.

So, I ask Jacob, "You want me to throw you REALLY high?" He said, "Sure!" So with one heave from a crouched position I launch him into the air probably a good 7-8 feet above the water…S P L A S H !

He comes up gasping for air so I grab him and sit him at the edge of the pool. I asked him if he was ok and he said yes….so I told him to rest here for a few minutes and then he can play some more. I go back to playing with the other boys. I look back at Jacob 30 seconds later and see this string of what looked like snot dripping from his mouth. I thought he was just spitting up some water so I go over to check on him. I noticed a few chunks on the ground but didn't think anything of it until he got this horrible look on his face and yep…..there it was, the chicken quesadilla from lunch….! Well, none of it actually hit the pool, it all landed on the cement around the sitting area. I quickly raked it together in a big pile and yelled at Andy to go get the 16-year old life guard, who, once realized what had happened, had this sheepish look on his face like "I was hoping this would never happen to me when I was on duty". I asked him if he had anything to clean up the vomit and he gave me 2 towels…I proceeded to scoop it up into the towels and carry Jacob over to a chair to dry off and relax. The life guard then grabs the garden hose and proceeds to hose down the remaining chunks into the drain in the center of the cement. That's it—no one else saw, no one was the wiser, and everyone continued to swim…with the exception of us…we went out to the lobby and ate some pizza.

Day 26 Recap

Date: 7/30/10

Starting place: Rapid City, SD

Ending Place/Hotel Location: HOME!!!!!!!

Miles Driven: 581

Sites Seen: Black hills, Mitchell Corn Palace

Breakfast: Ate at hotel

Lunch: Sonic in Rapid City, SD

Dinner: Arby's in Mitchell, SD

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: racing go carts at The Ranch in Rapid City, SD
  • Jared: Going to The Ranch and racing the go carts
  • Luke: bumper boats…we got everyone soaked!
  • Jacob: bumper boats and go carts and rock climbing and mini golf
  • Michele: Going to The Ranch Amusement Park; watching the kids go cart and beating Andy and watching Les spin out
  • Les: Racing my boys in go carts and watching Luke and Jake drive their own car around a track

Day 25 Recap

Date: 7/29/10

Starting place: Gillette, WY

Ending Place/Hotel Location: Fairfield Inn Rapid City, SD (40,000 points used for 2 rooms)

Miles Driven: 141

Sites Seen: none, driving day

Breakfast: Ate at hotel

Lunch: Sanford's in Rapid City

Dinner: Olive Garden, Rapid City

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: Waterpark
  • Jared: Waterpark
  • Luke: Waterpark
  • Jacob: Going down the slides at the waterpark by myself
  • Michele: Watching Jacob try and keep his secret from his brothers
  • Les: Enjoyed the waterslides with the boys….especially the toilet bowl!

Day 24 Recap

Date: 7/28/10

Starting place: Greybull, WY

Ending Place/Hotel Location: Fairfield Inn, Gillette, WY (15,000 points used for 2 rooms…we did not realize that the hotel had a nice waterpark!)

Miles Driven: 202

Sites Seen: Big Horn National Forest, Shell Falls in Big Horn National forest and 2 moose.

Breakfast: Ate at the Historic Greybull Hotel….Thanks Myles for the great hospitality

Lunch: Taco Bell in Sheridan, WY

Dinner: Domino's pizza in the hotel room

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: Waterpark at the hotel and seeing Jacob's quesadilla for the second time
  • Jared: Shooting basketball in the waterpark pool
  • Luke: Going on the waterslides
  • Jacob: waterslides
  • Michele: watching the boys shoot baskets in the hotel pool
  • Les: realizing that the hotel had a great water park and it only cost 7,500 points per room!

Day 23 Recap

Date: 7/27/10

Starting place: Rexburg, ID (outside Idaho Falls)

Ending Place/Hotel Location: Greybull, WY (we canceled our Bozeman, MT hotel and actually PAID for a hotel…a bed and breakfast called Historic Hotel Greybull)

Miles Driven: 282

Sites Seen: Yellowstone National Park

Breakfast: Ate at hotel

Lunch: Picnic at Yellowstone

Dinner: Arby's in the car from Cody, WY

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: Seeing Old Faithful at Yellowstone
  • Jared: Seeing Old Faithful
  • Luke: Old Faithful
  • Jacob: Old Faithful
  • Michele: Seeing the bacterial mats at the hot springs
  • Les: Old Faithful and all the hot springs

Jacob's quotes

Jacob: Dad, what does irritating mean?
Dad: to bother (pause)......
Jacob: oh......Luke, you're irritating me......

