Leaving... and travel

   I have been SO busy! There really hasn't been much time for blogging. Moving with dogs is a lot more complicated than we anticipated but they are a part of the family so I put up with the extra hassle.
   Sunday's goodbyes were about as fun as I expected. Saying goodbye is never easy. Church Sunday morning was so hard. I have been in that church since I was 2! I cried through most of the worship time. It was good though to process everything away from the kids. I tell them I am sad but I try not to break down in front of them. Then we said goodbye to some of the kids good friends. Lots of tears on Sunday. Sunday night 2 of my very good friends stayed at my house with me so I wouldn't have to be alone in my sad empty house. The kids stayed at my parents house since they had beds. I had to be at the house because of the dogs. We had a great time but we all knew that goodbye was coming. We said goodbye and I still just miss those 2 so much!
   Monday morning brought the actual drive out of Alaska. My parents wanted to leave at 6:30 so I was up at 5 getting everything ready. My brothers and sister-in-law and niece and nephews drove over to say goodbye. That was SOOO hard. I didn't want to leave them. I just wanted to put them in the car and drive them with me. I love my family and we are so close. We still do Sunday lunches every Sunday. It would be easier if we weren't very close... I blame my parents for this :) . The goodbyes had been said and everything was packed. I ran back into the house for the dog bowls I realized I had forgotten and had a mini breakdown. I always had one more task but this time there were no more tasks it just get in the car and really drive away. It was actually time to leave my home, my home state, my family, my super comfortable life. I pulled it together quickly though because we had 15 hours of driving ahead of us.
   The drive so far has been uneventful which is a huge blessing since surprises are not welcome on road trips. Our only surprise was that U-haul trailers (or at least the one I got) aren't actually waterproof. I opened the trailer on night number 3 and water fell on my feet. We realized several things were soaked but nothing terrible. In the morning my dad had the great idea to get the big leaf bags and put everything in those. So now all of our bags are protected in trash bags inside the trailer.
  I am SO glad my parents made this drive with us. I could not drive all this way without help... 3 kids and 2 dogs are just to much for 1 adult. My dad is extra amazing and drives his car with no breaks every day. I have my mom to give me breaks and handle anything the girls need while I am driving. We only have 5 more days on the road before we get to Florida. We are SO close to being done. Praying hard for a continued uneventful trip.