I can no longer call Christian bronchitis-boy because he has a new disease- pneumonia!! I took him in today and after the doctor listened to him AND sent him to the hospital to have a chest xray done, she finally concluded that he had the beginnings of pneumonia. She said most kids will get a really high temp and will be vomiting before the parents bring them in, she said if we had not brought him in, we would've been there in a couple of days. I'm thankful I took him in today!
So now we are on antibiotics for the next 10 days. We also got a refill on our albuterol and we can refill it up to 6 times!! Wow! That would be awesome because we got through a lot of it!
I kind of laughed today when the nurse asked me which pharmacy we use. I don't remember the last prescription we had filled, so I had to think about it for a moment!
I am ready for the coughing to be done!
Monday, September 29, 2014
Sick Kid in the House!
Christian has been sick the last week or so. At first, I thought it was bronchitis because of his history, but I don't think so anymore I am actually taking him to the doctor today because I was up half the night with him breathing weird and coughing until he gags. It's not fun!
Anyway, with every sick kid, there are always recommendations of what you can do from other people. One of those most common recommendations is to give your kid Gatorade or pedialyte to help replenish those electrolytes lost. That is a great recommendation, but have you looked at the ingredients of Gatorade lately?? High fructose corn syrup and artificial food dyes!! Why would I give this to my kid when he is sick when I try to avoid these items when he is healthy?? I just couldn't do it this time.
Today I was scrolling through facebook and saw this post. This is a lady who won't give her kids all these fake additives either and actually has a recipe for homemade Gatorade. Guess what? It only has 3 ingredients and they are water, sugar, and salt!!!
http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/01/31/homemade-pedialyte/
Now, that I will do!!
Anyway, with every sick kid, there are always recommendations of what you can do from other people. One of those most common recommendations is to give your kid Gatorade or pedialyte to help replenish those electrolytes lost. That is a great recommendation, but have you looked at the ingredients of Gatorade lately?? High fructose corn syrup and artificial food dyes!! Why would I give this to my kid when he is sick when I try to avoid these items when he is healthy?? I just couldn't do it this time.
Today I was scrolling through facebook and saw this post. This is a lady who won't give her kids all these fake additives either and actually has a recipe for homemade Gatorade. Guess what? It only has 3 ingredients and they are water, sugar, and salt!!!
http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/01/31/homemade-pedialyte/
Now, that I will do!!
Saturday, September 27, 2014
New Pets in the House!!!
This has been the week of collecting new animals from outside and calling them our new "pets."
1. About a week ago, Courtney caught a grasshopper and called it her own. This is something that happens every fall. Courtney will catch a grasshopper, feed it, and keep it alive until about December The problem was the first grasshopper she caught this year died within 24 hours. Courtney was so sad. :) But lo and behold, Matt caught her another one the same day! This one is about twice as big as the one that died and it is nice and healthy because it poops a lot! (According to Courtney!)
2. Last Monday when we were out at my uncle's house after my grandpa's funeral, one of my brother's reached down into the grass and pulled up a hornworm.
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1. About a week ago, Courtney caught a grasshopper and called it her own. This is something that happens every fall. Courtney will catch a grasshopper, feed it, and keep it alive until about December The problem was the first grasshopper she caught this year died within 24 hours. Courtney was so sad. :) But lo and behold, Matt caught her another one the same day! This one is about twice as big as the one that died and it is nice and healthy because it poops a lot! (According to Courtney!)
2. Last Monday when we were out at my uncle's house after my grandpa's funeral, one of my brother's reached down into the grass and pulled up a hornworm.
My brother had recently taken an entomology class and knew exactly what it was. He was going to go put it behind the barn where it wouldn't get stepped on, but I stopped him and said, "Courtney would love that worm!" So he put it in a glass and we brought it home with us. He said that we should put it in a bucket and give it 2-3 inches of dirt, rice krispies, etc. anything that it can bury itself. He said they will go into a cocoon and come out a moth.
