What We Found in Mississippi

This summer we were able to travel with Nick down to Mississippi on a business trip. 

I feel the need to tell you that if you are thinking of going to Mississippi in the smack dab middle of the summer and you’re wondering if it will be hot the answer is…um, yes.  Most decidedly yes!  The heavens declare the answer is yes.  If you find me I will be screaming yes!  It was hot, humid, bug filled, and pretty miserable weathere wise.

Since we are on a journey to have the children visit each state we decided to go. I say that because of the nature of Nick's work it doesn't often lead us to popular destinations but rather smack dab into rural America. While I would have loved to travel down to the coast or over to the river bank, we only went as far as the North Eastern corner of the state.

We stayed in Starkville which is home to Mississippi State.  It is a GIGANTIC campus!  If you are looking for some big whoppin’ school to go to with humidity and flying, biting insects then have I got a place for you!

You know me, I try to find fun things to do when we go places. I am a big believer that even if you’re in the backwoods of a state there is still so much to see.   The culture and the people can be such a learning experience and such a joy when we get away from the chain restaurants and actually steep ourselves in the lives of the people we’re surrounded by. This is how we have fun in our family.

However, it proved difficult in Starkville. Very. difficult.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

There was nothing to do. Being there for 5 days I found 1 park, a second hand store, and 2 ice cream stores that were nice. That’s it. The people were sweet but the town proved to have nothing to do with children.

Aren’t you glad you’re here to read this riveting post?

That being said, we were in Starkville for near a week so I had to find something else for us to do. 

Thankfully I came across the cutest little town just a short drive away. 

The town was Columbus, Mississippi and we loved going there!

If you ever get a chance to go to this town I highly recommend it!  On top of being the birthplace of Tennessee Williams, almost all of the homes are antebellum.  SO many gorgeous neighborhoods and homes to discover and gaze at.  The story goes that during the civil war the town saw the writing on the wall so to speak and became a hospital town , saving the town from inevitable destruction.

Check out of these houses…

Gorgeous, right?

As I’ve mentioned before, I am a history lover and my husband has a degree in architecture so old houses are our love language.  We even hunted this house, Waverly Plantation Mansion, down that is in the middle of nowhere. The picture is a touch blurry because it was already closed when we arrived so this photo was taken through the fence.

Another city in Mississippi we were able to enjoy was Tupelo. Birthplace of Elvis Presley, this place is steeped in history and respect for the king.  

Here is the house that Elvis grew up in. It was very eye opening. I’m always trying to compensate for the smallness of our lake cottage, warning people about the size, and, my word, this place is way smaller than ours.   

Not to mention that this was his only house, not his vacation property.  

It made for some great discussions with the children on how it doesn’t really matter how or where you start out. You can follow your dreams no matter what.  It’s all about drive people, your drive.

Over all we had an amazing time in Mississippi, but I’ve got to be honest, we did have to do some digging to find some off the beaten path-places. We had a great time and through all of the hard work I feel like we got a really honest look at Mississippi, not a shined up, best look for tourist kind of vision.

How I Plan Our Family Roadtrips

One of the biggest questions I get from readers and from friends is how I plan our trips: how do I find activities for us to do; how do we find such cool things to do.  How do I find things that people would never know about. 

Well sit right down and let me tell ya how I do it. 

Right now I am in the midst of planning for our next trip so I thought now was a PERFECT time to share with you my method (or my madness?) of planning and creating our itinerary.   

I first feel that I should tell you that I am not an expert.  I am just a mom, who educates her kids, so I look for ways to take advantage of our travel to be able to teach our kiddos more than I could at home: to immerse them in cultures and history that are rich where we visit.  I am also a mom of a one-income family so the word budget is practically tattooed on my forehead.  I say that to let you know that most of what we do is either free or pretty darn cheap.  All in all, I say that to let you know that if you are here looking for how to plan your next big trip with all of the bells and whistles, then honey, you are lookin’ in the wrong place.

Google Maps

So the first thing I do is to map out our route with google.  Is this too hard for you?  I realize this is a very complicated step, ha.

Hang in there.

I make a note of obvious places/things we want to experience.  In this past year we went to Mississippi (a post is coming about that next week!) and we drove through Memphis, Tennessee to get there.  Obviously when I think Memphis things pop into my mind…Elvis, blues, barbeque.  So I had a base of what I knew we could do while we there.

Pinterest

Next, I Pinterest the crap out of any cities that we are passing through that look like they may be large-ish (like Mephis).  I find that, in most instances, teeny towns with populations of 500 and one gas station usually are not the ideal locations for museum stops and aren’t large pulls for attention. That’s not to say that there isn’t ever anything to do but for things to see when we are traveling through and on a time crunch, I skip small towns..

So like I said, I pin away.  This gives me a general feel of what there is to do in that area and how popular the place is.  I’m also just casually feeling out what pins are coming up.  If I am getting nothing but pins on the best pub crawls and night clubs in a certain city than I start to wonder if there is indeed anything for kids to do.  Believe it or not but there are actually quite a few places in the US that do not cater to children. It’s almost like they are not welcome…at all. 

I pin all of those things on my pinterest board and then move on to…

Memberships

I pull the membership cards I have to museums, zoos, gardens, whatever and I look up the reciprocal lists.  Almost all memberships offer a reciprocal list of some kind to places that are either free or discounted for you to go to.  I pull these lists up and look for places that would be a good fit for us to go.  You guys, Emma and Cal are now 10 and 12, so let’s be honest, sadly we are no longer spending every waking moment glued to zoos. It doesn’t make sense for me to plan 4,000 zoos for us to visit.  We will sometimes visit one and that is about enough for us at this stage of childhood/awkward tweenishness.  Right now my kids are loving anything with more complicated science experiments so I look for science museums, children’s museums, and the like.  It’s just up to what your kids are loving.  I make sure to also plan according to how we will be spending the day.  If we’ve spent 8 hours cramped in the car then making them go somewhere where it’s quiet and we’re just observing will probably not be a good fit.  Rather, for that instance I’m going to look for somewhere they can burn off some energy and maybe explore a bit on their own.

