On the Road AGAIN!!

We left Eagar after church on Sunday and our intended destination was Flagstaff, AZ. But wouldn't ya know it, just outside of Holbrook, my Dad's trailer tire blew. We weren't that surprised, it seems anytime we go any distance away from home something breaks down or something blows out!! When the tire blew it took along with it some of the fiberglass from the trailer. Thankfully we had a spare and after a quick change and some horsing around we were back on the road, again!!
Dad getting things off and ready to change. JD and Roman did help with getting off the spare and changing the tire but I just thought I would post some of the antics these boys come up with.

JD missed out on the 4th of July rodeo so he thought he would have one of his very own. Unfortunately it was one mean bull and he didn't quite make a full 8 sec. Maybe next time JD!!

I am not sure what Roman was trying to demonstrate to us all but you can see the problem with this tire was practically the whole center tread was gone. Kind of weird I thought!!

Aaron was our tourist for the day. He thought he would change out of his Sunday pants and into some shorts in order to help out. But he didn't think to change his socks or shoes. Really Aaron if you are going to be a tourist you really need a louder shirt!! He is also showing off his lovely sunburn he got from the parade the day before!! OUCH!

Here is the rest of the wagon train, waiting in a/c vans!! The kids were troopers I tell ya!!

Well this is tire number TWO!! Yup, not five miles after we changed the first tire the spare tire really blew out!! Now we are stuck about 5 miles from Holbrook, and we have no other spare tire. So we hobbled into town and tried to no avail to find something open on a Sunday evening. The other problem was we had hotel reservations in Flagstaff that we had already paid for. So we did the only thing we could do and that was leave my parents behind in Holbrook to wait until morning when things would open up again to get a few new tires!! The rest of us went on down the road headed for Flagstaff!!

My parents parked the trailer in the parking lot of a tire shop and when they opened up in the morning they got both tires fixed and headed on down the road to catch up with us!! Kind of a long way to get to Flagstaff!!

The rest of us went and checked into our hotel in Flagstaff. We arrived at about 7:45pm and the kids were hungry, of course!! Right across the parking lot from the hotel was a Denny's so we trudged over there to feed the masses. Let me remind you of our stats!! We were now down to 3 adults (1 man and 2 women) and 17 kids. We took up the entire waiting area and we sat at five tables. So if you were a patron at Denny's that night what would you think when you saw our troop? I'll tell you what our waiter thought!! He asked Lana, my SIL if we were from Utah, to which she replied, NO she was from Idaho. Then he just kept making little comments here and there, but when it came time for the check, he put Lana and Aaron's check on her table and said here is the check for "THE" husband. I had my own check as I paid for my kids plus some. When we went to pay, Wyatt had tried taking a butter knife so I handed it to him and he said thanks and he was glad that we were an honest FAMILY!! Do you see where I am headed with this one? The guy thought we were a POLYGAMIST FAMILY!! I tried to tell him that we were actually FOUR different families and that some of us lived in Washington and some in Idaho. He gave me the "yeah right, I'll nod my head and humor you" look and then we left. It was kind of funny, but because I was sitting at the table all by myself I must have been the second wife, and I don't like being second!!! Totally kidding, just trying to find the humor in the situation!!!

Our initial plan on Monday was to leave from Flagstaff and go to the Grand Canyon in the morning and then head on up into Utah. Well because we were waiting for my parents to get new tires and then catch up with us we stayed at the hotel and went swimming instead. We met up with my parents at about 10:30am and headed North hoping to make our reservations in Provo. We didn't have time to go see the Grand Canyon so we waved at the turn off and kept heading North. We did however stop at Glen Canyon to check out the dam there, which was really cool.

They had a little ranger station where the kids learned about the Native American uses for corn and basically the history of corn. Then they got to plant some Indian corn in little cups. All the kids planted some, but not all of them actually made it home to Grandma's intact. Ayden's did and he planted it in a pot at Papa's house and he is hoping Papa then planted it in his garden. We will see when we go back to Idaho in a few weeks. (this a reminder Papa Chip)!!

The whole troop at the Glen Canyon visitors center!! It was hot that day and Lake Powell looked mighty inviting!!! But we had the road to get on once again so we couldn't play!! Darn! We did make it to Provo that night at about 10:00pm and crashed hard in our beds. Again we only had one King bed and so me and mine squeezed into it all snug as little bugs in a rug!! We had another long day on the road the next day and we started our day bright and early again. We made it to Lewiston at about 10:00pm that night and I was sooo glad I didn't have to get up and drive again for a little while!!!

The trip was really fun and totally worth all the driving. My kids had a blast with their cousins and really loved getting to see new places. My one and only wish would have been for Ryan to get to go with us. Maybe next time!!!!