27 Random Things I Learned From Driving Across the Country With Four Children

Well, after all that to-do about how I wouldn't be posting anytime soon...we decided not to go to Big Bear this week, and I've got a quiet evening to myself, while Chris plays basketball. So.... i will give you a little bit more detail about the last several weeks of my life.

As is our usual Christmas tradition, we drove to Dallas, TX for the holidays to spend the time with my family and friends. While we've always flown, having four kids over the age of two made that a financial impossibility this year, so we decided to truck it. We had a wonderful time driving through California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, and it was fun to see the land. The three days of driving each way was a very educational experience for me, and I thought you might enjoy hearing what I learned.

1. There are five prisons between Santa Barbara, CA and Las Cruces, New Mexico.
1b. There is one windmill.
2. It is possible for the one and a half hour drive between Phoenix and Tucson to turn into a six hour drive.
3. Truck drivers know everything that's happening on the roads ahead of them.
4. Truck drivers are very friendly to women who stick their heads out the window and ask them to share their infinite knowledge.
5. A little dust storm can cause a lot of damage!
6. If you ever need to steer around Hwy. 10 in Arizona because you've been sitting still on the road for hours due to your second encounter with a 20 car pile-up, driving over dirt roads that run through cotton fields is an excellent option.
6b. This Should not be attempted if your car doesn't have a GPS system.
7. If you happen to be driving on dirt roads through cotton fields in Arizona, this is a wonderful educational opportunity. Pull the car over and pick some cotton to show your children.
8. It's possible for a dust storm to get so bad that you can't see anything outside of your car.
8b. This is a bad time to be exploring Arizona by way of a dirt road.
8c. It's also a bad time to decide that you want to educate your children by running out into a field to pick cotton for them.
9. My children are amazingly well behaved in the car.
10. Bribing the kids with various gifts every couple hours goes a long way toward keeping them well behaved.
11. Gideon can amuse himself for hours, playing "war" with two pencils and a piece of paper.
12. My children aren't so well behaved when we let them out of the car after driving for several hours.
13. I can no longer take pride in the fact that I don't get carsick
14. Chocolate milkshakes go a long way toward curing my carsickness. Starbucks hot chocolate: not so much.
15. My children's cheeks turn red when they ride in the car for an extended length of time
16. The majority of trucks on the road between Santa Barbara, CA and Dallas, TX are from Indiana, Maine, and Tennessee (in that order). (Why maine?? What on earth does the whole country need from Maine??)
17. There are two major choices for driving from California to Texas: Hwy 10 and Hwy 40
18. Hwy 40 has a lot more snow and windmills. Hwy 10 has a lot more dust and prisons.
19. There is a mass exodus occuring from Minnesota to the southwestern part of the country.
20. While there may be hundreds of Mennesotans driving on Hwy 40, we couldn't find a single one driving on Hwy 10.
21. The Grand Canyon is beautiful when it's covered in snow.
22. When the Grand Canyon is covered in snow, it's a bad idea to walk out to the very edge, because it may not be the edge at all.  It may just be a big chunk of snow that's sticking off of the edge, and it may not be strong enough to hold your weight.
23. It's a bad idea to go walking around in snow, when you have holes in your shoes.
24. A three day car trip is the perfect time to knit a scarf.
25. If you want to knit a scarf in three days, you must knit for the entire three days.
26. It's possible for Dallas to have a white christmas!

27. As fun as it is to go on a road trip, and spend time with family and friends, it's a wonderful feeling to be home again.

Travel with Kids!!

One of my favorite memories from my childhood years is all of the car trips we used to go on. I loved discovering the world around me through the window of our family van, i loved playing games with my brother... i loved everything about it! This year, for Christmas, our family will be driving to Texas. That means three days in the car, with four children ages 4-8. Today I went out and bought lots of little gifts to give the kids at regular intervals through each day, to help the time pass. While trying to think of some other creative car trip ideas, I came acoss a great website! The creator of this site has so many super ideas, that I thought all of you out in blogland would appreciate hearing about it. With all of her suggestions, plus whatever else I can come up with on google, we're bound to have a great time in the car! --this just further supports my creativity motto: steal everyone else's tidbits, and you'll look like a creative genius!

