Test Road Trip

 

So me and Poppie did a thing. We took the girls on a "test " road trip. I will say, IT WAS A TEST.  Mostly for us. 😅 It's really no different from a regular day, just in a different place, vehicle,  restaurant,  etc. I found out what works and what I need to change before the next one. We survived melt downs,  temper tantrums,  crappy hotel where me and poppie got no sleep, puking in a restaurant,  but the hugs and kisses and I love you's made up for it all.
Traveling was ok. Travel trays are a go for me because they colored,  played with play dough,  ate lunch and played on them. A good Ipad with movies and headphones is a must. A to do bag is a must to keep them busy. Snacks and drinks. These things are good to keep them busy so poppie could focus on driving.
I will come up with a better idea for staying in a hotel room. You can't expect a toddler to stay in a strange place and be comfortable at bedtime. You need familiar things and as close to home feel as possible. A few toys from home and activities. A sound machine is on my list. A favorite stuffed animal helps too. We let them take their lock box money and they got to pick out their own souvenirs. 

We were exhausted but this is something these girls will talk about for years and we are glad we could give them those memories. 

We took them to an Aquarium restaurant the first night and they were so amazed. They loved the sting rays and I think the sting rays loved them. 😍

The next day we took them to the Rainforest Cafe.  They weren't too sure about it with all the loud noises. But they go adjusted and loved it. 

That girl stole all my kisses. She loves her Poppie. 

We left after lunch which was perfect timing due to it being their nap time. 😴

Dakota came and hung out with us and then took them home. Me and Poppie just fell into bed that night exhausted. 

The night before we left, one of his sisters had to take his other sister to the ER. He had been up all night worried about her and staying by the phone. So he was already exhausted that next day when we left. We thought we were going to get a good night's sleep in the hotel but it was a crappy hotel.  We left a bad review on their website. The girls however slept like logs after I laid down with them til they fell asleep 😴.  Oh well it was making memories.  

They released his sister from the ER and sent her home. More on that later. 

On that Monday Dakota invited us over to eat supper. 

When your son buys himself a new grill and groceries and cooks for you, you jump on that. Thank you son.

When you have to show your son you know how to two step and you have fun dancing with your handsome son. Then you grab the girls and twirl them around too.

The next day we got a phone call from his sister that she wasn't feeling good and we needed to call her Dr. We waited and waited and waited. We eventually wound up calling an ambulance to get her and take her back to the ER.  Needless to say we are upset with her Dr. She has alot of health issues and they are trying to get her stable. As of right now dear hubby and his other sister is taking turns staying with her. She is facing some major decisions when she does come back home because she is probably facing round the clock care for a while. She has always been by herself and independent and this is not going to be easy for her. We will just have to deal with that when time comes. 

It may be a long week. 

Celebrations and Good Times

 We have had several celebrations here lately that have kept us pretty busy and just good times. 

We celebrated Memorial Day and cooked out with Dakota and the girls. 

We took a day and went to the movies. The girls love Spirit and we were waiting on it to come out.  It was a day well spent. 

I bought a few more preschool things for the girls. One is a pre-made activity binder and it was well worth $20. They love it.  The pieces are already velcroed and very well put together. I bought a tracing book for Caroline. It starts out big letters and numbers then it reduces in size once they learn how to make the letters. You can finger trace too. I got Atleigh a new activity book.  I will be taking out the pages and putting them into sheet protectors so they can use dry erase markers and reuse them. 

They love activity binders. I have also been checking into busy binders. Goodness, I've got to stay off of Pinterest and YouTube.  

They have been helping me in the house a little to earn some more spending money in their lock box. We are going to take then on a little overnight road trip. It us going to be a test trip to see how well they do before we start making some longer road trips. 🙃 

We are not going to grow a garden thus year but we did manage to get just a few cherry tomato plants and mini pepper plants for them to eat off of. They love to dip them in ranch dressing.  They helped me plant them one day and Atleigh worked so hard stretching the water hose to the garden to water them. A cracked hose makes a good splash pad too. 

Dear hubby and Dallas went to my momma and daddys house one day to help them cut off and cut up a huge limb that broke off into their yard. If you will notice in one picture there is a snake hanging down from one limb.  There wound up being two snakes in that tree limb after cutting it up. Cotton mouths. No telling how many times they have walked under that tree. 

They loaded up the Ranger and worked one day on it. Bless them. He has always taken care of my parents. 

We had Graduate Recognition 🎓 one Sunday at church. Dallas received a military Bible from our church. 

We had a death in our family also. It was one of my Uncles. My momma is the youngest of three children. She has two older brothers.  He was a retired Paramedic.  He was proceeded in death by his wife to which they were a Paramedic team. They drove an ambulance together same shift and hours. 

This is my momma and their other brother, his only daughter, and me and my sisters. 

My other Uncle and Cousin traveled 11 hrs. It was a rough trip for him and it wore him out for several days. 

Me and my Momma are going to make a trip back to the gravesite and decorate my grandparents graves.  We got to spend some time with them while they were here. They stayed with my momma and daddy and that was very good for my Uncle. There is a big age gap between me and this cousin but we have so much in common. She was the one who inspired me to homeschool  our boys when they were little. 

June 14th is National Flag Day and every year we try to replace our old torn flags due to weather and put up fresh ones. We dispose of the torn ones properly.  If you don't know how to do this, you need to research. An old flag should never just be thrown in the trash. Look it up. We fly our American Flag and Marine Corp Flag with pride. We also taught the girls a little lesson about the Flag that morning.  Semper Fi from our house to yours on National Flag Day. 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Nothing to see here but a couple of unicorns brushing their teeth and making faces. 😬 . Because we can. We were getting ready for the day because it was Atleighs bday. Yep,  unicorns.  Me and Poppie had our own party for her because she was not having a party until 5 days later and she did not understand that it was her bday and we weren't doing anything. So bring on the party. The one thing that she was the most excited about was that we baked her cake together and decorated it together. That's all she talked about all day. 

She patiently waited all day until daddy got off work so he could celebrate with us. 

She is such an appreciative little girl. 😍

Then that Saturday we had her bday party her mommy and daddy were planning. 

Somebody done stole my man and taking all my kisses.

Then we celebrated Father's Day. 

Poppie has a new travel blanket so he can take us girls anywhere with him. It says, "Carrying Your Love With Me". 💘

The next day we went to see my momma and daddy for Father's Day. 

Fresh cut flowers from my flower beds

Ma Kettle, what's for supper?

Well, chilren, it's chicken parmesan with fresh mozzarella and bruschetta, that's what. 👌

We are just spending this summer trying to get caught up on some things around the farm. 

We still do not know of Dallas' ship out date yet, but we are just spending as much time with him as possible. Alot has changed in the past 30 yrs since Dear hubby enlisted and went to bootcamp. Now they don't let them come home for 10 day leave after graduation. They go straight to MCT school.  This will be completely different. I think he's getting  a little antsy.  He is hung between wanting to go and wanting to stay. We will see. 

I hope everyone has a blessed day. Maybe I can slow down a little or at least remember to blog. 🤦‍♀️ 

Congratulations Class of 2021

 Well, we made it through two graduations.  

My best friends daughter graduated first.  We had the pleasure of attending her graduation.  It was also my old school. I got to see some of my old class mates who had children graduating. There is only two weeks difference between Dallas and my best friends daughter. Her name is Kalee. My best friend and I were pregnant at the same time. She was at the hospital when I delivered Dallas but two weeks later I missed Kalees birth. I felt so awful. I had had a rough day and night with Dallas feeding every two hours and not sleeping so I had turned the ringer down on our phone. Low and behold, my best friend went into labor and headed to the hospital. We missed the call. 😢 

I promised that since we missed the birth, I wouldn't miss the graduation. 😁

Dear hubby got off work and came home and surprised our girls big time. He was hiding in the closet when Dakota brought them that morning on his way to work.  He video called Atleigh like he always does and they talked for a bit, then as they were talking, he came walking into the living room and still on the phone. She was so excited and surprised. They put the phones down and just ran to him and hugged him. Their hugs brought a few tears to Poppies eyes. 

Then they were stuck together like glue. They have not let him out of their sight. 

He told his company he had to make it home for Dallas graduation or he was just leaving. He has never missed important events of our boys. So it was Dallas night to graduate.  

We were afraid that Dakota wasn't going to get to make it. He was on call. We were so blessed his phone didn't go off. 

We let the girls come home with us and spend the night and it's a good thing we did. Around midnight he got called out. 

They have no problem staying with Poppie and Gmaw. They never want to go home. 

We have been having some pretty weather and getting outside more in between rain. 

Atleigh finished up her softball season. One night she spotted her Poppie when she got to a base that was close to us and she held out her little arms and wanted him. We told her to focus on running and she could have Poppie as soon as it was over. ❤

We still do not know a ship out date for Dallas but we are going to spend as much time with him as possible.  

We received Dallas yearbook from school and this was their Sr dedication pages we had made for it. 

Just a daddy and his sweet girls 

I have a new read and I'm loving it. 

This lady has alot of books that I'm going to read. 

I have another stroller hack for you. USB rechargeable fan. Use a binder clip or carabiner hook to hook it to the stroller for extremely hot days on kids. 

I found the easiest and tastiest pie crust to make ever. 

We have a new project we are working on. Well,  it's Dakotas idea and dream. Not gonna tell you yet.