Gulf Shores Vacation- Part 1

We did our first real family road trip the week of Labor Day!  Before this the longest trips the girls took in the car were to Omaha or St. Louis.  So I was nervous about driving 14 hours with them.  I shouldn't have been.  They were great.  They did lots of activity books, looked at kid atlases, read a book about each state we visited (Hannah), played road trip scavenger hunts (kids vs. parents), did mad libs (toot was a popular noun and verb), and built lots and lots of lego creations.  They were thrilled that I put several ocean themed legos in the box like sharks, scuba divers, and an octopus.  And when all else failed, we had our trusty ipad.  But we usually didn't get the ipad out until late afternoon.

We mainly wanted to take the girls to the ocean for the first time (we don't count Seattle since we didn't really play in the water).  But we also wanted to show them more parts of country, too.  Before the trip they had visited six states (Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado, and Washington.)  And on this trip they visited six more (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee.)  They doubled their state count!  It was an amazing family vacation with lots of "firsts" and lots of memories.  And now that we know they are good car travelers, we are looking forward to more road trips!

Warning: Part 1 of our Gulf Shores vacation doesn't actually contain any pictures of Gulf Shores.  We took 3 days driving there and here's what we saw on the way...

Our first stop was for lunch.  We saw this restaurant IN A CAVE and I made Steve turn the car around to go to it.  And also, there were GOATS.  Olive was less than the thrilled at the free-roaming goats and insisted on being carried.

Next stop was Elk River.  Steve really wanted to do a float trip on it as part of our vacation.  I talked him out of it, but I'm sure we will be back in the future.  This time we just played around in the water a little just to take a break from driving.

Next stop was the Scott Family Amazeum in Betonville, Arkansas.  We got in free since we are Union Station members.  Score!

My favorite picture ever.  I wanted it to be my Facebook profile pic, but then I thought it *might* be a little too weird.

And since we were right next to it, we stopped at Crystal Bridges art museum.  The girls were not in the mood to tour the whole museum, but we wanted them to see the architecture.  They also recognized some sculptures we have in KC.

They were very excited to make pinwheels.  So Steve stayed with them to do that while I looked at some galleries.

 And we ended our day at Mount Magazine.  We wanted to camp, but the campsites were first come, first serve.  We crossed our fingers and drove there as fast as we could...and got the very last campsite in overflow camping!!  Hurrah!  The girls were jumping up and down.  After we set up our tents (somehow I didn't take any pictures), we got to see the sunset from the lodge.

The next day we saw more of the mountain and hiked the trail to the top.

These two are goofballs.  

Throwback picture to our very first camping trip when they were at the highest point in Missouri:

They were completely spoiled on the trip and every time we stopped to get gas we got a treat from the gas station.  Their favorite was wild berry sherbet.

Next stop was Crater of Diamonds State Park: the world's only "keep what you find" diamond mine. The biggest diamond found in the US (40.23 carat) was found here.  On the day we visited someone from Arkansas found a .03 carat diamond.

And I found this diamond!!  Just kidding.  It was quartz.  But it was fun to pretend.  We found lots of cool rocks (mostly jasper) and some volcanic ash.

I couldn't capture it in pictures, but the dirt actually sparkled when the sun hit it just right.

That is the original entrance to the diamond mine.

hot and tired

Digging for diamonds really wears a girl out.

Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana

We didn't spot any alligators, but we saw LOTS of spiders.  They were everywhere and they were as big as the palm of my hand.

We planned on camping on Day 2 in Louisiana, but it was 90 degrees.  We opted for a hotel.  On Day 3 we drove to Vicksburg, Mississippi.  We weren't going to visit the Civil War site because 1) Steve and I have been there before and 2) I didn't think the girls would get much out of it since they are so young.  But then we decided we couldn't drive through Vicksburg and NOT do it.  And so the girls got an intro lesson about the Civil War.

I remember seeing this when I was on a road trip with my family in fifth grade.  I wish I could find those pictures and compare it to now.

Catfish Row Children's Art Park:  our intended Vicksburg stop.  A little more kindergarten-friendly than civil war cannons. :)

Vicksburg Riverfront Murals

And that's where I'll end part 1.  Next up, we make it to Gulf Shores at the end of Day 3.

KC Dance Day

 When I asked the girls if they wanted to do KC Dance Day again, Hannah wasn't so sure.  Olive loves dancing and dressing up so she immediately picked out a leotard.  Hannah got dressed in dance clothes too, but she wasn't happy about it.  I told her she could just wear workout clothes instead and she got a big smile.  "Good!  I'm more of a soccer girl.  I don't like tutus."  And so she wore soccer shorts. :)  The girls did a pre-ballet class together and then Olive did a creative movement class by herself.  Olive loved it!

The girls got blow-up crowns as part of their goodie bag.  Hannah played with them while Olive was taking her second class.  You can see a blurry Olive on the left.

A Party for Becky

Somehow we have never visited Justin and Becky in Maryville.  And they have lived there for YEARS.  So we finally made the trip on literally the last day possible...because she moved the next morning.  They invited us over for a farewell party because Becky got a job in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho!  Justin plans to keep his job in Maryville for a few months and move at Christmas.

The girls liked playing with the baby turtle.  They made him a house out of legos.

We had the whole family...except Casey. :(

And so we took lots of pictures.

Including some acting out our feelings.  Please stay in Missouri!

We can't wait to see pictures of all the adventures Becky (and soon Justin) will have in Idaho!  Have fun!

Lego Table

On Father's Day Steve built a lego table for the girls.  Lego has become an obsession at our house.  We inherited all of Steve's old legos from childhood.  They were all from car and plane sets, though, so we had hundreds of black, white, gray, and army green pieces.  The girls got lots of lego sets for Christmas and our collection became much more colorful!  We switched from a giant rubbermaid to smaller ones sorted by color.  Hannah said this is how they did it in lego club last year.  We also have bins for people, horses, airplane parts, car parts, etc.

Steve built the table with a top board that can be removed and turned over.  We asked Grandma to paint a river and ocean scene on the board.  She did an amazing job!

 And here is the final product.  Sorted legos are in the rubbermaids.  Completed projects are on the table and stored in the fabric bin.  The same storage is also on the other side of the table.

The girls are super creative about incorporating the "kits" with their own designs.  In the back is Elsa's castle they got for Christmas.  I love that they aren't afraid to take parts of it apart to use in other creations.  I'm way too much of a rule-follower and I would have never mixed and matched lego kits as a kid (or even now).  I wish I would have taken a picture of the nine-story castle they built before.  Oh well.  I'm sure they will make another one soon.  Lego creation pictures should be a regular feature on the blog!

First Day of School

Hannah's first day of second grade was Friday, August 12.  I have no idea why they started school on a Friday.  And it was a half-day, too!

Olive was very disappointed that she wasn't starting on the same day.   She got all dressed in her first day of school outfit....and then just walked home with me.  She had to wait "all the way until Tuesday!"  Kindergarten always starts two days later in our district, so Olive's first day was August 16.

This isn't Olive's real backpack.  She requested a Captain America shield backpack, but it didn't ship in time so used an old backpack for the first couple of days.

Here is her real kindergarten backpack:

She is so excited to be a kindergartener!

There is a special flower ceremony for kindergarteners to meet their 6th grade buddies.

All of the buddies together.  Olive is in the front row.