iPhone, how I love thee.

So far today we have used our iPhones to map our route, look up
hotels in Billings, find out how plateaus are formed (and spelled) and
find a beautiful municipal park in a small town called Glenrock for
our picnic lunch. This trip is our first no-reservation/no planning
trip. If you know me at all, you know that such an idea is completely
anathema to every impulse I have. But my planning is often my
downfall since I get so bent out of shape when things don't go "as
planned." So far all the meltdowns and tantrums have been performed
by our children, and not by me. This is fabulous. Although every once
in awhile I find myself wondering if I could install Excel on this
thing...

Sent from my iPhone

Great Friends

Back in the day, we used to love hanging out with the Spragues. They
lived in Austin, and Holly and I worked together and were part of a
quartet of amazing women who (even though we live all over the country
now and have babies and different lives) still get together as often
as we can. It was just like no time had passed. Holly and Jon grilled
burgers and hot dogs for us and their sweet adorable children played
with the girls as if they had always known each other. Mary Grace
loved Reid and they caught tons of bugs and enjoyed scaring poor Holly
with them. Harper is a little chatterbox and loved showing Evelyn and
Willa all her toys. It would be SO fun if we lived nearby each other.
But then everyone else would have to hear about our amazing friends
and how much fun we have together ALL the time and it would be
obnoxious, so maybe it's for the best. Sigh.

On our way this morning to Billings Montana after a truly awful
McDonalds breakfast. Did you know they serve a breakfast sandwich of a
sausage with two syrupy pancakes as the bread? Ugh. The girls
looooved it.

Lunch on the road

Just crossed the border into Colorado. Was hoping for instant
mountains, but this looks just like Kansas. They should redraw the
Colorado border so that as soon as you cross over the border you catch
your first glimpse of the Rockies. Maybe then more people would
associate Colorado with mountains.

Anyway we had a nice picnic lunch at the Visitor Center, crossed into
the Mountain Time Zone (man they are proud of their time zone here -
signs EVERYWHERE) and on to Denver. Girls are being very quiet.
Probably plotting a coup.

Sent from my iPhone

Kansas

Woke up in the rolling hills of Western Kansas. It's actually quite
pretty out here. The sleeping beauties are still asleep! Compared to
the last time we did this, this is a miracle.

Just caught Evelyn laughing in her sleep.

It's 2am and we stopped for gas and to change drivers when I looked
back and saw Evelyn in an unbelievably uncomfortable position with her
head falling back and mouth wide open. As I was trying to get a pillow
for her, she started laughing in her sleep. Now I have to admit, I
think my kids are pretty stinking cute, but that was gold star
cuteness right there. I would challenge the grinch (pre heart growth)
not to give that an awww. Seriously, though, the overnight drive is
going really well (knock on something). The sleeping beauties are
doing great.

We left around 6:30pm, stopped in Dallas to drop off the dog with the
world's kindest dog-sitters (jason's parents) and hope to be in Denver
by mid-afternoon. Based on the many scenic pull outs and some shadows
alongside the highway, we missed some pretty scenery just north of
Ardmore, OK, but we will also miss out on about seven hours of "I'm
hungry. She's looking at me. Mama! Mama! Mama!"

Oh, and for all you Texans, trust me, we do NOT want casino gambling.
If you think the endless strings of identical big box malls are ugly,
you should see these sprawling behemoth casinos covered in neon.

Jason's driving now, so I'm going to catch some Z's once my caffeine
buzz has worn off. Hope to wake up to some scenery in Colorado!