In-laws

Days 4- Day 11
We spent these days with my in-laws traveling about and seeing many things. We went and saw the Ashfall Fossil Beds, went to a museum, had seafood, and saw a zoo along with a few other things in their area.  Ashfall Fossil Beds is out in the country.  If you do choose to go, use your GPS.  There are signs, but since it's out in the country, the GPS was a huge help.  The cost to visit is $5 per person ages 3 and older along with a $5 vehicle entry fee (you pay when you enter the visitor's center).  There are 7 different types of animals (horses (5 types), camels (3 types), deer, rhino, dogs (3 types), turtles (2 types), and birds (3 types)) that have been found in the bed.  All of the animals died after a volcano went off in southwest Idaho.  The website has more information about the site along with more photos of what is there. (click to enlarge photos)
 

These were found on the site

Inside of the barn

Also inside of the barn.  The pile of dirt is where ground level is

This is outside since they don't have the funds to cover everything up

Explaining the discovery site

The yellow flag

Walking from the visitor center down to the barn. 

Arizona to parts north

Day 1
We left here the day after Memorial Day to head north.  We left early in the morning and headed to Okahoma ~ our first nights stop.  We had no issues traveling, and were able to skip using the a/c for most of the trip.  We would make gas stops as our bathroom stops, and would purchase a large cup of ice and a couple of bottles of cold water every 3 or so hours.  Day one was about 14/15 hours in the car for us (google says a 12 hour drive with no stops).   We were all extremely overjoyed to see green grass once we hit New Mexico & the Rio Grande River. 

Day 2
This started out as a much more relaxed day.  It was only suppose to be 8 hours of drive time.  We were able to stop and see our old houses in the Fort Riley, KS area, visit the PX (military version of Walmart but no food), the Commissary (military grocery store), and see how the area has changed since we left in 2010.  We then traveled onto Fort Leavenworth, KS and met my parents there.  We spent the night on post.

Day 3
We got up the next morning to go see the King Tut exhibit at Union Station in Kansas City, MO.  We all liked it except for my preteen (she is getting to the age where she doesn't like anything).  It was fun to hear about how Howard Carter and his group found the tomb and all of the stuff that was inside it.  All of the items at the exhibit were reproductions since the originals are too fragile to travel.  After we were done, we went over to the Science City, the science museum inside Union Station.  The kids all had a blast being able to touch stuff, move around, and play.  Once we were all able to get some energy out, we had a quick lunch by our cars and headed north.  I went to my in-laws in South Dakota, while my parents headed back to Minnesota. (click to enlarge photos)

When they unwrapped King Tut, these were found on his fingers, toes, and feet (these were copies)

This is a copy of the Throne that they found in the tomb

Lazy

So, I never did get around to posting photos from our move.  We have since made another trip back north during the summer, and started school several weeks ago.  Life here is crazy busy with band lessons, scouting, and other activities that happen in a family. 

Around here

So, the last time I wrote, it was about our upcoming move to our new state.  We had no issues with clearing our house in Georgia other than the realtor forgetting all about our move out inspection.  Luckily, he was able to send out one of his coworkers to go through it quick and we passed with flying colors.  We spent that night in a hotel in town and left early the next morning to head home to visit family.  Driving to the hotel was my first time to pull a trailer, so it was an experience.  We left our hotel early, and had no issues driving through Atlanta.  Things were going great until we stopped for gas in Calhoun (I think it was).  The side of the van was oily, but I figured it was road grime.  We hop back on the interstate, and my check engine light flips on.  My husband and one of our kids is ahead of me pulling a trailer too, so he goes ahead while I limp along to the next exit stressed to the extreme.  Luckily we were able to find a kick butt mechanic that was willing to stay late on a Saturday to help us out.  We found out that they never hooked my transmission cooler up properly in NY, and when I was in the accident in February (lady ran a red light and did over $10,000 worth of damage), they never replaced any of the hoses that had a couple of nicks in them.  3 hours later we were able to get on the road and continue heading north.  We had no issues getting to our hotel (same one that I had stayed in June with my parents outside St Louis).  We had breakfast the next day and got on the road only to deal with wind and only getting 12 mpg for mileage.  I was so happy to pull into my in-laws in South Dakota that evening and be able to relax.
  We did spend about a month visiting family, seeing new things, visiting the Omaha Zoo before we headed south on Halloween.  Our trip to Arizona was quiet with no hitches at all.  We rolled into our new town on Nov 1st happy to be out of the car again.  The next day we found our house (we knew the house number before we even left the north), and explored our new "home".  We moved in, got the kids in school, and managed to unpack with barely any hitches.  The biggest ones we had to deal with was a child needing a shot before they started school, and us missing a couple of things that we still haven't found to this day (they are replaceable). 

I'll post some photos the next post with our trip home, and then try to catch up with the blog.