Junior Ranger

Our kids have Junior Ranger vests from the National Parks, and are almost fiendish about earning new badges.  Since most National Parks and Monuments are free, I will search for some around our route for us to visit.  I REALLY advocate for this program because we have to teach the future generation to protect and preserve our land, and Nick and I learn just as much as, and probably enjoy it more than, the kids.

Pinterest…Again

After going through all of these steps, writing down places I want to go to, see, I then go back to the Pinterest board and actually OPEN the pins I have (how many of you pin the live long day but seldom actually LOOK at the pins?  Is that just me?).  I look for activities to do that will be memorable for the children.  Obviously you know what your kids like and what they don’t.  When we went to Memphis I was wanting the kids to experience the whole Elvis craze but let’s be real, they couldn’t care two flips about The King.  So spending $40 a pop on tickets was not a reasonable thing for us to do.  Plus I know that dragging our autistic son through a place with all kinds of things you shouldn’t touch, is often a bad idea.  Equipped with this knowledge I set out for less expensive sights like a restaurant Elvis liked to frequent, statues of The King, etc.  This gave them a sense of his purpose in the community, it helped them to see the enormity of him through statues, but also through seeing his favorite diner the fact that he was just a person.  They now know about him without us spending a whole ton of time and money on the experience. win-win.

Places to Eat

After I have activities planned out, I go ahead and look for fun places to eat.  When we go to regions of the country I search our local food for the children to eat. And for us to eat, who am I kidding here? It’s not all about the kids!  I want them to know that not everyone eats like people in Indiana, and that’s okay.  I want them to experience foods they might not have tried otherwise and to understand that people have different tastes.  My kids are not fond of okra but they’ve at least tried it in many forms.  They know okra, they’ve tried okra, they’ve experienced okra. We’re at peace with the Okra.

I would like to take this moment for a brief public service announcement on the importance of planning where you are going to eat.  Here is why: 1) then you can plan your budget for your meal 2) you have a game plan BEFORE the family is starving 3) you won’t end up at McDonald’s for every meal because you just had to pick something when everyone was hungry and snarky, ending up spending a small fortune on food that makes you feel horrible afterwards. 4) The really good places are hardly ever out in the open. It’s just a fact of life.  The truly great places to eat are hidden in the basements of buildings, the back alleys, the places you wouldn’t notice when you’re just casually driving around looking for a restaurant. 

So plan where you want to eat. 

Okay, that’s how I plan our trips when we are still at home.  When we arrive in an area I will hunt down more information in tourism magazines and rack cards.   Search them out in your hotel lobby, in the vestibule at Cracker Barrel, anywhere. These little gems of old school advertising are how you find out about fun things like the world’s largest pistachio! or the largest metal tribute to the Trail of Tears. Whatever it is, it’s likely you can find it on a rack card somewhere.

My last how I plan is one I’ve had to really hone. I almost didn’t write about it because it’s embarrassing, but here it goes…

Don’t be so uptight. If you pull into a city and your kids don’t want to do what you have planned, then don’t. Or if you drive by a sign for something that sounds really fun then go do that and scrap your plans.

For the longest time I was so tightly wound about what we had to do I was like a drill sergeant when it came to vacations. But I found that when I was like that the kids weren’t having any fun. When I would force them to go somewhere they would complain the entire time and then no one would have any fun.

I am not sure if this because I had the world’s whiniest kids (probably not) or what, but I find it’s best to try to do things that most of the family loves. Granted I am not a mother who caters to every single thing my children may or may not want to do.

Like, I love hiking. My kids despise it. Over the years I’ve been able to say, “this is something I really want to do” and they at least tolerate it without complaining. I know that once they are out there hiking they will have fun because they always do. And if you can’t say that to your kids then maybe it’s because mine are almost teenagers, so hang in there!

I hope this helps you guys! I love planning trips. I know some people hate it but I adore it and find it a really fun challenge.

Happy planning, sweet friends!

Review: Conner Prairie

Each school year we enter into the sacred time with new hopes and expectations for the future.  It's always a feeling of excitement and with fervor we rush into the newness of our schedules: armed with the unspoken promise that our efforts will indeed bring forth a new era of accomplishment into our lives.  

Each year as a homeschooling family we try to carve time out of our schedules for two field trips each month for the duration of our school year.  Sometimes we fail, other times we flourish.  No matter what the future within our new year may bring, for the past several years our inaugural field trip has been to a place that has never failed to invoke a feeling of wonder and to evade our schooling with excitement. 

What is this place?  

It's Conner Prairie.  

Located in the heart of Indiana (which is the heart of the Midwest, keenly inside the heart of the heart) is a place that has evolved over the years into something nothing short of magical.  

We had the joy of being hosted this year by Conner Prairie in exchange for this, my own words about the place called Conner Prairie.  

First let me tell you about our trip this year: 

The Prairie opens each day at 10 am so we planned to be there right at the beginning.  Arriving in the morning is always so fun because the animals haven't met the full heat of the day yet.  We found frolicking lambs, squealing piglets, and playful kids (in the goat variety) wherever we turned.  While we are not strangers to the barnyard scene, we certainly are not accustomed to it on a daily basis.  Conner Prairie's farm life comes in just the perfect way...lots of experts to explain things and buckets of hand sanitizer.  

After saying hello to the animals we scoped out our map and decided that Treetop Outpost was the next place for us.  

The thing I love the most about the Treetop Outpost (or the treehouse as my kiddos call it) are the amount of activities there are to do within the area.  Kids with varying interests can enjoy different activities at the same time while mom is nearby.  Our kids are 10 and 12 and I love letting them wonder through the Outpost without me, giving them a sense of adventure and independence while mom is waiting at the bottom for their return.  

After lots of fun running, making music, digging, and exploring we decided to partake in a Make and Take craft.  For only $5 per child they were each able to construct a wooden treasure box.  We adore Conner Prairie's crafts because they are solid objects that the kids can take home and treasure.  I always walk away amazed by what they were able to construct and at how much of a value each craft is. 

If you decide to do a make and take craft, be sure to make it a point to talk to the workers who oversee the crafts; they truly are a plethora of knowledge from the history of Conner Prairie to the best places to eat once you leave, I've had some very interesting and insightful conversations with these wonderful people.  You can tell that they are deeply invested in Conner Prairie and not just an employee.  

Our day progressed and as the heat intensified I felt we were slowing down, like a little family moving through glue.  

We stopped to play in a tug of war game in the Prairietown area outside of the general store we explored.  

After that I was losing Cal.  Most of you know he has High Functioning Autism.  We reach a point where enough is enough and he just needs some quiet and alone time.  

Last year was when I discovered Conner Prairie has these Quiet Spots.  I adore that they don't have just one but several throughout the prairie.  Because let's be real, can be worse than trying to move a child in a full panic all the way across the complex to a quiet area. I've done that at other places and let me tell you, it's not fun.  I counted no less than 5 Quiet Spots on the Conner Prairie map but there could be more.  I can't say enough about these areas you guys...they are a godsend! 

We found one right on the edge of the town by the restrooms and for a momma in crisis mode it is a dream come true...quiet, well lit, cold, with a box of sensory resources to use.  I am highly impressed by Conner Prairie's attention to detail in this department.  Weighted blankets and fidget toys are calming for us and they had both.  Amazing, you guys! 

After our break we refueled (Conner Prairie allows outside food to be brought in) and then we headed out to the Civil War Journey area.  

If you have older kids learning about the Civil War, this is such an ideal destination.  First of all, let's be real, there just aren't many field trips you can find within Indiana, or the Midwest for that matter, about the Civil War.  And while it was very neat for us in the past to travel to places like Gettysburg or Savannah to learn about the civil war history there, in reality it's just not practical in most time frames of life.  

The Conner Prairie Civil War area does an amazing job of transporting you back in time by having you walk across a real covered bridge to enter.  There are a couple fairly intense representations of Civil War action, a house to explore, and more!  

With the heat in the mid-nineties when we visited we also enjoyed their new splash pad, and their new water play feature (again, we stayed here forever because this is always super calming for Cal).  

Conner Prairie is located in Fishers, Indiana, which sits as a cute little hat on top of Indianapolis.  It is very close to the interstates and very convenient to get to.  I think it would be impossible to make it through everything in one day (we only covered two and a half areas this trip!).  Below is a carousel of photos from a previous trip we had to Conner Prairie, just to give you a look at other things they offer: Tomahawk throwing, Fun Science activities (indoors and out!), the William Conner house (that started the entire place!), there is so much to do.  

If you are a homeschooler and would love to visit, I have good news!  

They offer various homeschool activities throughout the year that are focused on an indepth look at various sciences or historical eras.  Water filtration, civil rights, and lunar landers are some of the topics on their calendar. 

And every August and September they offer special homeschool days so homeschool families can come at the field trip price without the amount of students a field trip normally consists of!

You can read all about their homeschool programs and their upcoming homeschool day here.  

I hope you enjoyed our little tour and review!  We love Conner Prairie and we know you will too!

Great American Road Trip: Day 2

We spent the night in St. Louis and awoke ready to take on the day!  

Our hotel didn't offer breakfast so I brought oatmeal cups (full of flax seeds!) to eat.  The kids scarfed them down along with yogurt, apples, and orange juice.  I was so thankful for kiddos who do not complain about me packing food and not eating out.  I am one blessed Momma, indeed!  

After breakfast we drove to the arch and spent some time driving around.  I always wonder if everyone does this or not but we always have to go and look at the edifices and the pediments and the whos and doodles.  I guess this is the weirdness of being married to an architect.  But I love history and he loves buildings and like I always say, it's a marriage made in heaven!  

We parked and made our way to the historic courthouse where the Dred Scott decision was made.  We had just studied this case a couple of weeks before so to stand in the courthouse where the decision was made that Dred and his wife would continue to be slaves was quite sombering.  I didn't know I could feel any sadder until we went out the other door of the courthouse and stood on the steps where the two were sold in a slave auction to two different owners.  

We walked to the arch which, just so you know, was frigid!  Brrr.  A seven minute walk feels neverending in the icy wind.  I could not wrap my hear around how this was going to go but you purchase a ticket with a  time that you can go up into the arch.  Then you wait around until they take the tickets for your time.  Then you go down into the ground and wait and wait.  After that you are shown a movie with the crowd of people you are going up into the arch with.  After the movie they assign you a pod or "tram" as they call them.  There are five seats in each one so they put people together according to how many you have in your group.  We had four and no one was riding solo so we had our tram all to ourselves.  After that you wait for your tram to come back down from bringing people down, you get in and go up.  

