We Went Back to Florida

Yes, for the third year in a row, we took the whole family back to Florida, our most favorite state.

Although being in the car for so long is not ideal, I really do enjoy the drive down and back. This year, we headed out through WI, IL, KY, and into Nashville, TN, where we stayed out first night. We continued on into GA and FL from there.
On the way home, we changed things up a bit and came home through Tallahassee, FL, into AL, MS, AR, and MO, where we stopped for the night. Then we headed into IA and back home again.
It was fun to hit 12 states in one trip!

As usual, we enjoyed lots of sunshine, swimming pools, the ocean, and mini golf.

Here are some of my favorite pictures.

Surprisingly, we have some different plans for next year. We haven't made any permanent plans just yet, but likely we'll be going someplace new!
I LOVE family vacations!!
I am so glad that the boys are old enough to travel well, and I can't imagine taking a trip without them.

Breaking The Rules

Yesterday as I woke up, I quickly realized how busy the day would become. Brady had a dentist appointment at 8:30, which meant that I had to bring all 3 boys along. It also meant that Brady and Logan would be late to school, so I brought along the school's phone number, to let them know.

We rushed through breakfast, getting dressed, and brushing teeth. I packed up lunches, grabbed backpacks, and stuffed 3 tired boys into the van and off we went. It was wet, hazy, and humid outside, much different than the day before, our wonderful Easter sunshine and warmth., but I knew the forecast was for a wonderful, warm and sunny day. And I didn't want my boys to miss out on it.

As we pulled into the dentist, Marshall still eating his cereal, I asked the boys if they wanted to just skip school for the day. And, once the cheering subsided, I called the school to let them know that the boys would not be there. I was actually allowing my children to miss a day of school only for the purpose of enjoying a beautiful spring day--and it felt GREAT to have the power to do it :).

The appointment was quick, and had we not been taking the day off school, we would have only been about 20 minutes late. I didn't care, though, because upon returning home, we discovered that Daddy was also taking the day off of work--just to enjoy the weather with us.

The boys started the day by playing in the basement and driving buses around.
By 10am, the sun broke out and the day turned warmer.
We were quickly outside and Marshall was riding his tricycle down the sidewalk and around the lake. Brady and Logan were on their new electric scooters in a flash too! (Both boys decided to spend a potion of their savings on electric scooters last weekend, and they have not regretted their decision for a moment).

We made a short trip across town to buy a bike for Marshall from a Craigslist ad, and then returned home in time to meet a couple of ladies who were purchasing items that we had posted on Craigslist (we ended up $2 ahead between what we bought and what we sold).

Next, Marshall tried out his new bike and Peter attempted to help a lady install a car seat into her car, while I packed picnic lunches out of leftover Easter salads and buns.

We took our lunch across town to one of our favorite new playgrounds, which happens to be located at the best park for blocking the wind while you eat :). We ate lunch, played on the playground, and then walked on the wooden boardwalk across the street to another park. We played again and climbed the big rock there.

Pine Knoll Park, first picnic of the season

Get ready to be dizzy!

Vermillion Grove Park, giant rock



At the top of the rock, Vermillion Grove Park

Next up, Peter grabbed some gas for the car, while I unpacked lunch, switched the laundry, and gave the big boys back their new scooters to ride. Peter and I tossed the football around some, and then he pitched the ball to Brady while I fielded it (boy, can that boy hit the ball!). Logan rode his bike to a friend's house for awhile, and Marshall took a break from the sun to watch an episode of Mickey Mouse.

Once the laundry was folded and put away, we ate dinner, and then headed out for a family walk around the neighborhood. The big boys took their scooters again and our very tired Marshall opted for a ride in the stroller this time around. We walked to another park, looked for the ducks, ran into some friends, and then came home.

To end our wonderful day off, we got into our jammies and watched an episode of The Price Is Right that we had recorded from earlier in the day.

The 2 things that I learned today were these:
1. I LOVE warm weather and sunshine.
2. I can't wait for summer days with my boys home all day!

Spring Break Trip

I have never been on a spring break trip. Peter got to go to Arizona one year and Los Angeles once for track in college, but I have never been on a trip in the spring, and I really wanted to go.

