Expedition 2018-a snapshot

Our big trip this summer was an almost 2 week trip to points west, a goal to travel to states we haven't been to yet.  We called it Expedition 2018 because it sounded cool and it really was starting to feel like an expedition with all the miles we were going to travel.  Mission accomplished.  We added Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas to our list of states we have been to.  Our initial plan was to camp in a camper for this trip, but that plan died on the side of the road about 1 hour into the trip.  Lucky for us, Grandpa Jerry came with our van and picked us up so we could keep on going.  Camping turned into staying at hotels, which was also a fun time.  We have already earned a free night with all the rooms we had booked for the trip.  Here are just a few pictures, one from each state (almost).

Cousins!  First stop, Iowa.  We got to spend the night at Uncle Jim and Aunt Courtney's house.  Xander and Everett were fun to play with and it was nice to see their house for our first time.  

Next stop, Minnesota and Mall of America.  We came, we shopped, we ate at Rainforest Cafe, we rode some rides at the amusement park in the mall.  

Then, on to North Dakota and Teddy Roosevelt National Park.  The painted canyons were beautiful.  It was cool to see geological formations different from the flat farmlands of the midwest. We stayed in the area for a few days.

Then, on to South Dakota.  We went to Mount Rushmore (the starting point for the idea of this trip) and Wind Cave National Park.  

We stopped at Chimney Rock, Nebraska next.  This was a lunch break stop on our long drive day from South Dakota to York, Nebraska.  It was so still out there, you could here the wind rustling through the grass.

No picture of Kansas City, KS.  We stayed the night there, had some great BBQ and made a spur of the moment decision to go to a marble store.  We got to see a marble making demonstration and, of course, got some marbles.  

After driving through Missouri, our last stop was to see more cousins in Illinois-Maddie, Abbie and Jacob.  We got to spend the night with Grammy Pammy before heading back to our house.  

It was a long trip.  I hope the kids can always look back on it and take away some good family memories.  We are already making plans in our head for Expedition 2019. 

Kella as a 7 year old

Let's hear from Kella now.  She is enjoying being 7 and getting ready to go into 2nd grade soon.  Here are her yearly birthday questions, answered.....

What is your favorite.....

color?....green

stuffed animal?....toucan or all of them

thing to sleep with?....blankie

fruit?....pear

thing to eat for breakfast?....breakfast burrito

thing to eat for lunch?....corn dog or hot dog

thing to eat for dinner?....pizza

dessert?....cake and ice cream

drink?....water

thing to do outside?....swim and jump

animal?....flamingo and puppy

Who is your best friend?....Emma

What do you want to be when you grow up?....dog trainer

Here are links to see how Kella answered these questions as a 6 year old, a 5 year old,  and a 4 year old.

Liam as a 9 year old

Better late, than never.  Here are yearly questions I like to ask all the kids on their birthday.  Liam has the honor of going first.

What is your favorite....

color?....blue

stuffed animal?....Totoro 

favorite thing to sleep with?....blankie, Totoro

favorite fruit?....watermelon

favorite cereal?....Cocoa Rice

favorite thing to eat for breakfast?....cereal

favorite dessert?....brownies

favorite drink?....soda

favorite thing to do outside?....pool

favorite animal?....dog

favorite game?....Pokemon games

favorite television show?....Teen Titans

Who is your best friend?....Jacob

What do you want to be when you grow up?....a technical designer and movie maker

Just for fun, here are Liam's answers as an 8 year old, a 7 year old,  and as a 6 year old.

Just the 2 of them

Liam and Andy left for Cary Camp on Thursday.  This is the overnight camp for Cub Scouts.  Andy has been going for an easy 5 or 6 years.  This year, it's just these two from our pack, but I know they will have some fun.  

Thursday night

Just a Thursday night at karate.  I thought we would go to the open mat class and then, maybe, Ewan would get to promote to his next belt.  We have been working towards promotions for what seems like forever.  We get there, we just go slower because of other commitments like sports. 

Surprise!  Kella and Kinley got in on the promotions, too.  Pretty cute watching my 5 year old try to do basic series and run a kata.  And, they all did great.  It was tough-Ewan's group had to run the same kata at least 5 times until the Sensei was satisfied with how the kata looked.  Kella and Kinley stayed strong through the 2 hours that included class and promotion.  They worked on kata, basic series a little sparring and self-defense.  The payoff-promotion.

 

The promotion class, before.

Ewan promoted to green belt!  

Kella promoted to full yellow belt!

Kinley promoted to yellow-striped belt!

The promotion class, after.

Our newly promoted.  Look at how excited they are.

our first few weeks of June

We hit the ground running in June.  The first week of June had soccer camp for Kella and Cale, basketball workouts for Marcus and Cale and band camp for our newest band member, Ewan.  Ewan chose to play the tenor saxophone (to our surprise, as we thought he would be a drummer).  He was excited to go the band camp-which was really a 40 min daily class with other saxophone players.  Can't wait to see how he does in the fall.

We are acquiring quite the instrument collection.

We tried to do things to keep busy-one day we painted a bunch of little rocks.

The girls had their dance rehearsal and recital. I got to be the backstage mom for Kella's class.  

A backstage rehearsal pic of Kinley's class.  She is right there on the end.

Also, because, why not, Kinley signed up for karate.  She was excited to join, but only willing to go out when she had her gi.  A girl has to have the right outfit for the occasion.

And, dance recital.  Ballet and tap for both girls.  You can see Kinley in her pretty pink dress.

Kella, right there, in her Elsa dress.

Dance friends.

Kella's tap dance.  She is the third one back.  

Those first 2 weeks of June went fast.  The last 2 weeks are our family vacation.  We are headed out west to the Dakotas and points along the way.  Should be fun and a chance to see more of the United States.

end of school year time pics

Chillin in our hotel room, waiting for everyone to get ready to eat breakfast and get back on the road.  I have time to actually post.  Here are some of our activities from May.

Dance wrapped up for the year, and, with it, Kinley and my weekly lunches.  We enjoyed eating at our 2 favorite restaurants: Jim Dandys and Applebees.  We pretty much had the menus memorized at each restaurant.

Kinley, helping me with a Mother's Day project for church: a photo booth.

Ewan, dressed up for wax museum day.  His teacher picked the category "outlaws, gangsters and pirates".  Ewan picked Baby Face Nelson as his character.

Kinley had her very last day of preschool.  On to kindergarten!

Academic awards ceremony for Cale.  

I had the privilege to help with Kella's first grade field day.  It felt like forever outside with a group of 7 kids.  In the hot sun.  

Had some great mornings with coffee, snuggling with Jasper, while Kinley watched some television.  We wake up slow in the mornings.

And, last day of school for my middle and high schoolers....

...and my elementary and primary kids.

And, now we are in the midst of our big summer vacation, which I have titled "Expedition 2018".  June will be almost done by the time we get back and we have July to make the most of, too.