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Day 22 Recap

Date: 7/26/10

Starting place: Boise, ID

Ending Place/Hotel Location: SpringHill Suites Rexburg, ID (outside Idaho Falls) (20,000 points used)

Miles Driven: 259

Sites Seen: Massacre Rock state Park

Breakfast: Donuts from Albertson's

Lunch: Sonic in Boise

Dinner: Domino's Pizza in the room

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: Domino's pizza
  • Jared: Hiking at Massacre rock and Andy seeing a snake
  • Luke: Playing video games
  • Jacob: Hiking
  • Michele: Tread milling
  • Les: getting caught up on work, the blog and mapping out the last few days

Day 21....

we are 3 weeks into our trip...the van is starting to smell. 4 boys have a tendency to emit an odor that is quite curious....feet, French fries and farts. Yeah, that pretty much sums it up...........

Monday, July 26, 2010

Having just picked up 2 pizzas to take back to the room for dinner, the aroma filled the van. Jacob, the 5 yr old says "ah, I can smell the deep goodness!". What's up with that and where did he hear it?

Things you don't want to hear on a long car trip...

Jacob....LOUD Sneeze!

Jacob: "Eewww!"

Dad gives Jacob a Kleenex.

Jacob: "here you go Dad"....

Dad: "I don't want it..."

Andy, not knowing what was going on as he had his headphones on...

Jacob: "Here you go Andy, close your eyes and hold out your hand, I have a surprise for you"

Andy holds out his hand....

Jared: "No don't take it, there's snot all over it"

Jacob: "Can someone take this I am tired of holding it.."

Vacation from my Vacation


 

Some call me crazy, some call me mad…I call it just another day….

I had a meeting with Target (whose headquarters is 17 miles from my house in Maple Grove) in Miami on 7/19 that I could not get out of. This required me to fly from our vacation to Miami for a 30 minute meeting with Target. Why they would not meet with me in Minneapolis is beyond me but anyway…

Michele dropped me off at the Fresno airport on Sunday evening after our hike in the Sequoias. Before the airport, however, I stopped by a Marriott Courtyard (we were NOT staying at) close to the airport and sweet-talked the lady at the counter to give me a "courtesy room" so I could shower quickly….She wanted to charge me half price but I told her I was a Gold Elite member….she said as long as I didn't mess the bed up I could use it free of charge…so, as I showered, everyone, 1 by 1, came in to use the bathroom in my room that wasn't my room…but we left the bed untouched!

Anyway, after my shower, I hopped a plane and flew to Los Angeles, then LA to Atlanta on a red eye, then Atlanta to Miami and landed at 9:30am on Monday morning. I took a cab to the Doral Hotel in Miami, checked in at the conference lobby and then asked for another "courtesy room" where I could shower again because I did not have a room, just there for a quick meeting. Had the meeting at 2:00, caught a flight from Miami to Minneapolis (only had 30 minutes between flights or I would have gone home to mow the yard) and then Minneapolis to Sacramento where Michele and Sherri picked me up. We drove back to the Whiteford's in Modesto, CA, got in at 1am their time and then went to Mr. T's (local donut shop) to have a fresh maple bar … yum… long day for a 30 minute meeting.

6 airports, 5 segments on a plan and over 6000 miles in the air…all in 27 hours. Not doing that again.

Mora Rock Sequoia National Park

One of my memories of King's Canyon and Sequoia National Park from 1987 was climbing Mora Rock. Mora Rock is a protruding rock several thousand feet in the air where you need to walk up an additional 400 steps off of a trail to reach the top. Now, everyone was up for it, including me, but as we started our climb I realized, yet again, how much I do not like heights. All boys took it in stride and actually liked the climb, with the exception of this boy. Some areas did not have a railing but only a small boulder wall that was supposed to suffice for a barrier between me and falling to my death thousands of feet below. As I climbed up the 400 steps, I believe I touched every square inch of that rock as I tried to steady myself on the assent. It was not until the decent that I realized my fear of heights was impacting my kids. As Luke began to cry, I realized I was holding onto his arm (not to make sure he didn't fall, but more so for my own security) too tightly and was cutting off the circulation from his bicep on down to his hand…..after Michele pried my hand off of his arm and told me to manage on my own, poor Luke had a hand print from his father wrapped around his arm that took several minutes to go away. I then proceeded to walk, crouched like a tiger, down the rest of the rock ensuring I would not lose my footing and fall to my death. Michele made me walk in front of the kids so I would not see them as they gleefully jumped and jogged down the rocks steps. AAAHHH!!! I really must not hike up heights more than like 20ft. When will I learn.

