More of the day.....

We got some rain..... and it's been so long since we've seen any that I let the boys play in the puddles. And I might have joined in at one point....

Friends and neighbors came over for a cookout.... and some fireworks..... and firepit time. Everyone had a great time. The kids finally got to bed around midnight, and now a few of us are hanging out by the firepit, sharing stories while our hosts play guitar.

I have so many more pictures but my phone died and so I was using my camera - I might get those posted tomorrow. There might even be a video or two. ;)

And yes, I will be "introducing" our hosts tomorrow when I get some better pictures....

We made it!

We have arrived at our friends' in VA. Took the kids about 30 seconds to be in the pool. 

Time for supper, then relaxation......

First travel day!

We made it to our first destination - Shelbyville, KY. We stopped at the arch in St. Louis for a spur-of-the-moment visit, ate meals at rest stops, and did a total of about 738 miles. We are staying with my friend Tom for the night and have been having a blast!

Tomorrow we continue our journey to Virginia, where we will stay for the weekend.

I need to get the kids off of the Wii and calmed down. Ha.

Oh, they did great in the van - I only had to pull over and lay the law down once. ;)

TMOART:2011 - Preparations have begun

For anyone who has been following along, we are in the final stages of preparations for The Mother of All Road Trips: 2011 Edition (TMOART:2011).

We did a similar trip 2 years ago. The kids and I drove from Kansas to Pennsylvania and back over the course of 12 days, and put a total of 2941 miles on the Mom-Mobile. This trip is a little more ambitious, with stops planned in Virginia to see friends and Washington, DC for some edumacational stuff.

We have all of our places lined up to stay, and it looks like out of the 12ish days that we'll be gone, we'll only have to stay in a hotel for one night *happy dance*. We're going to see friends and family that we haven't seen in at least 2 years, and some that I haven't seen since high school! And we're even going to meet some "new" friends too.

I'm excited, to say the least!

As of right now, we have enough money to do it. Barring any unforeseen disasters or unplanned expenses, the trip is officially ON. We have been stockpiling food so that we don't have to spend a lot of money while we're on the road - I want to see if we can do this without eating out at all. That might end up being unrealistic, but I think if we plan well enough we can do it. We have a big ice chest to keep food and drinks in, so we should be ok.

We have the route mapped out, with directions to get to the places that we haven't been to before, and I have GPS on my phone - something that I've never had for one of these trips in the past! Sarah has gotten pretty good at reading maps too, so she'll be my official co-pilot for most of the ride.

The van has already gotten 2 new tires and has been given the once-over by my garage. The oil needed to be changed a few weeks ago - I would have liked to have waited until closer to the time, but it needed to be done then. So it'll need to be done (technically) before we get back, but it'll be ok.

I'm doing another craft show on Saturday (once I firm up a sitter for the boys) so any extra money we get from that will go into the travel fund. And any extra that we get between now and then will also go into it.

July 21 is the day we leave.

Just over 3 weeks!

OMG. It's only 3 weeks away. I've been planning this for months.

Wow.

OK, just had to get that out. Now I have to go work on laundry some more.