Sun...Sand and WINTER?!?!

Hi there! I am here and doing more than well but I know that we have pretty much disappeared off the face of the earth! Let me explain and share what we have been up to. Last year, we decided to spend the Winter in Mexico and come back in time for the snow to begin melting and the temperatures to be warmer. We plan on coming home in March. Unfortunately it began to snow and get chilly RIGHT before we left and I even worried that our flight would not get out...wait WHAT?! Yes...we flew...we had planned on making it a grand adventure by taking a bus cross country to Dallas, Texas. This was going to be a 48 hour adventure with many stops along the way to do a quick explore and learn. THEN...the weather went sour and my husband began to worry about busses on icy roads and the like...so we bought plane tickets...at the last minute...OUCH! That bit into our vacation budget but oh well, we were not going to get stressed out. Why are they smiling on this snow mound? Ohhh because we are off to the sandy beaches of Mexico and the shining sun of Texas!

Our plane ended up being delayed a bit, but not by much at all...the staff at Southwest was so awesome, even though we were last to board due to not checking in on time...they had saved a row of seats for at least my children to all sit together! That is always my biggest worry about open seating plans on planes but this was fantastic.

Believe it or not, they actually agreed on an order as to who gets to sit by the window seat and I did not have to encounter any arguments!

Dallas became our home for a week before we headed off to the warm weather and delicious food of Mexico. My kids found it quite humorous that at 60 degrees, they still had their heat on in the cars and were bundled up as we were in t-shirts and sometimes even shorts!

I will be updating this blog on a regular basis but the lack of internet and the plethora of exploring have us doing so much more than blogging. The main point of today's post is to share how we will be keeping a travel journal!

One thing we love to do is color and write, so instead of buying a premade journal, I decided to buy a large package of postcard sized thick cardstock. I placed the paper in a box with markers, pens, pencils, scissors, glue sticks, decorative tape, a hole punch and binder rings. This kept everything in one place and made it easy to travel with. This is a NECESSITY as we would be in and out of over 8 hotels and 4 different rental homes as well as staying with family members.

The reason for the tape is so that we can decorate the plain paper and turn them into postcards to send to friends and family about our adventure! Each hotel front desk sells stamps and offers a mailing service, postcards and cheaper than letters and it is a great way to get our art in too! The hole punch and binder rings are for our journal! Each night before bed and before we begin to read, each child takes a card and on one side begins to write about their favorite part of the day and then on the opposite side they can either draw a picture or glue a picture we print out or glue maps, receipts...anything they have as a memento from that day! These make for spectacular mini scrapbooks to remember trips by!

Enjoy every minute my friends! We are off to the pool!

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Mondays Come Too Fast...

I honestly believe that I ask myself 'how is it Monday already' every single week. We like to stay busy constantly and even steal away sometimes and I think that keeping busy 24-7 is what makes time fly by too quickly. My fit bit logged in so many steps each day this weekend, I honestly thought that I was on a Disney vacation! Do you know how many miles you log on those trips?! One thing I ALWAYS do when we steal away is bring a bag of school work and books, the kids moan and groan about it, but late at night when we are in the room, they are often found snuggling up in bed with a book and reading or playing some type of game. TV is a luxury that sometimes gets turned on the minute we get into a room, but they love going back to the books after the initial excitement!

Joann Fabrics has these adorable sleighs made of wood that your children can paint and they are the PERFECT size for your elf pet and Elf on the shelf along with some friends!!

St. Nicholas Day came and as we read all about him, the kids had fun exploring their new goodies! Books and candy and games along with a few other goodies!

Our elf has been having a war with the nut crackers every year since he arrived and this time they caught him coming back!! He is in popcorn jail, but it worked out just right as he brought along a family movie and a bag of popcorn!!!

Our book of the day is Courduroy's Christmas Surprise by Lisa McCue. I have been a Courduroy fan since I was a little girl and am always eager to share a favorite story with my kids. My husband knows of him, but he was never a fan, I think it's great that as an adult he is discovering an old friend and seeing him in a different way!

The silly elf took our coloring book that ST. Nick brought and he started coloring the pages we left blank!!

Enjoy every minute my friends, it goes far too quickly!

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Learning While Away...Part 2

Yesterday, I shared our learning while away lesson on how we can always be learning, even when on the road. A lot goes into planning a vacation, why not get some learning squeezed in there too. This has helped so much in this time of emergency, when I didn't have time to come up with a real lesson plan. You can read part 1 HERE!

