Happy Anniversary to us!

Today is our 5th anniversary - it started with me being in the ER and is ending with me having yet another asthma attack so we were only able to go about 80 miles today to Monticello, Minnesota. Which is really reaking havoc on our schedule. We were suppose to have been in Wisconsin last night and we still haven't left Minnesota yet... I've just been really worried about finding a place to stay, especially before the movers get here to deliever our furniture. I do not, and will even repeat it, do not want our stuff going into a warehouse for storage. To many ways for things to happen or let our stuff disappear. Guess we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed that we'll be able to find a place very soon! Gotta go for now my laptop's battery is giving out and with no lights on I can't find a plug. I'll finish this soon.

What the machine says you're dead!

So our anniversary didn't exactly turn out the way I had planned. First we didn't have a nice wake up in fact it's three am and we haven't even gone to bed yet from the 16th! Thanks to the insane smoking/non-smoking planning of this hotel i.e. having a smoking room right across the hall from a non-smoking room I have had several asthma attacks and wound up in the ER. I am happy to report that Douglas County Hospital is very nice. And fortunatly on the same exit as this hotel. I can't wait to see what they will do for us in the morning because they'd better do something. I didn't spend most of my valuable sleep time in the ER and get an IV for nothing. Or have to take an additional medication for 5 more days! The pool was a kind of bummer too - the adults kept wandering into the shallow end of the pool with their water fight and dunking match. I really don't think that they appreciated kicking them back to the deep end but oh well I don't care they almost ran into the Gigi & Daddy (who was temporarily blind since his glasses were sitting with the towel) and then to add insult to injury the women's bathroom was just plain nasty! Life is definately not great at this Holiday Inn. Well it's 3:33 am and we have a long day ahead of us. I'll try to give an update tomorrow night on what happens in the morning.
Theresa

Prairie Chicken Capital of Minnesota

This one the stop to clean up the girls after their ice cream treat from Dairy Queen. We didn't go as far today because Gigi got sick and then I had two asthma attacks. Lovely. So we are now in Alexandria Minnesota. We were lucky to get a room in the Holiday Inn - which is good since I was shaking so badly from all the albuterol that I doubt I could drive for much longer, not that I should've been driving in the first place but you do what you have to do since it's just the four of us I still have to drive the van. Hopefully I can check out the pool a little later, once I've stopped shaking that is.

A Used Cow Lot???

Well we traveled over the continental divide today, traveling from Missoula, MT to Forsyth, MT an approximate total of 450 miles which isn't to bad of a day actually. Jalen is continuing to amuse me with his whistles, barks and words that I can't make out. Poor baby just wants out and some more attention. Smaug has found a new place to lay in the car – while we were stopping for gas before leaving Missoula I saw a place that claimed to be a pet store who were pet specialists. So we finally got a harness for him. I was so sad though, I saw this beautiful Blue & Gold Macaw who was just plucked so badly. He kept saying hello while hanging onto the door of the cage and he was just shaking. I'm not sure if it was because of the cold or if he was scared or what was going on. Anyways then we stopped in Drummond, MT for lunch – I'm not sure if it's scary or not that I'm getting to enjoy gas station sandwiches. I saw the funniest sign, wish that I would've taken a picture of it. The sign said something along the line of Drummond Used Cow Lot, yes I really said used cow lot. LOL. Smaug has decided that laying between the girl's car seats is a good place to enjoy the ride. Which is fine with us, it keeps him out of trouble (for the most part) and the girls are getting more used to him. Poor John is feeling so very betrayed Jalen has decided to choose me. He grabs my finger with his beak and then tries to regurgitate on it. I promised that if he was still acting that way we could possible get another one when we get the next bonus. Samba the toe shark is is after my toes as I type this and Tango is hanging out on Daddy. Now she's deciding that our maps and the laptop make a good snack. So we were going to stay in Billings but they're having a state of Montana republican convention and then the VFW is having some sort of convention as well. There was a rest stop in Livingston that has such a cool idea. There are big calendars that are screwed into the wall so people can write comments on them. John thought that the men's room one still might have graffiti on the wall just to spite them but I disagree. Who knows though, I should've sent him in to check it out. We've gone by so many cool places it's just to bad that we haven't had the time to stop. Perhaps if we can get somewhat at least close back to schedule we might be able to see a few things. I know for certain that we will be going to Williamsburg sometime. There's the Colonial Williamsburg Busch Gardens which I thought would be fun to take the girls too. Well that's all for now we have a long day ahead of us – hopefully 505 miles to Fargo, ND. But who knows for sure. Oh yes before I forget John is all excited because he is parked next to a Dodge Viper, I told him to take a picture which he has not done yet.

Hello from Bismarck!

Well we are in Bismarck, ND now. I was able to sweet talk John into stopping early for the day. So we only went from Forsyth, MT to here. According to google maps we are a mere 1,708 miles from our goal. Or about another 4.5 days. That's if we can get 400 miles a day. So on our drive today we saw the World's Largest Holstein Cow (sorry Mom no pictures) and National Grasslands (boring) and a painted canyon which was very pretty. There was also something called the Enchanted Highway with metal sulptures, also suppose to be the largest in the world or something. Tons of places that would be really cool to stop at but just isn't happening. So it's almost 11pm and my body is wide awake. I'm tired and wishing that I could get to sleep, especially since tomorrow I know we have another long day ahead of us. So far Smaug has been doing really well with traveling he actually has stopped crying for the most part. Here he is in his favorite car riding spot - right between the girls. A fact that I thought was impressive. Parked outside of our hotel room last night was this very nice car - something that both John and I were drooling over, a Dodge Viper. In a go fast look at me red. The girls are learning how to swim. Slowly but we're making progress. Especially since today was the beginning of us trying to teach them how. Poor Gigi swallowed more water and scared me once when she slipped off my shoulders. But I'm really proud of her for not getting scared and wanting to get right back in. Oh yes and victory of victories I actually dunked John! Of course he's sitting here and saying that he let me do it but I know the truth. You can topple a giant - if you take away a leg first! Well that's all for now. Hopefully I'll be writing again tomorrow.

On the road again

This has been a fun past few days - including being able to celebrate Grandma & Papa's 50th anniversary! I'm so happy that they actually made it. We went out to dinner at The Edge restaurant. It was really nice and a good time for photo opportunities too. We are currently take a break from trying to pack the car, trying to pick a hotel for tonight. Got a couple more chores done. Like a 23 minute wait to talk to someone with the phone company. Vonage is really great I have to say! Well off to do some more packing and finishing up the phone call.
Theresa

Day 2 of the Journey

Day 1 had us leaving town around 4pm. Which left us to running into rush hour traffic. Plus road construction - get this they've found a new way to rip off the government and offend the drivers all in one shot! Impressive yes? There were construction signs stating that there was road work for the next 22 miles - we drove through about 10 miles off one lane wondering when it was going to start. Twice I saw a road crew standing on the side of the road with a truck and they were opening boxes. Is this really enough to reduce a highway to one lane for traffic? Apparently so since that's what happened. Our first night had us staying only about 200 miles from our old home but it still was about 9:40 by the time we got our hotel room, unloaded the car & van and then got some food. The girls had a wonderful time with everything to bad our swimsuits were packed though since there was a very nice 24 hour swimming pool just down the hall from our room. Jalen was so ready for some cuddles that he let me pet him all over and he was just closing his eyes and really leaning into my hand. It was so sweet, wish we would've gotten a picture.

Day 2: We've finally arrived at my mom's. The closer and closer that we came I was feeling much more relaxed and happy. We got here at 2pm and tonight had a nice BBQ. Auntie and Uncle Bill came down so the whole family was out. We also rode Grega's "Go Fast" aka the 4 wheeler. lol. Now I'm trying to catch up on my email, relax and get some sleep.