Road Trip Day 13

So, we left St. Louis at 8:30 am. We were supposed to leave Monday morning, but decided we wanted to get home a day early. I had a little light spotting on Saturday and wanted to be home to call the doctor right away Monday morning.

This was our second stop. We stopped at a travel plaza for postcards and they didn't have any..... what is up with that??? They really should. We loved this place and spent at least a half hour walking around and browsing the gifts they had.

Driving through Missouri we ran into lots of wind and some rain. We also ran into 2 idiot drivers. I passed a van whose driver was too busy talking and laughing and swerving all over (I think partly due to the wind but not sure). I had a car on my rear end the whole time and by the time I passed I was pissed. I put my blinker on to get into the right lane and the car went around that way and flicked me off, then the car behind them did too!!! Boy was I mad, and horrible language just spilled out of my mouth. I was trying to get over.... but I flicked them off as they passed too, so yeah. I was going 70-72 mph (speed limit was 70) and after a few minutes we didn't see them in front of us anymore. If I had gotten thier license plate #'s I would have called them in, that was an accident waiting to happen.

In Iowa, it got even windier. At our supper stop for gas, bathroom, and Subway, it was hard to get the car doors open and we saw paper towels from the gas station across the street blowing across the road. We had to slow down to 55-65 mph (from 70) so that took a little time. As I left the station I tried calling V and my phone shut off. When I tried to call back I got the message CDMA service not available Never got that before and mom tried her phone and it did the same thing, so we were without service for a good 20-30 minutes.

N wanted to find the pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow. He told me to just drive through the grass to go find it. It was a beautiful rainbow.

This was the stormy sky that we saw all around us during our drive. It took us 14 hours to get home, and by the time we got home we all crashed. It was a great trip and we are going to average the miles we went and the gas cost and miles that my car gets on gas. We are already planning out next trip!

Road Trip Day 12

So we got up at 6 am and got our showers. We all got ready and packed and then took our stuff out to the car and got it all packed. We went back in to the hotel and had the free continental breakfast which was actually decent and met the best, sweetest worker at the hotel, Miss B. She obviously liked her job and the hotel guests. After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and walked over to the Graceland enterance/ ticket counter and waited until 8:45 to get in line for our tickets. We were in the first shuttle bus going to Graceland.

We walked around and got a tour of the house and grounds and saw all 6 exhibits on the tickets that we were allowed to see.

By the end of the tour, we were all hot and crabby and I was having a little bit of pain in my uterus. So we left for St. Louis (11 am). We had to stop at Wal-Mart 2 times, 2 different ones to get supper for today and Nido for G. We got to our hotel at 6 and now are probably here for the night, but not sure. We saw a lot of great scenery today going through Arkansas, Missouri, and Illinois.

And of course going through Missouri, I thought of K (my friend and old co-worker) since that is where her and her family want to move to.

Road Trip Day 11

So, Friday 13th. We left AL at 9:30 am. It took us until 5:30 to get to our hotel and it felt like we stopped 500 times! We kept looking for postcards at gas stations and none of them had any. We really liked the Birmingham area, it was big and had tons of trees and so much green even though it was a big city.

 B saw this truck and asked mom to take a pic of it. He remembered the table that she put a HUGE piggly wiggly pic on. Of course mom and the boys kept busy trying to get trucks to beep.

 We are currently in Heartbreak hotel. When we checked in it took mom 1/2 an hour and she said 2 people butt in front of her. We got up to our room and it hadn't been cleaned!! (and it smelled!) so we had to haul all of our luggage and the kids back down to the lobby and wait another 20 minutes to get another room. The beds were made, but the bathroom had blood on the toilet seat, long black hairs on the bathroom floor and toe nail clippings on the floor. It was really gross, but we stayed in the room. The internet connection is shotty so I can't add pics tonight and my broadband internet usb thing is getting extremely hot after being plugged in for 5-10 minutes so I called and they are sending me a new one since it is only 1 month old. So I guess I will have to come back on tomorrow if I get better internet connection and update the pictures. The area we are in now is not a good one. There are so many run down buildings and a lot of other buildings are fenced in and have bars on the glass. I will be happy when we get out of this area but mom said our next stop might be like this too. Guess I am too sheltered where we live, but thats not such a bad thing!

Road Trip Day 10

This is blue, my dad's newest puppy. He was a Yorkie Chihuahua mix. SOOOOO cute!

He loved playing with the guitar. The boys got to take the one that got restrung.

So today is day 10, we have 4 days left with our trip. We went and spent a few hours with my dad and then decided it was time to go get the kids a late lunch and do some laundry again and try to find a really good chinese restaurant to satisfy mom and mine desire for chinese food. On the way back from the visit with my dad we found a post office and mailed a few cards and the letters to the hotel we stayed at last. I already wrote a review of the hotel we are in now and we are now noticing things about it that make it less appealing to stay at, but we leave in the morning for mom's next stop- seeing where Elvis lived.

We were told the weather is colder here then normal, so I guess the cold is following us. But then I was told it is cold and raining at home today so I would rather be cooler with sun than cold and rainy!

I got the appointment for S's speech evaluation set up today. He already had the evaluation before we left, but this is to tell me the results and to tell me what services he qualifys for. Hopefully it will be some good news for us and he will get some good services so we can understand him better.

Also got a consultation with a psychologist for B and N set up. We have been trying to find one for over a month and were getting the run around so last night I looked online and found the name of someone and e-mailed and received an e-mail back last night. I e-mailed another question and received a response today so I called today and got the appointment set up and the referral all set up. It feels good to get stuff done even while on vacation!

We decided to do laundry at the hotel, so we called for Chinese delivery. A few places around here wouldn't deliver, but we found one, China Express that did deliver. They took FOREVER getting here, but the food was well worth the wait, it was SO good!!! Even the kids ate thier fried rice and B asked for more!

Now it's time for bed, since we are planning to get up in the am, get ready, have breakfast, pack the car and go, but I am not ready to wind down and go to sleep yet. Found Stomp the Yard 2 on TV, so since we only have DVD's at home (no cable) we have all been enjoying the cable in the hotel. Maybe another reason I can't sleep is this little baby is moving around like a little jumping bean. Thats much better than not moving around tho, since I get worried about that!

Hopefully tomorrow is a good day with nice weather. Checked the weather for at home for the next 10 days and Monday is supposed to be a high of 36. Too bad I cut my maternity pants off into shorts already, guess I jumped that one!

Road Trip Day 9

So, yesterday after our trip to the track on our way to try to find Dunkin Donuts (which we didn't), we stopped at Pilot and got gas for $3.67 a gallon. After pumping the gas I went in for snacks to last for our laundrymat trip (until we got back to the hotel for supper) and I found my tea!!!! Boy was I excited. I found out about Peace Tea one time on the way up to Aberdeen to see my boyfriend when he lived there. This gas station only had 3 flavors, but this morning I was in heaven drinking the tea+lemonade flavor that was delicious!!! More places should really carry this tea....it is only .99 cents and it has less ingredients and is way healthier than Arizona tea.

 So this morning I got my trip to Dunkin Donuts. We stopped after leaving the hotel and pulling off for our first bathroom stop. I had to make 2 trips to the bathroom before leaving, guess my little Daisy is sitting on my bladder. We got a dozen donuts and I also got a fresh bagel. The bagel was better than the donut!!! Guess my tastes have changed since I was little.

This is our box of donuts. We each picked 2 kinds.

On our way down from TN to AL we got into a lot of traffic and one place had 7 lanes on our side of traffic (with the turn off lane). It is without a doubt way different than driving at home. Also it is like in TN with lots and lots of trees, some small mountains (possibly around here considered hills), and the trees are ALL different shades of green. The sun was shining and it just felt so amazing out there. Definately way different than our one shade of green and brown where we live!!!!!

And of course the kids kept themselves entertained on the drive down. Once we got to AL we found Family Dollar and I went in for a few cards, wipes, and laundry soap. I also got a tweezer, nail polish, and nail polish remover pads (each only $1)- hay a girl has to keep well groomed. Of course I forgot razors to shave my legs tho. Now our plan is to stay in the hotel, which has a wayyyyy better room than the last one, and just hang out for the night. Get to see my dad tomorrow!

