Yet another plan......

So in yet another genius attempt to get the kids to behave (ie: go to sleep without fits, sleep through the night etc.....it's not like they're setting the house on fire or stealing cars....yet), we have come up with a new plan.

The boys have a giant blackboard on the wall in their room that we painted with blackboard paint when we moved in. We drew a huge chart on that wall with the days of the week and privileges that they get across the top (For bonus points: it's a large spreadsheet that is color-coded per child, see if you can guess which parent had this brainstorm...). When one of the kids starts to misbehave, they get a warning, if they keep it up they get an "X". They have to choose what they lose and when that week- from after school TV to dessert to scooter, etc. They then have to put the "X" on the chart and it lives there in the room with them all week.

So far, as with most of our "parenting" ideas, I can't tell if it's made a difference or not. Things at bedtime are definitely better than they were before The Chart. But we still have fits, we still have timeouts, and I'm still nowhere near as Zen about it as I should be...so who knows.

The one thing The Chart did was get us the above photo. When drawing the chart, we told the boys that if they could go a whole week with a clean chart, they would get a special treat (without really discussing or even thinking about what that would be....I mean come on, a whole week? It would never happen right?). But lo and behold, a week or so ago, Jake did it. A whole week with no "X", so we had to come up with a special treat. Coincidentally, Jake's school was closed two days this week for teacher workdays and I had to take Friday off to play daddy day care. He and I decided that his special thing would be to go to the batting cages.

The slowest cage was still a little too fast for him at 45MPH. But he hung in there, didn't get frustrated and swung at every pitch (makes a Daddy proud). We then played some mini-golf (he has a hockey-like golfing style - luckily it was a Friday and we were the only two on the course), hit some video games and came home and watched the Speed Racer movie, which he loved. A good Daddy-Jake day, and a fitting reward for a clean chart. The chart is filled up now, so who knows if it will ever happen again, but it was fun while it lasted.

Alan Family Update

Things are rolling right along here in the Alan Household- I didn't say rolling smoothly, but they are rolling! Our hard drive and back up hard drive crashed so we lost all our music and photos and our refrigerator caught on fire and melted part of the interior (along with all our food) so we are currently in our second week of arguing with Sears on whether or not they need to replace it and in the meantime are living out of a small rental fridge in our garage. But (drum roll please while I cross my fingers and knock on wood...) everyone is back to sleeping!!!! And, really, if I have learned anything in the adventure of parenthood it is this: Well rested parents and well rested children are they key to a happy family life!!!

I am really enjoying my new job. It is such a cool company to work for and one that I really believe in, so talking about them to the teachers in Idaho is easy and fun. Plus they are a really fun group of people. . The program I am training teachers on(Apangea Math 5.0) was purchased for 43,000 students in Idaho so there is a lot of implementing to be done! Overall the teachers are receptive and fun to work with and although I miss my students (and being part of a staff) the diversion from the classroom has been good for me and also for the family. I am able to walk Jake to school most mornings and pick him up some days,spend more time with Tanner and Faith in the AM, and work from home when I am not on the road. Right now I am spending about 1 night/week in a hotel in some odd Idaho location because they have not yet hired the two other "Learning Specialists" (but promise me they are working on it). The nights away are lonely, actually, and I regret giving Brian such a hard time about work trips being "a vacation" when we first moved to Idaho and he was gone so much. On the positive side, though, II have so much more "quiet time". Since I am driving a lot I can call friends, drink my coffee, listen to music and books on CD, then return home in the afternoon much less harried and out of patience than I used to when coming home from a long day of teaching. All in all it was a good move for me at this time in my life.

Jake loves Kindergarten and has made lots of new friends. He has a crush on this little girl named Quinn and gets all embarrassed and giggly when he talks about her. Mostly they play "chase" on the playground. Ahhh... young love! He starts basketball next month and participated in a River Clean Up project last weekend with Brian. He is too much like me- it hits me everyday and sometimes it justt breaks my heart. My faults are his faults- his irrational fears (being in the dark and being alone); his extreme sensitivity(that one is also Brian's genes); his desire to please; his worries when he doesn't do something right; his tendency toward jealousy. It is painful to me to watch because I know how hard those traits can be and I want to be understanding and supportive while at the same time not wanting to coddle him too much and enable the behavior. The nature vs. nurture issue keeps rearing its head as I watch him develop into the tender hearted yet challenging boy that he is. I just want to hug him tight and not let go.

