Midwest Road Trip: Along the Way

Because our road trip this summer was well over 1,000 miles one way, we knew we'd have to find some good entertainment for the car. Thankfully,  my sister Kim let us borrow a bunch of her kids' favorite car games (the boys' top pick was a fun strategy game called Rush Hour). Also, my mom thoughtfully purchased a bunch of dollar store toys and activities for all three of the kids too. Jaden especially enjoyed the sticker mosaic picture, and Cody loved the minions' coloring book.

I also assembled a large binder full of activities for the boys (various scavenger hunt/BINGO games, word searches, mazes, strategy games, playdough mats, coloring sheets, mad libs and more!). We also had a HUGE bag full of more activities and games. In the end, though, Jaden and Cody didn't really spend much time with most of what I packed for them. Their most frequent request was to hear stories, so they listened to TONS of audiobooks and read-alouds by Mommy (mostly when Adley was asleep). The boys really are great little travelers and didn't complain hardly at all about the many hours in the car!

Adley, too, turned out to be an excellent traveler which was a bit surprising to us! She was kept most entertained with all the musical toys that we brought along and a bunch of snacks. :) She also liked playing with all the fine-motor activities that I packed for her. The one pictured below is Adley putting pretend credit cards into an old wallet. Since she LOVES removing all of Mommy's credit cards from my wallet on a regular basis, I knew this toy wallet would be a big hit. We were very thankful for our three good travelers!

After leaving Kansas City, we did not take a direct route up to Minnesota. Instead, we swung through South Dakota to visit some friends. Both sets of friends were couples that we knew from Montana who have since moved to SD. First, we met our friends Josh and Ellen for some catch-up time at a (very buggy!) park. Our three kiddos really enjoyed the outdoor playtime. Ellen was such a sweetheart and brought some homemade Chex Mix for us for the next leg of our journey.

Then, we spent almost a full 24 hours in Sioux Falls seeing our good friends Josh and Katie and meeting their son Jonah for the first time. We also had a fun picnic dinner at a park with another former Billings friend, Alecia, and her mom. Unfortunately, we forgot to take pics of our picnic in the park, but it was a beautiful evening weather-wise and a fun time to catch up with friends.

 We stayed overnight with Josh and Katie and hung out at their house the next morning until just after lunch. Cody and Jaden surprisingly hit it off really well with Josh and Katie's dog Henry. For the past couple years, our boys have been a little jumpy and hesitant around dogs. But, this dog was quite old and relatively calm, so the boys felt very comfortable petting Henry and playing catch with him.

Jonah kindly shared his sandbox and all of his toys. What a fun kid he was!

We miss these great friends and loved getting the chance to reconnect with them!

Our last stop along the way before arriving at Grandpa and Grandma's house was in Blue Earth, MN, to see the Jolly Green Giant statue. Apparently this guy stands at the mid-way point of I-90 and shows visitors how big and strong you can become if you eat your veggies. :) We learned that the Jolly Green Giant is 55 feet tall with size 78 shoes. Impressive!

Can you see Cody and Jaden on the platform just underneath the giant?

The giant's sidekick Little Sprout was much more our size! :)

After this brief stop, we were very close to our final destination-- Austin, MN, and Grandpa and Grandma, here we come! :)