It's me, Bryssy, posting for Maria today...she's on a "family trip" this week and I'm her motley substitute for today.

We traveled recently to Savannah for a family wedding where my husband was a groomsman and THE Princess was the flower girl. If you ask her, it was her wedding and the bride was just there to do the kissing. (Her words not mine, I swear.) I thought I would add what I gleaned from this road trip (a mere 6 hours, says Map Quest).

First, you are never prepared enough.

I had prepared lunch and snacks in our car cooler. I had loaded the back seats with the DVD player and some DVDs we hadn't seen in a good long while. I had activities we could work on. I had new coloring books. I even had Old Maid, a favorite game of THE Princess, to spend our time away. The car was clean. We were loaded with pillows, napkins, garbage bags, drinks, baby wipes, and hand sanitizer. Ready to go, I thought.

Second, let the kids indulge in a treat, it's vacation!

Just above Orlando, we got a package of powdered doughnuts. RM ate a few of them and I handed the bag back to THE Princess...powdered doughnuts are her very favorite treat! What a great way to start a vacation (we had started out at 5 am) and the kids were awake and getting hungry for breakfast. I was really thinking I was doing a great

I was enjoying the relative quiet of the drive and sat in the front reading a book. I normally read no more than 2 pages before I am interrupted...so this was definitely a treat for me. And, just as we pass St. Augustine, I hear THE Princess say, "My tummy feels funny."

I respond, while engrossed in my book, "Drink some water, honey, and see if that helps."

Third, whining in the car will be ignored.

Big mistake. It took all of 30 seconds before THE Princess proceeds to HOSE US DOWN. Seriously. Projectile vomiting. All over the DVD player and seat organizer I had prepared. All over the back of my seat, around the headrest, into my hair, down my neck and my seat and seat belt. I, of course, proceeded turn around to help her...the poor dear. She turned her head and hosed her brother, the console, and RM's arm.

Fourth, take a break, you don't have to get there without stopping.

I am yelling to get off the road and RM is hollering that he is going to the rest area 1 mile ahead. THE Princess is still barfing. We come racing into the rest area and we all get out of the car, FAST! I take THE Princess to the family restroom and proceed to give her a bath in the sink (hair and all). I changed her clothes and threw out the barf clothes.

I return to the car and RM had it emptied out. I grab KOTJ and go through the same procedure with him, THE Princess in tow. Awesome. Now, to keep my clean-ish children that way, I find a hose outside and wash my hair with that and have them play the clapping game while we are in the family restroom once again, for me to get changed.

RM washes his arm and pours 2/3 of the extra large bottle of hand sanitizer down his arm. (The man is a germ-aphobe, seriously.) Now, he takes to cleaning the car. I am thankful at this point, that he is a bit freaky about germs, because he would never let anyone else clean up puke, yet they miss a single germ.

Fifth, stop to enjoy nature whenever possible.

I decide a "nature hike" is in our future. We spent some time walking on some paths behind the rest area, finding wildflowers and such, to avoid the puke. The kids are now feeling great and spend some time running around and singing.

We return to the car to find the RM had put just about everything that got hosed in the garbage! He got permission to use the janitor's closet to get cleaning items and a large laundry sink to wash the car seats. Holy crap. All of those activities and books and cards....gone. And, I wasn't going after them. I am amazed he didn't pitch the car seats...thank goodness I had packed two packages of Clorox wipes. He got the hose that I had washed my hair with and washed out the car and followed up with the wipes.

Last, go with the flow, it's vacation!!

Now that everything was clean, it was wet. So, we got out our picnic lunch out and waited about an hour until the scorching heat dried out the car. We have 2 books for the kids to read. No napkins, no wipes, no gargbage bags, no extra clothes, no Clorox wipes, and very little hand sanitizer left. On the up side, my car has never been so clean and the kids were tired and ready for a nap.

Postscript: The kids slept until we reached Savannah, I didn't finish my book (it was a casualty of the barf-a-thon) and THE Princess later fessed up to eating 6 powdered doughnuts....which she no longer likes.

Motley in the Midwest

Later this week, my family will be moving back to the Midwest. It seems like just a few months ago we pulled into town, shell-shocked and weary from our cross country journey. Wait a minute, it was just a few months ago. I'd like to say that we had so much fun moving cross country last summer that we thought we would do it again, but I'm not saying that because it isn't true. Nonetheless, for many complicated reasons, we are packing up and moving home. Rest assured, we will be greeted by numerous friends and family saying, "I told you so."

We have been inundated with questions. Where? When? Why? How? For some families these would be simple to answer, but not for the Carvers. The short story is this: moving back to the Midwest is best for the three of us as a whole. I am really glad that we moved to Florida, and I have loved living here. We would have always wondered what we were missing, and now we know what works best for us. We're not exactly sure where we will land, but we are looking forward to it.

I keep thinking of Luci Swindoll, Chuck Swindoll's sister. One of her books is called, "I Married Adventure." She shares stories about her life as she has followed God's will for her around the world. Following God is sometimes difficult, sometimes uncertain, and most of the time adventurous. We are committed to doing God's work in our lives, and we believe this move will take us to our next mission for Him.

When you picture my family on our next moving adventure, I hope you see me singing fun travel songs and handing out string cheese and juice boxes. I hope you see us smiling and counting cows along the country side because I sure wouldn't want you to see what really happens. Our trips tend to be a lot like the Chevy Chase Vacation movies - the longer the trip, the more the trip falls apart.

Last summer, we sent my husband down to Florida in a Budget Van with my car hitched to the back. He had five days total to make the 2-day trip, find a house to rent, unpack the van, return the van, get a blood test for work, and get back to the airport. I was at my Mom's with Alex. We were out of our routine, and Alex was really missing his dad. Plus, the stress of the move was affecting him as much as us. Charlie called on the third or fourth day to tell me he might need to change his flight and keep the van for another day. I remember saying something like this, "I don't care what you have to do, but you have got to make that flight home. " This move has to be easier for all of us.

My good friend Jody has moved all over the country, and she gave me a wonderful tip. She said to mark a box as the First Night Box, and fill it with anything you will need for the first night at your new place. You can even let your kids have tons of fun decorating it, so it will stand out from the other boxes. Do any of you have some great moving success tips you can share with me?

Eating on the Road

We travel. Often. It's a habit we have formed over the years as we have family in 5 states. We actually enjoy traveling, too, and most of our trips are road trips.

Taking our own food has been a great way to save money in days past, but unfortunately it is also a great way to waste money. There is nothing worse than buying, packing, and hauling bags and bags of food for a trip only to eat out the entire time and return home with all of that food left over. After a few post-trek reflections I've come up with a few of the simple truths we have learned from our own experiences:

We only take what we actually like. One unopened box of crackers recently completed a third round-trip with us, and I finally realized that we just plain don't like them, even if it's late at night in a hotel room. They have now moved on to the local food bank.

On that note, what we take must be better than what we could buy there. I can't tell you how many times we have stood eating cardboard-flavored granola bars or peanut butter sandwiches only to be engulfed with jealousy when towering soft-serve ice cream cones walked by. At that point the, "Well, we ARE on vacation," reflex kicks in and it's ice cream for everybody with the premium vacation-price-of-ice cream tab on us.

We make room in our budget for local fare, and we make a point of experiencing it. Part of the fun of traveling with kids is the educational factor involved, and a great way to learn about an area is to sample the local cuisine. (Side note: I read a great article in the April 2009 edition of Good Housekeeping titled, "What Thin Women Know." One of the points of the article was that "thin" women indulge "deliberately." What that means to me is that when I go to Sarasota for the express purpose of eating that fabulous gelato at St. Armand's Circle I am actually thinking like a thin person! Imagine if I applied that to my entire vacation...I'd practically wither away before returning home!)

Keeping food cold is only fun for a little while so we limit the amount we take. Usually we try to eat a picnic one time during a road trip, and that picnic happens on the first leg of our journey so that we can take perishable foods and enjoy them without having to babysit them for the remainder of the trek. If we will stay in a hotel room equipped with a refrigerator we may pack a small cooler of cold foods or, better yet, we just buy the food once we arrive at our destination. Prices generally don't vary too much, and unless we have traveled to Outer Mongolia a grocery store usually isn't too far away. Unfortunately, several yogurt cups perished for us to learn this lesson.

That being said, here are some of the things we always take with us:

• Yummy Granola Bars: Some grain wrapped in chocolate is better for us than no grain in a candy bar. They cost less, too.
  
• Water Bottles (disposable): We use refillable water bottles at home, but on vacation I prefer not to wash dishes as much as possible. These are also handy as "ice" for the cooler when frozen.
• Drink Mixes: I'm a sucker for a coke on a hot day at an amusement park, but they are really expensive. I take a water bottle to refill and individual drink mixes to make the water from the fountain more interesting and palatable.
• Homemade Snack Mixes: That's a fancy way of saying that I take all of our toddler's nearly empty boxes of snacks (like graham crackers, goldfish crackers, and pretzels), mix them all together and throw in some M&Ms or marshmallows. I portion them into single-serve containers, and I have a pretty good guarantee that amongst all of those different ingredients there will be something the little guy will eat.

I could type about this for a long time, but I want to hear your tales from the road! Do you have any food rules for when you travel? Do tell, and have a wonderful Tuesday!

