Day 50

I woke up at 3 quite cold so I sneaked a little bit of Brayden's quilt and was able to go back to sleep. The girls were stretched out and looked perfectly warm. About an hour later I woke up with Ryan glued next to me so I slid a little more covers from Brayden and covered her up too. I was just happy he was not mad about sharing or maybe he didn't know yet!

The time change is taking some adjustment. I'm used to waking up around 5am and getting a few things done before the kids wake up. This morning I didn't wake up until 7am and the kids slept in until 8:30! I reminded them that was 10:30 in California and they all said 10:30 should be the new normal.  I'm not sure they could fit school in with getting up that late!

While they were snoring away a momma and her young one came through the campground. They walked right in front of our tent. Laney was going to be mad she slept through it!

Since the kids slept in I took some time to catch up on editing pictures and writing. Since we were down in the canyon the air stayed cool and the sun didn't reach the tent until the kids were waking up.
They were excited this morning because it was a breakfast they had been looking forward to since the beginning of the trip. When it's hot and I don't want to cook on the stove or over the fire I let them each buy a box of cereal for us to eat for breakfast. We don't usually eat cereal at home so these sugary boxes are coveted for all the days they are filled.

Our next stop was Cadillac Ranch. This is an art installation that is a tribute to the old cadillacs with fins in the back. They are often painted specific colors for commercials or special days but otherwise they want the public to have fun adding their own touches. I wanted to surprise the kids with this stop that Dave would have loved but Laney spotted it the day before. You have to walk up close to really appreciate it though!

Someone handed the kids their spray paint so they started marking up the cars with innocent smiley faces and "Hi".  After our Carhenge visit a few years ago I learned to have a Sharpie with you for signing too!

It was hot but there was a very strong breeze that helped us not to sweat like crazy. We pointed the car east and continued on through Texas. After about 30 minutes we stopped at the Slug Bug Ranch - a nod to Cadillac Ranch. I made sure to get a few "punch buggy" slugs in before my kids could! 

We listened to a few podcasts for the next few hours while we made our way east to Eisenhower State Park. It was 104 degrees and we were all looking forward to a little relief in the water. I reserved a site right next to the swimming beach so we could have easy access and enjoy the afternoon cooling off. As we checked in I noticed a sign that the swimming beach was closed. Apparently they were doing construction on the path down to the beach so they had closed it for today only. The ranger said if the "Keep Out" signs were gone we were welcome to go down and swim.

Our fingers were crossed as we drove toward the day use area but it didn't help. The signs were up in front of the path and we all sighed thinking of the hot afternoon and night we had ahead of us. We decided to get the tent set up and play some games before cooking dinner. The view reminded me of Oregon!

We heard people down at the swimming area and as we looked down over the cliff sure enough there were people in the water. I went back and forth in my head trying to decide if we should follow them and get some relief. We were all dripping and pretty miserable. I really really wanted to swim but decided instead to be the person I want the kids to grow up to be and pay attention to the sign. Either they will grow up and think I was just lame or perhaps they will take this lesson to heart.


I decided to cook the taco dinner Brayden wanted along with the much anticipated dutch oven dump cake. It was boiling hot and I was seriously dripping now - I had to watch out for sweat dripping in the food!! We had a delicious dinner and dessert to end the night. As we were eating I asked the kids if they were up for a long drive the next day. Brayden knew we only had a 5 hour drive to our next spot so his face lit up knowing I was asking if they just wanted to go home the next day. It would be a minimum 12 hour day in the car but they didn't bat an eye. They answered before I could even finish asking. This is the first year Dave hasn't driven all the way home with us so I think that was part of it but we also have our house waiting as well as all their friends.

Attitudes shifted considerably with the decision to drive home the next day. Ryan mentioned she was thinking about taking a cold shower before bed and Laney and I joined her. Brayden wasn't up for the challenge so he just changed into travel clothes for the next day. When the girls and I walked into the bathroom there were two scorpions waiting on us. I'd never seen one before outside of a zoo so I froze for a minute to decide what to do.

One of them ran (they were SO fast!) to the side which gave us enough room to slip by to the showers so we did a shower inspection for more before developing our plan. We posted one person outside the showers to keep an eye on these guys while the others showered. If you can call it that. Laney and I could only stand it for about 15 seconds and Ryan just washed her hair. We all felt much better though! It wasn't long before they ran toward the showers and we were going to have to spend the night in the shower!  The fast guy ran to the wall so we shuffled to our next obstacle to figure out how to get around him. I put down our shower bag between us and him and we slid by before grabbing the bag and running out. I knew one thing - we wouldn't be visiting this bathroom in the middle of the night!

By the time we got back to the campsite we were all getting hot again but knowing we only had a few more hours we were all just resolved to trying our best to sleep at least a little bit. I scrolled through Facebook to get my eyes tired and ended up finally falling asleep after 11.

Day 31

Well, the weather forecasters were right. We had rain starting about 1:00 am with light rain continuing until about 9:00am. The two kids in the other tent were up for some of the storm so they ended up sleeping in until about 8:45. This place isn't the best for rain because instead of gravel or grass the campground is mostly sand and dirt. Not good for flip flops or feet. Think grocery store feet to a whole new disgusting level.

