Although Tania did a wonderful wrap up on our trip, she failed to mention our Christmas Card and our wonderful adventures that it attempted to capture.
That's our Christmas card in a quick summary (quick?) Thank you, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Glorious New Year!
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It's hard to believe that our nomad lifestyle ended over 4 months ago and our world has reverted to the day-to-day grind of an active family of five. That said, our worldview has changed since our trip. The kids light up when they talk about the places we travelled and can relate so much better to the American History lessons they learn at school. It makes me smile when I overhear them recalling the storm in the Badlands or the rodeo in Texas. I went back to work in November but the feeling of being completely disconnected from work and engaged in my family won't leave me and I find myself looking at my phone less at night so I can give my full attention to the people that matter to me the most.
So what did we learn on our trip that we can share with you? First, and most important, don't be afraid to travel with your kids. It's messy and irritating at times but the experience is priceless. Being in the car allowed us so much flexibility to change course and "read the van" on whether we should keep going or stop. Here are some of our favorite places:
I'm sure there is more that I'll add but I want to get this wrapped up. Let us know if you want any information on the places we went and we can tell you about our experience and offer recommendations on what to visit while you're there. We live in a very diverse and beautiful country! It was an amazing adventure to explore so much of it this summer and I can't wait until our next trip. Happy New Year! Tennessee is a really long state. But, on the way we got to witness the Smokey Mountain effect. As it turned out, it wasn't actually the Smokey Mountains, but like the latter this mountain range looked like it was on fire as it was lined with a smokey-like cloud. Apparently it's a natural effect due to plant life, moisture, and evaporation. Nature has a way of being pretty cool. Our visit to tobacco country started late, and once again our host was incredible. Beds were ready despite our 1am arrival, and the beer was cold. The morning started with a visit to Monuts....good doughnuts, coffee, and breakfast....and a tour of Duke and UNC. I didn't notice any entitlement actions by students, but definitely felt it. Although the Duke Gardens were beautiful(and hot). UNC had a more casual feel, and to me felt surprisingly nice. Of course like any college town, it was helped greatly by being summer. Thank you Sean for hosting and the gifts, but the Kids are ready to get home. Virginia beach was a good choice for what we hope to be our final night. The waves were relaxing (thank god because driving through Delaware is a nightmare- 55mph with a number of stop lights. And the jets practicing maneuvers and the patio overlooking the ocean it made it hard to leave. Topped by a fantastic speech by Hillary Clinton(and I don't remember ever complimenting her before, believe me:) I can say it was a good night. But like the kids, these ants want to get back to Newburyport and off we go. "You think being the first state they would have better infrastructure" - Tania For those of you who have been following our adventures you know we have been to some fantastic places. Despite this, although not totally unexpected but still surprising, part of this journey has been a chance to visit with family and friends. I have found that even the quick stops have been nice as we celebrate the accomplishments of the ones we love. A new house, a graduation, A WEDDING! Having the chance to be a part of these experiences, or sharing our journey with others, or simply visiting with loved ones who we do not get to see as often as I used to has been a bonus to this fabulous trip.
Texas with the Dare Family was perfect. Our first rodeo, but also a visit to downtown Dallas. We found a nice grassy knoll to hang out for a bit. I've seen the videos, and a number of conspiracy theories, but being there was a little eye opening. It is a much smaller area than I thought, and the angles of the depository and the road do not match up to my memories of the videos (I will have to watch again). This marks the second place we have been where a president was shot and killed. Its amazing to think about what might have been if neither of those events have happened. Sorry - guess I was thinking out loud a little but...on to Florida and Nashville today. Okay. This blog post will be the most interesting blog post you have ever read, because according to my mom, the other ones are "to boring". Sam was excited about going to Texas SO much, he wore his brand new cowboy hat EVERYWHERE! I was excited too, because I got to meet Riley and Austin, the kids of my parents friends, Glen and Alissa. I had seen pictures and they just so cute and playful. So meeting them I thought would be cool. So when we got to Dallas and meet them, they were everything that I thought they would be. Except for that Austin, who is 4, was crying. We went to get pizza down the street. And when I took a bit... BOOM! SO good. I started to have some conversations with them to get to know them. But as Austin was telling me about the Joker, I think, Music started playing so loudly. So Austin covered his ears and it was just, well, cute. After we ate it was off to, you guessed it, A RODEO!!! It was pretty cool. And about halfway through there was this thing where they tied a ribbon to the tail of a cow and all of the kids were out on the floor trying to grab it.I didn't get it. 😢. Maybe next time. The next day we walked around McKinney and got on the road to New Orleans. When we got there I wasn't so sure about it. But it was late. So we went to our hotel and that was that. The next morning was when it got interesting. We went to Cafe du Monde. It was REALLY good. We got these things called beignets. They are basically donuts. Or fried dough. Anyway, they were deep fried dough with pounds of powered suger. After eating some, or more than one each, we started walking. We went to some really cool parks and heard some cool music, and we ate at a restaurant. Wait, this part is funny. So we were sitting down to eat, coloring in the kids menu and stuff like that. So when the man came over to ask what we wanted, Theo said,"I think I want lobster." So there you have it. And if you don't get what's so funny, he's never had lobster. Or even knew it existed as a food until my mom was reading the menu and said they had it. But before he even knew they had lobster, he wanted alligator. So now he is "The Lobster Kid of New Orleans". So stopped at some gift shops. And I got a voodoo doll keychain and a mask. Yup. A mask. That is a voodoo doll. All of them come with what there power is. This one is supposed to bring good times and good friends. I think that I have the best friends I could ask for already though.
