independent thinkers

Elliot spots a police car parked with his lights off. I ask him what that means (thinking "there's no emergency"). Elliot responds immediately "the police are having lunch" (cue Opa and mommy laughing their heads off)

I was driving Jeff's (little) car today and Elliot says "good thing you're not a little taller!" mommy, sitting up straight so her head touches the ceiling "like this?" Elliot "yeah, your brai(n)s would fall out!" mommy "my brains?!" Elliot "no, you're BRAI(d)S" LOL

Riley says he asked his teacher, and she said he could bring Puppy to school. Riley goes to find Puppy "because he doesn't know yet!" But when Riley tells Puppy, Puppy isn't excited at all. He's worried that he's going to get lost, like happened another time Riley brought him somewhere. I ask Riley about this (chuckling at how "independent" this stuffed friend is) and Riley replies "yeah, he's worried, but he's going anyways!"

beautifully broken logic

on the way to the park yesterday afternoon, Riley was reminiscing about how we went to the mountains two Winters ago to see snow. The kids all pine for snow, though Hailey's too young to remember living in a cold-Winter climate, and Elliot's lived in sunny SoCal his whole life. (For the record, I don't miss snow, ice, and cold temps one bit, though one week a year would be okay :)

Riley explains to Elliot
"so if you see palm trees, then that's a place it doesn't snow"
mommy "well, technically it's the other way around. palm trees won't grow in places where it gets cold enough to snow, except maybe once a year"
Elliot thinks this over for a few seconds
"so why don't they cut down the things that keep it from snowing here?"

so awesome the ways their little brains work :)

funny Monday morning

Mommy calls Elliot to get up
Hailey "are you the boss?"
Mommy "I suppose so"
Hailey "you're not the boss of the country"
talks louder, as I walk out of earshot
"mom, do you know the bald eagle?"
Mom "uh, yes"
Hailey "the bald eagle rules this country"


Hailey hollers to Elliot about something
Mommy "Hailey, are you getting ready?"
Hailey "yes, I can yell AND get dressed at the same time!"

kid funnies

we were having a conversation about the kids' future families, and I was asking them for fun how many kids they thought they would have.
Riley "... so how do you get kids?"
mommy "what do you mean sweetie?"
Riley "do babies just magically grow in your belly?"
mommy "pretty much :)"
love his interpretation, pregnancy certainly is magical!

yesterday, when we were out for dinner:
Hailey, holding up french fry dipped in ketchup
"I know you are ketchup, but I'm going to pretend you're fire"
(stuffs french fry in her mouth)
"fiiiiire!"

God and peanut butter sandwiches

mommy insists on making the peanut butter sandwiches herself, to save mess and because we're getting to the bottom of the jar. I explain this, ending with "... so I guess we have to go to the store to buy some groceries, God help me."
Riley responds so quickly I had no idea what he was referring to.
"I wish we had our own God so he could make whatever we needed"
Mommy "God would make us peanut butter sandwiches?"
Riley "no, he could make us peanut butter. and he would make me the President, and Hailey the Mayor, and Elliot the Judge"

Hailey running narrative

Hailey is sitting next to me at the computer, having a rambling conversation with me. She makes some crazy statement, and before I've really reacted to that, says something else really kooky :)

Hailey "...how old you need to be to wear earrings..."
Mommy "to get your ears pierced? that depends..."
Hailey (fingering a dangly pair of mommy's earrings) "they don't use screws, because that would really hurt!"
Mommy laughs really loud, takes a breath to answer...
Hailey "this looks like a blood orange" (the plum she was eating)
Mommy laughs again, opens blog to record conversation
Hailey "...sometimes blood looks like red water! ... I was distracted by the blood orange ... it's like blood, but only like that when you bite into it."

