100 years young and 40 hours in the car with kids

Me, my sister, my mom, grandma

Last weekend I drove to Colorado with Jacob, my mother, and the two girls to attend my grandmother's 100th birthday party.  It was a wonderful trip where we enjoyed each other's company and celebrated the life of one of the happiest people I know. 


Sydnee and I enter Wyoming

DAY 1:
We drove from our house in Montana to Pueblo, Colorado.  We took Jacob's car which seats 7 because Sydnee is still in a car seat and Skylar sleeps anytime a car is moving and she's not behind the wheel.  Here's a couple of other hints to making a road trip with a 4 year old and 18 year old more fun (or at least tolerable).
Tip 1: Do not wake the 18 year and make sure she has a plug for her phone to charge. 
Tip 2: Pack tons of snacks even though you can buy them at the gas station, this will reduce stops.  I also packed Sydnee some workbooks, plenty of toys and her iPad.  This kept her busy and comfy the whole trip.

I am blessed with kids that are great in the car, I think partly because I commuted a lot when I lived back east when Skylar and Hunter were little and Sydnee has made a couple trips to Colorado and we road trip in the summers to camp.  The real secrete is practice from the time your kids are little. 


Outside Sanford's in Casper

The first night we stayed at the Sleep Inn in Casper and ate at this fun restaurant named Sanford's.  I would recommend them both.  I never know how far we are going to get when we drive because of road construction so I just book about 30 minutes out of town using Hotels.com and it works great.  Sanford's is fun because they have huge dinosaurs, alligators, sharks and a daffy duck statue in their parking lot.  They serve bar food with a good kids menu so everyone was happy. 





DAY 2:
We arrived in Denver about lunch time and decided to visit the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  We met my sister and her family there and spent the afternoon looking at the dinosaurs, mineral collections, and mummies.  It was a blast and the kids had a great time (although Skylar was a little bored). 

We drove to Pueblo checked into our hotel and called my aunt to check in with them.  They were at dinner until late so we called it a night.  We stayed at the Microtel Inn & Suites, it was basic but no complaints for what we paid. 

Some of the cousins

African Dogs are a specialty
of the Pueblo Zoo.

Day 3:
We met up with the rest of my family and decided to spend the day at the Pueblo Zoo.  The zoo was nicer than I remembered but it was extremely hot 100* plus out so we called it a day after about 3 hours. 

Then it was time to shower and head to the party. 

The party was held at the Pueblo Country Club which would have been great if their A/C had been working. 



Cake and dessert

My grandmother greeted her guests and my aunt read an amazing history of my grandmother's life.  She remind us that she saw the introduction of the telephone and television in every home.  She loved to finish and sew and was always upbeat and happy.  At 100 my grandmother can't hear without her hearing aides which she didn't wear, she hates them and actually has been nearly deaf as long as I can remember,  so she missed all the lovely things we said about her but that's ok. 
We had a wonderful dinner, dessert and danced until we were all too hot and went home at 9pm.  My grandmother stayed and watched the fun from her table until almost 11pm, she enjoyed seeing all of the children dance and 'visiting' with all of her friends.  The smile on her face was huge all night. 

Sydnee scaling the castle wall

DAY 4:

Iron throne

On Saturday we drove up to Larkspur and attended the Colorado Renaissance Faire.  It was a blast and my girls had tons of fun.  Sydnee scaled castle walls and won queen of the log, both girls sat in the iron throne, we all watched jousting and the kids rode a camel and met a unicorn.  Fun was had by all.  It was kinda pricey but we used some coupons from Subway so it wasn't horrible.




Goodbye Grandma!

That night we celebrated our trip with ice cream after dinner and kissed grandma goodbye until next time.  The grandkids all want to go back soon and catch more rolly polly bugs in her yard and I am ready to visit with her again soon. 

Day 5 & 6:
We drove back to Montana and stayed the night in Billings.  We stayed at the Red Lion which was very nice and we enjoyed a great dinner at the Montana Brewing Company.  It was a wonderful trip filled with less drama than my normal family trips so we counted it as a win and are ready for our next adventure.