We made it to Wyoming!

Date night selfie - we are alone! :)

It is Sunday afternoon, July 13th, and as I type we are headed from Rawlins, WY to Lander, WY for another one nighter as we make our way to Grand Teton National Park. The last few days have been fairly uneventful – in a good way! Shawn survived his ATV adventure and was literally covered in dirt from head to toe when he got back, so it must have been fun! He quickly washed up and we headed out with the kids and my parents to the little town of Grand Lake, Colorado. It was so cool and rustic. You literally felt like you were on a western movie set. (I actually googled to see if any movies had been made there and discovered that Griswald’s Christmas Vacation was filmed in CO. Since I feel connected to them these days, I found that fascinating!) We ate at a yummy little BBQ joint in their downtown area. It was the kind where you can just throw the peanut shells on the floor. The boys think it’s fabulous but Macy just thinks it’s not right and can’t participate.

After dinner we got some ice cream and shopped around. Luke, who just turned 4, is the type of child who is very passionate about whatever he is into. He could spend 4 days being obsessed with Dash from The Incredibles, and he will wear the costume day and night, have you call him Dash, ask if this is the type of food Dash likes to eat, etc. (Even when he was a baby, not even 2 years old, he was obsessed with carrying a bag of shredded cheese around the house and even slept with it. Yes, odd, but you get the idea of how serious this little guys is.) So naturally, the latest obsession is being a Cowboy since he is seeing real life cowboys all around us. Every day he wants to wear “long pants”, which is not to be confused with “long pants rolled up”, (which are shorts), a belt (thankfully I threw one in his bag) and his hiking shoes we bought for the trip. The outfit was made complete when my parents purchased him a vest and cowboy hat after dinner. He has even been wearing the vest over his pajamas to bed. Of course he is now angling for some cowboy boots but he is enjoying telling everyone he meets that he is a cowboy. The kid has never met a stranger. This lady stopped him to tell him what a cute little cowboy he is and he said, “Thanks, but I am not wittle. I am a big WEAL cowboy.” He’s the best.

The next day my mom shot out of bed and washed every last thing she could find on this RV. She is a total clean freak and gets a high off of helping her kids, so naturally I was fine with that. We took the kids to the playground and the baby animal farm and the boys even got real horseshoes from the gentlemen at the resort who was there to put new shoes on all the horses. Of course Jude, who is the kid who puts everything in his mouth, put his mouth on it and my mom freaked out all worried that he will have trench mouth. I don’t even know what that is. But if there is someone who will know and then stress and not be able to sleep over it, it’s my mother. God love her but the woman is one giant ball of worry. She told me to basically not call her until we are back from the trip because she just can’t stand to know what we are doing. She searched all over for bear repellent spray (apparently it’s a real thing) and made me promise her 147 times that “No, I won’t let the kids out of my sight. No, I don’t let them outside alone. Yes, I moved the tablets that make our toilet smell good out of Jude’s reach. Yes, I know that they can kill kids. No, they don’t walk over to Mamaw and Papaw’s coach alone. Yes, I put sunscreen AND bug spray on them. Daily. Yes, I will put the snake venom remover pump thing in the hiking backpack. Yes, I will do it right now. Yes mom, I swear I just put it in there while I was talking to you.” She’s the best. They left that afternoon for the airport and took off the next morning, their 45th wedding anniversary, to Hawaii for 10 days. I could not be happier for them!

Our niece and nephew also left that afternoon and there were lots of tears as we said goodbye to them. Macy and Luke have special bonds with those two and they are wonderful kids and it was fun and special to spend time with them. We took the kids for a last minute evening drive, all in our PJ’s, to see if we could see any wildlife. Just as we were returning to the campsite thinking it was a no-go, we saw a massive moose hanging out on the side of the road. It was so cool and so huge! I don’t even know how those things hold their heads up with those antlers.

The next morning as Shawn was outside reading, he looked up and there was another moose right in front of him. How amazing is that! Later that morning the 7 of us packed up and headed off to Wyoming. The drive was the most beautiful drive I have ever been on in my life. I wish I was better able to capture it in pictures. Simply breathtaking. Once again, we find ourselves wondering why on earth we don’t live in Colorado! We got settled into the WY campsite and my ever graciously awesome and selfless in-laws went out to eat early and returned to watch our kids so we could go have a date night. Trusty tripadvisor hooked us up with an adorable little restaurant and we bolted from our RV. It was our first time being alone in two weeks so we ordered as many courses as we could eat and lingered – it was so nice!

I am excited to get settled in our next long term spot at Grand Teton and Yellowstone. It is much more enjoyable when you get to stay put for a while. The driving makes me crazy. It is absolutely stunning scenery, when I am not walking to the back to yell at the kids every 5 minutes. I must say the words “sit down” 82 times an hour. The view is peaceful, but the emotions are not. At least today is a short drive and I currently have one napping. I’ll take it!

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