An Interactive Pitstop at the Albuquerque Science Center

Although it was chilly, the sunshine felt great as we unloaded from the van, and the kids, running full speed to the building, wouldn't even pause for a photo.

Photo courtesy of Alburque Tourist Website

The Explora Science Center promised to have a lot to see and do for kids, with multiple hands-on and interactive exhibits, and with our local science center membership, we were able to check it out for free.

We are fans of anything engineering,  so it was definitely a fun place to take a break from the road.  The building was packed (and I do mean packed) full of things to touch, experiment with, move and explore.  Around every corner was tucked a new and different exhibit to touch and explore, it was almost overwhelming there was so much to do.

These ball and gears contraptions are so easy to take a few moments to watch.

The kids always enjoy this spinning disk exhibit.

Water and more water!  I was surprised at how many water exhibits they had.

The stop-motion movie maker was a big hit with the kids.

This light box was pretty cool too.

Laminar Fountain

A few of our favorite things were the main area fountain (Laminar Fountain), which had streams of dancing water that looked as though they were jumping from platform to platform, the stop-motion movie maker, and the interactive digital underwater world (Sketch Aquarium) where the kids could color their own sea creature and digitally bring it to life.

The negative was, everyone else thought it was a cool place to be also, so with the number of exhibits and the number of bodies all crammed into a not so enormous building, my irritability level started to go up and I was eager to move through and get away from the cluster.  Then, just when I thought my level of tolerance was being pushed to the max, the sweet poo smell I kept smelling off and on (which I thought to be a dirty diaper) was a larger issue than I expected, seeping out and soaking both me and Eli in a large poop blowout mess!  "Is that mustard on your shirt?"  Ha.  I could only wish it was mustard.

So, after an outfit change for Eli and a good scrub with a wet wipe to my now yellow stained shirt, we watched the kids made a stop motion movie before we headed upstairs in what could be one of the coolest elevators I've ever been in.  The elevator, which was a huge freight elevator, had couches, tables and even a piano for the kids to mess with as we traveled up.  Crazy fun.

Once at the top, we found our way to what was my favorite part, the interactive, digital underwater world called the Sketch Aquarium.  The underwater sounds were relaxing and because it was a smaller room, it wasn't packed to the gills like the other areas.  There, the kids could color a sea creature, scan it, which uploaded it to the program, creating a digital image that moved, darted and even interacted with stimuli.  We spent a large amount of time coloring sea creatures and watching them show up on the digital fish tank wall, then touching them and watching them swim, dart and move.  It was visually entertaining and definitely something I would love to see at our science center back home.

Overall, it was a fun stop, but we had close to 7 hours of driving ahead of us to get to Arizona, so we loaded the van and moved on.

Route 66 weaves in and out, along the I-40 W, in this area of New Mexico.

From the road, we could see the San Jose Mission (Laguna Church) that was constructed around 1699.
Pueblo of Laguna

Lots of railroads in this area.

We stopped in Gallup, NM to refuel and get some food.

Shortly before sunset, we crossed into Arizona!  Minion Tom celebrated with us. 

At Least It's Not As Bad As Texas!

Our road trip has been interesting to say the least.  As with most of our trips, we went into it with VERY low expectations, and so, starting from there, it's not too bad, and actually, possibly... good.

All the kids are good travelers, but we were slightly worried as we drove down the road, not even out of Iowa, and Eli started to get fussy.  We waited it out, tried to distract him with a few new toys, and eventually, he drifted off to sleep.  At that point, we enforced the "If the baby is sleeping... we keep driving policy" and we made pretty good time, only stopping to refuel, and at those stops use the restrooms and grab food.

Eli received a new toy from Uncle Chris and Aunt Beth before our trip to keep him busy.

It was all going great, we were happily moving along, and with bedtime approaching for the kids, it promised to be a quiet night on the road.

Really, we didn't know how far we would go, where we would stop for the night, or if we were going to just sleep for a few hours in the van at a rest stop somewhere along the way, but we did know that we wanted to get to Arizona as quickly as our crew would allow us, so we kept moving down the road.  

