2545 Miles Later

WARNING: Very long post ahead!

We put 2545 miles on our trusty van in 12 days. Since we have lots of time during our sabbatical, we decided to take an extended family vacation this summer and drive farther than our usual three to four hours from home for our vacation. Aaron's a huge history fan, and is especially fascinated by Civil War history. So we decided to knock something off his bucket list of things to see by heading south and following Grant's trail to the Siege of Vicksburg in Mississippi. We prepared by checking out all sorts of library books of various levels about the Siege of Vicksburg so everyone could be read up on their facts and know what they were looking at and hopefully find it more interesting.

But before we started our journey, a few days before, Keilah thought it would be a good idea to give herself a manicure and facial with some nail polish Abby left out on the floor.

Amazingly, Keilah painted herself while sitting on our carpet and didn't get a single bit on the carpet. Only all over her body. Pink on the top half and purple on the bottom half. It cleaned up much easier than I thought it would, thankfully. 

We left for our trip on Saturday, June 6. But before we departed, David had one very important thing to accomplish first. We took him to Washington so he could run in the Kewash 1/2 marathon (that's 13.1 miles)

He came in 5th overall with a time of 1:40:11. He was pleased by his time and place. We were too! He then spent much time at the food table following the race replenishing all the calories he burned off and then some. 

We went home, David showered and we finished stuffing our van full and were out the door by around noon.

Our start of the journey obligatory picture 

Aaron drove the first leg of the trip. 

I fearlessly navigated. We weren't sure how far we would go that first day and figured we'd wing it on finding a campsite for the night. We found a state park an hour or two past St. Louis. We wanted to make sure we found a place while it was still light out so we could cook some supper and get everything set up. On our way, Aaron prayed for God's blessing and provision for us to find a place to stay. We arrived at the camping place and there was a big sign at the entrance stating "NO CAMPING VACANCY". Uh-oh. Our hearts sank because we didn't know where else to go. So I found the park ranger so I could find out where other nearby campgrounds might be. But first, I asked him if there were any spots left in the park. He said, "Yes, we have only one spot left" and proceeded to show us to the best spot in the entire campground. It was right by a lovely little creek that the girls adored and in the quiet section of the camp. We were blessed by God's provision for us! 

Ana and the boys got busy building a fire so we could cook our supper. 

Keilah and I set up the inside of our tent. She loved it. Abby helped in keeping Keilah entertained while we were busy getting our tasks done. 

Once all the set-up was done, the girls went off to explore the creek - named Pickle Creek. They were in heaven as they walked up the creek bed finding awesome things that delighted their hearts and giving names to all the landmarks of interest they noticed (drum water, serenity pool, blood rock, table rock, etc) 

Aaron took Keilah for a smaller walk in the creek. She was slightly scared, but ended up enjoying it a lot. 

The girls were sad to leave the creek. They played in it all morning while we finished tearing down and packing up. Then it was off to Mississippi. We went to Vicksburg and decided to have some fun right away. We found a swimming pool to cool off. Ten minutes after getting into the pool, it very suddenly started to rain. Hard. So we sat in our respective locker rooms waiting it out since the pool gave no refunds. After about 20 minutes, the rain stopped and we resumed our swimming. We then traveled to our campsite a little later than we had hoped. The entrance was chained shut when we got there. Uh-oh. Again, I found the park ranger and asked if we could camp there. Of course we could! The girls took great delight in listening to his southern drawl. We set up our tent quickly in the gathering dusk and quickly lit a fire to cook our supper. It was to be the last fire we lit on our camping trip. In the morning, we explored our campground, which was also a historical site, complete with a Civil War museum on the grounds. We climbed up a lookout tower to see the surrounding area and see the Mississippi River 

Keilah got scared on the first flight of stairs and so I carried her up the entire way. I was huffing and puffing by the time I got to the top. 

We hiked around our campground some more looking at some old Civil War things. Abby found a cute turtle. 

By evening, it was pouring rain, so we made our home in the laundry room and did some laundry while eating our supper. 

Ana took a picture of us. 

Keilah took great delight in running all over the place in the laundry room 

We passed the time by playing a game of Five Crowns. My laundry wasn't all dry and I was out of quarters. Unfortunately, there wasn't a change machine in there, so I went from camper to camper with my dollar bill seeking someone who had four quarters for my dollar. A very trying experience for my introverted little self! 

The morning was bright and clear and we decided to spend the day driving along the trail Grant took in his journey to capture Vicksburg. We saw some pretty awesome trees there too. Not sure what kind this was, but we loved it. 

