We're official!

Today we became residents of South Dakota!

We still have to register to vote and register our vehicles, but we have South Dakota driver's licenses and a South Dakota address now. Turns out that this was a good week to come because the charge for a license almost triples tomorrow.

Today was just an errands day. Setting up the addresses, running by Walgreens & Walmart, and getting the licenses was pretty much the whole day. Not too exciting.

Well, one exciting thing was that Ian got to watch the train go right by our trailer. We were playing outside so he waved at the conductor and the conductor waved back. I got a video of it which I'll upload when we're once again on unlimited internet.

Sioux Falls

Today was our first day in Sioux Falls. We finally made it to the zoo. I feel bad since we've been telling Ian we're going to see the animals for a few weeks now, but we missed the St. Louis zoo since we left a day late and we skipped the Kansas City zoo since it was 100 degrees outside. The fairgrounds where we're staying was about a five minute ride from the zoo, so we made it out there this morning. Ian was terribly unimpressed. After he saw the bears, the tigers, and the monkeys he was ready to go home. I made him look at some other animals for awhile since Rinnah was getting a nap in the stroller. :)

From Sioux Falls

Then in the visitor's center, they had a little play area that the kids really enjoyed.

From Sioux Falls

From Sioux Falls

From Sioux Falls

For lunch Laura came over. She was in the computer science department at Wheaton with us, and it was great to catch up with her again. She lives nearby and is getting married in a few weeks! We won't be able to make the wedding, so it was especially nice to get to see her now.

Ian really likes our current campsite. There are train tracks running right behind the trailer (about 50 feet away) and we're in the flight path for the airport, so planes regularly fly right overhead. Plus we've got a great view of some major roads where lots of big trucks go by. One of his favorite things is that the campsite is gravel. He has spent a few hours already playing in the gravel, putting rocks in the trunk of his toy car, and digging up whatever he can find. I'm glad the kids can play outside here.

From Sioux Falls

Our blog comments should be fixed now, so we'd love to hear from you!

Five states!

We drove in five states today!

We started off in Kansas City, MO and drove a few miles out of the way to cut across the corner of Kansas on our way out. We drove mostly in Iowa, but crossed the river into Nebraska to stop for lunch. Now we are parked in South Dakota and are less than 20 miles from Minnesota, but we didn't go there yet. We got to add quite a few state stickers to our map today.

The kids were great for travel. We made it to our campsite by a little after 5pm. We had a quick dinner of leftovers and tried to get to a church. That was interesting, since we put the address in our GPS and it took us right to the state penitentiary! The church turned out to be across the street and down the hill, but there were only three cars in the parking lot. We opted against going in.

Since we were out, we tried to go to a mall to walk around with the kids, but the mall was closed by the time we got there. We ended up just putting gas in the truck and coming back to the campground so Ian could play on the playground and we could get the kids down for bed.

Wrapping up in Kansas City

This morning we started off at a place called Kaleidoscope. It's a free place put on by Hallmark for kids to do art projects. It's a gorgeous studio full of art supplies and fun toys and all sorts of neat things for them to do and make.

From Kansas City

Ian loved making his pictures.

From Kansas City

After that, we met Cindy and Dave at the city market. It was neat to see all the fresh produce and we got some delicious peaches. We had lunch over at their house and then Cindy and I had some time to chat while the kids napped and Jeremy and Dave moved some brush with the big truck.

This evening we had a picnic dinner at McCoy Park, only about a mile from where we're parked. It was a very nice park with a splash pad and big playground. Surprisingly, Ian didn't want to go in the water but Rinnah couldn't get enough!! She loved walking through all the sprays and having us run through them or hold her so she could stick her hand in. She had a blast!

From Kansas City

From Kansas City

From Kansas City

Ian did have fun at the regular playground.

From Kansas City

The week in Kansas City has been really nice. There has been a lot to do and I really enjoyed the chance to spend so much time with Cindy. Tomorrow we're off to Sioux Falls for a week.

Another day

in beautiful Kansas City.

This morning I took the kids back to Science City at Union Station. I'd been considering going back since we didn't see everything, and when I realized that I'd left our nice diaper changing pad there it pretty much made the decision for me.

