On our way to BEAR COUNTRY!!

So, we are off to Bear Country… Estes Park, Colorado and the Rocky Mountains in other words! Everyone at work on Friday had to tell me a scary bear story. Seriously, I think everyone except for me has a scary bear story… But, really, I am ok with that.

One of my lovely friends knew just how scared I am of bears and offered me a lovely can of bear mace to take on my travel to… Bear Lake!! It even has a lovely carrying case. Nice.

So, a couple of nights before the trip, Jeremi tells me that he ordered a dual dvd player for the kids. It has been a LIFESAVER! We had one of those ones you just hold in your lap and it is a pain, because they fight over it or drop it, etc. The dual dvd player is nice because they can both watch it. However, Autumn has learned how to ‘kick’ it, and turn it off. SIGH. Kids! And, Nathan ripped out one of the cords on his side when he was kicking Mommy’s seat (Thanks, Nathan!) and it took us a few minutes to realize it stopped working because the cable was pulled out. Anyway, it is still a major lifesaver! Kids will be KIDS!!!

Ok, so before the trip I decided to get some cheapy toys for the kids before the trip in the rare moments where they would become tired of being in the car… driving through Kansas can be quite a bore. So, I picked up a travel Hungry Hippos game for Nathan and WOW did he love it. It came with a see through plastic case that you could unscrew and take off, but the case prevented the balls from falling onto the floor. Of course, I thought it was pretty lame with the case on so I took it off. Umm, what was I thinking? Of course, Nathan lost all of the balls within ohhh 10 minutes, then cried for me to get them. Well, when he realized Mommy isn’t flexible enough to look for pea sized plastic balls in a pile of toys below his feet, he decided to just snap the heads on the Hippos. Yep, he snapped those heads for a good 3 hours today. I mean, really, I bet half of the drive he was snapping them… Between the snapping of Hippo heads, hearing backpackbackpackbackpack on Dora, and SpongeBob’s bahahaha laugh I almost, just almost went bonkers. But, hey, at least he enjoyed his toy!

Oh, and yes, then Autumn’s toy. I decided to splurge on a $20 Dora doll for Autumn, just to get a nice hour of peace and quiet out of it after I gave it to her. Nope, I spent $20 on the biggest fuss toy ever. First, it took me about 20 minutes to get the darn doll out of the box… even her hair was sewed to the box! Then, I gave it to Autumn and this beautiful Dora doll has a pair of boots and a pair of pink slippers. Well, Autumn dropped one of the pink slippers and I couldn’t find it ANYWHERE. Autumn lost it. Mommy almost lost it. But, good news! Autumn fell asleep shortly after that. Normally sweet little Autumn naps 3 hours, but… with all of the Hippo snapping, she woke up in 30 minutes. Yep, 30 minute nap. However, we stopped at McDonalds and I found the other shoe and she spent the next hour in the car taking off the boots, putting on the slippers over and over… and, she kept saying her favorite words, “I can do it!” “I can do it!” So precious! On a side note… Autumn loves shoes.

At last! We arrive at our Salina, Kansas hotel. Either you stop in Salina or you drive all the way to Colorado, there isn’t anywhere to stop after Salina! We found this out last time we went to Colorado and found ourselves all the way in Boulder! Anyway, I love Tripadvisor.com, and this was the #1 hotel on there, it had really good reviews… and, I must admit, its a nice inbetween hotel!

So, we get in the room and its nice… hershey kisses on the bed… but, “Why is there a tree hanging above the beds, Mommy?” is what Nathan asked me when he saw the twiggy/flower arrangement above the beds. LOL. Yeah, they are a little different. ;o)-

Let me introduce you to Harold, the bear. He is a good bear that has come from Saint Louis to protect us from the bad bears. He is taking a well needed bear nap before we head out to bear country tomorrow.