And we’re home!

The last week or so of our trip has been wonderful.  But very very tiring.

Driving through the United States

This is all of the states we’ve driven through since I last wrote.  As you can see that’s a lot of states.  Though admittedly, Kentucky was more of because Cincinnati is right on the border and because we went to see one last thing there.  Still, that’s 8 states in only a few days.  The 4 states with no picture of is because there wasn’t a safe place to stop on the road as we went into the state, as it is we missed the Iowa sign because it was right in the middle of the Mississippi River and a tornado was threatening, so we pulled over right afterwards.

224

After the convention we stopped by the Creation Museum and spent the afternoon wandering around there.  We really enjoyed wandering around and seeing all of the animals, displays and exhibits.  I spent a fair amount of time taking pictures of signs they had that really intrigued me that I wanted to follow up on.  The kids loved seeing all of the Bible scenes brought to life and the PETTING ZOO.

043

Which included a zorse and a zedonk (zebra and donkey hybrid, and zebra and horse hybrid).  I enjoyed talking with the zoologist they had on staff about the characteristics of these unusual guys.  She says the big thing is they have a lot of the zebra’s over-developed (for domestication) flight or fight response, so you always have to be on the look out for what might scare them.  Meanwhile my kids spent a good hour in the petting zoo area running after chickens, goats, and other animals in there.

081

We drove through a day or so of this nastiness, and had one tornado scare which was quite more than enough for me.  Thankfully there weren’t actually any near us, but it was rather nerve-wracking for a bit.

hanging out with Tara

We spent the night in Iowa and hung out with Tara and Josh.  Uncle Josh told the boys that if you hold aluminum foil really close to your face you can see through it.  He kept insisting and trying again and again, and was very disappointed when it didn’t work.  The boys of course took it one step further and tried to make the foil into a mask.

You can also see my boys’ typical way of dealing with Uncle Josh, how can we best beat him up and wrestle him to the ground, which for the most part Josh enjoys.  That man NEEDS several sons to wrestle someday.

323

Once we were back at the house the night went in the predictable fashion, the adults started playing games, while the kids watched massive amounts of Avatar and played with the dog.  The person petting the cat is my friend Tami who also is going to be destroyed in the zombie apocalypse that attacks Iowa someday because she moved up there.

122

At the border to Iowa we stopped of at a One Room Schoolhouse, which my kids find endlessly fascinating and spent quite a while playing in.  I picked up some Amish food for us to take home (some curds, popcorn, and a nice caramel glaze for the popcorn).

Union Station Science Museum

Then we drove on to the Kansas City Union Station, which has the most amazing science museum in the basement, AND a traveling King Tut exhibit (which I am bound and determined to go back and see).

357

This was a common sight as we drove along, the boys discovered they could get out maps and figure out where we were and what roads we were driving on.  Next trip I need to get a giant United States map for them to follow along on.

162

And the trip ended with everyone’s least favorite part of all, unloading and putting away.  Actually, I’m about to start us on the massive putting away spree.  We had a big huge mess to clean up because of all the stuff we got on the trip.  I swear it all multiplies somehow in the car.

Now, I have some massive picture organizing, and deleting to do before I get busy with A LOT of writing.  A LOT to do.  It’s like a blogger’s work is never done.


Comments

12 responses to “And we’re home!”

  1. It looks like you had a great trip! Bet you’re glad to be home, though.

    1. Oh my yes. I was thinking about it, and it’s always fun to go, but it’s always great to be home.

  2. Looks like a great time…I’m itching for a road trip 🙂 I can’t imagine having to worry about tornadoes, I would consider that extremely stressful!

    1. That part wasn’t so fun, but overall the trip was really really fun.

  3. I can’t wait to see more about your trip. It looks fantastic. You went through many states that my gang has not been through.

    1. It was for the first time for my kids on many of those states, and they really enjoyed it.

  4. Your trip sounds great! And definitely exhausting. It is so strange to see your boys all grown out of booster seats.

    1. I know, it really is. Even scarier, Princess has only 6 months or so left until SHE’S out of a booster seat.

  5. Wow what a great trip!!! Sounds like you guys had so much fun!!

    1. So much fun, but I’m glad to be home. I missed Jeff.

  6. I find it so cool that your kids have already seen so much of the United States! Homeschooling at its best 🙂

    1. I know! I realized with this trip we added about 5 more states they hadn’t seen before. It’s pretty cool.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *