Road Trip Tips

We've been on many road trips. In the last year and a half we've driven 86,000 miles! This includes a drive from Florida to Alaska and back! Some of my on-line friends have asked for tips to help with long car trips, so I thought I'd share some here.

One of the best things I have found are books on CD. These really help pass the time. Our favorites are the Focus on the Family Radio Theater. You can often check out books on CD from the library, just make sure that the labels on them won't cause the CD to get stuck in your CD player.

We also have played travel games like...

-Travel bingo, a game with game boards that have pictures of things you would typically see on a road trip ( a pick up truck, a red car, a barn, a traffic light, etc). You can buy these, print them from off line or make your own

-Travel scavenger hunt. This is much like the game above but instead of trying to get bingo you try to find every item on your list. I made this game for my kids on index cards with pictures. As they found an item they gave the card to me.

-The license plate game. See how many license plates you can find from different states.

-Animal list. We made a list of every different type of animal we found (living or dead, lol)

-The ABC game. Find each letter of the alphabet on signs or license plates, in order (although not in all on location) until you find them all. This can be done as a group or as individuals as a race.

-Animal guessing game. One person thinks of an animal. Then the other family members take turns asking yes or no questions in order to figure out what the animal is.

-I spy

The above games are especially good for kids that get car sick as they are all looking at things outside of the car. You can also play the following games if you bring a shoe box or other small box to hold discarded cards or dice.

-Crazy eights

-Phase 10

-Uno

-Go fish

-Yahtzee

Arts and crafts projects can be done in the car as well. I've worked on hand sewing a quilt on some of our road trips. Our kids like to color on sticky notes, play with stickers and when I'm really desperate I give them rolls of masking tape to play with! One of the best craft items for kids are the Color Wonder markers. Unlike crayons that melt when left in a hot car, or markers that loose their lids and bleed into the upholstery , Color Wonder markers only mark the special paper that comes with it.

A few new toys can go a long way in keeping boredom away on road trips. The dollar store is a great place to find these. I've also picked up party prizes at Walmart like paddle balls, sticky hands, and mazes.

Snacks of course are a road trip necessity. With so many hours on the road, we get tired of gas station junk food. Instead we like to eat the following...

-dried fruit

-fruit leathers

-nuts

-crackers

-string cheese

-apples

-pears

-grapes

-bagels

-banana and pumpkin bread

-rice cakes

-mini carrots

-bell pepper

-celery sticks

One final thought on road trips. We've found that taking a break to visit point of interests, play at a

play ground or go to a museum are well worth it. Even though adding a stop makes the trip longer, it feels much faster with a break in the middle. On our many road trips we've taken time out to visit national parks, a presidential museum, children's museum and other museums, see a bug collection, play at parks, walk near rivers, dip in a hot spring and view wild life. These added stops have given us many great memories.

Our road trips days are over for now and we are all glad to have a break from the car. Still we have enjoyed getting to spend a lot of time together as a family, meeting new people and seeing new places. With just a little planning road trips can turn from a chore into a wonderful memory making adventure!

One Last Long Road Trip

Last week we went on one final rode trip in the USA. We spent the week in San Antonio, Texas. There we visited several churches and were blessed to meet fellow believers who are also excited about reaching the lost.

Of course we had to take the kids to see the Alamo! We watched the video, toured the grounds and snapped a few photos. Most of our time in Texas, however, was spent enjoying the KOA campground. We weren't brave enough to face the 100+ temperatures in a tent, so we stayed in an air conditioned cabin. Daily swims, campfires, and relaxing on the porch swing were a fun part of the experience. Memories were made. :)

While our many road trips this iteneration have been a great way to show the kids the USA, we are ready to leave the road behind us for the adventures that await us in Japan. We can hardly believe that we will be headed out next month!

FIve Crazy Weeks

I haven't put anything on this blog in a very long time. Life has just been so crazy lately! Just take a look at our last 5 weeks...

