"I Just Can't Wait To Get On The Road Again..."



Our time in Arizona drew to a close on Sunday. We joined Tom & AnnMarie at their church for an inspiring message about families. I love visiting other churches - they had such a cool concept during their worship - at the instrumental interludes they had scriptures relating to the songs up on the big screen. I thought that was an excellent way to tie in scripture. James thought so too...



 

 

 We enjoyed our last meal together with enormous pancakes (seems to be a tradition when we're with Tom) and lots of coffee.

These guys really are dear friends and we were so thankful we got to spend time with them. After all the hugs, we hit the trail in search of the outlet mall!!!

 

This year was Tony's year to update his wardrobe since the previous trips saw him mostly working while we holidayed in California. All I can say is this man has way more shopping stamina than me. It helps when we're getting discounts from Nike and great sales on suits at Brooks Brothers, but when we were finally finished, we grabbed some Subway for dinner (yes, we were there over 3 hours!) and hit the road - again...

 I love traveling this desert road for many reasons - the memories, the vastness of the views, the contained space in which to share deep and meaningful conversations and of course, probably my favourite really - the speed! Seriously - this is why I struggle driving the motorways in New Zealand... all this open space means I can drive up to 120km legally!!! YAHOO!

 

Now... we were making pretty good time... but we caught a bit of information when we stopped for the toilet in Blythe. There was rain in Indio and a bridge had washed out causing traffic to be turned around and re-routed. Oh golly... we decided that it would be safest to spend the night in Blythe and hit the road at first light in the morning so that we could be ready for any new change in conditions. Woohoo... another night together! Fun for us... and oh, fun for the kids with their grandparents!

 

 

We set out on the long, slow trip home through 29 Palms along with every other re-routed vacationer...

 

 

Conveniently we joined back to the 10 just at Cabazon where we were able to buy Tony two new suits from the Brooks Brothers there (what's another extra 2 hours after we'd already been delayed a day?!?! Thanks mom & dad).

By the time I got to the I-5 I was really ready to be home with those munchkins and out of the car (I can't believe I even said that).

 

While we were gone, they were having the time of their lives with their grandparents and cousins (unfortunately there weren't as many photos of their adventures). There were movies, horse-riding, shopping, wii-ing, swimming (in the rain), beach visits and plenty of snacks. On the Friday night, Dad took Hunter and Travis out to Balboa fun park for a boys evening, while Helena and mom helped greet the returning Royal Family Kids Camp volunteers. They had a blast living it up - and Helena had a blast starting her Ty beanie baby collection... oh boy, we've got a collector!