Going on an Adventure!

We left Texas at 2:30 pm on Sunday afternoon. It took us a total of 32 hours to get to San Francisco. I thought it would be quite the adventure driving straight through from Texas to California but honestly it really wasn't. Our children were amazingly good. Like saints really! They got along great in the car. Even when we told them they couldn't do anything un-Sunday related until after 8pm. That was nearly 6 hours of listening to scriptures, reading good books, coloring and singing Primary Songs. They actually liked singing quite a bit and of course a couple hour Sunday nap helped too.

Darin was extremely great and helpful on this trip. He was actually very nurturing to the girls. It's not like he isn't normally nice to them, but it's usually in an I'm your older brother, helping you because I know my mom will get mad at me if I don't kind of way. But on our trip he was very caring towards his sisters. We were really proud of him!
Most of the time while I was driving I had Nathan by me. It probably worked out for the best that way because he and I are way more talkative then Darin and Ken.
The plan was for me and Ken to switch off every 3 hours and sleep. I was terrified of how this road trip would affect my back with all the problems I've had this year. This is the main reason why we decided to drive straight through. If I was going to have to lay down flat every few hours we might as well take turns and get it over with. It worked out great! I didn't have any aches and pains with my back and it made the trip fly by. The only thing we missed was the conversation with each other. It wasn't until the last 8 hours that we were really even awake at the same time.
As I mentioned before this vacation is on a strict budget, so we stopped at rest stops for all of our meals except for breakfast. We had packed two soccer balls for the kids, so while I re-filled their lunch boxes with food for the next stretch the kids ran around. Or climbed around:-) Nathan could not resist climbing up onto our picnic shading.





These little rest stops were lots of fun and refreshing.


We stayed in Marin for two nights because Ken was attending an Engineering Retreat in Sonoma. It started Monday but we were still driving. It's not like Ken is really the social type anyways and the first day of the retreat was touring wineries and socializing. Ken actually decided to just stay with us at night, which we loved! Originally I was going to take the kids up to Tahoe for 2 nights while Ken was at his retreat but with Ginger getting sick and still recovering the first couple days of our trip we decided against it. Our hotel was only 20 miles away from Ken's meetings on Tuesday so he ended up taking the car while me and the kids played at the hotel all day. We just needed a day to chill and relax after our drive. Besides all the kids wanted to do was swim!

They of course loved the Manager's reception with free drinks and snacks. We always get Shirley Temples and sit in the atrium playing cards.
The girls colored and loved watching the Koi. We seriously love Embassy Suites! Sometimes I think we can live at those hotels. Good thing too since we will be for the next two weeks.