The Final Miles-a melody

This was my first attempt to video and upload with my phone.  I have no idea why it's sideways, and I'm not smart enough to fix that part just yet.  I'm sure I will master it though-I have faith.  This was the last few miles of our roadtrip, driving into Bridgeport to pick up our pizza and singing what had become the theme song of the trip...Roadtrips are just the best.

Wind Energy

We've seen a ton of wind farms on this trip-way more than what I remember as a kid. I like it! And I think they are really pretty.

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Home!!!

Here we come!!!!

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Family Vacation

The bat cave was our last official tourist stop on this marathon family roadtrip. I think it was somehow fitting that we ended our adventure at the same place Todd and I started our last adventure. The last time we sat in that amphitheatre we were on the brink of change as we graduated college and began our careers. In fact, I was hoping to sign a teaching contract at the end if that trip, and I plan to sign one again at the end of this one. We've changed a lot since then...yet somehow sitting there....we feel the same. It's been a good vacation; there have been a few trying moments, but overall one for the scrapbooks.

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Carlsbad Bats

We FINALLY made it to Carlsbad! I thought we would NEVER be out of the uninhabited desert. But we only made it in time to see the bats-not take a cave tour, which is fine. Todd and I have seen the cave before (on our infamous camping trip), and the kids have already seen quite a few caves in their day. The bats were quite amazing, over half a million flew right after sunset. In fact, maybe I'm extra glad we didn't trek down there with all those sleeping bats!

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Guadalupe Peak-a driveby

Todd is making plans for a future hike, which supposidly can be done all in one day...hmmm, really?

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Kids, there's Mexico!

I wanted to just drive on over to say we'd been, but Todd opted out of that plan-something about the dangers of the drug cartel. Oh well, safety first! We'll get to Carlsbad one of these days...

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Crazy Cousin Carolyn

We stopped in Tucson for the night, and visited with our Crazy Carolyn. She had all kinds of goodies for the kids, and we took a late night swim in her neighborhood pool. She sent us on our way with snacks and full dummies...not to mention hugs and kisses.

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Arizona-home of the Saguaro Cactus

They are amazing!

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Sean and Carter

We left Sean and Carter this morning after a fun filled weekend. The kids loved Pepper, their puppy, and of course you can never go wrong with a Wii. Superfun bonding time! Now we are headed to Tucson to stay the night with Crazy Cousin Carolyn...on the back end of vacation.

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Todd's Vacation Look

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Hollywood Boulevard

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Hollywood Heights!!

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Toy Story 3 Funzone!!!!!

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Grady

"Do we live here now?"

I think we've been gone a while...

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Cousin Gena!!

We spent the night with Sean and Carter, and my cousin Gena drove down from Santa Barbara for the day. We went to the Griffeth Observatory (where the kids realized Yes Man was filmed), and saw the Hollywood Sign. It was a great day of relaxing and storytelling, and now we are headed to see Toy Story 3 at an official Disney Theater.

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GREEK!!!!

On the set of Sean's show having a drink at Dobler's!!

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Final moments of magic...

then a case of beer for me!

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Last Day!

We have this down to a science now! We met Tinkerbell, pulled fastpasses for Space Mountain, and are quickly seeing our favorite things one last time before hitting the road and heading to Sean and the set of GREEK!!

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The boys didn't quite make the light show...

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We tried, but I left Todd and Madison in line at the World of Color, and the boys and I headed back to the hotel to get cozy and warm.  They were officially pooped.  I have to give myself a pat on the back for this one-I managed to stroll a sleeping Grady out of the park, find the bus route, and load all 3 of us (folding the stroller in the process) onto the bus without Grady making a peep.  Then, with Tanner's help, I unloaded us, popped open the stroller, and successfully got us all back to the hotel with only a few peeps from Grady.  That's a far cry from the first debut and field trip with the stroller all those years ago with Baby Madison to meet Sona.  I'd say I was pretty much an expert at stroller folding and kid carrying these days.  The boys were snoring before I even finished tucking them in, and now I'm trying to assemble all our stuff for the "move out" tomorrow.  We plan to head to Disney for the morning, run a few more of our favorite rides, and then we are off to see Sean and Carter and hopefully the set of GREEK.  I'm guessing we will also go for an early bedtime tomorrow night-we've all earned it.