Road Trip Day 8

Well, Today is our last full day here. We are planning to get up in the morning tomorrow and drive down to Alabama to see my dad. It takes about 5 to 6 hours from here, but if we leave in the morning then we won't have to rush, rush, rush, like we did on the 2 days driving down here. Plus before we leave in the morning we have to find the Dunkin Donuts we saw on the first day coming in here and stop for some donuts!!! Not that I really need donuts from there, but we used to go there when I was little and they had the best donuts, wayyyyyyyy better than Krispie Kreme. Not sure if it is still this way, but it used to be.
Our plans for today are to take the kids to go on their 1 ride around the go cart track and wash the clothes at the laundrymat, clean out the car, and get it all packed up so in the morning we can get ready and eat breakfast and then go. It has been a really fun time here in TN but I myself am ready to go for the next stop and next hotel. Not saying I am ready to go home, because I don't know if the sun is shining there like it has been here or if it is warm there like it is here, but I'm ready to move on. Love all the green, trees, and mountains in TN tho and even tho in my opinion people here don't know how to drive (especially the guy in the red car at Wal-Mart yesterday who drove on the wrong side of the road to pass the cars in the lanes, then at the 3 way stop it was my turn and he cut me off and went anyways and then proceeded to drive thru the RED light!!!!!! ), most people have been really nice and friendly.
Anyway, if we do anything interesting today I will put pics, but not sure the laundrymat is interesting enough to put pictures of tho!!
So we stayed in the room until about 4 pm. The kids all took a nap and so did mom. We went to the Track and the B, N, and S each got 2 rides on the go carts, they all took a few kiddie rides with G and then G rode the swing. All in all they had a blast!!!

Road Trip Day 7

My lovely B, didn't want to go white water rafting. It took the whole ride and then about 20 extra minutes to convince him to go for the ride that it wasn't scary and he would like it. He told mom about 20 minutes into the ride that he was sorry and he was having lots of fun. G could have gone and they said I could have too, but I didn't want to with being 5.5 months pregnant and I thougth G was too little.

While they were on the raft, G and I stayed on the dock and looked at the caterpillars, the other rafting boats going by, the workers putting in new steps (and throwing rocks-from the dirt where the steps would go-into the water), saying new words and walking to the car for drinks.

Mom said the tour guide, Mike, was telling them all about different trees and flowers they were seeing, about bears and snow and his trip to the aquarium. All in all, they all had a great white water rafting ride and S said he wasnted to do it everyday!

After that we had a late lunch at a McD's we found on the way back to Pigeon Forge (where we have been staying for the last week) and then found the post office.

When we were at the post office we heard a huge noise and then saw a helicopter land in the grass by the tree. An ambulance came shortly after that and after about 5 minutes it loaded someone from the ambulance to the helicopter and took off. N, S and G got a kick out of the helicopter being in the grass and N was taking pictures like crazy with his camera..... not that he was the only one!!

Then we went to Wally World and picked up my prescription and then stopped at one of the souvenier shops where I bought the post card (above). Actually I got 6 copies of it so we could send to everyone we want to send to. When we got back to the hotel, the room was way different than we came. The piece of the ceiling in the bathroom above the shower that was taped to the ceiling fell off onto N's foot this morning when he got into the shower so B took it down to the front desk and they sent the maintenance man. He ended up having the maid bring in new cover blankets, blankets and bed skirts. We told him about the lamp by the door flickering, the light above the sink taking so long turning on and about all of the plugs falling back into the wall when we tried plugging anything into them, so when we got back our beds had new blankets and the outlets were all fixed so now we can plug stuff in without them falling into the wall. It was a really nice surprise, but it came a little late in our stay since tomorrow is our last day! We are still sending out a letter to the manager and to the head chain on the hotel.

Now it is about 6 pm and we are getting ready to take a walk down to one of the souvenier shops down the street. Mom wants a picture of the pig mailbox that has been her marker to the street the hotel is on. I want to see if the souvenier shop has some bumper stickers for my car! Woo Hoo! Tomorrow is our last day in Pigeon Forge, TN!!

