What a View

(warning - there are A LOT) of pictures in this post - because it was impossible to choose just one or two) 

There just aren't words other than "eye candy" to describe what we saw yesterday. 

 To be honest, my knowledge of our country's national park system. I didn't know about Arches until I started planning our route and looking at things to do on the way. 

I am SO glad I did a little research - because it would have been a tragedy to miss this. 

 or this -

 or this

 The colors and majesty of this place were "take your breath away" beautiful.

 I know that there is a detailed and verified scientific explanation for all this splendor and beauty - but there is no way this is a random act. It is mind blowing to me that the same God who created all this beauty also sets the fatherless in families. 

 Balancing rock - I ma pretty convinced that this defies all the scientific law and it is only God that holds this in place! 

 The "Window" - a beautiful example of the wonder of Arches! 

 For some perspective....

Delicate Arch - the most famous of the Arches. We didn;t do the three mile round trip hike to the base. 100 degree heat + 5 pm plus four tired kids = "we will see it next time up close"

 We were very brave today - after a 7 hour car ride and two hours of touring in the heat, we decided to get some dinner out. We went to a cool "log cabin" restaurant and had a very peaceful and calm dinner.

An A+ day all the way around - God's beauty in both a macro and micro sense. 

Amazing! 

The nitty gritty of traveling

We are on day 16 of traveling - that's a lot of miles and hotels and different beds and change and cool things. We are learning a lot about "how" our family does this and some of the peaks and valleys. 

Teenagers who are a different sleep cycle certainly qualify as one of the challenges! They like to stay up later and sleep later than the rest of us - and thats a bit of a challenge when everyone is sleeping in one room (and when if you wake them up, they are pretty grumpy!). We have managed to work around it pretty well...

The peaks - the absolutely amazing reminder that creation provides of our great God! NO man's imagination nor no "random geological movements" could possible have sculpted such beauty as this part of this country shows off. One of the girls said "God was showing off when He did this" 

Yes He was! 

 Another peak - Cami is super interested in learning right now, so she asks a lot of questions. Thanks to the magic of smart phones - we are able to answer them. We learned a lot about this tunnel yesterday! 

 We covered some serious miles on both side of the divide - to wind up where we will spend a few days! 

 Another peak - the rest areas in this part of the country! Seriously - they are NICE! We found ones with play structures and they all have clean bathrooms free of graffiti and space and green! This one had a bridge and a stream through it - really? We ARE in Kansas! 

 This girl - she has hugged just about every person she has seen every single mile - whether or not she knows them. She gets a smile every single time! 

 SNACK TIME! 

 This app saved us from some serious "h-angry" related valleys! 

I have to say - the actual traveling has been pretty good! One or another at one time or another has struggled - and we have one who "go home now"  which is totally understandable. 

Pressing on to the national parks tomorrow! 

Old Fashion Summer Fun

One of the strangest things about being on the east side of the Continental Divide has been all the water. 

Lots and lots of water.

For us California folks - it a little disconcerting to her water being left running and sprinklers on at all times of the day. 

But we decided to take advantage of it and introduce our kids to one of the old fashion summer fun things - something they certainly won't ever be able to do in our drought ridden state for a very long time! 

We also dod some old fashion pool time! 

 Besides being an outstanding husband and amazing father, Jonathan is also an excellent big brother to the girls. He engages with them and loves on them and plays with them - rough housing the way only a big brother can! 

 Poor guy never stood a chance! 

Tuesday morning - it was off toe Denver to start the drive back home. It is always so hard to say good bye - but it helped knowing that we would see everyone again in a few weeks! 

People and more people and places and more places

Our final 24 hours in St. Louis included seeing some VERY special people - first, we got to spend some more time with Aunt Kathy.

 Then it was over to Uncle Mike's house.....

 where our very, very dear friend John had made the drive down from Ohio to see us. 

Saturday, it finally stopped raining!!!! Saturday morning we had a small break in the weather. The only thing that the girls really, really wanted to do all week was go to the zoo. We had a three hour window of time on Saturday and Becky and Cami had been so patient all week with all the doctor appointments that we really wanted to make it happened. 

Aunt Kathy came with us too - loved us some penguins! 

Sunday morning - it was up and away again....in the rain again......! 

On the drive to Kansas City, we saw us some real honest to goodness weather. Some serious cell thunderstorms rolled over us on the drive - the non-weather experienced girls handled it fairly well! 

It took us a while to get there, but we finally got to Kansas City. Ashlee and the girls were waiting for us - and we did a little more swimming! 

Besides the cool hotel pool and another grand baby fix...the real attraction and highlight of Kansas City are these people. 

These people - my Aunt Karen and Uncle Terry - knew me before I was born. They have been a staple in my life forever. I love them - and it seemed only fitting that on Father's Day - I got to spend some time with the man who was a second father to me. 

We had a great dinner with them - and it was so nice for them to get to meet know only all my girls - but the babies too! 

The amazing woman whose name I share - love her and am so blessed by her! 

We are westward bound now. It has been a great trip so far - and we have loved all our time with all of our loved ones, but we are sort of ready to be home.