D-Day +3 & 4: Kansas!

What a couple of days it has been in the Land of Oz!

Thursday (D-Day +3) started out in Colorado at Kerry's house. We dragged our feet and didn't leave until after 10 AM, as we had completely unpacked and basically moved in! Here is what I was faced with when I woke up:

Thank you, Kerry, Michael and Emily (and Paul in abstentia) for such a warm welcome and wonderful evening.

After a healthy breakfast, extraordinarily-fast packing and many hugs goodbye, we headed east on Interstate 70 (I-70), looking forward to meeting Kansas for the first time as a family!

After a couple of hours of driving in eastern Colorado (flat, dry and very hot), we said goodbye to Colorado...

...and hello to Kansas!

When we stepped outside to take these pictures (the signs are less than 1/4 mile apart), there was a hot, dry wind blowing in our faces yet there was so much anticipation to see Kansas everyone smiled anyway! ;-)

Everyone says that driving through Kansas is two things: straight and boring. Well...I think there were two turns on I-70 across the whole state so the first comment is true. However, I would have to disagree with the second comment: the drive across Kansas was interesting and inspirational.

Let me share with you why in pictures...

US flag and Kansas state flag at the border.

Windmills were everywhere along I-70 and from I what I hear they are all over Kansas!

My kids first view of grain silos (Josh thought the pointed-roofed ones were rockets).

And there were more oil pumps in the fields of Kansas than I thought. There weren't as many of the power-generating windmills as in Texas, but The Pickens plan may soon change that.

And of course, one of the best moments of the day was the pest-sandwich lunch in the car...thanks Nonnie!! The Lillie Family sends our love and very special HAPPY BIRTHDAY wishes to Nonnie and Nonno as they both July birthdays (July 6th and 16th, respectively).

Eisenhower Center, Abilene, Kansas

One of the most wonderful moments of the day occurred when we drove to the Eisenhower Center in Abilene, Kansas. As an ex-military officer (USAF) and a student of military history, President and General Eisenhower is a hero of mine. In fact, I am reading a book on Eisenhower called, "Eisenhower on Leadership: Ike's Enduring Lessons in Total Victory Management" as a part of my ongoing desire to study leadership.

The Eisenhower Home has been restored and sits on the grounds near the Visitors Center. It is a relatively small home, especially considering the Eisenhowers had 6 boys in two bedrooms!

Here is a picture of the Lillie Family on the porch of the Eisenhower home, and next to it is a picture of the Eisenhower family (mom and dad and the 6 boys) almost 70 years before.

My hero.

A monument to an American hero.

Words to live by.

Horses and Dreams

On Friday July 11th we spent a day filled with horses and dreams. Our dear friend Melissa Cowan took us on a day we shall not soon forget, introducing us to some great people -- Libby, Tony, Stephanie, Susan and of course Randy -- and some wonderful horses: Ty, Cheyenne, Torpedo, and Taz (and many others -- these are just the 4 horses we rode).

It is now Saturday morning and we need to hit the road so not too many words other than a HEARTFELT THANK YOU to Melissa and to Libby and Tony for a wonderful day. Thanks for giving us such a wonderful gift! With people like this, the Living Life Ranch WILL HAPPEN!!

Here are a few pictures (that I will annotate later) to give you a little taste of what our day was like:

Libby and Melissa -- best pals!

Talk to you all soon!

Peace,

Brian

D-Day +2: Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, OH MY!

What a day!

We saw some truly incredible country on our drive today as we drove from Salt Lake City to Lafayette and have enjoyed a wonderful night with Jill's cousin Kerry and her two children, Michael and Emily (unfortunately Paul was out of town for the evening so we missed him). A lot of driving, but all-in-all a great day.

Thoughts on Utah
It all started last night with a wonderful stay at the Marriott in downtown Salt Lake City. The hotel is right across the street from Temple Square and had all of the amenities you would want or need for a family. There was a terrific pool and workout facility -- in fact, the stationary bikes overlooked the pool so I could ride while the kids swam. Some of the weights were also outside by the pool, and the all of the treadmills had TVs and headphones to use while running. The kids were in heaven! Nick and Natalie ran on the treadmill while the boys swam -- then we all swam together. Another fun part was staying on the 15th floor -- we were treated to a beautiful view of the city and of the Mormon temple. Below is a picture of the kids on our balcony:


Sorry that the picture is a little blurry -- I had to set the camera on a really slow shutter speed to get enough light for their faces and to still get the temple in the background.

For dinner Jill got some healthy burritos from Rubios and we all had a picnic in the room before crashing for the evening, totally happy and totally exhausted.

The Lillie Family members all agree that our stay in Salt Lake City was two thumbs up...way up!

The next day we were on the road by 8:30 am and headed through the unbelievable beauty of Park City. This truly was one of the prettiest drives I have taken and that is saying a lot, given I spent nearly 5 years in Montana and have seen the Gallatin Valley, Paradise Valley, the Bitteroots and even the "Going-to-the-Sun" road in Glacier National Park. The hills of the Park City valley along Interstate 80 (I-80) were green, the homes beautiful and the landscape clean and fresh. We actually stopped at Echo reservoir to take a picture because it was so beautiful. Fortunately, someone volunteered to take one of the whole family so we are all in it:

The red rock, the green hills and the blue water and sky made this a simply breathtakingly beautiful spot.