One Photo

I took LOTS of pictures while we were in New York, but haven't had much time to go through them. so while you're waiting.... here's me & chris at the Top of the Rock --72 (or something) stories above New York.

Me having lots of fun.... and chris - tired of me taking pictures. :)

Did i mention that i dyed my hair blonde?

Day 4 in NYC

our last day. lots of fun! very new yorky


Today was the coldest of all... high of 31 degrees.
went to the Statue of liberty. There were all sorts of little street vendors that were fun to browse. my favorite was the one w/the hot apple cider. :) Then we waited for HOURS to get on the fairy to see the statue. We had to go through all sorts of security. They don't tell you all that *before* you buy the tickets. But, she was beautiful. we're glad we went. Got to watch the sun set behind the statue. wow.

Then we visted Ground Zero (the former site of the twin towers). That was really neat. They're building 6 towers in the their place. pretty cool.

From there, we tried to see Trinity church, which we've heard a lot about, but it was closed. so we got on the subway & headed toward Central park....but we decided to hop off at Times Square. WOW! very busy & exciting! so many lights! very cool...then back into the abyss of the subway & up at Central park. There, we got to experience New York hospitality at it's finest, when we waited for a carriage ride, and some guy tried to tell us how terrible they are, and that we should ride in his bicycle trailer instead. Then we got to watch a fight between the people at the front of the carriage line & the people in the back, who were cutting. And then we got kicked off of a carriage, because *we* were at the front of the line, and apparently, the carriage driver feels angry about having to serve people in a civil fashion. bu we *finally* got on a carriage, & had a lovely ride around the park.

afterward, we went looking for a gift for my mother in law, in a nearby shop. When i asked how much a crystal bowl was, i was able to talk the guy down from $350 to $100, just by saying, "that's not in our budget." hee hee. :)

off to the subway again, & back to Times Square where we had some authentic New York pizza for dinner. Even though it was cold, & old, it was probably some of the best pizza i've had. yum!

Then, back to the subway, & to the hotel. Now we've got to pack & be out of the hotel by 4am, which is 1am CA time. EEK!

good night!

day 3 in NYC

no more rain... no more broken umbrellas lying around.

we woke up at 10:30 this am. laid around awhile, & went downstairs to get breakfast. They were closed for breakfast, but said they would open for lunch in 1/2 an hour. so we waited & got a lovely lunch. Chris was feeling sick from a cold he had before we left home, so we came upstairs to our room & watched a movie that we had rented before leaving SB. Then we took a nap, & woke up around 5:00pm. FINALLY got out the door to see NY around 6 in the eve! Went to dinner at a fun italian place called Alfredo's. They were the first place to make Fetuccini Alfredo - back in 1914, so of course i had to order some. The best i've ever had. After dinner we walked around a little more, and now we're back in the hotel, at 11:30 NY time. lots of fun details i'm leaving out, but i'm gonna go be w/my honey - who's glad to be back in bed. :)

tomorrow: a carriage ride at central park & maybe a visit to an art museum..and the statue of liberty??

here we are!

left home at 4 yesterday. arrived in NY at 6 this am. i got sick on the taxi, so we got a hotel room & crashed til about 12:30. We've got a room on the 22nd floor, in a hotel that overlooks the brooklyn bridge. very FUN!!! This evening, we took the subway to manhattan & watched a cirque du soliel at the Madison Square Garden. what a blast. i think everyone should see a cirque du soliel at some point in their lives. they're amazing! tomorrow, we don't know what we're doing yet. so much to see! so much to do! it's rainy & windy & cold. I've got a tally of how many broken umbrellas i find on the street. we've seen 23 so far. And that doesn't include the piles that we saw in the trash cans. :)

Off To The Big Apple

This afternoon, at 4:00, Chris & I leave for New York!!! Can't wait to see the big city all deck out for Christmas. :)

A New Post For Heather

I have some extra time to post today, so i thought i share some of my favorite pics from this summer when Heather came to visit. Thanks to Eric for the pics of me & heather together. :)

a happy birthday, and other things

what a crazy busy month we've had! sorry i haven't been posting much. i've started several posts, but never had the opportunity to finish them. Last Thrs. was Chris' birthday. He worked part of the morning & then took us to Diseneyland w/some friends. Came home late that night. lots of fun, but tiring. Sunday evening, we left right after chruch, for a track day. we brought our same friends with us and enjoyed a nice mini-trip with each other. here's a photo of chris:

Mom's been in town for the last few weeks. My grandma was recently diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. The doctor doesn't expect her to live more than a year. But Grandma's praying that God will heal her. Mom canceled her flight home last Monday to stay an extra week with Grandma.

