Day 11 and 12 - Marceline, MO

Dear Madeline and Pancake,

I miss you both so much. I met some of your younger cousins and just wished that you were here with me so you could meet and play with them.

Maddy, two of the girls play softball and one of them is an amazing country singer. I'd love to see you sing a pop song while she sings a country song. That would be really neat.

I went to Marceline, Missouri yesterday. That is Walt Disney's hometown. Where he played when he was Pancake's age.

I saw so many neat things there. I can't wait to show you some pictures from it.

I don't know if we are going to start coming home yet or not. I will let you know what we decide on.

I miss you both.

Daddy

Day 10 - Sikeston, MO

Dear Madeline and Pancake,

Yesterday, I met some of Grandma Johni's for the very first time. They were really nice people and I really enjoyed our time with them.

We are spending more time in this little town. I think we will have lunch or dinner at a place where they throw the dinner rolls at you. If they really do this, I will get video of it and send it to you.

I think I'm going to be driving to Walt Disney's hometown of Marceline, Missouri tomorrow. I'm looking forward to finding neat souveniers for you guys there.

I miss you both terribly and can't wait to see you!!!

Daddy

Day 9 - Sikeston, MO

Dear Madeline and Pancake,

I got a message last night saying that somebody lost a tooth and the Tooth Fairy brought him a TRUCK!!!

That is so exciting, Pancake! I miss you very much and I hope it wasn't scary to lose your tooth like that.

We are still in Grandma Johni's home town. Hopefully, I'll meet some cousins today that I've never met before. Can you imagine that? Should be fun!!!

Be good listeners!

I love you both,

Daddy

Day 8 - Sikeston, MO

Dear Madeline and Pancake,

TODAY, I PLAYED YOUR VIDEOS FOR GRANDMA JOHNI! She really loved them and thought that they were very cute.

We are now in Grandma Johni's hometown. She and her family left for California when she was 11.

The land here is VERY flat. There are no mountains. There are a lot of relatives of ours that live here. We call them kinfolk. That's a funny name, isn't it?

I hope you are both doing well. I miss you both so much!

Love,

Daddy

Day 7 - St. Louis

Dear Madeline and Everett,

Hello my funny friends. We are now in Grandma John's home state of Missouri. Her family moved to California when she was 11 years old. She's been back her a couple of times since and now we are going to see her first friends - her cousins!

We have a couple of hours to drive today. We have already driven over 2000 miles! If that seems like it is really far, IT'S BECAUSE IT IS!!!

I will see if we can facetime tonight! I don't know if they will have wi-fi in this small town.

Be good for Mommmy and be a good listener!

I love you both,

Daddy

Day 6 - Kansas City, MO

Dear Madeline and Pancake.

I am so excited to see the pictures from your Open House. You look like you have grown so much even though it has only been six days since I've seen you.

You Daddy is very proud of your achievements at school. I am also proud about how you are both just good, caring people.

Grandma Johni, Papa Jack, and I are in Kansas City, Missouri now. Did you know that there is also a Kansas City in Kansas? I think that is pretty weird myself.

We are going to go to St. Louis tomorrow. I'm looking forward to seeing that giant arch. I wonder if I can get McDonal's there??? Maybe????

I love you both very much. Thank your Mommy and Uncle Dodo for all of the pictures.

Daddy

Day 6 - Hays, KS

Dear Madeline and Pancake,

It made my heart soar to talk to you last night, Madeline.

It's funny talking to you on the phone. You sound younger than what you actually are and it makes me remember all of the times that I've held you in my arms.

Okay..here's something crazy about Hays, Kansas. THERE ARE BUGS EVERYWHERE!!! Weird looking cockroaches. It is so gross. You'd love it!

I just saw a little boy and girl and the little boy was wearing a Spider-Man costume. You don't remember anyone that used to dress up like a superhero do you?

I love you both!!! We are heading to Kansas City today.

Daddy.

Day 5 - Hays, KS

Dear Madeline and Pancake,

I miss your faces so much!

We made it to Kansas today! There is a thunderstorm coming in but I don't think that a tornado will take us to Oz today.

Guess. What. Happened!!!

Papa Jack got a time out from a police officer!!!

