Road trip report

(from Lajuana)

I think I have sufficiently recovered from the road trip to now post some pictures and report on our travels. We drove through the night to get to Austin about lunch time, and checked into a hotel that was absolutely disgusting. It looked nothing like it's cheery pictures on the internet. Here is a picture of part of the bathroom ceiling that was covered in mold.


Needless to say we didn't stay there, but found a nicer place just a few blocks away. We spent the first few days with two of John's brothers and kids. We saw some sights in Austin and played games and went swimming. We went to the botanical gardens where Hannah was attacked by a giant scorpion. The kids had fun, but the heat and walking definitely tired them out.









We were so lucky that the Cluffs attend church in Austin, so we crashed their ward and then went home with them. They have a great house, and they welcomed us with open arms. Erin even encouraged me to do my laundry there, which helped a TON so I had much less to do when I got home. They have a trampoline that Kevin and Jared loved to jump on, and the dads took the kids to the park while we made Sunday dinner. It was so nice to be with them again, and the kids played so nicely together--it was amazing. Thanks so much, Cluff family!

We left Monday morning to go visit with John's dad for the day, then we went out to stay with my sister in Tyler, which I think is the prettiest place in Texas. We went to the (free!) rose gardens and also went swimming with my niece and nephew who are teenagers. My sister has a kitty that Hannah was obsessed with--she spent hours with it. It almost makes me ready to get a cat. Almost.







The drive home seemed twice as long as our drive there, even though it was actually a few hours shorter. I got a speeding ticket at 4 am, for going 76 mph on an interstate with nobody else around, how annoying is that?! The kids all traveled well in the van thanks to the dvd player and 8 borrowed dvd's from the library. Kevin is finally old enough that he will watch shows and movies for at least part of the time, and that is a wonderful attribute for children during a road trip! Though the trip was great, it was so wonderful to walk in our door, home at last. Kevin asks every day whose house we are going to today, and when I say we're just staying here, he says "I wanna go to the Club house" which I finally figured out means Cluff's house. It's going to be a long summer.