The Trip, Part Five--The Final Part

Phewwww....the final trip blog. We have been back home one month today and I'm finally getting this done. Fitting, I suppose. And just in time to get my parents from the airport tonight since they're coming in town to celebrate Mardi Gras with us. Yay!! So then I'll be all behind again... Oh well! At least I can say I hardly got at all behind during this last month since we haven't done anything exciting!

So, we packed up our car and drove out early on Friday Jan 16. We were able to make a stop in Paris to see Garrett's grandma. She had a hot breakfast all waiting for us. It's always the best! Nothing fancy, but just the way she makes it and the company make it a favorite of mine. And it was a great time to stop and get the kids out and let them play and get them dressed for the day (since we put them in the car in their pj's). Oh yeah, and as you can see, it was a toasty 1 degree when we pulled in to her driveway. And it had actually warmed up a couple of degrees by this time. It was a very foggy and frosty morning. All the trees were covered in frost. It was so pretty!
We purposely stopped longer than our usual stops so we could get in a good visit with her. It was great to see her and the kids didn't seem to mind having the opportunity to be out of the car again!


It was time to say our good byes, so I got a picture of the gang on her front porch.
And while we got the car all situated to go, the boys played in the front yard. And how on earth could you be out in that cold of weather without coats on, you ask? Well, you know how older people keep the heat blazing in their house in the winter?? Let's just say that it actually felt REALLY good to be outside for a while!

And I had to throw this picture of Tyler in here. I asked him to smile for me and he did, but didn't look at me, so it made for a pretty silly looking picture.
And for some reason, I just felt like taking some pictures while I was out in her front yard. I have really grown to love Paris, the quiet street that she lives on, the really small town country atmosphere...there's just something about it.



And we knew it was our cue to get going when Tyler was freezing cold and said he needed to put his hands in some water (really, seriously...don't ask me where he came up with this as a solution to cold hands problem, but he's been doing it since the day it snowed in New Orleans).
So, we left the snow packed mountains of Idaho on Friday, then drove through Utah, Wyoming, and stayed the night in Denver.
Then it was Saturday morning up and at 'em, driving from Denver through Kansas,
(just a side note, it was really depressing to enter in the destinations in the GPS and have it say you had over 1,000 miles to go...two days in a row!)

more Kansas,

lots of movies were watched in our drives (did I mention that before???)

oh, and lots of snacks were consumed (evidenced by Sam's messy face)

and yes, more Kansas...

yep, Kansas again

Kansas even some more

can you tell I was really bored in our drive through Kansas?

you guessed it...more Kansas. I was trying to perfect the art of "photography through a moving car and dirty car window". Ugh.

But truth be told, I happened to really like the rolling fields of Kansas. So after Kansas, we hit Oklahoma and stayed the night in Tulsa. Then Sunday morning, it was up and at 'em again leaving Tulsa and driving through parts of Arkansas and Texas, and then finally

the state of Louisiana. You could definitely say I didn't think we'd ever make it! But I was glad to see the blue sky and green all around and so glad to sink into my own bed that night. There's nothing quite as good as coming home. It is so fun to see everyone, but sleeping in your own bed is quite delightful!

And this, my friends, concludes "The Trip". Thanks heavens! I'm ready to move on to something else, but I'm also glad I have it all documented. :) Thanks for sticking with me! Now we'll be bringing you some Mardi Gras posts in the near future!