For more fun kitchen tips, head over to Kitchen Tip Tuesday.

Getting away...

Sorry this post is going up so late today, but we are busy packing for our mini-vacation that starts tomorrow. Maybe I should say we are busy over-packing.

Does anyone else have this problem? It seems like the shorter the trip, the more luggage is needed. And the food! Does anyone else out there pack a complete pantry for a three-hour drive like we do?

I've considered experimenting with packing as little as possible just to see what would really happen if we didn't take five varieties of sunscreen or an assortment of allergy medications (foreign pollen is the worst), but I think we'll wait until the little guy is at least old enough to drive to get his own emergency pizza-flavored goldfish crackers. Until then, I've gotta go finish packing...

Happy Spring Break and Safe Travels!

Little Adventures

We like to go on little adventures from time to time. The lastest was a beach trip that we dreamed up the night before. Anna Maria Island happens to be our favorite place when we just want to hang out on the beach and chill.

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My hubby becomes a different person on these little trips. Suddenly, the cares of the world are insignificant and we concern ourselves with the fun things that the day will bring. If the trip takes a couple of hours in the car - that's OK. It gives us a chance to talk about things that take some time.
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When we're at home, there are so many distractions. The phone, laundry, cleaning, projects, and whiny kids are all things that keep us from just relaxing with each other. One of my goals in life is to make our home more comfy to rest in, but for now the little trips are working for us.

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In case you like to do the same, I have found a good deal for the month of May. It has become a tradition of sorts for us to go to Daytona Beach for Mother's Day. You see, the Hilton at Daytona Beach has a Florida resident special every year that I have not seen advertised. For $109 plus taxes, you can get an oceanfront room right on the beach at this really nice hotel. If you want to save a few bucks, for $99 you can get an oceanview room and for $89 you can get a room overlooking the city. The only other expense is the parking charge they have, but I think you can find less expensive parking across the street (we just pay the parking charge for convenience). If you go Mother's Day weekend, it's pretty quiet. If you go Memorial Day weekend it's pretty busy.

http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/DABDHHF-Hilton-Daytona-Beach-Resort-Ocean-Walk-Village-Florida/index.do

What we like about this hotel is that it is right on the beach and next to the Ocean Walk Village. Once you park your car, you really don't have get back in it until you leave. They have Johnny Rockets, Bubba Gump, Coldstone, Starbucks, pizza, mexican food and smoothie restaurants. There's also a movie theatre and surf shop there too. Most weekends showcase entertainment on the outdoor amphitheatre.

The Hilton has 2 pools (one of them being indoor/outdoor) and a hot tub. One thing that is nice is that is has CHILDCARE! Yes, CHILDCARE! You can pay a fee and the kids can play in their super nice kid area for as long as you want. This is especially nice if the parents want a quiet dinner out.

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Well, here are some pics from year's past. I have enjoyed posting this blog immensely because I got to look at these pics and remember the great times we've had!

When I only had one!

A funny ride!

Smile pretty!

Surf's up!

Road Trip

Back in the day, I loved taking off on road trips with some of my good college friends. We would pile in a car, look for a good radio station, and car-dance our way down the road. Keep in mind this was before CD players were installed in cars; most people were just starting to buy CDs instead of cassette tapes. This was also before a Starbucks could be found every 30 miles or so down the road. Some of our favorite songs were by Cheap Trick, Prince, Madonna, and Paula Abdul. Since we were in college, we would start out bright and early - around noon or so. Even though we thought we were broke, we would stop at Taco Bell if we were hungry for a snack along the way. Our road trips would often take unplanned jaunts to somewhere interesting like Lake Wappapelo or the General Baptist Headquarters.

Now that I am a grown up, road trips have taken a turn for the worse. First, if I am not crammed in a car with friends who will talk to me, I apparently do not like to travel. I am also now chief guardian to a child who doesn't like to travel either. Nevertheless, all three Carvers set out on our road trip home for Christmas a few weeks ago. Just like in my college days, we brought along some good music to listen to - the soundtrack from the movie "Hoot". I can safely say we loved it the first 100 times we listened to it, now it is a little old. But Alex loves it, and it makes him happy. We thought Alex might sleep in the car, so we planned on leaving at 4:00 am. Important note: this would be the time we would normally get back from a college road trip. To save money, we packed a cooler and lots of snacks. Since some things never change, our road trip was also filled with unexpected detours. Picture yourself in the back seat of a Hundai Santa Fe. The back is filled with suitcases and Christmas gifts. Here is what your trip would have looked like:

Day One - leave Florida at 4:00 am
4:41 - Drag Alex out of bed and take him to car in pj's. Alex squeals with delight, "are we going to Grandma's?"

4:42 - (Me to DH) "Did you put the lunch meat in the cooler?" - Turning around and returning to house.

