Utah June 29, 2011

When we got to Utah we went straight to our friend Rhonda and Ted's for Ted's birthday. Ted is Hawaii and what would we have? You guessed a Luau, we had a great time, Rhonda is the ultiamte party animal. She we have been best friends for 25 years and still have the best time with these dear friends.

After the Luau we went to Laura and Waynes where we slept for a few hours and took off on the rest of the adventure. Parker loved cuddling with grandpa, but Taylor was not going to sit by and let him cuddle with grandma without her!

Day One Wyoming June 29, 2011

Our trip from our home to Utah is eight hours long. We went through Wyoming, there really isn't much that is exciting about Wyoming and we were on a time crunch so we did not make any stops except at a rest area for a picnic lunch. It was so windy there and there were bugs everywhere that we ate fast and left. Oh the great ideas of picnics!

Summer Vacation Part II June 29, 2011

We flew home from Pennsylvania on June 28th, we arrived home at 8 am, had our van in the shop by 10, the van was loaded by 6 pm and ready for the next journey. Since we were going to be gone for over a month I had a lot of food I had been stocking up on, we are a family of five and I didn't want to have to purchase a lot of food on the trip so I stocked piled from January until June. One whole side of the van was filled with food, Loren said if we eat faster we'd have more room. We also had three huge garbage sacks full of clothes for some friends kids. We were a bit filled when we headed out for Utah our first destination on June 29th. here is a picture when we first left! I also packed for the first half of the trip, by packing a bag to take in each night until we got to my sister-in-law's and brother-in-laws house in Vancouver Washington. I also made a binder that covered each state we were going to go in and all the things that we could see on that leg of the journey. Not that we would see all the things but I wanted to have options for each day. We did not want this trip to be only about driving.

Home and the 2nd half of our summer

Once we arrived home on June 26th we put our van in the shop for a tune up and oil change. We had the tires rotated so we could prepare for the 2nd half of our vacation. Once the van was out of the shop that afternoon, we quickly loaded to van so we could leave the next morning. In the next few days I'll post pictures from the 2nd half of our vacation which lasted a month. So, it will take a few days to post all the pictures.

Going home!

We were in Pennsylvania from June 17-26, we had a wonderful time. The time flew by so fast. The night before we flew out we drove to Baltimore and stayed in a hotel so that we didn't have to get up at 1 or 2 am to drive to the airport. This way we only had to get up at 4 am..which was perfect. Here are a few pictures of the hotel and the airport. We didn't have the camera handy on the flight because I was stuck next to a man who took up half my seat, I worried if I got up for anything, I would come back to no seat. I felt like I had to fight for my seat the whole flight. Our flight left at 6:15 am and arrived home at 8:00 am, it was prefect!

The Hersey Chocolate Experience!

Playing at Aunt Nancy's!

The kids had lots of riding toys to play on while we were there! The kids loved all the fun toys they had.

More of Gettysburg

Gettysburg was an amazing place for our family to visit. I can not say enough about it. The kids, Loren and I all have a huge respect for this wonderful place!