We gave it about 3 inches of rice krispies and at first, I thought he was dead because he stopped moving, but that is exactly what they do. He is now turning brown, which means we will have a moth in about a month. So exciting!
3. Yesterday Megan and Matt were out for a walk and when they came home, they presented Courtney with a katydid.
Now her grasshopper has a friend! But at first, we didn't know this was a katydid and she thought it would eat grass, just like her grasshopper. Courtney was kind of confused because it wasn't eating the grass like the grasshopper! After some research, we found out what it was and that it does NOT eat grass, but rather leaves. She fed it a leaf and it ate it up!
4. Tonight Matt and Courtney were outside playing some baseball and Matt saw a praying mantis crawling across the driveway. Matt caught it right away and now we have a third insect in the mix. Except if we would have put the praying mantis in with the grasshoppers, they would have been its lunch! So instead, Matt and Courtney went off to the pet store to get another terrarium and some crickets for this guy (I mean lady, as we later found out!)
Courtney was all excited about this praying mantis and it didn't even bother her that they needed to buy crickets to feed this insect. Matt said she was doing well with it all until the way home. It was then that she realized how "cute" the crickets were and did NOT want to feed them to the praying mantis. She was actually in tears by the time they got home. (We caught a praying mantis when we were in Gettysburg, PA last year and watched him rip crickets apart while they were still moving!).
Matt didn't feel so bad about it, so he dumped the new crickets and the praying mantis into the terrarium and the praying mantis got to work. They bought six crickets and there is only one left in the terrarium as of now. That gal was hungry!!
I don't know how long the praying mantis is going to last here, we either need to let him go or buy more crickets at a time! I don't know how long Courtney will be able to stand it either!
5. Last, but not least, we have our red beta fish, named James, who has been a part of the family for awhile and doesn't eat anything alive or take any real effort!
Friday, September 26, 2014
A Little Culture!
This last week, I had the opportunity to talk to Megan a little bit about science fiction through her language arts assignment. Her job was to write a dialogue and it was supposed to incorporate science fiction. I began to list some movies or TV shows that she could maybe relate to, I came up with the normal "Star Trek," "Star Wars," but then I mentioned "Back to the Future." I know it's probably not true science fiction, but a little bit in my opinion.
Last night, it was just Megan, Christian, and I and I thought it would be fun to watch a movie together. I asked Megan if she had any thoughts and you know what she said, "Let's watch 'Back to the Future!'" I told her to go get it (we have it on DVD) and we put it in. Now, in my defense, I saw that it was PG, but I didn't know there were so many cuss words and some parts that were kind of on the line with my 10 year old! I fast forwarded through a couple of places, but even with skipping a few parts, she still loved the movie! It was fun watching her trying to figure it all out! Even I was catching a few things that I don't remember!
We watched half of it last night and finished the rest tonight after we watched "The Amazing Race." Now I want to watch the sequel!!
Last night, it was just Megan, Christian, and I and I thought it would be fun to watch a movie together. I asked Megan if she had any thoughts and you know what she said, "Let's watch 'Back to the Future!'" I told her to go get it (we have it on DVD) and we put it in. Now, in my defense, I saw that it was PG, but I didn't know there were so many cuss words and some parts that were kind of on the line with my 10 year old! I fast forwarded through a couple of places, but even with skipping a few parts, she still loved the movie! It was fun watching her trying to figure it all out! Even I was catching a few things that I don't remember!
We watched half of it last night and finished the rest tonight after we watched "The Amazing Race." Now I want to watch the sequel!!
It's back...
I have been counting down until tonight for awhile. It's the season premiere of "The Amazing Race!"
Courtney informed me today thought that she doesn't want to watch this season, I was a little heart-broken!! She's my "Amazing Race" partner!! She said she only wants to watch it if the Afghanimals were in in again! Unfortunately, they are not in it this season, hopefully she can pick a new pair to cheer for!!