I should probably just leave the videocamera charged and handy if I want to keep up with her :)

April 1-16 facebook statuses

4/16:

Gorgeous weather, went and had early lunch at beach, drooled (figuratively) over potential new couch, now introducing the kids to Inspector Gadget on Netflix. Tonight out with some girlfriends! :)

SAD NEWS - Please join me in remembering YET ANOTHER great icon of the entertainment community. The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes to the belly. He was 71. Dough Boy is survived by his wife Play Dough, three children, John Dough, Jane Dough, and Dosey Dough, plus they had one in the Oven. Services were held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes. (copied Niamh's status :)

4/15:

Is happy about many things :)

4/14:

running through my head right now: "laundry, laundry!" sung to the tune of "Monday, Monday" by the Mamas and the Papas. went and looked up the lyrics, and they're not really that good of a fit, though the kids dumping out the one basket of sorted, folded laundry almost made me want to cry ;)

4/13:

Tomorrow morning: back-to-back parent-teacher conferences starting at 7:30am, volunteer in E's preschool, then all kids home by 12:45. Think I shoulda been asleep an hour ago, whoops!

going through pictures from last few weeks - sooo behind on pictures, journal, etc...

4/12:

just had to go pick up my 5.5 yr old from school because she stuck a piece of crayon wrapper in her ear. she "wasn't thinking" and said it "really hurt" so I had to dismiss her an hour before the end of the school day, and once home, it took all of a second with tweezers to pull it out.

4/11:

Wishes she'd realized she stepped in dog poop _before_ she got in the car and used the brake pedal (you know, the one with a million ridges for it to get stuck in?) *crinkle nose*

4/10:

Frustrated by the state of her chapter of the MOMS Club. may have to disban our chapter soon if things don't improve in the next week :(

Riley "daddy, I figured out where the mines are!" Elliot "look, look, I'm going down into the dungeon!" LOL that's what all kids sound like at the playground, right? ;)

4/9:

had a good time at Big Basin, despite E getting pukey bug on way there. 2 of 3 passed out in car now, headed back to hotel to do laundry and eat in

Breakfast at a little cafe in Watsonville, playing at cool playground for a few minutes, then Big Basin.

Well, drive was shorter than expected, despite driving through snow (surprise!). Hotel not what expected either, but we'll see what tomorrow brings :)

4/8:

road trip for the second weekend in a row and this time daddy gets to come with us! just booked a cheap hotel in Northern California for tonight and tomorrow, gonna see us some redwoods :)

4/8:

Disgusting how expensive airplane tickets have gotten! Partly annoying because the reasons behind the increases are so questionable...

4/6:

Loves the casual way she is being used by Elliot as a game chair :
- Not so good for my productivity, but does help me keep an eye out that he's not erasing saved games etc :)

4/5:

3 crying kids, 3 time outs. Is today over yet? #^*%!

thinks it's time to start the caffeine drip. maybe with two kids home today I'll actually get more done (it's like rewinding a year to when just R was at school all day, kinda fun, though I'm sure H + E will take this opportunity to make huge messes too :)

Is glad she got extra sleep last night, since tonight she's up with a pukey kid

4/4:

's hands smell like maple-garlic-teriyaki marinade. hope the pork chops taste as good as my hands smell, pretty much all I've accomplished this afternoon! *sigh*

4/3:

Few more hours of fun w friends this morning, then back to LA we go

4/1:

Riley "this is gonna be the best night: we have pizza and lemonade, what more could you ask for?" :). Mommy and Jamie (sipping hard lemonades) couldn't agree more! :)

Teasing the kids by telling them how Death Valley is the hottest place in the US, then following the exit signs for "Death Valley". Last stop before Vegas :)

Gotta finish the other science fair poster, pack, and load up the car. then we're good to go! Legs a little crampy, hope they relax before the 5 hr drive :)

April 17-26 facebook statuses

so often I only write down the hilarious, wrong, hilariously-wrong, funny, infuriating, etc things the kids do and say only on facebook. If nothing else, it's not a good way of keeping a record, so I'm going to try and go back and cross post the kid/family relevant ones here. (side note: sometimes I go several days between posts, sometimes a few hours :)

Tue 4/26:

bwahahaha - kids are in the bath, talking about being superheroes who can spew lava from their hands and stuff, Hailey "so you can be hot boy (E), and you can be hot dad (R), and I'll be hot wife! (H)" *excuse me while I go separate the fighting monkeys*

