Hudsons Head West - Part 1 - Traveling

Some of you may have noticed that we have been kind of MIA.  In fact, a few of you have messaged me asking where I've been... well, our family of eight decided, short notice, to drive to South Dakota.  What an adventure!!!  Friday we packed bags for the eight of us, food, the cosleeper, pillows, blankets, sleeping bags, extra diapers and wipes, cooking items, homeschool books, a cooler, and "to-do" bags.  Our suburban was PACKED!  Saturday morning we squeeeeezed ourselves in the empty spaces :) And off we went!

To add to our adventure, our youngest was a two month old exclusively breast-fed baby, hubby has back issues, and I am fighting major swelling issues.  What did this mean?  We were going to be traveling slow.  After nursing the infant for about an hour, we would drive for an hour and a had to two hours.  During our hour breaks, we would take bathroom breaks, eat, and stretch.  Each night we stopped between seven and eight.

Our first day was actually our oldest's birthday.  She turned ten!  Eeeks!  We spent the day traveling and working on homeschool.  That night, however, she got to chose where she wanted to get dinner - she chose O'Charley salads - and received her gifts - a book and a craft kit.  She was set for the trip :)

The following two days were much the same.  We were up each morning at five, left the hotel at eight, traveled for 1.5 to 2 hours, fed the baby, and repeated.  By the end of day three, we were in Sioux Falls, SD.  We were ready for a day of relaxation and fun - that did not entail riding in a car!   And our plans for the following day promised to be just that!