Friday morning we hit the road early. The mother of a very dear friend of ours (the pastor that married us actually) passed away recently. The memorial service was a couple hours from JT's parents house in Ohio so we catered our plans to attend. We are so thankful for the Floro's and everything they've done for us. Chris and Holly did many (maybe 12 or 16?) sessions of premarital counseling for us. They helped us form a foundation on the Lord for our marriage. They've been there through the births of all our boys feeding us many meals along the way. We can't say how much we love them in words and we're thankful we were there to hug them. I only met Mary once but she made quite a difference in our lives through the son she raised so we are eternally grateful for her.
After the memorial service we hit the road and landed 3.5 hours west in Beverly Shores, Indiana. The town itself was a bit rude (in our humble opinions). Nonetheless we were able to walk and see Lake Michigan and see a part of the country we've never seen before. Isn't that the point of this whole adventure after all? With the rude feel of the town along with the 10 million bugs that welcomed us you can all rest assured we aren't moving to Indiana :)
Saturday morning we woke up and hit the road for Omaha, Nebraska. State line gifts win again with "poopie whoopie" whoopie cushions. Just add it to the list of things I never thought I would buy. They were a hit with giggles and allowing an outlet for silliness that they really needed :)
One thing I underestimate every time we decide to take a road trip is how hard it is to find places to stay for a family of 7 (5 of which are young boys). Airbnb's seem to be through the roof this year so the only thing I could find in Omaha was a hotel where we had to book 2 rooms. JT had Cruze and Dash in his room and I got Pace, Trip and Jet in mine. Trip and Jet were happy to watch a show but Pace thought it was time to practice his jumping skills all over the room for an hour. I think he could win the Olympic high jump for 3 year olds at this point.
Our next drive to Idaho Springs, CO was quite a ways away but at 10,000 feet elevation we knew we would want to explore. In an effort to get there with time to spare we had the boys sleep in their clothes and packed the van with all the bags before bed. In the morning we inhaled some muffins from the free breakfast and hit the road. We made record time to Idaho Springs which turns out to be a very touristy town. We grabbed pizza to go and headed up the mountain to our airbnb. The ole Rimbus was chugging her heart out but she made it!
A few shots from on the road
Mama's fuel
We knew those mountains were coming....
First sight!
Waiting for the pizza
We arrived at our airbnb to the wonderful surprise of a lake right next to the house. Give our boys water and rocks and they'll be content for hours upon hours.
I love this man with my whole heart.
Cozy socks in a sweatshirt with coffee on a porch. Insert praise hands here.
He just had to see the view on this turn. The wild calls his heart on a daily basis so I'm glad we get this adventure.
We woke up and had 2.5 hours to our final destination in Carbondale! Unfortunately, construction made it a 3.5 hour drive. We picked up McDonald's and braved through the traffic. It wasn't the worst thing that could happen considering the view we had :)
One of our most favorite things about venturing west is this last leg where we get to drive through the Rockies seeing the creation and creativity of our Lord. It puts us in complete awe of His handiwork and majesty.
We made it!! Pictures of the inside coming soon. So thankful for safe travels. More pics of our beginning adventures coming soon!