We stopped at the Windsor Ruins near Fort Gibson. It was so cool and way more impressive in real life than the pictures we had seen. We didn't realize the columns would be so huge! 

The detail was amazing. It would have been such a sight to see in it's glory. 

Some perspective on how tall these columns were. 

Ana took this picture. I thought it was pretty cool. 

We went to Raymond and walked along a little historical park that told about the battle that took place there. Keilah was very interested in pointing out all the cannons she saw. 20 minutes later, it began to rain again. We drove and drove that day looking for various battle sites on roads that weren't very well marked. Sometimes we only found a single plaque marking the site of a very big battle. Aaron was a bit disappointed by it, but he still enjoyed seeing the area and the terrain and getting a feel for what it was like in real life.

It began raining hard again by evening. Another night with no fire, so we took a quick stop at Walmart to pick up a few more things along with some hot chicken from the deli. We spent another night in the laundry room doing another load of laundry, playing games, and chasing Keilah around the room. 

Our final morning in the Vicksburg area was spent at the Vicksburg Military Park. It was pretty fascinating. Keilah again was very enamored by all the different kinds of cannons. 

Aaron was quite happy. 

If we didn't have small children with us, we could have spent hours upon hours there. There were various plaques all around the area showing who was stationed where and other various points of interest. 

Each state involved in the siege had a monument and we are happy to report that Iowa's was one of the best. 

We left Mississippi and turned west to drive to Texas. The second part of our trip was purely for relaxation purposes. We have friends who own a little cottage and we were so blessed to be able to stay there for a week. It was heavenly to walk in after camping and being on the road for the past five days. 600 square feet never felt so spacious and amazing. 

We all fell in love with our little cottage. I discovered the joys of the magical box that did my dishes for me with the push of a button. 

I went to the dollar store before our journey and bought a few little trinkets for Keilah to have something new and amazing to play with during the long drives. One of the things was a pack of little dinosaurs. She loved them and this one in particular was her favorite. She named him Truman.

Aaron and I had our own bedroom in the cottage. After sharing a tent with the kids, this was awesome! 

The neighbors next door had horses. The girls, Keilah in particular, loved watching and petting the horses. There was a white one with just enough red speckles mixed in that from afar it looked slightly pink. Keilah loved that "pink horse" and talked about the pink horse all week long. 

Ana celebrated her 12th birthday while we were there. 

She wanted Fruit by the Foot. She is easy to please. 

And a Minecraft Lego set was icing on the cake. 

The horse neighbors also spent much time training bird dogs. It was fascinating to watch how they trained these dogs. Aaron and Keilah spent much time by that fence watching the horses and dogs. 

Our week there was perfect. We really did nothing and that's what we liked! David got to realize his dream of sitting around reading all day long. We would find him sitting under a tree most of the day reading. We played games we brought along. We rested. We played outside with Keilah. We took the girls swimming at another friend's pool almost every day. I cooked nice meals for us to enjoy. I took the older kids into Dallas one day to go to the Lego store so they could all spend their money on the pick-a-brick wall. We had very happy kids. A number of evenings found Aaron and me sitting on the back porch with our friends sipping wine and enjoying one another's company. Often times when we go on vacation, I come home feeling tired and in need of rest. Not this time. I came home refreshed and rested. I think this was the best vacation ever! 

Keith and Susan came over on Ana's birthday to enjoy a slice of birthday pie with us and to give Ana a birthday present. She was delighted by it. 

Finally, it was time to pack up and head home. Tropical storm Bill was rearing his ugly head as we packed our van in the pouring rain. We originally thought of taking two days to drive home, but with all the rain forecasted, we decided to make the trip in one day. It was a long day of driving, but the kids handled it like champs. 

A blurry shot, but a very delightful sign finally welcoming us to Iowa. 

Again, you can't see this very well, but towards the end of our journey, Keilah suddenly burst out with, "Hey! Look at those marshmallows!" They were the white plastic wrapped round hay bales dotting the fields. We all roared with laughter and will never look at them the same way again. 

And finally, you can't see Keilah in this video as it was getting dark, but she got her second wind as we drove through Iowa getting closer and closer to home. Here you can sample a bit of what she was doing for the last hour. She's singing lots of her favorite "songs" including, "I like onion salad!", "Eat your potatoes", the My Little Pony Theme Song, and more! 

So there is my long recap of our trip! I hope you enjoyed it!