In Limbo

Another school year has ended.  This year the teen finished middle school and will be heading off to high school in the fall, and the middle guy graduated from 5th grade today.  Middle school here we come!  Next year I'll have one kid at 3 different schools.  Let the good times roll!  I took some pictures at 8th grade graduation last week and this one is my favorite, the teen with his 5th grade teacher.

They were just about the same height when he was in her class. 

Here's my favorite picture from today, the middle guy at his award ceremony with Grandma and Grandpa.

And another one of the middle guy with all three fabulous 5th grade teachers.

We are down under the one week mark until we had originally planned to leave, but right now all our travel plans are on hold.  The little dude is feeling much better, but is still having problems with one eye.  We took him for an MRI on Monday which indicated an abnormality in one nerve leading to one of the muscles that controls his eye movement.  The pediatrician said it could very well be caused by whatever virus he had last week, and that it may go away on its own, but that he needs to see a pediatric neurologist before we leave.  The earliest appointment they were able to get is not until July 2nd, so now we hope for a cancellation to get him in sooner.  Keep your fingers crossed that we can get him in and that he's soon cleared for travel.

12 Days

WoooooHooooo! We passed our New York State inspection and the King is ready to go!

**so, apparently the original picture I had here was of the registration, not the inspection. Here's the inspection sticker...

In a little twist of irony, the husbands truck did NOT pass inspection and needed some repairs, so on Monday he had to head out and pick the boys up from school in the motor home. Anyone who has ever tried to navigate a busy school parking lot at dismissal knows it's hard enough to dodge buses, pedestrians and other parents in a regular sized vehicle. It's impossible to be inconspicuous in that situation in a 27 foot, 1985 motor home and apparently he drew a bit of a crowd. The boys thought it was awesome though, and would probably enjoy this type of ride everyday!

We haven't exactly had a problem free week though. The little dude wasn't feeling great last weekend and by Monday night he had a sore throat and headache so we knew he had something going on. I took him in for a strep test, which came back negative, so we figured whatever it was would run its course in another day or two. It didn't, and yesterday afternoon he appeared to have developed some kind of eye infection, so back to the pediatrician we went. They quickly ruled out an infection or an injury, as he had spent most of the week laying on the couch, but were very concerned that his eyelid was drooping and he couldn't follow a moving object with his left eye. They called and sent us to an Ophthalmologist last night and now we are waiting for an insurance referral for an MRI early next week. The doctor we saw believes that whatever virus was making him sick earlier in the week is now affecting the nerves that control the muscles around his eye and as the virus clears up, his eye will too. The MRI is just a precaution, but could hold us up depending on what they find. He's feeling better, though we'll be keeping things on the quiet side this weekend. Tonight the husband took the teen to scout camp for the weekend and the middle guy was at the fifth grade pool and pizza party, so the little dude and I snuggled on the couch, popped some popcorn and watched a movie. It was a nice way to spend an evening, and we're hoping to get back on track early next week! Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well.

I have finally finished up some new cushions for the King, they came out pretty well, with some help from my mom and dad!

We will be cleaning up and setting up the inside of the King this weekend, and I'll try to get some more pictures! We're hoping for a more uneventful last week of school and a trouble free departure in just 12 days!

I Love the Mailman

Because today he brought me lots of fun boxes!!

I had some fun on Amazon.com this weekend!  There were a few things we needed and a few others that we thought would be fun to have, and for the most part the shipping is free.  The teen helped open the boxes after school.  I bought this tea kettle for the husband.  It weighs next to nothing and he'll be able to use it on backpacking trips with the boy scouts.  I also bought a collapsible drip coffee maker to satisfy my caffeine addiction.  And we learned last year that a single pie iron just doesn't cut it for a family of 5, unless you're good with spending about 2 hours cooking dinner over an open fire.  I found a double one that should speed up the dinner preparations considerably.  It came with some pretty interesting recipes that we're looking forward to trying!

Of course, with three boys in scouting I have several bags of boy scout popcorn in the house and the air popper gets a pretty good workout many Friday nights.  But, this summer we won't always have electricity, so I was really excited to find this

   It's an old timey, shake it over fire, long handled popcorn popper!!  It took the husband a little bit to figure out how to attach the handle, but when taken apart it stores in a pretty small space.  Can't wait to try it out!  Finally, I bought a package of 4 travel bugs to use when we go geocaching. 

We're going to start one off here in the Buffalo area this weekend, plan to start another one in the south west, one in California, and the last one in the plains on our way back east.  It should be interesting for the boys to follow them and see where they go!!

