Rest of Vacation

The rest of our vacation was pretty uneventful.  Except for the the horse trailer incident.  On I-95, a 6 lane highway outside of Baltimore, a horse trailer came unhooked from the truck.  This occurred in the lane that Lyle and Jay were in.  There was one vehicle seperating them.  There was nothing Jania and I could do but drive on by.  Jay jumped out, wtih the traffic rushing by at 70+ mph.  While that is commendable on his part, it scared me.  It scared me enough that when I called his cell phone back and Lyle answered I spoke quite loudly to Lyle, asking why Jay had gotten out of the truck, did he not know there was a van on kids stopped in the road, they needed to get the kids out of there, etc.  Lyle very calmly told me that he could leave the scene, but that Jay wasn't in the van.  Which would I rather him do?  Later on I found out that two vehicles did stop in the lanes beside the truck so the traffic at least had to slow down.  Everything turned out ok, but I had a few anxious moments.

On Friday we got to visit Corey and Kristy and see their boys.  As an added bonus we also got to see Jay's Aunt and Uncle, Mary and John and his cousing Megan.  We had a very good time catching up and eating the best meal that we had on the whole trip. 

Sorry that it took me two months to get them posted!!!

Vacation Days 3&4

We passed days 3&4 rather uneventfully (at least in terms of potential wrecks). We spent all day Sunday in NYC. One of the big things was getting a tour of CBS. We watched, from the control room, Russ Mitchell film the 6pm news. Jay got to sit behind the news desk and Cade got to control the cameras with a computer. It was neat.

On Monday morning we headed to Atlantic City. Jania drove and I navigated. We managed to make a couple of wrong turns and we ended up taking a different route to Atlantic City. We decided to stay on the highway we were on instead of getting pack on the Turnpike. I think we actually enjoyed our more relaxed drive. We even drove through a Jewish community, which was very interesting. The only time the guys really worried about us was when they got to Atlantic City. It was lunch time and they wanted to know where we at…not because they were worried about us or because we were driving with their children – they were starving!!!

Atlantic City was neat, the beach was nice, but I did not care for the people. I guess I’m too used to staying in Branson where everyone is friendly to their customers. I got the feeling in AC, that the employees felt like they were doing us a favor by waiting on us. We had issues with everyone from the gate keepers in the parking lot to the hotel staff to the people at the restaurant where we ate. It was a good place to experience, but I’m not sure that I’ve got a strong desire to go back.

I did manage to pick up one souvenir there. It was stuck on the side of the van the rest of the week because it wouldn’t come off. Cade was on an antibiotic that had to be refrigerated. We checked out of our hotel Tuesday morning and headed to McDonalds for breakfast. As soon as I got out of the van I remembered the antibiotic. I left everyone at McDonalds and headed back to the hotel. Luckily the guy who checked me out recognized me so he gave me another key without an issue. I ran up got the medicine and was back in the van in less than 5 minutes…and this was what I got??? They are so lucky they did not tow the van or you might have heard me screaming in Missouri.

My "you are parked illegally" sticker. I wish I could've pealed it off and stuck it in a scrapbook!






Toys R Us in Times Square. It was the neatest toys store that I've ever been in. This dinosaur looked real. It also has a Ferris Wheel with carts that look like the Little Tikes Cars and a Barbie car, etc. You can see some of the carts behind Cade in the next picutre. This was just a guy dressed up like Elmo, who after we took the picture, didn't say a word but jangled a sock looking thing in my face so I could give him money for taking a picture with my son. It's just a whole different world there.
Controlling the cameras at CBS

Atlantic City





This is what Ty and Cade did in the McDonald's parking lot while while waiting on me to get back with the van - they fed the birds. I'm not a germaphobe, but there is something about birds that really gross me out. This picture kind of gives me the creeps.

Vacation - Day 1&2

Since we left for vacation almost 2 months ago it’s way past time to post vacation pictures, but I’m going to do it anyway.

We left Miller July 10 and drove to the edge of Indiana the first night. The second day we drove all the way to NYC. We had a mini van that Jania and I drove with Ty and Cade. Lyle and Jay had the big 15 passenger rental van with all of the students and the majority of the luggage.

One thing about Ty and Cade is that they spend enough time together that they sometimes fight like brothers. Being cooped up in a van for several hours increased the possibility that they would fight. I think we made it to the Illinois state line before they started. Since we only have one child, fighting in the backseat was a new experience for me. Of course I participated in many fights while growing up, but it’s different when you’re the adult sitting in the front. Thank goodness I was driving at that point and Jania dealt with the fighting. She’s much calmer than me and handled it much better. Nothing fazes her while I on the other hand was clutching the steering wheel to keep from yelling at them to be quiet. I’ve never said that patience was one of my attributes. After we got back I asked Cade if he still wanted a brother…he said yes so I guess the fighting didn’t faze him either.

Saturday morning we headed for NYC. As we got closer to our hotel, that was actually just outside the Lincoln Tunnel, Lyle and Jania took the boys and the mini van while Jay and I took the kids and the large van. I will admit I’m a nervous traveler. I get really nervous when we are in charge of so many other kids. I think about the responsibility and what would happen if something were to happen, etc. It makes me a wreck. Then I feel that Jay doesn’t take his responsibility seriously because he makes fun of me, then we argue. I’m sure the kids always think we’ll be divorced before we make it home.

This time I was really trying to stay calm, but then we had the cone incident. Jay was driving (what I thought was a high rate of speed) and passing signs that kept saying Merge, Land Ends, Road Construction, etc. As we were getting closer and closer to the cones that were signaling the end of our lane he sped up to try and pass a RV, rather than slowing down to get in the other lane. We came so close to taking out one of the highway cones. Then he swerved and the van swayed. I think we all screamed. So then when I got irritated about it, Jay didn’t think it was a big deal. All he says about it was that we didn’t hit it and that I’m just too uptight. If anyone has seen the Pink Panter 2 there is a scene in there that is exactly like Jay and I driving together. I’ll need to see if I can find that on YouTube.

That evening we made it into NYC. It was really neat seeing Times Square at night. It is such an interesting place, at least to visit. I don’t have any desire to live there. I was amazed by the crowd of people there. It was so packed that I couldn’t imagine being there on New Years Eve when they drop the ball. It would be so overwhelming. One of the students who went on the trip has an Aunt that lives there. She met us that night and walked us around to a few places. Having someone guide us along cut down on our time tremendously. We’d still be trying to get from Times Square to Rockefeller Center.

4 adults, 9 kids, 2 little boys...

2 vans, 11 states, 3,000 miles, one speeding ticket, one near miss with a construction cone and a bottle of nerve pills later we are finally home.

While I'm off with Cade Wednesday and Thursday (and if our Internet decides to start working) I'll post some pictures. Tomorrow at 7:30 am is the big tonsillectomy.

Oh Snap!!!

I'll give the details of our trip later but I wanted to blog about our night tour of the monuments. It's one of those stories that we want recorded for our own memories so the rest of you will have to bear with us....

Monday night while we were in Atlantic City Cade wanted to learn how to snap. I don't know how many times Jay and I had to snap while Cade watched where we put our fingers and how we moved them to make them snap. He worked and worked and worked at it all night. Somehow he figured it out and woke up Tuesday morning with a newly acquired talent.

He has been snapping non-stop. He puts both hands up to his ears and snaps. It's like it's the sweetest sound in the world to him. It's been cracking us up because he walks around in his own little world snapping his fingers. Anytime we stop to eat or check in to a hotel or try to check out at a store he'll stand right beside us snapping just waiting for the clerk to ask him about it. If they don't he'll volunteer the information..."Hey I learned how to snap yesterday night".

Wednesday night we went on the night monument tour. We visited the Iwo Jima, WWII, and FDR before we got to the Lincoln Memorial. Cade snapped the whole time and told any adult who would listen that he could snap. The bus was so full that the three of us got separated and Cade sat in the back with another adult while Jay and I were stuck in the front. I can only imagine how that conversation went. The poor guy probably heard snapping in his sleep Wednesday night.

As the three of us were walking up to the Lincoln Memorial we could tell Cade was deep in thought snapping his fingers by his ears. Finally he looked at Jay and very slowly and carefully and seriously asked this question..."You know I've been wondering, do you think Abraham Lincoln could snap his fingers?" As seriously as possible Jay told him that since Abraham Lincoln managed to abolish slavery that the chances were good that he could snap his fingers. On the inside Jay and I were laughing so hard. Cade must've felt that this snapping thing was quite an accomplishment....like he had found the perfect alternative fuel source or something equally as big.

Last night, since he's mastered snapping, he's moved onto whistling. I'm not sure if I want him to accomplish this challenge quite as quickly. Either way you look at it it will be a long 19 hour drive home with him either whistling or sucking out air trying to whistle.

Vacation Time

We are leaving on vacation today. Our tentative schedule is....
Friday - leave about 12:30 pm and drive until 10:00 pm

Saturday - drive into New York and stay the night

Sunday - In New York

Monday - drive to Atlantic City

Tuesday - drive to DC

Wed thru Sat - In DC at the conference

Sunday - head for home

Some of the things were planning ...tour of the CBS studio...FAO Schwarz...Mount Vernon...Dinosaurs (of course)...and visiting Corey and Kristy to catch up with their growing boys and meet their newest family member Ben....

We're excited and so ready for a break!!!