In addition to all that, we've had a few very fun game nights; lot's of VERY late night talks with our new friends; lots of prayer and seeking God for his call on our life; and lots of time serving at church (those of you who know us well, understand what a miracle that is, in itself!).

I could probably write a novel just about what's been going on with us in the last month, but that's a very brief summary in a VERY small nutshell. feel free to call or email if you'd like more details. :)

weekend fun

last Tuesday, everybody got shots. Chloe got her usual monthly lupron shot, Gideon got 4 or 5 kindergarten shots, and Zachy got a few 3 year-old shots. It was an exciting day. So as a treat, chris told everyone he'd take them camping. :)

Sooo, Saturday, we packed up our things, and went camping. so fun! This was a big deal, because, I've refused to go camping, ever since Chloe was born. it just seemed like way too much work to do with a little baby. Well, now we don't have a little baby anymore! so we went and had a blast. --all except for the drunk people in the site next to us, who stayed up partying til 3 in the morning.

Flying Home

Final pictures from florida:

a baby (?) crocodile in an aquarium at the airport. Had to take a picture of him, since i wasn't able to catch one of the "crocodile crossing" sign.
The friendly skies... makes me think of a flock of sheep. :)

Good ol' Los Angeles. such a difference from Florida!

Another of Los Angeles.

Florida, Day Four

okay... the final day of the trip... when we were on the plane, flying to Florida, we were brainstorming what else we should do while we were out there, so we got out a map to see what was around. Well, being that neither chris nor I know *anything* about geography. We were both surprised to see how close the Bahamas were to Florida. We thought, for awhile, about getting plane tickets for a day trip out there, but that didn't work out. Well, since we had the beach boys "Kokomo" song stuck in out heads, we decided to try the next best thing: Key Largo (montego. Baby, why don't we go... )

After looking into it, we found that Key Largo is about a 4 1/2 hour drive from where we were, which is a long drive. But, when we're *that* close, how could we not go? So we left Discovery Cove a little early, went to the hotel to pack up our things, & took off toward Key Largo. We drove 1/2 way there, & stopped in Miami.

Here's the view from our room the next morning (reminder: click on any picture to view it large):

of course, we had to stop at some point to take pictures of our awesome ride:

The majority of the drive down was on the big long stretch of road called the Florida Turnpike. It's a really great fast-moving road, but you hafta stop about 10 times, or so, to pay a toll --& i'm not talking about a 25 cent toll. at one point we paid like $12! Anyway, the toll stops became such a regular part of out trip, that we figured we should photograph it. :) We tried to get a picture of the lady who took our money, but she told us no. --and then suddenly changed her mind as we were driving away, but it was too late.

driving along some more, we passed tons of palm tree farms.

Finally, we made it to Key Largo. If you have Google Earth (a really cool, free program that i would recommend to anyone), you can type in "Caribbean Watersports" under businesses & it'll take you there. If you look toward the water, & see the pier that we were on. Then, look out further into the water to see "Butternut Key." See the island way off in the distance, below? That's Butternut Key. :) (this photo is now what we use for our computer desktop)

At Caribbean watersports, they took us on a boat ride, out to some of the little islands nearby. These islands, aren't really made out of land, but of huge clumps of Mangrove trees. They're actually part of Everglades National Park.

This is a picture of the "island" a little closer up.

The mangrove trees send out tons of roots into the water, in order to get enough fresh water to survive. If you click on this picture to see it larger, you can see a bunch of white stuff down toward the bottom of their roots. That's salt that the trees have filtered out of their system from the ocean water.

