Well, after waking up Sunday morning, and sleepily re-packing our belongings, we ate a quick breakfast (more importantly guzzled some coffee - thank you Lora! I depleted you of coffee and creamer...sorry!) and Benjamin unwrapped some birthday presents from Grandma and Grandpa. Play Dough, A View Finder and Puzzles! Benjamin LOVED them! And somewhere around 10:30, we hit the road.
The plan was to leave MN and drive about 9 hours, with a quick stop in Ames. The 3.5 hr trip to Ames is fuzzy in my memory, but if I remember correctly, Benjamin was out in the first 15 minutes, and Violet slept half the trip again, and was awaken by yet another dirty diaper...more curses against poo!
Our stop at home was a little longer than planned, but I planned on it being longer than planned, so that means that it was exactly according to plans, right? haha We stopped for about an hour, and picked up some things that we needed for the remainder of our trip. We also made some sandwiches and had a late lunch. Benjamin was even more patient than normal with our 1:15 lunch. yeah! we used up some milk, and avacado that couldn't wait till our return home, and washed up dishes that got left behind after the first leg of our trip. Joel made some coffee, then, it was back in our car seats (much to the children's dismay!) and we were off.
Benjamin slept again, and Violet did O.K. (are you noticing a trend? Benjamin's a pretty great traveler now, and Violet poos too much :)) Finally...9:00p.m. or 10:00ish, I forget, we were at our hotel in NE, and ready for a new sleeping environment. We "unpacked" enough for a 12 hour stay, and started to put the babes down. It was super late, and they were super tired, but all in all, it went remarkably. We only have one pack n' play, so Violet usually gets to sleep with momma, and Benjamin has gotten quite comfortable in his new sleep zone. In fact, as I wrote most of this entry, he napped in his pack n' play, and I just laid on the bed next to his "crib". He played for about 15 minutes, and when I told him to lay down and go to sleep, he put his head on his pillow, and started pretend snoring, until they became real ones. :) I LOVE IT! He's been waking up quite a bit at night (on the trip,compared to normal), and we're learning that he goes back to sleep best if we let him cry out unattended once or twice...Otherwise, Joel pats him on the back and he conks out again...(opposed to if I pick him up, he's up for good. no matter what time it is! I learned this the hard way.:(
We were up and at 'em the next morning around 7ish, and went down to the continental breakfast with our swim suits on and eyes focused on the pool! Violet doesn't have a suit yet, and just watched from her Bumbo on the side lines, but Benjamin's NEMO swim trunks still fit from last summer (the waist is fine, however the length is a bit short!). Joel and I were SO EXCITED to take turns with Benjamin in the pool, and the other relaxing in the hot tub. Sadly, however, the hot tub was so ridiculously hot...i'm talking scald your toes in seconds...we both hit the pool with Benjamin. He wasn't a fan at first, but Violet got lonely just watching us, so I took her upstairs, and Joel got Benjamin to relax and splash around. We then showered, packed up, let Benjamin run around in a Veterans park nearby, and hit the road again.
This 6 hour leg of the trip was pretty great...I think hour 3 and 5 weren't all that great, but I'm thankful for the other 4 hours. Benjamin slept a ton, and loved looking out and seeing cow, after cow, after cow, and the occasional horse. Violet is starting to do better playing on her own with toys, but she drops them a lot, and once she sees me, she wants me to hold her. Its tricky!
Finally late afternoon came, and we were at our final destination! Glen Eyrie Conference Center:
Rough, I know. The sacrifices we make for ministry...:) This is the castle, and beautiful setting of Glen Eyrie...Navigator Headquarters. Joel attends some sessions in the great hall, near the top of the castle, and most of our dinning is in the Hall connected to the left of this picture. Other than that, the campus has several buildings, lodges, meeting rooms, etc, that are disconnected from the castle. We are staying in a one room hotel like room with two queen beds, a dresser, and a bathroom. Its on a floor with many other married couples and new babies, and also the location of a meeting room for about half of the sessions. It has a shared space for laundry, ice machine, microwave, fridge, and tile floor (important for play dough creations!).
So far Benjamin has seen:
The deer welcomed us right when we arrived, and the turkeys have hung out right outside our lodge the whole time we've been here. We only got to see the great horned sheep once so far, but Benjamin looks for them constantly. We're hoping to see them again before we leave! They also gave Daddy the highlight of his trip, when we saw them right on top of a foot hill as the sun was setting. It was an incredible sight!
Well Daddy is busy most days attending meetings, and studying for an upcoming test. I knew we wouldn't see much of him while we were here, but waking up and having him here in the mornings seemed worth the long car ride! My only request was to all eat meals together, and I promised to have no expectations of the rest of our time! It was so great, on our "free day", Daddy took the morning off studying, and we headed off to Focus on the Families, Whit's End.
This room was the 0-4 room, and although all the other slides and planes, and ice cream shop interested Joel and I, this was Benjamin's favorite zone. He was O.K. with the awesome airplane, and whits end coffee shop, but really just LOVED the 4 ft slide in the Toddler room. :)
Well, after Benjamin got a bite to eat and some milk at Whits End, we headed back to Glen Eyrie. Joel and I picked up some food to bring back and after putting both kiddos to sleep had a nice uninterrupted lunch in a quite conference room.
The rest of the week included more DVD's (The Letter Factory - to be specific) gazillions of walks, some kickball, and more play dough! (Benjamin's favorite play dough activity is taking everything , dough and tools, out and then figuring out how it all fits back in the container. Its hard for me to watch!)
Saturday came and upon realizing that the conference was pretty much done we made the call to pack up and leave. Joel was up for the challenge of driving through the night. So drive we did. I might write about that more soon, but this post has been sitting in my drafts box for more than a week now, so I'm just going to end it! All in all, Joel and I are both so glad that we made it a trip of FOUR!