We were surprised at how small the windows are at the top of the arch. But the views to the east and west were spectacular.  It was a really good place for conversations as we had learned this year about the Louisiana Purchase and how much land that brought into America.  

After the arch we hit the road and headed towards  President Ulysses S. Grant's home.  It was a beautiful home and was really interesting.  They had a museum about him too in a barn her had created to raise race horses.  It was fascinating to learn how, during the war, so many people disliked him due to so many reasons: they thought he was a drunk, they called him the Butcher because he killed so many people, and they had derogatory names for him because he didn't like to speak to the press or be in the public eye.  But in the end he ended up becoming President.  

After the Grant home we went to lunch at Five Guys.  Calvin had been begging to go to one so we fulfilled his wish and took him to one last stop for his "birthday".  It was really good food and with happy bellies we started back on the road.  

We started driving from the St.  Louis area and in about seven hours we arrived in Oklahoma City.  The only part of the journey I was sad about was that it was so dark by the time we reached Oklahoma.  But the stars were out in the masses so we were able to look at those through the sunroofs.  So fun! 

When we got to Oklahoma City we were so tired!  We ate some dinner of leftovers and went to bed!  

Onto Day3! 

Great American Road Trip: Day 1

Welcome to our Great American Road Trip!  While we are not driving across all of America, Nick got me this adorable coffee mug before we left and therefore I simply had to call this trip by that name.  How cute is this mug? I love drinking coffee from a mug rather than those hotel paper cups...it was so thoughtful of him to get me this so I could drink coffee like a real, live person! 

There are so many things from family vacations, or trips, or whatever they are to be called that happen and then escape my memory.  Especially from this Momma.  I always think I am going to write them down but I am always too busy unpacking everyone to actually sit down and do it while we are on vacation.  When I get home I always tell myself that I will remember everything and will write it down as soon as I can but laundry and life quickly take over and before I know it I've forgotten when we went to that one place and when we stayed in that certain city and again, I've lost it in the deep recesses of my memory.  

So this trip I thought that I would write it down as it happens on here!  What a novel idea seeing as I have this website and all! 

We started out on Saturday, January 13th. We left about an hour later than I wanted to but I'm counting my blessings that it was only one hour.  After all, packing for a 23 day trip was a lot of work!  I am so much of a list person but this time the trip just seemed to sneak up on me and we suddenly seemed to just be chucking things at Nick to put in the car, hoping that everything would fit.  

The roads were horrendous.  The toll road was not great and sliding at 80 mph is really not great.  Thankfully by the time we got to Chicago it cleared up and after that it was smooth sailing.  We drove down Illinois to Springfield.  We arrived soon after the NPS site was open and we were able to go tour Abraham Lincoln's home.  It was so fun and neat!  We learned lots of facts and the kids were able to earn a Junior Ranger Badge.  I love that program by the way...it's like tricky homeschooling where they learn without me having to do it.  Win, win!  I will say, I was surprised that we were able to get through all of the house and earn our badges in under an hour. I think there must be more to do there during the summer months but seeing as there were frigid temperatures, we didn't stay long to check out the village experience that goes with the house.  Next time though!  

After Springfield we drove about an hour and a half to St. Louis, Missouri.  Nobody in our family had ever been to Missouri so it was a lot of fun to cross the border into Missouri with a lot of whooping and hollering.  I love our little family! This part of the trip was part driving to El Paso for work and part stopping in a cool city to celebrate Calvin's birthday.  

We went into out hotel to get checked in and relax a bit.  That's when we realized that nobody had grabbed Calvin's other shoes. Mom fail.  

After that we called for a taxi and then took that to the City Museum.  We had heard so many wonderful things about the museum.  When we got there there was a bus on the top of the building and knew that we were going to have fun! 

When we got there there were lots of things to do but we were all kind of cautious.  After the kids kind of got lost from us we all warmed up a bit and were able to have more fun!  We spent about four hours there and by that time we were ready to go.  Nick loved walking around and seeing all of the building parts that they had.  There were tons of building facades and the huge stone trim that goes along the top of buildings.  I was impressed by the walls that were made out of printing plates.  We both were impressed with how they made everything out of old building parts...rebar, conveyor belts, etc.  We were very  impressed and had so much fun! 

After the City Museum we took a taxi back to the hotel. We let the kids swim and then we got ready for dinner.  

We went to Cunetto's House of Pasta in the Italian district of St. Louis and we were able to meet up with our good friend Kyle!  It was yummy food and lots of fun to catch up!  

After dinner we had some errands to run and then we were in the mood for ice cream.  Heading back downtown to our hotel, we went to Clementine's Naughty and Nice Creamery.  They had really inventive flavors and they were made with all natural ingredients.  It was amazing!  Yum!  

And that was the night!  I would say we were super nervous about our car in St. Louis because we had heard really bad things but it ended up being fine.  

Onto day 2...

Coffee Shop Hop and Week 4 Recap: No Spend Challenge

Week 4 has come and gone and I cannot believe that an entire month has gone by in our no-spend challenge!  11 more months to go, right?

I can't wait for this year to be over, not because I am writing down all of the things that I am going to run out and buy but because this takes some serious effort. Legit. This week I had some bad moments.  Let me tell you about them:

Monday I met a friend for coffee to work on a project together.  She was super sweet and had asked if she could come over to our house.  But for real our house looked like Stonehenge with Christmas bins stacked everywhere so I declined and we went to a coffee shop. 

It wasn't until I was driving to the coffee shop that I had one of those lightbulb moments, thinking "huh, I guess I'm going to have to actually purchase something."  You know how shop keepers frown upon you just sitting there and not actually getting something. 