Another shot of the stunning sky & water.

As we boated around, we saw 2 sharks in the water (can't remember what kind), some barracudas. needlefish, & other fun things. The guide said that he sees dolphins every couple days, but we didn't see any. Next, he took a net & scraped it along the floor of the ocean (the water was only a few feet deep), & pulled out all sorts of fun, tiny little creatures, including seahorses! it was hard to focus through the plastic tub that we put them in, but here's a fuzzy picture of a seahorse:

Another: you can see his head on the bottom right.

Chris holds one in his hand. These little guys are maybe only an inch long. Tiny!!

After that, the guide took us to an area covered in jellyfish. These guys all sit at the bottom of the ocean, with their tentacles sticking up. Apparently, they're not all that toxic, so if you hold them, all they'll do is make your hand itch. So we caught a couple & had a look. I was too scared to hold one, so I took the pictures. :)

floating down to the bottom, after we threw him back.

Another, bigger guy, feet up.

floating.

After our "environmental tour," we sat at the outdoor bar & had lunch. Then we took some jet skis out for a little ride. Then a quick picture before we left for the long drive back home to orlando.

an interesting fact: Everybody thinks of the Fl. Keys as beautiful white sandy beaches. But actually, they're covered w/trees! the only reason we're standing on sand is because the hotel ships it in, for the tourists!

This is the porch of the hotel in Key largo. I liked the look of all the cool fans. Also thought it was interesting that the fans are all tied in place (see the wires coming out around the sides?), so they don't get blown around during a hurricane.

Driving back home, the stretch along the keys is a little 2 lane road that's under construction. They must have problems w/people, because we passed these staggered signs a few times:

They say "Patience pays only 2 miles until passing zone" :)

Another sunpass stop.

We called the Florida turnpike, "the Florida Autobahn" The speed limit was 70, so people easily went 80-100. A couple times, when the road was clear, chris floored it for a little fun. I snapped this picture a little late. His top speed was actually about 160. :)

lots of fun! we returned to our hotel in Orlando, & took a walk down to the lake, where we renewed our vows (an anniversary tradition). Then we went to our room & packed up.

Discovery Cove part II

Whew! well, it only took me FOREVER to upload all of these photos, but here they are.... After swimming w/the dolphins, we went on to enjoy the rest of discovery cove (including the free food & alcohol).

Snorkel Chris

They had a huge snokeling area, where you could see all sorts of fun fish. One of the best parts was the GIANT rays, which ranged from 3-8 feet wide!!

the camera was hit & miss. i couldn't see what i was taking, so i'd just point the camera at something cool, press the button, & hope it turned out. I thought this photo was pretty cool

Nobody i know. I just thought it looked cool, all the legs floating around in the water. :)

Shark's view: dinner

Anther HUGE ray. these guys weren't shy. there were several that swam right up to me, & then lifted their fin, just in time to avoid bumping into me.

Chris

More fish. can't tell so well in the picture, but their colors were brilliant!

Barracuda!

Chris. :)

After freezing our tooshies off in the "reef", we went into the warmer fresh-water pool, which had a lazy river thing that would take you around the park. At one point, we came to wall of water coming down over a bridge. when we got to the other side, we were swimming through the aviary.

This is Chris in the waterfall.

This aviary bird was enjoying the water with us.

underwater fun :)

Later, we stopped to watch other people swimming w/the dolphins.

This guy paid extra money to get an extra dolphin ride, among other things. He's standing on two dolphins as they push him through the water.

Next: the aviary. I took tons of bird pictures, cuz i thought they were so cool. Hope they don't bore you.

Chris feeds a bird.

loved the speckles on this guy's head.

kissing

My new best friend.

Check out this guy's colors! some sort of pheasant...

another one of the speckle-headed guy

They give you cups of food to feed the birds as you walk through. We must've come right around feeding time, because the birds were jumping right to us. however, by the time we had finished walking through, they had had their fill. It was so funny to see this big group of people w/their arms all lifting their offerings to to the birds, who weren't the least bit interested.

Worship

After the aviary, we went back to our hotel, packed some clothes, & started a 5(ish) hour drive down to the Florida Keys.