Day 21 Recap

Date: 7/25/10

Starting place: Medford, OR    

Ending Place/Hotel Location: SpringHill Suites, Boise, ID (10,000 points used)

Miles Driven: 502

Sites Seen: None, driving day….and a long one at that…

Breakfast: Ate at the hotel

Lunch: slowest Subway in Oregon

Dinner: Frozen dinners for the kids; Michele and I went to a place called The Refuge….we needed it.

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: Driving through Oregon and realizing it's not all trees
  • Jared: Seeing the snow on the mountains
  • Luke: Driving
  • Jacob: eating a Kid's Cuisine
  • Michele: Seeing the change in terrain from Oregon to Idaho…beautiful
  • Les: Jammin' to some old 80s/90s songs on my iPod while driving through the middle of Oregon.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Day 20 Recap

Date: 7/24/10

Starting place: Redding, CA

Ending Place/Hotel Location: SpringHill Suites, Medford OR (15,000 points used)

Miles Driven: 334

Sites Seen: Redwood Forest

Breakfast: Ate at hotel

Lunch: Packed turkey sandwiches.

Dinner: Wild River Brewing and Pizza Company, Cave Junction, OR

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: Walking on the trail and down the fallen tree; sitting on the rocks by the river
  • Jared: Making paint out of rocks
  • Luke: Breaking and smashing rocks by the river
  • Jacob: Throwing rocks in the river
  • Michele: The scenery as we drove
  • Les: Hanging out with my boys by the river in the Redwood forest

Friday, July 23, 2010

Day 19 Recap

Date: 7/23/10

Starting place: Modesto, CA

Ending Place/Hotel Location: Fairfield Inn and Suites, Redding, CA (2 rooms, 30,000 points used)

Miles Driven: 242

Sites Seen: None, driving and re-packing day

Breakfast: Ate at the Whiteford's

Lunch: Chevys….took Matt and Sherri out and bought them lunch for hosting us the past week…

Dinner: sandwiches and Taco Bell in the car

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: Mr. T's 2am doughnut run for a Maple Bar
  • Jared: Mr. T's doughnuts
  • Luke: Swimming
  • Jacob: Being at Josh's house
  • Michele: Having all the clothes cleaned and ready to go (Thanks Sherri for the use of the washer and dryer!)
  • Les: 2am Mr. T's doughnut run with Matt and the 2 oldest boys…The Maple bars are unbelievable when the are hot out of the oil

Day 18 Recap

Date: 7/22/10

Starting place: Modesto, CA

Ending Place/Hotel Location: Modesto, CA (drove to San Jose and Santa Cruz and back)

Miles Driven: 203

Sites Seen: Winchester Mansion in San Jose, Surfing at the beach in Santa Cruz

Breakfast: Ate at the Whiteford's

Lunch: Turkey and Roast Beef sandwiches in the parking lot of the Winchester Mansion

Dinner: Cole's BBQ (local hole in the wall in Santa Cruz…awesome!)

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: Going to the beach and surfing
  • Jared: Surfing
  • Luke: Going to the beach
  • Jacob: Seeing the Winchester House
  • Michele: Eating a Mr. T's doughnut at 2am
  • Les: Surfing at the beach; seeing the Winchester mansion again and taking my kids through it


 

Day 17 Recap

Date: 7/21/10

Starting place: Modesto, CA

Ending Place/Hotel Location: Modesto, CA (Drove to Yosemite and back)

Miles Driven: 170

Sites Seen: Yosemite Park

Breakfast: Ate at the Whiteford's

Lunch: AWESOME Turkey, Ham and Roast Beef Sandwiches overlooking some gorge in CA.

Dinner: Papa Murphy's pizza that we brought back to the Whiteford's

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: Climbing rocks at the waterfall
  • Jared: Climbing rocks at the waterfall
  • Luke: Jumping on rocks
  • Jacob: Climbing on the rocks at the waterfall
  • Michele: Seeing the beauty of Yosemite
  • Les: Being in awe at the pure beauty of Yosemite…I want to go back and spend more time there.


