Still in WY

Today we drove from Cheyenne to Sheridan, WY. It was about 330 miles.
We've learned that 300 miles a day is as much as the kids can
tolerate. Anymore than that and they start getting stir crazy. They
need to get out and run, swim, play, ride bikes, whatever gets them
moving.

We arrived here at about 3:30. We were able to get in a short swim
before it started raining. The rain lasted just long enough to make
the mosqitos come out in full force!

We hung out at the campground tonight. The boys played mini golf and I
finally decorated the their vacation journals. Blake & Taylor watched
Spongebob and played with my paper scraps.

Blake did go outside and "talk" to our neighbor for a little bit. I
could see the look on the man's face that clearly said "I have no idea
what you are saying or even what language you are speaking!" So I
stuck my head out the window and explained that Blake has a speech
delay and he's trying to talk about a yellow airplane, his favorite
subject. The man is from Switzerland so he really had no clue what
Blake was trying to say! I thought there was something different
about him when I saw him wearing capris. Generally speaking, American
striaght men don't wear capris. I'm pretty sure they were his because
his wife/girlfriend looked too small to wear them. At least he is "man
enough to wear girly pants;)" (that was for you Linda & Paul!)

Tomorrow we will be in Forsyth, MT. We'll get to see my brother and
sister-in-law, nieces and nephew, my Uncle Dale and an old middle/high
school friend. I can't wait!

Wyoming

> We made it to Cheyenne, WY today. We would have like to have gone
> further but it took us longer to get down the mountain in CO than we
> thought it would. There was construction going on that caused
> delays and then Chase and our friend, Emma, got altitude sickness.
> We were at the Alpine Visitors Center, almost 12,000 feet high, when
> it hit Chase. He felt terrible! He was emotional, lightheaded,
> nauseated and had a bloody nose. He looked terrible too! We decided
> to say a quick goodbye to our friends and head down the mountain so
> Chase could get to feeling better. By the time we got to Estes Park
> (about 7,500 feet high) he was perking up. Shortly after that he
> was much better.

The drive down Trail Ridge Road is beautiful and intimidating. It's
the highest continuous highway in the U.S. I can't get over the fact
that they don't have guard rails on the edge of the cliffs. There is
NOTHING to keep you from tumbling down a 12,000 foot mountain! Some
of those twists & turns are quite tight! I guess eventually you'd hit
trees and that would probably stop you. But, there are no trees at
12,000 feet high! The trees don't appear until closer to 10,500 feet
high! Scary!!! Again, glad I got to drive seperately and wasn't in
the motorhome.

>
>
>

Monday

We started out the day with a fantastic breakfast of bacon & eggs made
by Ty!

We took a short drive to the town of Grand Lake. Just past there is a
short hiking trail called "Adam's Falls." It was very pretty! There
were some little water falls and beautiful scenery. The hike was so
short & easy even the kids could do it without any problems. In fact,
they were constantly a few steps ahead of us!

We went back to Grand Lake and stopped at a little gift shop thinking
maybe they would have a yellow airplane for Blake. They did. But, it
wasn't a J-3 Piper Cub so he wasn't interested. He just wants to talk/
whine about the yellow airplane at home. I think what he's doing is
called "stimming." It's self-stimulation that some autistic children
do to show excitement (good or bad) or to calm themselves. I think
he's trying to calm himself because we are so far out of his routine
and so far away from everything that is familiar to him back home. Or,
he could be expressing some excitement/anger that he's too
uncomfortable with being this far away from home. Anyway, it's not
easy to deal with and sometimes it sucks the life out of me. Mostly
because I don't know what to do about it.

After the gift shop meltdown we had a nice lunch on the lake shore in
town. The kids played in the ice cold water for a little bit and then
enjoyed some ice cream. These seemed to calm Blake down for a while.

After lunch, Ty & Linda took us to Monarch Lake. It was gorgeous! We
walked a little trail to the part where you see the kids' pictures
below. We would have liked to have gone further and stayed longer but
the mosquitos were THICK! We still enjoyed it and didn't let them
ruin the afternoon.

After that busy day we headed back to camp. The big kids rode bikes,
while the little ones and I colored. Ty & Linda made some delicious
chicken burritos for dinner. They were so good! It kind of reminded
me of Q'Dobas but better. Luckily they gave us the left overs for when
we hit the road again. Thanks guys!!!

After dinner we watched the movie "RV." It's funny and worth a rental
if you'd been wanting to see it. We had to show it to them because it
takes place in Colorado.

After all that we sat around the campfire and made s'mores and
visited. It was a good day full of beautiful scenery and great friends!

Tommorrow we start heading towards MT. We plan to get there
Wednesday. I'm hoping for a somewhat peaceful drive !