I purchased my coffee and got a small one but I did get one of those frou-frou drinks and it all being said it was $5.  I kind of did a walk of shame to the table with my coffee and felt bad for spending so much. 

The next night, Emma had scouts which is in across the state line and takes me over a half an hour to get her to.  Driving home during scouts results in me constantly driving so I decided by golly, I was going to find somewhere and get some blogging done!  It would be great!  I found a cute, quirky coffee shop, and again, decided it would be best to buy something. 

This time I was prepared.  I ordered just a small cup of coffee.  That should be harmless enough, right?  Except the darn thing was $3.  Again I had to do the shame walk with my cup of coffee.

I've started feeling like an old man that complains constantly about the cost of a cup of coffee.  Martin. I've become Martin from Frasier. 

The rest of the week went fairly smoothly.  The only other thing we spent money on was dinner Friday night.  We were supposed to go out with our neighbors last year and we could never make it work.  Finally we were all available and we didn't want to let our no-spend challenge get in our way. 

So we all decided to go to a restaurant that was participating in "Restaurant Week"  an event near us where certain restaurants offer reduced pricing on their meals.  Nick and I were able to get appetizer, dessert, and entrees for the 2 of us for $33!  It was a really good meal!  We ate at the Lasalle Kitchen and Tavern.  If you are ever in South Bend you should drive over and check it out...really good food and a really fun atmosphere with live music at the bar. 

Saturday we had fun going to visit Nick's grandma and then we drove onto a chili-cookoff for Emma's scout troop.  We had a wonderful (and cheap!) day visiting with friends and family. 

All in all it was a great week although I totally messed up with the coffee shop purchases. 

However I have used those as some jumping off points to change my behavior. 

After all, if my house had been clean and tidy I would have had no problem having my friend over to talk and I wouldn't have spent anything at all. 

So as a result of that I moved some things around so we could skip school for this week and I am deep cleaning our house.  Together as a family we are purging so we have less stuff to put away and maintain.  By the end of the week I am hopeful we will have a place for everything and everything in its place. 

I've also learned that I need to have a go-to drink to order when I go to a coffee shop.  I would love your suggestions!!!  I love coffee, tea, anything.  It just needs to be inexpensive so I feel at least a little bit better about buying a want item.  I do have to visit coffee shops as I am on a lot of committee's and part of groups that meet at coffee shops. 

Please help me with what do order!  Comment with your suggestions!  I'd love for you to help me out!

Our Chicago Birthday Trip

This was Calvin's first year to have a trip for his birthday rather than a party.  It was weird to not have a birthday party. 

Weird and sad.

I think I need to just go crawl into a ball and deal with these emotions for a few...

Why is it the things that can make us the most stressed are the things we end up missing the most when they are gone?  Here I'm talking birthday parties.  Last year I couldn't wait for the thing to be over...the party favors, the food, the decorations, I was feeling pretty burnt out from it all.  I was thinking that a break would be nice but here we are a year later and I am already missing the parties. 

Sigh.

This year Calvin wanted to go to Chicago and spend the night downtown.  He is so adorable and loves big cities with all of the lights. 

So that's what we did!  I was a little apprehensive because, with Calvin having Autism, some things he may really, really want to do end up being way too much for him and it ends up disasterously.  I think him wanting them that bad and then them not working out is what makes matters that much worse in the end. 

So let's just say I had my doubts that this would work out.

We took the train to Chicago.  We were going to drive until we did the math and realized it was going to be at least $70 to park our car at the hotel. 

So we decided to take a train.  It was a fun experience for the kids and it was super easy to get into town.  We got off the train, hopped into a waiting taxi and $4.50 later we were at our hotel.  Easy peasy! If you live somewhere that you want to go to Chicago but not drive INTO Chicago I highly recommend the South Shore Train Line. Easy and cheap!

Let me just say, our hotel was amazing!  Nick upgraded us to a suite and it was so nice to have the kids in one room and us in another!  We also had a dining room table and a full kitchen.  It was super fun! Not to mention that our hotel was adjacent to Eataly so it was a perfect excuse to stop and drink loads of amazing hot cocoa and coffee.

After we got checked into our room we decided to try to make our way to Dave and Busters.  We do not have one by us and Calvin has been begging (BEGGING!) to go there since I don't even know when.  So Chicago was a nice location to go.  I say nice but it was 6 degrees outside.  And it is called "The Windy City" you know.  So we decided to set out and see how far we could make it before we needed to hail a cab but by golly we walked the entire way.  I was so proud of us! 

And at Dave and Buster's let me just say, I was so proud of our kids!  We gave them each a power play? card and let them loose.  They didn't ask for more money or complain or anything.  They are just the best kids in the world!  And they had the best time!  Calvin loved playing two-player games with Nick while Emma spent the majority of her time at the skee-ball because that is what she loves. 

After a couple of hours we were done at Dave and Busters so we walked our way over to the kids' favorite part of the trip...cupcake ATM! 

It was so much fun to get to choose birthday cupcakes from the atm and then watch on the screen as the machine fulfilled our order.  The kids LOVED it and I thought it was so adorable!  The cupcake ATM is at Sprinkles.  If you get the chance check it out.  I can vouch that the chocolate peanut butter cupcake was incredible!  Emma got strawberry and the birthday boy got Smores.  They both said they were amazing too!

After gourging ourselves on cupcakes we made our way to do some shopping.  We bought a lego set for Cal's birthday, meandered through Dylan's Candy Shop, and then decided it was high time we had some Chicago pizza.  We went to Gino's which, by the way, is our family's favorite.  There are a million different places but that is our fave.  Supreme with the patty sausage please and thank you!

