The last post

So lest see what I can remember from Tahoe. Well after Tahoe we had to stay at one of my mom's friends, Shannon. We also had met up with another of mom's friends, Shelly. Shannon got us to stay at her house two nights. After that we got back on the road and headed to what would be our last camp spot. We camped at North Carolina and saw Mt. Rushmore. Mt. Rushmore was a pretty site. The heads were in a semi circle so if u saw one side one of the heads were facing away from you. You had to get right in the middle.
 After two night at the camp spot we headed to Chicago were stayed at a hotel at got to a six flags there. We had to drive threw Chicago which was not all that pleasant. The traffic there was just horrible it was almost impossible to get out of there. As we got out of city I noticed the land, this is what I thought about it: The surrounding area was full of rolling hills and was a patchwork quilt or green and yellow grass. It seemed to me that the city was one gigantic black whole in a land of peace.

After Chicago we went to St. Louis were we met up with Amy, Cedric, and Pete again. We stayed at another hotel and had gone to the Six Flags before we left. We had stayed for only one night. After we had stayed a night at the hotel and had gone to six flags (which had rained while we were there) we had made an important decision. The decision's were to spend a night at a campsite to break down a 16 hour drive or just drive it. We took drive it. We had spent more then halve a day in the car and drove. Ugh! By the time we got home it was like 5:00 am and we were past tired. And I had past out in my bed for I thing was 2 hours. When I had waken up I went  about my normal day.

The Final Post

We went to South Dakota and we stayed at Hot Springs for 2 days. When we got there we unloaded everything and then we built our broken tent. Later that day we made dinner and after we ate dinner Ella and I played tether ball and Ella won but that was OK, because I had fun and that's all that really matters and after the game it got dark so we went back to the camp spot and went to sleep. The next day we went to Mt. Rushmore and man was it cool and after we went to a B&Q and got B&Q buffalo ribs and after that we went to a crystal cavern and there were a lot of stairs and now I have a fright of stairs, other then the stairs crystals we pretty. Later when we got back we went swimming in a POOL (who would put a POOL in a camp, apparently these people) ah, other than the pool the night went the same. In the morning I got pancakes and then packed up and left for Chicago.

In Chicago we stayed at a HOTEL woo woo, when we got there we unloaded and unpacked and then we went to six flags and it was so cool, because it was at night and a little cold witch gave it a good kick. The first ride we went on was batman it was so cool and the dark made it really cool. The next ride we went on I forgot the name of but I do know that it was a really long line and we had wait and wait and wait but when we got to the front can I admit that I was scared, but I liked it. The sadly last ride was The Demon and it was really freaking awesome and after the ride we left the park to the hotel and in the morning we left for St. Louie.

When we got to the hotel we checked in and went to go see Ammie Peter and Cedric and then we unpacked and then we had mac and cheese for dinner then we went to go play arcade games and Ella and I spent ours on air hockey but we found a really fun game that is a racing game and Cedric let us use his coins and we all had fun and I actually got to race a stranger but I lost ;), after games it was peter's bed time so I just started watching TV and then went to bed. The next morning we packed the car and went to breakfast and left for HOME.

Leaving Tahoe

It is with a great deal of mixed emotion that I am FINALLY writing today. Yes, yes, I know that I have been severely remiss in writing. Truly sorry. :) Since we got to Arizona it has been go go go. And see see see. From Colorado we visited Four Corners, the Grand Canyon and most importantly our friends Doris, Amanda and Jason (with a quick hello to Larry and Dave). What a tremendously good and relaxing time. Although, as you have already read, we finally lost the bird. It was very sad for us to go through that but it was made easier with the company of Doris, Amanda and Jason. I am reminded from this visit that some friends just are. Doris is the woman I talk to sometimes on a daily basis. We just are. It is hard to define but my life would be lost without her. Yet, she is probably the most different from me from all my friends. I want to be her when I grow up some day. Our visit with her family seemed way too short. ALL of our visits have seemed way too short, but that one was the beginning of these quick visits and it was sad to say goodbye.

That truly is something about moving all the way across the country. Although I don't think (never say never) we would ever leave the East coast while the kids are still school age, it is weird to see 1/2 my life and support here on the West coast. Maybe it is a good thing? After all, I always have somewhere I can go, visit or just get away. But when you spend the little time we have with more people we love, it sad to remember that they are not within physical reaching distance. :/

From Phoenix, and great mexican food, the science center, some hashing for mommy, etc. we moved on to San Diego where the kids and I were spoiled by our Aunt Sandy. Paddle boarding, beaches, pedicures, massages, GREAT GREAT food, long conversations and visits with other family members such as Mark, Aunt Kathy, Uncle Jack and Uncle Hank abounded. It is always a great moment to spend time with Aunt Sandy. While growing up, Sandy was my second mother. She helped raise and guide me, and trust me that was no easy feat. For a few years, I lived with Sandy, Mark and Andy and that was/is a stable part of my young world that has helped shaped me today. It is a blessing for the kids to have her and be exposed to my family and all our wonderfullness and quirks. Again, leaving Sandy's and Mark's was fraught with sadness and a feeling of being cheated but an overwhelming sense of being cared for and loved and knowing we will see them again.

We moved on to visit Hollywood, Malibu and of course ANOTHER Six Flags. Unfortunately though we all ended up with head colds here and were not at our 100%. Ella impressed the hell out of me. She never gets sick and when she does she is like a big overgrown baby. Quick side story, Ella has never been a very snuggly kid. When she was a baby I would look at how other kids would cling to their parents and wonder if I was doing something wrong that mine didn't. Both Kirk and I wrote it off as, just her personality (as we should have in my opinion). However, when she was about 2, she got this horrible flu and was very sick and I got my snuggly kid! I have to say, I was sad to see her sick of course, but man did I eat up all that snuggle and lovey time! Well, she is like that as a young adult too! :) "Mommy," she says to me in our tent, "I am dying!" :) Ahhhhhh my poor baby. So we petted and got her medicine and then she said, "Yeah I don't like this, I will be better within two days." She was! Ha! I love that kid. So we sort of enjoyed the area and then eagerly made our way up to Napa and my brother, Amanda, Aaralyn and Daylin.

We camped one night in a weird little campground in Napa (I don't recommend it) and headed over to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom where we met up with my sister in law Amanda and niece and nephew, Aaralyn and Daylin. What a great day! We literally, once again, walked onto the rides. We saw so much and just generally enjoyed the day. From there we headed to my "home" of South Lake Tahoe and Ryan's actual home.

