Day 5 - Denver, CO to North Platte, NE

Today: Child awake a 3AM screaming for no reason; Torrential downpours of rain; The beauty of the plains. Now we're even more exhausted. Pray for us. Thanks.

Day 4 - Grand Junction, CO to Denver, CO

Day 4 was the most beautiful day and the hardest day so far. We were both really tired and several arguements occured over things that would have been easily reconciled if we were not so fatigued. In the morning, the cat meowed the whole time while Mr. Speck kept falling asleep (not driving). I, however, wanted him to be awake to keep me awake. Grumpiness insued.

Despite all this the Rockies are gorgeous. We were able to watch the sunrise above them before we drove through.















The Sunrise.




















Our first morning stop. It was about 52 degrees out and we were not prepared. I had flip flops on and the only long sleeve shirt I thought to bring. It was beautiful to see the morning light come over the hill and then to enjoy it's warmth.















The Rockies.















The spectacular reason why the Rockies are named after rocks.















Beautiful mountains coming up to Vail.















Yes, there was snow. It was cold.




















Finally, the beautiful fall colors are beginning to come out already. I'm really excited since I've never seen fall before!

The Cat vs. The Car.

As you know, we have a very full car for a journey. You may wonder what it looks like. Well, wonder no longer!

Here is our car complete with cat, carseat, and plants!

On the front dash - we don't drive with her there though.

One of her favorite places to sit when the car isn't going...

...even if the door is open.

Walking the cat.

Sitting in the back window. Her favorite spot other than the passenger's lap.

Day 3 - St. George, UT to Grand Junction, CO

We got off today at the time we were intending to start all our days; this did not happen with Day 2, something about alarm clocks being an hour off. We got to watch a beautiful sunrise and we saw some spectatcular mountains. I kept expecting to get bored of the same thing over and over again, but I was constantly surprise how every corner had something different around them. Here is the best:

The sunrise.

The snow on the mountains...already.

Fall leaves.

The stripped mountains.

The red mountain surrounded by white stripped mountains.

The mountains seem to be falling apart.

The red round mountains in ravines.


Quite so.

Beautiful.

So, now we're in G.J. with wi-fi. There is much rejoicing. It's all going well. Tomorrow we're trying to make it till Denver - over the Rockies in one shot. Woohoo!!!

Day 2 - Barstow, CA to St. George, UT

A morning in a hotel usually starts off with a good, moderately eatable continental breakfast. Not at this hotel. The "expanded continental breakfast" that they boasted about consisted of coffee (duh), doughnuts from a jar, raisin bran, frosted flakes, or toast from a jar. Oh, and Tang - OJ's worst enemy. It was the most pathetic thing. That plus a bottom sheet that didn't reach the end of the bed means that we probably won't be staying with them any more. :)



After that, Day 2 started off pretty well. We drove a couple hours then stopped for an hour at a rest stop and, well, rested.















The we drove some more and saw interesting scenery - if you like desert that is. This mountain looks like a platypus. Hehe! (Cartrip boredom is setting in!)







Or Vegas.










And then more desert. California, Nevada, a corner of Arizona, and then Utah for the night - phew, what a day!

Day 1 - LA area to Barstow

Our original plan was to pack up the truck (we pack, they drive, life is wonderful) on Saturday, check out of our apartment, and head off on Sunday. Well, if any of you have moved then you know that the plan is never what actually happens. Thanks to some very wonderful people (Ben, Greg, Theo, Nate, and Becca!!!), we got most of the things packed and we were able to spend Sunday doing final packing and cleaning.

We decided check out of the apartment, finish packing the truck, and see how far we could get.
Well, we needed to return some blankets to U haul which is less than a mile from our old place. We had the car loaded - cat, bird, kid, plants, luggage - and we were going down the road when the cat decided to explore the sunshade of the carseat. She promptly fell on the lap of the kid! Mr. S, the cat, and I were all freaking out - Rinn was enjoying it!

So we pull in, get the cat off the kid, drop the stuff off and start on our way again. Not ten feet later, the cat knocks over the bird cage spilling everything! Sheesh! We just kept thinking, "We have not even traveled a mile! What will the rest of the trip look like!?!"