The police officer was very nice and let Papa Jack go after a quick time out.

I bet Pancake would have loved to meet a police officer like that.

We had our longest time in the car today and I am very tired. I'm helping Papa Jack and Grandma Johni do their laudry right now. Once that is done, I may go to bed. We'll see.

I love you. I miss you. And I'm going to kiss all over your faces when I get home.

Daddy

Day 5 - Denver, CO

Dear Madeline and Pancake,

I don't have a lot of time this morning because we have a looooooooooong drive to Kansas today.

I can't wait to see what time a Wizard of Oz stuff we may see there!

Pancake - I saw everything from your open house last night. I am very proud of you, young man!

Be good listeners!!!

Daddy

Day 4 - Denver, CO

Dear Madeline and Pancake,

We are now in Denver, CO. It is called the Mile High City because it a mile above sea level.

The total amount of miles that we have driven is 1193 miles. Is that crazy??? I think that might be pretty close to a million miles. I'm not sure.

When you are up this high, it gets harder to breathe. There is less oxygen in the air. So because of that, Grandma Johni and Papa Jack are very tired right now. They are going to rest and we are going to see Papa Jack's son, Rob. Maddy was just a baby when you met Rob so I don't think you'll remember him. He lives out here now.

The drive to Denver was full of very large mountains and some of them even had snow! I will post those pictures on facebook later. Ask Mommy if you can see them once I post them.

I think we may stay here an extra night so we can get Grandma Johni more time to get her strength back. The next part of our drive is going to be very flat and very boring to look at. We will have to think of different things to do to entertain ourselves. Do you think I should play "Punchbuggy" with Grandma Johni?

I should go check on Grandma Johni and Papa Jack.

What am I going to ask you now????

THAT'S RIGHT! Keep being a good listener for Mommy.

I can't wait until I get to see you both.

I HEART YOU!!!

Daddy

Day 4 - Grand Junction, CO

Dear Madeline and Pancake,

How are you guys doing today? I hope pancake had an okay time getting up for school.

Today we're still in Colorado and we're going to be driving to Denver. I just saw on the news here that Pres. Obama is going to be in Denver tomorrow too. I don't think that we're going to get to see him.

But we should get to see if the Rockies. Everybody keeps telling me how pretty they are.

Right now I'm at the gym at the hotel waiting for grandma Johnni and Papa Jack to wake up. And I'm using the voice recognition software to make this message for you. So I probably look a little silly.

I found out that after Denver we are going to be driving to Kansas. Hopefully, we will avoid all the tornadoes and we will not end up getting taken to the land of Oz.

I may even get to see some of the people that I used to work with at Disneyland a lot of them live in Denver.

Okay what I always say the good listener share the iPad in know that I love you both very very very very very very very very very very very very very much.

Love,

Daddy

Day 3 - Grand Junction, CO

Dear Madeline and Pancake,

We just made it to Colorado. Grand Junction is the city that we are staying at tonight. The city is surrounded by mountains that don't even look real. Maddy, you would look at them and say they were fakers.

We had a nice drive today of 285 miles. That means that we have driven a total of 950 miles since we started our trip 3 days ago.

Today, we saw some of the prettiest sights that I've ever seen. We drove through a mesa that kinds of looks like it belongs in Carsland at Disney California Adventure. I was half-expecting Mater to drive by and honk at us.

Grandma Johni had a better day today. It is hard to get in and out of a car when your legs don't work so well.

They are resting right now and we will get some dinner soon.

I am going to post on facebook some of the pictures I've been taking. Ask Mommy later if you can look at them.

GUESS WHAT?

(i love you)

Daddy

Day 3 - Beaver, UT

Dear Madeline and Pancake,

Just a quick note before we leave the city of Beaver today. I was driving around last night by myself and a peacock walked across the street in front of me. Remember how loud the peacock was at the San Diego Zoo? This one didn't make any noises but it did surprise me.

I think we are going to make it to Colorado today. Maddy, can you look at the map in Pancake's room and find Colorado?

Be good to each other while I'm gone. And I hope you are being a good listener for Mommy (are you tired of me writing that yet???).

Be be be my BFF!!!!!!

