Moving Road Trip: Day 3

On Friday, May 28th, after I went running with Jenny and Uncle Linden made us waffles, we hit the road.

Stop number four was in Wall, South Dakota. Wall is home to Wall Drug which is a large, kid-friendly tourist trap. We were happy to stop in for our free ice water (which is how the place got started) and some ice cream.

Sydney was so nice to share some ice cream with her daddy.



Sitting in the horse carriage. You can see from the kids' red cheeks it was hot!






Brian thought the kids would think it was cool to watch him shoot a gun. They just cried. :)








Stop number five was in Mitchell, South Dakota at the Corn Palace. Why? Well, it was on the way, so why not? Yep, that sign is all made of corn cobs.








Unfortunately, our fourth corn-y family member had to be the photographer.

You can see where the random corn trinkets are being sold as well as the corn-cob murals on the wall in the back. Wes was pretty nervous about the guy dressed in a corn suit walking around.

Stop number six was Mount Rushmore. We added about eight hours to our trip to go, but Brian had never been and I hadn't been in many years.

Wes enjoyed driving his tractor every time we paused to take a picture.

Mom and Sydney with the Presidents.

Dad helping Sydney get a drink.

Family picture (with a grumpy little girl who pretty much despises getting her picture taken as of late).

Can you see Brian's face on this mountain one day? (No thanks!) :)

The bust of the man who created Mount Rushmore. It is quite amazing!

Moving Road Trip: Days 1 and 2

Just a couple hours after Craig and Sara left for the airport on May 25th, the moving company showed up to pack all of our belongings (minus those we'd specifically packed for our 8 months in Charlotte and for our road trip)!

On Tuesday night we stayed in a hotel in Ann Arbor since our house was full of boxes.

Wednesday morning we headed back to our place and got the car packed as the moving company loaded the truck. Around 3pm they finished up and within an hour our adventure began! Our first stop was to Kevin and Noami's in Lisle, Illinois to spend the night (no pictures, unfortunately).






We headed out from Lisle around 8:30am. We had great weather and the kids had a great time doing races with Brian at the gas stations along the way.






The kids were great sports. Wes was ready to color with a crayon behind his ear. (I'm not sure why he decided to put it there.)

This was one of the cooler gas stations we stopped at because it was near a train track.

Stop number two was in Dyersville, Iowa at the Field of Dreams movie site. It was a little out of the way, but a fun random stop! We figured we likely won't be that close to Iowa again (we're not planning on it, anyway).

Running the bases! Wes ran around at least six times and Sydney at least three. They were having a great time!

A family picture of us sitting in the stands with the house behind us.

Wes "pitched" to Brian and Brian swung to "hit" a home run, of course. :)

Stop number three was Blair, Nebraska where we spent the night at my Uncle Linden's place. He and his wife were great hosts. We got to swim in the pool (which Sydney loved), have a fabulous BBQ, play games, and visit with cousins (mine, not the kids).

Craig and Sara Visit!

Brian's brother, Craig, and his wife, Sara, came out to see us in Ann Arbor from May 20th through the 25th. The kids loved all the attention they got from Uncle Craig and Aunt Sara!

Craig and Sara brought this Candyland game for the kids and played it with them at least a half dozen times over the weekend. Lucky kids!

There was a lot of Wii playing (Mario Kart, specifically).

We took a tour of the Henry Ford Estate at Fairlane. Wes liked using this floor as a road...quite appropriate, I guess!

Sydney didn't want her picture taken in front of the house with the beautiful, green landscape. Silly girl.

Sara, Craig, Brian, Sydney and Wes in front of the estate.

On Saturday, the guys did the adventure race (as seen in Brian's previous post). When they got back we celebrated Nick's birthday.

Brian was lucky to have his brothers and cousin to hang out with. They all had a great time. (L to R: Nick, Kevin, Craig holding Wes, and Brian.)

On Monday, we left the kids with some friends for the day (thanks to the Dunfords!) and the adults went to Cedar Point.

The gigantic swing was enjoyed by all.




We needed to break a $20 so Brian and Craig played this game. Brian even won a monkey for Sydney!




We thoroughly enjoyed our final visitors in Ann Arbor! Thanks for making the effort, Craig and Sara!