After 5 years of living in the PNW it was time for our big move! We knew it was coming for a year and a half before it happened. We were excited for a new adventure but still sad to leave some great neighbors and friends that we made there.
This was the home we moved into with a three year old, a one year old, and a one month old! Over the five years that we lived here we added two more girls to our family. There were a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of busy shifts for Bryan, and mostly a lot of personal growth that occurred as this was a growing and stretching phase for our family. We also had so many great memories that took place in this home! After we had moved everything out and cleaned it up Bryan had us walk through each room of the home and tell our favorite memory there. The kids ate this up and I couldn’t believe all the great memories that they shared! It was the perfect home for our family during this phase and we thank God that He led us here.
We said our goodbyes and then we moved into a hotel on base for 10 days until Bryan could “officially” leave. After a hotel room with 5 kids we were all eager to begin our big drive to NY!
The first day we drove around 6 hours to Silver Mountain, a fun indoor water-park in Northern Idaho. The kids loved it of course!
A highlight was this indoor surf thing that the lifeguards even let Reese try with them! It was so fun!
Next, we made our way to Mount Rushmore.
Then we took a short bus ride to see the Crazy Horse Memorial.
Although it is not finished it was cool to see the construction crew in action.
From there we continued driving through South Dakota. We stopped at this random restaurant for lunch and it ended up being the best place we ate at the entire trip!
Their Navajo tacos were amazing and they had delicious pie too! Everyone was happy. Especially this super pregnant mama who can be somewhat picky with what she eats on car trips. 🙂
We fell in love with the National parks in the PNW and decided to stop at a couple on our way across the country. Badlands was a lot more impressive than we thought it would be!
We did one short hike but there were lots of cool places to explore once we got there and the kids had a blast!
It was hot there with not a lot of shade. We were happy we got there early to explore and were definitely happy that we made this a stop on our trip!
From there we drove to Indiana to see our friends from our DC days! We pulled up to their house on the evening of the Fourth of July where they had a delicious BBQ and fireworks waiting for us! After traveling for many days it was great to stay put in a house for a few days.
I didn’t know that the Great Lakes had beautiful beaches but we had a blast hanging out at one!
It was also great to catch up with our friends and we were so grateful for their hospitality during our stay!
The kids were not too excited to get back into the car again but we didn’t have too much left to go! We stopped at another National Park in Ohio and did a “hike” there.
It was pretty low-key compared to other National parks we had visited but it was green with lots of trees and we were all happy to stretch our legs.
Hank and Reese were happy to get out all of their pent up tension after sitting in the car together for dozens of hours.
From there we headed to Pennsylvania for a memorable night’s stay at the Great Wolf Lodge. Then we woke up and drove to NY and got to see the place that would be our home for the next 13 months. We must have been tired at the end of our trip because we didn’t take any pictures. We were very happy to arrive safely and the kids were thrilled to see that our house was located near two parks with lots of kids outside to play with!