Daddy

Day 2 - Beaver, UT

Dear Madeline and Pancake,

Oh my gosh, we are in the funniest city ever! It is called BEAVER! I haven't seen any beavers yet but I did have a peacock walk in front of the car when we were driving.

Beaver is a small town in Utah with only about 1100 people that live here. It is very quiet and there is only one main road in the town. There really isn't much to do here - for kids or adults.

Grandma Johni is very tired today. Yesterday took a lot out of her. Today we drove a 238 miles. That means that we've driven a total of 665 miles. That seems like a lot but we are just getting started with the driving. I haven't played your video yet for Grandma Johni and Papa Jack but I will do that soon. :)

Has Uncle Dodo helped you make a comment on the blog? That would be awesome if you could write stuff back to me.

If you ever want to talk to me, please borrow Mommy's phone so you can call me!

Are you both sharing the iPad? I hope you are being good with that. I do not want that to bother Mommy.

I am still looking for something special to buy you two while we are out here. Haven't found it yet. I will know what it is when I see it!

Please continue to be a good listener for Mommy!!!

I love you more than all the fishies in the sea!!!

Daddy

Day 2 - Henderson, NV

Dear Madeline and Pancake,

I see that Uncle Dodo is trying to help you get on line so you can write me back. That makes me so happy! I hope that we can figure that out so that you can write me back here. In the meantime, you can use Mommy's phone to text me and maybe we can Facetime in the mornings.

I wanted to let you both know that we have now driven 327 miles. That sure seems like a lot but by the time we are done with the trip, we will have driven 10 times that amount (POP QUIZ! How much is 327 times 10??? Text me the answer!).

I checked the map and I can see that right now, I am 259 miles away from the two of you right now. That just seems so impossible because you are both taking up all of the room in my heart (yes...Daddy loves you!).

I'm not sure where we are going to end up today. We are headed on to Utah. I don't think we are going to get to see Uncle James, Aunt Lolo, or Baby Scarlett. You were very lucky that you had the chance to do that last July.

I've already been to the gym and I've had breakfast this morning. I'm waiting for Grandma Johni and Papa Jack to wake up and get their show on the road. The hotel had an automatic pancake maker. You guys would love it! You can have it make as many pancakes as you want! I had 50! (Just kidding).

I'll write you more tonight after we get settled. Have a great day and be a good listener for Mommy.

I love you both!

Daddy

Day 1 - Henderson, NV

Good morning Maddy and Pancake (at least, I hope you are reading this in the morning! You better be in bed by now!),

Grandma Johni, Papa Jack, and I made it to Henderson, Nevada. We didn't stop in Baker to see your "friend" Kevin but I waved to him as we drove by.

We DID drive by an air show and I have video to show you guys of a plane that would look like it was about to crash but then it would pull up and fly away. Not going to lie, it was pretty neat to see. :)

Tonight, we had dinner with Grandma Johni's best friend and her husband. I hadn't seen her since Mommy and I got married. I found out that they became friends after they met because they were taking their oldest boys to pre-school. That was something that I didn't know.

You would have liked the house that we had dinner at. It is right on a golf course and you guys would probably yell at the golfers. They also had two little dogs, Ben & Jerry.

We are back at our hotel now. Grandma Johni is very tired and is already in bed. We are going to get up in the morning and drive to Utah next.

I hope you had a great day today. If you were a good listener for Mommy, I bet you had a great day.

And guess what??? I love you both very much!

Daddy

Day 1 - Santee

Dear Madeline & Pancake,

I made it to Grandma Johni's and Papa Jack's house. We are packing up their new car and getting ready to go. Our first stop will be Henderson, Nevada. If we stop in Baker, I will try to find Kevin the tow truck driver and get a picture of him for you.

Grandma Johni is doing okay. She has a new chair to sit in and that helps her get up easier.

Bridgett the poodle is still here with Aunt Brenda. She got very excited to see me (Bridgett, not Aunt Brenda).

It is a pretty day here in Santee. We will be on the road soon.

Be a good listener for Mommy! I will see you both again before you know it.

I love you both!

Daddy

This is a place holder for all of my messages to you while I go on this trip with Grandma Johni and Papa Jack.

I will miss you more than you will ever know.

Love,

Daddy