 

Day 16 Recap

Date: 7/20/10

Starting place: Modesto, CA

Ending Place/Hotel Location: Modesto, CA (drove to San Francisco and back)

Miles Driven: 189

Sites Seen: Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge, Pier 39, Lombard Street, Ghirardelli Square

Breakfast: Ate at the Whitefords

Lunch: Hot dogs from street vendor….

Dinner: Grazed all day…Michele had a bowl of clam chowder soup, popcorn, pretzels, crepes (smores and strawberry/chocolate), Ghirardelli ice cream…then made turkey sandwiches when we got back to the Whiteford's; Mr. T doughnuts at 2am…Maple bar…yum.

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: Eating a smores crepe
  • Jared: eating crepe
  • Luke: eating ice cream
  • Jacob: eating Crepes at the Pier (as he was eating the smores crepe, he proclaimed "Dad, this is the best part of my day!"
  • Michele: Watching Jared leap-frog the 4ft sidewalk pylons; seeing Alcatraz
  • Les: Eating my way through San Francisco, having to take the car topper off the van in order to fit into ANY parking garage, going into the original Old Navy and the Apple Stores.

Day 15 Recap

Date: 7/19/10

Starting place: Modesto, CA

Ending Place/Hotel Location: Modesto, CA

Miles Driven: 0

Sites Seen: None….Michele and the boys stayed at the Whiteford's (Michele's cousin) and enjoyed their pool and hot tub

Breakfast: ate at the Whiteford's

Lunch: ate at the Whiteford's

Dinner: Matt smoked a pork butt all day….BEST BBQ we have ever had….

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: Swimming
  • Jared: Doing a back flip off of the waterfall rock in the Whiteford's pool
  • Luke: Swimming
  • Jacob: Swimming
  • Michele: Hanging out with my cousin Sherri and swimming at her pool
  • Les: having a successful meeting with Target in Miami…(flew from Fresno to LA, LA to Atlanta, Atlanta to Miami…had a 30 minute meeting then caught a flight to Minneapolis then Minneapolis to Sacramento where I was reunited with my family on our vacation….I was gone for 27 hours…I flew over 6000 miles for 1 30 minute meeting…..I was exhausted!


 

Day 14 Recap

Date: 7/18/10

Starting place: Fresno, CA

Ending Place/Hotel Location: Modesto, CA (Matt & Sherri Whitford's…Michele's cousin)

Miles Driven: 277

Sites Seen: Sequoia National Park, King's Canyon (General Sherman…largest tree in the world; drove through the large Sequoia in our van).

Breakfast: Ate at hotel

Lunch: Made PB&J sandwiches for the park

Dinner: Michele and boys ate at Quizno's after they dropped me off at the airport.

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: Hiking up Mora Rock
  • Jared: Driving through the tree
  • Luke: Walking on the "auto tree" (large sequoia that had fallen down)
  • Jacob: Going up the stairs at Mora Rock and seeing the big trees
  • Michele: Seeing the Sequoia's and learning about them at the visitor center
  • Les: seeing a few things in Sequoia Park that I remember from 1987….driving through the tree and Climbing up Mora Rock even though the heights completely freaked me out.


 

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Day 13 Recap

Date: 7/17/10

Starting place: Los Angeles, CA

Ending Place/Hotel Location: SpringHill Suites, Fresno CA (15,000 points used)

Miles Driven: 189

Sites Seen: None, driving day

Breakfast: Ate at hotel

Lunch: Had turkey sandwiches in the hotel room

Dinner: Frozen dinners for EVERYONE

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: Swimming in 2 different hotel pools
  • Jared: Playing my PSP as we drove
  • Luke: Swimming at the hotel
  • Jacob: Playing my DS
  • Michele: Watching Luke swim...he's now crossed the line of drowning vs. swimming!
  • Les: Making turkey sandwiches at the hotel….I love turkey sandwiches!

Day 12 Recap

Date: 7/16/10

Starting place: Los Angeles, CA

Ending Place/Hotel Location: Los Angeles, CA….same hotel

Miles Driven: 57

Sites Seen: Hollywood, walk of stars, Chinese Theater with the hand and footprints in cement, Hollywood sign, swimming in the ocean at Santa Monika beach, Beverly Hills, watching the kids run through the fountains at the Kodak theater, Rodeo Drive and a Mercedes SLR McLaren, 3 Ferrari's and a bunch of other cool cars.

