Goodbye, Las Vegas!

Last Thursday was our last full day in Las Vegas. I'm on my MIL's computer now, so if you want to see pics of our friends that I took last week, you can go here. It was a long, busy day. Ted was at the house early to meet the movers. We had high hopes that they would be done shortly after lunch, but the heat sapped their early-morning energy, apparently! Meanwhile, the kids and I drove from the TLF to pick up Charis from Julie's house, where she had spent the night with her friend Alyssa. Then to the old neighborhood to spend time with Braden and Mikaela, then to the park to meet friends for lunch, then back to the house.

All that went according to plan. But then things sort of fell apart. Ted went to pick up the towing dolly and tried putting the van on it with help from a couple of the mover guys. Turns out it was the WRONG dolly, and we never should have been able to rent it. After doing some damage to the paint on both vehicles, Ted gave up and took it back, and it's a good thing. Although we now have to drive two vehicles, at least we know we're safe!

It was dinnertime when the truck was loaded and the house completely cleaned out. We went to Debi's house for a spaghetti dinner and ended up having to scrap our plans to take the older kids to see Up. Instead, we headed back to the TLF, hoping to get a decent night of sleep before pulling out of town the next morning.

Alas, Lucan had a bad night, and I literally saw the clock every single hour from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. After Ted's final out-processing appointment, we said goodbye to Las Vegas and headed out of town, with me driving the minivan with Charis in it, and Ted and the rest of the kiddos in the Suburban. Charis was tasked with keeping me awake, but it took a stop at Dairy Queen shortly before we got onto I-70 to get me to stop weaving all over the road, according to Ted!! That Peanut Buster Parfait did help, but mostly listening to our Focus on the Family Radio Theater's Chronicles of Narnia CDs did wonders to keep my attention.

We stopped in Green River, UT, for the night and let the kids swim before eating delivered pizza. The next morning we were off to see Arches National Park! We spent a couple of hours exploring the park and were glad for the cloud cover when it was available, as it was a very hot day otherwise. The drive along the Colorado River back to I-70 was amazing...I'm so glad Ted planned that side trip for us! I'll definitely have to post pictures later.

We met Rhonda for dinner at a cute little tavern in Georgetown, about 50 miles from Denver. And we've been here in Colorado since Saturday! We attended church yesterday and went to the science museum today. After naps are finished, we're planning a family photo session with Ted's friend Bill as our photographer.

And with that...it looks like naps are over!! Kenna just sat up, so I'll close here. We'll be in CO until Thursday morning, at which time we'll head to Kansas and spend a couple of nights with Craig & Mimi before finishing the drive to Ohio.