The whole Utah experience was a good one and I highly recommend that other families spend some time there...I know we'll be back!



Thoughts on Wyoming
As much as we enjoyed our drive through, and brief stay in Utah, we were excited to catch our first glimpse of Wyoming. Fortunately the Lillies are a bunch of gamers, and I got to snap this photo of them before we entered Wyoming:

Pretty cool, huh? I love the bucking bronco and cowboy that is the symbol of the state...

Wyoming was beautiful in a very different way than Utah. Wyoming's broad and sweeping plains and its mesas peppered throughout the land gave me a feeling that we were part of a huge country, still a bit wild. I definitely got the feeling that this state is where the REAL cowboys come from (sorry, Montana) and that life in Wyoming was not easy. But mostly I was proud to be an American with the kind of heritage we have in the state. In fact, Jill has been clicking pictures every time she sees an American flag in a city we are travelling through. She is doing this in honor of her brother's safe return from Iraq & Afghanistan, for the 4th of July, and for helping others (like me!) in need. -- below is an example of the flag being flown in Rawlins, Wyoming:

The other thing I noticed about Wyoming were the snow fences in many of the fields along the interstate. I guess they have a horrible problem with blowing snow and huge snow drifts in Wyoming and these fences help. There did not seem to be any rhyme or reason as to how or where they were placed in the open country...but I am guessing someone knew when they placed them there.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend any time in Cheyenne, Wyoming ... the time was getting late and we needed to Lafayette for dinner with the Matherns.

Oh, well, something to shoot for next time!

Thoughts on Colorado
We left Cheyenne and turned south on Interstate-25 toward Denver and by this time we were getting hungry and a little tired of being in the car. Colorado felt similar in landscape to Wyoming but was a lot busier -- cars were everywhere on this heavily travelled highway. I will say that the clouds and sky reminded me of when Jill and I lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico so many years ago (pre-kids). We used to drive to Santa Fe and sometimes up into Colorado Springs and we saw this beautiful sky -- blue with some clouds and with the sun's rays shining through. Take a look at these shots taken close to Kerry's house and you will see what I mean.

Isn't the sky in Colorado beautiful? It was an especially nice time of night to arrive and with the Rocky Mountains looming in the background I can't imagine a more lovely welcoming to Lafayette.

We arrived at cousin Kerry's house around 6:15 pm -- here are Kerry and Jill moments after we arrived:

The evening was a total blast as we cooked dinner together, ate it together, went for a walk around the neighborhood (very nice), and then had smore around the backyard round fire pit. We ended the evening with Michael playing both acoustic and electric guitar for us, entertaining us with "Stairway to Heaven," "Hey There Delilah", and even "Sweet Home Alabama"! The kids went to sleep happy and exhausted, their minds full of what they saw and experienced today. I am sure they are thinking, "What comes next?" I know I am...

Peace and goodnight,

Brian

Day +1: Salt Lake Bound and What We Did To Get There

Sup,

I'm back and ready to make an impact on this incredibly important site. I hope this blog entry lives up to your expectation of "beastliness.” Well here goes...

After leaving Vacaville we had quite an eventful evening (that hardly gives it justice). After driving through Reno, Nevada (the biggest small city in the world), which is home to lots of casinos (we didn't stop cuz' I wasn't feeling lucky and I'm broke and... the least important, I'm not 21). Well, after the bright, "Vegas-like Lights" of Reno, we stopped in Sparks, Nevada to fill up with gas...and that's where it happened. We got hit by a lady. Just mere moments before, my brother and sister got ice cream from McDonald’s and they were served by the same person that hit us! [Random comment: Check out "Super Size Me"-- it is a great movie about how this random guy comes up with this random idea to go on an all McDonalds’ diet. It's a good movie that really should be in the documentary genre. And the McDonald’s server was a woman – go figure. Check it out.]

And then, just as we were pulling out of the gas station, the McDonald's Lady hit us from behind. I slammed into the seat in front of me and nearly got whiplash! And then... well, frankly, nothing. It only broke the license plate light on our StowAway2 thingamabob. We were delayed only a few minutes on "The Trip of A Lifetime!" and arrived at the glamorous, extravagant, Winnemucca Super 8 Motel – it was 1:15 in the morning. We then crashed (Sleep crashed, not crashed-crashed. That already happened!) and headed out the door bright and early at 9 o'clock!

After a long drive we saw what small town America really looks like when we stopped at Wells, Nevada which was really only 2 miles across (no joke) and had one grocery store called Stuart's (who's heard of that?) We bought our supplies for lunch and their turkey meat was really good. Yum... ahh that pepper turkey...I can still remember the juices seducing my taste buds and…oh sorry, right. Leaving with 5 postcards (why did we get that many?) we headed off to Salt Lake City and an evening at the BIG TIME Marriott on Temple Square.