My kids are really enjoying this heat because I'm not wanting to cook so they get cereal. They can probably count on one hand the number of times I've purchased cereal in the last few years and they're getting it every day now! I almost choked on my granola when Brayden recited from his box that it only has 10 grams of sugar per serving. They're going to have to go into detox when we get home!  Ryan thought 10g meant 10 gallons so at least it wasn't that bad!

Once we got ready we headed to the ranger station to check in and check out anything fun to do in the area. The girls flooded my arms with brochures of zoos, water parks, and aquariums while I tried to figure out some hiking trails for us to do. I really wanted to take advantage of the overcast morning to get moving in the forest down the Batsto Trail for a little while.

We stumbled upon a historic village on the way so Ryan suggested we go see it since this is a history trip. Inside the visitors center there was a wonderful display where we learned all about the animals in the area as well as the iron works industry the small town was built around.

  

The village had been restored several times but looked as it had back when it opened in the late 1700s. The village also had a gristmill, blacksmith shop, wheelworks, as well as a general store. The kids loved reading all the prices of things at the general store, especially that toys were only 29 cents per pound!

  

 

We hit the trail with clouds still helping us and enjoyed the walk. It's always nice to get back into the woods after a break. Laney navigated us through the trail as well as through several spider webs. I like her taking over my job!!

   

About halfway through the hike the sun popped out for good so we were pretty soaked by the time we finished. We stepped back in the visitor's center for a snack and to soak up the air conditioning for awhile.

Brayden suggested we hit one of the libraries close by next so the kids could check their email and I could update the blog.  We found one in the tiny little town next door with a tiny little kids area. The all enjoyed a few minutes to hear from everyone and respond.

Next door to the library, Eagle Eye Laney spotted a cupcake place. Of course. They don't see the socks on the floor 6 inches in front of them, but they can spot a cupcake shop from 300 yards away! She said they were winners of Cupcake Wars so we just had to stop in!  Of course, they were scrumptious!

The kids were anxious to swim at the lake so after the quick trip back to the campsite we changed and headed to the beach.A New Jersey lake beach is quite a bit different than a Pensacola Beach! My kids are so spoiled with their crystal clear blue-green waters there was no way they were stepping into the rust colored lake. We talked about tannins from the pine forest causing the dark color but they decided to play volleyball on the beach instead.  They've been inspired by yet another Olympic event.

Once the sun got low we played on the playground and swings then headed back to the campsite for the night. Since it had been so long since we'd read we made it through four chapters before everyone's eyelids got heavy.  Tomorrow was going to be another fun day of exploring!

Day 20

This morning began as most with me getting things ready for our travels after a shower.  The kids woke up bouncing ready for the cereal the only get once a year.  This stuff is so unnaturally colored and sugared it just makes my stomach turn.  This coming from an admitted cereal addict that would have roughly 10-18 boxes of cereal in the pantry at a time!

Someone please convince Ryan to wear her hair down!  She refuses to cut it but also refuses to wear it down!  It's so pretty!

Once again we were packed up and on the road by 9:30 this time headed to a pretty fun looking science museum.  What caught my attention was a panda IMAX movie that I just knew our panda-loving Ryan would want to see.  And for my other science museum snobs I knew there was plenty for them as well.  This museum would have to rate for one of our top 3 museums.  Usually we spend roughly 3 hours at museums but this one we were still there after 6!  And we mostly skipped an entire floor!  The kids had so much fun!

First we had to put together some ice age dinosaur bones and visit the temporary Ice Age exhibit.

We volunteer at home with the archaeology network trying to find some Pensacola area artifacts, so the kids are used to sorting through dirt.  But this was 9,000 year old dirt found in New York! Apparently there was an entire mammoth skeleton found in a backyard pond and this was some of the dirt around it they were having kids sort through.  They found some of the tiniest shells I've ever seen!

This is one of those boards with all the pins so you can put your hand of face up to one side and your outline shows on the other side.  They had some animal print tiles you could press in.  Check out that grizzly bear paw!  The moose is at the top - wow!

After the IMAX movie, a snack, and the Planetarium show we headed to the actual museum and were overwhelmed with the amount of activites and learning opportunities!  There were animals, and computers, and hands-on exhibits, oh my!

Laney and Ryan polished some rocks - they turned out great!

Here is what our children would look like if there were moose!

A random porcupine waddling around the science museum...

We did several news reports on tornadoes and life on Mars!

This was a hands down favorite of the whole museum.  Who knew you just needed to hand our kids a couple phones and they would be thoroughly entertained?!

I think they could have raced for hours if we'd let them.

Laney and I built this one!  This is when Lego instruction experience comes in very handy!

Our last stop was the dreaded bed of nails!  Even Grammie did it!

Once we finally decided to leave, we made the hour drive to the park then met Grammie and Laney for dinner at the lodge where Brayden and Grammie would be staying.  The dinner was outstanding once again!  The kids tried the local fish and shared Ryan's grilled cheese while Grammie and I had other local fish entrees.

It definitely showed how little we eat out at nice restaurants as the kids were unsure where to put their bread and which utensils to use for what!  We all thoroughly enjoyed our food and after a peek at Grammie's room, the girls and I headed back and crashed for the night. Science is exhausting!