We went back and got to do the second and third floors which we had missed before. Upstairs turned out to have a lot more things for the kids to enjoy. We watched trains for awhile at a lookout perch that saw a bunch of railroad tracks going into Kansas City. The sign said over 150 trains per day pass by that spot. Ian got a big thrill out of watching the big trains. Both of the kids also enjoyed a music village with all sorts of different instruments for them to make noise & music with.

After lunch, Cindy came over and we were able to chat for awhile during the kids' naps. It was so wonderful to catch up a little more and just hang out for awhile. She's one of those people where we can always pick up where we left off and it's like we never missed a beat. For dinner, she picked up a pizza and we ate over at their house, then came back to our trailer and played Apples to Apples while we attempted to get the kids settled for bed. We really enjoyed the chance to have them over.

From Kansas City

I love this arrangement. We can live near our friends for a week. We're not so imposing, since we have our own place and aren't asking them to take off work for a week or anything. We definitely have plenty of ways to enjoy the city on our own, but we're able to get together whenever they are free. We still get to explore different cities and museums. It's such a great setup.

We have one more day in Kansas City, and then on Sunday it's off to South Dakota.

Visitors

Today we had visitors! Cindy and Dave came over for dinner and stayed to chat for awhile. It was tight squeezing us all around the itty bitty table, but we made it work. It was also my first meal actually cooking something in the trailer. It will definitely be a learning process to time things so they're actually hot when I have one appliance to do both the microwaving and the baking. We did eventually all eat and the brownies turned out pretty good in the RV oven.

This morning I had taken the kids to Monkey Bizness which is another inflatable slides place. Both kids had a blast. Ian learned to climb to the top of the slides all by himself, and Rinnah (who I was wearing on my front in the wrap carrier) loved it when I laid on my back and slid through the tunnels. She also loved the slides.

In other news, Rinnah stood up unassisted for a good five seconds yesterday!! She was distracted with a toy and didn't realize Jeremy had let go. She wouldn't repeat it for us, but she's getting so close to walking. And today she started pointing. She'd point at a toy, then head straight for it until she got to play. It's fun that she's starting to get to that phase where she'll do something new almost every day. And I'm glad that we're on a new schedule where we get to enjoy more of that time with her.

Laundry day

Today Jeremy went over to Cindy & Dave's house during the day. He had several conference calls, so this made it a lot easier than trying to keep the kids quiet or out of the house for most of the day. I stayed home with them and spent most of the morning going back and forth to the campground laundry room and trying to get some cleaning done around the trailer. I do love that I can vacuum the whole house in about ten minutes.

We wanted to go to a place called Monkey Bizness today which has a lot of inflatable slides and obstacle courses, but Ian was being less than cooperative. Instead we went to a nearby park for a short while. That was still fun.

The kids both got better naps today than they have all week. That is encouraging! I hope it's a sign that they're starting to adjust to their new beds in the trailer.

So far, I have really enjoyed this new home and I miss very little from our previous house. I miss being able to put Ian in his crib and close the door when he didn't want to go to sleep. And I miss the water pressure. And maybe my extra freezer. That's really it so far. I am enjoying that the smaller nature encourages us to keep on top of the clutter and dishes, so we can enjoy our time after the kids go to bed. I'm enjoying being able to visit friends and see new places. And I'm enjoying the quality time we're getting with our kids. It's been a very good experience for the first week.

Science City

Today we went to Science City. It was fairly interesting, although most of the activities were geared toward kids older than Ian. Ian and Rinnah both thoroughly enjoyed looking at the rabbits and rats in a small exhibit, and there was a room with duplos and brio trains that was also a big hit. We may go back later this week to see what was on the second floor.

After lunch and another much delayed nap, we got to go have dinner at Cindy and Dave's house. Cindy was my roommate through most of college and we hadn't seen them since last year right before Rinnah was born. It was great to catch up with them, and we had an amazing dinner over there. Cindy is a great cook! Hopefully we'll be able to see them a few more times before we leave Kansas City.

