Kittrell Kronicles: What We Did On Our Summer Vacation

We finally got to take a vacation that went somewhere past the Oakland A's baseball stadium or San Francisco Zoo! Well, vacation? Hmmmm, is it really a vacation when you drive and drive and drive, check into a hotel, sleep, check out and drive and drive and drive?

Rob's Dad side of the family has a family reunion in Missouri and every year we try to figure out how to get there but it doesn't work out. This year we decided we'd better go no matter what because it's only going to get harder each year. Rob actually took some days off from summer school football and if you know Rob, that means a lot! Heck, I'm not even sure I'll get to see him anytime for the birth of our fourth child due some time in the next few weeks! (kidding, of course)

The trip started out a bit on the tough side because Carter was not interested in hanging out in the car for 6-8-10 hours at a time. Who could blame him? We stopped in Las Vegas to get a car plug in for our computer so we could put on a movie for him and that helped a bit. By the 3rd day he got it all figured out and was a much better traveler. Hudson and Avery sat in the way back with movies of their own and an arsenal of car activities. Speaking of the car, it was a great ride and I'm so glad for my pregnant body that we had gotten the new mini-van to travel in instead of our other trucks. It was quite roomy, comfy, and drove like a dream!

Hudson took up a new collection, collecting the magnets of all the states we stayed in or visited. Those states include Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Utah. He also picked up California because we do get to visit there often.

Here are a few of our favorite memories:

Rob spotted a park nearby one of our quick stops so we went there to stretch our legs. The kids really enjoyed not having to get back on the road. Hudson was really sweet and helped his little brother across the wobbly bridge.

No, not a picture of the cows in Texas. Look closer and see if you can spot what Rob can smell from anywhere, even while driving 80, uh, 65 mph in a car with the windows rolled up........a football field! Barely enough around to call it a city, but gotta make sure football is BIG.
We made an extra hotel stop in Amarillo, Texas, when we realized it would much too long of a drive that day to make it to Oklahoma City. Which meant we got a chance to eat at a local restaurant -yummmmy good ol' fashion BBQ Texas style. And, a favorite treat for the kids, being a the hotel early enough to go swimming in the pool!

This one is just beautiful, walking back from eating. Carter was so wiped out he was trying to fall asleep up on daddy's shoulders!

The kids were excited to see real Texas Sheriffs!

Midwest convenience store, the Kum & Go, has a contest going for Soda or Pop. I'm from the West Coast and we call it Soda!

These are fruit roll ups. For some reason Hudson did not like us calling them that?!? And it seems, only Nevada and California do blocks of hay anymore.

Ok, this is from my childhood and probably in yours, too. I remember taking a very similar trip or two across to the Midwest and all I wanted to do was stop at souvenirshops and buy rocks. Of course, the parent never wanted you to waste money on rocks when you can go outside and pick them up off the ground for free. But you and I both know it wasn't the same. I told Rob I just wanted to make sure my kids could ask and we could earn our parent badges when we start in on them, "No you can't buy rocks when there are perfectly good and free rocks outside! It took about one second for the kids to find this first set at one of our stops and I knew they, especially Hudson, would be hooked! We did come home with a few bags of special rocks -GEMS- from various parts of the country!