Exodus

We left Thursday morning.  We were up late the last night, because my mom got into town for her post Christmas visit, and we wanted to at least spend a few hours with her before leaving.  I didn't take any pictures though.  :(  Since we were up late, we didn't leave until around 11 on Thursday.  We tried to make our goodbyes pretty short, like ripping off a bandaid.  It was pretty tough, probably harder than I expected.  We'd already said our goodbyes with most everyone, but since we were staying at Dad and Trudi's, we hugged goodbye, cried, and left.  The kids didn't get upset, probably didn't quite understand.  Neely was hilarious, we were all crying and hugging, saying goodbye, and Neely was ignoring us all, trying to say goodbye to Maggie and Callie(the dogs) as if she couldn't bear to be separated from them.  She kept saying goodbye to them and that she loved them.  Trudi was trying to kiss her goodbye at one point and she just kept looking around us and asking "Where's Callie?!"  Haha.  

We stopped by Grama's and Tyra was there too.  We said goodbye pretty quickly, cried and hugged some more, and started the drive.  

We felt pretty bad about it all on the first bit of the drive, but after a while we started to feel excited.  I love the drive to Flag.

Don't mind the magazine on the dash. 

I really loved the drive, looking at the scenery, thinking and talking about all the things we're going to do differently with this new start, and just being with Jess and our little ones.    I'm really glad we drove.  Good memories.  One of my favorite moments was when the kids asked if this was "making clouds".

That thought made me really happy.

The drive went really fast and the kids were SO good!  The only meltdown I remember was actually when we stopped at a Starbucks in New Mexico.

The kids each had a hot cocoa and I had my peppermint mocha.  Everything was great until it was time to leave and Neely didn't want to wear her jacket or hold my hand in the parking lot.  So she flipped out just before we stepped off the sidewalk, and I had to pick her up with one arm while also trying to hold her drink and mine too.  I was awkwardly making my way across the way, while some people in a truck waited, and of course she kicked off a shoe.  I had no arms left for that, so I had to dribble it along with my feet, like a soccer ball.  It was also like 13 degrees or something crazy, and when I made it to the car she did that thing toddlers do when they don't want to be strapped into their car seat. Arching her back, kicking and flailing her arms, screaming all the while.  I was so cold and she was overpowering me, and I wanted to cry. 

Eventually we were back on the road though, and everything was good again, aside from the occasional argument about who would hold the Kindle while they watched a movie on it.  I remembered to take a rear view pic of the mountains as they started to disappear.

 We made really good time, and stopped in Albuquerque for the night.  Jess kindly ran out to get us some dinner while we relaxed in the hotel, so I had Olive Garden in bed.  Awesome.

In the morning, I woke up really early to Jess already having loaded the car and walked Gia, which I was grateful for since it was 5 degrees out.  We pretty much just threw our sleeping kids into their carseats and took off.  They kept right on sleeping for a few hours.

 Then they sort of woke up.

 It was a really pretty frosty and foggy morning.

 We stopped for McDonalds for lunch, in some small town I can't remember.  Most of us were still in pajamas so we just ate in the car, which was torture for Gia.

Neely took her socks off and put them on again.  I asked her "You putting your socks on by yourself?"  She nodded and said "Because I'm STRONG."

 Cason was happy to have unlimited access to games on our phones and the kindle.

Pretty soon, in Texas and Oklahoma, it started to get very flat and turn into farmland.  I really like it.  I want to move out and have a farm right now.

 There were a lot of really cool old buildings and equipment.

 Also an enormous cross.

The whole drive through Oklahoma flew by, and suddenly we were here and I had my first glimpse of our home.

 We waited a bit for the landlord to get there and give us a key.  The kids were pumped to get inside.