By that time it was the late hour of 6 in the evening so we walked back to our hotel but not before getting some more drinks at Eataly.  Nick and I were about to crash so caffeine was definitely in order.  Can someone please tell me why we were so tired at 6? 

The kids then wanted to go swimming but not before we vegged in our living room watching the Lego Movie.  So we spent the night watching movies, snacking, swimming, and then repeating the whole process.  It was a perfect night for our family. 

When it was time for the kids to go to bed Nick was trying to find a light for them as a nightlight that wasn't too bright.  Calvin said "it's okay Dad, we have the city lights for a nightlight."  That boy melts my heart, he is just so cute! 

The next day we left our hotel at about 8:30 and walked to the American Girl store. Oh and by the way, it was now a frosty 2 degrees.  I thought we were going to die.  Emma and I always have the best time there! The best Jerry, the best!  Even though this is a no-spend year we surprised her with $30 to spend at the store.  For those that know American Girl you know that that barely buys an outfit. One outfit.  But Emma was so taken aback.  "That's so much money!"  She said.  She was so surprised!

It was a lot of fun to shop with her and to pick out an outfit.  In the end she picked an adorable outfit from Kit's collection (we have Kit) that she thought was a good choice because all of her other dolls could wear the whole outfit or parts of it.  I love how she is so thrifty like her Momma! 

After the American Girl store (and yet another trip to Eataly!) we went to lunch at Harry Carey's Nick's very favoritest restaurant. 

It was an incredible way to end our fun weekend before hopping back on the train.  We were all exhausted but a perfect amount of exhausted: we were all ready to get back to our home and decided we had just enough fun. 

And that was our trip!  Hope you enjoyed visiting Chicago vicariously through my photos :)

Fernwood in May

If you are looking for something to do with your littles, make sure you check out the events at the Fernwood Botanical Gardens.  Their Nature Saplings and Knee-High Naturalist programs have some super fun programs starting.  May 27th the Knee-High Naturalists are learning about snakes!  These are really good programs to get your kiddos into nature to begin developing that love of nature so many kids aren't enjoying these days.

May 1st is the start of their Summer hours too so you can meander your days away through the gardens and nature trails.  You can find their hours on their website here. 

And the thing that we are so super, duper excited about is the reopening of the railway gardens.  After a fire tore our beloved trains apart, it is so amazing and exciting to see that they are back for their seventh season at Fernwood! 

I am excited to see if it will be the same or a newish design.  If you all get there before me you have to let me know, okay? 

And for those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, Fernwood Botanical Garden and Nature Preserve is located in Niles, Michigan and it is an amazing place.  If you live close it is definitely worth visiting and even if you don't live close it is something that should definitely go on your "must visit" list for vacationing.

April Adventures

As I mentioned in this earlier post, we've had some rough times homeschooling lately. 

So we've been getting out and about town to shake things up.

I have a hard time with finding the right balance in terms of school work and going out and doing fun activities.  Does anyone struggle with this?

When I start to pay attention to all of the cool things going on in the area it seems like we are always on the go, go, go.  Forget math, we've got butter to churn.

On the other hand I often times get so bogged down with focus strategies and lesson plans that we are often cooped up in the classroom for so long that there isn't time for anything outside of it to go on. 

Well this month I've tried to strike a good balance.  I think I have!

We went to the University of Notre Dame during Robotics week to check out all of the cool things their students were doing.  They had a ton of interactive booths set up and the kids had a blast checking things out. Above is Calvin telling the robot to do the sprinkler.

This robot was ginormous!  I think it kind of scared Calvin at first!  But it was amazing to watch it in action and to see all of the things the students could have it do.

We also went to ag-days at the local fair grounds.  It's something we've done every year.  Sad to say I think the kids are getting a bit too old for it, but it was something fun to do anyway. The event works that the kids get a basket at the beginning.  They then make their way around to different stations to learn about crops and animals.  They put something from each station in their basket that relates to what they learned. At the end they turn their basket in and they earn a cookie and milk.  It's a good old fashioned family time.

In pictures I wonder if Calvin will ever stop making this murdery face.  I mean, what in the world is this silly face???

If you had witnessed this in action you would know that we are clearly city slickers.  We have no idea what we are doing.  But it was fun and the kids enjoyed trying to lasso a bucket with a sheep head on it :)

As you read here in this previous post we had a complete revitalization of our homeschooling last week.  Out with the old and in with the old or whatever I've been trying to say. 

So we pounded out a great week of school and so I decided it was high time we throw a little fun into the mix.  So Friday as a treat we went to the Kalamazoo Valley Museum in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  It is one of our favorite museums.  And it's free so it has that going for it.

Above is a picture of Calvin racing a car he built. They have a really fun motion area.  We've been studying force in Science so this was a great area for us to spend some time and reading about what we were doing.

Emma loved working on refracting light.  And isn't she a fashion plate?  As she is getting ready to ten I can see that she's definitely starting to get in that Tween stage.  She only wants to wear skinny jeans however I am occasionally able to get her to wear some cute Mustard Pie pieces with them as I did in this case.  Thank goodness :)

They also have a fun health area.  The kids love exploring everything that there was. Emma puts the x-ray skeleton together every time.  So much fun to watch her learn and grow with each passing year she does it. 

So those were some of our April Adventures.  This weekend Emma is having her first slumber party and the boys are going camping with Cal's Boy Scout troop. 

What adventures have you been on this month?

