Thursday (finally!)

In answer to your question mom, no- we didn't make it to the fair, we had something much more exciting to do. For my husband, there something really exciting about buying supplies. We made a list (6 items) and he ran into Walmart with the boys while Riley and I got ready.

We got tired of waiting though, and went in after him. He only had a few of the things from our list but he already had a full cart! The Walmart trip led to a couple of hours of reorganizing the RV which was fine with me. There was a high wind advisory until noon and driving the RV in the wind is even scarier than driving it at night. When we left Larkspur it was already three. The wind had died down substantially and we had talked it over and basically threw out the plans we had made and decided to wing it for the rest of the trip.

We finally left Colorado that evening. The kids jumped out if the RV for our obligatory state sign picture. We try to take one everytime we enter a new state. So far, we all like the Colorado signs best, they're made of wood and stone, not metal like this one. This is the worst sign we've seen yet, tons of grafitti and litter.

For some reason, everytime we take these pictures, James has to use the bathroom...we have a lot of pictures of the poor kid looking uncomfortable! I snapped this picture while we were there, everytime I see the full caravan, I'm amazed that Jarrett can drive it.

What did we do while Jarrett drove? Well, Kelly did some file folder games-really hard while driving. He kept saying that his letters didn't like the RV.

James and Riley did some workbooks that they like. James' dominos didn't like the RV either!

James read his new Flip-A-Word book and Riley read an American Girl book. It was a pretty fun day!

We made it into Albuquerque that evening and settled in for our first real night of camping. We were all so excited to get there and lay down!

Riley and the Snake

Coincidentally, Riley has been asking for a pet snake! After holding this one, she says she want one just like this, only smaller, calmer, cuter and tamer...

And We're Off!

And you thought I'd never do it... I've had to set this up on my phone so it probably looks horrible. Not to mention it takes forever so my posts are delayed a bit!
As you know, we were planning on leaving Wednesday afternoon for our first big RV road trip. What is it they say about the best laid plans?

Wednesday morning, our house was nearly buzzing with activity. Jarrett went off to work while the kids and I ran around in circles trying to get everything loaded and organized. The plan was for Jarrett to come home at noon and load his things. We would take off at 1:00, pick up the Jeep (it was at the shop, getting set up to be towed) and leave town at 2:00- arriving in Sante Fe around 8:00, just in time for bed.

Except that things were busy at work, so Jarrett didn't get home until 3:00. The kids and I weren't totally packed (and Kelly was napping) so Jarrett left with the RV to get the Jeep and then come back to the house, load up and leave. We'd be about four hours behind but we're both night owls and the kids sleep really well in the car. It was do-able.

Except that the RV place, which is 30 minutes away, forgot we were coming and told Jarrett to come back in two hours. So he arrived home an hour later, with no jeep, seriously stressed out. I risked certain death by sneaking out of the house during critical packing time and bribing the lawn guys to hook up the sprinklers for my strawberry plants. Then I snuck into the garden and frantically planted peas and rhubarb. I know my priorities! So we left the house at 6:00, planning now to grab the Jeep, drive four hours to Pueblo and make up the extra time on Thursday.

Except that the RV shop owner seemed a bit overwhelmed with the whole idea of hooking the Jeep to the RV. We waited two hours then the kids and I left- walking around town in the dark- to get something for dinner. When we got back, the RV shop owner had caught a bullsnake for the kids...and almost hooked the Jeep up. We finally left at 10:30, planning on driving as long as we possibly could.

Except that the Jeep is black, making it virtually invisible at night, and Jarrett had never driven the RV with a tow. We drove for a while, with me hanging out the back windows of the RV on every turn (to make sure the Jeep didn't run into anything). By this point, the kids were too exausted to fall asleep, Jarrett was seriously stressed out and I was sick of running between Jarrett, the kids and the rear windows.

So we set up camp...at Walmart...in Larkspur. Yep, that's right, we camped 30 minutes away from our house.