Brandy

Sunday, June 27

Sigh. The beauty of the mountains! It's so pretty and peaceful up
here. The drive was beautiful! We saw chipmunks, elk, moose and some
other animals that I couldn't identify.

The pass that we drove on could be a little scary at times. Paul
drove the mortorhome and I drove the car. He didn't want to tow it up
the mountain because of the elevation and narrow road. Anyway, I'm
kind of glad that I wasn't in the motorhome. I would have been able
to see the drop offs at the sides of the road too well! Afterall, we
were driving up the side of a mountain. At one point the elevation was
around 12,000 feet! It was really pretty. It's kind of strange to be
driving along and be even with the tops of the trees!

The campground is pretty but I guess it used to be a lot prettier with
more trees. CO has had some kind of beetle that has killed TONS of
trees. They have cut all the dead trees down for fear of them falling
on people and hurting or killing them.

We are very close to the lake. It's very calm. Hence the name
"Stillwater." Paul walked the kids down to the lake after dinner so
they could wade through it. It was quite cold but they enjoyed it!
Blake especially loves the water. Ever since we went to Mrytle Beach
last fall, he thinks ANY body of water is a beach! Now he's always
asking to go to the beach.

It's supposed to get down into the 40's or 50's tonight here in the
mountains. Luckily the motorhome does have a heater! I already feel
like I need an extra blanket!

Brandy

Friday, June 25

Today was a pretty good day! Blake is feeling more comfortable and
relaxed about being here.

We really didn't do much today. We cleaned the camper, ran errands
and went to the pool. Everyone is just enjoying each others company.
We're having a good time!

Sunday we are going camping I'm the mountains!

Brandy

Thursday, June 24

We're in Denver, Colorado! Paul got up early and left the campground
in Kansas, at about 7am, while we were all still sleeping. We arrived
in Denver at about 2pm.

Luckily, our good friends, Ty & Linda were more than happy to welcome
us a day early! The kids are having a great time playing (except
Blake) and we always enjoy visiting with each other! Blake wouldn't
get out of the camper until Paul carried him out then he whined about
wanting to go home. He's so far away from everything that he's used to
that he's having a very difficult time.

Before we even got settled, Linda & I took the kids to the
neighborhood pool so the they could release some energy. Even Blake
welcomed that. We all had a good time until... Blake pooped in the
pool! Luckily he was in the baby pool but still, it was bad. I know
this will be TMI, but I'm gonna say it anyway because this blog is as
much, or more, for me as for everyone else:) He hadn't pooped since
we left home. You can imagine how big of a pile 3 days worth of poop
was! Well, it was even bigger before it started disintegrating in the
water. As soon as I noticed the brown cloud surrounding Blake, I
immediately pulled him & Taylor out and bee-lined it for the bathroom.
Luckily they had a shower in there! I won't sicken you with the
details of cleaning him up, it wasn't pretty! While I was cleaning up
Blake I asked Taylor a couple of times if she needed to use the potty.
She said no. Then as we're finally heading out of the horribly, foul-
smelling bathroom, Taylor announces the she needs to go pee. I put all
our stuff back down and help her in the bathroom. As I was pulling her
swimsuit bottom down, I noticed that she too pooped her pants!!!
Aaaahhhh!!!!! I'm pretty she didn't do it in the pool. I think she
stood there and did it while I was cleaning Blake up. I guess she
needed some attention. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper!
Again I won't sicken you with the details of the clean up. This also
was not pretty.

We headed back to Ty & Linda's house to disinfect Blake & Taylor and
to get Chase & Reed ready for the Rockies game. Paul & the boys were
all ready to head out the door for the baseball game and Reed decided
that he'd rather stay and play with Emma & Ian.

Paul was going to buy tickets when he got to the stadium but a very
nice gentleman GAVE him 2 tickets and wouldn't take any money for
them! They had a great time at the game. The Rockies played the Red
Sox. The game went into extra innings and lasted 5 hours! The Red
Sox ended up winning:( But I don't remember what the score was.
Chase had a great time and looked very happy when they got back.

While they were at the game, Emma babysat and Linda & I took Blake &
Taylor to the store to try to find a yellow airplane for Blake. I was
hoping to ease his pain of being away from home and out of his
routine. Of course we didn't find a Piper Cub airplane. I search high
& low everywhere I go and on the Internet for a toy one but have yet
to find one. Blake's also been into Toy Story lately so I thought one
of those toys would be a nice "runner-up." Well, he found a Buzz
Lightyear toy, alright. It was $130 at Target!!! I was NOT going to
spend that much on a toy! I tried to distract and redirect him but it
wasn't going well. For a while I was concerned that I was going to
have to carry him out of the store kicking & screaming (an ongoing
theme for us this year). Finally I was able to talk him into going to
another store to look for toys (without causing a scene). Longer
story short, he found something but it didn't ease his whining/my pain
like the first Toy Story DVD did. I bought it again because he
accidently broke the one we have at home and we haven't been able to
watch it.