The magic of being in Tahoe is just about impossible to put into words. This place has a beauty and a calming feeling like no other place in the world that I have experienced. It could be that is because it was my home for so long but I remember when my mom decided to move us here. The reason she did was because of that magic and we knew it was home. So, we have spent the last week here and it is with a somewhat heavy heart we say goodbye today. I was able to reconnect with my friends Henry, Shelley and Shannon. The connections with these people were / are so easy. The KNOWING of each other that we have, its just simple and easy and a true blessing. Everyone's life is going along so well and they are so happy. Henry is tackling school again and he (along with some others I have met this year and on this journey) has inspired me to spend some time volunteering for the VA and re-entering military. Shelley is the mom to a beautiful 15 year old, owns a beautiful home and makes me laugh like she always has. Shannon, ahhh Shannon, a friend I met in the 7th grade, who literally is the only person besides my brother, who I think sees the girl I was with the woman I am. After 25 years, it was like just sitting with a friend I have been in close contact every week. I am looking forward to meeting her husband today and her AMAZING, funny son was a joy to be around yesterday. Shanno's joy with her life was so evident and I was really very happy for her!

We have hiked, sunbathed, hung with Ry and the fam, seen Ryan act, been to improv, had sushi, wreaked havoc, on and on and on. The kids are very sad to leave their cousins. Two more energetic, smart, creative children you could not find. They fit very well with Ella and Katrin and it is fun watching them all. Ryan and Amanda have been generous in letting us impose on their lives for a whole week. I know we will be seeing them again this year. It is just important to me and to us that we maintain some kind of contact so, it isn't as heavy saying goodbye to them. HOPEFULLY they will come to CT sometime soon!!!!

So that is the peanut shell edition of our travels. We are about 10 days away from home now and man are we REALLY looking forward to that. Katrin is a bit overwrought missing her daddy and Ella and I both want our beds (as well as to see Kirk). We are looking forward to the sites to come, sad to have such short visits with the friends and family we have, looking forward to seeing Aimee, Cedric and Pete again for a day, anxious to get home and dreading some of the long driving in the days to come. Who knew there would be SO MUCH emotion in this little trip of ours?

fun time, lost pets, and friends and family.

Well I have realized I don't quite remember every little detail or big details so I will do a place and people skim threw till California. So well we had gone to Colorado, which was pretty. The Colorado camping spot was near a lake, but only mom had gone it since it was freezing cold. Also the Colorado camp spot had no showers, or at least no free showers. $3.00 per 5 min. People could get sick. Ok so any way we had gone to Arizona after that, were we meet up with my mom's friend Doris. We played games with Doris's children, and saw the movie Echo. (Sad movie.) Also in Arizona we had lost Captain, our bird. We had put up signs and posts to see if anyone has found the bird. After Arizona we had gone to San-Diego California. In California we had gone to see our Aunt Sandy. At Aunt Sandy's we had shopped and, stayed at a friends house, and Aunt Sandy had taught us the game Head and Foot. After Aunt Sandy's we had gone to Malabo, California. Were we had stayed two night and left. We had gone to Six Flags on the first day in Malabo. The we had left to go to another place in California and had stayed there one night. We had left and made our way to another six flags which we met Aunt Amanda, our cousins, and a friend of our cousins. After a day at Six Flags we had made our way to Aunt Amanda and Uncle Ryan's house. We have so far gone to see a movie called Guardians of the Galaxy, hiked in the rain, and went to a river near by. We have so far been at there house for 3 days. And that has been our long weeks, and no internet days (sorta.)

Mom's friend's house to cousins's house. And I know we hadn't blogged in a while so here.

We went to Arizona to one of my mom's friends and you could say that we had fun, because we did but the only down side was that our cokatiel flew away. He was a very cute bird and our cute bird at that. We miss him but we are getting a new cokatiel that is sorta cute, and I'm sure that peep is going to miss him (peep is our other bird that is a parakeet). We also swam there a little and I played with Amanda a lot and on the second to last day we played with a really cool game I liked, about marbles lives. On the last day we left for Sandy's house and when we got there we settled in and left for sushi YA!!!! On second day our friend Avani came and after a game of hand in foot we went to the beach on the ocean side, the ocean side has HUGE waves and I almost drowned in one but luckily Avani was there to pull me up. Then when we got to scared we went to the bay side and hung out at one of Sandy's friends's house and for dinner we had B&Q and it was AWESOME. After dinner Ella and Avani covered me with sand and I had to dig to get out, UGH! After all that Avani stayed the night. The next day we went SHOPPING and I got three outfits unlike Ella who got a BILLION outfits and Avani got like ten less than Ella, so Ella won shopping wars surprisingly. We stayed the night at Avani's house and that was tough, because they had a non hypo allergenic DOG, as most of you know I highly allergic to DOGS. The next day we went shopping for shoes with Sandy and I got pretty good shoes. That night some of our relatives came over and we had dinner. The next day we left for Malibu to camp two nights and when we got there we went for a walk to a rock pool which looked scary to swim in so we just walked back and ate half dinner because we weren't hungry. The next day we went to six flags. When we went to go eat the people didn't cook there chicken fully and almost food poisoned me so they gave me more chicken which made my stomach hurt, so I didn't go on any more upside down rides. The next day we went to Napa for ONE night. The next day we packed and went to six flags with our cousins's. And now we are in Tahoe.

Back to camping

We went to a Lake Hills, TX (the middle of nowhere Texas) and on our way to the camp we saw a bar call adolphs it was hilarious. The really interesting things about that campsite was that there was a pool, activity center WITH WiFi, mini golf course, a not working hot tub, and a playground so we had a lot to do while we where there, oh and I forgot to put the brave deer who can be a little more than foot away from a person on my list. The first day we where there we went to the activity center to play some ping pong and MOM won of course but after the second round there was a candy game going on and the people there wanted us to play so we did. Then we went to go play mini golf and mom won the first game but I won the second game, YAY.

The second day we went to the Alamo and I MISSED ALL OF RIPLEY PLACES. After the Alamo we went to Six flags fiesta, the cool thing was that the place was surrounded by a canyon and some of the rides went over it. We went on a couple of water rides and I only went on one really fast and upside down ride called poltergeist, because after the ride my head hurt, we had missed the water park that day so we made a plan so we could go in it. The next day we had to Leave For New Mexico but we went six flags so we go to the water park. We spent 2 hours at the water park then we hat to the campsite, we arrived late at night so that took a long time. And now we are in NEW MEXICO.