Courtney informed me today thought that she doesn't want to watch this season, I was a little heart-broken!! She's my "Amazing Race" partner!! She said she only wants to watch it if the Afghanimals were in in again! Unfortunately, they are not in it this season, hopefully she can pick a new pair to cheer for!!
Poor kid!
I forgot how bad it was for Christian to have bronchitis. He hasn't had it for a long time and now this week, he has it again. It's kind of been lingering on this week, but last night and this morning, he has had a fever and coughing until he gags! Poor kid! We got out the albuterol and advil and started giving that to him. That is what any doctor would tell me to do! About 10 minutes after taking those, he is back to normal again.
Matt and I laugh because a couple of years ago, he had bronchitis 10-15 times within six months. During this time, we would literally have to hold him down to give him the albuterol. Now he is begging for it and takes it great! We have came a long ways!!
What kid gets bronchitis when it is 80 degrees out??
Matt and I laugh because a couple of years ago, he had bronchitis 10-15 times within six months. During this time, we would literally have to hold him down to give him the albuterol. Now he is begging for it and takes it great! We have came a long ways!!
What kid gets bronchitis when it is 80 degrees out??
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Logical Monday
After being gone almost all day Sunday and all day Monday, today seems like logical Monday!
My grandfather's visitation and funeral were very nice! Everybody from my side of that family was there and it was nice seeing everybody. I didn't get to talk to some people like I wanted to, but I did get to speak to some. It was amazing to hear of my grandfather's last days and how he eventually passed away. I loved hearing all the positive comments about my grandfather. Many, many people had so many nice things to say about him! He will definitely be missed by many!
But now that everything is over, life needs to get back to normal. I don't feel we are quite in a groove yet since our trip. Last week, we had our second class at the homeschool learning center and our first official PE class. We start D6 at church on Wednesday, so one more thing to add into our schedule. I am also starting my piano students back up today.
Today though, it was back to the books. I was up until about 10:30 last night planning school for the week (I don't know why I always wait until the last minute!), so things are ready to go. I had a few things to figure out for the week for the girls plus figure out what I want to do with Christian. I found a new curriculum online that I think will work out great. I just found the other book we were using was not as planned out as I wanted it to be and I had to look for a lot of activities myself. I don't have time to do this every day! I am going to try this new curriculum this week and see how it goes. I can always go back to the other one if I have to. I just want to give Christian 20-30 minutes of time during the day.
As for the girls, I always think about whether I should get through stuff just to "get through it" or slow down and take our time. Honestly, I always slow down and take our time! Megan is taking a writing class at the learning center and she wants me to proofread it for her and help her out. We spent some time this morning doing that, so that pushed off some of her other subjects, such as spelling and history. Because of this, I am going to push off science, which I had originally planned for today, for another day. I need to be flexible and know that school usually takes longer than I schedule it to! I also want to get to Christian today and read his new material. I will get everything done, eventually. :)
My grandfather's visitation and funeral were very nice! Everybody from my side of that family was there and it was nice seeing everybody. I didn't get to talk to some people like I wanted to, but I did get to speak to some. It was amazing to hear of my grandfather's last days and how he eventually passed away. I loved hearing all the positive comments about my grandfather. Many, many people had so many nice things to say about him! He will definitely be missed by many!
But now that everything is over, life needs to get back to normal. I don't feel we are quite in a groove yet since our trip. Last week, we had our second class at the homeschool learning center and our first official PE class. We start D6 at church on Wednesday, so one more thing to add into our schedule. I am also starting my piano students back up today.
Today though, it was back to the books. I was up until about 10:30 last night planning school for the week (I don't know why I always wait until the last minute!), so things are ready to go. I had a few things to figure out for the week for the girls plus figure out what I want to do with Christian. I found a new curriculum online that I think will work out great. I just found the other book we were using was not as planned out as I wanted it to be and I had to look for a lot of activities myself. I don't have time to do this every day! I am going to try this new curriculum this week and see how it goes. I can always go back to the other one if I have to. I just want to give Christian 20-30 minutes of time during the day.
As for the girls, I always think about whether I should get through stuff just to "get through it" or slow down and take our time. Honestly, I always slow down and take our time! Megan is taking a writing class at the learning center and she wants me to proofread it for her and help her out. We spent some time this morning doing that, so that pushed off some of her other subjects, such as spelling and history. Because of this, I am going to push off science, which I had originally planned for today, for another day. I need to be flexible and know that school usually takes longer than I schedule it to! I also want to get to Christian today and read his new material. I will get everything done, eventually. :)
Monday, September 22, 2014
Preschool Activities
Last week as I was planning for some activities for Christian from the book "Before Five in a Row," I got very frustrated. I felt that the lesson plans were not laid out as clearly as I wanted them to be and I found myself going online to find more activities. I found the lessons they wanted me to teach were a little advanced for Christian and I think these concepts would be hard to teach a four year old.
I want a curriculum that is 4 year old friendly and is easy to teach!! I also want to spend 20-30 minutes with him a day and needed something I could get through in that amount of time.
I found this new website with preschool activities and am going to try it this week.
http://www.abcjesuslovesme.com/curriculum/3-year-curriculum
It has activities all ready to go already! It even has the printables linked right in their website! Yay!!!
I want a curriculum that is 4 year old friendly and is easy to teach!! I also want to spend 20-30 minutes with him a day and needed something I could get through in that amount of time.
I found this new website with preschool activities and am going to try it this week.
http://www.abcjesuslovesme.com/curriculum/3-year-curriculum
It has activities all ready to go already! It even has the printables linked right in their website! Yay!!!
Friday, September 19, 2014
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Amazing Rock Formations in Illinois!
I am up a little early today, so I thought I would post more pictures from our trip.
On our way home, we stopped at a state park called Ferne Clyffe State Park in southern Illinois. We just stopped there because it was along the interstate and was convenient for us to stay there the night. We had no idea that the place had AWESOME rock formations and great hiking trails!! I thought I would share some pictures! This is exactly why we go on vacation, so we can see cool stuff like this!!
We hiked for about a half mile up a hiking trail and found this:
A huge rock shelf
Don't you wonder how many Native Americans seeked shelter under this at one time??
A little further down, were even more rock formations.
Do you see the girls and I on that rock? We look so tiny compared to the rocks!
We even let Christian climb on them!
This may be hard to see in the shadows, but Courtney is on the ground between these monstrous rocks!
This huge rock was amazing too, the girls thought it was one big beehive!
Heading back! Matt doesn't like to put Christian on his shoulders because he always holds onto his head. This is his solution!
I would definitely camp at this campground again!!
On our way home, we stopped at a state park called Ferne Clyffe State Park in southern Illinois. We just stopped there because it was along the interstate and was convenient for us to stay there the night. We had no idea that the place had AWESOME rock formations and great hiking trails!! I thought I would share some pictures! This is exactly why we go on vacation, so we can see cool stuff like this!!
We hiked for about a half mile up a hiking trail and found this:
A huge rock shelf
Don't you wonder how many Native Americans seeked shelter under this at one time??
A little further down, were even more rock formations.
Do you see the girls and I on that rock? We look so tiny compared to the rocks!
We even let Christian climb on them!
This may be hard to see in the shadows, but Courtney is on the ground between these monstrous rocks!
This huge rock was amazing too, the girls thought it was one big beehive!
Heading back! Matt doesn't like to put Christian on his shoulders because he always holds onto his head. This is his solution!
I would definitely camp at this campground again!!
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Shopping!
It is that time of year again! It is getting cooler out and my kids have nothing to wear!
I have spent many hours the last two days shopping for my children. Last night, we went to a consignment store and after about two hours, we walked out with clothes for Megan and Christian. I found Megan a lot of shirts, a couple pairs of jeans, and a pair of pajamas. I also found Christian a few shirts and one pair of pants. We will go shopping in the attic for Courtney and then if she needs something, we will go shopping for her too!
Who gave permission for these two children to skip a size?? Megan ended last spring almost in a 12, so I thought we would start there. I was wrong! Every time she put on a pair of twelves, they were too short! They were not REALLY too short, but short enough that I knew they would not make it past the winter! I couldn't believe it, but I had go find size 14! The problem here was that they weren't skinny enough! We found two pairs though, so that should get her started AND should last her through the winter.
I had the same problem with Christian. He ended last spring just starting to get into a size 4 pants. I put them on this fall and again, too short! I tried size 5 and they were too large around his waist! I found one pair for him tough, so again, that should get us started.
Who made these skinny, tall children??? And who gave them permission to grow so much??
I have spent many hours the last two days shopping for my children. Last night, we went to a consignment store and after about two hours, we walked out with clothes for Megan and Christian. I found Megan a lot of shirts, a couple pairs of jeans, and a pair of pajamas. I also found Christian a few shirts and one pair of pants. We will go shopping in the attic for Courtney and then if she needs something, we will go shopping for her too!
Who gave permission for these two children to skip a size?? Megan ended last spring almost in a 12, so I thought we would start there. I was wrong! Every time she put on a pair of twelves, they were too short! They were not REALLY too short, but short enough that I knew they would not make it past the winter! I couldn't believe it, but I had go find size 14! The problem here was that they weren't skinny enough! We found two pairs though, so that should get her started AND should last her through the winter.
I had the same problem with Christian. He ended last spring just starting to get into a size 4 pants. I put them on this fall and again, too short! I tried size 5 and they were too large around his waist! I found one pair for him tough, so again, that should get us started.
Who made these skinny, tall children??? And who gave them permission to grow so much??
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
We are talking about DNA today in science.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9BZ3zx8b8I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwibgNGe4aY
Kind of a tough topic for elementary kids, but we're going to do it anyway!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwibgNGe4aY
Kind of a tough topic for elementary kids, but we're going to do it anyway!
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Teaching the next generation...
After talking to another mom about 9/11 the other day, I have some thoughts. She has kids the same age as my kids, one is in 6th grade and the other is in 2nd. I asked her if they learned about 9/11 in school. She looked at her older daughter and asked her and her daughter said, "No, it makes my teacher too sad, so he didn't teach us anything about it," I then asked the mom if they talked about it at home and she said no, it also makes her too sad. So in the end, her daughter (and I am assuming the younger one too), did not learn about 9/11 this year at all.
My questions is...how are we supposed to "never forgot" if we don't teach it on to the next generation??? How are we supposed to learn about the hate in this world and what we can do about it?? How do we learn that the god they were serving is NOT the God that we serve today?? I am very passionate about this and when the mom said that the kids didn't learn about it at all, I honestly felt sad for the kids.
I feel it as a great privilege to be able to teach my kids about 9/11. Is it sad? YES Was it a terrible thing to happen to our country?? YES Was it a day full of hatred? Absolutely! Was it easy to watch a video on the computer and watch Megan's eyes tear up? NO! But she needs to know what happened! We can not let this day go by every year and not teach our kids about it!
We had the great opportunity last year to visit Ground Zero with the kids. I think this year the pictures helped put it all into perspective for the kids, especially after we watched a video of the timeline of the day. We also watched short videos on how they made the memorial and short videos of how people survived as they escaped the towers.
May it truly be a day that NOBODY ever forgets!
My questions is...how are we supposed to "never forgot" if we don't teach it on to the next generation??? How are we supposed to learn about the hate in this world and what we can do about it?? How do we learn that the god they were serving is NOT the God that we serve today?? I am very passionate about this and when the mom said that the kids didn't learn about it at all, I honestly felt sad for the kids.
I feel it as a great privilege to be able to teach my kids about 9/11. Is it sad? YES Was it a terrible thing to happen to our country?? YES Was it a day full of hatred? Absolutely! Was it easy to watch a video on the computer and watch Megan's eyes tear up? NO! But she needs to know what happened! We can not let this day go by every year and not teach our kids about it!
We had the great opportunity last year to visit Ground Zero with the kids. I think this year the pictures helped put it all into perspective for the kids, especially after we watched a video of the timeline of the day. We also watched short videos on how they made the memorial and short videos of how people survived as they escaped the towers.
May it truly be a day that NOBODY ever forgets!
Saturday, September 13, 2014
3 Reasons why we went to Illinois/ Kentucky
We went on vacation last week for a couple of reasons, but the three main ones were for Megan, Courtney, and Christian. They wanted to see their very good friends that moved away in January! We missed them so much and it was great spending almost two weeks with them!
These pictures were taking right after we saw them for the first time. We were waiting to park the camper because it looked like it was going to storm out, so we went and got ice cream at the local ice cream shop!
Reason number 1:
Ana, Megan, and Kaelynn. Megan and Kaelynn are very close in age and I actually forgot how good these two got along. During our trip, they were together almost the entire time! They played together, wrote a play together, swam, laughed, hiked, explored, slept together, read books, played cards, etc. They just had a great time together!!
Reason #3: Erich and Christian. I thought these two got a long better than they did before they moved away, I think because they are both older now, they loved to play in the dirt, jump, skip, everything that little boys do!
I have so many pictures of these kids throughout the trip. Hopefully I will get around to posting more. In addition to seeing our friends though, we did do many activities, so I have lots of pictures of hiking trails, amazing rock formations, caves, campgrounds, and don't forget we saw the "Creation Museum" while we were in Kentucky. Fun, fun!!
These pictures were taking right after we saw them for the first time. We were waiting to park the camper because it looked like it was going to storm out, so we went and got ice cream at the local ice cream shop!
Reason number 1:
Ana, Megan, and Kaelynn. Megan and Kaelynn are very close in age and I actually forgot how good these two got along. During our trip, they were together almost the entire time! They played together, wrote a play together, swam, laughed, hiked, explored, slept together, read books, played cards, etc. They just had a great time together!!
Reason #2: I can't tell you how excited Courtney was to see Miki!! These two could giggle ALL DAY LONG! Since Miki moved away, I have not heard Courtney giggle much and about a week before we left, Courtney said, "I can't wait to see Miki, I want my giggles back!" And they GIGGLED the entire trip! They were truly inseparable the entire time!
Reason #3: Erich and Christian. I thought these two got a long better than they did before they moved away, I think because they are both older now, they loved to play in the dirt, jump, skip, everything that little boys do!
I have so many pictures of these kids throughout the trip. Hopefully I will get around to posting more. In addition to seeing our friends though, we did do many activities, so I have lots of pictures of hiking trails, amazing rock formations, caves, campgrounds, and don't forget we saw the "Creation Museum" while we were in Kentucky. Fun, fun!!
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Back to School Tomorrow
We are hitting the books tomorrow, aka getting back to school. :)
I am not ready at all. I haven't had much time to look over their lessons, so I pretty much am going to do what I can.
But before we get school started, we need to discuss something in history that happened 13 years ago. September 11, 2001. I want my children to know what happened on 9/11 and I want them to understand why it happened. But how can you explain that terrible day to a 10 and 8 year old? Make it kid-friendly, in a way. We were at Ground Zero last year when we went to the east coast, so my kids have walked that ground, so they understand a little bit of it. We have talked about it every year and we are going to continue to talk about it.
We are going to use videos from history.com tomorrow to explain what happened. We might look at some pictures online too.
http://www.history.com/topics/9-11-attacks/videos/911-timeline?m=528e394da93ae&s=undefined&f=1&free=false
We might use this as a timeline if we need to:
http://www.english-online.at/history/9-11/9-11-terrorist-attacks.htm
I am not ready at all. I haven't had much time to look over their lessons, so I pretty much am going to do what I can.
But before we get school started, we need to discuss something in history that happened 13 years ago. September 11, 2001. I want my children to know what happened on 9/11 and I want them to understand why it happened. But how can you explain that terrible day to a 10 and 8 year old? Make it kid-friendly, in a way. We were at Ground Zero last year when we went to the east coast, so my kids have walked that ground, so they understand a little bit of it. We have talked about it every year and we are going to continue to talk about it.
We are going to use videos from history.com tomorrow to explain what happened. We might look at some pictures online too.
http://www.history.com/topics/9-11-attacks/videos/911-timeline?m=528e394da93ae&s=undefined&f=1&free=false
We might use this as a timeline if we need to:
http://www.english-online.at/history/9-11/9-11-terrorist-attacks.htm
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Campgrounds
After being home and sleeping in my own bed last night, I thought about all the different campgrounds we stayed at on our trip. I can remember each of them in my head, most of them were great, but there was one that I probably would not stay at again.
Here are the campgrounds in the order we stayed at them:
Rock Creek State Park, one hour east of Des Moines Iowa, 1 night
Illini State Park, Marseilles, Illinois, 4 nights
Hidden Paradise Campground, hour south of Indianapolis, Indiana, 3 nights (Labor Day Weekend)
Big Bone Lick State Park, 20 minutes south of Cincinnati, Ohio (technically in Kentucky), 2 nights
Mammoth Cave National Park, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky (90 miles north of Nashville, Tennessee) 2 nights with NO electricity and 90 degree heat!
Ferne Clyffe State Park, southern tip of Illinois, 1 night
Riverside City Park Campground, Springfield, Illinois, 1 night (would not stay here again unless I had to!)
Mark Twain Cave Campground, Hannibal, Missouri, 1 night
I think state parks are the best way to go! You get what you need (electricity and water) and they are usually really nice! They are not expensive either; we usually paid $20 a night. We had a pool at Big Bone Lick State Park and really nice hiking trails and rock formations at Ferne Clyffe State Park. It's fun exploring new areas and talking to the locals. I would go back to many of these again.
Here are the campgrounds in the order we stayed at them:
Rock Creek State Park, one hour east of Des Moines Iowa, 1 night
Illini State Park, Marseilles, Illinois, 4 nights
Hidden Paradise Campground, hour south of Indianapolis, Indiana, 3 nights (Labor Day Weekend)
Big Bone Lick State Park, 20 minutes south of Cincinnati, Ohio (technically in Kentucky), 2 nights
Mammoth Cave National Park, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky (90 miles north of Nashville, Tennessee) 2 nights with NO electricity and 90 degree heat!
Ferne Clyffe State Park, southern tip of Illinois, 1 night
Riverside City Park Campground, Springfield, Illinois, 1 night (would not stay here again unless I had to!)
Mark Twain Cave Campground, Hannibal, Missouri, 1 night
I think state parks are the best way to go! You get what you need (electricity and water) and they are usually really nice! They are not expensive either; we usually paid $20 a night. We had a pool at Big Bone Lick State Park and really nice hiking trails and rock formations at Ferne Clyffe State Park. It's fun exploring new areas and talking to the locals. I would go back to many of these again.
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
We are back!!
Tonight, we arrived back home tonight from our vacation. Luckily, we didn't have to come home in the middle of it and got to spend as much time as we wanted to originally! We had a great time and spent a lot of time with some friends that we haven't seen in about nine months!
I could've blogged while we were gone, but we didn't have good internet connection some times and I don't think Matt took his laptop out of his bag once! I am uploading the pictures now, so maybe I can post my favorites here within the next couple of days!
In the end, we travelled through Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, and back to Nebraska. We travelled about 2500 miles and went through many, many gallons of gas! (Not as much as last year though!!) We stopped at many Redboxes along the way and the kids watched many movies as we travelled! We also listened to "Adventures in Odyssey." The kids were great travelers!