Crayola store

Today was our first day in Kansas City. Both kids were pretty grumpy this morning since they're still adjusting to the new place and routine, so I wanted to get them out of the house. It was way too hot to do the zoo though-I think the actual temp was 105 today. We ended up going to Crown Center, which is a mall sort of place with a few extra exhibits. We went to the Crayola store which was a big hit-they had tables and easels set up so the kids could draw pictures.

Rinnah was much more interested in eating the crayons than drawing.

From Kansas City

Ian proudly standing with his masterpiece:

From Kansas City

After naps and dinner, Rinnah was ready for bed. Ian played outside with the hose for awhile, washing the car and spraying his mommy!

From Kansas City

From Kansas City

First day out

We're on the road!!

After an extra night in my mom's driveway, we were finally ready to hit the road. Here's our rig all hitched and ready to go:

From Departure day

With my mom before we left:

From Departure day

After some goodbyes, we set off around 8:30am. We made great time to Bethalto, IL where we met up with our good friend Val from college. We were hoping to go to the zoo with her yesterday which didn't work out, but we did get to meet her for lunch and see her place today which was nice.

From Departure day

After that was our big drive to Kansas City. Thankfully, the kids both took good naps in the car. We couldn't have asked for more from them. They both did amazing, and it was only the last 25 minutes or so that they got grumpy. We did close to six hours of driving today, so I was thrilled with that.

From Departure day

Also good is that we know for sure that our truck can run the air conditioner while towing up and down hills. Very nice since today was a bit of a scorcher.

I think the only casualty today was a lid to one of the storage tubs in the back of the truck. I guess that's why people buy those big heavy gear boxes for trucks, huh?

It's exciting to finally be on the road! It was really nice today when we stopped and waited for Val to come meet us to realize that we can park anywhere and go in the trailer, and the kids can play while we get a snack or a drink and sit in our living room. And no more changing diapers in grubby gas station restrooms-we can use our own! How awesome is that!

Now we're parked and set up in Kansas City. Hard to see much right now, but I'll get a better picture tomorrow after we put up the screen room.

From Departure day

I'll probably try to take the kids to a children's museum or zoo tomorrow. They've been shuffled around a lot the last few days while we got everything ready to go, so I'd like to do a fun day for them. Kansas City seems to have a lot of options for things to do.

Departure day

June 20th! The day we've been working towards for months now! It came, and guess where we're parking tonight. Mom's driveway. Again.

It just took us entirely too long to get ready. My mom and brothers were wonderful and helped with the kids all day, but it took us several hours to finish getting the house ready, plus we had so much more to do in the trailer than we were anticipating. By the time we got everything sorted and put away, we decided it was just too late. We didn't have a campground for the night either. So we loaded everything in the trailer tonight, and got the truck ready for travel day. All we need to do in the morning is unplug the power, put in the slides, get the kids dressed, and toss them in their car seats. We're hoping to be on the road by 7:30, which would really be 8 or 8:30. And this time we mean it. ;)

So close now!

As I type this, the kids are sleeping happily in their new beds in the new house. Woohoo! We're still in my mom's driveway. We were hoping to be able to leave first thing in the morning, but the revised goal is by right after lunch so the kids can take a nap on the way to St. Louis. We are so close! We need to make one more trip back to the old house to pick up the last few items and do a walk through to be sure we're not leaving anything behind unintentionally. We also need to rearrange some of the things we're leaving in storage, and vacuum our car in case we're able to sell it while we're gone.

With great sadness (and physical travail), I took the freezer back out today. I wanted so badly for that to work out!! We had the closet space to spare, and it took a LOT of effort to get it in. But the outside kept getting so hot. I was worried that unless we left the closet doors open all the time, it would get hot enough to burn out the compressor. Then we'd be in the middle of a campground with a dead freezer and a bunch of spoiling food. I decided to avert that disaster by just not bringing the freezer in the first place. I was so sad to see it come back out of the closet, but I think it's the best thing. So if anyone lives near Jacksonville and wants to pick up some frozen food tomorrow morning, stop on by. I'll have some to give away. :)

Other than the freezer issue, moving in has gone very well. There is plenty of space for everything we need to bring. We'll probably still have some empty cabinets when we leave, although I'm sure we'll adjust to fill them later. The most challenging part is not the space, it's the organization. How to make everything accessible that needs to be, and how to keep things in logical places together, and how to find places that we'll remember for things, and how to keep the right things out of the kids' reach. I'm sure that it will take us several weeks to really figure out the best system for us, but I'm pleased that we have room to move things around and experiment. It's amazing how much we can really hold in this trailer.

Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to get everything in order for some pictures before we go.

Hopes and dreams

Now that we're about to leave, a lot of people have been asking us why we're doing this. There are so many reasons. Here are some of the most important things we're hoping to accomplish:

1) Enjoy our kids' early years. Before we know it, they'll be too cool to give us hugs in front of their friends and they'll be wanting the keys to the car. Right now we're still their favorite people to hang out with. We want to enjoy every minute that we can. They're only young once, and we want to savor the time we have with little ones.

2) Learn to do without so much stuff. Without meaning to, we spend so much time, money, and effort on stuff. Shopping, cleaning, sorting, packing, selling....it never ends. We want to learn how to better discern our needs from our wants and keep our lives simple.

3) Travel. Before kids, we loved to travel. Once Ian was born, it became arduous, and once Rinnah was born, it became nearly impossible. We'll be working travel in by taking short trips and then spending a week or more in an area. We'll get to see the country without ever having to go through airport security, packing a suitcase, or missing naptime.

4) People. Everyone has those people that you couldn't take a trip solely to visit them, but you'd go twenty minutes out of your way to stop in and say hello. Hopefully we'll get to see almost all of those people. Most of them have never met Rinnah and several have never met Ian. We'll be reconnecting with friends from high school, college, Thailand, and online, as well as visiting family who we don't see nearly enough.

5) Simplify. Hopefully with less stuff to maintain, fewer scheduled commitments, a smaller house to keep in order, and a more fluid routine, we'll have more time to play together and enjoy our family.

6) Opportunities for our kids. Extra time with us is great for our kids, but they're also going to get all kinds of experiences. They'll see both oceans, both US mountain ranges, several national parks, an enormous variety of landscapes and terrain, and plenty of zoos and museums across the country. They'll be able to see and do a lot of things that would never be possible if we lived in one location.

Worn out

Today was long. Lots and lots of packing, sorting, cleaning, loading, and rearranging of boxes. Why do we have all this stuff again? It's after midnight and we're still working. I can't remember the last time I was up after midnight and not trying to get a kid back to sleep.

We're getting close.

Moving day (again)

We woke up today to a sunny, muggy morning. The temperature was over 90 degrees by 10am and it was very humid. Great weather for sipping lemonade on the beach. Unfortunately, we weren't on the beach. We were moving our furniture. It was a bit uncomfortable, but I'll take hot and humid over rain for moving day.

We got a lot done. We moved out almost all of the furniture we aren't leaving in the house. We still need to get Ian's crib, the high chair, and the rocking chair in Rinnah's room, plus switch our RV mattress with the real queen mattress from our bedroom set. Everything else is moved out. We also moved a lot of boxes. I started loading food in the trailer today. I was quite impressed with how much fit.

We wanted to put our chest freezer in the washer dryer compartment. We knew it would be a tight squeeze from our measurements. Jeremy had to take the hinges off to get it through the doorway, and we literally had to take the screws off the side to slide it into the closet-it was that close. We did make a few dings in the doorway getting it in, but nothing too horrible. I was surprised at how hot the outside of the freezer was getting. We may need to figure out how to install a better vent in there if it's not better after it's cold. I'm not sure that taking the freezer back out is even an option, so hopefully we can make it work. It would be so wonderful to have all that freezer space.

I got to have lunch today with my mom and two sweet ladies from church. It was great to catch up a little bit with them and fill in the gaps about what we're doing and where we're going. They're great ladies and I enjoyed their company, and it was a nice reprieve from all the heavy lifting.

In the middle of moving everything this morning, we got another call to show the house this afternoon. For the first time, I said no. The people are going to come look tomorrow instead. There was just no way we could have pulled that off. Jeremy took the day off work and we wanted to really make the most of that time. We still felt bad for making the people wait though.