4:46 - Leaving our town only 46 minutes behind schedule.

5:02 - Alex is not sleeping. He grabs my face with his hands. "Look hun, it says five, zero, two," pointing to the clock.

5:03 - Alex again grabbing my face, even more excited, "Look honey, it says five, zero, three!."

5:28 - Alex says, "Mom, look is says five, two, eight. I miss Grandma. I want to go see her."

That day of travel only took us 16 hours.

Day Six - leave Indiana at 10:00 am
Our trip to Illinois was much shorter, only four hours, and we actually left on time. Alex spent most of his time taking pictures. Here is my favorite.

Day 12 - leave Illinois at 7:00 am
7:42 - DH to me in backseat, "Are we ready to go?" Me, "No," as DH backs out anyway. Me, crying as my coffee spilt - OK, not really crying, but sad for sure.

7:44 - backing out again.

10:17 - finally found a Starbucks inside a Kroger!!

12:18 - Metropolis, Illinois - we must visit large superman statue. It is, after all, only three miles from the rest area.

1:17 - Somewhere in western Kentucky, we catch a girl named Shishi on 100.3 - the Beaver.

1:20 - Hoot CD - again!

All in all, we were really pleased with how well Alex did in the car. It was a long trip, but a great trip.

Ah, childhood...

I honestly thought I was getting the hang of this parenting thing. I was even starting to feel like I was becoming a fairly decent mom, if not a little motley. This week, however, I have encountered a whole new dimension to this childhood thing--I believe it's called "sibling rivalry."

Now, before those of you who know me start panicking thinking that I have acquired a new child on my little road trip, I'm talking about my son's relationship with his cousin. No, they are not really siblings, but they are as close as either is going to get for a little while. My nephew has just turned three, and this is the first time he and my just-turned-two year old son have been in the same place since last Christmas.

Both of these boys are adorable, precious little human beings with such generous personalities when they are by themselves, but visiting my parents this week has opened up an enormous can of worms for their developing minds--they have discovered that indeed, each is not the only grandson, and that is not setting well with either of them.

The initial confrontation went something like this:

(Both boys are strapped in their car seats, laughing and giggling, on the way to the pumpkin patch.)

Nephew: Are we going to see Papa when we get home? (Nephew excitedly asks.)

Son: (Recognizing the word "Papa") My Papa!

Nephew: (Responding in an educational manner) No, he's MY Papa.

Son: (Sensing a reaction) MYYYY Papa!

Nephew: (Whining) NANA! He said he's his Papa, but he's MYYYYYYY Papa!

Son: (Loving the reaction) MYYYYYYYYYYYY Papa!

Nephew: Waaaahhh! He's MYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY Papa!!!!!

Son: (Loud squeal, slaps at nephew)

Nephew: Waaaaahhhhh! He hit me!!!

Son: (Pointing to nephew innocently) Mommy, [He's] crying!!!

This little exchange continued for the rest of the journey with various other things substituted for "Papa"--they contested the possession of Nana, both Mommies, apples, pumpkins, and of course, the moon (no kidding). There have been lots of laughs and fun times this week, but those have been accompanied by quite a few slaps and cries as well. They may have a confrontation and then be begging to take a bath together five minutes later, so it's been a little confusing.

I remember that as a little girl my sister and I fought quite a bit, and at least we don't really walk around slapping each other now, so surely they will grow out of this. For the moment, though, it's been quite a struggle to keep up with their mood swings. Honestly, sometimes it's hard to keep a straight face, too (especially during the "moon" disagreement). I guess it's just something to put in the "For Future Family Reunions" conversation file for use when they are in high school and are in need of some embarrassing childhood stories.

My Old Kentucky Home

Oh, the sun shines bright...


On my Old Kentucky home...


On my Old Kentucky home far away.


This week I am going where I consider to be my "home" at this time of year. Florida is wonderful, and this is our new home, but a voice on the wind still calls to me when the leaves begin to turn and paint the rolling hills...

On a lighter note, check in next Sunday for what are certain to be funny stories from the road involving 16+ hours in a car with a two-year-old!

Chicks 'n Ducks 'n Geese Better Scurry...OR How to Achieve Dork Status In Just One Post

Here's our dream car...a real "Surrey With the Fringe on Top!" (My husband and I met when we starred in a little theater musical production of Oklahoma!...if you've never seen it, then the Surrey reference doesn't make sense...he sang this song to me every night). It already has two child seats on the front, so we wouldn't need carseats. You can even get little electric motors for these to help you pedal up hills and stuff. And a cool basket trunk for the back. And I love the Uga horn!

But if we decide to go for another one of these...

...then we'll need one of these instead...

Hmmmmm.