Summer Trip v6.0

It's already year six. Hard to believe my kids were so little that first year and they're so grown up now!

About 5 months ago I had an epiphany. Why in the world were we leaving Dave every summer when we could just take him with us?! I carefully planned out a proposal similar to what I'd crafted when we made the switch to homeschooling. And in much the same way to that conversation, he said yes before I even finished. So he's going with us for all 45 days! I'll have something to say about this decision in my "Lessons" post I'm sure.

And if that isn't enough, Grammie is retiring this year. And she's purchased an RV. And will be joining us for the entire trip. As well as her lovable chocolate "Lola" dog. As if we didn't already get enough crazy looks with mom and 3 kids traveling the country!

In all honesty though, it's going to be a fantastic trip! I'm usually completely exhausted one week in, now I will have help the entire trip. My kids usually have to race to hold one of my two hands, each child will now have an adult. I'm usually sorely outnumbered being the only adult, but now the scales will be balanced!  A few weeks in I'm usually holding deep conversations with the librarian or grocery store clerks, now I will have adult conversation anytime. It will be an adjustment for sure, but everything is more fun when it's shared!

So on to our plans. I believe it was during our trip last year that Grammie asked me if we were interested in going to see the 2017 solar eclipse. Well, of course we are! So that's where we're headed first.

Then we're heading to this breathtaking place among many others. We'll be leaving quite a bit later than normal this year in just a few months, but I'll be updating here as usual.  Come join us on the road!

Day 34

The first thing Brayden said to me when we left the beach last night was to ask if we could come back in the
morning so after a quick cereal breakfast we did just that!  It was already getting hot so we all jumped in for
more waves.  The beach had completely changed overnight with shallow waters out 50 yards or more.  The waves weren't quite as strong today either, but they were enjoyed by the kids immensely!

The breaking news of the day was a bird who'd met an untimely demise.  We dug a hole on the beach and buried him,  but with these shifting sands and tides I'm not sure he'll stay that way.

After about an hour, we decided to get on the road to our next spot so we could set up and be ready for Dave to finally arrive!  Ever since we'd left New Jersey, his arrival was on top of the daily countdown question list.  Second to Milo the cat and Austin the dog of course.

After quite a long drive all the way through a new state, we made it back to Georgia and Skidaway State Park.  You'll notice the kids are still in their swimsuits - we'd actually slept in them, swam in them, and were now traveling in them!  It's an optimistic attempt in assuming we'd be able to swim again after we're set up today.

We'd been looking forward to staying on the Georgia coast since our travels around the state last year. After a ultra fast set up, we headed to the river to get soaked before dinner. We were treated to a display of (river?) dolphins playing while we cooled off!

I think the kids were starting to get hungry as they started diving to catch some fish for dinner.  While that's on my list to learn to do soon, I wasn't up for it today!  There were no-see-ums something fierce here, so before I was carried away we drove back to the campground.

I started our last loads of laundry on the road in an attempt to lower the ultimate piles of laundry once we
returned home and the kids graduated to taking showers solo.  It was either that or no dinner and I supervise, so my hungry little people worked up the courage to shower with the critters.  They reported back there were millipeeds, spiders, and roly polys getting clean too.

While we were eating I received a text from Dave that he would be a little early so I shuffled the kids to bed and read a chapter hoping they would be able to fall asleep before he arrived.  I knew if they saw him before bed they would never go to sleep!  That and I could have him all to myself for a few hours.

He arrived just in time after I finished the first load of laundry and dishes.  I'd iced down some beer from Maine earlier so we shared a few and caught up before crashing ourselves.  I was betting the kids were going to be up around 4am checking to see if he was in the tent!

Quote of the Day: "Why can't we just always wear our bathing suits?" asks Laney.  That's a great way to always prepared for any opportunity for swimming!

Day 34 - Driving and Diving