Road Trip: Day 3

We made it! I have to add FINALLY! Because it was a loooong day of driving.

We stayed a while to swim again in the morning before we left the hotel so that (maybe) the kids would rest in the car and we could take a break to stop for lunch.

It was a pretty yucky day out but we did have one stop scheduled at the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park, courtesy of RoadTrippers. It was early in the drive and was probably the stop farthest off our path, but I really thought we needed something to break up the day and it sounded really neat.

Here is what we saw when we arrived at the destination, courtesy of Waze.

We had just driven through a part of town where I was glad our doors auto-lock and we had to pull into an unused parking lot to see this across the street. The kids wanted to get out and walk around but I insisted we just look out the window and proceeded to curse RoadTrippers as I tried to change a baby in the passenger seat of the car.

It was humorously frustrating, but I guess that's the risk you take planning a roadtrip through an app. And we headed on our way.

And as we were driving, we passed... 

The ACTUAL whirligig park. 

Which REALLY WAS neat and exciting. Turns out RoadTrippers is awesome after all!

Of course, the trip took much longer than we planned. The weather was yucky and we were all tired, but at least we made it!

We unloaded the half-house we brought and the girls opened Easter baskets and made a giant mess. It was a fantastic welcome.

Road Trip: Day 2

For today, we planned much less driving. We would leave more leisurely, stop in Alexandria to have lunch with Bob's Uncle and Aunt, and then drive just into North Carolina, giving us a little over three hours for day three, arriving at Meamaw and Grandpa's in the early afternoon.

Mid-morning we stopped at this cute little playground.

Had lunch with Chris and Ruth, and then all the kids took an great car nap late in the afternoon.

This ended up being very fortunate, as the two hotels in Roanoke Rapids with indoor pools had both closed their pools for health reasons. And when you are a kid on a road trip, the only reason you don't scream and cry all day is because you are looking forward to swimming in a pool when the driving is done.

So we got back in the car. And drove some more. To a hotel 35 minutes South. With a pool. Albeit a green pool, but a pool nonetheless. And the kids didn't know the difference.

The plus side, tomorrow we have a shorter drive. Which is fantastic, because there are zero fun places to stop in North Carolina.

Road Trip: Day 1

Today we left on our trip to North Carolina and Virgina. It's a hefty drive of about thirteen hours. Bob wanted to try to make it in two days, but I drive back and forth to New Hampshire a lot with the kids, and knowing that if we drive during the day, the three and a half hour drive can take almost six, I was set on planning for three.

Traveling with kids does take longer, but I also spent a lot of time on the Roadtrippers app researching fun places we could stop on the way to break up the trip.

With today being the longest leg, I added in the most stops. 

Stop one: waterfall hike. Thank goodness for Roadtrippers and Waze because when we turned into the entrance for a Dominican Nunnery, I was sure I'd chosen poorly. But sure enough, we found a short hike to a waterfall! I did not plan on the weather still being so cold so early in the morning, but it was nice to get out and stretch, and we saw our first signs of spring: crocuses!!

Our next stop was supposed to be at a dinosaur field with many life-sized dinosaur replicas. We were going to hang out with them and have lunch. Here, our RoadTrippers App had a little hiccup because we ended up at a playground with dinosaur playground equipment instead. Fortunately, the girls didn't know the difference. It was so cold we could barely stay out to play before eating in the van, so I'm sure we would have been disappointed to pay to see dinosaurs in the freezing windy weather.

We had another playground stop scheduled for the afternoon. And though I really hoped the weather would improve since we were driving south, it was STILL cold and windy.

The last stop of the day before calling it a night and swimming in the hotel pool (highlight of the day for the girls) was the giant doctor's bag. Worth stopping? Eh, it was 5 minutes off our path and pretty funny. Only because we were close to being done driving for the day.

Krazy Kids

Today we went to Krazy Kids. Last time we went it was school vacation week and it was mobbed. This time, there was hardly anyone there and the kids had a blast running and jumping and crawling around. Even BabySlimJim got to play!

Happy Easter!

And thank goodness March (and winter?!?!) is over.

We are in New Hampshire again this year. Our weekend started out with a bang as we headed to the Kimball-Jenkins Easter Egg Hunt. The weather wasn't quite as nice as last year, but at least the sun was out.

Today we woke up

Opened Easter Baskets

Dressed up and went to church (how do I not have pictures of this? Obviously I am off my A-game!)

Got Easter presents (Gram, you spoil these girls!)

Swam in the hot tub

Went on a wagon ride and tasted it

And hunted eggs and played in the backyard.

It's Almost Over!

March, that is.

one last snow day 

an inky experiment

orange belt ceremony