Breakfast: Ate at the hotel

Lunch: Ate at The Dip in Hollywood

Dinner: Kids had frozen dinners; Michele and Les went out to a local Italian restaurant, Lido (I am starting to see a theme here…)

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: Walking Hollywood Blvd
  • Jared: Seeing the Hollywood sign.
  • Luke: getting wet in the fountains and swimming in the ocean
  • Jacob: Playing in the fountains in Hollywood
  • Michele: Finding a cute little Italian restaurant and having dinner with my husband
  • Les: Swimming in the Ocean, watching the kids run through the fountains and seeing Mann's Chinese Theater….oh, and having dinner with Michele!

Day 11 Recap

Date: 7/15/10

Starting place: Las Vegas

Ending Place/Hotel Location: SpringHill Suites LAX/Manhatten Beach (30,000 points used for 2 nights)

Miles Driven: 271

Sites Seen: None, driving day and Jacob's birthday

Breakfast: Ate at Hotel

Lunch: ate at a outlet mall somewhere between Las Vegas and LA

Dinner: Kids had frozen dinners; Michele and Les went to Claim Jumper

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: Watching Toy Story 3
  • Jared: Watching Toy Story 3
  • Luke: Watching Jacob get a DS and Toy Story 3
  • Jacob: Getting a DS Lite, watching Toy Story 3 and going swimming
  • Michele: Watching Toy Story 3 and eating Mozz sticks at Claim Jumper
  • Les: Date with Michele at the Claim Jumper and Toy Story 3….


 

Jacob asked Dad: "Do Darth Maul and Darth Vader live in Darth City?"

Friday, July 16, 2010

The Color of Money

So, we're at the Vegas buffet with the kids....we had to walk through the casino to get there....the kids are in amazement as they have never been in a casino before. Trying to explain to them that the games are for adults and not kids.....anyway...

So, we are at dinner and I am trying to explain gambling to Luke, our 7-year old. After several minutes of discussing how betting works and if you lose they take your money and if you win you get your money + more money back, Luke ponders this for a few moments. He then makes a very profound statement....(now understand, Luke is very money oriented)....."Dad, let's say I go play a game and I am really good at the game but I pretend I am not, do you think I could trick people into getting their money?" He quickly went from novice to hustler in about 3 minutes.

So I taught him how to count cards and we made millions.....

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Day 10 Recap

Date: 7/14/10

Starting place: Las Vegas, NV

Ending Place/Hotel Location: Las Vegas, NV…same place/hotel

Miles Driven: 63

Sites Seen: Red Rock Canyon, Ferrari gift shop in the Wynn Hotel, the strip.

Breakfast: ate at hotel

Lunch: Packed PBJ's to eat on our hiking trip

Dinner: kids had frozen dinners (for some reason, they like them…); Les and Michele had Claim Jumper…love that place.

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: Hiking in Red Rock Canyon
  • Jared: Hiking in Red Rock Canyon…probably my favorite part of the entire trip!!!
  • Luke: Swimming
  • Jacob: Swimming at the hotel after we went hiking
  • Michele: Breakfast at the Wynn….all-time favorite…Maine Lobster benedict
  • Les: Hiking and the Ferrari gift shop….one of these days, I'll be able to afford something out of that place!


 

Jacob funny sayings…

This is Michele...
Jacob taking a birthday phone call from his 4-year old cousin...
Jacob speaking into the phone: "I don't know. Just a minute."
Jacob: "Dad, where are we?"
Les: "Las Vegas"
Jacob speaking into the phone: "We're in Las Vegas" (pause) "No, were not lost, that's just what they call it--Lost Vegas--it doesn't mean we're lost, that's just it's name."

116 degrees in the Mojave desert'

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Grand Canyon and other Canyons 4


Just because.....




Jared


Jacob got jelly on his finger. Jared, for some reason, thinks it's funny.......

Grand Canyon pictures 3.


Jared and Les, Grand Canyon


Jacob and Les, Grand Canyon.

Luke and Les, Grand Canyon

Andy and Les, Grand Canyon




Les climbing out of the canyon after Michele pushed him in....



Grand Canyon Pictures 2.


Jared, Grand Canyon.


Luke, Grand Canyon.

Andy, Grand Canyon.


Les, Grand Canyon



Boys, Grand Canyon.



Grand Canyon 1.


Family at the Grand Canyon.


Jacob at the Grand Canyon

Luke at the Grand Canyon


Jared at the Grand Canyon



Andy at the Grand Canyon

Zion National Park Pictures


Little ice cream break at Zion National Park.


They boys at Zion.

Luke in the middle of the river at Zion.
Jared (after he fell in) at Zion.

The boys at Zion.