Tanner is talking so much now. He has turned into quite the little conversationalist and keeps us laughing with his singing, dancing, and troublemaking abilities! He can be quite dramatic and will throw his arms down and sigh disparagingly when we reprimand him. He still loves to read- his current obsession being "Froggy Plays T-Ball" which I finally had to hide last week. He has an absolutely incredible baseball ability. He hits home runs off live pitches and has an arm that amazes everyone that watches him play. He can be a total goofball. He and Jake made up this character they call "Apple Butt" and he constantly puts "Apple Butt" in different stories and just cracks himself up.

Faith is growing up too fast, refusing her nighttime bottle (I know logically that this is a good thing, but she's my BABY and I am not ready!), copying everything her brothers do, and is starting to sing and dance. She climbs up the ladder on our playset and slides down the slide by herself as I stand by watching and trying not to get too protective as I see her feet slip a little on the ladder. She has quite a temper on her and will throw her body down on the ground and sob relentlessly if something is taken away from her. This morning she pooped in the potty- she didn't tell anyone, just took her diaper off, sat down, and later we found the evidence in the little potty that Tanner is still trying to master. I wouldn't be surprised if she is potty trained before TJ at this point! Of course, we went out and got her big girl undies immediately- even though it will be a long while until we actually put her in them!

Worst. Mama. Ever

OK. I stole the title for this blog from another blog site: worstmamaever.blogspot.com. For all you moms out there... it is hysterical and will make you feel better about yourself as a parent if you frequent the site.

I recently had a Worst.Mama. Ever. experience with Jake. A lot of you know that I take after my mother and am a thrift shopper- always in search of a good deal. So, about 6 months ago I was in Albertsons and saw that they had all their Crayola stuff on sale for a dollar. Only ONE DOLLAR. So, I decided to stock up for any b'days that Jake was invited to this year. I bought 5 really cool Magic Marker sets that had this black paper and special pens and when you draw on it it turns rainbow and 5 sets of clay. So for the last 5 birthday parties we have simply been wrapping up this set of crayola goodies. Jake has never mentioned to me that it bothers him, so I really didn't think anything of it (although in retrospect I wonder what it teaches him about gift giving....).

The last birthday Jake went to he came home sad. He said that the party was fun, but that his feelings were really hurt. He said that when his friend opened up his presents from the other kids he said, "This is just what I wanted!" and wanted to play with it right away, but when his friend opened the present Jake had brought he just tossed it to the side with no comment (the kid clearly needs to learn b'day ettiquette!). Jake was hurt that his friend didn't like the present. When I asked him what kinds of presents the other kids brought he said, "Fun stuff... like Transformers and games. Cool stuff." Then he started to tear up. Let me tell you, I FELT LIKE CRAP.

He has two parties coming up this week and when I called the parents to RSVP I also asked what their kid would like. One is getting a kid's tackle box and the other is getting a Transformer toy.

Damn You, Superman!

I have been a little lax with regards to posting recently. Due to the end of the road trip, work
getting crazy, some computer issues, but mostly our old friend "Sleep Issues" returning to the fold full force.

I figured that we were in for a tough go as there were a whole bunch of transitions that were occurring at the same time; Kara leaving, Tanner and Faith starting a new day care, Jake starting kindergarten, Marisa starting her new job in earnest and the travel starting with it, etc. Transitions have always produced sleep issues for Jake, and Tanner has followed suit as he has gotten older.

The transitions mentioned above were one thing, but the silliest thing started this new episode of sleeplessness off. Here's the event that served as a jumping off point for the last two weeks of sleep struggles:

We had put the boys down to bed a couple of weeks ago and we were downstairs watching TV when they both started screaming out of the blue. Screaming like they were on fire. Marisa and I ran upstairs and found them both up at the top of the stairs crying and screaming saying that there was someone in their room (the proverbial bad guy..). We pulled both of them downstairs and while I tried to calm them down, Marisa went to investigate. (Yes, the same Marisa that once screamed out in the middle of the night because she couldn't find the light switch in the hallway!) . The boys said they heard a breathing or scratching noise and were convinced it was a bad guy. I yelled up to Marisa to check the fish tank as it sometimes makes a suction like noise when the pump well is low on water. She listened in that area and said she thought it was the plug strip that all the fish tank stuff was plugged into and that she was afraid of it starting a fire. So, no big deal, I went out to the garage and got a new plug strip to change it out. While I was bent over unplugging the plugs (the boys still terrified, screaming, and trying to get out of their room). I heard the scratching noise you were talking about. I looked up and the push pin on the Superman poster had fallen out and when the fan hit it, the corner of the poster was scraping the wall and making a noise. Mystery solved.

