The beginning of our trip! There was NOTHING for miles and miles! My kids did great and I only had one heart breaking moment when Michael was at the end of his wits once we reached Estes Park he was crying so hard his voice was vibrating and he had never cried like that before. I begged Jason to just pull over so I could soothe him because I was about to cry myself!! The tears were coming, my heart was aching and I could shed tears now just remembering what he sounded like! He was so tired! A 15 hour drive took 18 hours to get there. The ride home was much better for him and we stopped a lot more for him but it took us 24 hours to get back home.......not kidding! He was happy to have mommie sit next to him the whole way home!
Now, c'mon, you know you want one of these below lol and you all know how little hole-in-the-wall car dealerships look like? Well, we passed dealerships that didn't have any cars but TRACTORS.....I guess that's what they drive around in because there is nothings else for miles, not even a gas station! Nothing but Farm Land!
And maybe you would like one of these electric windmill farms lol
This picture of "Amber Waves Of Grain" didn't quite come out since I was in the back seat next to M with tinted windows ;p....lol we thought it was funny, especially when Amber finally got it lol
What? Ya want more? lol .....okay
This was a good sign we were getting closer!
It was really hard to take pix from the back seat!
I promise I have A LOT MORE TO COME!
We got back Saturday and were so drained we spent the weekend resting and sleeping. I still have things to unpack etc.... but we had a very safe, fun and relaxing time! God is so good, we couldn't help but to worship Him while visiting his beautiful creation and thanking him for allowing us to share in his beauty! I did notice something sad while there.....so many people worship the creation instead of our creator.
Anyway, we took over 1000 pictures and no, I am not kidding! I have to sort, and finish sizing before I can share most of them with you. In the mean time please be patient with me, I am tired and I have a lot on my plate right now. Also, I wanna mention that Michael took 2 steps the day of our leaving for the trip and he took 3 steps all by himself again on Sunday. He also, broke his 2 top teeth in.....thank the Lord because he had not been feeling well.
He is also starting to sleep well through the night. I tried something different that I never did with the girls and mainly I had to get creative because Jason could not help with him like he did with Alyssa because of his schedule. He was only waking to nurse out of habit instead of hunger so I let him cry, and of course all babies do when you change a routine they aren't used to. What I chose to do was to lift him up without taking him out of his crib, then I kiss him tell him I love him and lay him back down. The first couple nights it took around 20 to 30 times doing it over and over again, he is a strong willed child! So the next night came and I did it again and it got much shorter to the point were we are at now which is I nurse him before bed at around 8pm then he wakes at 11pm for one last nursing and then nurses at 6am. It took a couple of nights to wean to the 6 oclock hour, I would go in while he would be standing in the crib crying, I would pick him up kiss him and lay him back down, he'd get up again, and I would lift him up again and kiss him and lay him down again until 4:30am arrived and I nursed him then the next night when it was 5am then the next night 5:30 am until now at 6am. While doing the kiss and lay down method (I just labeled myself lol) I didn't walk out of the room, I stayed until he laid down and no longer got up and then I left the room.
I am really proud of myself, it was very tiring but I knew my consistency would eventually pay off and it only too a few nights. kissing him and laying him down has worked beautifully, and I figured out a solution to my sleep deprivation! Yay me!
Here is the picture I told you about in the previous post about Michael trying to help with packing. Also, his big sister Alyssa got tired of him getting in the way while they were cleaning so she trapped him in the laundry basket. He didn't make a peep until he saw me while I was sweeping the kitchen floor and looked down the hall way only to find what I thought was funny! I did have a talk with Alyssa about not trapping her brother inside of things and thanked her for picking one with holes for him to breath ;) She found a solution to her problem......Smart little girl lol
Now this is much better than Hurricane Amber and Alyssa lol . I took the opportunity to show them how to pack better and more organized especially since the are so eager. It was a really good teaching moment. Last night we were testing out the rack Jason borrowed and hooked up to the back of the van to store some of the luggage. He came inside and while I was working on some laundry he said "Hey, you wanna get hitched again?" I turned around with a confused smile on my face and he was holding the "hitch" thingy in his hand LOL.......then later he was watching me pack/reorganize a couple of things and he said "Okay, you are not taking that Dan", then a couple seconds later he tried to take something else away and I said "No", and his response was "Oaky, Dan".........hmm LOL (Dan is Jason's father's name) I guess I am resembling his dad so I looked at Jason and said "Thanks! I take that as a compliment" and he laughed ;p
You all Really didn't think I was going to go camping and have no way of drinking coffee did you??! LOL I bought instant coffee! I even bought a little Tea Kettle to boil the water on the camp stove that we are borrowing!
Ah.....the tote of yummy goodness of food lol
Our supplies which we ended up taking out of the tote and putting in an old tent duffel bag since we bought a new tent.
This is better than what the living room was....that's for sure! The Red Baby carrier comes from our next door neighbor so we can go hiking when we get there! How sweet! I was looking for one but they are expensive.......so the Lord blessed us with borrowing one!
Now......See the RED COOLER to the Right?? Well.....I got a picture of Michael taking Movies out of the the movie case and putting them in the Red Cooler. He was helping us pack LOL the cooler was opened from when I put drinks in it......I can't upload the picture just yet because apparently my camera cord can be used in for ipods as well..........Jason STOLE my camera cord! I knew about it this morning once I saw it was gone, however, I looked EVERYWHERE yesterday for my camera cord in confusion because I knew for a fact I had put it in the camera bag. I was looking ALL DAY lol I asked the kids if they had seen it and they had no idea so finally I asked Jason once he woke from his nap if he had seen it and sure enough the boy took my cord ;p
I was shocked yesterday and blessed! I got a knock at the door yesterday and when I opened it, Cameron's hubby and a mutual friend Greg was standing outside our door. I said "Hey!" and asked Greg how the baby is doing and then Aaron said "My wifes says you need a new table and chairs"........I about fell over with happiness because they brought us a table and chairs! They brought them in and Amber and I carried out the old stuff to the trash. Jason woke up from his nap and was so happy he called him mom right away to tell her the good news!
I made Hot Browns for dinner last night and we thanked God and for the blessing we had just received and to bless our friends who filled our need. We were like kids at Christmas sitting at dinner. We love our friends and are so blessed to have them in our lives. We thank God for you all!
Here are the pix.....please excuse the mess ;p
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