Daydreaming...

Of road trips.

Somewhere in Pennsylvania.

We have been talking about our next camping trip, Labor Day Weekend plans and a couple of adult getaways we have planned. All of that talk has me daydreaming about our next great American adventure. I am hoping for a road trip through part of the south and southwest. Not really sure when we are going to tackle a big trip like that, again.

Since meeting Eric, we have been on over a dozen road trip adventures. I think it's the best way to see everything and anything in the USA. Our first trip together was a trip to Florida to bring in the new year at the beach. We sailed through the trip with ease, I think our only mishap was too much sun. Oh, and maybe the fact that I fell asleep way before the clock struck 12 on New Year's Eve. 

After realizing that we travel pretty well together we knew we wanted to travel more. Over the next couple of years we took a few weekend trips, I joined Eric on a couple of his work trips and we kind of followed a band around a bit. 

It wasn't until we planned a vacation trip with a work trip in 2010 that I really fell in love with road trips. Our trip took us through Ohio and Pennsylvania, to some places in New York State, a few nights in  Niagara Falls, Canada, a couple of nights and some places in Connecticut, and then a final a night in Pennsylvania. We packed so many places into this trip and a super important event in our life that I didn't think anything could top it.

Our first morning we awoke to being in the clouds.

The view from our room on the 52 floor! This is the highest I had ever stayed in a hotel. It was so cool to be looking down at Niagara Fall, all of the city around, and Buffalo. We totally lucked out on the room. As we drove into Canada we booked a room that was super cheap that had a fireplace. We thought, it's got to be nice, right? Well, it was! It was a suite on the 52 floor with a view. 

We were there about two weeks before the high volume tourist season. That is how we lucked out!

I recommend taking a Maid of the Mist tour. You get pretty close to the falls but not close enough to touch them. You can feel how tall they are, the noise they make is crazy loud and you hear all about the attempts to go over the falls.

This was in the hallway on the walk to the dock. Of course you will slip if you are walking on an oil spill. I am sure there is a better graphic they could use.

The band that we kind of followed around for the summer. This was our forth show. Hartford, CT.

 Somewhere in Connecticut.

Somebody's kite.

We then started heading home and called a friend along the way for a visit. They graciously offered for us to stay the night. We did. When the morning came we started our trek back across Pennsylvania through Ohio and home to Indiana to start planning our next big thing. Our wedding.

This is the trip that Eric asked me to marry him.

We love seeing things in the world but the sight of our home after a long road trip is so welcoming.

I think I am going to share some of our older trip stories, so these old memories are written down with our new memories.

What's for dinner...

Burger and fries. 

Well, our version of burger and fries. This is a turkey burger with tomatoe, onion, bacon and ranch and a side of potato fries.     

I am very, very lucky to have a husband that loves to cook. There are lots of days that I get to be the sous chef. Today, was one of those days. I julienned the potatoes and then oiled them up to be roasted in the oven. Eric prepared the ground turkey with pepper, garlic, creole seasoning, parsley, steak seasoning, Dijon, Worcestershire sauce, and an egg. He made them into patties and then grilled them along with the bacon slices. Our entire backyard smelled of bacon on the grill, which just might be what heaven smells like in the morning. 

After we were finished, an evening of play was in store. The boys love to swing. Tonight was the first night that Rhys wanted to swing regular. Typically, he swings on his belly and loves it. 

It was such a fun night watching Emerson push Rhys on the swing. Now, having to take turns was another battle. Why dwell in the hard part of play? 

 

Get out and go...

Camping with friends.

This past weekend we went camping with friends to Chain O'Lakes State Park near Albion, Indiana. We had such a great time hanging out with some of our friends. Our main goal was to relax, enjoy our campsite and swim. We managed to get all those in and then some.

We typically camp on our own but after posting about our last camping adventure a couple friends asked to join us sometime. So, when we started planning this trip, I messaged them and told them that we wanted to do an easy camping trip with little to no hiking, more water activities, hanging out at our campsite and we were thinking about Chain O'Lakes. I was thrilled when they all said, "Yes, but what do we need?"

Here's the thing, most of them had not camped as family units and some had never camped at all. They needed almost all of the basic gear for camping. Like tents, air mattresses and cooking items. Now, one of the guys could be considered "The Great Outdoorsman" and they had everything but his wife wasn't really into camping, so they had never gone.

The best part, they all took to camping like ducks to swimming. I was beyond thrilled when we were all having a great time and our kids all got along and it was so easy going.

All packed up and ready to go. The picture that caused all the problems.

Friday morning we packed everything into the car and had enough room to bring Emerson's bike and Rhys's big wheel. I sent this picture out as we were taking Sydney, the dog, to doggie day care. Quickly, I was asked about the helmets and if we brought the bikes. I said yes, last minute add because we had room. One other family decided to bring theirs.

We got to our campsite to be greeted by two of the families already relaxing and enjoying their time. We made camp and got all settled and gave the kids play-doh to keep them occupied for a bit.

The last family arrived, set up camp and the bikes became a big hit. They all were riding the bikes while dinner was being made. The littlest guy was getting restless and I decided to walk him around the park in his stroller to get him to maybe fall asleep. Several of the kids came along with me either on bikes or walking and then taking turns with the bike.  As we came back to our camping area, there was a lot of commotion. One girl had gone off on her own with a bike and had an accident. Thankfully, there were people around to make sure she got back to her parents. She had broken her arm. 

Our dear little friend was ok, with just a buckle break and was able to finish her first camping trip. We were able to all enjoy our evening around the campfire with s'mores, drinks and stories.

The next morning started early. Surprisingly, everyone was up and going by 8. We all made our breakfasts, took a short walk with the stroller and bikes, and then packed up our things to head out on the water. Our kids love to play in the car when we are camping. We found out that all kids love to play in the car when we are camping.

We decided to rent a row boat, because our boys had not been in a boat like this, only a ski boat. I thought this way if they stood up they were not going to tip the boat. At first its was nerve racking. I could see my monkeys, well one of my monkeys, thinking it was ok to just jump in. Really, they both did great. It took Eric a minute to get the hang of the oars. I did try it, so I know how hard it is.

We decided to take this channel from Sand Lake to the connecting lake. At first Eric was doing all the rowing and then he asked if I could help him out and take an oar. Best idea ever. We started moving and made it to the lake to have lunch and hang out for a bit. While we were in the lake we picked up two of the kids in a canoe that didn't like the unsteadiness of that vessel and Emerson quickly jumped at the idea to ride in a canoe. The ride down the channel was beautiful. Wish I had more pictures.

We made it back to shore as the littlest guy was dozing off. He took a great nap in the shade while being attended to by these great little helpers. We played in the water for a bit, ate some food, drank some drinks, and sat around talking. Then I decided I was done and the boys were wanting to head back to camp. So, we loaded up all the kids and took them back so the other parents could have some time to relax kid free.

We went to the park, played with play-doh and face painted.

Rhys became best buddies with this cutie and whenever he sees her picture he starts yelling her name.

Dinner time. For the first time, we decided to do some cooking over the fire. You would think that we would pick something easy. We choose pizza. Emerson got tired of waiting and asked for a hotdog, mostly because he wanted to roast it. To be honest, I am not sure how much he ate this past weekend. Everything I offered him I found half eaten laying on a table. The pizzas turned out great and we have decided to add those into our meal planning for camping.

After dinner, the moms and kids decided to go for a short hike. A couple of kids were on the bikes and I had the stroller. The bigger kids said that they they had been on the trail several times and riding their bikes would be just fine. Well, it wasn't. The second bike accident happened to one of the boys. (not my boys) His poor chin and inside of his mouth took a beating. He was in a lot of pain. He is doing fine now. This was when my picture that I had sent with my boys wearing their helmets came back up and I was blamed for the whole idea of bringing bikes, jokingly. I will take the blame, but not for the accidents!

As the sky began to grow dark we were all around the campsite hanging out listening to music and just having a great time. We danced and talked and laughed. Then we all prepared for rain to hit us sometime in the night. We were pretty lucky the the rain was just showers through out the night and while we packed up to head home.

Eric and I are very lucky to have such good friends. We had a great time with all of them and would go camping with any of them again. Thanks for wanting to come along with us sometime.

Summer...

Float down the creek. 

This past weekend we spent camping with a group of friends at Chain O'Lakes State Park. We all rented canoes and boats for a few hours out on the lakes. 

Get Out and Go...

Somewhere. Anywhere. Just be a part of the world.

We are preparing to go on our next camping trip and I keep thinking about our "Wanderlust" trip last year and the campsite we didn't get to use.

Last year, we went on a three week trip to California. We drove and took our time getting there making different stops along the way. Our first stop, Arches National Park. We drove 22 hours to get to what would be the coolest campsite we have ever had.

We arrived at our campsite in late afternoon, it was hot, like 103 degrees hot. We knew that it was going to be hot and we knew that when the sun set the temperature would drop and the forecast called for temperatures in the 70's.

So, we worked on setting up our campsite. The play tent fit perfectly tucked in with some trees. Then came the sleeping tent. We tried three different places and we could not get the stakes in the ground. We had been there almost two hours, we were hot, we were hungry and the kids were getting restless having to be locked up in their play tent.

Rhys wanted to make sure Mr. Potato Head didn't become a baked potato! It looks like it was a rough job!

After a half an hour more of trying to come up with ways to stake the tent we threw in the towel. We were hangry. It was almost 8. It was still 103 degrees. We had lost all optimistic hope that the temperature would drop. 

We packed up, headed to town, found a hotel and unloaded our things for the night. Eric and I both felt a little defeated. We both wanted to camp under the stars in the dessert. 

We finally got some food around 9:30 (temperature holding strong at 99) and then snuggled into bed. We thought, we would all be asleep within minutes but the boys had a different idea. Another couple of hours passed with a high level of frustration and tension. Then, finally we were all asleep.

The next day was a beautiful 90 degree day, we were just one day to early!

This was our view!

This was the other direction. It seriously was crazy beautiful. We were lucky enough to spend a few hours in the spot. Next time, next time.

The Forth of July...

                     
I love parades, cook outs, and fireworks.  Naturally, the Forth of July is one of my favorite holidays to celebrate and usually by doing all of those things. Our town has a great celebration. The town square gets decked out with flags, there is an evening parade, a festival with music, food and games, and fire works.

This year we participated in the parade with our preschool. The theme of our float was super heroes. All the kids were dressed in red, white and blue with capes or super hero costumes. It was super cute. Most of the adults dressed up as characters also. I walked the parade passing out candy. It started out great but by the end I was so exhausted because we decided to go for a run earlier in the day that ended up being a 5k in distance. Not the best idea when you have to walk a parade that's roughly four miles!

2014 Forth of July Parade

We are very lucky in that we live within walking distance of all the events. The parade is a block away so when we hear it coming we walk over and stand in the street and watch as long as we all can. It is a great community parade with lots of businesses, organizations, our first responders, high school bands, pre-schools, scout troops and politicians. Plus, a roller skating frog! Who wouldn't love that! 

We were lucky to get to spend the afternoon and evening with our good friends. Even Syd, the dog, got in on the super hero action. As the sky began to grow dark we packed up our things to head to our spot to watch the fireworks.

Summer...

Nights. Specially, the 4th of July. We walked the five blocks to our favorite viewing spot for the fireworks. We were happy to see our spot pretty full. The smell of sulfur hung in the air and smoke thick enough that it resembled fog. We picked an open area, set up our chairs, got out our kettle corn and drinks, and then waited. 

We watched the other fireworks goers set off sky lanterns and sparklers. Our kids ran around tossing their glow sticks and burning off their sleep deprived crazy energy. Then the show began. 

The fireworks were great and they were the perfect ending to an awesome day celebrating America.