Road Trip Day 6

Easter!! Happy Easter to anyone who celebrates!! What a great day it was! We started the day with waking up to easter baskets that the easter bunny left. The boys were all very excited as they got a scratch pad of construction paper, 2 color gel pens, a bubble blower hero, a matchbox car, and candy. The boys were so happy the easter bunny found us in the hotel. N was very surprised the easter bunny got in our room and was puzzled how that happened.
We all got ready and had breakfast and then took the hour drive to Uncle M's house where I got to see 3 of my cousins, thier husbands and kids for the first time in about 7 or 8 years and actually got to sit and visit for the first time in about 15 or so years. Uncle M and Aunt V set up an easter egg hunt and did one for the little kids and one for the big kids and all of the kids had so much fun looking for the eggs. The kids also all enjoyed running around outside playing, while the adults sat inside watching out the windows/doors and chatting. Uncle M made pizza like he used to have in his pizzaria and it was the best pizza we had in years.

Of course before we left, mom had everyone get together for a group picture, which some of us moaned about and didn't want to do, but it makes a great memory, especially when we all go so long between seeing each other.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at Dollar General where we got cold drinks. We got some really good lemonade. We also stopped at the Post Office we passed and not only did I got over the curb 2 times, but we mailed the post cards we had since our first day on the road. About 20 minutes after that we came upon an accident where we saw a bunch of police cars and a fire truck on the side of the road and a car flipped over on its top in someone's yard. About a half mile down the road was another car that's driver side front tire was all bent and the front end was all smashed up. We saw an elderly lady walking along the road with her purse up on her shoulder shielding her face and a bunch of cop cars parked in front and behind her, but no cops around her.

When we got back to the hotel, those of us that didn't eat more pizza in the car, N and G, ate some food in our room and then we got back in the car again and went to the Jurrasic Park Boat Ride that S wanted to go to since our first day coming here.

It was really dark off and on and dinosaurs rawred and the boys were all pretty scared, but it was an experience to last a lifetime, and one we won't pay to do again! (but worth it the first time just for the experience).

Road Trip Day 5

So, today we got up and got ready. We went to the community center for the Easter Egg hunt. We got to the community center and were directed to Patriot Park. Mom said it said light number 2 take a left. So, we went that way and got lost lol, leave it to us. Well I stopped to look at a map and was going to turn out the gas station driveway left, but too much traffic was coming so I went right and we ended up at Patriot Park, right where we needed to be. We read a sign that said 10 am (as did other people standing by us!) and the egg hunt started at 11 am with 0-3 year olds. So I went in and helped G get eggs. I think he ended up getting about 5 eggs in all. Then we went over and they started S with his egg hunt (4-6 year olds). He got about 5-6 eggs, and then we went over and watched B and N (7-9 year olds) and they got about 6 eggs each too. There were lots of kids there who had baskets full of eggs, but we told the boys it wasn't about how many eggs they ended up with, it was about the fun of it.

After the egg hunt we stood around for a little while with tickets that they handed out before the egg hunt to win prizes. The only ticket who won a prize was B. He got a  little boot cup filled with candy. He was very excited. N and S were disappointed when it was time to leave and they hadn't won anything, and then it turned into a bad day for everyone, so we ended up spending the rest of the afternoon in the room. When S and G got up from thier naps, I took them with me to the laundry mat to wash all of our clothes and mom stayed in the room with B and N who took rests. After being cooped up in the hotel for half the afternoon we ended the night with a short walk for  ice cream from Baskin Robbins. It was delicious, expensive ($23) but delicious and a once in a who knows how much  more time.

Road Tip Day 4

Well, so far day 4 is slow. By TN time, it is 11:30 so the day is half over. S woke up this morning saying his tummy hurt, but he tends to do that sometimes, especially if he chooses not to eat what I make for supper the night before. He ate supper last night, so it was weird for him to say that. He also slept later than anyone else and he normally is up before everyone else. After we went down to the lobby for breakfast, he threw up on the sidewalk. I am hopeing it is too much excitement from the trip so far and from all the driving we have been doing. He is only 4 and this is his only really big road trip. We shall see as the day goes on. He had some juice and is now up playing cars with N. Not quite sure what we will do today, we are supposed to go see mom's cousin's band tonight with Uncle M, and right now mom is in bed under the covers with pants and a sweatshirt on complaining how cold she is. Some things never change!!
We ended up going to the Deer Farm exotic petting zoo and spending time feeding the deer, goats, camels, horses, zonkeys, donkeys, zebra, raindeer and much more. No body else fed the camel except me. We were instructed before feeding the animals that for the camels both hands were required and they had to be flat or they could get your whole hand in thier mouth up to your elbow!!!

