Texas Here We Come

Our long awaited drive to Texas is over, and now we are here!!! I'm so excited to be here and to visit with my sister and her family, and with my mom. Texas is a very long drive from Utah. We left at 8:30 a.m. Friday morning and drove until about 1:00 a.m. (very early Sat.). We stayed in Amarillo. Then Saturday, we drove the remaining 6 hours to Ft. Worth. One hour into our drive we were already making our first "potty" stop. Then, only a couple hours later, M threw up. Luckily we had a plastic bag and she made it all in there. I was so relieved for that. Of course I wanted to pull over and clean up. Thinking that I was just pulling over into one of those little spots off the side of the road (not a rest stop, just the side of the road) I realized that we were actually at a little air landing strip. There was a bathroom, a couch, drinking fountain, and most importantly a garbage can so that we could throw away our little vomit bag. Then, we were on the road again, and we had no more throwing up!!

The kids actually traveled very well. The first day was pretty easy. The second day however, was not quite as easy. For one thing, they were tired because I got them up early so that we could be on the road asap. For another, who really wants to be stuck in the car for two straight days? Luckily we have our handy little travel DVD. Which is a complete life saver. My sister gave me a great idea for traveling. I prepared little bags with different things written on them, like: when we are in the canyon, after lunch, when we've been in the car for 8 hours, etc. In each bag there was a surprise. They got some movies, snacks, dollar store toys etc. This kept them entertained and it was something new. At Wal-Mart, they have these cartoons on DVD that are only a buck. Who can really beat that, and our dollar Huck & Fin DVD was the favorite bag. So, all in all, our trip went pretty well.

The kids were so excited to see their cousins. They jumped out of the car and started playing instantly, and everyone got along very well. My sis has a pool, so we went swimming right away. They loved that. S was a little cautious about going into the water. He loves to play in hot tubs, knows how to go underwater without plugging his nose, but once he sees a pool he kind of freaks out, but I think by the time we go home in 3 weeks, I'll have some pretty good swimmers. They will swim everyday, several times. We are really excited.

I decided to stay for a while since the drive is so long. We really wanted it to make it worth our while. We have some really fun activities planned that I think the kids will really enjoy. The only downside about being here for so long is that DH doesn't get to come. I really wish he were here to enjoy all the fun stuff. I also feel guilty about leaving him home for so long. He is great though and said it was okay, and that we should go and have fun. What a wonderful husband!! I would never ask for anyone else in the world. So, I'll have a blast in Texas, but I'll miss him terribly.