Closing out our Summer...

Summer has come to a close for the Hines Crew.  I returned back to work last week and I am not sure Kurt even had a summer vacation.  He does football all year round.  Morning work outs 3 times a week, 7 on & on Wednesday nights, coaches meetings, two football camps, trips to Boston College to check out his players at that camp, and then the start of Aug double sessions.  Today is his first scrimmage at BHS vs Merrimack.    I am looking forward to a great year at BHS, a new principal has been hired and I am excited to work for and with him. It will be nice to have discipline, consistency, and someone who does what he says he will! I think the staff feels the same way.  I will keep you posted on this journey...

Our kids start school on Sept 2nd, so that leaves them home for a week without us. If they don't kill each other it will be an act of God!

I might have to let them know for each phone call that they make to me at work and they are not bleeding to death will cost them money or chores. 

Halee will be working 2 jobs while she is home till May, Abby is going into her sophomore year, Brock will be in 8th grade, and Soph will be in 7th.  Time is flying by! Before I know it all three younger kids will be in high school together. Either they make a pact not to throw each other under the bus or their HS life might send me over the edge.  I could not image what HS would of been like if I had two other siblings in the same school. I might have actually done well and stayed in school during the day. 

As summer comes to a close I think back on what we accomplished.

• Painted the interior of the house
• Planted a garden and it is reaping edible food
• Finished the hardwood stairs so they fit now
• Cut down trees and cleared out by the driveway (thanks to Abby being grounded:)
• Cleaned out the house of "stuff" and Freecycled it.
• Halee and I drove 3200 miles in 3.5 days ( next time we are taking our time!)
• Few trips to the beach (not as many as I would of liked)
• RI to paint Kurt's parents house
• Kids to camps

So now the crisp morning air starts to roll in and we all begin to live on a schedule again I look forward to many great memories with my family and friends.  All of the challenges that we will face this year will just make us stronger and an example to those around us.

FACEBOOK STATUS across the US.

FACEBOOK STAUTS UPDATES ACROSS THE USA

Jillian Peterson Hines Checked in to Southwest, getting my playlist and movies downloaded, and finally packing. What does one pack for driving for 5 days?

Jillian Peterson Hines just landed in chicago. leaving for cali in a half hour.

Jillian Peterson Hines somewhere in California heading to Colorado tonight or as far as we can.

Jillian Peterson Hines Vegas, an ADHD nighmare... Are we almost home?

Jillian Peterson Hines Utah.. sure looks like it would be pretty but it is 1am and really dark down here in southern Utah.

Jillian Peterson Hines nothing like driving through the canyon lands of southern Utah at night. 3AM Friday morning...

Jillian Peterson Hines where the eff are we? Sun is just coming up. Um, that was an elk we just passed. I am so tired.

Jillian Peterson Hines Halee has driven twelve hours and refuses to stop till we hit Denver. We are now looking for a Dennys or Ihop:)

Jillian Peterson Hines quote of the day- it is so beautiful here it makes me want to hike... Said by Halee.

Jillian Peterson Hines Cant say We're not in Kansas anymore, cause we are.

Jillian Peterson Hines Crazy mother truckers!

Jillian Peterson Hines still driving, almost to TN:)!

Jillian Peterson Hines Damn deer! Why must you jump out of the woods at dawn and freak me out. And you make a big mess when you get smooched...

Jillian Peterson Hines made it to TN sleep then head north tomorrow. can one bruise their tailbone from sitting too much?

Jillian Peterson Hines Oh, sleep how I have missed you! I feel like a new woman... Six hours to WV, then nine hours to NH!!!

Jillian Peterson Hines On the road again... hoping to find a Dunkin Donuts. America does not run on Dunkins, only the north east has them.

Jillian Peterson Hines East coast! We are half way through Virginia. Also way more traffic.

Jillian Peterson Hines I have listened to way too much Justin Bieber I think my head might explode! Oh and the ghetto rap is crazy. just heading to NYC.

Jillian Peterson Hines Holy traffic this is killing our time!

Jillian Peterson Hines lost in Newark. Omg

Jillian Peterson Hines I think my kidneys are going to fall out. 42 Hours in the car. hoping to be home by 3am.

Jillian Peterson Hines just hit the Mass boarder. so looking forward to see the fam and my own bed! it will take a lot for me to get back in Halees car any time soon:)

Jillian Peterson Hines HOME! 3AM

Trip Across the US. DAY 2

July 23rd 9:30am


My bag made it and was the first ones off the carouse!
Halee picked me up and off we go. Well she announces we have places to go and people to see. So leaving the airport to head home was not going to happen. We drove all over the SD area. But I did get to tan at her former work. ITan. Talk about relaxing! Much needed! After visiting w people packing up and getting organized we were off. Halee and I were going to split up the trip by driving four hours a time and switching. As I am typing Halee is on her 13th hour of driving. She is Amp’ed up! I tried sleeping but it was scary driving through some of the areas. Big dead animals on the side of the road (elk, deer, and jack rabbits), swervy and hilly roads, and crazy landscapes. Halee kept announcing how many feet above sea level we were but saying 7000 square feet. I felt like I could not correct her cause I thought it was funny. After the 8th time she corrected herself… There was a point that we did not see a soul for 3 hours. Halee has decided that she wants to take a geology class to figure out why the landscape looks the way it does out here in Southern Utah and Western CO. The pictures I have posted do it justice, the depth and height was just incredible!
Just a side note, if you ever drive out here stopping at the scenic rest areas is beautiful, but the bathrooms are so ruthless! I dry heaved a few times. Hand sanitizer is a must! By the way XM/Sirius radio is a must driving in these areas!
We drove through Vegas at about 11:30 last night. Coming from someone who has A.D.D. I was glad I was not driving. I totally had “the shiny ball” syndrome! So much to look at and so many lights! It is crazy how one drives for 4 hours out of SD and rising up out of the desert is this playground for adults! If we had more time and Halee had a fake ID we could have had some fun… Actually she probably has one,  (not my problem, right?)
We are heading to my extended family’s place in Longmont, CO. Looking forward to seeing them, but also a much needed shower and nap!
Just hit a car wash outside of Vail (10,200 elevation) oh my ears!, we went through major “herds” of bugs! We are all shinny and pretty. Now we could use the same thing. I just pulled a Mexican shower in a Shell gas station parking lot. I didn’t even care that people gave me a “look’. Halee should of done the same but whatever...