After getting over the initial shock that Peter was losing his job earlier this year, I had asked him if we could try to plan a trip, if the timing worked out. Peter's last day at Thomson Reuters was March 7 (and we knew this for a long time). Brady and Logan's spring break from school was from March 7- March 16--perfect timing for a trip, see?
After Peter accepted the job at Prime Therapeutic, he was told that he could start on Monday, March 17--giving him a week off between jobs to spend with his family--awesome!!

So, using our beloved time share, we began looking at "last call" trips to see what would be available at a low cost. Florida is kind of our "go-to" trip destination, but since we've been there a lot lately and will be going back later this year, we kept an open mind. Plus, we were hoping to take an airplane on this trip, and flying to FL in March with 5 passengers would have cost us a few limbs.

So, let's be honest. If not traveling to FL, we wanted to choose the next warmest weather location that was available through "last call". Las Vegas it was--again!
Airplane tickets to Las Vegas were approximately $250 per person cheaper than to FL--that made it a total no brainer, so I went ahead and booked the hotel, flight, and rental car immediately. To give you an idea what a great deal the "last call" trips are, we paid $269 for 7 nights! Our resort was the same place we stayed 2 years ago, complete with a full kitchen, washer/dryer, 5 pools/hot tubs, free mini golf and fitness center, etc.

Peter and I talked about the trip every night after putting the boys to bed. We decided that it would be completely awesome if we made the entire trip a surprise--especially since this would be their first time on an airplane (and believe me, they ask often).

It was hard work keeping the secret, and it almost got spoiled a few times, but we managed to pull it off.

I had already done about 95% of the packing by Saturday morning, but I needed to finish it up completely, so Peter took the boys out for breakfast to kick off their spring break (they knew that Daddy would be home all week before starting his new job).
While they were away, I completed the packing and loaded up the van.
Uncle Mark came over next (to drive us to the airport), and we told the boys that we were going to Nana and Papa's house for the day.

On the way to the airport, no one noticed that we were heading toward the airport until Logan spotted the light rail--he LOVES the light rail!
I told the boys that we had a surprise for them and Logan started immediately yelling "we're riding the light rail, we're riding on the light rail."  Brady was quiet, not really sure what was going on. When I told them that we were at the airport and that we were going to be getting on a plane, they were speechless. Brady gave me the biggest hug he's ever given and said thank you a million times :).

When they found out about the 7 night trip to Las Vegas, they flipped out even more.
I am SO glad that we were able to sneak in a trip before Peter's new job started and that we were able to pull off the surprise for the boys too--it was really fun!

While we were away, we were able to ride a real train at the Nevada State Railroad Museum, drive to California (the boy's first time) to Death Valley National Park, visit the Pinball hall of fame, play at several parks, visit Valley of Fire State Park, and see the Hoover Dam.
The weather was gorgeous, with highs in the 70s almost every day, no rain, and LOTS of wonderful sunshine!!

Here are some of my favorite pictures.

We LOVE palm trees!

Nevada State Railroad Museum and train ride

Yes, it was warm enough to swim several times!

Hiking up a big mountain at Exploration Peak park

82 degrees at the Death Valley visitors center

Town Square Park

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Dinner in the resort. We only ate out twice and did our own cooking the rest of the time.

Beehives at Valley of Fire

Hoover Dam

Relaxing by the pool

Summer

Summer is my favorite time of year by far! I haven't blogged in over a month, because I have been too busy enjoying summer. I spend each day with my boys (all 4 of them). I get up early and run, we eat dry cereal in front of cartoons, we spend countless hours playing outside, we play board games inside, we picnic (sadly, mostly on the deck this year), we read and write, and then we stay up really late. It's wonderful!

June was our busy month. School ended, we went on vacation, Brady had a basketball camp, and then we had VBS at church.
July was our super relaxed month. We played with friends, had a bonfire, went to Valleyfair, visited some splash pads, celebrated the 4th of July, visited Great-Grams and Gramps, went camping with family, and then Brady had some oral surgery :(. This week was the start of swimming lessons, so we're heading out of our relaxed season.
August will be filled with the remainder of swimming lessons, Logan's basketball camp, Como relays, Peter's Ragnar Relay event, the Dakota County Fair, a few dentist appointments, and then, sadly, getting ready to go back to school.

