Our Travel Tips

I am happy to report that the trip to Kentucky was all we hoped it would be. I can't post pictures yet, so instead, I'll just report on the success of that 3600 mile road trip. I learned a lot about traveling with kids. Here is a list of what worked for us, for reference when I plan the next big trip!

*PRESENTS AND TICKETS: In the weeks before our trip, I accumulated little toys and books from garage sales and the Dollar Store (with the expectation that I might dump them in a trash can while cleaning out the car somewhere in Kansas). I did splurge on a big Amazon order of dinosaur, Transformers, Diego, and horse activity books, sticker books, and coloring books. On the night before we left, I separated the presents into Jake and Noah piles, wrapped them up in different-colored paper, and numbered the presents in the order I intended to give them. I thought it out very carefully, staggering the big presents and the junk ones. The kids got to open a present when they got 3 tickets for good traveling behavior. It worked so well that I think I'll do the ticket present thing even on short trips up north. I love bribery.

*STICKER ALBUM SCRAPBOOKS: Before we left, I decorated photo albums and filled them with blank papers, drawings, and magazine cut-outs. Quite a big chunk of our travel time was spent putting stickers on the album pages and decorating the blank pages. The boys also enjoyed putting postcards in the album at random stops in the adventure. Next time I'll bring my Polaroid camera and we will add photographs of our travels too.

*STARBURST: The pack I bought at a rest stop was surprisingly helpful and made me think in the future, I will always include a pack of Starburst in our travel snack bag. The advantages: it takes a while for kids to go through a pack, and if you give them out one by one (or one half by one half) you can really stretch it out, without giving the kids too much of a sugar overload. Just eating starburst kept the boys happy for at least 30 minutes.

marshmallows are good too :)

*RANDOM PIT STOPS: I had such a good time researching our route and planning fun stops along the way. We hit up the T-Rex Cafe in Kansas City (the favorite),

the Buffalo herds outside Denver, Winter Quarters Visitors Center and Pioneer Cemetary, St. Louis Science Center,

and one of the 8 architectural wonders of Kansas (a really big barn). Random cool places are one of the best parts of road trips. And it was cool having a fun stop to look forward to every few hours.

*TRIPADVISOR.COM: this is where I did the bulk of my planning. The ratings and comments of other travelers were really helpful in choosing tourist stops, restaurants, and hotels. Last year this is how I found the best barbeque in Kansas (Hickory Hut BBQ) which was tragically closed for the day when we passed through this year.

*KIDS MAP: The boys followed our route using a laminated place mat of the US. They referred to our location based on the color of the state, and caught on pretty quick ("are we out of the yellow one yet?" "Ooooh! We are in orange now!" "I can't wait to get to the red one!") I bought this US atlas for kids with activities for each of the states, which will be really cool to use when the boys are a little older.

*HOMEMADE TRAVEL GAMES: Nice because this just takes a little work and it is all free. I searched the internet and printed out some coloring pages of the boys' favorite things. There are some cute printable Travel Bingo games all over the internet (crayola.com has several different bingo cards to print and color). I also made up a Dinosaur Hunt game comparing dinos to different vehicles. The boys loved it and throughout our trip would point out the window and yell out which dinosaur they spotted.

*THE "WOULDN'T IT BE FUNNY IF..."GAME: Very basic idea, just complete the sentence by saying something funny. Noah really caught on to this game. Although most of his funny scenarios revolved around poop. (for example, "Wouldn't it be funny if poop fell out of the sky instead of rain?") He requested this game probably every hour or two and it was always good for at least 10 minutes of laughs.

*DRY ERASE CRAYONS: Those things are the best. No caps or mess to worry about. We used them on clear sheet protectors and dry erase boards and we never had a problem with clean-up. Drawing and erasing kept the boys busy for a few hours of the trip.

*LAP DESKS: I made the boys their own lap desks like this one . I have mixed feelings about these things. The desk was so helpful for snacks and coloring, and the removable pillow was perfect for naps. But I think I spent too much time sewing them to justify the amount of time they were used on this trip, mainly because of space issues. There just wasn't much extra room in the backseat for anything unnecessary, so they were stuffed in the trunk for a lot of the trip. But if you have a roomy vehicle, I recommend them, and I will definitely break them out again in the not too distant future when I am a mini-van mom.

*EARLY MORNING/NIGHT TRAVEL: We approve the time tested strategy of drive-while-the-kids-are-knocked-out-in-the-backseat. The more miles we could pass while the boys slept, the better. That meant Kyle and Lauren and I got to have some good adult conversations and listen peacefully to our book on CD (the Hunger Games series). It made for a very pleasant traveling experience.