Even though I was able to demonstrate that there was a logical reason behind the noise, that there was nothing to be scared of , bedtime has been a nightmare of fights and temper tantrums, yelling and tension. Neither of the boys have slept thru the night since, both waking up scared, They both have dark circles under their eyes and are clearly sleep deprived. The behavior struggles went on all day yesterday, until Marisa and I didn't know what to do - except go eat a lot of ice cream. But you know it is a bad day when you've already been eyeing the liquor cabinet and it's not even 9AM yet. Everyone had a good night sleep last night, though, and today was SO MUCH BETTER... so I guess we will discontinue the Craigslist ad we put on listing: Two Boys: Free to Good Home. But until we get thru this little bedtime warfare with several straight nights of blissful sleep....

Damn you Superman....damn you!

Faith- 18 months

I really find it impossible to believe that my little girl has been with us for a year and a half already. She is growing up way too fast and it's a good thing that more babies are not an option because as much as I love the little girl she is growing into, I miss the baby girl I had. It's not that I want another infant- my god we have enough sleep issues in this household- it's more that the time is just going too quickly and I want to hit a pause button.

This is what she is up to:
She is spunky and cuddly and talkative. She can be a brute, has a scowl that would scare a wrestler, and copies everything her brothers do and say. Her favorite game is "Mama, Find Me!" in which she stands in a corner (in plain sight) with her hands over her eyes and yells, "Mama, find me!" repeatedly until I acknowledge her and come scoop her up in my arms. She is a baseball fan, too. She saw her daddy and brothers heading outside this morning with their gear and she ran to the cupboard and grabbed her mitt and ball and tagged along. She loves to play catch and is absolutely delighted when the ball happens to fall into her mitt. She giggles a lot, is strong willed to a fault, and her favorite word continues to be "MINE!". She hates to wear socks or shoes. She loves to push the baby stroller around the kitchen, chasing her brothers. She has learned to eat with a fork and spoon, often picks up books to "read" to herself, and tells us when she is ready to go "nigh-nigh" (still with Sprinkles and Blankey). She loves to give us kisses- making huge "
kiss" noises and running between her daddy, me, Jake, and Tanner to dole them out liberally.

Faith is one loved little girl. Her brothers continue to dote- often coming in while I am rocking her to sleep- kissing her head, stroking her hair, and murmuring things like, "You're my best girl, Faithy. Sleep tight!". Seriously, sometimes it is so Rockwellian it is funny. (However, should you believe for one minute that our household is ACTUALLY Rockwellian, you only need to read several other recent posts to see how much more it resembles a Dali painting than anything else- surreal and strange, a little crazy, but kind of cool at the same time!).

Michael Phelps in the Making

The boys were both really in to the Olympics. I guess it stands to reason- they are into just about every sport they see or try- but it still took Brian and I by surprise. They liked the pageantry of it all- and enjoyed standing up with hands over heart for each rendition of The Star Spangled Banner. In fact, that was one of the songs they picked each night for bedtime. I'm sure my screeching rendition was appreciated by the neighbors.

They especially loved watching Michael Phelps swim and would wait anxiously for his races (often recorded from the night before), then stand up and cheer. Tanner would lay on his tummy in the shallow end of our neighborhood pool, move his arms and legs wildly, and yell, "Look at me! I'm Michael Phelps! I'm Michael Phelps!". This proved to be amusing to all who watched. Jake would wait for me to announce him (ex: "In Lane 3 we have Michael Phelps"), then "dive" in and swim his heart out to the other side. I swear he learned more in technique by simply watching the swim races than he has ever learned in swim lessons.

They weren't only swim fans, however. They also enjoyed the women's softball (possibly the only two in Idaho watching), ping pong, soccer, gymnastics, and diving. They chose the Olympics for each of their TV times each day. It was a welcome break from Dora and Diego, Scooby and Sponge Bob and I think we were all sad to see the 2008 Olympics come to an end.

I vividly remember watching the games when I was young- both '76 and '80 and dreaming of becoming an Olympic gymnast someday. It's so great that at age 5 and 9 it doesn't matter in the least if you have any skill in the sport at all (I had NONE!), the dream was still there. I wonder if the boys will remember this summer's games with fondness when they are grown.

