Courtney's Blog July 6th, Day 1 of the Epic McFarland Journey!

We set off early on the morning of the 6th and made great time through Massachusetts and we were in Connecticut by 7:50am. New York was even faster, we were there by 9:15. Into Pennsylvania at 10:40! We were killing it! Two "are we there yet"s and three "mommmy, is it far away?"s later, we stopped at had lunch at a Sonic. To our surprise Gideon ate the entire grilled cheese, and adored his blinged out rings that said "tot" on them. Thanks Sonic. Well this is where things got sssllllooowwww. At 5:15, we FINALY entered Ohio! You read that right. 5:15. We did 4 states in 4 hours, and then we were stuck in LONG, IRRITATING, CONSTRUCTION LADEN Pennsylvania. We learned something about Pennsylvania though, they just love to shut down multiple lanes and see what happens. They also appear to love having 12 construction projects going at once. Note: They don't actually work on any of them, they just shut down lanes and put cones out.

The kids got restless in the many hours of Pennsylvania, but they survived through movies, games, coloring and most surprisingly, just looking out the window! Gideon loved seeing animals and farms. He kept shouting "that's so cool!" and "that is awesome, right mommy?". It obviously was. We stopped for dinner at Rallys (why start eating healthy now?) and had amazing french fries! Then we put the kids to bed in the back seat and drove on to Indiana! Turns out Abby wasn't tired and stayed up until we arrived in Indiana at 10:00pm. (too bad she couldn't drive, I was exhausted!)

We got to the hotel and setup the entire room. The kids fought over who got to sleep on the aerobed. Abby lost and had to sleep in the big huge comfortable hotel bed instead. Poor thing. We turned off the lights and realize....the AC is leaking. It is now 11, and we realize we have to switch hotel rooms. I wear my PJs down to the lobby like a schlep and tell the "guy". The "guy" becomes very important on day 2. Stay tuned. We get a new room down the hall and for about 10 minutes, we shift everything between rooms....including the aerobed that I dragged down the hall like a wagon. During the move between rooms, Adam accidentally turned on Angry Birds on one of the tablets. It plays this horrible, repetitive music that remains in your head for weeks eating away at your healthy brain cells. Well, we finally get the kids settled in new room, the lights are off, it is quiet. We are finally ready to go to sleep. I hear a little voice. "Mommy, are we going to play Angry Birds now?"

Summary:

Long, long day. About 900 miles driven. Lots of unhealthy food. Not too many cool sites yet. Not too many fights yet. Lots of smiles and fun!

Ended the Day at the Country Inn and Suites in Elkhart, Indiana

Next Day!