Under A Rock

Just in case you live under a rock and haven't seen the news...

This image is from facebook and has been shared over 5,000
times.  It looks like Dana Smith took it.

Colorado Springs had a rough week.  Still is.  Now, this is not my area of town.  The fire is on the NW side of town and I live in the SE part so my house isn't in the direct line.  My sister and her family were evacuated and spent Tuesday night with us.  They were able to return to their home today and it is fine.  My mother-in-law was evacuated the same day my sister was and she is still under evacuation.  The bottom line is this: my whole town could use your good thoughts or prayers right now.  There is not one member of our community that isn't somehow affected by this fire.

The secondary issue for my family personally is the air quality. It's very smoky. It's not a great place to be if you're a tiny asthmatic unicorn.

We spent Monday at the Dr's office being put back on the daily medication she had stopped for the summer.  I just couldn't get control of it. 

We had originally planned to go to NC in August anyway and since being trapped inside a hot (no a/c) house with two crazy kids is not fun we opted to move our vacation up.  We were hoping that getting away from the smoke would help a sister out. 

Packed and ready to go.

We left yesterday and covered about 500 miles.  Remember our road trip from hell?  That was NOT pleasant but I figured my kids are older and more technologically advanced now....they can't be terrible at road trippin' forever right? 

Halfway through day one .

So far they've been awesome.  Last time Piper had broken the DVD player two days before we left and as we were stopped at a campground she shoved a ton of money into the cd player and broke that too.  Well come to find out, music and movies make a huge difference.  So does this...

Kansas.  A whole lotta not so much.

I love a wind farm.  It's my favorite thing about Kansas.  (besides leaving it.)

You may also remember that last time we had a little car trouble in KS.  True to form it happened again.  We noticed it as we pulled in to Salina yesterday and just in case we booked our room for 2 days. 

Kickin' it like pickles.

We slept in this morning, figured out some car stuff, and decided to stay that extra day anyway.  Piper's breathing has improved and I think we just needed a day to hang out in the air conditioning and relax.

And swim. 

We're heading out again in the morning.  We have a "we'll get there when we get there" kind of mentality about it and that seems to be working out.  The goal was to make sure sissy could breathe and she can.  We do look forward to getting to Bella and Papa's house and playing with them, cousins and friends. 

See you soon -ish.

JKFP & Bob

p.s.  being on fire, stuck inside, not able to breathe, and in a car all day is kind of a bummer.  No Bummer Summer returns as soon as we get to NC!