First Day of Kindergarten (Take Two)

Jake has been beside himself with excitement over the last few days. We took him out to buy first day of school clothes yesterday and he picked out plaid shorts, a skateboarder t-shirt, and new basketball shoes. He came right home and laid them out on his bedroom floor, as if he were wearing them- shirt smoothed out at top, shorts under the shirt , socks coming out from each pant leg, shoes at the bottom. He then laid on them and said, "Yep, I think they will all fit me!". He was so anxious to pack his lunch, pack his backpack, etc... Tanner, meanwhile, has been copying everything Jake does. He packed his own backpack (with diapers) and packed his own lunch box. He laid out his clothes next to Jake's and talks about his "new school" and "new teacher". He will start at his new daycare next Monday and I am praying this enthusiasm lasts.

So the morning came- after a LONG night of restless sleep for our big guy. He woke up excited and showered, ate breakfast, and got dressed in his new duds ....but he began to show signs of nervousness during the walk to school. He said he didn't want to go. He said there were too many people. He clung to me on the playground and anxiously asked if we were going inside with him. We did, of course, as did most of the K parents. Surprisingly he was one of the only kids that got teary. More moms were crying than kids, I think. I never, ever thought of myself as a mom that would drop her kid off at Kindergarten and worry. But that's what I did today. Worried if he was OK. Hoping he was happy. And feeling comfortable. And was making friends. And wasn't feeling lonely or sad. So many years I spent in classrooms as the teacher, telling parents not to worry, to just let go, leave, "He'll be fine!" I'd say. I hate to admit I was the last one to leave the room this morning. I did, however, stop myself from going by to check in on him after my workout (which is directly across the street from his school)!

Brian and I picked him up at 3:00 on the nose, along with every other K parent. He looked tired and it took a few minutes for him to talk to us, but when he did he told us that he loves his Kindergarten teacher, friends, and classroom. We took him over to the Merc and treated him to an ice cream and drink and we talked about his day. It was so great to get that one-on-one time with him. He told us happily that there was "nothing about K that he didn't like!".

Road Trip Wrap-Up

Well, I was right about Faith being excited to see her crib. She was in it for 15 hours last night. She didn't wake up until 10:20 this morning. We kept checking on her to be sure she was still breathing. Poor little thing was obviously just worn out!!!! She woke up happy as a clam, however, ready to face the day. The boys were exhausted, too, but they woke up pretty early. We only got 11 hours out of them -and they probably could have both used the 15 that Faith got!

It is (mostly) good to be home. Whenever I am on vacation and return after a short absence I am reminded of how much I love where we live. Our house, the hills, the Merc, the people... But, I am sad that our vacation is over. It was so much more fun than I had even anticipated. The kids were such good sports about the driving- in fact both Faith and Tanner insisted on climbing back in the car and playing in it last night after baths. Very funny considering we had just finished driving 3000 miles in it! I wouldn't hesitate to do a similar trip again-maybe to the Southwest next time- a repeat of the National Park tour I took on my own in a rented little Ford Focus when I was single. But that will have to wait until 2010. Next year's vacations are already spoken for: Clear Lake for a family reunion with Brian's Dad's side of the family in August, and the Delta with my family in July.

So... what did we learn from our first road trip with the three kids? Let's see....

1. Crocs are really the only shoes you need
2. Even five year olds get sick of fast food
3. There are very few Starbucks between Boise and Minnesota, but every little one horse town has some sort of espresso shack
4. Bringing lots of car toys is a good idea- only if you want to be continually up out of your seat, crawling around in the back seat, picking said toys up from the car floor and handing them back to various children
5. Bikers are good traveling companions
6. Car Bingo is a lifesaver
7. Sometimes you need to be smarter than the GPS
8. High brow political commentary is like heroin- we kept wanting to listen to more and only narrowly stopped short of drugging the children so we could actually HEAR it
9. Honeycomb cereal rocks as a car snack
10. A loaded iPod (and children that like to sing along/rock out) is essential to sanity

We're Home!

We're hungry. We're dirty. We're tired. We'll post more later.....

Second to Last Day

Departure City: Billings, MT

Arrival City: Missoula, MT

Driving Time Today: 6 hours

Total Miles Traveled: 2,662.28

Number of Times This Morning that Someone Looked at Me and said, "Looks like you've got your hands full there!": 3

Best Part of the Drive: Getting to play DJ with the 8700 songs on the iPod (It IS my birthday, after all!)

Tanner's Quote of the Day: "Please, Mommy, I eat these mash 'tatos all gone?" (He was referring to McDonalds hashbrowns)

Jake's Quote of the Day: "Peace, Yo!"

