July 29, 2009

IDAHO...here we go!

We made our trip out west this summer. We have lived in Virginia for about 12 years. Virginia was the only home that most of our children know. Isaac was born there and we brought Clara home from China to Virginia. It is a beautiful wonderful place. But our new home is now Boise. We took the 4 day drive across the country with the 5 kids, Joey the dog and our trailer. It was quite an adventure. We must say that we were very surprised at how well the kids did. As Jason said I was the worst one on the drive. We stayed at RV campgrounds as we made our way west.
It was an adventure our family will not forget. It was so hard to say "goodbye" to all our amazing friends. Over the years we have come to love so many wonderful families. We know that we need to be in Boise now and that our east coast friendships will continue for years to come. Since law school we have lived in the East. It will be great for our family to experience the west. We are going to LOVE being closer to family!
Here is documentation that we actually made the trek from Virginia to Idaho!
Camilla decorated the car with IDAHO HERE WE GO! painted on the side of the car

The 1st 2 days Dylan and Zach slept about 6 of the 8 or 9 hours in the car!



Our tradition at each KOA we visit we rent the bikes. The kids just love to ride around the camp ground on these cool bikes each night.





On day 2 we came across a huge traffic jam. As we got closer we new it was a really bad accident. We could see that a semi truck had slide off the road and crashed.


As we got closer we noticed weird stuff all over the interstate. It was not until a few miles later on the radio that they reported the accident. No one was hurt and it was a semi truck full of potatoes. How funny to be moving to the state of Spuds! Here we go Idaho!


We stopped only twice a day (it seemed)! Jason had us on such a tight schedule. SO when we saw this sign we just had to stop for lunch!

Every day I had a strict car schedule. After lunch we had mandatory nap time. It was so funny that everyday the kids would actually ALL fall asleep for about an hour or so. I was so impressed with myself.


At our 2nd KOA we were all feeling a little punchy. Check out the video at the end of the bog post. Dylan getting beat-up by his dad...and dog!


We saw so many really cool things as we drove state to state. Through Iowa and Nebraska the windmills were amazing.



Eating breakfast in the trailer. I think Clara was checking herself out in the mirror of the DS
How can you possibly drive across the country and NOT stop and enjoy a Walmart?

After about $300.00 on groceries and CRAP this is what your 5 year old daughter will look like.


We could not drive almost 40 hours without watching Twilight in the car!

Here we are in IDAHO!





Arriving Sunday evening we were all SOOO exhausted. We ate a huge meal at a rib joint.
We spent that night at the Spring Hill Suites in Boise. Joey thought it was cool to spend the night in a Hotel. We were so proud of all the kids. They were very helpful the entire trip. Each Night Dylan and Zach helped Jason unhook the trailer. Camilla and Ike took Clara to ride bikes so that I could start getting dinner ready. It was a great trip.
A few classic statements that were made:
Clara- "when will we get to Costa Rica?" she somehow thought that is where we were moving?
Isaac- "I will just freak out if I see another corn plant"
Camilla- " Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona" how many time could she sing the 50 states song?
Mom- "Oh S*%#!" as the trailer came unhooked and lurched forward into the back of the car.
Dad- "I need to find a new friend" about finding a fast semi to drive behind so he could convoy.
Zach- "this is lame"
Dylan-pretty much had his ipod or cell phone in his possession the entire trip