Today's lesson is a very important one when traveling, it involves a lot of math and all of it is mental math. It is important to know how to do your math in your head when travelling, because you will purchase most items at outdoor stalls and booths, in open air markets and from people that may not be as educated as you wish they would be when dealing with money. Everyone makes mistakes, it is important to not have them made to you.

Today's lesson was on changing money. It is important to only change the amount of money you will need for the day, unless you think it is a very good exchange rate. The rates fluctuate daily and even multiple times during the day. Also keep in mind that not all places pay out the same amount, so keep checking with more than your hotel front desk and houses of change, banks tend to pay out higher amounts but also have longer lines.

1. The first step was to find the days exchange rate, this can be found by a quick Google search.
2. I gave the children the amount of money that would be exchanged and they had to calculate what I would get back if the exchange rate we came across was the exact same as what we found online.
3. We headed out and went to buy PESOS, we went to 3 different places and they had to write down the exchange rate at each place and calculate how much we would get back. Out of the 3 places, they then told me where we would get the most for our USD and we headed back there to exchange money.

Because we were spending most of our time in hospitals, much of our trip was spent eating out at food stalls, stands and some restaurants and our souvenir shopping (if any) was done in open air markets, this was where it was time to prepare the mind mentally as you don't have the time to pull out a calculator, and you should always be prepared!
1. If the kids wanted to buy something, I sent them to several stalls to compare prices, once the best price was found, they had to exchange it to USD at the price we paid and find out if in fact it was a good deal or worth the price.

2. When paying, the children had to show me which bills and or coins to pay with and then they had to tell me how much change they would get in advance of paying, so that they were ready when the change came.

3. At the end of each day, they would look at the amount we started out with and the amount left and then they would calculate how much money was spent and if we were on budget if a budget was given ahead of time. As this was an emergency trip, we were not going on a budget.

I hope you enjoyed this part of our lesson, stay tuned for more on part 3 next week!
Enjoy every minute my friends!

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In This Moment...

Taking some time for reflection on our bike ride!

Taking moments for ourselves throughout the day, reminds us to be thankful for every little bit of our lives. This morning as I sit with my cuppa and think about all the changes that have happened to us in the past year, I reflect about life...In this Moment I am:

::Smelling the casserole in the crock pot
::Listening to my children read "quietly" in the other room

::Drinking English Breakfast tea & discovering that I don't quite have a fondness of English Breakfast

::Thinking about how thankful I am to my husband for working hard, so that we may stay home

::Making my to-do list for today

::Feeling felt in between my fingers as I try to come up with some new felt board items
::Trying to suck up the chill in my bones with a sweater
::Realizing that never again will my children be this age that they are this very second...so I am signing off and going to read to them!

Enjoy every single minute my friends! It all goes by too fast!

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Playing Catch Up ABC's

Another month has flown, but we've been on field trips, road trips, bike trips, city trips, ocean trips and even to DISNEY! I will keep you all posted on each of those trips very soon, for now let's catch up with a round of  ABC's:

Adventure: A true adventure is what we set out for and it is what we got in return.

Blessed: Being able to spend this time together was a true blessing.
Car: Our VERRRRRY old minivan was our transport across the country and to places in between!
Disney: We spent an amazing 14 days in Disney that could not have been any more magical.
Escape: Our family needed to get away from it all and just connect with one another.

Florida: Our favorite go-to spot never let us down!
Georgia: The LONGEST state to drive through when you just want to get to Florida!!!
Homeschool: Yes, my children still did work on the drive to & from Florida & some while in Disney!

International: The International Food & Wine Festival in Epcot ~ the food & drinks were delicious!!

Jealous: As we left Disney World at 2am, I was jealous of everyone pulling in and just starting...

A chip holder is perfect for holding playing cards in little hands! The car ride was electronics free!

Kentucky: The cheapest gas came from here and some of the friendliest people!!
Love: I loved taking my kids to the spot we were married and showing them where it all began.
Moms: I met so many mothers at our co-op field trips, it's great to make new friends.
Nashville: We spent some time at Opryland resort and it was amazing as always!

Ocean: Taking breakfast to the ocean at 4am and watching the sunrise from the beach...wow.
Ponce de Leon: We visited the fountain of youth and learned so much!
Quick: It went by far too quickly...
Redo: Can we do it all over again! I would change so much and then again nothing at all!