Ian is so excited! He keeps telling everyone we're getting the new house ready and he's going to see the animals (the zoo on Saturday). He was disappointed when we came home tonight. Not much longer and he'll get his wish.

T minus four days

We are getting close now!

Today Ian had his last day of speech therapy. It was really bittersweet. Jill, his speech therapist, has been so good with him and he has thrived with her direction. I know he would have learned to talk eventually without the speech lessons, but I am also sure that she helped him talk months earlier than he would have and saved us all a lot of frustrations. Ian loves going to her office since it's lots of games to him, and she has been so helpful in giving me tips to encourage him to make progress at home. We're going to miss our weekly time with Jill.

Tonight's showing of the house turned into two showings, which is nice to get double the exposure for all the trouble to get it ready. It was a hectic afternoon since neither kid napped and I was trying to get as much of the house in order as possible before Jeremy finished work, but we are thankful that people are coming to look at our house.

We are going to have a big moving day tomorrow, where we move out all the furniture we won't be leaving for staging purposes. There's quite a list. Plus, we'll try to start moving our food and clothes over. That's when I'll really have to face the limits on what we can and cannot make room for. I suspect several boxes will be put in storage when we decide they won't fit.

My mom offered to watch the kids this morning so I could get some packing done. I dropped them off, then returned a couple things we didn't need to the stores, and took a box of clothes to Goodwill. Then I got home and went through my usual hyperactive packing routine-start to fill a box, think of something that should go in it, and in the process discover something else that needs to be done or put in a different place. Repeat, until I realize that I have five boxes, all half full, and random objects scattered about that need to be put away. At that moment the phone rings. It's the realtor-can they show our house tomorrow? Sigh.

I mean, I'm not complaining. We really want to sell our house and it's obviously not going to sell if nobody comes to look at it. And I'd much rather have to keep cleaning up for people to come than to be disappointed that nobody's interested. It's just that it's been two steps forward, one step back. Chalk this one up to another plus of renting-you don't have to keep making the place look pristine in the middle of packing. At any rate, we're glad to have lots of interest in the house-it's been 3-4 showings a week the last few weeks, and we're thankful for that.

We are really getting excited about this trip! The empty closets and ever-barer rooms are making it seem real. Pretty soon we'll start moving IN to the trailer, instead of just moving OUT of our house, and that will be fun.

Last Sunday

Today was our last Sunday in Jacksonville. We went back to Westfair today to see old friends there. It was nice to say goodbye to them before we hit the road.

We also did a lot more packing. We have a lot to do yet, but I'm very pleased with where we are at now. Most of the closets are empty but for the things we want to take with us. I packed up the dishes we won't be bringing with. Most of our decorations are packed. We talked to our neighbor today and she's going to mow our lawn for us until the house sells. Our extra clothes, grill, lawn mower, and lots of odds and ends went in storage today.

I saw an Oprah episode today that got me thinking. It was on "What can you live without?" There had been an episode a few months back on the same topic right around the time we decided to move into the trailer. This time, they had a family on there totally hooked on technology. Everybody was texting on their phones, spending time on their laptops, playing video games, etc. They even texted each other in the house rather than talking face to face. It was sad, but I could see us turning into that family in another ten years or so. In the experiment, the producers took away all the tvs, cell phones, computers, video games, ipods, and other technology. The family was required to eat dinner together every night and spend time together. For the first few days they were frustrated and lost, but they ended up enjoying it so much that they did it for two weeks instead of just one. The kids really thrived having the direct attention of their parents and loved spending time with their family.

It makes me glad that we'll be living in the trailer. Sure, our kids are young and won't remember much of the actual trip. But I hope we set a precedent for focusing on time together as a family and not making new "stuff" a priority. The lasting effects are what should make a big difference for our kids.

Packing

We got a lot of packing done today. Not as much as we had hoped, but still a lot. I finally got all the kids' clothes washed, sorted, packed, and labeled. I am really going to miss Just Like New, the secondhand store I shop at. She always has cute clothes in great condition. Here's what I got today to fill in what we needed:

From A Different Road

That's almost 50 pieces, plus two pairs of shoes and a book. Nice stuff too-pajama sets, matching outfits, and from Old Navy, Children's Place, Gap, etc. all for $42 with tax.