Well, except for leaving some vital information on the roof of our car, we made it all the way to Barstow.

Goodbye SoCal!

Wow - so much has happened!

This past week and a half has been crazy!!!! It started off with mad packing and then last Monday I discovered that my friend did something dreadful and is in jail probably for the rest of his life. This caused Mr. Speck and my life to kind of fall apart for a while. Needless to say, packing suddenly didn't seem very important. There has been lots of praying going on. After a while things gradually began to come back together and we packed and packed and packed.

Teeth, Teeth, Teeth, Teeth

Yes, four. That is how many are coming in at one time. So, I just posted, um, 3 days ago (ok, it was 8, but it feels like 3!) about tooth #3 and #4, well, I was going to post about #5 on Friday (the day of it's discovery), but I didn't. Now I have to announce #6 as well! Discovered today!!! #5 is on the bottom left, next to the one in the middle. #6 is on the top in the middle right side! Yey, finally middle top teeth! (Better to bite Mommy with - which has started again)


Here is a recap (hehe, cap teeth, hehe), in order #1-#6:

1. Bottom, Right, Middle
   
2. Bottom, Left, Middle
3. Top, Left, Next to Middle
   
4. Top, Right, Next to Middle
5. Bottom, Left, Next to Middle
6. Top, Right, Middle

If you can, please pray for her (and me - biting!) because #3-#6 are all coming in at the same time. This means that she is in a TON of pain! Thanks!!!!

Packing makes the mind forgetful.

I keep thinking, "oh I should blog that Rinn did X" and then I have to go and fill another box. So, I'm going to try to catch up.

• She can turn pages of a book. In fact, she enjoys doing it. She generally turns them the correct direction too.
• She throws her toys for fun. Generally without meaning to, but occasionally on purpose.
  
• She drops toys/food/anything she has in her hands over the side of her high chair and then leans way over and gazes at it with amazement till someone picks it up. Then she is surprised that it got in front of her again when it was on the ground!
  
• She eats rice cereal, avocado, peas, banana, pumpkin, watermelon, and carrots. She had a slight reaction to barley cereal so we're holding off on it for a little while.
• She still has bumps on her legs from the immunizations that were almost a month ago. There is nothing to be concerned about - I'm just not happy with the nurse (because this didn't happen with the other immunizations and it was a different nurse).
  
• She is very close to crawling. I know I've said this before and, well, before she was determined to crawl and didn't. Now she is up on all fours rocking back and forth. It's not as much that she wants to crawl now, but rather she's like "ooo, this rocking thing is fun!" She also peddles her legs, but doesn't move her arms. It's only been in this past week that this has happened and maybe this next week I'll announce crawling - I'm not holding my breath though.
• She is beginning to prefer sitting to laying on the ground. The problem is that she doesn't sit well completely by herself - she needs help. Oh, well.
• While sitting she can bend over, grab something, and then sit back up! This has happened within the last week - compare this with bending over and not coming back up.
• Thursday evening she reached for my hands while she was sitting on the ground and pulled herself up! The stood for a while and kinda took a step (while holding my hands, but still!).
• She can stand alone against the couch. She stays there on her own - she doesn't get there on her own.
  
• We are human jungle-gyms. She likes to climb all over us.
  
• When in her carseat or highchair she lifts her arms to be taken out.
• When she is done eating some of the previously mentioned food she lifts both arms in the air. This means that she is done. She doesn't do it all the time, but when she does it she means it.
• When she cries for me (mommy), she goes, "Mmmm, mmmm, mmmmmmm." She also rolls to my feet and paws at me sometimes.
• She coughs for fun and thinks it is hysterical when she does it and when someone does it as well.
• She is very coordinated between her hand and mouth.
• She has begun to be shy/clingy around other people and generally prefers me over Papa - not always my preference! :)
• The most adorable thing that she has started doing is resting her head on shoulder of the person who is holding her. Makes everyone go "Aahhh."
  

#4

I realize that I just posted about tooth #3 coming in. Well, today we discovered #4 on the opposite side of #3 - meaning on the top next to the middle on the right. Now it makes sense why she was extrememly grumpy this week!