I was yelling at Hailey, exasperated at why he would use her Popsicle to write on the table and then lick it off (she tried to remove the evidence w her sleeve when I started yelling). Riley says casually "Hailey, the Popsicle just _looks_ like a crayon"

Is so impressed that Elliot just counted to 100 all by himself on the way to preschool!! H & R were trying to teach him last week, he only just turned 4 :)
- And I'm equally impressed that he knows all his tens to do it, they make a big deal of "skip counting by tens" in kindergarten :)

Mon 4/25:

Hailey, telling me about this week's spelling words "they're -it words!". I had a hard time snickering, the first -it word that came to my mind wasn't on the list ;)

is actually psyched to start her new diet-and-fitness regimen! so far weighed in, made tasty low-carb bfast (resisted all the left-over Easter junk food) and went for a 15 minute brisk walk after dropping the kids off at school :)

Sun 4/24:

Our Easter so far: eating slightly overcooked apple strudel off hello kitty plates. Daddy off to work for few hrs. Unsure whether we'll dye eggs, maybe later. We had
peeps on our sundaes last night though :)

Sat 4/23:

On weekends we like to make the most of daddy being home by doing everything together. Gotta say, really enjoyed having a girls day just me and Hailey (and sure daddy and the boys enjoyed their boy time too :)

I hold a dress up on myself and ask Hailey what she thinks. She giggles and says "looks funny". Guess I won't be buying that one LOL

4/21:

Hopes that the preschool parent who put whistles in the Easter eggs ended up with at least two tweeting/chirping kids in her household

Mommy, scoffing at Elliot (4) wanting a lid on his sippy cup "you're too big for that!". Elliot, pouting "my mouth is still little!" hehe

While Elliot's in preschool this morning: can't run errands b/c forgot my purse, can't take pics b/c camera ran out of batteries, so at a playground trying to keep R & H's squabbling from bothering the whole neighborhood

4/20:

Elliot, in a whiny voice "but I don't liiiike coffee cake!". Mommy, in an equally whiny voice "I don't liiiike whiny kids!". Hailey from other room "mommy, I like yours better" LOL

4/19:

Has had several reminders already this morning of how fragile life is, will be hugging my kids extra today...

4/18:

Was joking to herself that she could make scolding the kids into a drinking game, then realized she would spend the next 7 days roaring drunk
- They are totally on volume 11 today once I turned off the tv: hurtling from one end of the house to the other, screaming or squealing loudly, and somebody's always being left out or wronged. *sigh* it's gonna be a long week!

Has a full-blown cold now, but is grateful that hubby and kids helped reclaim the house yesterday, and grateful that school vacation meant I could sleep past 9 :)

4/17:

Dayquil with a double-espresso-mocha chaser, breakfast of champions! (at least those who've gotten waaaay behind on housekeeping and are facing a week of having the kids home on vacation ;)

kids' measurements

Jeff found back the contact paper ruler we used to have on the doorpost to mark the kids' heights. the numbers written next to the lines aren't super accurate, but in case we lose it again:
Riley 43.5" 5/09, 42.75" 2/09, <42" 9/08 Hailey 39.25" 5/09, 38.5" 2/09, 37" 9/08 Elliot 34" 5/09, 32.5" 2/09, 31.5" 9/08 newest height measurements, 3/11: Elliot <40", Hailey >45", Riley 49"

grand opening of Dixon O's restaurant

On the way back from the farmer's market this morning, the kids came up with the idea of having a restaurant.  They pretty much figured it all out themselves, with Oma and I making minor suggestions.  Mommy was going to be the cook, Riley the cashier, Oma the server, Elliot the dishwasher, and Hailey the hostess.  It would be a hot dog restaurant called "Dixon Orders" - Dixon O's for short :)

When we got home, mommy got to work cooking the hot dogs, Oma set up the dining room with Elliot's help, Riley set up the cash register, and customers Hailey and Panda waited patiently outside (with her "car") until we were ready to open.

