Day 3 and Happy Birthday to the Princess!

So we woke up in Raton, NM.  Yes, New Mexico, can you believe it??  Crazy, I know!
And it was the Princess' birthday.  In New Mexico!  We had considered stopping in Wootton, CO and if we would have she would have been able to celebrate her birthday in 3 states!  The sad part was that we didn't get to see the Raton pass, which I can't remember the elevation of right now, but it was up there!
Anyway, we stayed in Raton and again once we had enjoyed a continental breakfast, we rounded them up to do some more of this....

So for our day 3 picture  this is how they were feeling....

but hubby and I were doing okay...

lots of road to travel today.  This was the first day with nothing in particular to see - nothing we were trying to make it to - well, we had planned on maybe going to the Grand Canyon that afternoon, but the reality was that because we hadn't gotten as far as we had planned, we realized there was really no way to do it.  Sunset at the Grand Canyon was at 5:45 or something, so when we did the math we knew that we couldn't make it...but we could get close enough to see the Grand Canyon on Day 4. So first we sang Happy Birthday to this little nut...

7 years old!  Wow, heh??  We sang to her in New Mexico and then again in Arizona and then a couple of more times just for fun!
So we went to Albuquerque and turned right and texted everyone to let them know, and we were having fun composing a fun text to those who we knew were back home, headed north 2.5 hours to see Third Day in concert. I was so sad to miss it, but I just knew it would end up being on the same weekend as we were gone - I just knew it.  They are one of my favorites, and after all this time I still haven't seen them live.
Anyway...we were checking out the map and I double checked a few times before I quietly let my husband know that we had in fact NOT made a right turn at Albuquerque...yes, it is true...we were totally pulling a Bugs Bunny and heading south towards El Paso!  And as much as I would love to go to Texas, it was NOT on this trips itinerary!!
So I quietly said "Um, I think we are going the wrong way."  to which hubby gave me an incredulous look and I said, "No, really, I wouldn't joke about this (we had been laughing and joking so much in that past 45 minutes that I am sure he thought I was kidding) no," I said, "We are definately going the wrong way."
 (insert dramatic pause for gasping)
Yes, we had traveled 30-40 minutes down the wrong highway!  Terrible!
But we turned around through the median (which we have ALL always wanted to do) and headed back to Los Lunas to catch a side road that took us back to the right interstate with barely any time really lost, considering we were still ending up west of Albuquerque, not having to go all the way back!  Can you believe that??  I guess anyone who has travelled probably can...it was crazy!
So once we got to Los Lunas, the Princess got to choose where we had lunch, and instead of having sandwiches from the grocery store we had our first fast food lunch.  She chose Del Taco- and it was $13 or something and they even had chili cheese fries! MMMM!!
That was fun!
Now we knew there was no chance of making it to the Grand Canyon in the daylight - but there had really been no chance anyway, so we travelled to Williams, AZ so we would be ready to go there in the morning.  Here is some of what we saw!

You can hardly tell but the above sign says "welcome to Arizona"  Proof that even though half of the road pics look like prairie, they are really desert!!!

We went next door to Denny's when we were at our hotel to get supper to bring back to the girls after our long day of driving, where we ordered the Princess a piece of chocolate cake for her birthday.  Unfortunately by the time we got back, she was asleep so we ate her cake without her!

So there it was, Day 3 down...and I am only still a couple days behind posting!
(Just kidding about the cake, by the way...we saved it for her silly!!!)

Day 2

So I am on average taking 135 pictures a day - and my camera battery has still not died.  Not bad, heh?
Well I already fell off the schedule I had hoped to keep, but evenings are tough with the Baby not having a bed of her own.
Here is a bit of what we have seen!
Day 2
On day 2, we woke up early, took advantage of an excellent continental breakfast including hot fresh waffles - so cool!  Once we were fully full, we checked out and headed to Colorado Springs.

I always 


 I have decided that we should have a pic of the kids each day in the car, so I can tell when the new day begins - so much of the scenery is still similar!

