The Pauls Family Trip ~ Days 18 + 19 (November 19 + 20)

The beginning of day 18 we headed out of Sioux city and arrived in Fargo, North Dakota.

The drive was only around 4 hours (four hours seems minimal to us now!) so we spent the remaining time of our afternoon shopping. I didn't really feel like taking the camera into the stores, so the only pictures I have of that day are ones that I took of Eli...

 (no, I'm not playing favouritism, he is just the only baby we have in the family right now :) 

We found a campground in the dark and spent the night near the city.

Today (Day 19) we left the campground early and headed to Grand Forks, North Dakota to do some more shopping. Once again... no pictures of that :(

We went to Pizza Ranch for lunch (yummy!!), went to a couple more stores... then it was time for the Last.Trek.HOME!!!!

We were welcomed back into our country with not-so-good road conditions, and plenty of snow. I have to say folks that I love our Canadian winter. I can do no snow, no cold for a while... but I was so excited to be back in our cold country!

And so our journey comes to an end.

We are home.

The fire is going in the stove. 

Christmas music is being played on the piano.

The little ones are rediscovering and playing with all theirs toys that seem new again.

And we are excitedly being reunited with our greatly missed family members.

It was good to go away... but it is even better to come home.

The Pauls Family Trip ~ Day 17 (November 18)

I did not take one single picture today.
Sadness eh?

We traveled 7 hours northward leaving Kansas, passing through Iowa and arriving in South Dakota early evening.
We are currently in a KOA Kampground close to Sioux City.

Nothing extremely exciting happened today.
(except for maybe when dad had to hit the breaks for a red light and some water jugs went flying off the counter across the RV, spilling water everywhere... ;)
Which is quite obviously reflected by the absence of pictures!
Other then stopping at Camping world in Council Bluff and later on Wal-mart... our day consisted of drive time.

We plan (Lord willing) to arrive home Wednesday, stopping in Fargo or Grand Forks for the night tomorrow before making the final trek home.

That's it... that's all!

The Pauls Family Trip ~ Day 16 (November 17)

Note: I wrote this last night... but it didn't publish. Instead of making changes... I thought I'd just let y'all know :)

It was decided this Sunday morning that we would travel on 4 or 5 hours closer to home, then spend another afternoon/evening at another campground.

Before we left the RV Park, we stopped to visit the buffalo that were penned up at the campground.

As we drove the land changed. 

We were finally able to see farther then the trees or hills that had previously almost always been beside the interstate or highway we were driving along. 

I fell in love with the rolling hills of Oklahoma, then later the flat plains of Kansas.

The farther north we travel, the more it feels like home. 

As we were driving we learned that my Great Grandma passed away. 

I didn't know her real well, but I was sad for those who are affected by the loss. 

My sweet Grandma who lost her mother. And my own mom who has lost her Grandma.

We drove on and on, making a stop once for groceries before arriving at KOA Kampground in Salina, Kansas.

We did some relaxing before the evening routine of making supper and getting kiddoes to bed. 

Right now the RV is silent except for the sound of little children's heavy breathing as they sleep.

As I sit here in the quiet I hear the call of home and the people that I love. 

The call that is becoming louder and louder in my heart as the days go by. 

We are all still having a great time, but we are also missing everything that is so familiar to us.

I'll leave you with pictures of the sweet face that is becoming regular on my blog.... 

but who can resist a face like this eh?!?

'night all!

The Pauls Family Trip ~ Day 15 (November 16)

The morning of the 15th day the Klassens once again invited us into their home, this time for a scrumptious breakfast!

After breakfast, pictures and goodbyes... we were soon on our way.

We had such a great visit! 

Thank you Klassen family!

We left Texas and were soon in the state of Oklahoma.

As we drove we came upon Pauls Valley. We couldn't help but stop to take some pictures in "our valley"...

We arrived at Rockwell RV park in Oklahoma City late afternoon.

Some of us did some swimming (the lighting was horrible... so I barley took any pics)...

There was no campfire pit on which to cook our supper, so we had a late supper of barbecue chicken cooked on the oven :)

Aaaand that was the end of day 15!

The Pauls Family Trip ~ Day 14 (November 15)

Went for a run along the trails at Mill creek ranch/rv park. I made sure to stay on the trail after reading the warning about the possibility of cobras and other deadly snakes hanging around. :)

The campground was really beautiful. There were little ponds and man made waterfalls all over the place, defiantly the best campground we have stayed at so far this trip!

After breakfast we let the kiddoes play...

Then we all played basketball.

First we warmed up...

Then we shot some hoops...

Then it was game time!!

We packed up and left the campground around noon.

We had some time to kill so we went shopping in Terrell, Texas at some outlet stores.

While we were waiting for other family members to come out of the store, Eli decided to be super cute, so naturally I was able to take some super cute photos....

We had to go through/around Dallas, Texas to get to Richardson, which is it's suburb.

Once in Richardson we went to visit Dad's childhood friend Kelly, his sweet wife Laurene and ADORABLE little babe Tejay.

Oh, and let's not forget to mention this gal! Cocoa was such a sweetheart!

Our hosts were brave enough to feed our HUGE family supper. 

SO yummy!!

Does this little face not just make your heart melt?!?!

The Klassens graciously allowed us to pull our beast (RV :) into their driveway.
And so we spent the last (and warmest!) night in Texas.