Emilee sharing a drink with brother
Our first stop in Midland, Tx for lunchtime!
This was in Dallas as we were leaving!
Here we are visiting with Chris and Rachel!
Paul and his step-brother Chris!
stopped in Virginia for dinner! 
Found these huge marshmellows in the store and the kid' loved them!
Joshua thought this was a huge treat for him!
Well, for those of you that didn't already know of this, we decided to go with Paul to a training that was in Pennsylvania for a month long. This is the story of how it all went for us with our oldest being 4 and our youngest being only 13mo's old and driving all the way to Pennsylvania in our minivan.The first day all went well as far as getting on the road when we planned to after having breakfast at The Bagel Shop in El paso. We drove all the way to Dallas and was there by around 8pm. The girl's loved seeing all the lights on the buildings downtown and was really hoping they could stop in at Six Flag's Over Texas for a short time. Or even the water park across the street from the amusement park. It was all such a thrill for them to see. The girl's did well in the van playing games, playing dolls, coloring, watching movies and looking at the map to see where we were at. Josh on the other hand we believe started teething and also started to have the runs. Not good for being on the road. He didn't want to sleep for nothing in the van. If he did sleep it would be for a short while and then he would wake up screaming. As soon we got to the hotel in Dallas we ordered pizza and the girl's played doll's for a bit and then off to bed, but Josh didn't go to sleep until around 1 or 130am. We were off on the road by 12noon to the next destination which was Nashville, Tenn. We stopped for a brunch at Denny's and then we were off. The second day on this journey was much better with Josh then the first so we were very thankful for that. He was in a really good mood with lots of laughter and love to share. Thank you Jesus! We finally got to Nashville around 11pm which was good timing because we didn't think we would get there till way after midnight. We got into a hotel by the skin of our teeth through our step brother in law, Chris Hughes. He lives there in Nashville with his lovely wife, Rachel and we were so grateful to be able to finally meet up with them after 6yrs. and have brunch with them at Cracker Barrel our favorite restaurant. Anyway, everyone got great sleep that night including Josh so we were all off to a great start. After spending about 2 or 3hrs. with Chris and Rachel at Cracker Barrel it was time to say goodbye and get back on the road. We were also grateful to see Chris on the day he was leaving to boot camp for the USMC. So thankful to get pic's to cherish. Emilee was happy to meet someone going to fight for our country because she is learning daily about how soldiers fight for our country. She can't wait to send pic's that she has colored. By Sunday night we were in Virginia and by 3am Monday morning we were in Pennsylvania. The trip from Virginia was the worst because it was getting to the end of our journey. All our kid's ended up getting sick of some sort. Emilee was aggravated with her allergies. Issy was just having stomach pains and Josh was overly tired with teething pains and having the runs. Stops were getting more consistent and the cries were getting worse oh and my headache was beyond belief. Then there were tolls in the highway that we weren't aware of nor had the cash for and they didn't take debit cards so luckily we had our checkbook. We weren't suppose to check into the hotel until 4pm on Monday, but they were nice enough to allow us to check in at 5am with no extra charge. It was so nice to finally get into the hotel and get everyone their med's and into a bed and settled in. Then about 2hrs after we settled in Paul heard water dripping in the bathroom. Long story short, the man upstairs fell asleep while running his bath water and it leaked and leaked and leaked into our bathroom below him. The hotel mgr. felt really bad for us with little ones and treated us like gold to make sure we were comfy. It sure was nice to get such treatment like this after what we had been through the past 3 day's. Today is Monday and all we did was rest, rest and rest. I've had a strain all day today on my neck so I've done nothing but lie around to hopefully get rid of the pain. About to go to bed for the night and i still have the strain in my neck. Paul starts his training tomorrow and is eager to learn so much. I don't think we will do much around here, but I plan to start my training for a 5k run that is happening at Paul's work on Sept 18th. I really hope i do well at training for this, but we'll see how it goes. Right now it's all about getting rest and getting to know the area around us. I will post weekly about our adventure here only for those of interest and for my kid's to see and read about in the future. We figured out some great places to go see so we are excited for the weekend to come. I'm not liking the time zone here because it just goes by to fast and i end up being up till 2am every night. I'm sure I'll get use to it. I've started training for my first run that I'm hoping to do in Sept. It will only be a 5k, but it is my first one of hopefully many. I set a goal of wanting to do a half marathon when i turn 40 as a celebration of entering that new life and it's something I've always wanted to do so we'll see how that works out. Love to all and I'm sorry there are no pic's, but it's only because i forgot my cord to download. If i can get another one, i will then post the many pic's taken on our journey here.=0)