After the zoo mom, N and S, went on a horseride. Moms horse was kicking its leg and it freaked her out so she said she didn't want to ride. So of course I started to freak out about S riding. The horse was so big and he was so small on top of the horse, but mom decided to ride so I let S ride. They came back after 45 minutes and mom said S and N did excellent. 

The last  part of the night we went to Music Row and saw mom's cousin play the guitar in the band (the one in the blue). It was exciting for her because she hadn't seen him since she was 16 years old.  S and G loved the music and S was skipping around the room and G was dancing with mom. B and N on the other hand weren't cooperating and we ended up  having to cut the night short because of it.

Road Trip Day 3

Day 3 brought us to the whole reason for the trip. Zorbing. Mom took the 2 older boys. B only went for one of his 3 rides down the hill. N and mom went down all 3 turns. Mom said N was screaming and saying he didn't want to go again all the way down the hill and when the ball stopped, he said, "Let's go again!" Unfortunately when we went we didn't realize the only ride the kids were old enough for was the wet ride, and we didn't bring changes of clothes. After B decided he didn't want to go down again I told him it was good I am 5.5 months pregnant because mom might have wanted me to go down the hill too!! S and G were too little to go down the ball so S ran around and G and I sat and watched.

Road Trip Day 2

We started out at 8 am central time from the crappy hotel in Illinois. About 10 am it felt like we hadn't made it very far and it started downpouring off and on and we had to slow down to 45-55 mph. When we finally entered Kentucky, it was still downpouring off and on and we saw 2 accidents- 1 the car must have went off the road because there were police, other cars and a news truck on the side of the road, the next was a tractor trailor that went off the road into the tree.

 By the time we stopped for supper and gas we were all tired of sitting in the car, mom was unable to keep her eyes open and I was SO tired and ready to stop. I kept my sunglasses off because the darkness of them made me feel sleepier than I was already. Mom went in to the bathroom with the 3 older boys and I pumped the gas (she prepayed). I got done and the older 2 boys came outside fighting and telling me this one did this, that one did that and I got in the car and drove away from the pump. Oopsie on my part, I forgot with the fighting and being so tired, to take out the hose out of the tank before I drove away from the pump, so the hose pulled out of the machine. I stopped in the middle of the driveway, undid the pump from the car, dragged the hose back to the machine and hung it up, parked and got the baby out and went inside and told the cashier that I forgot to hang the pump up and the hose pulled out of the machine. Thank goodness they didn't charge us, and thank goodness the pump didn't break- the hose just came loose from the machine. Wow, what a brainfart on my part!!! At least mom and the boys got a good laugh out of it.

After we left the gas station, we saw one more accident right before entering TN. The van must have come from the other side of the road and went through the median. It ended up in one lane of the road on our side. We got there right after it happened and had a tractor trailor in front of us. The few cars in front of us went around the accident, so we did too. The old man and woman were in the road next to thier van. When we got to our exit Uncle M met us and drove in front of us to our hotel so we didn't get lost. Thank goodness he did! Our second hotel was worse than the first, but we have kind of accustomed ourselves to it now. We are supposed to be here until Wednesday morning.

Road Trip Day 1

So day one of our road trip and it started out with J wetting the bed, after I washed his sheets and blankets yesterday so they would be clean when we get home in 2 weeks. We got off at 8 am like planned, but I went the wrong way for 5 miles and had to turn around. We had to stop to pee every hour for a few hours, mom figured her problem is the chemo and mine is being 5.5 months pregnant, lol life, I tell ya. At our second stop, we had to stop to see the Jolly Green Giant. It was SO cold out, but we stopped anyway. After passing a bunch of trucks and trying to get them to beep, I think the count upon arriving was like 20 attemps, 5 actual beepers and 3 wavers. Most of the truckers were on the phone, eating, or ignoring mom and the boys attemps to get them to beep. On the way down we also saw a live pink pig walking around in the median of the road. We weren't sure if he got out of the truck somehow or escaped from the farm we saw in the distance, but it was a pretty interesting site and one we had never seen before, especially on the highway. We only ended up getting lost 2 times with the directions mom printed off yahoo maps, and by the time we got to the hotel our plan to swim in the pool went out the window. We were all tired of being in the car and crabby from being lost and frustruated. Hopefully tomorrow will bring more fun, more sun, and better directions to our next stop!