Pretty mountains

Dallas Texas was after Oklahoma. In Dallas we slept two night in a hotel. In a hotel people! With REAL beds, and clean showers! Oh ya! Sadly it only lasted 2 nights. In Dallas we had gone to Six flags Over Texas. Then we had gone to see Queen! It was really cool. We had also saw downtown Dallas. We played checkers there, which I won every game :).
After Dallas was Lake Hill Texas. Our campsite was named Medina Lake. Medina lake was a pretty campsite. It had a pool and an activity center. (Activity center had WiFi.) The lake itself was dry. Apparently the lake was nothing more then land that dipped into the ground. Other then the lake with no water, every thing else seemed normal. We stayed at Medina lake for three nights. On the second day and on the last day we went to another six flags in Texas. We went on the last day only because on the second day we weren't prepared to find out that the water park there was free. Meaning we had not brought bathing suits. So we had done all the main park rides on the second day (Iron Rattle, the best ride we have been on, is AWESOME, and scary), then on the last day we had gone to the park again and had done 5 of the water park rides. We had also gone to see the Alamo Mission Fort. After we had gone to the water park in six flags we drove 8 hours to New Mexico. We got another time change, one more hour back. Since the Water park in six flags was only open at 12:00 pm. and we had spent 2 hours in the water park, we had gotten to New mexico at like 9:00 pm, since the time change. We had to put up the tent in the dark. We now know that putting a tent up in the dark is not one of the brightest ideas. At least the site of New Mexico at night is really pretty. With the dark sky above the dark mountains in the background is a really pretty site to see. After we had gotten the tent up we had gotten our stuff inside the tent and just crashed into the beds. Today we had gone to see the White Sands. The sand is so white in some areas it looks like fresh snow. After the white sands we have now made our selves comfortable with the new campsite. Which is hot, desert looking, abandon looking, and is really pretty with the large mountains all around us. I feel we are trapped. Other then the blazing heat, looming mountains, and abandon feeling being here, everything is fine.....  

Oh my God - 4 Weeks?!?!?!

Yeah seriously, we have been gone four whole weeks. Crazy crazy how time flies. I can't believe my last post was OK. So much has happened since then! We were in Dallas for 2 nights, Lakehills, TX after that and now we are in New Mexico. In that time, we have met up with hash friends, seen Queen (with Adam Lambert), mini golfed, swam (swum?), been to 2 Six Flags parks and one Six Flags water park, seen the Alamo and Riverwalk, been to White Sands National Monument, had the car worked on (thank Goddesses for warranties and good service), been through two time zones and spent countless hours philosophizing, gabbing, singing, playing and generally being a family.

I wish I recorded a lot of my thoughts from the road as well. It strikes me how much of my deep thought should be immortalized. :) For instance, it may come as a shock to some, as it did to me, that sexism is alive and well. Since I don't spend time with teenage boys I had no idea how rampant a thing it is. Shocking really. I can not believe my teenage girl is subject to things I thought went out long ago. On at least two occasions now, we have been captive audiences to YOUNG boys (13 to maybe 15) that were discussing how "fat" a young girl was or how "doable" she might be. REALLY? Still? But it also is still happening among grown adult women. I can not tell you HOW MANY times now I have been asked by other grown women, "Is it just the three of you? How do you do that?" Once I HAD to ask, "Do you mean because we don't have a man with us?" to which the woman replied, "Well yeah." My answer? We JUST DO! I suppose I live in more of a bubble than I was aware.

In addition, it has struck me how interesting my children's relationship with money is. I know that I spoil my kids. I am not that dillusional. How many kids go camping with a lap top, tablet and cell phone? How many people under 20 have been on 2 cruises, umpteen states, snow board vacations, etc. I know we are raising uber protected uber privileged girls. That isn't shocking, so much as a tad bit embarrassing sign of my inability to completely disassociate with material status. What has been shocking is to see how my girls do not understand the value of a dollar. How economic decisions are made...i.e. if I buy that, I can't or will have to delay that. It has been a learning lesson for them as well. I hope one that sticks!!!!

I have already expounded on the lessons from the road regarding hard work, survival skills and the such. They are getting exposure to so much more than just the road and the states. As am I. I think each of us is glad as well. Today while we were picknicing at the White Sands National Monument (picture of the quintessential New Mexico alien campground attached), we discussed if we thought we would ever do this again. Katrin is sure she will take her kids some day. Ella is sure she will do it differently. :) I am sure I will do a different version. Each of us seems to be having our own as well as our shared experience. It seems to me they are changing right before my eyes. Especially Katrin. It may be her age or that she is actually changing. Whichever, getting to know my girls on new levels is nothing short of miraculous.

As for myself, I am very much a "doer" and from the road I am learning alot about the art of being. Being is so much more important. If doing a 10 hour drive at 7am causes me to be a bitch and doing a 6 hour drive at 10am causes me to be full of joy, I would like very carefully to chose my state of being. I am not suggesting that I am going to change overnight my need to do. But my attention has been drawn very heavily to my state of being. It is a choice and it is fluid. More so than I am always aware.

So those are some thought tidbits. The road tends to give you plenty of time to think and very little time to communicate with anyone other than who you are sitting next to and often times, those two enjoy sleeping and reading to pass the time. :)

Practically speaking the vast difference from Missouri to Texas to New Mexico has been a bit startling. Just when I thought I was going to be seeing nothing but farmland for 3 months, I was reminded again of the beauty and the starkness of the West. I am loving it if a little uncomfortable in the heat and once again among the flies in New Mexico. Texas was very comfortable. We were really lucky. After this we are off to Colorado and then friends and families homes for the most part of the next month so it should be smoother sailing.

July

Yay Aimee, Edie, Cedric, Grumpy, the fourth of July, and the best was PETER.
The coolest thing was that we got to launch our own fireworks and that was awesome, but we got to watch other fireworks that we didn't launch. We also went to Hannibal to camp a night and to walk around the city and go on riverboat. The morning for me was really annoying at the campsite, because they were running a 15k around our campsite and it sounded like they were running through our campsite. The last thing we did in the week was go to Aimee and Cedric's farm that is where we launched our own fireworks. Now we are in Oklahoma , it is very hot here and there is a lot of bugs.
Tomorrow we are going to Dallas. This is a picture I forgot to put in.

Hot hot and even more heat

It has been a long week. In Tennessee we had gone too see the Parthenon.  Then in Missouri we had stopped at Amy, Cedric,  and Peter's house to stay the night. Then we went from there house to Hannibal Missouri were we met up with Eddie and David. By then it was the fourth of July, so we saw fireworks in Hannibal. We had caped at Mark Twain's cave. We had a problem with the people at that camp site. We had only stayed at Hannibal for one night. So we went to another place in Missouri from hannibal. In this other place we stayed with Amy again only In a different house. A house they like to call The Farm. It's really pretty there. At the farm we got to see another set of fireworks.  I liked these the best. It's a lot for fun when you see the person setting them off. So then we traveled from the farm to Oklahoma. Oklahoma is the hottest we have been to. We ate all very great full for the river that's right next to the campus. To me Oklahoma and Tennessee have the prettiest place award. Befor this trip if someone asked me if I would want to life in Oklahoma,  I would have been like, "Are you mad, it's really hot and discussing there." Now I would say "Depends were the house is. If it's near a river then yes I would be fine living there. But if not the no I don't think I would want to live there." There are a lot of places that I would say the same, kinda like Florida.  I think you have to be some were to understand things like really hot or really cold. Cause I now know that when someone says really humid they mean jungle humid. I guess this brings me back to what we have done or are still doing, kinda like I'm still writing this. So let's see, we are still in Oklahoma and we have swam in a cool river. One that looks empty at the moment.  I can not tell you enough of how glad I am that this river is near by. Oh and I almost for got something,  we are finally getting to camp sites that have a good amount of people. The first camp sites barely any people. Then we get a few crowded camp sites. Now we finally have enough people around so it doesn't look abandoned or crowded. And so, I am once again going try to end this blog. And it ends Good bye.

