Day 2- on the road again

We had some eggs for breakfast and packed up our site. Everyone slept pretty good in the RV.

This boy is ready for the day. It's sunny today and we're excited for our next adventure. 

Of course when Matt pulled the sewer hose out to empty it, it was broke!!  Luckily, the convenience store had one for us to buy. It was a team effort (and rather disgusting) but we got the job done. 

That's the broke one ...

We're back on the road and almost to Uncle Jim and Aunt Cindy's house. Hunter has been looking hard to find those mountains. We haven't seen them yet...

We stopped at a gas station and picked up an additional passenger for the last 2 hours of the drive...

IT'S MOM MOM!!!!!

Day 1 continued

We got our fire going to keep the mosquitos away. But it worked best for S'mores!!

The kids enjoyed using the sticks to play in the gravel too. Hunter was set with playing in the dirt and gravel. He's a little better camper than Caitlin so far. She's not a fan of the smoke from the fire. 

And if anyone was wondering, yes Baby Tina of course made it on the trip. The girls got their matching jammies on and Caitlin was asleep in a matter of minutes. 

Day 1- Grand Island, Nebraska

We successfully made it to our first stop which was a KOA campsite in Grand Island, Nebraska. It took us about 9 hours to get there. This rig doesn't get anywhere quickly. It was a very dreary and rainy trip the whole way. Luckily it didn't rain on us when we got there. The kids did pretty good on the trip and Hunter even got a nap in. I tried snoozing for a few minutes but Caitlin wouldn't let that happen. Matt is  an excellent RV driver. He's got this bad boy figured out!!  We had a few sandwiches on the go which worked out great.

These are 2 Happy Campers!!!

When we arrived at the campsite, everyone was so friendly and they even delivered the firewood to us. It was a great little place and we got a spot on the end with extra grassy area. We cooked ribeyes on the grill and they were delicious. 

We're thinking about sending this photo to Cruise America. This needs to be on their website!!

'Twas the night before vacation...

We leave for our first real family vacation tomorrow morning. We are headed to Colorado for quite an adventure in a rented RV.  Yes, that's right. We have a 30' RV for a whole week. 

We started planning this trip about nine months ago when we lost Matt's brother. It was his wish for his ashes to be spread over Storm Mountain, his ultimate "Happy Place."  And we will make sure his wish comes true😘.  He went there all the time growing up to visit Uncle Jim and Aunt Cindy. I've heard so much about this place and can't wait to see the Colorado mountains for the first time. The kids couldn't be more anxious to get rolling. Hunter has been asking every day if it's RV day. 

The RV trip out there was Matts idea and he is very proud of it. He's made great friends with the rental place and has been researching about it since November. After several months of anticipation, we are about to embark on an adventure of a lifetime. We have a lot of packing to do still.  It's great this thing has lots of storage!

As you can see, Clark Griswold himself is going with too!!!! (Oh wait, that's just Matt!)

Matt's parents will be meeting us in Johnstown, CO where Dianne's brother Jim and his wife Cindy live. They are eagerly waiting for our arrival. But before we get there, we will be stopping overnight in Nebraska for some fun at the RV park.

Good night RV, maybe we will give you a name tomorrow...

Merry Christmas

What a wonderful Christmas!  We are blessed with 2 beautiful and healthy children and such loving families.  Here are just a few of the many pictures from the day.  A few highlights of what they got:

Caitlin - dollhouse, doll, tons of coloring stuff, vanity, hair accessories, jewelry, & barbies

Hunter- toolbox, car transporter, tractors, cars, tent, remote control bobcat & dump truck

It was a magical day... couldn't have asked for anything more!!

Christmas Eve

 

This was the best picture we could get...

 Christmas Eve started with Mass at Epiphany and the kids were actually pretty good.  We celebrated with appetizers back at our house with both families.  We were blessed to have Grandma & Grandpa Streit come and stay with us on Christmas Eve.  Mom Mom got the kids some Christmas jammies which are always cute.  She also got them new books to read before bed.  Grandma read to Caitlin and Grandpa read to Hunter.  And for once, they both stayed in their beds all night.  It was a Christmas Miracle!!!

Christmas at the Streit's

Chaos!!! (But fun)

Grandpa's present... a new grill!

Everyone was able to make it to the Streit Christmas.  It was a blast.  The kids has so much fun opening all their gifts and playing with the cousins.  Kristen was probably the most fun to watch because she loved everything she got and was so animated about it.  It's always great when all 5 grand kids get to play together.  The adults had fun too!!

SANTA

 Our annual trip to Peoria's Bass Pro Shop to see Santa was a success.  The kids sat on his lap and there was no crying.  Caitlin asked for a new baby doll and Hunter asked him for a toolbox.  They enjoyed walking around the store for awhile and checking out the fish aquarium and cool toys (the hats didn't come home, but a stuffed animal deer and turkey did:)  

After our visit with Santa, we took Grandma, Grandpa, Mom Mom and Pa out to dinner to Davis Brothers Pizza.  We ended the night going through the Festival of Lights.  Pa lets the kids sit on his lap when we look at the lights so they think that's pretty awesome.  It's one of my favorite nights of the holidays!!!!  Can't wait til next year...

Picking the perfect tree

Obsessed with tape measures...he helped daddy measure.

It's not as tall as Matt was hoping for, but this year it might actually be manageable for me to put the lights on.  It's a 3 day process though.  Day 1- get the tree, Day 2- put the lights on, Day 3- decorate it.  It's all worth it though.  It's fun to take the kids to pick it out.