All was finally well. Blake watched Toy Story until he fell asleep and
the kids played until they dropped. Chase & Paul made it back from
the game around midnight. And I finally got some relief from Blake's
whining going home and a yellow guy airplane. He'll probably settle in
here when we're ready to go camping Sunday. At least he's used to the
motorhome and feels safe & secure there.

Brandy

Salina, KS

We're in Salina, Kansas. We drove about 7 hours today. Rolled in
about 6:30pm. We immediately went for a swim and Paul went out for
some pizza:)

The drive was a long one. After several hours of listening to Blake
whine and failing to find anything to make him happy, I am drained! I
put together a little toy box for him and I went through half of it
trying to calm him down. I didn't want to reveal everything in the
box so the newness doesn't wear off too soon. Finally, I remembered
that I packed the airplane DVD that I made for him a while back. I hit
the jackpot!!! Well, for about an hour and a half anyway. He watched
it until he fell asleep. I also got his picture schedule organized so
I'll try to use that tomorrow. I'm not sure though how to explain the
length of the drive to him.

Chase & Reed rented a couple of little pedal carts and are taking
Blake & Taylor for a ride around the campground as I type. Looks like
fun! Paul & I are getting eaten alive by the mosquitos! The weather
has cooled to a comfy temp and there's no humidity:)

Tomorrow we may try to get to Denver so that Paul, Chase & Reed can
watch the Rockies play the Red Sox.

Tuesday, June 22

On our first morning away, the kids slept longer than we did! The
peace & quiet was short lived but still enjoyable!

We took a tram to the Arch, bought tickets for a later ride then
walked over to the baseball stadium to check that out. Paul found out
that they were doing tours so we planned for him, Chase & Reed to come
back for one. We decided to stay an extra day in St. Louis so that
the boys could go to the baseball stadium.

Blake was having a hard time. He's pretty rigid with his routine and
really can't handle much change. For 3 hours we listed to him whine
"yellow guy airplane" over & over & over again. He didn't really calm
down until we got into the pod for the ride up to the top of the Arch.
He loved it! I wish you could have seen the smile on his face! He
also liked being at the top looking out the windows. He didn't want to
leave!

We all really liked going to the top of the Arch. It was pretty cool!
The ride in the pod wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be.
It's quite small and no window, but as long as you forget that it's
taking you up 630 feet in the air, it's fun!

The boys enjoyed the tour of Busch stadium. They learned a lot about
when & how it was built. It's only about 4 years old. It was built
right next to the old one and part of it is on the old field. They
also learned quite a bit about the anal retentiveness (is that a
word?) of the grounds keeping. They cut the grass everyday. They use
lasers aligned by a GPS to keep the lines in the grass perfectly
straight. They also chill the water to 41 degrees to water the
grass! Oh, and they mowed the shape of the Arch into the outfield.
That gives whole new meaning to the words "yard art!"

The rest of our day/night was spent just hanging out at camp trying to
stay cool! The temp was supposed to reach 100 and it probably did!
Our a/c had a hard time keeping up with the heat.

Wednesday we will head to Kansas.

Monday, June 21

We left our house at 4:45pm. Blake was asleep by 4:47. Lol, we weren't even off our street yet! Two hours later, we were leaving LaGrange, 18 miles away! We had to run a couple of errands before we hit the road. I thought "at this rate, I'm going to have to homeschool our children because there is no way we're going to get back in time for the start of school!" Not really something I'm interested in doing! Academically, I don't think I'm smarter than a 5th grader. Many other areas, yes. Academics, no!

We had hoped to make it as far as St. Louis, and we did. The drive went by rather quickly. At least for me, anyway. I was so tired from being up til 3am that I just wanted to crash. So, I did! It wasn't a good quality nap, but at least it was a nap. I think I had to listen to the movie "Cars" or maybe it was "Spongebob." Hmmm... I can't remember. Anyway, the kids were talking to me too and I'm pretty sure I was talking back. I sure hope that I didn't promise them anything in my sleep!

We rolled into St. Louis around 11:00pm. We camped in an RV park next to a casino. We could see the Arch from our camp site. That was cool! The kids were pretty excited about it too. Reed even remembered talking about it in school. I like it when that happens because it puts a personal experience with what they learned in a classroom.

For some unknown, illogical reason we decided few months ago, that we should take a cross-country road trip, in the motorhome, with 4 kids. I am sure there will be numerous times (on a daily basis) that we will ask ourselves, "what were we thinking." Well, we purposely didn't think too much about it ,or we wouldn't have done it. Kind of like when we didn't think about how much work 4 kids was going to be.

As we embark on this adventure, we kindly ask for your prayers. If you've spent any time with our family, you know how much those prayers will be needed!