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Dollar Days!

Some of my favorite things are only a dollar!  I love grabbing one of these at mcdonalds--and there are even more things out there! 

If you want to find, share, or buy things for a dollar.  Link up! 

 

August is here and school starts soon!

This happens to me every summer--I turn the calendar from July to August, and I realize summer will soon end.  So I decided we are going to do one fun thing every day until the first day of school.  On Saturday, I will post our exciting--or maybe not so exciting adventures.

August 1, 2012

We made volcanos: soap, vinegar, baking soda, food coloring and sprinkles.  We used an entire gallon of vinegar--so you know they had fun!

Our J-man really turned his volcano into a work of art!  I placed his food coloring very exactly.

I love when we do projects like these because GG truly stays with us the entire time!

August 2, 2012:  One fun thing: get Red Mango Yogurt.  I could do this every day and not get tired of it, but I think vinegar is a bit cheaper!

August 3, 2012

Star gaze and sleep outside.

Luckily, I slept inside, fun for the boys, a good night sleep for me!

Emily didn't star gaze.

Emily got to play with legos the entire day!  She is getting quite good at building with and without instructions!  She comes up with some really cool buildings and ships!

Saturday, August 4 2012

Eating cookie dough!  What could be more fun for a little girl to make chocolate chip cookies then eat the dough in her underwear no less!

Taking a shower with the garden hose.  H really hates taking showers, but thought it would be fun to take it outside--then of course we had to play in the water!  Wish someone was taking a picture of when he was washing his hair and rinsing off with the hose!

The boys also got to slide down the stairs in their sleeping bags.

We had to put the sleeping bags away--and what better way to get them down the stairs, then by sliding down! 

So Now we only have 2 1/2 weeks left until school starts--I can't wait to see what other fun ideas we come up with!

The Food & What I learned

My parents bought all our food as we were traveling across the country.  It would take four days to drive from Oneonta, New York to Kaysville, UT.  Every morning my dad would get out the Coleman Stove, and cook eggs and bacon.  We would also have cold cereal.  This was a real treat because we never had cold cereal at home.  Often we would get the cereal in the little rectangular prism boxes.  We would be able to eat it right from the box.  Another treat was milk!  When we traveled across the country, we had store bought milk.  So, so much better than powdered milk.  We loved the taste of the cold, but not very cold milk in paper cups.  For lunch, we would stop at a rest stop.  I remember Nebraska had the best rest stops.  They had fun places to explore, clean bathrooms, and we got to eat at picnic tables and eat our lunch. We mostly had sandwiches. Usually we would be at the campsite for dinner.  I can't remember the menu for dinner, but I didn't really like food back then.  We could play on the campground swingsets, sometimes evey go swimming, and of course, sleep in the tents.  Two people would also sleep in the car, on the platform bed. Now my memory might be faulty here, but it seemed to be Anne and Jennie that always slept in the car.  Not that I minded, I loved sleeping in the tent.  We always had a food box underneath the platform with perishable items.  Sometimes we would also get fig newtons.  We hardly ever had store bought cookies at our home.  Fig newtons weren't a treat for me, but my dad loved them! When it was really hot, we would go into a McDonalds for ice cream and try to cool down.  We would go to Ponderosa as our last meal on the way home.  I am sure my parents needed it more than we did.

I was just thinking about what these trips taught me:

1. Family was very important!  My parents saved for these trips across the country, and worked really hard so they could do it in the most economical manner possible. 
2. Even when things can be really stressful for parents (i.e. a car breaking down) it can be a great memory for kids.  i.e.: being able to watch movies at the Independance visitor center.  Seriously, the trip wouldn't have been as much fun for me if the car had worked!
3. Enjoy the journey: my parents always would stop at different places and take different routes to see different parts of the country.  We saw Niagra Falls, Yellowstone Nationale Park, Tetons, Mount Rushmore, Badlands, Nauvoo, and Indendance, MO.
4. You don't need electronics to stay entertained in the car.  We would do the alphabet game, hypnotize each other, read, and use our imaginations.  We learned how to read maps, navigate, and learned the order of the states as we crossed through each one.
5. My favorite part of the trip was playing and being with my Hollist cousins for an entire summer!  We had such a great time.  In the Rushforth's basement, we played murder in the dark and blinds man bluff for an entire summer.  At my grandmother's house, we would play in the irrigation ditches, pick fruit, make fruit leather, put on plays, go into the closet closet for our club meetings.  It was at my grandmother's house that I first learned about my long lost brother George.  He was even older than Kevin!

The Layout of the Car

Our first VW bus was red.  With two little windows on the side.  They wouldn't always stay open, so we would put our feet in the window to hold them open.  Sometimes my dad would work up a system to keep the windows open.

I love this diagram of the interior.  The back on the bus was the engine.  Where number 7 is we would pile up the sleeping bags and pillows.  It was fun to go in the back.  Jennie said she would pretend it was the inside of a genie bottle.  It was the hottest part of the van.

The middle seet was taken out, and a platform was built  (look at the picture below to get an idea)   My dad built a platform and then put a big piece of plywood over the platform.  Underneath the master packer, would put all our suitcases, food box, tents (two) and last but not least our shoes.  We would have foam pads on top.  It was a great place to play and hang out.  We had plenty of room, except  when my dad was in the back.  He would always sleep on the diagnal.  We would only have two triangles to hang out in.

This gives an idea of the bed like situation of the van. 

Now you might think the passengers seat was the best seat, but at your feet you had the coleman cooler.  We used this cooler for many, many years.  It worked like a charm--until the bears got it, but that is another story. 

The water jug sat inbetween the drivers seat and passengers seat. 

Who do you like? Who are you going to marry?

While driving across country, we oftn would try an hypnotize each other.  Martha was the best, at being hypnotized and hypnotizing.  She would ask the question, "Who do you like, and Who are you going marry?"  Her answer was always: Ace.