Beautiful Drive

Yesterday, we made it to Baraboo, Wisconsin. Say "Baraboo" a few times, it's quite addictive and funny sounding. It turned into a lot of laughs in our car, "badabing, badabong, Baraboo", plus, it made Natalia giggle like crazy for a good five minutes.

The drive was beautiful. The trees were so many colors, deep reds that were almost burgundy, bright reds that were almost pink; yellows ranging from gold to bright, sunshiny yellow; oranges that were burnt orange or pumpkin-y, mixed with the greens of trees yet to change, and some evergreens, some of which were blueish. It was a truly beautiful drive.

We stopped to see Jeremy's aunt Lonette, whom I had never met. So over the past couple days Jeremy and I have both met members of each others families. It really was a pretty good day in the travel department. When we got to the hotel, Jeremy ran into the office to check in so I made up a song to entertain the girls. No rhyme or melody to speak of, but I sang that I loved them and my husband their daddy and both seemed thrilled. Then Leilani, not to be outdone, sang that she loved her mommy, sister Natalia and daddy named daddy. It was adorable. The pool has a hotel, so we went down there for a little bit. Jeremy and Natalia didn't get in, but Leilani and I did. Leilani had a blast swimming around, and I got to do a couple laps while she looked on. Natalia didn't seem too crazy about not having mama for thirty minutes, but once Leilani and I had showered and Natalia got me back, she was fine. Oh, Leilani fell out of the shower, she was saying "I can't get out!" And the next thing I knew she was on the floor looking up all confused.

This morning I bribed Leilani to get up and dressed by saying "let's see if there are any cartoons on." It worked and I discovered Natalia likes Mickey Mouse as much as Leilani.

We got back on the road by about nine. Leilani did a few of the worksheets I brought for her. Fortunately, she seemed to enjoy them, which means she won't forget everything she's learned over the past few weeks! We stopped at a rest area that had a walking trail, which we "hiked"...it was beautiful. Vibrant yellows, reds, and oranges. Still some green on some trees, dead branches here and there. Incredibly picturesque. Leilani loved it, she and I raced, then on the way back down she and Jeremy raced. Natalia kept trying to take her jacket off. Actually, she did three times manage to get it off. She seemed to enjoy being out of the car, looking at the beauty all around. We were rewarded for our uphill hike with a gorgeous vista - looking out, over the trees right close to us, there was a tapestry of oranges, reds, yellows, and greens as far as the eye could see. So many different shades of each of the colors, some of the reds had enough brown in them to look almost purple, some of the reds and oranges looked almost pink, and the yellows ranged from yellow green, to bright sunshiny yellow, to marigold. It was restful for mind, body and soul, and I think we all felt the benefit of it when we had to pile back into the car to head west on our long trek.

We stopped at a hotel with a pool again. Leilani and I went down there for a few minutes and did a quick swim. Natalia fell asleep, and then Leilani woke her up so both girls are still awake, and all I wanna do is sleep, I'm tired :)