Despite a relatively quiet drive- except for the huge, loud, slightly scary hail storm in Butte- we were all pretty tired by 5:00. It could have been the lack of food (it had been a long time since lunch) but I think it was also the cumulative exhaustion of unloading all of our stuff each night, setting up our cabin, finding dinner, trekiing to the nearest bathroom to brush teeth, putting out small sibling fires,etc... that finally sunk in.

For my b'day dinner I chose to take the kids to a McD playland- only because I didn't want to chase after Faith -who for some reason has taken to refusing (loudly) to sit in a highchair, preferring to crawl up on all fours onto the dining table. So, Brian and I got take out Chinese and snuck it into the local McD's (rebels that we are) and gritted out teeth while allowing the kids to eat approximately their 15th fast food meal in the last 10 days. It was a decision that saved us. Seriously. The kids played, we ate and recuperated, and felt ready to enjoy our final night together in our "cabinet" before setting off for Boise tomorrow AM.

The KOA campground in Missoula is rather funny. It is literally 500 yards behind a Ross Department store, bordered on one side by a condo development and on the other by a major highway. The positive side of that is that there is a Coldstone Creamery right next door to Ross which will be my b'day dessert just as soon as we can get the boys to close their eyes and surrender to the sleep that they so desperately need!

Downtown Missoula was really pretty with a huge playground right on the river next to a restored carousel. The kids loved it - Jake loved riding it, and TJ and Faith enjoyed watching Brian and Jake as they spun round and round (supposedly the fastest carousel in the U.S). Although I had really wanted to wander the streets of old town Missoula, shopping and drinking an iced coffee- with the tired kids it was not to be. "Next time," we said as we pushed the stroller with TJ and Jake riding on the back and Faith falling asleep in the seat.

We are all kind of sad that the trip is coming to a close. When I asked Tanner if he was ready to go home and sleep in his own bed and see Milo again he said, "No. I want to go sleep in cabinet again!". Jake, too, commented to me on the way to the campground restroom this evening that he was sad that we were going home tomorrow. Faith is another story- although she has held up amazingly well, I will bet that she will be ecstatic to see her crib tomorrow evening!

Happy Birthday, Love of My Life

I am hastily trying to type this (by flashlight) in the dark in our cabin as you and the kids are sleeping all around me. I have no gifts to give you as Tanner blabbed and gave them to you two weeks ago. We shopped while you were in CA and Tanner kept telling you that we got you coffee cups, and you finally figured out what he was trying to say. So, all I have to give you for this birthday is the memories of this trip, our life together, and the knowledge that I will never stop striving to be a husband and father that you deserve.

I love you honey, I promise another year of me trying to be better than the last, learning from my mistakes, and constantly trying to improve the man that I am, the man who loves you more now than on the day we said I do.

Go Mustangs!

Departure City: Bismarck, ND

Destination: Billings, MT

Miles Traveled Today: 416.01

Total Miles: 2316.90

Number of “stops” to get out of Bismarck: 4

Unnecessary souvenirs purchased (in dollars): $127.95

Healthy Snacks: 0

Home Runs: 2

One of the more anticipated stops on our trip, we had a baseball game penciled in. The Twins were on the road, as was the Missoula Team, but the Billings Mustangs happened to be in town on the same night we were. The Mustangs are in the Pioneer League, and are a minor league franchise of the Cincinnati Reds.

As has been the case with every minor league baseball game we have attended, this was just an awesome experience. The Mustangs play in a brand new stadium in downtown Billings, a truly beautiful park, with grass areas down the foul lines by the bullpens. The bullpen pitchers sit on the other side of a low concrete wall right at the edge of the grass. Jake and Tanner both watched a lot of the game there, cheering and shouting for the Mustangs. They each got several high-fives and fist bumps from the players, DURING the game. Needless to say they were thrilled.

Tanner, as last time, was also thrilled by the foul balls. Jake was able to follow the game and knew what was going on, Faith was happy to roll down the hill, which brings me to one of the more embarrassing confessions in my life as a parent: Faith is almost 18 months old and this was her 1^st baseball game. Both Jake and Tanner were at games in an infant snuggly. We have photos of each of them will ballpark dogs that were bigger than them at the time, not so of Faithy. So her “hotdog” photo was high on my agenda for this game. Even more embarrassing was her total disdain of the ballpark dog. She wanted nothing to do with it (thus the only photo we got was of her drinking a Diet Coke in the vicinity of the hot dog).