*PORTABLE DVD PLAYERS, of course: Incredible entertainment potential! It worked best when we used the movies sparingly and saved them for moments of desperation.

and....
*MY SECRET WEAPON: Auntie Lars. Lauren came along with us for the Kentucky vacation, and she was amazing! She helped distribute the snacks and crayons and keep order in the backseat. She was so good and patient with the boys. Everyone should have a Lauren!

And so, thanks to Lauren and everything else, we made it to Kentucky and back. The destination was my old homestead, which was just a perfect vacation. Everyone knows that there's no place like home (what I felt both when we arrived in Kentucky and when we arrived back at our house at the end of the trip)! The boys were as close to perfect little angels as 2-and 3- year-old boys can be! And also, let's not forget that I had the best driver of all time up front with me. Moral of the story, road trips are the most fun things in the world!! We can't wait to do it again.

self-affirmation

As for other news that is over 2 months overdue....

I ran a 10K and loved it.

That's an action shot of me and Kim approaching the finish line. I know I look like I was walking, but I promise, that is a run. I finished the race in about an hour, which was exactly what I hoped for. If I hadn't found out I was pregnant a week before, I probably would have pushed myself a little harder and won first place. Ha.

Either way, Kyle was proud of me. He will probably make me edit this out, but I remember that he told me at the finish line that he almost cried when he saw me running. Awwww.

I was proud of myself too. There's something so empowering about having a goal and then working hard and achieving it. Our family motto, borrowed from Dale Murphy, is "we can do hard things". It felt good to do something hard. As a mother, sometimes I feel like all I do is dishes and diapers and dinosaurs. So it is refreshing to get an reminder that I can do other hard things too.

(me and my mother friends who ran together)

It is kind of funny to remember that on the night before and the morning of the race, I felt sickeningly nervous. Funny because those feelings are not too dissimilar from my reaction of the recent ultrasound findings! It builds my confidence that things that make me nervous and seem hard really do end up to be a pleasure. Including raising girls, I assume.

Thanks for your votes of confidence. I'm feeling 90% less nervous and I can definitely live with that. :) Bring on the girl.

It's a....

....Baby! (for those of you who don't know I'm pregnant)

.....Girl! (if you want to get more specific)

I went to the doctor for my Ultrasound one week ago, and found out the big news. Not that it was a surprise to Noah or Jake. They have been convinced for weeks that it is a girl. Before the ultrasound I tried to prepare them for a potential shock if we saw boy parts instead...but Noah was adamant that it was a baby girl in there. He was happy to tell us afterwards: "See!? I told ya!" Kyle was instantly thrilled, and he is ready to figure out the experience of fathering a girl. As for me, I was surprised at the intensity of apprehension that I felt when I found out we've got a daughter on the way. But I have had seven days to adjust to the idea, and now I am nothing but happy. Well, ok. I'd be lying if I didn't say there are still some anxious flutters left in the mix! I know mothers are supposed to worry about kids. But something about mothering a girl seems so...scary. Without detailing all the specifics, I'll leave it at that. Because like I said, the excitement is coming and starting to replace some of those nerves. Probably the turning point was when I remembered that children start out as babies. Sweet, tiny, lovable babies. And this time I can dress mine up like a doll. What could be scary about that? Right??

(Feel free to leave a reassuring comment of the things you love about mothering your little girl!)

State Baseball Tournament

We headed up north for the high school state tournament.

We made a family vacation out of it, since they just kept winning. We ended up staying for about 4 nights and enjoying every minute. Noah especially thought hotel life was pretty posh.

He said he wanted to live in that big house forever. The breakfasts every morning were his favorite. As for Jake, he loved the pool, and recklessly threw himself into the water over and over again.

We also got together with some old friends from college: Laura, Megan, and Ella and their families. It was fun to get all the kids together and to see how much our lives have changed since our days at BYU.

We also found time for a family trip to the Hogle Zoo.

We heard they were having a dinosaur exhibit, and thought it sounded right up our alley.

It was. The boys were in heaven.

Who cares about the animals? Noah sure didn't. He ran from dinosaur to dinosaur, ignoring the animal life he passed on his dino hunt.

Here we are, a happy little tourist family. We had a great trip, even though the Warriors didn't end up taking state. (they were so close though!) We did get a good vacation out of it, thanks SCHS baseball program!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

I delight in Junior Sharing Time every Sunday. Why? Because of moments like this:

The Sister Missionaries were special guests in the Primary last Sunday. The children were a captive audience as the missionaries explained the joys of missionary work. Then, the missionaries posed a question and asked: "So how many of you boys and girls want to be missionaries when you grow up?"

Their inquiry was answered predictably by hands shooting up around the room, including my Noah on the front row. Noah was not content to answer the question with merely a raise of hand. He stood up and chanted: "Hey, Hey, Hey!" until the missionaries acknowledged him.