Our Winter Trip to the Indianapolis Zoo

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day we went to the Indianapolis Zoo.  I wasn't sure what to expect going to the zoo when it was only 7 degrees out but we went anyway.  It was amazing.  Even though not many animals were out we had an amazing experience.

As I mentioned in this previous blog, to get in we only had to pay with canned goods to help the local food bank.  How amazing is that?

The first thing we went to see was the indoor aquarium. 

There is something so magical about taking the time to just let the world go by behind you while you gaze at the fish swimming contentedly around.  And then there is something to ethereal about watching your children be able to do the same thing.  It is such a joy to watch them enjoy God's creation and to discover all of the attributes about it.

I think our favorite part was getting to watch the Dolphins.  They have this walk through thing where the tunnel is under the water and the dolphins swim by. Because it was the winter and there was hardly anyone else there we had the whole place to ourselves and the kids and I laid down and watched the dolphins swim over us.  At first Emma thought I was crazy but after we left she said that was her favorite part.  See?  Sometimes it pays to be the weirdo mom :)

Other things the kids loved were the penguins waddling around,

the walrus under the water eating his fish and then spitting it out at us (I refrained from posting those pictures on here.  You're welcome! :)  ).

The orangutan exhibit was so neat and we spent lots of time there watching the apes (not monkeys as we learned!).

We also saw a polar bear,

a tiger that looked like he just wanted to be pet (or eat our face off but you know, whatever), and more!

All in all it was a super fun day.  I think our most memorable thing though were the dolphins. After lunch we returned to the zoo for the dolphin show.  The kids had no idea that dolphins were capable of performing and doing all of the neat tricks.  They were squealing with delight, it was so precious.

So there ya have it, our fun, freezing trip to the zoo.  If you go in the winter I do highly recommend it because we were able to have so much more interaction with the cold weather animals and with such low attendance it practically felt like we had the place to ourselves.

Have you ever been to the zoo in the winter?  Did you like it more than other times? Comment below, sweet friends!

Cupid's Fantastic Float

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, love is definitely in the air!

The love of all things sweet that is.

The boys went to Boy Scouts sometime and Emma and I got together to concoct this yummy drink to share with y'all. We came up with this which we're calling Cupid's Fantasic Float (isn't the name adorable?  Emma came up with it...love her!)

Here's what we love about our float: It's super easy to make, super cute, super yummy, and a tad healthier than other drinks we've seen around.

So without further ado here's the recipe and step-by-step directions:

Cupid's Fantastic Float

Ingredients

1-1/4 cups Raspberry Juicy Juice

1 cup club soda

2 scoops vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt

1 red vine or twizzler

Steps:

1. Measure out juice and club soda into a glass ball jar.

2. Gently plop a scoop of ice cream onto the top of the drink. Stir gently to combine and when it melts in a little plop another cute little scoop on the drink to float on top.

3. Snip both ends off of a twizzler to make a fun straw. (optional)

Voila!  A fun drink to surprise your kiddos with!  Emma loved this! 

I called the twizzler optional because you could always serve with a fun-colored straw and then you would have a completely natural colored drink.  No red dye 40 in sight if you forego the straw! Or you can purchase these panda red licorices that are all natural and amazing!

I hope you enjoy this drink as much as we do. It's a sweet thirst quencher for sure.  

Give these a try and we're sure you'll LOVE them like we do!

Be sure to let us know how you like them!

Apple Picking 2015

These are the moments that I try to shove into the deep recesses of my mind so when I am old I can remember them.  I am so thankful for things like blogs so I can jot down the details of the day along with all of the wonderful photos and try to remember the time when they are this small.  I love these two children so much.  They fill my life with such joy.  

We go apple picking every year.  This year however was the first year that we went during October.  Picking apples in October apparently is very lame as there were hardly any apples.  But we learned our lesson and from now on will make sure that we go in September.  Before apple picking we always travel all the way to Bonneyville Mill for a picnic and some football.  

They have the most gorgeous Dahlia garden.  Seriously, out of a dream or something.  So of course I love taking pictures of our little lady with her little lady.  Can I please just bottle this age up of carrying a doll around in a sweet dress? I am sure I will blink and it will be gone.  This sweet girl and her happy heart captivate me.  I love being her Momma. 

And in a stark contrast from the sweet girl in a flower garden is the rowdy boy having fun climbing all over an old dam.  I love his adventurous spirit although most of the time it makes me feel like my stomach is up in my throat and I am suffocating.  But I am learning to let go and try to watch him have fun exploring.  

If you ever get the chance to go to this mill when it is operating you have to go.  You just have to.  Built in 1832 it's incredible that it is still working.  They have the cutest store that we buy our cornmeal from every year.  The photo above is the chute of the cornmeal coming out from the stone. 

There were these darling old bags and promotional items posted up from back in the day.  I thought they were so neat.  

After that we left the park and made our way to the orchards. 

These two are the apples of my eye...ey?  ey?  Ya get that? 

For the past few years I've been able to say "okay, bucket heads" and they've put their buckets on their heads.  But this year it was aparently cooler to shove his sisters bucket on her head than to put the bucket on his head.  

<sigh> it's the end of an era...

This year it was nice that they wanted to use the grabby stick thing because up high was about the only place that we could find apples :(  Boo.  

Success at last!  This seriously felt like it took forever!  Forever, Jerry! And can I please just have her clothes in my size?  So stinking cute! 

And then there's this guy.  He is such a goof.  Which I love.  He thoroughly enjoys going before me and looking for ways to make me laugh.  That or ways to make me freak out.  Either way he's looking out for my entertainment benefit.  I guess I will choose to look at it that way.  

