Hot Dog or It's a Dog's Life

Got Milk?

We didn't this morning. Nor eggs... Hmmm. How to disguise the rehydrated milk that is being served at breakfast, that is the question of the day. So I did the only logical thing. I put powdered milk, powdered eggs, sugar, a little vanilla, a pinch of nutmeg, and some ice in the blender and fill it with water. TA-DA instant eggnog and some great milk mustaches!
(and after breakfast... a trip to the store.)

Car Wash

After all our travels our van was really really dirty. Thank heavens for kids, they worked all morning cleaning inside and out. It is clean again!

Play Like a Kid Again

As my kids get bigger I sometimes am reminded that their bodies are big but they are still kids. We went to the zoo and everyone enjoyed a good frolic.

Pit Fall

Tonight for dinner we were kept company by Christian's marching band section. We had chicken Enchiladas and turtle bars with ice cream. I loved the energy and laughter. All 11 members of the "Pit" were well mannered and several asked if they could come live here. This picture is after they ate about 30 enchiladas, a 9x13 pan of turtle bars and a half-gallon of icecream. The best compliments of all came during the ride back to the school, there were lots of thank yous, 2 boys claimed they loved me, and one called me Mom.

The trip is officially over

I had this idea for our trip to make it memorable... I printed photos all along the way on our grand adventure and each kid made their own scrapbook of the trip while we drove. I thought that Christian and Truman would think it was a dumb idea, but a week into the trip I heard Christian proclaim that his scrapbook was the coolest. I was hoping that the books would serve as life long reminders of the great adventure that we took, partly because I don't know if we would ever do it again. The books are that, but there was also the unexpected benefit that the books took hours and hours to make. Hours and hours that could have been spent fighting or complaining, they were busy cutting, taping and writing. I am making the scrapbook idea near the top of my "Good ideas I've had" list.

Today most of the kids put the finishing touches on their books.

Anybody looking for a Hero?

Ian (my brother) gave me (it is mine, I wrote my name on it with a sharpie) a Playstation 2. When I arrived home from the trip I let the kids work in the morning and they play Guitar Hero in the afternoons. I didn't give any time limits with the hopes of letting the younger kids get better than Dadd, Christian and Truman. It worked. Now that everyone is home there has been a lot of piano practicing and house cleaning going on so that the heros can battle. I am sure that there has been a great leap in the eye hand coordination around here. The kids were laughing pretty hard thta Kenneth had to practice the piano and mow my lawn yesterday before he could get on stage.

Silly Spider Girl

I really love my Hazel... She has at times been quite a challenge for us, she has taxed my patience as well as my parenting skills. 2 years old was truly hideous, 3 years old was better. Now as birthday #4 approaches, I am catching the vision of what kind of person she might be... Funny. Funny is what she is. After all the struggling to get it right, it is great have some comic relief! Here she is in all her Spiderific Glory.

My Trip it has 4 Corners

We stopped at 4 corners monument. We intended to play a game of four-square, but there was quite a line just to stand there. So we didn't play our game. Bummer. Here we are standing in 4 different states.

Home at Last

Today we made the last leg of our Journey. The house was still standing. There is another litter of feral kittens in my yard. Nate fell asleep before I could make any dinner. I am happy to be washing the sleeping bags and even more happy not to be sleeping in mine tonight. Kenneth Christian and Truman went home with Kenneth's parents. They claim to be going to help build a shed, I think that they are just trying to get out of cleaning the van out. It is really scary after 3 weeks on the road!

Mesa Verde Take 2

We went into Mesa Verde again today. We saw the park in much the same way we have seen many other places on this trip. Sunrise to sunset. We really saw a lot. The kids all completed the junior Ranger program too. We took two of the guided tours, one unguided tour, hiked a 3 mile loop to see some petroglyphs and most of the viewing spots along the road side. The funny moment was Hazel, as we were approaching the unguided ruins she looked around and asked suspiciously, "Where are we going?" Answer "to those ruins right there". Hazel "Are we going to have to listen to the ranger talk a long time saying boring things?". "Nope" "OK! Lets go!"

We took Jacob and Noah (in the backpack) on the tour of Balcony House. They were both real troopers. The location is not easily accessed. We had to climb a 3 foot ladder, descend 100 stairs, and crawl through a tunnel. The ranger said that visitors come to see the Cliff Palace but remember the Balcony House. I think it is more memorable because of the adventures in accessing it.

Faux Birthday

Today we celebrated Sydney's 11th birthday a little early. She picked shishkabobs and Corn on the cob for her birthday dinner and for her cake Jacob made a dutch oven black forest cobbler cake. It was really good.

Mesa Verde

Today we went to Mesa Verde with my brother Jacob and my Nephew Noah. We all had a great time (Except Noah who was just a good sport about looking at old buildings and having a diaper rash). We had a picnic and came back to the campground and went swimming.

On the trail.

At one of the ruins.

In the ruin.

Having a look see!

New Mexico

While we were driving across New Mexico, We decided to stop in Albuquerque. For old times sake I took my family to Mac's Steak in the Rough. My Mom and I used to go there together.

I made sure that we all had lime-ade and onion rings.

Here we are outside the restraunt. It is a drive-in but we were all tired of sitting in the car so we went in to eat.

Here are the kids watching an old episode of Knight Rider on the Ipod, this is our last resort of entertainment when boredom and fighting overtake us. I think it is pretty impressive that we made it this far in our travels before we had to use it!

On the Road Again

Tuesday Morning we left Paul and Julie's House. They were great hosts and we hope they recover quickly from our whirlwind stay. We intended to visit the birthplace of Davy Crockett but I misjudged where it was and we missed it. We camped a night in Tennessee. The next day we drove across Tennessee and stopped at Graceland, we looked at the mansion from the street, and visited the giftshops/museums. We did not pay the $100 for our family to take the tour (we aren't that big of fans). We did buy charms for the girls and magnets or pins for the boys. We stopped for dinner at an interstate BBQ just off I-40 in Mississippi. The food was good, Kenneth had discovered the restraunt on previous visits to the Memphis airport. We camped just west of Memphis, about 50 yards from the freeway. The campground had the most mosquitoes I have ever seen, the air was so thick it was hard to not kill them. We made short order of getting into the safety of the tent and in the morning we got out by 7:30 AM. (A new record for us) Yesterday (Thursday, as far as I can recon) we drove and drove and drove. We drove across Arkansas, across Oklahoma, across the top of Texas, all the way to Tucumcari New Mexico. Tucumcari has a nicer campground, with cows and horses in the field nearby. Our hearts are cheered by the almost desert that surrounds us After almost 3 weeks on the road we are longing for that beautiful desert that is our home. We do have one last stop... Mesa Verde. We are going to spend the weekend with my brother Jacob and my nephew Noah.