But seriously... two beds so close to each other? It's an open invitation for jumping games.
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Day 4
From Chattanooga, TN to St. Louis, Missouri
438 miles, 6 hours 31 minutes driving time
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13 - Willie Wonka would have loved to travel up the Gateway Arch
Though the elevator wasn't glass, it sure felt like something he would want in his chocolate factory. Small, white, roundish... Like a giant egg. At first we weren't sure we wanted to take the time to go up at all (would the kids like it (would TK behave (do we want to wait in that line?)?)?) but shoving those kids in that egg elevator was definitely the right decision.
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Day 5
St. Louis, Missouri to Kansas City, Kansas
251 miles; 3 hours 50 minutes driving time
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Other times they surprise you with something genuinely witty that makes you laugh without trying. I had a For Real laugh when, in an effort to make her doughnut seem more like a breakfast food, Kenz decided to call it a 'frosted bagel'.
15 - Another temple pit stop - this time the grounds were open.
The Kansas City, Missouri temple.
According to the kids, this would be the highlight of the trip. The other activities didn't stand a chance, actually. In the planning phase, it was McKenzie's idea to just 'check and see' if there was a Great Wolf Lodge somewhere close to where we would be going. I didn't think that was a very good Road Trip Across The Country Thing to do because... culture. But I felt certain that all of the Great Wolf Lodges were in the eastern states so we wouldn't be passing by one of them anyway. So I checked for the sole purpose of being able to say, 'well, darn! I guess we'll have to get to know our country while we travel across it then.' But then, there was one. And then there was no hiding that fact because I checked right in the presence of those children. And so the hounding began.
"Mom, have you decided yet?" became the hourly question.
"So have you thought more about Great Wolf Lodge?" became the half hourly question.
And then one morning, after two weeks of this, McKenzie asked, "Mom, on a scale of 1 to 10, what do you think the chance is that we will end up stopping at Great Wolf Lodge?" I still had not decided and opened my mouth to say so when the hope in her eyes caught me.
"Uh. Well..." I started. "I guess I just have to figure out if this cross country trip is more for you or for me." I finally said.
I guess it ended up being more for them. 
It was the right decision. Timothy was a mad-man the whole time - running from one pool to the next. Jumping, floating, splashing, and oblivious to the fact that he was, several times, close to drowning. I've never had to watch a child so closely before... he has no fear. But do you see the picture in the above left corner? That smile is worth every stressful minute.
The front desk gave us some wolf ears when we registered and they were quite the highlight. My favorite moment was seeing Miles come out of the bathroom freshly showered with a towel around his waist and wolf ears on his head. Clearly he was much too busy to put on his pajamas, but he had plenty of time to find the wolf ears (that were under the pajamas).
We spent two days and one night playing in the lodge, with two relatively short driving days on either end.
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Day 6
Kansas City, KS to Nebraska City, NE
141 miles; 2 hours 10 minutes driving time
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17 - There is nothing after Kansas City. Nothing.
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Day 7
Nebraska City, NE to Laramie WY
539 miles; 7 hours 56 minutes driving time
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18 - There is nothing after Kansas City. Nothing.
Wait... did I already say that?
Except for wide open spaces and beautiful skies.
18 - And Laramie, Wyoming. Laramie is after Kansas City.
Not that that's saying much... but we did have a lovely evening there. The kids were stir crazy after our longest day of driving, so we found a park and let them play until it was too dark to see the frisbee or the potholes in the grass anymore.
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Day 8
Laramie, WY to Midway, UT
380 miles; 5 hours 28 minutes driving time
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19 - Apparently we need to teach Carson that in order to catch the frisbee, he will need it to be in front of him.
Rest stops were quite handy on these long driving days. So was that frisbee (I love finding those Take On A Road Trip secrets that take up relatively little space, but pack in so much fun. Individual lunch boxes packed with snacks was another one of those things. And books on CD).
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Days 9-21
So Much Fun Family Time
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20 - There is way too much to say about two weeks of family time for me to dive into it tonight.
Also, there are way too many pictures for me to add to this already picture-filled post. But I'll just say that I'm a lucky lady to be moving closer to all those awesome people. There will be posts to follow about that.
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Day 22
Midway, UT to Enoch, UT
228 miles; 3 hours 21 minutes driving time
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21 - Friends
It was so fun to stop by the Tessems on our way through Provo, and then to stay the night in Enoch with the Christians. I love these families. I also love the way TK is looking at Kathleen in the above picture.
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Day 23
Enoch, UT to Henderson, NV
194 miles; 2 hours 55 minutes driving time
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22 - A good book, water bottles, and gasoline. Three things that kept us moving. (Not pictured - hordes and hordes of snack food.)
Have you ever read the book Wonder? If not, I highly recommend it. After I read it the first time, I knew I had to buy it... so I did. And read it out loud to the whole family on our long drive. We finished it by the time we got to Vegas and had so many great conversations about kindness and friendship along the way.
23 -After 23 days on the road, we were exhausted, but happy to meet our new home. But mostly exhausted.
I am laughing to myself, because when I got to the part about staying at Great Wolf Lodge, my first thought was, "Wait! Were they near Seattle and THEY DIDN'T TELL ME?!" Then I said to myself, "Oh, maybe Great Wolf Lodge is a national chain and not just a local one...then I read your thoughts about being confident it was only on the east coast. Ha ha. We've never stayed at it (though I'm sure my kids would love it if they knew about it), but I have seen commercials and we've driven by it on our way out of town somewhere south of Seattle. So, if you ever plan a trip to Seattle (before June, hint hint...) just know your kids can have fun here too, while you are getting your local culture :)
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