Trip Out West - part 1 - the drive

We had never taken a big multi-day road trip as a family of 6 before and I was a little nervous to say the least. We know so many families who drive out west every year and seem to survive, so we thought we'd try it out. We left on Thursday evening, so I bribed the girls that if they would help me out all day Thursday, we would go get pedicure before the drive. I had never done this for them before, so they we SUPER excited. My mom even go in the action too.

General Millie couldn't be left out - she was so cute!

Cal had fun playing with the massage chairs :)

The end result!

So the 20 hour drive began...and boy it was long, but thanks to lots of entertainment (dvds, books on cd, junk food, bendaroos, loaded ipods, crafts and silly bands for bribes) it was bearable. We were so happy to have my mom join us on the trip. For most of the time she sat in the back between the kids (her choice I swear) and she really helped keep the peace between the kiddos.

check out millie's oreo stuffed mouth

Ella knitted a hat with the knifty knitter

There were approximately 1 billion signs for Wall Drug along the way, so of course we had to stop.

we got a giggle out of millie climbing all over this little number

so glad we didn't have to travel in a covered wagon - our kids are so spoiled!

mills doin' her thing in the middle of nowhere, wyoming

 little miss millard was not as into the movie as we were

We realized our gas light was on right when we were heading out of Rawlins, WY into the great abyss of nothingness and were so grateful or we would have been up a creek if we ran out of gas in. Anyway, right across the street was the Golden Spike - Scott was so excited to see it because Rawlins is where his grandparents were from and their house was just down the street from the Golden Spike. It brought back a lot of childhood memories for Scotty boy (not the bar, but just the location). We drove around and found his grandparents old house and the play ground he used to play at as a kid. Hmmm Rawlins, WY is not the most picturesque place on earth.