Later dudes and dudettes,

Mr. Beast

D-Day Extended...Winnemucca

All,

I now know what "editorial license" truly means...

The recent writings of the self-proclaimed "Mr. Beast" has me questioning whether I need to serve as Lilliepadusa Blog "Copy Editor" or simply as a spectator of my wife and children's creative writing. I decided that other than providing some structure to the blog (much like at home...guffaw) I am going to let it ride. Their musings will be much more interesting than mine anyway!

After a very nice visit at Nonnie and Nonno's house (which included a visit from Uncle Matt,Aunt Jane, and cousins Jared and Heidi), we hit the road for the desert garden spot of Winnemucca. We decided to drive a little further than Reno to make our drive to Salt Lake City tomorrow a little shorter. Jill is driving and I am blogging while she drives, including creating gmail accounts for all of the kids so that I can invite them to be contributors on the Lilliepadusa blog. They will appear as follows:

• CINC House --> Jill (Commander in Chief House, a statement about who is really in charge of the Lillie household)


• Mr. Beast --> Nick (you already met him)


• Angel --> Natalie (my wonderful daughter)


• Jake 'n Bake --> Jake (no he doesn't like to cook...his name describes his moves on the baseball diamond, basketball court and soon the football gridiron)


• Captain Jack Sparrow --> Josh (with dreadlocks and all)

I am sure it will be interesting.

Peace,

Brian

D-Day Continued...First Leg Done

Hey,

Hi. I'm Nick Lillie a.k.a. Mr. Beast, the eldest child of 4 kids. As my name suggests, I am very beastly. This means therefore, my entries in this blog will be beastly. Ahh, I see that my good old dad has already made quite a few entries. I hope to ensnare more visitors to this site and add a whole new dimension to this blog that my dad very clearly missed: beastliness. (Yes, I know it's not a word. I tend to us those to enhance the quality of humor in this text.) Yep, I know you are falling over each other and drooling on the keyboard to find out where we are, what we're doing, and where we're heading next (ya right) but it is mandatory to inform you. We are currently in Vacaville, California (about an hour and a half drive from our house) and just finished having dinner with my Nonnie and Nonno which is Italian for grandma and grandpa (they don't like to be called the "G" word). Soon, very soon, we will be driving to Winnemucca, Nevada where we have a hotel booked. Well, at least I think we have one booked. Ummmm, I hoped we have one booked. Ya, I'm pretty sure we have one booked. Ok, we have one booked I just confirmed it. Phew...that takes a lot of stress of my back. Well, I know you all have your own lives to attend to: screaming children commanding you to get off the computer, laundry that just finished and impatient bosses...so, I release you now back to your world.

Adios Amigos That I Don't Necessarily Know!

Mr. Beast

D-Day : The Time Has Come!!!

Day -1 : So excited we can't sleep! (plus we're not done packing yet)

Only one more day until we leave on the Lillie Family July 2008 Roadtrip...we are all so excited we can hardly stand it!!!

The kids have been spending the last few hours deciding what to pack in their allocated space, which has been amazing to watch. They all have their different treasures, and it is interesting to see what is most important to them as they pack for almost a whole month. Natalie, for example, packed her jewelry-making kit as a high priority item (right next to her stack of books). Nick spent the afternoon making sure our electronic gear was ready, including organizing our DVDs to ensure everyone's movie tastes were covered. Jake brought his series of Magic Treehouse books as well as the next few Harry Potter books, hoping I would continue reading them on the trip. Josh of course packed his Legos and light sabre -- two, in fact, so he can spar with Jake. Jill is the heart and soul of the operation, as she has packed all of the kids clothes and organized the rest of the "extra" gear. She also took Natalie to the doctor today as her ear was hurting and come to find out she has an ear infection! Thanks to Jill's quick action she got seen today and prescribed antibiotics...we would be lost without Jill's leadership on these things.

For me, it has been a packed day of baseball and electronics and getting the car ready. As predicted in yesterday's post, the baseball game against the Foster City Giants was a tough one, as they were a very good team. Our boys played valiantly but came up short against a bigger, stronger, faster team -- we lost 7-1. Jake had a terrific time with the team and made some really nice new friends. Below are some action shots of Jake at the tourney:

All four of these pictures were from the game against Half Moon Bay when Jake made several plays at shortstop.

These two show some pretty intense faces on a grounder...

While these two show his ability to make a tough catch in the air.

I am SOOO proud of this boy!

After baseball was over (sniff!), Jake and I went to Best Buy to get more "gear" and then it was home for an afternoon of testing gear, organizing gear and packing gear. I am officially a gear monkey! Of course as we finished the afternoon and prepared to go to Sunday evening mass at St. Simon's church, I discovered that the battery in the van was dead! Aarggh!! Oh well, better to discover this here than in some town in the middle of the Nevada desert. I confirmed with a garage that the battery was indeed dead so at 7 AM we will be getting our battery replaced at the dealership. Just another detail to be checked off for the LFam July 2008 Roadtrip!!

Well I better head off to bed now -- 7 am is going to come mighty early.

Happy Birthday, Mom, aka Lynn Gallagher!!!!!!!!!!!!

Peace to all,

Brian