Moving

We knew when we moved to Georgia in January that we would be moving yet again this fall.  Only, we didn't know where to.  This summer while we traveled to Minnesota, we found out we were going to South Korea.  We were overjoyed about it, and couldn't wait to fly.  The kids and I jumped through hoops to get all of the medical junk done that needs to happen to go overseas, and we submitted it only to sit and wait.  And then wait some more.  We finally got our answer the Friday before Labor Day that we were denied because of my youngest child's therapy which ironically, they had just received his discharge papers from it the day before.  We got to sit the long week in limbo waiting to see what was going to happen.  The orders gods were on our side this time, and we got our orders last week.  We have already scheduled our move, have dates confirmed, schools have been notified, house almost all dejunked, and our gaining duty station has been notified that we are coming to live there.  Heck, we are already on the housing list and are #1 (this is a huge deal and extremely rare). 

Traveling with kids

So, by now you should be able to figure out that we travel a lot with the kids.  Most of the traveling is for moves, but some of it is for fun/visiting family.  Here is how I plan out our trips.

Both of my girls are given their own packing list.  In the beginning they got pictures drawn beside the item so they could figure it out.  I then go through their stuff they picked out to make sure they got enough of everything.  Normally they have, but every now and then we have to add something.

For the car, this is the time consuming part.  All 3 of my kids have a travel backpack.  It has a little lap desk in it that will hold papers, markers (washable only), dry erase marker and pencils (mechanical so they don't have to sharpen).  They also have print offs, toys, video games and books in their bags (see below for examples). 

PRINT OFFS: I normally print off car bingo, the license plate game, mazes and whatever else that that I can find to keep them busy.  If you put them in a page protector, they can use a dry erase marker on them over and over again.

TOYS: I also try to add a few small toys for them to play with and explorer while we are going. Right now my kids like Squinkies, so they have a large assortment of them.  We also have small cars, kids meal toys, and anything else that I can find that I think they might like.

BOOKS:  This is a little bit harder with my 5 yr old, but they all normally have a book to read in their bag.  I let them all pick something out at the bookstore, and then it's put away for the trip.  They can all share during the trip so they have more to read.  When my 5 yr old was younger, he loved the I Spy books (level 1 readers) (this is just a link to one of the many we own).  It has a picture of what the child needs to look for so there is no reading involved.

Video Games:  My kids do play them and have to share the games between each other.  They are charged before we leave, and aren't charged again until we stop for the night.  If they die, they have to find something else to do.  They are not allowed to play with sound on unless they have their headphones on.


We do have a dvd player in our van.  It is a lifesaver at times, and the kids all take turns picking out movies.  Normally I make them listen to it on headphones.  They do sell splitters to connect more headphones to them, and extensions so the headphones will reach the backseat.  There are rare times though where I hook the sound up to our van so they can hear the movie better and so I know what they are watch.  I do pack all of the dvds before hand, so I do limit what they are allowed to watch.

Snacks are an important part of traveling I know.  We pack fruit snacks, trail mix (m&m's, cereal w/marshmallows, Goldfish crackers, and pretzels), string cheese (in cooler), and sometimes veggies.  If I'm traveling alone with the kids, we bring sandwich fixings with us (tortillas, sliced cheese, and sandwich meat) which my kids will make while I'm driving.  We only drink water while we are in the van too (everyone has their own cups so we don't share germs).  It helps to create less stops and if it spills, it isn't a big deal.  We do stop about every 2-3 hours to fill up on gas.  The kids stay inside while I do that.  Once I'm done getting gas, we drive up to the building and we all hop out to use the bathroom quick so we can get back on the road.  Even if they don't have to go, the rule is that they still have to try. 

While it does seem hard to travel with kids either alone or with your spouse, it's not that bad once you get use to it.  It also gets much easier as they get bigger and you have less to pack.

Summer

So, we moved last January to warmer weather. When we left upstate NY (we lived about 30 minutes from Canada), it was -6F out. We arrived around midnight at our southern location and we didn't need coats on. There were flowers blooming. It was gloriously wonderful. We managed to find a rental and get the kids in school before the week was out after getting here. They have thrived and enjoyed school. Once school was out though, we took an trip back home to Minnesota due to a family emergency. It was wonderful spending a month back with family that we hadn't seen for the last 2 years, and visiting other sites. We helped move both of my siblings while we were there. Hit Como Zoo, IKEA, and Mall of America. Spent some time at Lark Toy Store. We went to Wild Rumpus and found a few books to read. On our way back home we spend a day in St Louis doing the tourist thing for the first time in my kids' lives. They got to go up in the Gateway Arch, learn/see/climb Cahokia Mounds, and we found the largest bottle of catsup. On our way home from that we took our photo with Superman in Metropolis, IL and took a quick photo of the Parthenon in Nashville, TN. Now we are gearing up for school to start again, and another move to a country overseas. We have less than 70 days until we pack everything up and we go back north for a quick visit with family before we take the long ride to our new home. We will be there for 2-3 years if everything works out correctly *fingers crossed*. Until then though, I'm in the middle of trying to get rid of stuff that we have collected the last 8 years (when we came back from Germany) trying to figure out what goes into storage, what is being donated/sold, what is going to our parent's places, and what is going with. I will post when I can, but I can't promise much.
PHOTOS (L to R) Como Zoo, Cahokia Mounds, Top of Monks Mound with St Louis in the background, Largest Catsup bottle, Metropolis.