The King is heading back to the mechanic on Monday for it's New York State inspection.  Hopefully we get the a-okay that everything has been safely repaired and we're ready to go.  Keep your fingers crossed that it passes 

Anxiety

I had a panic attack Friday morning, standing in my 1^st period class when the student on the morning announcements exclaimed jubilantly that it was FRIDAY, JUNE 1ST! It hit me that we are only 27 days (now only 24 days!!) away from hitting the road. The motor home renovations are coming along, but we still have a lengthy list of things to finish up, repair and organize.  I also thought it would be a good idea if I put together a spreadsheet to start tracking what we have spent on our little adventure.  All our expenses to date are related to renovations and repairs to The King and we've spent about $6500 on that so far.  Not bad considering a new motor home about the same size goes for at least $40,000, but still, it seems like a lot considering we haven't even pulled out of the driveway yet.  I'm feeling a little overwhelmed...

I took some pictures of the inside of the King a few weeks ago. No seats, loose wires, stuff everywhere...what a mess.

Good news, it doesn't look like this anymore. The radio is in and we've pretty much finished the electrical work inside. The only things still not working (that we know of) are the furnace and the oven. We can get the pilot light in the oven to light, but then it goes out, so the husband ordered some parts. He thinks he knows what the problem is. The parts haven't come in yet.

So, where has all that money gone?  Since the teen continues to eat us out of house and home he's now considerably taller than the husband (he's been taller than me since the 5th grade), and no longer fits on the bed made by lowering the table. So, we purchased a “Jackknife” sofa to replace the 2 broken down chairs we pulled out of the main seating area. It looks much nicer and folds down into a bed for the teen. It's also much more comfortable. It still needs to be bolted into place.

We also replaced the mattress in the back part of the cabin.  At 27 years old, the original was in pretty bad shape and considering the amount of sightseeing and walking we plan to do we decided it would be best.  It is, of course, an "odd size" and therefore had to be special ordered.  We're lucky to have a wonderful local company, Otis Bed Manufacturing, that made one exactly the right size in about a week.  I went to pick it up and was rather surprised at the size of the box...it seemed rather small:

The box also had very specific opening instructions and the man who put it in my car reminded me, more than once, not to open the box until we had it INSIDE the motor home.  It was packed in there pretty impressively.

 

We've made some repairs and improvements outside too. One of the awning brackets had come loose and was clearly at some point going to come off completely. The husband spent the better part of a weekend taking it apart, filing in the old holes with epoxy then repositioning and reattaching the bracket. It works much better now.

Finally, the boys picked out a great mother's day gift! A new spare tire cover!! Here's the old one:

And the new one the boys bought me:

I couldn't agree more!  Now let's just hope we don't need that spare tire!

Countdown

The countdown is underway!! We hit the road in only 50 DAYS!! We've made some progress on the motor home and the travel plans are coming along, but I have to admit my anxiety level is rising as the days tick away. The King is running well and we've made some other repairs, but still have lots to do!!

The husband and the teen spent the last couple of weekends chasing down the remaining electrical issues and we seem to have them all worked out. We installed 2 new house batteries that should allow us to run without plugging in for at least a couple of days. They also installed some vent covers on the roof vents so we can keep them open while we're on the road. The teen LOVED hanging out on the roof!

We have also been busy working out our route, finding places to camp and researching things to see. I started at the library where I signed out this book:

It looked like a great guide to the beauty and wonder of Americas' National Parks and I thought it would be really helpful. We never got past the first two chapters...which were all about avoiding bear and mountain lion attacks while in the parks. In case you're wondering, if you encounter a bear you should wave your arms and make lots of noise. If you should happen to run into a mountain lion your best bet is to duck your head and back away slowly. I would prefer not to need either strategy and visions of bears using the motor home as a giant tasty chew toy were stressing me out, so we returned that book. And bought this one:

Maps, tips, places to stay, things to do and see and great restaurant suggestions! It contains preplanned road trips and historical and cultural information and no scary bears. Much better!

Luckily, life hasn't been all work...I took the teen on a nice little educational trip to Washington D.C. over spring break. We had a great time, saw Monticello:

all the monuments and a handful of the many museums there. The teen loved the Air and Space museum:

 and the Newseum:

We also saw the Holocaust Museum, which is very well done but emotionally draining, and the American History Museum, with Dorthy's ruby slippers and Archie Bunker's chair. We had a great dinner at America Eats Tavern and stayed with some wonderful friends. We even got to spend a bit of time with my cousin and her kids!

We're moving into the more “fun” updates on the motor home (new cushions and seats and other creature comforts) so I hope to have some more updates soon! Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we'll be able to do a little more each weekend. 50 days...wow, we'll be on the road before you know it!

Spring Update

Wow...been a while since I've been here! The months have flown by and I can't believe that we're less than 3 months away from hitting the road. It's been pretty busy around here what with school and work and kids and all. Despite the winter that really wasn't we were able to be out on the slopes almost every weekend. The boys had a great season and the Teen added snowboarding to his repertoire. I don't think he'll be going back to skis...ever. He picked up boarding pretty fast and I can no longer keep up with him.