Don't want to be lord of the flies!

So we are now in Oklahoma. Side note: First musical I ever saw! :) I am currently sitting at our camp site under some shade trees praying the wind will keep softly blowing. Ella is laying down in bed with the fan pointed right at her and Katrin is in the car with the air conditioning running playing solitaire. OK is just not that interesting or inviting. We are camped, again, on a body of water and have spent a great deal of time in the water but the heat is still a bit oppressive. It makes the act of eating lunch, what we have just done, seem like a marathon and requires a good rest / recovery.

It is much drier here then the previous places and is honestly making me dread the next couple of camp spots in TX and NM. After that, although we will still be dry, we won't be at 105+ temps. Also we have a long break in people's homes. We will get to see Doris, Aunt Sandy, Ryan, Amanda, Aaralyn and Daylin. Hopefully I will also get a chance to see Shelley and Shannon. It will be a good three weeks with maybe one camp spot in between. It should be good. I only hope I will be able to re-motivate the girls to camping after we leave that.

We just came from Missouri where we got to see Aimee, Cedric, Peter, Edie and David. It has been been over 5 years since we have seen them and it was a much needed catch up. Peter is a beautiful, gifted child. Although why I might expect anything less from Aimee and Cedric, I wouldn't know. We had a great time seeing the "Americana" of the middle of the country. It is interesting to me. It isn't who I am or will ever be but it is interesting to see. On the west coast, growing up, 4th of July was a day or maybe a vacation week with fireworks on the day, regardless of what day of the week it was. There was hot dogs, ice cream and good old fashioned Summer fun. On the east coast, 4th of July is a month or two of fireworks on Friday and/or Saturday in various towns. There are shows and parades and talks about freedom and independence. It is an event. In Missouri, it appeared to be a combination of those two philosophies and everyone and their brother was in Hannibal, MO for "Tom Sawyer Days" and the 4th celebration. Fireworks are a BIG DEAL there and huge warehouses boasting the best and the brightest abound. Cedric put on a show for us at his cabin that was equal to, or even better than the grand deal we saw over the Mississippi River.

We are coming up on the end of week 4 of traveling. Overall spirits are good. As I said the heat here has taken a bit of a toll. The car gets messier day by day (we already have had one good cleaning) and the roads started to look the same (although Missouri was fun to drive in with all the winding hills and farm roads). I personally could use a mommy break and I am sure the girls too could use a mommy break :D but it is funny how being with each other day in and day out has given us new perspectives. I know we all share it because we have discussed it a bit. I swear to God Katrin has changed her personality right before my eyes and Ella has just become a stronger version of Ella to me. It is hard to explain in writing but, it is a neat thing to have happen. I guess I took for granted that I was bonded with my children. This is a different bond.

Life Lesson: Just when you think you know....

Oh and some womanly?and some everyone type tips from the road:
Cotton sports bras that snap in the back. Trust me.
Jeans shorts that fall mid thigh can be your best friends.
You can not have enough zip lock bags EVER.
READ directions....even if it is automated.
Throw away shoes are a good bring along.
Duct tape really can fix or temporarily mend anything.

12, 13, 14, 15, and 16th day

Four days ago we went to Florida. It was like a jungle there, hot and sticky. We went to the beach after we were done at unpacking. It was nice at the beach not too crowded and the waves were pretty big. Three days ago mom and ella woke up early to collect sea shells after that we went for a 5 mile bike ride the last thing we did was to go to the beach and swim. Two days ago we went to a fort in St Augustine, it was really pretty there and I liked it. They did not let the bird in the fort so one of us had to stay outside of the fort with the bird. The cool thing was I enjoyed the history. A day ago we went to a HOTEL in Atlanta but the sad part was that we couldn't bring the bird in, so we had to board the bird. Today ella and I went swimming in a POOL in the morning then we packed up and got the bird and now we are in Tennessee.

11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16

OK so we're do I begin? Well on the 11th day we had a day of running around. We were looking for stuff, like a broom. We didn't really find anything. We got the car washed and a oil change at least. When we got back mom allowed me drive her car a bit around the camp. Driving, I found out, is a bit scary. When we were done we ate and went to bed.
Next day we took a drive to Florida. We got to a camp that was near a beach. The camp site itself turned out to look like a jungle. I never thought of Florida as a jungle.  When we got there we set up camp then visited the beach for a bit. After the beach we ate then slept.
The 13th day we woke up early to go look for seashells. We found halfe sandbollers. When we were done we decided to go bike riding.  And then after that we went back to the beach for a bit. We all fell a sleep after that day.
The 14th day was a history day! Yay! We went to Saint Augustin. In Saint Augustin we went to a fort called Castillo De San Marcos. We were allowed to go in side and about some of the things that happened in there. When we were going in we had a little trouble with the bird. See, we had brought the bird with us because he was getting lonely and we felt bad. When my mom had asked a park ranger about a bathroom the guy said she was not allowed to bring the bird into the fort. It was quite random.  My mom didn't even say bird in her question of were the bathroom was. Later we came up with a plane for the bird and found the bathroom. The bird was allowed out side the fort so one of us waited for the other 2 to go through the fort. When I went in I learned that a guy was taken as a prisoner, then later on that same guy but a city. It was so weird that a former prisoner but a city. I learned some other stuff too. After the fort we saw a ship that looked like a pirate ship. When we were done with Saint Augustin we went back to camp. I wanted to go for a walk around the campsite.  We walked around and we found a whole bunch of sand crads. They were pretty cool. After the walk we were done for the day.
The next day was a packing day and a new destination. We were headed to Atlanta, Georgia. At Atlanta we headed for a hotel. When we got to the hotel we found that there were no birds allowed. We had to drop our bird off at a place where they watch animals. We dropped some of our stuff at the hotel. Then made our way to six flags. We spent a while at six flags. When we got back to the hotel we went to sleep.
Then on the last day I have to write about we went to coca-cola world. We spent a while there. When we were leaving we each got of coke. :D After that we got back on the road. Well first we got our stuff from the hotel, checked out, got the bird, and then we got on the road. We are now on the road to Tennessee.  Well technically we are in Tennessee and we're just going to our campsite.