Zion National Park

Day 8....Zion National Park....I remember it back in '87. We decided to take a trail up to the lower falls (and "easy" trail) as we thought the kids would be OK with it...after a half mile, we got to the falls and instead of turning around and going back the way we came, we chose to go back on a "moderate" trail. The description of the trail was "not for people scared of heights". I myself, am not the greatest when it comes to heights....but this trail made my feet sweat! Poor Jacob, I had to let Michele hold his hand half way around as I had left hand print marks on his wrist I was gripping him so tight....and for my benefit, not his! When the path is 3-4 ft across with no guardrail and a straight drop of 100+ ft on one side and you are passing people going the other way, there is not much room for error! Everyone seemed to like it, including me, but man was I a little nervous as we started to decend from the canyon....trying to hold on to a 4yr old as we go down the trail on loose gravel with a deadly fall just awaiting a wrong move....whew. You will not find me rock climbing on Mt. Everest anytime soon.

Day 9 Recap

Date: 7/13/10

Starting place: Las Vegas, NV

Ending Place/Hotel Location: Las Vegas, NV…same place/hotel

Miles Driven: 74

Sites Seen: Hoover Dam, Las Vegas Strip, Treasure Island Pirate show

Breakfast: Ate at the Hotel

Lunch: Went to Wal-Mart and bought frozen dinners

Dinner: Ports O'Call Buffet (in the Gold Coast casino)

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: Eating at the buffet
  • Jared: Seeing the power generators at the Hover Dam
  • Luke: Swimming and driving around and looking out the window
  • Jacob: All of it…pirate show, Hoover Dam, buffet, swimming, driving, etc.
  • Michele: having the ability to treadmill this morning.
  • Les: many…sharing the Dam with the boys, eating at a Vegas buffet, but probably most of all, cruising down the strip in a mini van with a car topper….

Monday, July 12, 2010

Day 8 Recap

Date: 7/12/10

Starting place: St. George, UT

Ending Place/Hotel Location: SpringHill Suites, Las Vegas, NV (45,000 points used…3 nights, 15,000/night)

Miles Driven: 207

Sites Seen: Zion National Park; hiked trails and saw the canyon

Breakfast: Ate at hotel

Lunch: Packed PBJ's

Dinner: In-n-Out Burger (we were all so hungry after hiking….we each ate a burger and fry and a pop)

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: Hiking through the park on the trails
  • Jared: Hiking
  • Luke: Eating ice cream and hiking
  • Jacob: Hiking in the park and riding the bus
  • Michele: Hiking and driving through several canyons between Zion National Park and Las Vegas
  • Les: Hiking in Zion National Park (freaked me out how high we were and how close the trails were to the edge….)

Day 7 Recap

Date: 7/11/10

Starting place: Flagstaff, AZ

Ending Place/Hotel Location: TownPlace Suites, St. George, UT (20,000 points used)

Miles Driven: 361

Sites Seen: Grand Canyon

Breakfast: At Hotel

Lunch: Packed PBJ's

Dinner: PBJ as we could not find a restaurant after the Grand Canyon

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: Seeing the Grand Canyon
  • Jared: Grand Canyon
  • Luke: Grand Canyon
  • Jacob: Seeing the Grand Canyon and all the beautiful things
  • Michele: Grand Canyon
  • Les: Grand Canyon….sharing the vastness and beauty with my family

Sunday, July 11, 2010

This is Michele:
Luke: "Mom, how many atmospheres can I get?"
Michele: "What do you mean, Luke?
Luke: "What are those things Dad bought us?"
Michele: "You mean souveniers?"
Luke: "Yeah, that's it! Souveniers!"

Pictures 2


Petrified wood...


Andy over-looking the Painted desert.



Jacob in amazement of the vibrant colors in the Painted Desert.

Family walking through the trails in the park.




Family Photo in front of the largest petrified tree in the park, named Old Faithful.

Pictures 1


Andy and Jared swimming in Michelle's pool. She was a great hostess!


Luke hanging out at the pool. He forgot to take his watch off.



Luke listening intently to the walkie talkie "cave talks". It was a self guided tour with information playing at certain spots along the trail you could listen to.

Funny thing happened to me as I was driving today...

So, I'm driving down the road, and I look in my rear view mear and what do I see? A red Ferrari racing up on me in the left lane...I take a glance over and who's driving....none other than....
OK, so that did not happen, but we did do a lot of driving and I must say I love the 75MPH speed limits...
Saw the Petrified Forest today. Pretty cool to see wood that has been turned to rock. Ranger Lacy (2 months on the job and still in college) really did not tell us more than the 1970's film we watched for 20 minutes before her talk.
Tomorrow is the Grand Canyon then we'll be staying in St. George, Utah.
I'll post more pictures of people that are actually in our family but couldn't resist this one....