It started to rain and we left mid-sixth inning to get three tired kids back to our cabin and in for the night. I tried to download the photos and video (all great of course) while trying to get them down and proceeded to delete everything accidentally, so no photos of this part of the trip.

Whole lotta nothin'

Departure City: Eden Prairie, MN

Arrival City: Bismarck, ND

Miles Traveled Today: 429.6

Total Miles Traveled:1900.98

Number of Minutes of the Barrack Obama book on CD That We Have Been Able to Listen To: 38 (A good idea in theory but between the three kids needing things, talking, screaming (Faith) it is really hard to hear more than a few minutes at a time!)

Worst Dining Experience: Lunch in Fargo, ND @ Space Aliens Bar and Grille. Seriously, it was the worst meal we have ever eaten. IN OUR ENTIRE LIVES. And it cost us a fortune. From here on out we will be sticking to cheap and easy fast food for lunch.

Our last night in MN Lisa found a bunch of old home movies from Brian and her childhood and put them on DVD. We all stayed up until almost midnight watching and reminiscing. It was so fun to see Brian as a little boy learning to walk, swimming, sledding, and playing with his sister and cousin Eric. It is a little scary how much Faith looks like him as a child. Mary and Auntie Sue were laughing so hard I was sure one of them would pee their pants. And Lisa and Brian talked and ribbed each other about old memories that I’m sure neither one had thought of in years! There was Uncle Rick in tight 70’s pants, Eric in a red Christmas dress that A.S. swore was supposed to be a “night shirt”, and Brian in his Speedo. We got to see Grandma and Grandpa Daufel and Simonich, as well as great grandparents. It was so much fun that Brian and I have resolved to take more video of the kids- just little snippets that they can someday watch with their kids and laugh at the outfits we put them in, mom’s hairstyle, Dad’s goofy hat, etc….We both want to see the three of them (in 30 years or so) watching footage of our adventures and laughing together at the memories. It was a really special evening and one I won’t forget for a long time.

Not much to say about the drive from MN to ND. It was fairly uneventful- straight and flat. Really, the stop in Fargo and bad food was the most drama we had. After a quick swim in the campground pool last night and several hissy fits from a very tired Tanner, we got an even quicker dinner and were all in bed by 8:15. We are all looking forward to our time in Montana, especially the baseball game tonight: Idaho Falls vs. Billings, MT.

One of Ten Thousand

After spending most of yesterday indoors, we decided to spend today at the lake. It was beautiful and everyone had a great time swimming, building sand castles, soaking Auntie Sue to the bone (the only one of us NOT in a swimsuit) and playing on the playground. With 7 kids the refrain every few minutes was, "Where's KidX?" or "Uh-oh, where did Kid Y go???". Luckily we arrived home with all of them.

Besides the lake and mall, the highlight activity of the visit here has been the Wii. Jake loves the sports games- especially tennis and baseball. I have to admit.... it IS pretty cool. Brian and I had a competition last night and tried out all sorts of the games, including trivia (I got my butt kicked like usual but we laughed a lot!).

Tomorrow is Auntie Sue's b'day so we are celebrating with chocolate donuts for breakfast (her favorite) then we hit the road around 9AM. Our first stop is Bismarck, ND. (I know you are all jealous of our metropolitan lifestyle!). With any luck we will be there by 5PM.

So......it's really just a big mall with a play area, right??

Okay, so the answer to that question is a really big no. The Mall of America is HUGE, with a full blown amusement park built right into the middle of it. And an aquarium. And a water slide park. And a lot of really useless stores such as "Alpaca World" and "As Seen on TV". That being said, it is also someplace we never need to go back to. Amazingly, though, the only money we spent was on the amusement rides for Jake and TJ- and a few Diet Cokes (OK..... and ONE funnel cake to share!).

The kids had a great time, playing and riding rides through nap time. We took Faith and Tanner for a walk around the mall after lunch at Bubba Gumps, hoping to get them to nap. Faith fell asleep for about an hour but Tanner would have none of it. In fact, he insisted on pushing the stroller around himself- kind of the opposite or a nap! Auntie Sue let each of the 7 kids pick out something from the Nickelodeon Store. That's Faith wearing her hat from the store. Tanner and Jake both picked out Sponge Bob hockey sets.