Every day that the sun shines and the temperatures soar above 80 degrees, Peter and I look at each other and smile, and then talk about how much we love the weather and would love to have more of it. Although the temps have been a bit low the past few days, I thankful for a forecast filled with 80 degree days and looking forward to our trip to the water park this weekend.
It doesn't get much better than this for our family.

Since I haven't been blogging much, I thought I should at least share a handful of pictures of what we've been up to the past month.

Brady and Logan's birthday party

 



Playing at the park

 



Nicollet Commons Park in Burnsville

 



Kelley Park in Apple Valley

 



4th of July fireworks in Eagan (at our old apartment)

4th of July family get together and bonfire

 



MN zoo trip

 



Dinner on the deck

 



Waiting for the train rides at Stoney Creek with Grandma

 



Family camping trip at Stoney Creek

Travel Tidbits

We returned from our 3rd big vacation in the past year on Saturday night. The trip was 8 days long, which included 4 days of travel and 4 days at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
The driving days were long, but very interesting, so I wanted to share a few tidbits about those days alone.
We traveled through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

Here is what we saw and found interesting...

- Toll roads are expensive and annoying (as much as $4 we paid at some)

- Bob the Builder was played on the DVD player at least 5 times through--and it's not a short movie.

- Charleston, WV is beautiful, and a place that both Peter and I thought looked like a great place to live.

- I hate when kids eat in the car--we never normally do, except on vacation, and even then it's dry cereal only. Yuck!

- In North Carolina, along the roads we traveled, there are groups of extremely run down mobile homes (from around 1960-1970) where people live. It was actually very sad.

- In South Carolina, there are tons of billboards for canned collard greens, vidalia onions, and other assorted southern canned foods.

- Illinois was our least favorite state by far. I can't stand Chicago traffic or the speedy and unsafe drivers.

- Nexus 7 tablets saved the day many times, especially with the ability to charge them while driving.

- Marshall still loves to page through little books to pass the time.

- We spotted every license plate except Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, Delaware, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Idaho, Vermont, and New Hampshire.

- Palm trees are my favorite by far

- I LOVE being a time share owner and can't wait until we decide to upgrade a little more.

- We love doing road trips and we're going again in 4 months.

- Peter and I agree that it would be ideal to live within a days drive to the ocean (ideally south, but anywhere really).

- Different fast food places and grocery stores, including: Bojangles chicken and biscuits, Waffle House, Red Burrito, Chick Fil-A, Food Lion, Piggly Wiggly, Publix...

- The Smokey Mountains--they were the best in the fall through Tennessee, but pretty great last week as well, in Virginia and West Virginia.

- Amish people that we came across in MN, VA, and WV.

Our longest days of travel were from Farmington, MN to Gallipolis, OH and back. This route was 846 miles and 13 hours (this did not include the hour lost on the first day or gained on the last day). We left home at 5:30AM on Saturday and arrived in Gallipolis around 9PM EST. On the way home, we left Gallipolis at 5:30 AM EST and arrived home at 8PM-- we stopped only 4 times on the way home, for gas/food/potty.

This N That

Dandelion bouquet

Getting our first bonfire started with some friends

Hot dogs in the backyard

Wearing some of the new pjs that Grandma made

Hope you all are enjoying this late spring too. We have to make the most of everyday the sun shines!
See you when we get back from Myrtle Beach in a couple of weeks.

Relax Part 2

After yesterday's post, I wanted to make sure you understand that we do play and relax around this house a lot, even if I do get a little uptight about my household chores.

Here's the proof:


All set for family movie night. This time it was Marley and Me.



Logan's working on his valentines for school. He had SO much fun!



Play Doh!



Playing trains with Mommy while Logan was at a friend's house.

I have to be honest, though. As I look through these pictures, I can see many things in the background that make me crazy; papers not put away, the bucket of crayons on the ledge, an open drawer--guess I really am as crazy as I thought. Oh well. Admitting it is the first step, right?