Day 6 Recap

Date: 7/10/10

Starting place: Michelle's House, Anthem, AZ


Ending Place/Hotel Location: SpringHill Suites, Flagstaff, AZ (20,000 points used)

Miles Driven: 359

Sites Seen: Petrified Forest; we skipped the Meteor Crater as it was going to cost us $54 to go see a hole in the ground; we'll see a big one of those tomorrow at the Grand Canyon

Breakfast: Michelle's house

Lunch: Michelle's house (so we got a late jump; laundry took forever)

Dinner: McDonald's

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: Going to see the Petrified Forest
  • Jared: Looking at Indianan markings with binoculars
  • Luke: Seeing the Indian carved rock
  • Jacob: Going to the Petrified Forest
  • Michele: Petrified Forest
  • Les: Seeing the Petrified Forest for the first time. God has created such wondrous works!


 

Day 5 Recap

Date: 7/9/10

Starting place: El Paso, TX


Ending Place/Hotel Location: Michelle's house, Anthem, AZ

Miles Driven: 431

Sites Seen: None, another driving day…

Breakfast: Hotel breakfast

Lunch: Burger King

Dinner: Grilled out in Michelle's back yard

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: Swimming
  • Jared: Swimming
  • Luke: Swimming
  • Jacob: Swimming and Ice Cream!
  • Michele: Getting caught up on laundry at Michele's house
  • Les: Swimming with the kids in a 100 degree pool


Saturday, July 10, 2010

This is Michele...
Luke: "I know what you can get for Jake's birthday !" (which is next week--7/15)
Me: "What?"
Luke: "Buy the Toy Story 3 game for my DS and I'll let him watch me play it!"

Friday, July 9, 2010

114 degrees in Phoenix!

In the middle of AZ 59 miles from Tucson

Michele's driving, I'm doing email and the kids are playing video games or watching movies. We do have a "Break" policy.....from top of the hour to 15 minutes past, Andy has to stop doing "electronics" and look around, then from 15 - 30 it's Jared's turn and so forth...until the hour is done then it starts again....it does, however, get a little old when Jake asks 19 times in a 15 minute window how many more minutes until he can watch his movie again...


 

I just learned that Michele was driving 90 as I was pre-occupied with email....maybe I should pay more attention. Nice work honey!


 

Luke enjoys looking around....but mostly for different state license plates so he can win the game and get the $10 prize.


We have been trying to get Jacob to sleep in the back…."just close your eyes and rest Jake"…"don't talk, don't touch anything, just look out your window"…nothing has been working. Finally, he says "I have too much energy to sleep!" Isn't that the truth!

 
 

Love 75 MPH speed limits.

We are tired....

After several long days of driving....we seem to crash every night. I end up carrying several kids to the hotel room from the car as they have all been sleeping for at least an hour by the time we roll into the next hotel spot.

Today was fun in the Cave. I enjoyed going through Carlsbad Cavern with my boys. I can't believe it was 23 years ago I did this with my family. I think we made memories today that will last their entire life.

As I sign off tonight, wanting to get some sleep before the next 400 miles tomorrow to Phoenix, I feel blessed to be able to share this experience with my wife and 4 boys.

Day 4 Recap

Date: 7/8/10

Starting place: Hobbs, NM


Ending Place/Hotel Location: SpringHill Suites, El Paso, TX (10,000 points used)

Miles Driven: 253

Sites Seen: Carlsbad Cavern, Bat show at dusk

Breakfast: Ate at hotel

Lunch: Quizino's

Dinner: Ate at Carlsbad Cavern park (sub sandwiches and salads….topped off with Ice Cream!)

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: Going down into the cave
  • Jared: Hiking through the cave
  • Luke: Playing the license plate game (whoever wins, gets $10….it's all about the dollar with Luke!)
  • Jacob: Listening to the walkie talkies in the cave
  • Michele: Walking through the cave
  • Les: Enjoying Carlsbad Cavern, one of my fondest memories from '87, with my kids and wife.


 

Day 3 Recap

Date: 7/7/10

Starting place: Oklahoma City, OK


Ending Place/Hotel Location: Fairfield Inn & Suites (2 rooms), Hobbs, NM

Miles Driven: 461

Sites Seen: None, another long driving day….