Jake loved the bumper cars and the other car rides. In the afternoon he asked for me to take him on the 'Fairly Odd Parents' roller coaster, which I didn't think was a good idea, but I told Marisa, I didn't want to crush his spirit by saying I thought it might be too scary, so I took him on it. He was having a great time... until we got to the top of the first hill, then it was sheer panic for the rest of the ride. It was one of those rides that has a video camera in the car (and you can buy the DVD for $9.95 afterwards), but they preview it for you after you are done. The look on Jake's face was almost worth the price of the DVD. It took him awhile to get his sea legs back after that one! I took Tanner on a few rides as well- that's him on the ferris wheel in the photo. He loved it and waved to Mom and Faith down below each time we went around. Eventually, he and Faith gave into the exhaustion and we left around 4:00. I'm not sure who was more tired: them or us!

Halfway Point

Location: Eden Prairie, MN

Total Miles traveled: 1470.00

Tanner's Favorite Song of the Day: "Help Me Rhonda"

Most Embarrassing Artists to Admit My Husband has on His Ipod: Olivia Newton John and Christopher Cross

Most Inappropriate Song We Let Jake Rock Out To: "I Want to be Sedated" by the Ramones

Most Exciting Moment on the Road: Finding a Starbucks in Sioux Falls, SD (the first SB we have hit since Boise!)

Best Tourist Attraction of the Day: Wall Drug

It was a long day of driving through some flat and rather boring country that was littered with anti-abortion billboards, interspersed with advertisements for huge sex toy stores. Odd combination, to say the least!

The kids were TROOPERS. Well... Faith's screaming got rather old quickly and I did spend many minutes with my fingers literally in my ears as she protested loudly against the injustice of being confined to her car seat and having all her toys and snacks out of arms reach. But the boys? They were amazing. We woke up at 4: 15 and packed the car stealthily as they continued to sleep. We woke them up at 5 and they were cheerful and ready to start the day. Not the attitude we had expected at all!

Wall Drugs was a great pit stop for breakfast. Homemade pancakes, donuts, biscuits and gravy and 5 cent coffee. Mmmmm. I can feel my arteries hardening as I type this. The kids picked out the obligatory "huge lollipop" which we saved for the last hour of driving, as well as the cool sunglasses (ie: goggles) Jake is wearing in the photo.

We were greeted in Eden Prairie, MN by the four 1/2 cousins, Auntie Sue, Grandma, Eric and his girlfriend Mona, and Lisa and Clark. That is the entire Simonich Clan so we took a photo to commemorate the occasion. Jake jumped right in and got on the Wii (baseball, of course). Faith and Tanner warmed up quickly and played on the swingset all evening.

Tomorrow we head to the Mall of America. If we still have enough money for internet service after that venture, we'll post again tomorrow.

Traveling Companions

So, when planning this trip out, we calculated each days travel, what we thought the kids could tolerate. We calculated how best to pack, the best toys to bring, ways to entertain children in the car. We packed and repacked and planned out each day on a AAA TripTik in a big three ring binder. But, even with all that foresight we didn't count on the thousands of motorcyclists that we would be sharing our campsites with along the way! Sturgis, a HUGE motorcycle rally, starts tomorrow. We have been sharing the road (and the campgrounds) with more motorcycle enthusiasts than you can imagine. The picture above wasn't actually taken from our campsite, but it could have been!

We read up on the event- and found out that over half a million people are expected at the rally- and our road trip includes Sturgis on its route! Talk about diversity- man, the kids are getting a good dose of it. Besides the annoyance of LOUD motorcycle sounds while trying to put Faith to bed, and the minor issue of trying to get gas at the only station in town that was currently serving as a haven from the rain for a hundred cyclists (I am not exaggerating), it's been a peaceful coexistence so far.

The kids had a great time standing out on the porch of our cabin yelling, "Go motorcycles! You can do it!" while the cyclists were pouring into the campground.Then Jake started adding the words, "Is that all you've got???" and while we worried momentarily about offending the crowd, we found that everyone was very good natured and tolerated the three (very) enthusiastic kids quite well.

Okay, we've seen it....

Location: Hill City, SD

Miles Travelled: 933.51

Speeding Tickets: 1 - (WY State Trooper)

Top Speed: 86- (Immediately preceding the above)

# of times someone asked are we there yet: 8

Meals with vegetables served: 0 (unless you are the kind of person that counts apples as vegetables, in that case, 1)

Tanner's Quote of the Day: "My tummy hurts!" (This preceded him throwing up all over himself during our climb through the mountains of Wyoming)

Brian's Quote of the Day: "Hey, is that a cop up there?"