Riley took the orders, mommy prepped the food, and Riley delivered it to the customer.  everyone ordered hot dogs and milk except Panda, who ordered pretend bamboo.  The waiter and cook also took their lunch breaks, food was delicious!  Then Riley brought everyone their bill and Oma made sure everyone had enough quarters to pay (except the cook, who got her food for free).  Then the waiter had to share that money (including tips) with the cook and use it to pay for the supplies LOL.  Hailey left to go to her car, and Riley ran after her "don't forget your panda!".  We then saw the sign Riley made for the front door - it meant to say "Dixons O" but accidentally said "Dioxns O" which gave Oma and I another round of hard laughter ("dioxins, oh!")

Riley's cashier station, complete with "tips" jar (Oma and I laughed so hard at that), waiter notepad, and Oma's bill (hot dog & milk)

the menu, which had "hot dog 2$ on one side and "mike 1$" (milk) on the other

The restaurant sign "Dioxns O" - I mean "Dixons O"

Riley's roadtrip journal

I think that's a picture of the wind

for day 2, there's snow

the picture for day 4 is a pretty accurate drawing of the bakugan toy he got in his happy meal.  and it says "I hit mom with a snowball" in case that didn't come through the scan

his suggestion for the 3 sentences that day "boring! boring! boring!" so we compromised and had him write this :)

"We went back to the playground.  To get there we walked over a bridge.  It was hinging (high) over the river."

He carefully drew every aspect of this dinky playground: metal slide, seesaw, metal car thing with three steering wheels, bench, and 3 tires.  "mom bot (bought) some trets (treats) at the (camp) store"

"We stopnd (stopped) at a petting zoo.  It had a monstur truck so big I cud sit in the tires.  We feddid (fed) deer and lorikeets."

"We got home that Day.  we had pizza that Nit.  I Was Happy to be Home." (puppy helped him draw the picture of home :)

Hailey's roadtrip journal

I love the detail on this picture: the McDonald's playplace had a car in the climbing structure.  Hailey (at the table) has pigtails, and you can see the happy meal box too

yes, this picture had nothing to do with anywhere we went that day, but cute anyways

Hailey very carefully copied the rainbow lorikeet's coloring from the wikipedia entry I pulled up.  the picture on the right is the building where the lorikeets were, note the separate entrance and exit

ROADTRIP MAP

link to the map below: http://tinyurl.com/2btwe52

 

ROADTRIP DAY 10: Tonopah, AZ to home!

DAY 10: Tonopah, AZ to Los Angeles, CA

1/5/11

We parked overnight on the "far" side of Phoenix so we wouldn't have to drive through rush hour traffic in the morning.  The RV park was huge and the staff very friendly, including helping Opa back up so we wouldn't wreck the Prius against the hookups.  The kids and I never even left the RV, but our site had a tall cactus that Opa took a picture of.  We knew that we were only ~340 miles from LA and would be home that night, but we thought it would be fun to keep it a secret from the kids.  We drove through the desert of AZ, the desert of CA and though the Palm Springs area.  I pointed out to Oma & Opa and the kids where we stayed last Christmas break, but couldn't think of a kid-friendly, large-RV-friendly stop to make there so we kept driving.  We did stop at Hadley's Fruit Orchard store in Cabazon where we got some dried fruit/nut/candy and the grownups sipped their famous date shakes.  By then we were less than two hours from home and with the latest time zone adjustments we were actually driving through downtown Los Angeles ahead of schedule (avoiding most of the nasty traffic and sunset glare).  I couldn't believe how gracefully Opa navigated that bus through the traffic!