So here are my rugrats!











This is our Baby's smile when you tell her to smile,, or to say cheese!
Too funny!

The above picture is from Denver!  Crazy!  I took a picture of Mile High Stadium...Yay for Tim Tebow!

My kids did know that we were going to Focus on the Family, but I was able to keep the secret that I had booked them to do a KYDS radio broadcast, where they got to record a mini episode of Adventures in Odyssey!  So cool!

So the older two read speaking parts and Princess, Dash and I were the Foley artists, which is a fancy way of saying live sound effect person!  We'll let you listen to their program sometimes if you ask...or I will see later if I can figure out how to put it on here! But make sure you listen for the sound effects!
We also saw sedimentary rocks, and the Colorado river - at least I think that is the Colorado River.

So then we had to decide whether to stay in Colorado Springs and be 7 hours behind schedule the next day or to push on.  We decided to head out and made it to Raton, WY - which I will tell you about later!

Day 1 pics

 The border is coming!

 Finally here, and we accept the welcome!

 it's not all prairies...

 The Miles in Miles City.  We had out first stop for gas there, and it was only 2/3 the price of what we paid at home - just as a side note!

Almost to Sheridan.....

This morning on our way for breakfast!
Hopefully I will be back later!
(does anyone who works for Sasktel, or have a Sasktel phone know if I can turn my data back on when I have access to wi-fi, like at McDonalds??  - Comment if you know!  Thanks!)

Buffalo??????

Well we made it through Day 1 of our long trek.  I had planned to write this post last night, but we could not get the baby to sleep without me finally laying down with her, and unfortunately once my head hit the pillow I was DONE.  I had a terrible sleep last night (which is very normal for me the first night away from home) but I think everyone else slept alright!  As a matter of fact, Dash must of said 5 times this morning, "Mom, I LOVE this hotel!!" and when I finally asked her why her response was. "Because the beds are SO comfy!"  Too cute.

So now it is 6:00 a.m. local time and we are getting ready to head to the continental breakfast and then back on the road.
We had intentions of traveling to Casper, WY last night, but didn't make it.  I checked the forecast in Sheridan, (with my free wi-fi connection outside of McDonalds) for the highway between Sheridan and Casper, and it was supposed to be clear, but a few minutes down the road from Sheridan (where we stopped for supper - at McDonalds obviously) we encountered a snowy, sleety mess that was very hard to see in....and we all had had enough anyway. So we are in Buffalo!  Good thing there is a Buffalo, WY- because Buffalo, NY would be the entirely WRONG place to be!
I can't upload my pictures right now, but I will try again later!

Here we go!!!

New year, new resolve, but NO resolutions!!

Okay first things first, don't go thinking that this homeschool mom doesn't know that resolve is actually the ROOT word of resolution - I KNOW THAT!!  ;)  But what I am saying is that I am resolved to post more this year, especially on our upcoming trek across the continent (tee hee) but I am not into resolutions at New Year's type of time.
Although, that being said, I have been known to make resolutions on my birthday - which is only a few days after New Year's Day, but that is beside the point!
We have been working like crazy around here trying to catch up on book work and even get ahead a bit.  I am REALLY behind in my reading aloud to the kids, but I figure we have somewhere around 60 hours in a vehicle coming up really soon, so there might be opportunity to catch up then!
I will post pictures of the dresses I have been sewing so you can see them. Yes, me, sewing....I know, right?  It has been forever!
It was fun though, and now that my sewing machine is no longer buried under mountains of boxes...who knows what I will be able to do!

Did I ever show you this picture?  Yes, it is kind of random, but I came across it while trying to find a different one...it is us on the day of our oldest daughter's celebration of entering "high school". I can't believe I have a kid that old, I mean really, but she is awesome, so that helps!
Okay, now to try to find the picture I wanted to show you...
No, must still be on my camera...well I will try to look for it tomorrow...I just wanted to blog.  I have been talking about it to a few friends recently, and I just missed being here - so here it was!
New year, new resolve!
Hopefully I'll be back soon!