We also got several more closets cleaned out, and boxes ready to go into storage. Didn't quite get a truckload over, but still a lot of progress.

It's hard to believe that in only a week, we'll be on the road. We still have a lot to do, but I think we can get it done. We've already come a long way.

One week!

Only one more week until we leave!

We talked to the realtor today, and she said that the house really would show better with furniture in it. We aren't going to have time to give everything a fresh coat of paint before we go, so it may be better to have a little furniture here to make it feel homey instead of stark and take attention away from the little nicks and dings that come with having a two year old live here. That means we need to figure out how to hire someone to move our furniture when the house does sell though, so we'll need to look into that.

The house was shown two more times today, so that's promising. Jeremy and I talked about it last night (before we knew the house would be shown again) and we both have this inexplicable peace about the whole thing. Logically, we know that it's a big financial strain to be paying the mortgage while we own the trailer. But we're both confident that it will all work out in the end. We know that the house will be sold at the right time, to the right buyer, at the right price. We really feel like God is leading us to do this, and selling a house is easy for Him to do.

I had started a bunch of sorting & packing projects this morning but had to abandon them to show the house on short notice. At least we did get the screen room folded up, a few boxes & outside toys moved to Mom's house, and the lawn mowed.

Tomorrow will be a big day for sure.

Back to the grindstone

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit with Jeremy's parents. Here's a nice group shot we got last night:

From Weatherford Family Visit

Of course, now that they're gone, we don't have any more excuses for postponing our packing. This afternoon I sorted through more of the kids' clothes and packed the bulk of our 'nice' dishes. Jeremy sorted his clothes into keep/store/donate. We also went over to my mom's house with a few things for storage and brought back more boxes for packing. Tomorrow will be a big workday.

Park

Today we had a little more downtime, which was nice after such a long day yesterday. We walked to the park this morning. Ian insisted on pushing his teddy bear in the pink stroller, so it took us nearly an hour to get to the park. When we got there, he splashed in a few puddles and then wanted to wait for everything to dry, since it had rained last night. We told him it would take quite awhile to dry, so he just wanted to go home.

Tonight we were able to play a board game and the kids mostly stayed in bed. It was nice to relax and play together.

They're leaving tomorrow. It's sad to see them go-it's been great to have them here. It does make it easier knowing that we'll see them again in a few months.

Children's Museum

Today we went to the Children's Museum in Bloomington. The kids had a blast! Every time we go Ian can do more and more things, and it's so neat to watch him explore and learn. Rinnah was even able to climb on things this time, and explore some of the areas for smaller kids. She loved splashing in the water! Here are a few pics (more in the album on the newest photos tab in the upper right)

Ian playing with the toy bus and train set:

From Children's Discovery Museum-Bloomington, IL

Rinnah climbing on the soft toy area:

From Children's Discovery Museum-Bloomington, IL

Rinnah cheesing it up:

From Children's Discovery Museum-Bloomington, IL

Ian and Granddaddy playing with the trucks:

From Children's Discovery Museum-Bloomington, IL

Rinnah and Grandmother playing with the xylophone:

From Children's Discovery Museum-Bloomington, IL

Rinnah and Daddy at the funhouse mirror:

From Children's Discovery Museum-Bloomington, IL

Rinnah playing at the mirror:

From Children's Discovery Museum-Bloomington, IL

We went to get lunch down the street, and the entire street is torn up for construction. Like literally, it's a pile of dirt and they were tearing out more of the sidewalk as we walked by. Ian LOVED watching all the construction equipment. We were literally about five feet away from the digger at one point. I think he liked that better than the museum! I should have gotten a picture.

We pushed the kids way past their limits and they were pretty cranky the rest of the day, but it was worth it because they had so much fun. At least, I think it was. We'll see how they do tomorrow. ;) We really did have a great day.

Here are some videos. Rinnah going up and down a step at the museum (one of her favorite things today!) and Ian playing with some balls at a farm exhibit.