It was cute - Riley had read several signs for Los Angeles, so we were sure the kids had caught on by now that we'd be home that night.  When we were <15 minutes away Riley asked where I thought we'd be stopping for dinner, and I said I was thinking pizza (at home ;)  Then when we came up on our exit Riley recognized some signs, and despite Oma's teasing that they had those signs everywhere, soon all three kids were bouncing with excitement.  After we parked the RV (across the entire sidewalk in front of our house!) and let them out Elliot was squealing "we're home, we're home, we're home!"  Daddy got home from work as soon as he could, and the kids greeted him with just as much enthusiasm, excitedly showing him their journals, toys, and telling him tales of our adventures :)

It was quite a trip - seemed relatively short looking back on it, but each day seemed plenty full.  Opa & Oma are off to the RV repair place in the Valley today and will hopefully by tonight will have picked an RV park to be their home for the next few months.  I've got lots of picture sorting, journal scanning, etc to do still, but at least I'm caught up now on my blog :)  Hope you enjoyed reading along!

-Deirdre

ROAD TRIP DAY 9: Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch

Day 9: Las Cruces, NM to Tonopah, AZ
1/4/11

We were probably 30 miles from the Mexican border and it was still very cold (down to freezing at night) which continued to disgust the grownups and be of no concern to the kids.  They loved every opportunity to bundle up in their quilted jackets, gloves, hats, etc :)

The Las Cruces RV park was nice enough - their shower setup was somewhat agreeable so I put the kids through the showers (you don't find too many bathtubs :) and they were cleanish again before we hit the road.  We looked at the remaining route and decided that depending on traffic and any stops we wanted to make, we could stop for the night at Tucson and then stop again in the Palm Springs area the following night, or stop at Phoenix and then drive all the way to LA (300-some miles, a normal day's drive).  While I was online I checked the weather and road conditions in AZ and we were very gratified to see that our chosen route was free of the ice and other nasty weather related warnings that were plaguing route 40 through Flagstaff!

Our drive through NM and into AZ was very uneventful, and although beautiful, the mountains and scenery looked very much the same.  It was sunny though and not too windy and there wasn't much traffic, so the driving was pleasant and our spirits were high.  Oma discovered a random ostrich petting zoo between Tucson and Phoenix that was right off the highway.  We stopped in late afternoon, which was perfect timing since that's when the kids start to get antsy and it was still sunny and not too cold.  For $5 each we got a big cup of feed pellets and a little cup of nectar.  The pellets fed the ostriches, deer, goats, and donkeys and the nectar was for the lorikeets.  The ostriches were scary and aggressive but very photogenic.  The deer were beautiful and gentle and the donkeys were also good for the kids because they were soft even though they were a little more eager.  The lorikeets would sit on you if you held still and the kids were alternately thrilled and weirded out by each of the animals.  What a neat cheap thrill!  They also have monster truck tours which were not operating that day, but the kids loved playing under it on the parking lot.

ROADTRIP DAY 8: Guadalupe Mountain National Park

DAY 8: Lubbock, TX to Las Cruces, NM
1/3 Monday

We swam again in the indoor pool in the morning but decided not to stay an extra day, especially since this stop like every other one was so cold!  We actually got on the road earlier than planned, which worked out well because this turned out to be one of the most exciting days.  We perused the maps in the morning and decided to take a chance driving through the mountainous route even though it wasn't rated a truck route and it looked pretty squiggly on the map.  We stopped in Carlsbad, NM to get very cheap diesel and some local in a cowboy hat chatted up Opa.  We turned around in the back driveway of a hotel which turned out to require the assistance of some guys on their lunch break, and then pulled into the Wal-Mart next door to get more supplies.  I think that was my 4th Wal-Mart in 3 days!

The scenery had changed again after leaving Lubbock - instead of rambling ranch land it resembled the kind of desert/landscape that I associate with Western Movies.  There was lots of desert-type vegetation and the mountains we were seeing more of looked like mesas.  The "towns" started to be really far between and you could hear the RV's (massive) engine working to climb.  We saw a surprising number of 18-wheelers whizzing by the other way so that was weirdly reassuring.  The view was really magnificent as we got into Guadalupe Mountains National Park and we got some great pictures of the view and the kiddos.  It was cute that they also got into taking pictures of the view themselves.

The views of the mountains as the sun set and we drove into El Paso were also really beautiful, but they all turned out terrible through the windows of the moving RV.  We stopped to make and eat dinner in El Paso, TX then drove a bit further and stayed at a campground in Las Cruces, NM.

