HOME

We have been home now for 3 weeks.  It's surprising how quickly life swallows you up again and you're right back in the mix of things!

Getting home was not our easiest task as we had 18 hours of driving to do over 3 days and our travels home were some of the most problimatic of them entire trip!  We left our final trip destination in Colorado on Friday afternoon with plans to get as far as we could go.  We got as far as Amarrillo that Friday and parked at an RV park just a few minutes from the only thing we know to do in Amarrillo.....eat at The Big Texan Steak House.  So after hooking up the RV the next morning and almost driving away with our RV door wide open (Opps!), guess where we ate brunch? 

THE BIG TEXAN!

The drive was going well until we got a flat just outside Lubbock.  Maybe we should have taken that "bubble tire" off back in Estes Park?  This one was especially bad, since when it blew, it caused some damage to the RV, blowing a fender off and wrecking our electric cord.  So Joe changed the tire to our spare and off we went to Discount Tire in Lubbock.  Now I know there aren't too many very nice things to say about Lubbock, TX , so let me say this....The Discount Tire there is top notch!  They had us in and out in less then 30 mins and they were swamped!!!  So after that little bump in the road, we drove as long as we could and thought we might even make it home, but the kids had other plans and they just had to get out of the car.  So at 9pm we stopped in some little town about 4 hours from home and parked for $20 a night.  We went to bed early that night, as Joe and I had planned to get up super early for the last leg of our trip home.  This turned out to be the BEST idea we ever had!!!  Joe had us all ready to go by 5am and we put our sleeping girls in the truck and drove the entire rest of the way home in total peace.  When we got to our street, we woke Loralai up, so she could wave to Nana, who was standing in the drive way.  This entire trip, we had been leaving to go to the next destination around 11am and searching for things to keep the kids busy!  Well now we know for the next trip.  LEAVE EARLY, while the kids sleep and log twice as many miles in a day!

By this point, even Bean had learned how to change a tire.

See the portion of the fender that was torn off when the last tire blew?

Then this weather stripping started to come undone and flap around while we drove.  Awesome!

Upon our arrival, being home was simply surreal.  It was nice to actually just KNOW where things were for a change.  "I need a good trail to run on.", I know where one is!  "I need my car washed.", I know where to go!  That being said, the surreal part was we were noticing things that we never noticed before, signs, stores, houses, details, etc.  I literally had to relearn how to drive a standard transmission car and where roads go in Ausitn.  From there, we made progress.  It was so shocking when we first arrived though, and made me think how we don't actually SEE so much of what is around us when we are IN it.

NANA!!!

Moving back into the house was fairly easy given that we had left the house semi-furnished for our tenants.  So our kitchen was pretty well as we left it with dishes in their places and most of our furniture had been stuffed into Loralai's room to be stored and it was just a matter of pulling it all out again.  Joe and I were able to do this ourselves in just an hour.  We did sleep on the guest bed the first couple of nights as we were waiting  to move the furniture back out, until all the tile was steam cleaned and grout sealed.  Our tenant had 5 dogs, so it was needed.  The house was really left in great condition and the whole experience was a good one that we would do again.  Although, it is painful to write that security deposit back over, after watching it sit in your account for 5 months. 

Second week was all about seeing all the people we missed!  We had 2 big parties (We're BACK! and Loralai's 5th Birthday) in one weekend and several people just stayed the entire weekend here.  We also fit in lots of happy hours, playdates, and dinners with friends and family.  So of course, week 3, we were already on people overload and pulled back to do some things around the house and get settled down for Loralai to start school as a Kindegartner!  It was during week 3 that we started to see again all the things we wanted to change (New paint, new dishes, new siding, etc).  So here we go, working to right all the wrongs at our happy home and waiting to see what next week's theme will be.

Sauce, Thanks for being freakishly strong and helping us install our new microwave.

It's been a rollercoaster, but a good one.  Happiness seems to be all about finding the balance for me and letting go when I can't seem to find it.  :)  It's good to be home!  And we miss being on the road too. 

I'd be lieing if I said we weren't already planning our next adventure.  So stay tunned to the blog, I'll continue writting something every once in a while, as I see this more as a blog about how we travel and plan and live life as the travelers we want to be and not just telling about the destinations we visit.  So, for now, we are HOME.

Makin pancakes with Daddy.  We must be HOME!