It is July 1 already!!!

I can not believe it is July 1! Time is just flying by. We are traveling for about 4 hours today to Nashville, so I will have the girls post today in the car. They really are having a great time. We all are.

Sadly we said goodbye to my favorite campspot (I wonder how many times I will say that?). We made the six hour drive from Little Talbot to Atlanta and really didn't focus on much academics at all. We listened to some more of Huckfinn and then I remembered that some other families and friends have been enjoying Night Vale. If you are not familiar with it and you are a fan of the creepy, the weird, the supernatural or dark funny, you should give it a listen. For those that are a fan, imagine us driving through Georgia, learning all about the little town of Night Vale!

Needless to say we got distracted. However, I am a huge fan of driving in Georgia. My lead foot appreciates the open stretches of lightly hilly roads. My love of aesthetics appreciates it with the ever changing scenery and surprisingly rolling countryside. I will say that my pre-conceived judgment of the South was justified yesterday when 1) At 930am, in a tiny hamlet tumbleweed town (there are no tumbleweeds in GA that I see) I witnessed a young lady in 4 in heels, pedal pushers and tube top walking down the sidewalk. When I say young I am going to say about 15. While many of you may think, "well she was at work", I will tell you it looked to me only as if she was making a fashion statement. Then 2) I pulled into a gas station advertising $3.37 gas (prices have jumped up in Florida and here) and I was greeted at the roll-dial, flip up gas pump by a semi toothless (she had 3 teeth) pump attendant who asked, "where y'all headed?." Finally 3) having forced the kids to be out before the major heat at 8am, I neglected to stick to our healthy eating on a budget and decided to stop on the road. Picking a diner off the back woods road, we perused the menu, and were confronted with a menu that was strictly contained of chicken friend and gravy covered. Well Ella had waffles (no chicken) but Katrin and I joined the Romans. :) And it was AMAZING!!! Of course 2 hours later my vegetable and lean meat filled tummy was not thanking me. Nor was Katrins! In any case, I can tell you that my pre-conceived notions did not take a beating yesterday and I was glad.

Last night was our first hotel night yet. A little treat to beat the heat, make a quick stop in Atlanta, as I have been here twice before, and take a stroll at the Six Flags Over Georgia. That makes our fourth Six Flags park ever and our third this year. It was very very cute. It is smaller than the rest and a bit run down but the creativity in its design and structures is very charming. We waited in 30 minute lines, got beat up on the old coasters the girls love (they still won't go upside down at all) and went back to sleep in real beds that we did not have to do any work to get into. As always the bird was our biggest challenge. For some reason, the pet policy at the hotel had me concerned with the way it was worded, so I told them about the bird. Sure enough, Captain was not welcome. It took some finagling but birdy got to stay in an $8 birdy hotel. :) I hope he slept as well as we did!

Off to Nashville tonight after a trip to the World Coke plant. Yes, I know it is weird that with our focus on eating healthy and drinking mainly water and flavored water, that I would want to see the Coke plant, but I do. I always have. No better time than the present!

Hot and sticky and a TON of peace, love and salt water.

So we made our way from South Carolina to Florida.  We gave up the fight on Gullivers Travels.  We will come back to it but it just wasn't doing it for us.  Since we are now going to be in Hanibal for Tom Sawyer days with our good friends Edie, David, Aimee, Cedric and Pete (OK we have never met Pete but we know we will love him!) for the Fourth of July, we decided to do Huckleberry Finn (we had Huckleberry Finn on our reading list not Tom Sawyer).  We are all loving it!  I think it adds to it that we are going to the event.  The setting along the road got much nicer and more scenic into Georgia and Florida.  It also got hotter.  With a raging temperature around 100 most of the time and again that humidity, we were not looking forward to our unpacking so the trip taking 5 hours was just fine!

Song of the trip:  It was a tie between Fat Bottom Girls and Another Brick in the Wall. Mom got to pick the music but I am lucky that Kirk has instilled in them a love of the classics.  It always cracks me up when Ella loads up a Sting or Police song and knows every lyric.  Sights from the road....we stopped at a roadside stand for water and bathroom and ended up with a treat of the softest fluffiest Peach Fritter and Cherry Butter.  Yummmmmm

We made it to our campsite at Little Talbot Island.  It truly was / is fantastic.  It literally is a jungle.  Moss is dripping from the trees.  There are lizards and snakes and exotic birds and turtles.  The kids all have these pictures on their phones and will hopefully have a chance to post them soon.  The reception is horrible unless you are on a data connection, as I am now.  We just set up nice and slow and were soaking wet when we were done but I fell in love with the charm of it all.

I love the water and try to spend as much time as I can in it whenever we are near.  So on set up night, we walked the mile from our campsite to the beach and went for a dip as the sun went down.  As most people reading this blog will know, my mom has been dead three years now this month.  Her 64th birthday would have been 7/28.  My love of body surfing, adventure, the outdoors, good coffee early in the morning, butterflies, managing crisis and more comes from her.  My mom spent a great deal of her life not wanting to be alive in it and the rest living it to the absolute fullest.  When I was young she had a passion for the book Hope For The Flowers and spent some time having me read it and trying to explain to me why it meant so much to her.  The remembrance of that book and the meaning behind her death and life has left me seeing her always in butterflies.  That first night as we walked to the beach to swim, and Ella to gather her seashells (a passion she got from my mom that is sure to stink up my car), the butterflies were out in beautiful force.  I can feel her a lot on this trip but that moment was extremely special and that combined with the unique and serene area has left me feeling tender about this spot in general.

Now, the kids don't have the same sentimentality for it all and the Bugs (yes with capital B), the heat / humidity, sand, long walk to the beach and the fact that the campsites are so squished together you can hear your neighbors sneeze like they are in your tent, has not left them feeling so warm and fuzzy.  We did enjoy a beautiful bike ride, albeit short because of the heat and more body surfing along with some snorkeling and shelling tonight.  Everyone is getting bronzed and blonder in these hot days.

Tomorrow we are off to St Augustine for a day trip after we get up at 7am per Ella's request to shell.  For all who know Ella's sleeping pattern, this will seem like a lie, it is not!  She is intent on finding a sand dollar and what she considers rare shells.  Katrin has been promised some car time for air conditioning and to avoid some bugs!  Hopefully I will just keep all this love and peace and joy and tomorrow will be as great as the ones that came before it.

The 11 day

Today was great but a little unlucky we went around town buying things but the only three things we bought was an oil change,  mexican food, and a car wash. At the end of the day we went for a hike and then mom decided ella could take a spin in her car with her in it. So for ella this day was awesome. Captain is okay with his leash he still hate's it though. I meant to do my life lesson with that picture of the bird so this is the life lessons for the picture.

Life lesson: Anything that is around your body and is RED is horrible.