ROADTRIP DAY 7: Texas and more Texas

DAY 7: Cisco, TX to Lubbock, TX

1/2 Sunday

The “Wild Country RV Park” was something else – bunch of hookups on a hilltop in the middle of nowhere with no facilities. One of the trailers had a sign that said “office” and a slot where you could pay your $20. We never saw another person, but it was pretty in an odd way – we’re guessing that the land used to be an orchard of some kind. They had a “playground”: a fort looking raised building that the children never tried to climb, two rusty wheelbarrows and an old piece of exercise equipment. Again, the kids were just thrilled to be bundled up in their winter coats, hats, gloves, and scarves and pushed the wheelbarrows around like it was the most interesting thing in the world :).

We had a relatively short day of driving planned – we decided to detour slightly to Lubbock TX where Opa knew someone and where there was a KAO campground with nice amenities where we thought we could stay for an extra day. In the morning we hit another Wal-Mart then drove North-West. The campground was indeed quite nice, and had a playground and indoor pool. Unfortunately I had sent our bathingsuits back home with Jeff, sure that we weren’t going to have an opportunity to swim once we stopped being in hotels. Opa made some repairs to the RV and dolly which involved removing the Prius. Afte r washing … miles of sand off of it, we took it to the Lubbock Wal-Mart where I shopped for bathingsuits. In freezing cold Texas. In January. On the clearance racks I actually found swimtrunks for Elliot and basketball shorts for Riley, and a swim bottom for me. I picked up a cheap skort and tank tops for Hailey and (what I thought was) a tank top for me. Turns out the tank top was a thong-back leotard and the swim bottom was a “scoop bottom” and both were the wrong size, so I’m sure I was quite a sight. But the kids had a blast swimming (and again in the morning) even though I kept leaving their goggles in the RV.

the kids all snuggly enjoying a movie before bedtime.they slept so well, in "bed" and asleep by 7 most nights while we were still driving :)

ROADTRIP DAY 6: Arkansas to Texas

DAY 6: Little Rock, AK to Cisco, TX
1/1 Saturday

We kicked off the new year at the unusual Riverside RV Park overlooking the Arkansas River. It was an unexpectedly pretty view at the buildings on the other side and the six bridges that connected North Little Rock from Little Rock. The kids were very excited to show mommy and Oma the awesome playground they had explored the night before with Opa. It involved a (chilly!) walk over a railroad bridge they had converted to a pedestrian bridge, including an elevator up to the raised portion which provided awesome views. The “playground” was an extensive park area with winding paths, concrete tunnels, and strategically placed boulders with lots of things to climb and sneak around. There was also a very long tunnel slide which the kids loved and lots of informational signs giving historical information.

After thoroughly tiring them out (and making them cold, which they didn’t mind at all) we hit the road, driving through more of Arkansas until we crossed into Texas. We were surprised that in the winter, the highway scenery of Arkansas looked like Tennessee, Virginia, and Pennsylvania and pretty much every other state we had driven through since Massachusetts. The Texas information center was closed for New Year’s Day, so we didn’t get a map, but the kids enjoyed playing in the piles of dry leaves.

We looked up a barbecue place in Dallas, but it too was closed for the holidays. I was having a turn sitting up front being the navigator, so I was the one who accidentally sent the RV down the wrong road, which we tried to fix by turning around in a church parking lot which we noticed had a chain across – after we started down the driveway already! Luckily I was able to undo the chain and we were on our way to an Outback that had an empty office park across the street. The grownups all ordered ribs – not quite the same experience but yummy anyways. By then the kids were too tired to eat much so they happily ate their cheeseburgers and mac-n-cheese for breakfast the next morning.

