Almost Home

The last stop on our grand adventure of 2013 was Grandma and Papa’s house.  We arrived in the afternoon on the 4th of July… just in time for a cookout.  The kids greatly enjoyed tractor rides with Papa, playing board games with Grandma and running the trains in the basement.

Then they requested a visit to “The Coolest Playground Ever.”  As we trekked around the US over the past 3 weeks, Scott and I learned from the kids that the playground by which all playgrounds are judged against is the wooden one by Grandma and Papa’s.    Even when we went to what I thought was the coolest one ever in Gunnison, Co… I was told, “This has the fastest slides we’ve ever been on, but it’s not as cool as the wooden one by Grandma and Papa’s.”  Therefore, Scott and I requested a visit to see this infamous playground. 

After a visit to the playground, we headed back to the house to cool off, and get ready for a camp fire and sparklers!  We were really able to fit quite a lot into our short visit!  We all had a fun and relaxing afternoon and evening at my parents.

The kids are quite used to the drive to and from my parents house.  It’s 5 hours without stopping and they can do it without even having to get out of the car.  In fact a drive to or from Grandma and Papa’s has actually become a unit of measurement.  Throughout our grand adventure, we would compare each days drive to a trip to Grandma and Papa’s… each days drive was either a “little more than a trip to”  “a little less than a trip to” or on some of our long days it was “like driving to grandma and papa’s getting in the driveway and turning around and driving home.”  Today when we got in the van we were able to say that we had “exactly a drive from Grandma and Papa’s” till we reached our final destination….which will be home. 

Before we set out on this trip, I assumed by this point we would all be sick of driving and riding and more than ready to be home.  But, I can honestly say we’ve had the time of our life and I am NOT READY for it to be over.