Is there anything more peace inducing than to take the time to look at an apple and it's leaves.  It's such an amazing thing that God created because He loves us.  It just takes my breath away and I love sharing this type of thing with our kids.  The way that the star is formed inside the apple, all of the varieties, the way they grow on the tree, it all is just simply amazing.  

This is all we picked this year.  One reason because all they had were the "delicious" varieties which I tend to not find so delicious.  Another reason was that you could see these were heavily sprayed.  And the third reason being that Meijer has apples on sale for 59 cents this week and these puppies were 85 cents.  We got this amount for the memories, thank you. 

Have y'all gone and done your apple picking?  Were you late this year like we were or did you go earlier?  I'm curious is apples were in short supply this year or if it was because we were a week later than we normally are.  

Happy Fall, Y'all! 

Fernwood is Boo-tiful!

We are so excited to be attending Fernwood's Annual Halloween event!  This year The Halloween Happening is taking place on Saturday, October 24th from 6-8 pm.  You can find our more information here on their site but from their website they said:

“Calling all ghosts, ghouls, and witches! Dress in your best costume and find your way to Fernwood to celbrate Halloween with activities and treats for the entire family. Create Winifred’s magical bubbles along with Cheri Hallwood, local award-winning author of Frogwilla, Winter’s First Snowflake, The Curious Polka-dot Present, and One Wish for Winifred Witch. Her books will be available for purchase and signing. Enjoy trick or treating in the gardens, pumpkin decorating, spooky creatures and stories, and more!
Also, delicious spooky snacks will be available for purchase. ”

— http://www.fernwoodbotanical.org/october-24-fernwood

Last year we took a gorgeous American Girl's Samantha Tarkington and a handsome Luke Skywalker to the Halloween Happening.  It was such a wonderful evening.  

The kids loved trick or treating around the gardens. Who doesn't love to get candy?  And they loved to see all of the volunteers in their costumes.  Everyone was so nice and the whole outfit had such a great atmosphere. 

And as much as my kids love to see the trains (you can read all about the train garden and our deep affection for it here), they love it even more when it is spooky and scary.  Well maybe not scary but a lot of fun! 

One of our favorite times of the evening though was roasting marshmallows over the fire and making s'mores!  Such a fun time sitting around the fire with other families and making a snack.

They had a variety of snacks available and it provided a laid back time for our family. 

After the snack we made our way to the main building.  And as much as the kids loved the event I was just amazed by all of the details that Fernwood did.  All of the lights  in the trees and all of the fun.  You can tell they put a lot of thought and time into the event.  

The last thing we did for the evening was to paint these adorable pumpkins.  

Aren't these little pumpkins just the cutest?  Our kids had so much fun!  

If you are looking for a fun event to celebrate Halloween we'd love to hang with you at Fernwood this year.  I love that there is trick or treating, decorations, fun spookiness, snacks, crafts...a little bit of everything to do! 

These two will tell you you'll have a hauntingly good time!!!

Fernwood from A Child's Viewpoint

I spoke last week about how changing my perspective on our things that are cluttering our home is helping me to keep things tidier around here.  You can read more about that here.  

Well apparently I'm on some kind of "rose colored glasses" or "the eye of the beholder" kick because I am really trying to look at things from others' perspectives.  Neat how God works on your heart and it kind of takes over all aspects of your life, right?  

Anyway, we went to Fernwood (are you surprised? My kids BEG to go there) with my Mother-in-Law.  Anyway, I should have taken my phone for pictures but it was dead.  Dead, doorknob territory, dead.  And my camera battery had crawled in the same cemetary plot with the phone and they both were dead. 

I should have been really mad and frustrated with myself because that's what I do, but I wasn't.  I sought out the genius of it all and came up with having the kids take their point and shoots that their Grandma gave them for Christmas.  They LOVE taking pictures so it was fun to have them taking pictures around Fernwood of what they see and what they think is neat.  

So without further adieu here is a view of Fernwood and our day from about 48 inches up...

You've got to always love goofy looking selfies, right?  

Oh geesh, kids these days and their selfies.  

One of the reasons I love seeing kid pictures is because they see things from a perspective that is so ofter overlooked.  For example, this plant you walk under when you leave the main building.  I don't think I've ever paid much attention to it but it was a focal point for Emma.  Kids are pretty fascinating, aren't they? 

I think with the kids being city kids they would be content just looking in the wetlands section to find bugs or frogs and then leaving.  Seriously, I cannot be the only mom whose kids love to spend time in this part can I?  

Sisters are the only ones who catch their brothers being "eaten" by elephants, right?  So silly! 

I have to tell you that my goofy, fashion plate of a daughter got down in a photographer pose and started clicking her point-and-shoot away saying "this piece is really speaking to me".  She cracks me up.  Love her and this photo! 

I'll end you with this piece because it kind of spoke to me on a mothering level.  

Emma took this when we went on the river trail and then were headed back towards the nature center.  At least what we hoped was towards that way.  No one ever said I would win any awards when it came to following a map.  

I thought the little waterfalls were neat but in her tween way she seemed like "how lame mom" so we moved on.  But this photo of one of the mini waterfalls tells me that she was listening and watching too.  And she thought it was neat too.  

Ha!  So I guess the point is that even if they act like they're too cool for school and they don't want to be out in nature, they really do and they are seeing and noticing and getting it.  Everything works out the way it's supposed to, right? 

I hope you enjoyed this little perspective (ha! get it because she's short!?) of fernwood.  It's so fun seeing things from your kiddos angle and viewpoints.  

And if you are looking for a Christmas gift for a kiddos might I suggest a Fernwood Membership?  Or maybe a camera?  Or maybe both!