A few days later, we popped into Florida. The town that we went into was known for it's white beaches. The sand is white and it doesn't really get that hot. It was right on the Gulf of Mexico. And it was beautiful. So went and we dipped our feet in the water(which is way warmer than the beach in MA). And I had gotten a bottle to fill with sand. So I did. It then started to get REALLY windy. The palm trees were blowing so much it looked like one would fall over. Which I was kind of hoping one would so we could strap it to the roof of the van and bring it home. Can you tell I've never seen a palm tree before? So we ate dinner outside and enjoyed Florida. Before it started raining. We ran inside. Then ran back to our car. So then we were off to Nashville. And that's how it ended. But not our trip. We are not home yet. We sat in the car and watched both parts of the seventh Harry Potter movie. Off to Nashville, Sophia We added Nashville to our trip because Sophia did a report on Tennessee in fourth grade and wanted to see where Taylor Swift got her start. Honestly, it wasn't on the top of my list but we really wanted the kids to help in our trip planning so we added it. The past week has been a haul to get everywhere so of course we didn't make it to Nashville when we hoped on Tuesday night but stayed about an hour outside of the city. We arrived Wednesday morning and decided to focus our visit on the Broadway corridor. For those of you who are not up to speed on the country music scene in Nashville, this is the street where musicians get their start. I'm not a country music fan but appreciate classic country and bluegrass music and I LOVED Broadway - it was a compact commercial corridor filled with awesome neon signs, wide sidewalks, and open windows/doors of bars with live musicians playing great music. We couldn't help but dance in the street! Note the photo below where Sam got photo bombed while getting down by a hillbilly bar. We also ventured up the pedestrian only bridge over the river that afforded us great views of the city and the efforts they are making to revitalize the waterfront. The public art, pedestrian/bike corridors, public art and placemaking were fantastic! Like when we hit Louisville two years ago, I wish we had more time to explore. We had to hit the Grand Ole Opry before heading out of town. It was a little unexpected to see it located in a Simon Mall complex. That said, the building has an enduring quality about it and the history adds to that. Unfortunately we didn't have time for a tour or to take in a show but we did enjoy the plaza before piling in the car for Durham. Looking forward to seeing our old friend, Sean!
Friday we went to Denver. First, we walked around and I said I wanted to go to the football stadium so we went. Mom took a picture of me in front of the Super Bowl Champions sign [note from mom - photo is on camera and we will upload later!] I couldn't believe I was at the Broncos stadium! I got a shirt that I'm wearing now. We went to the museum and there was a room where you could put on a football uniform and other sports uniforms. Theo put on a cheerleader uniform. We took them off, got a poster and left.
Today we went to the Oregon Trail but only the part in Scotts Bluff. First we got our Junior Ranger books. We read some paragraphs in the museum and watched a video but kids were taking so we didn't get the answers we needed. We drove up on the cliff and a ranger helped us with our books. Then we got our badges and left.
Chimney Rock was an important landmark on the Oregon Trail. I don't think it looks like a chimney. July 16, 2016 - Today we went to Mt. Rushmore. When we got there we had lunch. Then we walked through an aisle of flags and I found Massachusetts and saw it was the sixth state. We looked at the monument and took pictures. It started raining a little so we went into the visitor center and did our Junior Ranger badge but to finish we had to watch a video and answer some questions. When we finished we got our Junior Ranger pin. It was Theo's first one! Then we went to the gift shop. I got a divot and Theo got a bison stuffed animal. Then we got ice cream. I got a one foot soft serve! Then we left.
Note - Sam wrote out a few blog posts in his notebook but hasn't been able to sit with me to type them so these are a little behind. Enjoy!
July 9, 2016 - Today is my Aunt Heather's wedding. I am excited because I'm an usher. I get to bring people to their seats. Henry, Zeke and Jacob are also ushers. Some people started to come and we brought them to their seats. Someone told my mom that her son is a good usher. When everyone was in their seat we went to the first row to watch the first bridesmaids come down the aisle, then the flower girl, my cousin Aria, and then the bride. The priest talked for a bit, then they kissed and everyone clapped. I said to the other ushers "let's hit the bar"! We had a drink and then took pictures, lots of pictures, then had dinner. I had Mac and Cheese, chicken, and mashed potatoes. After dinner it was the first dance so Aunt Heather and Uncle Joe danced. Then it was cake time. There were cupcakes. Henry dared me to shove it all in my mouth so I shoved it all in my mouth. Jacob said "find a partner then we can dance". I got Lily. The D.J. said go to the bar for some dancing. We all went. I danced with Lily for the first song, Emily for the next. I switched with Emily and Lily then I danced with Aria. We went outside and my cousins Atticus and Ella got fake married. Then we danced until it was time to go. The End! |
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December 2016
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