Memories of this day:

-Waking up with Faith, Tanner, Marisa and myself all in the same full bed, counting the minutes until we could end the restless night and get on the road!
- The summer rainstorm that had all of the motorcyclists (see next post for further info) hiding under the gas station canopies, while we were busy running out of gas, and not able to get anywhere near a gas pump.
- Mt. Rushmore being very massive and cool, but REALLY underwhelming as an end destination. We came, we saw, we bought stuff in the gift store in the space of about 15 minutes.
- The KOA water slide being, by far, one of the highlights of the trip, for both the kids and me.
- Going thru the wilderness of WY, driving thru gorgeous canyons and climbing beautiful mountains up to 9,000 ft high (of course we only noticed this because the kids were sleeping).
- Realizing that the best intentions for healthy food and snacks along the way, stand a snowballs chance in hell, once they meet up with the vastness of this part of the county, relatively few choices and kids who go from asleep to cranky at warp speed without properly applied meals and snacks.

Tomorrow on to MN (10 hours....God help us...) :)

The First 27 Hours

Started in: Boise, ID
Ended in: Cody, WY
Miles Traveled: 520.11
# of times someone asked, "Are we there yet?": 7
Hours of driving before this question was asked for the first time: 4
Number of snacks consumed: Countless

Tanner's Quote of the Day: (after seeing the huge buffalo along the side of the road) "Dad, you hold me so the buffalope don't get me?" From here until he dies that particular animal is a "buffalope".

Jake's Quote of the Day: (I bought him a little journal to write in for the trip, not really thinking he'd be too into it, but after seeing Bear Country he asked me for it. When we got to our next destination he said, "Mom, I've finished my first two posts. Can I read them to you at lunch?" Obviously a child of bloggers...

Worst Parenting Decision of the Day: Allowing the boys to pick souvenirs at Old Faithful, not paying close enough attention to the combination flashlight/carabiner thingies that they picked out to realize that there was an ear splitting whistle on the other end....they quickly got confiscated.

Memories (good and bad) of the trip so far:

• Jake having to stop to go potty 3x in the first two hours of driving
  
• The kids wanting to be snapped into their carseats a full 20 minutes before we were ready to leave the house
• Singing Kumbayah (spelling?) and Michael Row Your Boat Ashore for half an hour to get a very tired Faith to sleep in the motel room (a spot similar to the Psycho motel)
• Going to Bear World and having Jake hug me and say, "Mom, this is the best trip. Thank you for taking me here!"
• Watching baby bears wrestle at Bear World
• Arriving at Old Faithful exactly 10 minutes before it was going to put on its show. We told Jake it was karma because of all the trash he picks up so now he is even more motivated to clean up the world.
• Driving through Yellowstone and seeing the huge lake and several big forest fires. Tanner loved seeing the helicopters getting water in big red buckets hanging from them. He was cheering, "Go firefighters! Go helicopters!"
• Arriving at our campsite and finding a cabin (or as Tanner refers to it, our "cabinin" cleaner and roomier than we had imagined, along with a nice swimming pool, hot tub, trampoline, playground, and arcade. Yep.... we're really roughing it!

Off to Wally World

Okay, so today is the day we set off on our Griswoldian adventure. Three days on the road back to visit Lisa and Clark et. al. in MN, three days in Minneapolis and three days back. We will be camping in KOA cabins in Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore on the way there, and in Billings, MT; Missoula MT, and beautiful Bismarck, ND on the way back.

We load up the van this afternoon and head out at 4:30.







Night #1 will be spent in a hotel room in Idaho Falls

Day 2 we will spend exploring Yellowstone and possibly Bear World.

Day 3 we drive to Mt. Rushmore

Day 4 we arrive in Minnesota for a birthday dinner with the cousins, Auntie Sue, Grandma Mary, and Uncle Eric and his girlfriend (who Jake has a HUGE crush on!! You should see the kid blush when her name is mentioned!).

Days 5-6 we tackle the Mall of America , the lake and pond, and let the 7 (soon to be 8) cousins run around like maniacs.

Day 7 we are back on the road

Day 8 we'll be heading to a Billings Mustang baseball game

Day 9 we're in Missoula where Brian hopes to fish and I hope to check out the town

Day 10 we head home and collapse in heaps on the couch

We will be posting each evening- as long as we are not putting out small fires, trying to locate a lost child, or busy tearing our hair out.

Jake is beside himself with excitement, Milo is wary of the huge stack of luggage on our living room floor, TJ just is suspcious that I might leave without him again (I was on a business trip Sun-Thurs. this week), and Faith is clueless. Brian and I are both really anxious to get on the road and let the adventure begin. Wish us luck!