Day 1

I couldn't sleep much the night before.  Each time I would wake up, I would add an item or 5 to my list of stuff to do before we left.  Sometimes the item would be so important it would keep me up for 10 or 15 minutes wondering if I should get up and write it all down before I fall back asleep and forget it in the morning.  I really should keep a notebook by my bed.

The kids have been getting up early for days.   It's so hard for them to keep their excitement bottled up! Their bags for the car are packed and taunting them in the massive pile of stuff that I am to jenga-fit into the car.  And today is the day to do it.

The first thing I do when I get up is to go write down the list of things I needed to remember, hoping I got them all.  The kids ask me 45 times if they can look in their bags yet.  It's only 6:15am. So we get to work packing and prepping food for the cooler. Dave has therapy this morning so I grabbed him before he left to help put the cargo monstrosity on top of the car.  I'm hoping this is step one in making up space from the van that so served us well for 5 years!

Luckily, Grandpa has volunteered to bring us bagels for breakfast so I can pack instead of cook and so he can say goodbye to the kids.  We also were able to visit with Aunt Kelly and the boys a little while too - so nice!

Once they left, the scramble to the car began.  The kids wanted to help but I have to get a new packing science down for this car so I sent them in to work on letters for the nature box we were to mail out to a family in California this morning on the way out of town.  I was so happy I remembered this at 3am!

As the pile in the house got smaller and smaller, the goodbye lump in my throat got bigger and bigger.  As each item was tucked in it's place, I was encouraged it just might all fit. We also borrowed a cargo tray thing from Emily for the back of the car and it was not only holding everything I'd planned, but we had room for when Dave joined us!

Finally it was time to get on the road so we said some super quick goodbyes and headed out to a few errands before leaving town.  I wanted to stay and tell Dave how proud I was of his recovery, how worried I was that I was leaving, how excited I was for him to have time to projects, tv shows, and quiet, and to not get mad when people checked on him because I'd asked them to.  I knew if I said all of that I'd turn into a blubbering fool, so I half said something about him just making sure to touch base somehow with me every day.  

Within seconds from getting into the car, all three kids had their headphones on their ears in their own worlds.  In years past we all listed to the same story, music, or radio program and now my kids were wanting to be in their own worlds with their music.  They'd made request lists for me to add to their ipods and I was half excited I wouldn't be forced to listen to One Direction again this year, but sad that I'm losing my kids!  I remember growing up the same way traveling in my own world (with my cassette player no less!) and how much music shaped my life and want that for them so much.  I think we've taken pictures at this spot at least 4 out of the 5 years - I really need to put them together one day!

mm

As with all our trips so far, I try and eek out the most mileage on day one, taking advantage of all that bottled up excitement.  After our obligatory trip to Preister's Pecans for jelly beans (I know!) we aimed the car north. It was so fun to hear the excitement as they heard the intro to each song, remembering they had put it on their list.  And I was treated to some music sent to me from my dear friend Lydia!  I'd forgotten to plug my ipod in so I lost the miles in a few choice cds, peeking into the backseat every now and then for a smile.

By the time we got off the interstate, my hips and back were telling me it was time to get there. Fortunately, we only had about an hour left so we enjoyed the view of the big rolling hills.  I'm thinking we might need to head back out west soon as Laney said it looked like we were in the Rocky Mountains?!  I'd been keeping an eye on the temperature to see if it was going to be any cooler than Florida our 2 nights here and it wasn't looking good.  We set up the tents and got busy making dinner in hopes we could head to the pool before bed.  While I cooked the kids started their roly poly hotel. All three of them did this at our first stop last year and as soon as they saw the rocks in this park they got busy on another one.  How do they remember these things?

Can't miss our traditional first night dinner picture!

By the time we finished and cleaned up, alas it was too late for the pool.  We are already excited to jump in tomorrow after a hike though!  We headed to the playground instead and after some camp ball back at our site, went on a quick family walk. We've really missed all the lightning bugs!  We all forget each year the little things like this.

This year is a bit different with two smaller tents so we separated with Ryan and I in one tent and the other two in the other one.  We'd downsized because of the car space and all of the kids thought they would be ok with it.  We'll see once the first thunderstorm rolls around!  They all have had issues in the past with the your-toe-is-touching-my-sleeping-bag issues so I'm curious to see how that all works out as well.  Tonight the two that lose their patience about space the most were together and they both seem to dealing with it well.  But it is the first night after all.