Breakfast: Ate at Hotel

Lunch: Taco Bell (Michele and Les had salads)

Dinner: frozen dinners/grocery store, ate in room

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: Taco Bell (they gave us extra tacos and chips in our bag)
  • Jared: Renting a Red Box movie
  • Luke: Watching a movie from the Red Box
  • Jacob: Eating a Kids Cuisine
  • Michele: Making myself a home-cooked pasta meal using only a microwave, one glass bowl, paper plates and 2 coffee cups as a strainer.
  • Les: Making a salad and eating it for lunch vs. eating Taco Bell


 

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Michele with another funny moment:
Picture it...a quiet mid-afternoon, driving through the suburbs of St. Louis. Suddenly we hear what sounds like a cell phone ringing--but it was an unfamiliar ring that none of us had ever heard before. We went through the "be quiet!", "where is that coming from?", "whose phone is that?" for maybe a half-minute while digging through 2 days of "travel-stuff"--maps, electronic's cords, dvd's, my purse, etc. to find the source of the unfamiliar ring. All the while I'm wondering if the guy we just purchased the car-topper from somehow dropped his phone in our car and how will we get it back to him?! Meanwhile, Andy pulls out his cell phone from his pocket which is ringing this odd tone. He looks at it and says it's some sort of alarm. He opens it, and with a sheepish grin on his face, announces that it's been exactly one year since he got his cell phone.
This is Michele...
Michele: The 'Great American Road Trip'. That's a great title for our trip!
Les: It sounds like a breakfast at Denny's.
This is Michele...apparently my job is to post the "funnies". This happened yesterday: Les looking on the map: "We're going to be so close to Nebraska. We should just jog the extra 2 miles out of the way so we can say we went there." Andy in a serious tone with a very confused look: "Why do we have to jog? Can't we just drive?"
Michele is winning the license plate game.

Fish and Family....



You know what they say? They both stink after 3 days...but it's only been 2. Patience is wearing thin, people are whininng and crying....and that's just me!!! Just kidding.

No, really, we have been blessed with a great day for day #2. Weather was nice, Michele hasn't made a single wrong turns (because Andy is navagating as I am doing my email and conf. calling in the back seat). We did rent some red box movies in St. Louis as the 5 movies each kid brought can only be watched som many times. I am sure we will return the movie somewhere in OK.

We did officially make this a true "great American road trip" when we made a purchase off of Craig's list in St. Louis. See the newest addition to the top of our van!


All of us went up into the Arch today. Pretty cool to be 630ft in the air. I didn't realize it was the tallest national monument.


The view from that high was AWESOME! The kids seemed to really enjoy it as well. We watched 2 movies, one on Lewis and Clark and one on how the Arch was built...pretty cool.

The size of the "car" that takes you up to the top was pretty small but we all fit into it.
I asked Jacob to smile so I could take his picture and this is what I got. Jared quickly replied "Is he a male model or something"....I am sure he'll regret this photo when he's a teen.



Above, Luke is hanging out at the top of the Arch....He thought it was pretty cool.
Michele will be sending in some random quotes from the past few days. They have been keeping the trip pretty light-hearted.

Monday, July 5, 2010

This is Michele...I would like to revise my "Favorite thing that happened today". It was a few minutes ago, when I realized that Les blogged our photos before we left home this morning--with his fly down! Hysterically laughing would be my favorite part of today!

Day 2 Recap

Date: 7/6/2010

Starting place: St. Louis, MO

Ending Place/Hotel Location: Residence Inn, Oklahoma City, OK (20,000 Marriott points used)

Miles Driven: 523 miles

Sites Seen: St. Louis Arch

Breakfast: Ate at the hotel

Lunch: Lion's Choice, St. Louis, MO

Dinner: Fazoli's, Springfield, MO

Favorite part of the day:

  • Andy: Standing inside the arch
  • Jared: The Lewis and Clark movie at the Arch
  • Luke: Going up in the arch and looking out the window.
  • Jacob: Driving in the car
  • Michele: Going up the small tram to the top of the arch
  • Les: Listening to my kids laugh and have fun about various odds and ends.

Someone is excited about the trip!!!




Get used to it kids....just 25 more days jammed in the van!
Wally World, here we come!

Wrong turn...

Let's just say that we were doing fine the entire time I had the wheel. It wasn't until we switch drivers that we took our first wrong turn....
Into Iowa!
So much for leaving at 9am.