The missionaries called on him and asked him to share his thoughts. He said enthusiastically: "When I grow up..." (At this point, I held my breath, awaiting a spiritually-mature comment about how he wants to be the best missionary someday and teach everyone about Jesus. I prepared to flash my humble mother smile as my sweet Sunbeam son in his Sunday suit and tie continued what I assumed to be the aforementioned darling comment.)

He paused, then his eyes narrowed, his voice dropping into an ominous growl: "I am going to KILL ALL THE BAD GUYS."

A collective gasp sounded from the Primary children and the teachers alike. No one expected murderous confessions to be a part of this uplifting and motivational discussion about sharing the gospel. The missionaries, clearly caught off-guard, stammered for a moment and then recovered, cleverly: "But we should never kill people. Instead of killing them, we should teach the bad guys the gospel! And then, when they learn about Jesus, they will probably want to change, and then the bad guys will turn into good guys!"

Noah pondered on this alternative for a moment. The sister missionaries prompted him: "Don't you think that would be a good idea?"

(I looked desperately at Noah, trying to capture his attention with my feverish head nods and subliminal messages: "Yes, Noah! Just say 'YES' and tell the nice missionary ladies that you want to be a good non-violent man when you grow up and help Heavenly Father by converting every bad guy! Killing is BAD! Sharing the gospel is GOOD!")

Noah paused and then spoke up resolutely with a sense of finality in his voice: "No, I think I will just kill them all."

Oh, Noah. Apparently he did not get my subliminal messages. I did not know I was raising the Inforcer.

Our 2-year-old

Jake turned 2! There were only 2 possible parties I might have had for Jake--a football party or a horse party. We went for the horse theme because what other kind of party could you have on the day of the Kentucky Derby??

The Kentucky Piepers would never miss a good Derby Party so they came down from Provo, and my Mom flew out from Kentucky. We were so happy to have them here for the big day.

The party was a success, mostly thanks to the planning of my mother. She came into town last week and brought with her many derby favors all the way from Kentucky--like this background for the perfect photo op:

Each guest selected a derby contender, at random, by drawing from a stack of these nifty cards Grandma and Chief designed in honor of the occasion.

We snacked and talked during all that pre-derby commentary, but then the bugle sounded and we crowded around the tv. We passed out lyrics to "My Old Kentucky Home" and while singing it, I got the chills thinking of "my old Kentucky home, far away." Even though we are far from Churchill Downs, I doubt anyone celebrates the Derby with more enthusiasm than we do every year! And Jake and his love for horses made this year's celebration all the better!

Our little house was packed with friends and family cheering for their horses through what has been called "the most exciting 2 minutes in sports." The birthday boy sat on my lap and yelled and neighed through the whole race. Noah on the other hand, had to be consoled by Kyle through most of the race because his horse, who started out strong, fell behind and wasn't a winner. The champion was Christian and his horse Animal Kingdom. Congrats, CJ!

After the race, we had birthday cake and that was the most excited I have seen a kid during a happy birthday song. Jake's smile was from ear to ear, and he looked around the room in awe at all the people singing for him. After the song, we finished up with Jake's trademark "Party! Party! Party!" chant and double fist pumps. He was beyond happy. He deserved a day like this!

Happy Birthday, Jake! You are a delight!

Beach

Interesting how different Noah and Jake's experiences were at the beach.

Starting with Noah. He had the most fun burying and excavating the dinosaurs we brought, all in the biggest sandbox he's ever seen.

and collecting beach treasures like shells and seaweed.

after playing for a long time, he ventured down to the water's edge.

But a few minutes later, a wave came and knocked him down. He cried for a long time. After a few minutes of offering sympathy, I couldn't help from taking a picture of the aftermath (cruel, I know).

He told me later when we were walking to our car that he had been afraid that he "was going to die." Even though there was no serious threat of that, it was still traumatic for the kid. Knowing that, I feel even worse for taking a picture!

I wasn't sure with all the trauma if he would have any positive memories, but this is what he just told me about his beach experience: "I liked playing. With the toys. I mean, in the sand. I did NOT like when I put my feet in the water. Because there was a big wave coming and I fell down. That is not my favorite." Well at least his memories were partly positive! One last contemplative picture of Noah.

What about Jake? He dug in the sand too,

but only for a few minutes before moving on to more exciting adventures like chasing seagulls.

Of course he had to bring his "mimi" along on his beach wandering. That is something I'll never forget-- seeing him run up and down the beach with all the energy in the world, dragging his blankie behind him.

He put his feet in the water too.

You can tell as he clung to Aunt Debbie's leg for dear life, he was a little timid at first, especially after seeing Noah's experience. But after the first minute or two, he loved it. And when he went down in a wave like Noah did, Jake only laughed!

All of us at the end of the day...still smiling!