Utah trip day 1 &2

We went to Utah the middle of June.  Our plan was to leave right after the kids got off the bus the last day of school.  I packed the day before and had the van packed the night before, so that we could leave as early as possible.  We had planned on driving straight through to Utah without stopping to sleep. 

In order to do that we had to stock up on the caffeine products and munchies.  Did not realize that Sunkist had caffeine in it, but it does.  One of our friends suggested sunflower seeds that were still in the shells.  That way you had to take them out of the shell, therefore having to do a little bit of work.  The last time we drove through the night we ended up getting sick from the junk we had eaten through the night.  So I tried to stock up on healthier options like carrots, celery, and different nuts..anything crunchy right?

We actually were able to leave as soon as they walked in the door from the bus stop.  In order for us to get through the drive with as little drama as possible..I spent a ton on activities for the kids.  We had a double dvd player that everyone could see.  I made sure that all the kids got one new movie they would like to watch.  Thank you $5 bin at Wal-mart for the movies, that saved some money.

The kiddos each picked a few toys to play with along with their many activities that were planned for them.  We packed all but one meal, so that saved us some money for food.  We packed their clothes on garbage sacks and shoved them under their seats.  Nate came up with the idea of leaning their seats back and shoving their beach towels under their car seats. So that their car seats were still kind of level.

This is the kiddos right around Ohio, still happy and excited to be going to Ut.



Wesley did not seem to like the idea of sleeping in the car.  He woke up crying every hour wanting to get out.  Nate and I would go back there and try to calm him down.  By doing that it kept us awake.

The hardest part of the drive was the middle of the 13th, the tiredness really set in.  So we took turns sleeping for a couple hours.  The downside to that idea is that the kids seemed to want something every time we tried to snooze. 

This was Wesley about 30 minutes away from my parents house.

For the most part the kids did great being stuck in the car for 34 hours.  We were able to keep the van pretty clean.  Every time we stopped we would clean out every one's garbage's and make everyone use the restrooms.

The kids were sooooo excited when we pulled up to my parents house Wednesday evening.  My parents were surprised that we got in as early as we did.  Going 90 through Wyoming really gets you there fast.  I was driving the last leg and wanted to get there quickly:)