Day 28-Colorado Bound

I got up to Wylie looking for more "treasurers" for Alli's purse.  Pippi's house is soooooooo much fun!  Sara made breakfast burritos for us and Cade ate left over pancakes with gusto.  One last make-up application for Wylie then we packed up and got back on the road bound for Colorado.  The trees are getting shorter and weeds farther apart, so this terrain is more familiar to us than the rest of the trip has been.  Jon is enjoying the dryer hot weather, but he thinks the stretch from Wichita to Las Animas is the worst of the entire trip.  I would have to agree, but we both realize that it is partly due to the fact that it is so familiar to us.  I dont' think there's even a curve in the road from Doge City on and there is definitely nothing new to look at.  In fact, there's not much to look at except for flat fields and a few herd of cattle here and there.  Now more interesting buildings, houses, or people.  Cade on the other hand is keeping me quite busy.  He is way high maintenance today and refuses to sleep much.

We joined the family tradition and had burgers and shakes at Braum's for lunch.  It was yumminess, but I think our book on CD fell out while we were there.  DANGIT!  We went through Greensburg, KS, which was a small town wiped out by a tornado a few years ago that has decided to rebuild green.  We've seen it on TV a few times, but had no idea we would be driving through it.  It's impressive to think that a small farming community would have such initiative.  It gives the Boulder/Portland girl in me goose bumps!!!  We also went through another small town that had a quarter mile stretch on both highways going into the town filled with metal sculptures and funny windmills.  We've seen a few on a property before, but this was CRAZY!  If only we had room to take one back to Oregon...

We made a pit stop at Wal-Mart since Dad warned us that there was nothing to eat at the house.  I don't much like the fact that I'm actually having to think about meals and work on this part of the trip, but I guess all good things must come to an end.  We got to the farm at 6:00 and I put a Stouffer's mac & cheese in the over.  Nothing but the best for my family :-)  I did make a salad to go with it, just to make myself feel a little bit better.  Wylie walked in and declared that the kids table needed to be cleaned, so she was hard at work too.  Cade tried to help, but really he was just throwing EVERYTHING in the trash :-)  I cleaned out the fridge, did some dishes & helped clean of the tables.  Ahhhh, it's good to be home. 

After dinner Wylie shared her little jello cups with everyone and then Granddad took the kids to check the water and check on the cows.  Cade was super excited when he got back because he got to "drive" the pick-up.  Wylie was relieved that the cows finally went where they were suppose to and laughing at how silly they are.  I'm super glad I don't have to live farm life anymore, but I'm super glad that my kids get to experience it.  We all went to bed shortly after they came home and settled down a bit.

Words from a soon-to-be-4-year-old:
-When stopping for lunch she looks in her purse- "Mommy you can use my money to pay for ice cream because you probably don't have enough.  that would be a good idea."
-While driving between Lamar & Las Animas- "Whoa, you know what?  I can see far, far, far over there!"  Welcome to the Great Plains little one!
-Without any prompting from me- "Mommy we need to clean Granddad's house before he gets home because it gets messy.  Then when he comes home he will say, 'Wow, my house is clean!' That would be a good idea."
-After waking up from her nap- "How about the girls go with Granddad to get some goodies and the boys stay home to watch the cows.  Then we will bring goodies back for the boys and the cows because Granddad likes goodies."  She does know her Granddad!