Virginia Beach to Charleston, SC

Virginia Beach to Charleston area was very uneventful.  We drove and drove.  I will say that North Carolina was beautiful and the areas we saw made me think that it will be good to go back there some day. Highlights of the drive were the field of sunflowers, a sign right in front of a cemetery saying "Jesus Saves" and Ben Folds ...especially "You Don't Know Me".

South Carolina, however, what we have seen, is not as impressive as North Carolina.  The roads are long and straight and the trees so dense they are all you see.  The last hour of yesterday's seven hour drive felt like five of the hours.

We went into Charleston today (about 30 miles from us) and although I am the proud new owner of baked okra, baked sweet carrots and purple sweet potato chips and I finally got to sample some authentic South Carolina BBQ, there is not much to recommend itself to me here.  The energy seems off somehow.  It might be where we are staying, the cleanest campground I have ever been at filled with the 60+ camper set and not a lot else!  Maybe it is the complete lack of matching architecture and the multiple generational buildings on every corner in the city that seem to speak to bad times over and over. It might be impending rain the last two days which brings 100% stifling humidity and a swarm of bugs I have never seen before, or it might be the deafening silence compared to the busy road we were camped on the last three days. Whatever it is, the energy feels off.  

We did see a lot of Charleston and got a feel for the local culture.  The heavy African influences in the art, style and feel is both beautiful and somehow a little sad reminder of how poorly we as a culture make decisions sometimes.  The food is wonderful.  :)  Even if we had to stay on the lighter side of things.  Healthy eating might be a little hard here if we were eating out or in town a lot!

Camping is becoming an easier adventure even if I did manage to break our tent (nothing a little duct tape and super glue isn't holding together). We all decided cots are compact but are not going to cut the long haul. Although I am now on a cot with a cot air mattress! The long prep of meals compared to a kitchen is now becoming routine and tempers are flaring a little less. We all seem to be finding a groove of sorts. Our schedule seems really tight and some days it feels like all we see is the inside of the car and the tent but I am learning to let those be ok days too!

9-10

The 9th day was the drive to our next camp site. We are now in South Carolina! We took a 7 hour drive from Virginia to South Carolina! It was a long and boring drive. When we got to South Carolina I found that South Carolina is, in some places, abandoned looking.  Other than that it's a pretty place. Where we are camping is actually quite cleaner and smaller than the other campsites. The 10th day we went to Charleston. We walked around a bit with the bird that had on the leash. The bird got a bit stressed and was not happy the whole time. When we got back we had dinner and then I started writing this.

Life lesson: If you want to get people's attention, get a bird. ( All day we had people saying "Hey, look that person has a bird on their sholder.")

9th day

thisiisiss  is the pictures for my life lessonTwthis is that pic 4 11 dayo days ago we got the bird a LEASH, so we have to put it on him whenever we want to go on a walk. Today was great we switched camps so today we are in South Carolina and that took 7 hours to get there, packing up and setting up camp is not so bad anymore so that was good. Tomorrow we are going to have a lot of fun.  

6,7, and 8

OK so well its been a while since I have wrote a blog. So I will start with the drive to Virginia. Ok so we got up a took a five hour drive from Maryland to Virginia. There was a lot of traffic. When we got to the camp we had a bit of trouble with the camp spots. There were not that much to choose from. We finally got a really good spot. The next day the bird flew off again.  Only this time we didn't find our bird for a long time. Our bird had flew off because of the sound of the bay. The camp we're at is right next to the chesapeake bay. My mom had gone off to see the bay with the bird. The bird had got scared of the sound of the wated. We spent a little time looking for the bird with no luck.  Then my mom finally suggested a walk on a trail that she had spotted while our search. We walked for just a bit when we heard our little bird squeak. After we had gotten the bird done from a tall tree we had turned around and made our way back to camp. At the camp mom ordered our bird a leash. (He is not fond of it at the moment. ) oh ya I almost forgot something. While we were looking for the bird we had gone to a activity the campsite provided. There are a ton of activities to do at the camp at different times. We had gone to one of the activities called: What's in the net? It was a fun thing to do involving nets and fish. There were net that were provided and we took the nets and used them to get fish that swam in the bay. Ok so the next day the leash came in and we watched a video of jow yo put it on the bird. We had gone on a walk with our bird with the leash on. Bird hates the leash, he is not a fan. After we built a fire which was huge for a while. And that was the whole 3 days adventures.

Life lesson: Little things can make a big difference, but only for a little while. (I had got this from putting a ton of twigs on the fire to make it bigger (which it had), but it only lasted for a short time.)

Military Row

Caution....philosophizing follows.

Today we drove from DC (Maryland really) to Virginia.  We passed Annapolis, West Point and Quantico.  In addition, we passed Jamestown, Fredricksburg, Williamsburg, Richmond, York, etc.  You couldn't help but feel the fighting force of this country.  Whether it be outside forces or each other, the military presence was Known (with a capital K). For me, this is a comforting thing.

The drive was beautiful if just straight and well congested with traffic.  Made me wish for the days that you can set your car to autopilot (Have you seen this car?) and play some Candy Crush (level 452 and not a little bit ashamed (more like a lot) thank you very much) while the world passes you by.  Alas, I was forced to watch the passing cars.  You know what I did not see?  I did not see, "Guns don't kill people, people do" stickers.  I did not see, "Teach Parents to Parent" stickers.  Nope.  I saw, Siempre Fi (Always Faithful) and military insignia galore.  I saw one car that carried the saying, "My Son Protects."  I smiled feeling safe and like the "protection" of this country continues to be in the right hands.  I hope.

I philosophized and Katrin slept!

It is the luxury of the young!  Also the necessity I suppose.  Katrin has been a GREAT co-pilot.  She finds me all the cheap cheap gas right off the freeway.  Today we only paid $3.21 a gallon!  She is learning mapping skills as well.  Whenever I miss an exit she is right there researching what happens next.  That may or may not have happened once today when I decided that the appealing, non trafficky HOV lane was calling our name, even if it didn't offer an exit for the exit I needed.  Woops!

The girls do spend a lot of time reading.  Ella is reading a book to Katrin, The Raven Boys, that she in fact has read twice!  That girl does love her books!  Truly it is a beautiful thing to see her love of reading and trying to share that with Katrin.

So, we arrived safe and happy and are settled in.  I will probably be quiet on the blogging front while we enjoy these days of "vacation".  I will let the girls handle the highlights!

Ps....on a capitalist note, it's good to see that Dunkin Donuts has died and that 7-Eleven is a thriving business.