Family visit

Jeremy's parents are here visiting, and it's been great to have them. We got enough done that we're able to enjoy the visit with them and not put them to work. Well, except for making them pack up tomorrow since we'll be showing the house. We have been able to have a nice time together. His mom came with me and the kids to Ian's speech therapy this morning, and then we went out to Just Like New to buy some more clothes for the kids. This evening after dinner we got to play Quiddler.

From June

The kids have taken right to their grandparents again, and it's been precious to watch them spend time with each other. I wish we were able to visit more often.

Tomorrow we're going back to the Children's Museum in Bloomington. Ian is already excited!

100 posts

Today is our 100th post! I feel like we should be having a giveaway or something.

Jeremy's parents arrived today! It was so wonderful to have them pull up, and we gave them a tour of the new house. The kids have already taken to them and we had a nice relaxing evening watching Ian play outside. Maybe Ian will understand now that they don't just live in the computer. (He sees them on Skype every week, but hasn't seen them in person since last July.)

Graduation

Today my little brother Michael graduated from high school!

From June

From June

Our realtor also called because another realtor asked to show our house on less than two hours notice. Yikes! I was over at my mom's house with the kids working on the trailer, and the kids were napping. Mom agreed to keep an eye on them while I raced across town to clean up the house. I barely made it out in time (they were pulling up as I was closing the garage door!) but apparently it was a good showing. The people are coming back tomorrow to look again. Here's hoping and praying that they will like the house and make us an offer.

Stroller bag

The stroller bag came today.

It's not quite as easy as we hoped to get it in there. We knew we'd have to take the wheels off. But I'm confused, because there are three very clearly labeled wheel pockets and four wheels on the stroller. It fits in the bag, but just barely. I think I'll be calling tomorrow to see if I'm missing something.

Today was an errand day. Returning some things to stores, cashing in some rain checks, and tracking down some missing paperwork. Lots of running. The kids were pretty good for the most part, except for Ian thinking it was great fun to pick the shoes off the shelf and throw them in a pile on the floor at the kids' clothing store.

We had a few hours of mild panic when we went to look for our hot air balloon ride certificate and couldn't find it. We bought it in an auction for our anniversary over a year ago, but they wouldn't take us last year while I was pregnant. We want to go while we're in Colorado, since the scenery would be absolutely breathtaking and we'll even have a babysitter. The certificate had been kept in one specific place for a year...until the open house. After much searching (there's not much left in our house, so there weren't too many places it could be) we did track it down. We'll be calling tomorrow to see if we can set something up.

Also still trying to find a campground for the 4th of July. I guess we should have been booking that months ago because everywhere around Mt. Rushmore is booked solid. We may be staying at a gas station that weekend. ;)

Ordering

We're trying to piece together our order for more RV items. We have plenty of things on our "want" list, but only a few left on our "need" list. We're trying to prioritize and get things the cheapest that we can. The list includes things like a surge protector, torque wrench, bars for our living room shelves, and a rack to hang our lawn chairs on the ladder instead of taking up precious space in our "basement" storage area.

The screen room was supposed to be installed today, but apparently it doesn't really matter if you make an appointment. This dealer just does things when they get a chance, and they didn't get a chance today. I hope we can pick it up tomorrow and see the screen room. I'm excited about that. Then we just need to order a patio rug that will fit under it and we'll have our extra room.

Walgreens

Today was another Walgreens day. I ordered some coupons for diabetic meters that are on sale and we came out over $260 ahead, which we now have in gas cards. That will help a lot for at least the first part of our trip.

Then for dinner Jeremy and I got to do our anniversary dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse. It was great food, and wonderful to be able to finish our sentences and talk and dream about our travels in the RV while my mom watched the kids for us. Such a nice evening.

June

It's June! Less than three weeks and we'll be on the road, if all goes according to plan. We've been enjoying the warm weather, especially with the stroller that makes it so easy to take both kids out.

Not too much happening right now. Just keeping the house clean, and organizing a couple more things for the trailer. I think we're kind of in maintenance mode until this weekend when Jeremy's parents come. Then we'll have a week with them before a crazy last week of getting everything ready to go.

We've been emailing the first couple of people we'll get to visit on our way, and that's exciting! It makes it seem so much closer when we can talk about seeing them in just a few weeks!