Week One
-Sunday: We speak at Services in Poplar Bluff and Puxico, MO. After church we receive a phone call informing us that Chris' Grandmother had passed away.
-Monday: We 6 hour drive home.
-Tuesday: We get a phone call telling us that the funeral is on Friday; both Chris' sisters would be flying out, and the family wanted Chris say something at the service.
-Wednesday: We drive 12 hours to the Fargo area of North Dakota.
-Thursday: We drive another 4 hours to Chris' Grandfather's home.
-Friday: We attend the funeral.
-Saturday: We drive 15 hours home.

Week 2
-Sunday: Chris speaks at church services in Fredonia, KS and Raytown, MO.
-Monday & Tuesday: We catch up on laundry, errands, etc. and get the newsletter in the mail.
-Wednesday: Drive 12 hours to my parent's house in Universal City, Texas.
-Thursday: Chris and I have meetings with two churches.
-Friday- Sunday: We visit with my parents and celebrate Easter.

Week 3
-Monday: Chris flies to Alaska to attend district council while I stay in TX with the kids and visit my parents. I take the kids to the Science museum and plan to spend the week relaxing and having fun with the kids.
-Tuesday:My plans change. My mom has a meeting with a surgeon about her pressure sore. He says it's too difficult and he won't preform the surgery. My parents decide to move to Springfield where my Dad has a job waiting and mom can look for a new doctor there. Dad and I start packing.
-Wednesday: Dad and I do more packing, and I speak at a church.
-Thursday: Dad and I spend the whole day packing. Also, Addie and Hudson decide that crayon makes a good substitute for sidewalk chalk. They soon learn otherwise!
-Friday: Chris returns in the afternoon after a red eye flight. He and Dad load the moving van while I clean the apartment. Early that evening we start the move with Chris driving the van, Dad driving in his car and me in our car.
-Saturday: We get back on the road. 9 hours later we arrive in Springfield. We leave my parent's at the Smallwood's (their former pastors and good friends) house. We join them for a quick dinner, say goodbye to my parents and get back on the road. 5 hours later we spend the night at a hotel in Wichita.

Week 4
-Sunday: We give a window at a large church in Wichita. After lunch and a meeting with the pastor, we have a 3 hr drive home.
-Monday & Tuesday: We spend a couple of days catching up on things around the house.
-Wednesday: The kids attend their first homeschool soccer class. Wesley comes down with a fever and a cold. Chris speaks in Colombia a couple of hours away, and I stay home with the kids
-Thursday: I see the heart surgeon. He says I do have a problem. I need to find the cause and not just ignore it. He doesn't think valve surgery will help, and that I should check and see if I have a parasite that is making me malnourished and causing me to have irregular heart beats.
-Friday: We clean house and pack for another night away.
-Saturday: We attend the arthritis walk in Lawrence, Kansas so that Addie can see that she is not the only kid with Arthritis and that people are looking for a cure. Addie wins a door prize of a gift certificate for new shoes. After the walk and shoe shopping, we drive 3 hours to El Dorado, KS to spend the night. Addie comes down with a fever and a cold that night.

This week
-Sunday: Chris speaks at a church in El Dorado. The theme was missions and mom's complete with sunglasses and a pretend Japanes breakfast (it was actually Chinese). It was a fun service. After church, I came home with the kids, and Chris went on to speak at an evening service near home.

-Monday: I went to the local family doctor to see if she could help me figure out if I have a parasite. Being that we live in a suburb in Missouri she doesn't have much experience with parasites. Still, she gets me started with some tests. I also did the weeks grocery shopping and a library trip.

-Tuesday: I spend most of the day calling churches about supporting us. Chris and the kids work on catching up on the laundry.

-Wednesday: The kids have a homeschool soccer class. We all have dinner and Chris speaks at a church in Galatin, MO (about 1 1/2 hours away from home). I enjoyed spending talking with a new believer and fellow parent while watching the kids during the service.

-The rest of the week: We spend the next couple of days passing around a cold, catching up on house cleaning, calling churches, and running errands.

-Tomorrow: We are speaking at a church in Lees Summit and Archie, MO.

