"It's Always an Adventure", as my mom likes to say

Time again for a Sousley/Bailey/Baughn/Newville family vacation. Now, for any of you who know us, you know these are never typical family vacations. First of all, with Nate and Nat as the only ones with the same last names, its always a chore just pulling up our reservations, whether it be train tickets, ski equipment, or dinner plates. However, off we went again to Colorado, home to mountains, DEER!, moose, and more importantly: ski lifts.



Now, this trip started off like any other. In the week before we left, Nate was in DC for the Right to Life trip with school, Natalie was in Wisconsin facilitating a Greek Leadership Academy, Kenney was in Ames visiting his brother, Tasha was traveling all over the place, as usual, and Jacque was simply hoping we would all make it back to Missouri in time to travel up to Iowa for the train. As always, Jacque had her "feeling" that something was going to happen to prevent us all from getting on that train....and as always, she was right....kind of....

We all made it back to Missouri, and began the trek up to Osceola, Iowa. This was probably the calmest part of the entire trip. We arrived at the train station, and unloaded our bazillion suitcases. We had about 30 minutes until the train was expected to arrive, so we did the usual "waiting room" stuff-bathroom breaks, checking luggage, etc. The attendant tells us to get ready, and we head out to the tracks. As we're standing there, Nate realizes he has forgotten his wallet (with his ID) in the van. Now, for those of you who have not ridden the train before, they do not wait for anyone or anything...get on, or find another way to your destination! So of course we all start freaking out that he is not going to be able to get on the train, get his lift tickets, etc. Jacque asks the attendant if he has time to go get it, and she tells us no....all while telling us he needs it!

In true Nate fashion, he grabs Jacque's keys, runs to the van, and disappears as we hear the horns announcing the train's arrival. Jacque and Natalie begin freaking out, screaming for him to forget the wallet and get back across the tracks, or else we were all going to miss our vacation. All of a sudden he appears, out of breath, with the wallet, gasping that he fell on the ice and forgot to lock the door! It literally took him 1 minute to run 50 yards!! Everyone on the tracks was cheering him on, and laughing at the rest of us for panicking. We were leaving for over a week, and could not leave the van unlocked....so Nate ran onto the train, and pushed the lock button as we rode away from Iowa and on to Colorado!


This is just the beginning of the madness that ensued for the next week....wait until you hear about our arrival to Winter Park!!