Our Long Trip: Part 1

Well, I suppose it's time to start documenting what we did on our trip and share some pictures. Since it was such a long period of time and we did so much, I will break it down into several different posts so as not to give anyone Kooistra vacation overload.

We left for our trip on Wednesday, July 18 somewhere around 3:00 pm. Jer left work early to pack up the car and our new car top carrier (which I think means we are official suburban family geeks). It was not an easy job packing up all our stuff, but he did a great job (despite putting the dress I borrowed from a friend up in the carrier instead of guaranting its safety inside our vehicle).

We were finally on our way and drove up to Champaigne, IL and spent the night at a Homewood Suites. After trying to get Elise to stop running, yelling, and jumping on the bed in the room, we finally got her to sleep and we settled in ourselves. The next morning we enjoyed a nice breakfast at the hotel and headed out again to make our way up to Grand Rapids.

On the way through Indiana, we stopped and met my sister and her circus for lunch at Don Pablo's (or "The Backyardigan's restaurant" as Elise kept calling it for all you Nick, Jr. watchers out there). We had a nice time visiting with Tim and Jen and all their dozens of children and meeting our new nephew, Wyatt. After lunch, it was on to Grand Rapids. Below are some pictures of lunch with the circus and at Jer's parents house. Stay tuned for the next event on our trip: my step-brother's wedding.

Wyatt meeting his Aunt Kim

Caroline and Elise

This spells nothing but T-R-O-U-B-L-E - Amelia, Elise, & Greta out for a joyride

Elise riding her bike at Grandma and Grandpa's house

One of her favorite activities - Playing the organ with Grandpa

Another favorite activity - reading books with Grandpa

We're home...Finally!

Wow. We made it. 26 days of traveling. It was a loooooooooong trip, but we enjoyed ourselves and had a lot of fun with family and friends. But, now it is back to reality and the routine of our life here in Memphis. I will soon post all about our trip including pictures, but I just wanted to let everyone know we finally made it home safe and sound. And I will leave you with the temperature highs for the week here in Memphis...

Mon - 106
Tues - 106
Wed - 106
Thur - 104
Fri - 103
Sat - 97

Hello from the road!

I haven't posted lately but it's not been for the usual reason of my laziness. It's because we have been out of town for the past 2 weeks and have another week and a half to go before we get home. We started our travels on July 18 and left Memphis heading north to Grand Rapids. My step-brother, Josh, got married and then the next day we left to spend a week at a cottage with Jer's family (will post more on both the wedding and the cottage week later). Now we are in the Chicago area spending a week and a half with my family. Next week, we will head back up to Grand Rapids again for a few days for the wedding of Jer's sister, Megan.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks so far, but we are enjoying seeing our families and spending so much time with them. As soon as I am able, I will post some pictures and tell about our travels.