Darn That Farm

Don't you love when you hear someone singing a song totally wrong, and you know they feel fully confident that they are singing it correctly? I do. It's always funny, especially when kids do it. Lately, Dylan's favorite song to sing at bedtime has been the classic 'Old MacDonald' & no matter how many times we try to tell him the right words he always sings"Old MacDonald had a farm e,i,e,i,o and darn that farm he had a..."

Darn. That. Farm.

I really love it, it sounds like such an exasperated little song now.

Utah Fun

We stopped in Utah for approximately 24 hours and got to see some of our favorite people! We arrived right around dinner time which was perfect because Karina & Alan wanted to take us to a little pizza place called...

Which was so much fun!

This is the first thing you see when you walk in, it's kind of got a Pirates of the Caribbean thing going there

Posing with a pirate!

 

Everything was so ornate & fun & the servers are all dressed in pirate garb. It's like a fancy Chuck E Cheese

This was on the wall in the bathroom. Oh & on the way to the bathroom there's a creepy pirate voice that starts talking in the dark hallway...it scared the bejeebers out of my kids & now every time I say we're going out for pizza they say "It's not Pirate Island is it?! I don't like that creepy pirate voice!" So funny!

We ordered the HUGEST pizza you could order there rightly called "The Kraken" here's what the menu says :

Summon The Kraken (2 feet across)
For the bravest o' sea dogs! We be talkin' 'bout 24 inches o' swag filled bliss! It's the biggest
pizza you and yer little brother have ever seen. Takes a mighty crew to finish this one off! 

Take Note Scallywags: Best allow extra cookin' time for The Kraken
whilst we summon this beast from the depths.

And summon they did...look at that beast. you can't even fit it in the frame...like a double rainbow, all the way. It's so intense.

After we couldn't possibly eat any more pizza we headed over to the "Aaaargade"...yeah, that's right! Isn't this place so fun?!

Alan for the win!

Go Dylan!

We pooled our tickets together to score the kids some awesome prizes...of course Claira picked out an eye patch, a magic wand, and a pink rubber ball while Dylan got a lizard, a ball, and a huge bling ring:)

After Pizza, and games we were hankering for some desserts so we went here

You can mix & match whatever flavors of frozen yogurt you want & put any toppings your little heart desires and they just charge you by weight! It was soooo yummy. I think I got something like white chocolate & cake batter frozen yogurt with a staggering amount of toppings...but I shared with Ben so it's ok:) Check out Claira's creation

I love that you can't see any amount of frozen yogurt in there. Good job Claira!

What a yummy place!

 It wouldn't be a Miller/Feuerlein party unless there were games involved!

Dylan conked out on the couch after a long day of fun

still clutching his prizes in his cute little hand

We weren't messing around about maximizing our time there so the next morning we got up & headed to a 10am showing of Toy Story 3 in 3D! What a FANTASTIC movie!!! We all loved it & I love that we got to see it with Karina & Alan:) That movie was hilarious! Ken was perfect in every way.

Ate lunch here

They have the best chicken nachos that could feed a small family (or me)

Uncle Alan had to go back to work & it's almost time for us to say goodbye...

but first Aunt Karina started a tickle fight (that was mostly one sided, can you tell?)

While Ben was packing up the car I asked Claira to man the camera & take some pictures of Karina & I together. I'm happy to say that they came out wonderfully awkward, as it very well should be. Enjoy the series of awkward photos.

Why the hands?

Not too close

Verrrry close

This isn't working...let's try standing instead

Almost got it...

It woulda been cute...

YAY!!! We did it!!! Great job Claira that was hard work!

Love these two! so hard to say goodbye!!!

On our way out of town we were able to stop by & see one of my best friends in the whole world! My Camille! We had so much fun catching up & our kids had a blast playing with her 4 beautiful kiddos:) It was too short! Miss ya already friend:) PS. I want that baby! hee hee!

We wished we had more time in Utah to see the many other favorite people that we love! We miss you all Utah people!

Haven't I done this before?

After Ben was released from the hospital we packed the car up to the heavens...including these happy little passengers & took off!:) Don't they look excited?! Let the road trip of all road trips begin! We were so ready to be on the road that after our many last minute errands, potty breaks, and goodbyes we left Philadelphia at 9pm, drove 2 1/2 hours and....too tired to go on...we got a hotel for the night. You gotta start somewhere right?!

We did a lot of rest stopping

The kids were rewarded for good behavior in the car with sleep in a warm bed every night...oh alright, and a dip in the pool and an all-you-can-eat continental breakfast every morning (those fresh waffles are the bomb diggity!)

We actually were never meant to be in Chicago, but due to a slight Ooooops in navigation we ended up arriving there right during rush hour & it took us a good portion of the afternoon to get back on the right track. What's a road trip without a few adventures & bumps in the road? Too bad we didn't have time to stop & check out the city:( That would have been awesome!

Chicago isn't the only awesome place in Illinois that we happened to drive through. If you love the movie "Wayne's World" you'll know exactly what I'm talking about! AURORA, Illinois baby! So funny!

Everyone knows you need some good refreshments on the road!

and electrolytes!

The people of Iowa welcomed us

We got a taste of the good life in Nebraska

And we made a FUN 24 hour pit stop in Utah to see some very special people (more about that in the next post)

There were other states we passed through (11 total!) but the camera man wasn't quite quick enough to capture all the signs but he got the best ones! We ended up going through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming (car almost broke down here....sigh), Utah, a teensy random corner of Arizona for like 5 miles, Nevada, and last but not least California!!!

Enjoying the Utah mountains!

After a much needed break & fun filled day in Utah we set out to complete our journey! I was determined to make it all the way to Primm/Stateline (about 30 minutes outside Las Vegas) to spend the night before our last stretch of driving. It took forever and I drove until my eyes were droopy. It was like 2am when we finally pulled into good ol' Whiskey Pete's Hotel parking lot. Want to know exactly how tired I was? Well. At this point I proceed to completely miss seeing a curb median in the middle of the parking lot, which I TOTALLY RUN OVER. 

Oh my gosh. 

I'm a moron. 

Not only did I run it over,  I also managed to get the car STUCK there. It.Will.Not.Budge. So after a few minutes of spinning wheels and steam coming out of my ears, I had a brilliant idea to make up for my idiocy. We took all the luggage out of the car to make it lighter and I was finally able to get the car out. 

I was too mad & tired to get a picture of it but now I wish I did.

Turns out that hotel didn't have any vacancies anyway.  Luckily the one across the street did so we slept there & continued our journey in the morning.

Passing by the largest thermometer in the world in Baker, CA

Once we got closer to the California coast the weather cooled off to the lovely 70's & down came all the windows! Oh the feeling of freedom & lots of hair!

You can see the ocean in my rear view mirror! We had about an hour left of driving here...SO HAPPY!!!

We made it safe & sound & Ben went into the hospital to get checked out that night & he had recovered 100%! The next day he left to go to AL for 5 weeks while we stayed & played with Grandparents, cousins, aunts, & uncles galore! Summer fun is up next!