Texas Road Trip-3rd Stop Oklahoma

It was a loooong way from Denver to Oklahoma. This was a tough road trip day, but we got to stay put for a couple of days before heading onto Texas.

Again--you never know what you are going to find along the way. Here is a picture of us with a gorilla statue that was at a little park somewhere in Kansas. This was about the most exciting thing we found in Kansas. Krista made a joke that travelling through Kansas is pure torture and then they want you to pay to get out of the state (there is a toll to take the road out of Kansas into Oklahoma)! It should be the other way around--they should pay us for spending time there!

So, we dropped Krista off in Ponca City with the triplets--they were so tiny and cute. Krista was in for some sleepless nights, but she was so excited to help out. The girls and I had to continue on to my cousin's house for a couple of more hours. It was already late and the girls ended up falling asleep on the way. I had to go through a toll booth on the way and Rylee woke up, startled, disoriented, and unsure where she was and what we were doing. She cried for about 20 minutes which woke Kailen up. So, I had two tired girls crying and no place to really stop to try to comfort them. I finally exited the freeway and pulled over to call Steve--talking to daddy calmed them down and by the time we got to my cousin's house they were wide awake and rearing to go. It was about 11:oo at night and we had lost an hour in time change--it made for a very long day. Thank goodness we were staying for a couple of days and didn't have to get in the car again the next morning.

I hadn't seen my cousin, Shannen, since Kailen was born. We use to spend a lot of time together as kids during the summers and holidays--we are only about 2 months apart in age. It was great to spend time with her catching up and remembering our escapades. She has a wonderful husband and three lovely girls--Hailey (teenager), McKenna (5 years old), and Avery (3 years old). All the little girls had a great time together playing and exploring. They live out in the country with a lot of open spaces to explore and a swimming pool. Now, living in Montana, you certainly don't have many outdoor pools and if you do swim outdoors it has to be on a hot day around 3:00 in the afternoon. My girls ALWAYS are cold when swimming in Montana. So, having an outdoor pool and being able to swim without turning blue is quite a treat.

Here are all the girls in the pool--Kailen, McKenna, Rylee, and Avery.

Eating ice cream--the challenge, trying to eat it before it melts!

Avery is still working on that challenge!

Here is video of Kailen swimming--she pretty much learned to swim on this trip.

We had such a good time with Shannen and her family. Kailen found a turtle shell which was quite a treasure. Shannen had many animals for the girls to get to know--goats, dogs, chinchillas. As much fun as we had, we still had to make it to Texas. Our next stop was Dallas. Not a bad drive at all, but the weather is hot and miserable. Even the girls noticed it!