But, spring has arrived and travel preparations are in full swing. We had a REALLY unusual warm weather week and took the opportunity to remove what was left of the tarp covering the King for the winter.  It was in pretty bad shape and we were afraid that one good gust of wind would rip off the tarp and take the roof with it.   

Since we didn't win half a billion dollars in the lottery for a new RV, we're having some mechanical work done this week. We found a very colorful but great mechanic and dropped the King off Sunday night. He's been updating us each day and I'm really enjoying coming home from work and listening to his salty, no nonsense description of what new issue they found today and how he thinks we should deal with it. So far we have new rear brakes, repaired front breaks, some new engine oil cooler tubes, and a new temperature gauge. He also proclaimed the husbands electrical work “solid” and said everything else looks pretty good. We should be able to pick it up on Monday. The husband has quite a list of other repairs to make next week during spring break. He'll be replacing most of the marker lights along the top and today bought two new front seats that will have to be installed in the cab. We're also looking at replacing the two chairs and the table in the camper with a jackknife sofa that will flip down like a futon and probably be a more comfortable place for the Teen to sleep. We're hoping to have it ready in time for one more short test trip before we head west.

Speaking of heading west, we also have a date and a first destination!! Get ready Columbus Ohio cousins, because we're bringing the crazy bus to your house first, on June 27^th!! After spending a few days catching up we'll be heading west, most likely through St. Louis then west through Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Finally, my mom has an awesome sense of humor, found this and put it in my Christmas stocking. I'm so hanging it up inside the King when we pick it up next week!

Shhhh...It's sleeping

The King is sleeping. We've winterized it, parked it in the side yard and given it a ratty blue tarp for a blanket. I kinda wanted to decorate it for Christmas, but there's no outlet on that side of the house. I'm betting after one good “lake effect event” we'll be fishing that tarp out of somebody else's satellite dish.

Speaking of lake effect...we've yet to have any measurable snow here this year. Very unusual for these parts. Also discouraging as the boys are signed up for 2 days of ski camp next week. The boards are ready and skis tuned up and sharpened. Really hoping for some white stuff by the new year.

December has flown by and I really can't believe that it is now nearly 11 o'clock on Christmas Eve. Where did this fall go?? Our days have been filled with school, activities, and concerts, shopping, baking and wrapping. It's been so hectic that I dropped our cards in the mailbox this afternoon on our way to church. We did have time to squeeze in a few fun activities to help us find our Christmas spirit. Several years ago the husband bought me a mold for making gingerbread houses. Even thought the boys are getting older they still wanted to make them this year. We spent a Sunday afternoon decorating them, and the teen did a really good job on his. He put a candy guitar on the roof and decorated a gingerbread person to look like he was playing a guitar. Pretty cool huh!

I also spent an afternoon with the middle child and the little dude at the Niagara Holiday Market. It was an outdoor market with little booths set up and filled with primarily local products, some tasty treats to eat and a skating rink at the far end. We were there the day they held the ice sculpture contest. The sculptures were really cool, but of course, as I went to snap their picture in front of one of the biggest sculptures, they couldn't help but show off for the camera. I don't think he really licked it...

Finally, we spent this afternoon and evening with Grandma and Grandpa, enjoying a lovely dinner and just spending time together. The little dude is, for some reason, obsessed with dreidels (we are Lutheran). He came home from school earlier this week and loudly announced that he was going to “ask Santa to bring him a dreidel for Christmas.” I didn't have the heart to crush his 7 year old exuberance and curiosity, so there will be a small, red plastic dreidel in his stocking tomorrow morning. In the meantime, the husband turned a rudimentary one on his lathe this afternoon and Grandpa was a really good sport and played him for a handful of m&m's.

We have also been busy researching many National Parks and choosing interesting places to stop and see on our trip next summer. A teacher friend of ours had an exchange student a few years ago whose family came here to visit, rented an RV and went across the country. They kept an extremely detailed itinerary of all the places they stayed and things they saw, and we will likely follow some of their travel tips. The itinerary is, however, written only partly in English. Much of it is written in German. Could make for some interesting day trips!

And finally, the King hasn't been sitting totally idle since we tucked it away for the winter. It has been an awesome place to hide all the boys Christmas gifts! We used to hide them in the canoe hanging from the garage ceiling, but they discovered that hiding place last year. No peeking for them this year! Really, because the locks are frozen and the husband just informed that he needs the hairdryer. I'm hoping to thaw the lock and free the presents for “Santa.” And on that note, I would like to wish all of our friends and family a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Blessed Kwanza or Festive Festivus! Have a happy holiday and a Wiz Bang New Year!!