4 & 5

Ok so well what happens these days is very long but I am going to make it short as I have not a lot of time to tell you what has happened In full detail. So well yesterday we went to six flags, which was very fun, and we spent the day there getting wet and ridding really fast roller coasters. After six flags we went back to the camp and just made dinner and went to bed. Then today we went on a metro to Washington DC. When we got there we followed a tour guild, which was a little fun, we got to see some interesting things. I wasn't a fan tho. We followed the tour guild till we got to the Lincoln memorial which was when the tour ended. After making our way back to the metro we got back on a metro and went to a zoo. At the zoo we got to see some cool animals. There were some really cool pandas. When we finished walking tho the zoo we got back on a metro and went back to the camp. We ate a marshmallow and some burnt pop corn, I tried to make over the fire we built.  And that was the quick version of two days.

Life lesson: Food made by fire is not always the best food.

4/5 day

Yesterday was a great day we went to Six Flags and the best part is that THERE WAS NO LINES so we just got on the rides we wanted to go on. Oh and here is a trick I have see if you can find the sentence MOST AWESOMEST DAY EVER.

Today was one of those boring days were you have to go to historical place like the Lincoln memorial (in which we did). But we did get to see PANDA'S. All the walking didn't make me very happy though. tomorrow we're leaving for Virginia 5 hour drive great. I'll have to get some sleep sleep tomorrow. The bird flew again today ugh.

Life lesson: 

you get good bacon by making good music.

Still Going....

Yes we are! We are still going.....

Not even a week in and already we have been to two camp sites, hiked about 8 miles together (me about 20), gotten rid of beds for new ones (Katrin could NOT figure out her cot), burned things (cooking with propane or an open fire pit takes some getting used to), gotten lost (lesson: do not try to get lost cord replaced while navigating Washington DC freeways - holy hell!!!), had individual melt downs (mine was over said cord I had lost), lost the bird 4 times, wished we had lost the bird 20 times (he is like having a 3 year old all over again) and more.....

Our trip to Six Flags was AMAZING.  The day turned out to be perfect and we never once waited in any lines.  We each rode whatever we wanted as many times as we wanted and enjoyed the superbly cool weather.  That was a welcome change especially the last two nights.  We slept 10 hours each night.

Today we spent the day in DC trying to fit in all the sites we would have tried to get in in two days.  We went on a walking tour with Free Tours By Foot and I had a really great time.  Dan Kent was our tour guide and he was extremely knowledgeable, entertaining and just genuinely nice.  The girls were a bit bored but liked some of the fun tidbits he threw their way.  All in all we saw the George Washington Monument (not a memorial because he was alive when they started planning it although it wasn't finished being built until the 100 year celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence), the White House (which used to be situated on a canal and marsh land and was so overrun by stink, mosquitos and the such that presidents would high tail it out of dodge first chance they got), the Jefferson Memorial (so situated so that Jefferson could watch to make sure the Executive branch didn't have "too much" power), the National Mall (who can forget the pictures of the "I Have a Dream" speach?), the WWII Memorial (where the states are so organized in chronological order but across the aisle from each other), the Vietnam Memorail (made of black polished marble so that we see ourselves in the names listed), the Lincoln Memorial (where one side of him deals with his "ideals" in the Gettysburg address and the other side with the realities of what happened after the war) and the Korean War (called a war by those that fought in it).  Whew!  Typing that was exhausting!  No wonder after we were done, Katrin was ready to call it a day.

After a rejuvenating $10 sandwich in our Nation's capital however, we headed off to the "free" National Zoo in the Smithsonian park.  I was told by several locals that although, one of the most heavily visited tourist attractions of our nation, public transportation for tourists was not obvious or easy and we ended up walking another mile (after our already estimated 4 miles) from the Metro.  We saw our pandas, elephants, otters, zebras and more via another walking expedition (the park is over 8 miles) and then walked the mile back to the Metro.  It was a ton of walking.  In the end, though, I am proud of the girls.  Ella never once took a hard line and only the minor, "this is not the most fun" moments, she really was a trooper.  Katrin might be struggling a little more.  We have high hopes for the rest of the summer.  She (and I) can do this!

The pictures are really good from today.  Take a look at the looping feed on this page.  I add them as we go.  So far the girls have forgotten their phones every adventure but soon you will see their initials on the photos that are theirs.

Tonight's dinner was a grilled chicken salad and oh my Goddesses was it amazing.  As a special treat I have some campfire popcorn (a throwback from my childhood camping trips) and that should be a treat.

Tomorrow we are off to our next location and a couple of days of really doing nothing at all except bike riding, lazing on the beach and hiking around.  I think we are all looking forward to that.

Second day and third day

So for yesterday and today we were kinda having slow quiet days. Yesterday we went for a walk were the bird flew off again.  This time a guy with a chainsaw and another person running toward us.
This find and seek with the bird took longer than the others. When we got back we sat back and either took a nap or read. The day after that we packed and moved to a new campsite. This camp site is a lot better with heat and fly wite, but not spiders and tick wise. Well we set up camp after a hour drive and went to the store to get food. Then we came back and finished making camp. After a while we went to a pool that did not end up so good. We swam for about 2 minutes.  There were 2 pools, the out side pool and the inside pool. We went into the outside pool for about 2 minutes till the people there said that the pool was closed. The inside pool was open tho. We go to the inside pool and find out that 18 and older have the pool for 15 minutes every hour. We wait 15 minutes. When the whistle blows to tell the kids that they are allowed in every kid waiting basically jumps into the pool.  About 2 seconds after the kids get in another whistle goes off tell people to get out. It turned out that some had gone number 2 in the pool. We got back to the camp site after getting a refund and made dinner, took showers, and wrote our blogs.

3 DAY

So today was getting better. I had a meltdown because I missed home, so mom cheered me up by going to the pool. I had fun there but I only got 10 minutes to swim. Tomorrow we're going to have lots of fun we're going to go to Six Flags.

Lesson of the day: sometimes a vicious animal can be in a pretty place.

It is HOT

So I'm going to start this blog with my life lesson: Expectations are always managed by reality.

The last two days have been interesting for us. We are at a new campsite, as we moved closer to Washington DC so that we could see the sights of DC easily. That was always the plan. However, our other plans were to go to Six Flags America today in between the two campsites. On our way to the campsite we realized that we didn't know what to do with the bird. If we left him in the car we would come back to dinner instead of our living breathing pet. Thank the goddesses that this one time our camp sites were less than two hours apart and the new campsite was actually closer to Six Flags than the old one.

So, we made our way to the new campsite which I had very low low hope for. This campsite is about 12 miles from DC. Being so close to the city I assumed it was going to be one of those in the middle of the highway, dirt camping pad type things. When we arrived we found a beautiful Green Belt Parkway with acres and acres of trails and beautiful campsites. As we had just left a campsite that was extremely hot and fly laden, this was a welcome change.