ROADTRIP DAY 5: Tennesse to Arkansas, no Memphis

DAY 5: Nashville, TN to Little Rock, AK
12/31 Friday

After picking up a few more things at Wal-Mart, we drove to the local Cracker Barrel for breakfast, after checking satelite maps to determine whether there was appropriate parking etc. Oma and I have been using her laptop and my iphone for EVERYTHING, scoping out parking/driving suitability, finding travel plazas (there's a free map-based app to find the cheapest diesel :) We had such a ball at breakfast: the kids were very charming and charmed, the waitress was all "honey" this and "darling" that in her Southern accent, and I picked up some mini activity books from the country store.

The rest of the driving that day did not go very smoothly.  We decided after looking at lists of kid-friendly activities to do # 10 of 945 (http://attractions.uptake.com/tennessee/memphis/family/375471799.html) playground at an elementary school, so we knew we'd be able to get in and out w the RV. It turned out to be a super sketchy neighborhood, house next-door had blown-out windows and grafitti, block away a memorial that we're guessing was a victim if a shooting based on the people hanging nearby. The rest of Memphis that we saw from the freeways didn't look much better, and we didn't want to chance going into downtown Memphis with the RV and getting stuck, so we gave up and crossed the Mississippi into Arkansas. The kids were having a really hard time staying quiet and in their seats that morning and I was extra looking forward to the chance to let the kids escape. We were really bummed - I'd always liked the sound of Memphis - and settled for a rest stop to picnic and let the kids run in the grass. Then Riley accidently hit me in the forehead with a frisbee, and my temporary crown fell out when I ate a caramel.  We stopped a little early for New Year's Eve, at an RV park on the shore of the Arkansas River in Little Rock, Arkansas.  Opa took mercy on Oma and I and took the kids for a hike to a local playground. I made pizza, breadsticks, and apple crumble in the RV's mini kitchen for special New Year's Eve food.

After the kids went to bed, Opa and Oma and I sipped sparkling white grape juice, had cheese and crackers, and plotted out our route for the remainder of the trip. Unfortunately we've been plagued by cold weather, which the kids are loving (or at least not minding) but caught the adults off guard - below freezing temps were forecast for our route no matter how Southerly we drove - Texas? New Mexico? Arizona?!

ROADTRIP DAY 4: Virginia to Tennessee

DAY 4: Roanoke, VA to Nashville, TN
12/30

Our little snag this morning was getting the RV out of the parking spot because the rear-wheel-drive tires were spinning on the ice that formed overnight. But a little gravel scooped from the road under the tires did the trick, and we were soon on our way.

Today was a perfect example of how unjaded our kids are. Our big outing/stop of the day was at a McDonald'splayplace in Abingdon, VA. Riley took the opportunity ot throw a few snowballs at mommy. We shopped at Food Valu (?) and I signed up for their (frequent) shopper card. Oma and I laughed at the idea of collecting them at various grocery chains as we crossed the country. Parking the RV in the parking lot was a little tricky, and Oma almost gave us a heart attach when she yelled "wait, stop!" as we were pulling away. (she had forgotten to pick up her prescription after having it transferred to that store)

We wanted to put in some extra miles after the kids went to sleep, so we decided it would be a good night to try parking the RV in a Wal-Mart parking lot. It was great, picked up a few necessities at Wal-Mart and neighboring Lowes that night and in the morning without having to separately park. The RV can be self-sufficient, so a night without hookups is fine and of course easy on the budget. Supposedly the founder of Wal-Mart was an RV person so he allows RVs to park for a night without hassle unless the local government has a problem with it.

here's some pictures from yesterday, taken with my phone:

12/29: the RV and the Prius being towed behind it at a rest stop in VA somewhere? the perspective is a little exagerrated, but it's a "big rig" for sure

12/29: Hailey and her buddy Dora (they were sharing a seatbelt and Hailey kept showing her what she was playing on the DS hehe)

12/29: the "girls" plus a glimpse of Opa (driving) and Oma (navigating) in the cockpit

12/29: the boys being all cozy, Elliot watching Riley play a DS game. they don't have to sit this close (though they share a big seatbelt sometime) but they've been all sweet like this several times now :)

12/29: less backlit, but still a strange photo. the license plate on the RV reads "OPAOMA" and the Prius reads "HENK" :)