WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!!

After many hours in the car we have arrived from Western Pennsylvania to our destination in southwest Portland. We traveled through 10 states in seven days with four children eight and under. Here are some stats from our trip: Estimated travel time in hours

Miles traveled.

Check back for pictures from this amazing journey!

A Building Activity

As we travel west, I thought I would share with you some activities from home. Here the kids are building structures using marshmellows, store-bourght popcorn, and cheese puffs.Margaret did more eating than building.

9 Years Ago Today

Our future began with a kiss.

Waterslide

Although I could never determine what the boys needed strong parachutes for, I thought I would share with you this video of pure teen cleverness.

Ron's Slip n' Slide Extravaganza

Overheard

Boy 1: "This is going to be so great!"

Boy 2: "But don't tell Mama. She'll say it is too dangerous."

Boy 1: "Yeah. But if we make the parachutes strong enough, it won't be dangerous at all!"

Mad Scientist Birthday Party

On April 24 we had a Mad Scientist birthday party for James. I am a little late in posting this, but better late than never!The scientists arrived and decorated their "lab coats" with fabric markers. I got each child a mens white dress shirt at the thrift store.
Here is our birthday scientist with his lab coat on and goggles.

Two partners in crime gear up for the crazy experiments.

Doing an experiment with pop rocks, baking soda, root beer, and water.

Observing what happens.

Watch out! It's getting bigger!

The head mad scientist examines the results.

Time to make some slime!

Goopy and gooey.

More gooey fun.

Better to be over-prepared than not prepared enough.

Saturday Morning

A lazy Saturday morning as Michael is out of town and Saturday sports have ended for the school year. James used all his birthday money, a store credit, and half of his piggy bank money to purchase this Lego set yesterday. It is called The Twillight, and has almost 900 pieces. On sale it was $79.99. I still cringe when I think of how much money that is!While James is in Lego heaven, the other kids are enjoying a bean table on the deck. Amazing how much entertainment a bag of beans, some plastic containers, and paper towel rolls can offer. I have the fancy sensory table from my teaching days, but a plastic rubbermaid container would work as well.

Pittsburgh Zoo

It would be $57.00 for me to take the kids to the Pittsburgh Zoo. $70.00 if Michael would like to come as well. The membership for a year is only $80.00, but the zoo is an hour from us, and I just don't see us wanting to go there as often as let's say the science museum. Well, Allison called me up and said that if you brought a pair of prescription glasses to the zoo, you could get in free. This promotion was for the whole month of April! Free is a great price to me, so I gathered up all our old glasses, got a few pairs from some neighbors, and off we went!We had a large group. It was me with my four kids, Allison with two of her kids, Danielle with two kids, and Jaime with two of her kids. Having so many little people to chase after was crazy at times, but so worth the trouble. The weather was perfect and the animals were out and active.
We heard the lion roar, saw the polar bear jump and play with a ball, walked under sharks, smelled elephants, and ate a picnic lunch.

Although exhausting for me, I am already on the lookout for discarded prescription glasses for next year!