With new campsites comes lots of work. First we had to pack up in the morning and then unpack in the afternoon. this was a rude reality awakening for both kids. I feared this moment. Truly it was as bad as I thought it might be. The temperature is in the hundreds and the humidity level is at 90 percent. You can imagine this is not the most ideal situation to be lugging heavy equipment in an out of our car and setting it up. In addition, sleeping is a whole new adventure when the light shines in your tent at 5 in the morning and the sounds of nature serenade you awake. Between the last 2 nights we may be gotten about 4 to 5 hours of sleep each. Needless to say tempers are tight.

In the end, it became apparent that the better choice between heading to Six Flags and staying at Camp, was for us to settle into our new campsite rather than heading to Six Flags today. We each tried to find what would settle and sooth us. Ella read. Katrin asked to go to a local pool where we swam for a little while and then I took a long walk in the woods. All in all, it was a great day. Not what we expected but better.

Tomorrow we go to Six Flags. The day after that we will go see the sights of Washington DC. This change in plans will cause us not to be able to do as much as I wanted but that's life and it was worth the sanity.

That's a picture of us at dinner time in our new campsite. I've been asked a couple times what we eat. Tonight's dinner included Mesquite flavored chicken breast, grilled sweet potato, and boiled carrots. We were all fans of the chicken and the sweet potato but we missed our usual brown sugar on our carrots.

First day

Alright, it started off as a slow day. Woke up, last minute pack, ate breakfast, got the bird, and got in the car. Cant really call that anything but slow. We were on the road for about 5 hours. Mostly it was boring, but I did get in some more sleep. When we got to the camp site I was not impresses, and I'm still not impressed. We got the tent up, but while we were getting the tent up we had a little problem. We had the bird out with us while we were putting up the tent. The tent had scared him a little and we finally realized how far our little bird could fly with clipped wings. Captain (our bird) went up into the sky and circled the camp a few times then ventured off a bit. It took us a while to get the bird down from a branch the bird had landed on. After that was taken care of we set up camp. After a while of nothing really happened except getting settled in. Then for a second time the bird flew off again only a little sorter distance. The problem with the second take off and landing was that a dog had happened to be close and was interested in our little bird. It took a talk with the owner of the dog to keep the dog away to just get the bird down. After the two fly offs we were careful to make sure nothing scared the bird. Other then the bird flying away nothing really funny happened, except made when we passed a person with a cat on a leash.

Life lesson: Everything needs to feel freedom at one point or another.

THE FIRST DAY!

FIRST DAY!!!!!!!!!!!! OK so I thought the first day was going to be the best but I was wrong, the bird flew off TWICE and the second time he got chased by a dog so that was about the "best" thing. The tent was easy to set up but the beds were hard, because they are one of those cots that have to be set up.Oh and it is FREAKING HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Life lesson: A predator might just be on a leash walking by you (especially for the bird.)

Day 1

Our first camp spot!

Martinak State Park, MD

As far as the first day of adventures go, today was pretty nice. Unfortunately for you the reader, there are no Chevy Chase Natioanal Lampoon Vacation tales to tell. Fortunately for us, that is the case.

Today we drove through Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and landed in Maryland. We were able to wave hello and goodbye to THE City off of I95 and we were both dumbfounded and very impressed by the rural lands of Maryland. Where's the beach?

Two things of note today; as we're spending a lot of time in the car we're listening to stories and to music. Today's reading material was Gulliver's Travels. Today's choice song was by the Godzillaz entitled Clint Eastwood. Today's sight of note was a street called "Moot Point"!

After about an hour and a half drive down 313 in Maryland ( or mary land as we teasingly call it) both girls are very certain they never wish to live in rural Maryland. However, we all agree it is beautiful.

Tomorrow we search out the beach or at least the famous crabs. We also plan to get in a little bit of canoeing time and maybe a hike is in store for us.

I am filled with a ton of gratitude and peace today to be beginning this adventure with both girls. I'm constantly impressed by how unique they are as individuals and yet how similar they are and how loving they are sisters.

We went to SIX FLAGS how cool is that.

We went to SIX FLAGS how cool is that. We went on three rides the first was the pandemonium it's spinney and the second ride was wet and refreshing (I forgot the name) and the third was weird and scary. After six flags was a total disaster because I had hurt my hip a week ago and we have been walking the whole day soooo now it really hurts.

LIFE LESSON. Never and I repeat never trust Ella getting to the first ride.    

Equipping ourselves with Six Flags passes!

So it truly was our first ride of the season. Making our way to Six Flags New England to get our passes, to visit all the Six Flags across the country was an interesting day to say the least. Starting with the fact that we went on a day when apparently all the high schools in all of Connecticut and Massachusetts were making their way to Six Flags. But even with all those kids there, we barely waited in line for more than 20 minutes, which is always awesome. We had to make it a short day, but it was great practice for our journey to come. Now we will be equipped with our summer passes!

I am a huge fan of amusement parks. I always have been. It's fun to see Ella and Katrin developing their individual loves / hates of amusement parks. Ella loves the variety of it all but could take or leave the rides. Katrin loves the adventure of it all. Katrin is still at the stage where she doesn't want to leave Ella behind, but I predict that by the end of the summer Katrin will be joining me on all of the rides, upside down or not.

My life lesson for today was never travel with only one GPS. You're never going to make it with just one map!

Six Flags

Today I went to Six flags amusement park. I went with both my mom and my sister. At the park there were more people then expected.

Life Lesson: Never bring your bird to an amusement park.

So today the tent came. It truly is an "easy up". The girls were so excited with the size and apparent durability. Or maybe they saw a great opportunity to avoid some school work. In either case, the weather is warm but suppose to rain. Seems like a great time to me for them to test it's durability. As long as I am warm and dry they are welcome to "test" sleep in it tonight. :)

I wish I could bottle this excitement and remind them of it in a month when we are lugging out the tent for the tenth time, setting up our cots AGAIN and likely huddling together to avoid soaking. But tonight their enthusiasm is heartening.

The tent is the Coleman Instant Tent and it really did take less than 10 minutes to go up.  There is plenty of space for all three of our cots and a table as well. I hope it was the right choice and is going to make camping a little easier!

EDIT: How the night ended....

Hopefully things get better!

Here we go....

This is what our Summer route may look like for the most part. We leave on June 17. We will be in Columbia, MO (Hello Aimee, Cedric, Edie and David!) over July 4th. We will be in Dallas, TX, July 10. We should be in Phoenix, AZ (Hello Doris, Amanda and Jason) around July 21, San Diego, CA (Hello Aunt Sandy) July 25 and Tahoe (Hello Ryan, Amanda, Aaralyn and Daylin, Shannon and family, and Shelley? (I hope)) August 1.The major sites we will be hitting will be Washington DC, St. Augustine FL, The Alamo, The Rockies, The Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, The Great Lakes and Niagra Falls.What are we looking forward to most? Mom - Hiking different areas of the country. Ella - Different historical areas. Katrin - Amusement parks.

Our Map....