Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Road Trip

Four long days of travel and we've finally reached our destination...Holland, MI!
The first night we reached Flagstaff, AZ and found ourselves a perfect spot in the Walmart parking lot to spend the night.
Mark rigged up a great sleeping system for Tessa and she slept great every night (as well as during the day)! The second day we made it to our destination and then some. We continued past Amarillo, TX and found ourselves in Shamrock, TX at the Shamrock Inn...parking lot. :) Again, the 4Runner slept great! The third day of travel brought us through Oklahoma City where we stopped for a bit to check out the Oklahoma City Memorial...very impressive! We continued on all the way to Branson, MO where we checked in to the Hotel VanderLey....ahhhh, a nice cushy bed and showers! It felt so good to re-connect with good friends Mark and Alison. :) They are patiently awaiting a new little addition to their family any day now and still did an excellent job of being incredible hosts! Thanks you guys! :)

Our fourth day of travel started after hanging out for a while. We made a stop in St. Louis, where we checked out the arch and Tessa got her first stamp in her National Park Passport book. It was a beautiful day and a very nice break in our travels. There was even live music playing right in front of the Mississippi River that we could sit for a while and enjoy.

After all this rejuvination, we were able to make it ALL THE WAY to Holland that night (actually 1:45 a.m. Sunday morning!) We got a great nights sleep and were able to go to church with the entire family!!! Grandpa, Grandma, Auntie Erin, Uncle Mike, Cousin Freeman, Mommy, Daddy, and Tessa! Wonderful...together at last. (First time with all 8 of us.) We then went and had lunch at Great-Grandpa and Grandma's house. This was their first time meeting Tessa. What a beautiful picture that was! Praise God for family...4 generations. :) After that we went home and crashed for a total of 45 minutes before we headed off to the Mannes family reunion. What a great time! Again, such a nice time of re-connecting and showing off our precious little daughter!

The Mannes Clan

Cousin Danielle and Tessa

Aunt Dottie and Cousin Kate

Praise God for safe travels! Thank you for your prayers...Tessa was an incredible little trooper.

2 comments:

August Herrema said...

im glad all went well

Sarah said...

i was just thinking about you guys today wondering how the trip out went. Good job updating when I'm thinking about you all. :)

Glad it went well. hey guess what - our brand new ikea is having its grand opening next week wednesday, if you hurry to this side of the country you could make it! i wonder what you get if you're one of the first 100. Although the line up is starting on monday morning so you'd really have to hurry. :)