A quick introduction for those just joining us…

Sharing our Road Trip, Day by Day

From the day we arrived here and settling 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 Louisville, KY to Michigan City, IN
Day 7 Michigan City, IN rest day
Day 8 Michigan City, IN to Davenport, IW
Day 9 Davenport, IW to Bellevue, NE

Day 10: July 14, 2016

Bellevue, NE to Fort Morgan, CO

Hello from Fort Morgan, Colorado! We drove through pretty much the entire state of Nebraska today and pushed ourselves to make it here. In hindsight I think we pushed the kids a bit too much and should have stopped at Ogallala, NE as we had originally planned but they had just woken up from a long snooze, we stopped at a Walmart to pick up a few necessities and a few treats, and we had crossed into mountain time zone so we thought let’s go a bit further. Audrey was not happy about getting back in her carseat and although we were able to pacify the kids complaining for a while, by the time there was full out wailing, we were already passed the point of no return so Brendon did the best he could to amuse them and I stepped on the gas and focused on getting our family to our hotel as soon and as safely as possible. The highway was nearly empty and only had a few construction delays, so we were able to make it here by 7:30pm.

Thank you Clark family for opening your home and hearts to us! It was so great to see you Hannah!

10-10-10

Turns out we did a little over 10 hours on the road (including stops) for our day 10 of our road trip and Audrey turned 10 months! We are pretty much all wiped out but surprisingly don’t feel extremely exhausted as the multiple stops, although it tacked on more time to our trip, those stops really helped to relieve some of the fatigue along the way. Once we got the kids into the hotel though, they went crazy running here and there, climbing, jumping and rolling around getting out all that extra pent-up energy they had from a long day in the van.

Her face! I think this is how we all felt that morning, Hey! Where’s my coffee?!?!

Sleepless Night & Coffee

Last night was a rough one for 3 out of 4 of us. Dominic, once asleep, slept through everything that went on, lucky boy! Brendon’s sunburn had gotten so bad and painful that he tossed and turned and said it felt like fire ants or a swarm of mosquitos were bitting him all over his upper back and shoulders. We tried putting layers of aloe gel in addition to some Advil to help with the pain, but he still couldn’t fall asleep through the pain. Audrey was up at 1:45 so I gave her a bottle and rocked her to sleep. Finally at 2:30am after tossing and turning and neither one of us sleeping much, I wiped away all the aloe and rubbed a few drops of lavender essential oil on his back with some coconut oil. Although it didn’t work immediately, he said after a tv episode and a rosary, he was able to fall asleep. The lavender on my hands worked quicker on me and I was fast asleep and don’t recall him crawling back into bed. Then Audrey was up again at 5am and after snoozing in our bed, woke for good around 7:30am. Needless to say coffee, coffee, coffee and snacks are what got us through all that driving today.

Fun Rest Stops Along the Way

Loved seeing this girl for coffee today on our way West! ?

We had several fun stops today which really helped make this long day of driving less painful. We first stopped at a neat coffee shop/bistro/bar called Toast in Lincoln, just over an hour away from where we were staying, to meet up with Mary Kate, the second Brock sister we’ve visited during this trip! It had been 7 years since I saw her last and it was so great to catch up over coffee and lunch and for her to meet my family. Thanks for making the time to see us!

Our next stop was prompted by Dominic insisting he had to or had already pooped. He kept insisting “Oh me, poopy potty now”. We had just stopped to fill up gas an hour ago and done diaper changes, and thought we might go a bit longer before our next stop but he insisted and the next exit actually had signs to the Great Platte River Road Archway Museum in Kearney which looked really neat. It was definitely a tourist stop but so interesting! If we had the time and our babies were older we might have been tempted to visit the museum. but we had a long way to go so we took a few photos, did diaper changes, had a little snack and were back on our way. It was after this stop the kids had their long nap.

West Nebraska is definitely flat and without much to see but it had a certain calm to it and entering in Colorado those flat desert lands turned more hilly, but so far our drive has been pretty smooth.

Colorado, here we come!

The sun setting on another day as we settle in at a Roadway Inn in Fort Morgan, CO

Tomorrow we will venture into Denver and try to make it to Grand Junction. I have to admit as we drove by the state line into Colorado my heart skipped a beat in excitement. We’re really getting close to the west now. I can’t believe how much land we’ve covered and that it’s already the end of day 10. We have amazed ourselves in handling the daily challenges and we’re so proud of our babies for doing so well despite the daily change they face. Brendon has been so amazing in doing the bulk of the driving and I know it is all of your prayers that have been keeping us safe thus far. Thank you and please continue! Good Night dear friends. Until tomorrow! xoxo#peitocaliforniaroadtrip #day10_bellevuetofortmorgan

Practical Tips & Funny Stories of the Day

1. Brendon here: don’t test out new sunscreen on a road trip. Just don’t. I took some new sunscreen for an afternoon at the pool, followed all the instructions. This brought about one of the worst nights in my life. It was like ants crawling all over my body… all night long. This goes with most products that you rely on. Tried and true is the way to go when you’re on the road.
2. Medicine/ Emergency Kit: Have one stashed away with easy access. If you have teething babies, I’ve found Infant Advil works better than Tylenol. Having an emergency kit in the car is smart. Although we didn’t think that far for this past trip, and didn’t end up needing it, I think if we ever made another road trip, we’d make sure to pack one.