A quick introduction for those just joining us…

Sharing our Road Trip, Day by Day

From the day we arrived here and settled down, I’ve dreamed about sharing the daily logs from our road trip (which I shared only on my private Facebook page), photos and videos, as well as some funny adventure stories and practical tips/lessons for anyone planning to travel long distances in a very full car with very busy babies and/or toddlers. I wrote these daily updates as a way to keep our family in the loop and let them know, every night, that we had arrived at our next destination point safe and sound. Little did I know that we would get such a following of friends and relatives who were interested in following our trip! I am so grateful that God gave me the perseverance to keep them up because they are such treasures to our family now, and an online journal we can always look back on.

Note: I have put the updates I wrote last year in italics so you easily differentiate what I wrote last year and what I’m adding today.

I hope you join us for the next 15 days as we relive this forever epic #peitocaliforniaroadtrip! Below are the links in case you missed them.
Day 1 Summerside,PE to Bangor, ME
Day 2 Bangor, ME to Rochelle Park, NJ
Day 3 Rochelle Park, NJ to Pittsburgh, PA
Day 4 Pittsburgh,PA to Louisville, KY
Day 5 Louisville, KY rest day

Day 6: July 10, 2016

Louisville, KY to Michigan City, IN

I’m writing to say good night from Michigan City, Indiana! We are here staying with a friend of Brendon’s from his Legionary days. As soon as we parked in the driveway, alongside 2 other Honda Odysseys, we saw a head full of blond curls bopping up and down from the front door window. Their 3 boys were so excited for their new buddy Dominic to come play. Needless to say the house was instantly filled with the sound of little boys playing, the occasional crying, and a lot of thumping feet. Yet another surprise was waiting for us when we arrived. Fr. David, also a friend of Brendon’s was there to greet us and have dinner with us! The funny thing is that just last night we were talking about him after discovering that Matt Kenney actually went to grade school with Fr. David as kids and they are still close friends. The Catholic world is such a small one and so wonderful!

A Blessed Sunday

Earlier today we went to Mass at the beautiful parish of St. Louis Bertrand in old Louisville with Colleen and Matt. What a vibrant and fervent parish with so many young families filling the pews with children dressed to the nines, a wonderful homily (you know it must have been good if you remember a part of it even while rocking a grumpy and sleepy baby, and keeping an eye on the mischievous toddler), and such beautiful music! We had the pleasure of meeting Matt’s aunt, and his brother and his family including the youngest daughter, a newborn of just 9 days old. Dominic was so cute. He put his orange shades on and kept going back to the holy water font to bless himself. What a kid! I am so proud of our little man.

With Full Hearts and Bellies, We Continued on Our Way

Back at the Kenneys’ home we enjoyed a lovely brunch of pancakes made from scratch, perfectly crispy bacon, and juicy mango bites before packing up our van and saying our good-byes. What a lovely faith-filled family. I shared with Brendon that I truly felt like I had spent the last few days with a sister.

Just less than 4 hours from our destination and complete standstill on I-65N outside Louisville. Seems like there’s a car on fire up ahead. Glad babies are sleeping. Hoping everyone is OK and it will clear up soon so we can continue on our way.

Woah. That’s crisper than our bacon this morning. Praise God it doesn’t seem like anyone was injured. And we’re on our way!

The kids napped for the first part of our 4.5 hour drive and then we got stuck in horrible traffic when a car on the highway went up in flames (see photos I posted earlier today). About 1.5 hours out, we took a quick break and continued on our way only to run into another 40 minute delay due to construction with only 12 miles to go to reach our destination. Our sweet little kiddos actually did so well today and only got upset at the very end, and we know it’s because they had that rest day which we all so throughly enjoyed and desperately needed. Thank you again Colleen and Matt for having us. Our time spent with you three was so delightful and we can’t wait to see you next and meet little Baby Kenney soon! We’ll be praying for you!!!

Good Night!

This lovely home is now still and quiet with the exception of the soft humming of the dishwasher. My eyes are heavy, aching for rest. We crossed yet into another timezone. We are now in central time. Only 2 more until we will arrive to California! There’s a big day planned for tomorrow with a trip to the county fair and more playtime for the kiddos! We are so grateful to be here and to have another rest day! God continues to shower us with his love and blessing through these amazing people he has allowed us to visit with, and with such perfect weather thus far! #peitocaliforniaroadtrip #day6_louisvilletomichicgancity 

Practical Tips & Funny Stories of the Day

1. Prayers for Safety:
   1. We consider ourselves so blessed that we didn’t get have a single accident while on our epic road trip. The odds were against us as we were driving at least 7-10 hours a day and traveling long distances. I consider both Brendon and myself to be predictable and reliable drivers, but we know our safety doesn’t always depend on us. We know it was thanks to all the prayers of our family and friends that we were so fortunate. However, we did our part too. During the last leg, about half an hour left to our final destination for the night, we began the rosary and as we started off the next day, prayed to Our Lady for her protection using a prayer we learned from our high school days: