Monday, February 24, 2014

An Adventure to New York

Eric wanted an adventure and that is what he got! 5 kids, a 20 year old RV and a drive from Texas to New York in December made for an interesting and memorable trip! My memories now are a lot fonder than during the actual trip so I'm glad it took me so long to get to this post!
Hannah flew down to Texas to take our first long RV trip back to New York. We left in a hurry trying to out run a storm, silly us. The kids loved the first day, the excitement, watching tv and playing iPad and eating junk food!

Nap time!



Captain of the Eagle! (Our RV has a big eagle down the side of it) It is huge, 40 feet long, and no I did not drive it at all only Eric.

Musical chairs, they switched around every few hours :)


The first night we stopped in Meridian, Mississippi. Colt was helping Eric hook up everything. So far so good. Getting a little tired of being in the car but the first day went as good as could be expected. 


Ellie's bed was in the bottom of the closet. She got some new carpet and a curtain and she loved it in there!

She was always the last to go to sleep, she never ran out of energy. She fits perfectly and it was great until she started puking in the middle of the night. Always lovely, even more so when you don't have a washing machine and you are exhausted. We got some sleep and in the morning washed her blankey in the sink and dried it with a hair dryer…..roughing it!


A few hours into day two we hear a loud noise and pop, there goes a rear tire. We got the tire replaced with one of the spares but it didn't end there. The spare was twenty years old and had a big crack in it so we drove a little further until we found someone who could help us out, Saturday afternoon and an uncommon size tire.

This is the second tire repair, 6 hours later we are back on the road. We only made it to Knoxville, Tennessee this night and by then the storm had caught up to us. Lots of wind the whole ride so far which was really are for Eric to drive in and now it was pouring too. Night two there was not puking at least so that was a bonus. 

By day three these kids wanted out of the RV! We had a state list we were going through and they were never so happy as when they got to cross off states!


Ellie taking a little time by herself in her closet bed!


And finally 10 pm on day three we were entering New York City!!! We got really lucky and didn't hit any traffic at all going through the city. It was a little tricky with the RV making sure we went the right way because with a "commercial" vehicle we could only take certain bridges and freeways. We had quite a few good laughs going through the cite because the roads were so terrible and bumpy we were bouncing all over the place in the RV, and of course Ellie started puking again, great way to pull up to Grammy and Poppy's house!

Happy to be there and out of this seat!

The eagle has landed! We made it to Grammy and Poppy's house at about midnight….

and then they started with presents right away!

It was a late night but we were all so happy to be there and see them!

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Family Picture

Some family pictures we took in December to mark the time :) Everyone is getting so big I can't believe it! We had the camera on a stool and Eric ran and pushed the button and jumped in the picture, so this is what we got with three tries! I'm thankful to have some pictures even if they aren't perfect. It is rare we all get in one pictures!





Olivia, 6

Rachel, 6

Colt, 4

Ellie, 2

Monday, February 17, 2014

Nice Weather and Goodbye Training Wheels

Houston is always nice in the fall, it makes the summers here worth it! The kids have loved being outside and bike riding. Rachel and Livy took their training wheels off and have loved riding two wheelers! There were some tears and frustration the first day but they had it down by day two! Another day or two and they had starting by themselves. Our neighborhood doesn't have any sidewalks so we have put off this learning to ride stuff for a while. Luckily we have a little cul'd'sac across the street from us to use! 
Ellie is adorable trying to keep up with the big kids on her scooter!















Saturday, February 15, 2014

Livy Lost Something....

Her tooth!! She has had a loose one for a while but it was hanging on until just before Christmas break. She got sick of waiting for it and twisted it out at school so she could get a little treasure chest to keep it in that the school nurse gives out!
She didn't want to give her tooth to the tooth fairy so she left a note, the tooth fairy was kind anyway and left her a payment anyway! 
Welcome to tooth loss Livy! Colt wants his teeth to fall out now and grow big, that's his new goal he keep telling me about!

Monday, February 10, 2014

Huntsville

In the beginning of December we took a quick one night camping trip to Huntsville State Park. Another cold weekend but not raining at least!
I love Ellie's sweatpants under a dress with church shoes outfit for hiking!
Love you guys, even though I complained a lot, love you guys!


Campfire fun! I now more appreciate things our parents did for us. Thanks mom and dad for taking us camping many times! And we weren't even in an RV when we were little, Ha!, I'm such a wimp!