flying solo

We are finally here in Oregon after a LONG 12 hour drive- just me and the girls! This is the first time I have attempted this trip without help from Paul, my mom, my dad, or one of my siblings. I am happy to report that we all survived with mom flying solo! It really wasn't too bad! We even had a little fun along the way- my mom always made tried to make the trip as fun as the destination, so I tried to keep up that tradition.

After driving 6 1/2 hours or so, we stopped in Corning on Sunday night just to break up the drive. We planned to stay at the same hotel as the Brundage family, who were also headed to Oregon to see family. It was nice to meet up with some familiar, friendly faces along the way. We had dinner together and let the kids run some energy out before going to sleep for the night. After we went to our room and I was getting everything ready for lights out, Finley fell off the bed and hit her head on the night stand. She had a gash and a HUGE black and blue welt on her head to show for it. Fortunately, the hotel was full of firefighters who were fighting the Humbolt County fires. I ran into a few of them in the parking lot and they took a look at Finley's head for me and assured me that it was ok for her to go to sleep that night. I tend to be a little paranoid about things like that. Finley's little accident aside, we all survived the night, got up Monday morning, filled the breakfast area with our combined 7 children, ate, and then went our separate ways!

We took a lunch break in Grants Pass where Grandma Lee and Pa are on vacation for the week. They took us to a park that Paul used to play at when he was a child (as a family they have always spent a few weeks up there in the summer). The girls had a blast swinging (Finley saw the swings as soon as she got out of the car and made a bee line straight for them), they picked daisies, and got soaking wet in the river while they were supposed to be just "looking" at the geese. I think they were just happy to be out of the car for a while. After a couple hours of freedom, we got everyone strapped back in and continued our journey.

We arrived at my dad's house Monday evening to the waiting arms of Poppi, Day-Day, TT, and Logan (Tiffany's fiance) who is home on leave from Iraq. The girls have been in seventh heaven with all the attention and it has only been a few hours! We will be here for a full 2 weeks- I think the girls will have major withdrawls when we leave!

We have already seen a few deer (they are plentiful around here), watered plants, giggled from too many tickles, and stayed up WAY past our bed times since the sun doesn't set here until 9 or so during the summer! We have couple of action packed weeks ahead of us! I am sure there will be lots of stories to tell and tons of pictures to show for our time here.