Today we left Hannibal, Missouri (the home of Mark Twain) and drove across Missouri to St. Joe and then up Interstate 29. Around 3:30 pm, we needed gas, so Matt pulled into the truck stop at the Nebraska City exit. He got gas and since we knew there was a huge storm in Omaha and it was heading our way, we decided to go over to Wendy's for some ice cream. We sat there awhile, looked at the radar, and Matt decided that it would be ok if we took off, so we climbed back into the camper and circled around the parking lot to get back on the road.
At this time, I checked my text messages and one of my friends told me that there was a huge storm coming our way and we needed to STAY PUT! Matt pulled up his radar again and sure enough, there was a huge storm coming. At this point, we drove over to the truck stop, parked the truck, and ran in there through the pouring rain. (I figured there would be much more in the truck stop for the kids to look at/ play with if we were stuck awhile!)
We weren't in there but ten minutes when Matt got a message over his phone saying there was a tornado warning in the area. I pulled a manager over to the side and asked him to verify it and what we needed to do. He said the plan was to go into the men's bathroom. About ten minutes later, everybody was in the men's bathroom because there was indeed a tornado warning!
We hung out in there for a little bit until the tornado warning cleared. Once it was all clear, we came out, but it was still raining sheets outside! It was incredible!! We stayed at the truck stuck probably another hour before we got back in our truck to come home. We pulled into the gas station at 3:30 pm and we left the truck stop about 5:45!
We continued to drive home and got home around 7 pm tonight. It is nice to be home!!
I love running water, internet, a washing machine, a big fridge, a couch that we can all sit on, counter space, a stove I don't have to light every time I want to use it, a microwave that will work whenever I need it, etc, etc, etc.
Travelling really does make you appreciate home!
I could've blogged while we were gone, but we didn't have good internet connection some times and I don't think Matt took his laptop out of his bag once! I am uploading the pictures now, so maybe I can post my favorites here within the next couple of days!
In the end, we travelled through Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, and back to Nebraska. We travelled about 2500 miles and went through many, many gallons of gas! (Not as much as last year though!!) We stopped at many Redboxes along the way and the kids watched many movies as we travelled! We also listened to "Adventures in Odyssey." The kids were great travelers!
Today we left Hannibal, Missouri (the home of Mark Twain) and drove across Missouri to St. Joe and then up Interstate 29. Around 3:30 pm, we needed gas, so Matt pulled into the truck stop at the Nebraska City exit. He got gas and since we knew there was a huge storm in Omaha and it was heading our way, we decided to go over to Wendy's for some ice cream. We sat there awhile, looked at the radar, and Matt decided that it would be ok if we took off, so we climbed back into the camper and circled around the parking lot to get back on the road.
At this time, I checked my text messages and one of my friends told me that there was a huge storm coming our way and we needed to STAY PUT! Matt pulled up his radar again and sure enough, there was a huge storm coming. At this point, we drove over to the truck stop, parked the truck, and ran in there through the pouring rain. (I figured there would be much more in the truck stop for the kids to look at/ play with if we were stuck awhile!)
We weren't in there but ten minutes when Matt got a message over his phone saying there was a tornado warning in the area. I pulled a manager over to the side and asked him to verify it and what we needed to do. He said the plan was to go into the men's bathroom. About ten minutes later, everybody was in the men's bathroom because there was indeed a tornado warning!
We hung out in there for a little bit until the tornado warning cleared. Once it was all clear, we came out, but it was still raining sheets outside! It was incredible!! We stayed at the truck stuck probably another hour before we got back in our truck to come home. We pulled into the gas station at 3:30 pm and we left the truck stop about 5:45!
We continued to drive home and got home around 7 pm tonight. It is nice to be home!!
I love running water, internet, a washing machine, a big fridge, a couch that we can all sit on, counter space, a stove I don't have to light every time I want to use it, a microwave that will work whenever I need it, etc, etc, etc.
Travelling really does make you appreciate home!
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