So that was a peek into our lives recently. As you can see we've been exceptionally busy! Hopefully things will slow down a bit and I'll get better about keeping up with this blog.

Our road trip has finally ended. But before it did, we enjoyed a couple more camp outs followed by a couple of weeks in Springfield, Missouri. In Springfield we attended, a re-entry seminar and missionary renewal. We got to visit with old friends and make new ones. The kids had a great time in the MK program and are still singing the songs that they learned. The most exciting thing that happened was that we got our final approval to transfer fields to Japan!

As an added bonus, we had a mini APTS reunion in Springfield. We were glad to meet up with fellow missionaries who served along side us in the Philippines for a pick-nick at a local park.

Now we are delighted to have a home again. We arrived in St. Petersburg, Florida and moved into the D&D missionary homes 2 weeks ago. We have a 3 bedroom, fully furnished house. Hudson finally has his own real bed! The house is nicer than we expected and we feel very blessed to be here. While it was fun visiting friends and family, national parks and campgrounds, we are glad to unpack and have a home again for awhile.

Photo of the kids in front of our new house in Saint Petersburg, Florida.

Our Last Day in New Mexico

Yesterday we enjoyed a visit with Uncle Kevin and Aunt Judith. Uncle Kevin is Chris Dad’s twin brother. They look very much alike and the kids at first were a little bit confused. LOL! Uncle Kevin and Aunt Judith have a ranch complete with 400 cattle, a movie star goat, 6 dogs, various cats and of course, horses.

Addie’s dream job is to be a horse rancher and she was thrilled to get to ride on one. So despite the over 100 degree temperature, the kids enjoyed a short horse ride and petting the various animals. Chris and I were glad to catch up with Chris’ Aunt and Uncle as this was the first time we have seen them in 12 years! One of the benefits of traveling all over is getting to visit friends and family. It was a great way to spend our last day in New Mexico.

New Mexico visit in pictures

I thought I'd add a few of our photos from our 2 1/2 weeks in New Mexico.

The kids enjoyed the fishing pond at Beulah...

The boys each caught their first fish!

We also had a nice dip in Cousin Mike's pool.

Chris poolside with Cousin Mike and Great Aunt France



Adelaide enjoying the children's science museum in Albequerque.

Chris braves the high wire bike at the museum.

Beulah

We’ve spent the last two weeks at Beulah, a privately owned guest house for people in full time ministry. We’ve also spent the last two weeks un-plugged. I must confess that I have missed having internet access, but without it I have managed to read 8 books! Besides the mini library here, we have enjoyed fishing and canoeing in the pond and having access to a kitchen. It has also been a nice break from camping, especially as the temperatures have risen up over 105 degrees here in New Mexico!
During our stay we have met several lovely couples. Like the couple who are music ministers and were a delight to our children. They still talk about singing to the catfish in the pond! Another wonderful couple we met here run a children’s home. They were a huge blessing to us as they watched our children while I took Chris to the doctor. Chris seems to have a pinched nerve in his neck. We are praying that the medicine he is on works well and that he doesn’t have a disk problem that may require surgery.
Besides meeting people here at Beulah, we also had the opportunity to visit with some of Chris relatives and family friends. We enjoyed a visit with the Neely’s and a BBQ with his great Aunt Frances and her family. The kids especially enjoyed swimming in Mike’s pool!
Like we have done on many of our stops, we have taken the time for some “field trips”. We discovered another great museum, Explora, a children’s science museum in Albuquerque. The kids enjoyed a flight simulator, designing floating paper cup propellers, and making a stop action film. They also enjoyed the giant marble run and a train set, which have given me some ideas for Christmas gifts. ;) There was even a high wire bicycle that Chris ventured out on!
We are not just vacationing in New Mexico; we have also driven all over the state visiting various churches. We’ve seen some budding new churches, some firmly established works, and met some wonderful people. We’ve made new ministry partners and have enjoyed sharing our heart for the people of Japan.
Our road trip adventure is only halfway over. We have 4 more days in New Mexico. Then we are back to Utah for a few days and on to other states. There is more fun to come!