5500+ miles later...

That's right!  I said 5500+ miles.  Granted, we did this over a span of four weeks, but remember, we really had two weeks of non-driving in there...so all that driving in just two weeks.  Oh, did I mention that we did that with three kids, a dog AND a cat?!?  Call us crazy, or just chalk it up to the life of another military move...or both! 


It all started with this:

Dan got orders to move to Georgia (a place, I might add...that I never thought I'd live, nor ever had a desire to live), so we gave our notice and the house went up for rent...  It was a sad Sunday morning when I walked out the door on our way to church and saw that the sign had been put up.  :(  But life goes on, and I can't even begin to imagine the plans God has for our family.  


It seemed like waaaay too short of a time before all of this happened:

This is only one picture...we had soooo much stuff. Details on that to come later :) The girls sure enjoyed the boxes. They made a tent in the dining room, although it was more like the best inside fort ever!  They also enjoyed doing this:

sorry, it's a little dark.  :)


Well, on with the story... I'd love to delay this part because I could go on and on with Washington memories...but there's so much more of the trip!!  We were on a time schedule--we wanted to make New Hampshire by Christmas!!! (Wait, New Hampshire?  You thought I said Georgia? Well...I did, but Dan and I are from New England, so it was off to New Hampshire for Christmas to see family!)


We left Olympia on a Wednesday night, and took off for Portland, OR.  I know, I know, we put in a whole lot of miles the first day, huh? All 120mi!!  Really, it was too late to start a super long drive that day, but we didn't want to burden any of our Fort Lewis area friends with a family of 5, a dog and a cat...so we took off for a hotel.  The girls had a blast of course, because when you're 5 and 3 (and 9 months) hotels are super fun. Why? Well...the pool of course!!!  Sadly, I didn't get ANY pictures of the pool fun we had (multiple times, all across the USA) because I always went to the pool with just the girls, Dan, and towels.  I always forgot the camera. Oh well. You can use your imagination!


We set off the next morning for a long drive.  We'll fast forward a little, because really it was a lot of driving, fast food, movies in the car, whining, complaining, "I have to go to the bathroom", screaming at the top of the lungs (ah hem, Natalie), etc etc etc.  You get the idea :) In fact, pretty much the only time we didn't hear Natalie screaming at the top of her lungs was when she was eating or doing this:

Here are a few more car pictures.  You'll see that Riley had his own seat, and Kitty kept making herself comfortable wherever she felt like going...

And since I'm the only one that ever grabs the camera, I thought I'd take one of myself...just to prove that I was there. 

And actually, I'm not the only one with the camera... Brooke and Raelyn love to help themselves to the camera...which I think is why I can't find it half the time and need to use my phone.  More on Brooke's photography skills and a lost camera later... :)


We first drove to Colorado (after stopping for pools and hotels of course!).  Dan and I were married there while he was stationed at Ft Carson. I know Colorado isn't really on the most direct route to NH, but when we drove to WA four years ago, we stopped in CO to see our dear friends Al and Marcy, and met their newborn daughter Emma.  We hadn't seen them since then, and wanted to visit again!  When we got there it turned out to be perfect timing. Emma was celebrating her 4th birthday and we got to go to her party. What a GREAT break from the car for the girls!!  And Emma now has two little sisters, Piper and Willa, who had just been born :)  Poor Al didn't know that he'd be following in Dan's footsteps...THREE girls!  


Unfortunately, again, we were too busy visiting and having birthday food and doing presents (and unwinding from sitting in the car!) that I didn't take any pictures AGAIN.  I had to steal a picture from Al's facebook page because I wanted you to see their beautiful girls.  

Well, turns out when we got to Colorado, we realized how much we had loved it there!  We were only going to stay for Saturday, but Sunday morning we decided to stay for another half day and get a late start on the driving.  We met Al at Chipotle for lunch, a regular Sunday tradition while we lived there, and took it back to their house so the girls (oh, and Riley too--their Dog Cassie kept Riley busy!) could have some more play time.  


Before leaving CO, we had to take the girls to one of the most beautiful spots in Colorado Springs.  Garden of the Gods... :)  This picture is one we took when we lived there:

First, we took the girls to the overlook where Dan and I had our wedding photos taken almost 7 years ago. Here's a flashback for you, and then some of the girls in the same spot.

Then I got out with the girls and did some rock climbing, and some cave exploring. They were entirely unwilling to pose for pictures, but I snagged a few out of them :) You might wonder why there aren't any of Natalie...well, she was happily sleeping, and we were happily enjoying the not-sound of her not screaming.  So we took turns getting out with the older girlies :)  Oh, but first, let's have another flashback from 7 years ago at the very same spot, the day after our wedding.  

Now the girls :)  I honestly didn't plan this--taking pictures of them in the same spot.  I didn't even realize it until I started the blog.  Funny, huh? :)

Well, much to their dismay, it was back in the car, and off to New Hampshire.  It was Sunday...and Christmas was coming...  We wanted to be in NH with plenty of time to do Christmas shopping, which we hadn't started.  Actually, I didn't start until two days before Christmas.  Really, who wants to carry all that in the car TOO??  (The problem was that after Christmas, we had to make it all fit...)


Somewhere along the drive, I took a picture of this. I'm thinking that it was before Colorado, because there's not a whole lot of this AFTER :) Isn't it crazy pretty??

From Colorado, we took our time, driving short days (8 or 9 hours), rather than pushing ourselves.  The girls got tired in the car quickly, especially our screamer.  It started snowing JUST as we crossed the NH border and saw this:

We surprised Dan's brother at work, who had NO idea that we were showing up that particular day.  We took his house key from him and headed to his house to settle in.  This is who met us at the door:

Miss Baylie.  She's the resident dog-in-charge at the house. I have to add that she didn't really meet us at the door. I think I remember her barking once, but she hovered over by the stairs while these strangers with their wildly excited girls claimed her house.  But she perked up when she realized it meant attention, a Kitty to chase, and a dog Riley to keep her busy in the soon-to-be-had snow!!!


I'll pick up with the snow later... :-)