Road Trip-Destination California, Meeting Grandma & Grandpa Tanner

The end of May 2013, we hit the road again for a Tanner family reunion. This year we decided to do something exciting and made plans to hold the reunion in California- including Disneyland. Most people thought we were crazy when we told them we would be driving-especially since we would be traveling with a 6 week old infant. As funny as it sounds- driving to California from South Daktoa would take us 25 hours. The trip to Boise, that we make at least twice a year takes 23 hours. Puts a little perspective on things! We looked at a lot of options with flying, but buying plane tickets for 6 people was pretty pricey- especially when adding the cost of a rental car. But another factor that played into the matter was the fact that we really wanted to stop on the way to visit grandparents who had never met Courtney. We couldn't do that if we flew. So we made the decision to make a road trip of it.

Courtney hasn't been our greatest traveler- but she did pretty well this trip. There were definitely some rough times- and we made quite a few stops for feeding, changing diapers, etc, but she is such a sweet baby you couldn't help but just love her. My favorite was to get her out of her seat whenever we stopped for gas or food. I loved just cuddling and enjoying my sweet baby as long as I could.

The trip was luckily quite uneventful. The first big part of the trip to Ogden went by fairly quickly. The second part from Ogden to California was a little more painful- probably because it was unfamiliar and we were all feeling ready to be done! It was fun to see some new things though, and we're fortunate that our kids have learned to be pretty good travelers.

Courtney at our first hotel stop- she was so happy to just sprawl out! 

 We love this sweet baby!

 It was so great when we finally reached Ogden. It was so fun to be able to introduce Courtney to Aunt Sher & Austin and Rowan, and Grandma and Grandpa Tanner. Most the time our kids are lucky to meet family during their first year. We always live far away and it makes me sad that so much of their baby years are missed, so it was wonderful that Courtney got to meet them before she was even 2 months old. She wasn't quite as smiley and happy as she normally is- but I can understand- being only 6 weeks old and having just finished a 17 hour drive. It was still so sweet and she really seemed to love Grandma and Grandpa. I loved watching them together. There really isn't anything like watching your kids with your own grandparents that you love so much.
There is never enough time- and we had to be back on the road again much sooner than we would have liked- but I'm so glad we were able to stop. I loved having time to just visit and share memories and talk about good times. Grandma and Grandpa are so sweet- they spoiled us with a delicious home cooked meal and lots of fun things to take with us on the drive. The kids loved running around the yard and playing with cousins. It brought back so many fun memories of when I was young and played for hours with cousins in Grandma and Grandpa's yard. It is definitely one of my favorite places. I'm hoping we will be back again soon. We all sure love our sweet family!

Sweet Grandpa has always loved the babies

Courtney and her dear Great-Grandma Tanner