PICTURES SOON

Trip Across the US. DAY 1

June 22nd 6:45 am

So it begins… I arrived at Manchester airport late... If any of you know me this is a pet peeve of mine! I checked in to baggage and an alarm went off to indicate that I was late. Awkward! As the women is helping me with my bag and moving me along she says” I am not sure your bag will make this flight, so if not just go to baggage claims in San Diego and find out when it will arrive.” I am screaming in my head, why didn’t I get my butt out of bed sooner? I hate flying so I was trying to put off going as long as possible. I thought this was a joke about me driving across country and was waiting Halee would be calling at anytime to say she really wanted to stay in paradise. Not the case…
I hurried to go through security. Bags in buckets, jewelry off, laptop in its own bucket, and off I go. Nope, the security guy asks me to remove my “shawl”, it is a light sweater, but whatever… Um, I didn’t wear a bra this morning with all the rushing around, and I am wearing a cami so I thought I would be covered. Again, not the case, another awkward moment because it was cold. Jeepers, it has only been 1 hour since I woke up and I already have had some challenges.
On a positive note, the flight to Chicago is not full so I have some room and no kids sitting near me! The skies look clear and got to see my town of Goffstown from 10,000 feet above.
So I land in Chicago and then have to sit out on the tarmac for 15+ minutes… Um my flight leaves in 10 minutes. I am freaking out in my mind. We finally exit the plane and I arrive at my gate to see no one but the person at the desk. Everyone has boarded. This means no window seatL UURRGG!
I finally find a seat and break up a father and daughter thinking they would have that extra seat between them. Nope, not today.
So I am off on my 4 hour flight to SD. I need to sleep this leg so we can drive through the night. Oh did I mention I have not eaten all day due to my lateness?

Trip across the US. DAY 3

July 25th

So we made it to CO in great time! We stayed with my cousin and his family. It was so great to be out of the car and to have interaction w others. We stayed the night and left CO at noontime. We were off to TN to see one of Halees friends. Not a ride I was looking forward to seeing the states we had to cross and seeing the storms that pass through this area every summer. In NH our storms on radar only have “red” cells if it is going to be bad, not here they have “purple” cells.
Off to Kansas, corn, cows, wrangler jeans, big trucks, can see for miles, and windmill farms. We watched storms to the south of us the lightning show was beautiful! That is Kansas from Rte 70 perspective… Oh and Rte 70 from Utah to TN. has the most adult “super” stores, and so many casinos. So basically it is a highway to hell. The other super stores we saw were fireworks... CRAZY!  The other thing saw were a lot of Jesus billboards. “Jesus loves those that don’t watch porn”… So where does that put the people who watch porn? Just a fact to all the bible thumpers… God and Jesus loves everyone. I am sure it has it’s great areas but not from what we saw. Note to self, Kansas is not in our top 20 places to live, probably not in our to 50…
Next to Missouri, a little more trees, hills, and curves. This is the only rain we hit rain so far. I did get to see the arch in St Louis, but it was late and rainy. We took a turn at St Louis to IL for a quick drive to drop down to KY. At about dusk I hit an area that was all dense woods and I think every deer in the state were mulling around waiting to cross the highway. It was so scary, the headlights would pick up the reflection in their eyes and freak me out. I almost had to pull over till the sun was up because of the amount of deer. Needless to say I was doing 50MPH, it was posted 70 MPH. When the sun finally came up the highways were riddled with dead dear. I still don’t get why they feel it is safe to cross the road in front of an 18 wheeler…
KY was the next area, rolling hills, horses, and green.
This was an uneventful leg of the trip, which is fine with me. Halee is still asleep. I was bored no one to talk to and I was sick of all our music.
Finally to TN, we went up and over mountains and lush green areas. Many state parks here. As we climbed, well the car climbed up and over some of the steps the maintenance required light came on… I am thinking because I finally put the highest grade of fuel in the car and it went into shock. I feel like it is driving better. We will have it checked in NH, if we make it. We made it to Knoxville to our destination for the night. As soon as we got there we said hello and hit the bed. After a few hours we were recharged. We spend the night just kicking back with our transplanted NH friends that live here now. For about 45 min we sat and watched storms pass north of where we were. It was incredible the lightning show that took place. I have never seen anything like it.
This morning we are of to the North. Not sure if we are stopping in WV or continue home. Six hours to WV, 15 hrs to NH. I know we could do it seeing I drove 20 hrs straight. Although I have had an eye twitch for the past 20+ hours.
Still looking for that Dunkin Donuts. America does not run on Dunkins… I have not seen one on our trip home…

PICTURES SOON