Nana's House

5 Kids and 2 Moms happy to be out of the car!

(Autumn and Emmie; Colin and Hunter; Justin, Lisa, Annalise)

Getting ready to go again

(Autumn and Emmie; Lisa and Annalise; Colin and Hunter; Justin)

We left South Dakota and headed south to Nana's House where I knew a warm shower, good food, a big hug, and a glass of wine were waiting for me! We took a route through Wyoming and had a few adventures at the Pizza Hut where I had my kids stand in separate corners (for fighting) while we waited for the pizza to be brought to the table. It's always interesting with those two...

Our stay was supposed to last two days but the next morning we realized that it was a full 12 hour drive to the Grand Canyon where John was waiting for us. As you may have guessed, this would have been a challenge for a carload of 5 kids. We decided to spend the day in Denver at Nana's pool before heading out that afternoon for Glenwood Springs.

I spent the morning packing the U-Haul with all kinds of treasures from Mom's house. I'm such a good daughter because at least I gave her a warning (as she drove out to buy me a coffee)! "Anything in the house is fair game, right?"

In the end I came home with boxes of Christmas decorations, more 'nic nacs' and a beautiful mirror that I thought she'd be mad about. When I fessed up, she laughed at me and wished me good luck getting it home in one piece. After we had a full trailer, the thunderclouds rolled in just in time for us to head to the pool. We took a look at the skies and decided that we were safe from lightning so we packed up the sandwiches and headed down there. We had a good afternoon playing at the pool all by ourselves - first in the rain and then in the warm Colorado sunshine.

It's funny how even at 34 years old, it feels so good to be at my Mom's house. It always feels like I'm on a vacation when I'm there becase she takes care of me and there's always this odd feeling that everything will be OK when she's around.