St. Augstine: The most beautiful coastal town EVER! We fell in LOVE!
Ten: It was our 10 year anniversary in September & that was what we celebrated on vacation!
Universal Studios: Harry Potter was great, but the lines were so long, we did not get to do much else.
Volunteer: Our year of volunteering came to a close and it left me feeling confused...more to come.

Wisconsin: We just biked 14 miles in Wisconsin with a 7,8 & 9 year old! They were awesome!
eXhausted: The past month has been a whirlwind and I feel like I need down time...but when?!
Year: 1 year until we return to Disney World with our kids! We booked before we left!!
Zoo: We trick-or-treated at the zoo this past weekend and had so much fun counting Elsa's!

Enjoy every single minute my friends, it goes by in a flash...

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Happy Friday! Let's Hit The Road!

Friday's always bring many a road trip to our little family. One thing I have learned on our travels, is that I have to keep it interesting in the car, since I won't give in to the DVD player brigade! Old fashioned singalongs, license plate games, quiet work and other things are what we like to do! It keeps the family engaged with one another at all times and the kids don't zombie out! This is a game the kids and I love to play! Circle fill, is just a sheet of circles that everyone must decorate in an allotted time period. It does not matter how they are decorated as long as they are each done differently and with some type of design, not just a dot and moving on. 

A magnetic-dry erase lapboard is perfect for 'scratch paper' and for drawing or playing games with siblings. Tic-Tac-Toe, hang-man and so much more!

These awesome lunch containers can be used for so much more than lunch! I use them to hold multiple games and they use less space than if I were to bring them along on their own!

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Thoughts on Thursday...

This Thursday as we are out on a new adventure, I want to share some thoughts with you:
::I love being behind the camera
::I really think I am the luckiest wife on earth

::True joy hits me at the most random times and I grin like a crazy person
::I sometimes think I am an insomniac because my life is so Blessed, I don't want to sleep it away

::The best souvenirs are often free

::A simple smile from a stranger has the power to make the day amazing
::I love to dish out 3 compliments a day to strangers
::I find holding hands to be a way to pass strength to someone

I find peace in so many places, that I work them into my routine when I can:
::Book Shoppes are my Shangri la
::Farmers Markets can keep me occupied for hours
::Being in the garden relaxes me
::Charity Shops are my adventure
::Beaches are my playground

Share some wonderful thoughts with me in the comments!! Enjoy every minute my friends.

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Happy July! Vacation Memories

Happy July my friends! Sorry for the silence, but we have been out of town enjoying our family and learning about our United States! We visited Springfield, Illinois to learn about our government and for the kids to learn all about what was going on. After a day there, we spent the rest of our vacation in St. Louis, Missouri.

We are a Disney World family and are constantly saving for the next trip along with our big trip to Europe that we are hoping to take in 3 years. That was all changed when we purchased this little Passport to Your National Parks!! This is the most fantastic thing I have ever seen! It's full of National Parks in the USA and has places to get your passport cancelled when you visit those parks, just like a real passport! There is a large map, stamps and other fun things included in this. This is absolutely perfect for homeschoolers, talk about hands on learning!! Many of these places can be done on a long weekend, on the way to longer trips and are all great adventures to take your children on. Our first destinations of Springfield & St. Louis were 2 of the places in this passport that we could tackle in one trip and our first adventure was planned!

We made sure not to rush the trip, which allowed us time to take in so much, but there was still so much more to do!! This is definitely a trip that must be repeated. We made sure that there was a learning aspect to all of our stops and the kids didn't even know it was happening. They thought this was a vacation from school!  We learned about how kids played in the days prior to electronic toys and enjoyed learning how to play many of the games.

The Botanical Gardens had us smiling and relaxing as we watched winged creatures up close and sometimes even land on our heads. Sitting and watching these Butterflies made for quite a Science lesson.

There was a lot of walking where we calculated how much we walked and the distance to certain destinations. We learned how to use maps properly and also calculated long driving distances.

Every time we go out to a new city, we visit children's museums and taking them in is a learning experience in itself! Here we are examining Gabriel's eye and exploring the new place.

Beautiful fountains you can play in?? City Gardens in St. Louis got our vote for the #1 fun family thing to do that was FREE!! It was a great way for everyone to cool off and enjoy a break in the day.

Vacation Tip? Buy postcards and mail some to yourself so that you can have postmarks from your destinations along with memories of what you did that day! I like to have the kids each write 1 line about what we did in that location and then at the end of the entire trip, we have the front desk mail them out. It's a fun and inexpensive diary of our vacation.

Where have you vacationed to recently? Share your destinations with us in the comments!

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