Showing posts with label Vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vacation. Show all posts

Thursday, July 15, 2010

June-July 2010 Summer so-far Whirlwind

June and July have had us traveling quite a bit. It seems we get home, Peter leaves for work, kids and I regroup, do laundry, etc and then we either meet Peter at the airport for another trip or have the trailer ready to go as soon as he is home. It has been this way since the beginning of June. We are blessed to be able to travel during the days in between his working, though I must say we are all wearing a bit thin. Peter and I laugh at ourselves as we just keep on going! However, tomorrow, we nap.


Ashley rescues chipmunk from Uncle Jim and Aunt Carol's pool.
Brave girl!
Then it bites her. This is how the trip began!
Who didn't shut the frig door before we drove away? Nothing like milk all over the floor and having to deal with those stinky clean up towels for the remainder of the drive! ;)
Can you smell the chocolate yet?!
Hershey Park
Need I say more?
"Come on kids! Come one! This is Mommy's favorite ride from when she was little!"


Yep, almost 30 years later and I still dream about swimming in the chocolate vat.
Ummm--Yum!




Some fantastic camp site somewhere between Hershey Park, PA and The Creation Museum. We stopped here for the night as we were so tired. It turned out to be a great park. The children were fascinated with the abundance of skunks!
A Zorse and a Zonkey



What did you read today? This skeleton read John 3:16.
We were going, going and Daniel was gone! We had been running at full speed and he just couldn't wake up for fishing. I was able to make him stir just enough to get some yogurt down and pjs on, then right back to bed. He slept through the night 5:30pm-morning. Fyi, he is 5!
Next day fishing before heading back to the Creation Museum.

Show us your scared face.

On our way towards Western Maryland we decided Bob's Big Boy would hit the spot. We had never taken the children to one, yet we had both been there as children. We arrived only to discover this place is called Frisch's Big Boy--with the same picture out front and same motif inside. The servers had never even heard of Bob's Big Boy. We thought that was pretty weird. I mean weren't Bob and Frisch at least brothers--cousins--estranged 5th cousins?

Ahhh, Western Maryland and a sweet visit with cousins. We went hiking.

The fabulous cousins.

Isn't God so creative?
In our culture we tend to praise the creation over the Creator.
Look at what He made for us to enjoy.
If we do not praise Him, the rocks will cry out. (Luke 19:40)
Fishing with the cousins at the spring fed lake on their neighbors organic co-op.
Coooollllddd.

These two are almost exactly a year apart.
Daniel loves his big cousin.


Peter cleaned 30+ fish and to our dismay we did not get a picture of cousin Kim pan frying the whole lot of them. She is an excellent cook and we enjoyed every bite.





The next week the cousins came our way and we all enjoyed playing together at my parents pool. We never get enough time together when they are out our way. I guess another trip to Western Maryland is in order!
End June

We do not have enough pictures of the end of June and beginning of July. We took at trip to CA to visit more family and cousins whom we had not seen in three years. It was a wonderful trip and as usual we can't get enough of being with them.

Then it was off to San Antonio, Texas for the Baby Conference. We met up with several friends and made even more. The conference dealt a lot with adoption (which you may have noticed we have a connection with!:). We enjoyed hearing the latest on how adoptions are proceeding in Haiti as well as personal experiences from a panel of adoptive parents. It was a blessing to be with so many people who see children as a true blessing from the Lord. The average family size was 7 children. When the conference was over we hit The Alamo!

The Alamo!



The Nashville airport is so cool.
Seriously, where else has five drinking fountains of differing heights?
All perfectly sized for my kids!
We actually got stuck here on our way home this week as the storms had grounded the planes. Besides having fantastic drinking fountains, they also have a kids play area for the under 42 inch crowd. We were not the only family letting our kids run around in the play area at midnight.

We arrived home on Tuesday morning at 5am and finally went to bed. We are still getting back on schedule. I have been a bit tired this week, so please forgive any typos. I would usually re-re-re-re-read to make sure they were not there as I do not want to give homeschooling Mom's a bad name.
Ya know: "See, look at her grammar! And she thinks she can teach her kids!"

Friday, February 5, 2010

Texas in an RV

So we went to Texas for a little vacation...


Our rental RV broke down on our first day, on Saturday afternoon, when no one in town could help fix it. We limped it into a campground where we sat for 2.5 days until the rental company could have it towed. This is what we did during those 2.5 days at the little "Mom and Pop" campground. This may have been our best time together. Isn't that always how it goes?


Looked for tadpoles...

Climbed a tree...



Planned a wedding where Ashley's future husband climbs a tree to carry her down. The bride and all the bridesmaids will carry pine needles.

Took a nature walk...

Played in the water...heard gun shots as it was the last day of duck hunting season...talked, held hands, sang around the campfire and enjoyed simplicity. There is joy in no phone and no computer!

In the afternoon of the 3rd day the tow truck arrived to take us to a mechanic. We told the rental company that we needed a van to pick us up as there are 7 of us. They sent a 5 seater PT Cruiser. Umm. No. Once we were towed to the mechanic, this is where they had us wait. Yes, it was that dark and that small. We decided to brave the highway and walk the quarter mile to grab an expensive burger.


The highway wasn't as crowded on the walk back to the mechanic. When we arrived at the shop we were told that the RV was his now and that they were sending us a new one...in a few hours. Umm, where are we supposed to go? So, he was kind enough to let us stay. We started packing for the move. The new RV arrived 2 hours after the shop had closed. We moved in the dark and started the drive to meet up with family, only to discover that the RV the rental company brought to us was still winterized. I am grateful for a husband who can be peaceable on the phone as I am contemplating flying across the table to give them a piece of my mind about the five children in my care. Peter was firm...and learned how to de-winterize an RV. While we were driving we started to notice a gas smell. The refrigerator! He had to call them about that one too. They told us to turn off the gas, so we went without heat that night. It was only 40 degrees in the vehicle. And on and on and on...So much so that the guy taking the calls said he hadn't seen a log that long in a really long time. In spite of it all, we still had a great time and learned more than anyone could possibly want to know about RV...unless of course you are contemplating purchasing one, which of course we are...shocked?



This is the farm we liked. 30 acres and a nice sized house with a boys dorm on one side and a girls dorm on the other.

The Texas traveling crew on our last day together. We hope to see you soon as we miss you already!

Dinner at Risky's BBQ before heading to the Ft. Worth Stockyard Rodeo. This was our second time there. Yea, we really like it!

The kids like this form of travel. We had too many sodas and snacks all with the benefit of a table upon which toi serve them.

Our last day at Cooper Lake. We saw many hog and deer prints while we strolled through God's gorgeous creation. One evening at the campground we counted 12 deer. The children were thrilled. Peter wanted his gun...

But I was busy threatening the RV rental people with it.


The kids and I ended our last nature walk with a cap gun fight around the RV.

Our last evening was spent by the campfire, then playing our new Kids Sequence around the little RV table, smelling a strange burning smell coming from the RV, discovering the electrical panel had a problem with the battery negative, calling the company, driving two hours into town, cleaning out the RV and sleeping in a hotel. The rental company was sorry for the problems we encountered and wound up giving us many of our nights free and a coupon for our next rental. Yes, we will use it.