It was somewhere in Kansas that Derrick was starting to get sleepy, so he let me drive.  At the gas station pit stop, we met another family, who were traveling with 4 boys as well, on their way to Arizona from Minnesota.  Traveling home from visiting family for the holidays, the mom of the family said she was looking forward to a quiet ride as we said our short hello and good-bye.  I was thinking the same thing as I watched them pull away a few minutes ahead of us.  Night driving (as long as you aren't tired) is a great way to travel with kids as long as you can grab a few hours of sleep too before they wake up for the day.

Eli was such a happy traveler!
Especially after a refuel and diaper change.

Little did I know, when I took over the driving, that the worst of our trip was ahead of us.  About 30 minutes into the drive the snow started to come down.  Now, the temps were hovering around freezing, so the snow really wasn't too bad, mostly just light flurries, but it was enough to accumulate on the road.  This snow, when it was put together with a dark, unlit, two-lane highway, with lines barely visible in perfect conditions, and large semi-trucks barreling down the road at 70-80 mph, kicking all the snow up in a whiteout effect with each passing, made the drive extremely stressful, and at times frightening.  A few occasions, I would loose sight of the road, let off the gas (for fear the road could be slick) and weather out the multiple wind gusts from the many, many, many semi-trucks that passed us by, hoping the end of the snow was near.  Derrick, understanding my fear, watched the radar on his phone from time to time and apologized as new storm after new storm popped up in our path, making his claims, "just a few more miles and we will be out of the worst of it", wasted breath.  

Finally, in what seemed like FOREVER, we were out of the snow and I think out of Kansas too.  I made a comment to Derrick, as we were getting to the end of the storm... "that was bad, but it still wasn't as bad as that time we drove through Texas after the ice storm".  He agreed, there might not be anything that will top the stress and ice mess we encountered along that Texas drive.  That was unforgettably terrible!

I didn't want to experience that difficult drive again, so I decided I was going to drive as far as I could as long as it was clear and dry and everyone was asleep.  The road ran right along a train track, for many, many miles, and through many small towns.  A few times I was thankful we had stopped and filled up with gas earlier, as the signs read "no services" for 80-mile stretches or more.  We buzzed through Oklahoma and Texas, then around 4:30 AM, when I was getting pretty sleepy, we crossed the New Mexico state line.

I was thankful for the safe trip (I had done a lot of praying along the way) and quickly filled up the van at the gas station and switched places with Derrick.  He decided he was still sleepy, so we tried to find a place to park and get a few hours of sleep before the kids were awake.  It was hard to get a spot that didn't feel like it was in the middle of everything, and most of the good places were taken by other sleeping travelers, then as we tried to settle into sleep, Ethan and Everett woke up.  Wide awake, they moved and fidgeted, making it hard to sleep for everyone, so Derrick decided to drive for a short time until everyone drifted back to sleep, then pull over at a rest stop to grab a few more hours of sleep himself.

He did that, somewhere around Cuervo, NM, and in that time I fell asleep too.  He had a hard time getting comfortable in the driver seat because Eli's seat was behind him.  We switched places (me in the driver seat and Derrick in the passenger seat) and right about the time I was asleep again, Eli woke up.  With fear of him waking the whole van, I quickly pulled him from his seat and nursed him back into dreamland.  In the process, I too fell asleep.  Between waking to switch sides nursing a baby, starting the van every now and then to warm it up inside (it was still at or below freezing with the outside temps) and not being too comfortable in the first place, I think I possibly got an hour of sleep?  Possibly a few minutes more?  But as soon as the sun came up all the kids were up, so we started back on the road.

Hungry kids turn into whiny kids, so we started our hunt for food.  There wasn't a lot to pick from besides fast food, so we held out for a Denny's restaurant further down the road.  We quickly ordered and waited for our food.

While Derrick spent some alone time in the restroom, regrouping for the extended drive, Eli pooped through his outfit and the kids were loud, full of crazy conversations and arguing like normal over crayons and their coloring sheets.  We were a sight to say the least, and they sat us right up front, so it felt like we were on display.  As I was nursing and managing kids, a kind man handed me a receipt and told me our bill was paid in full.  Before I could say more than "Thank you, God Bless You!" he had turned around and was gone.  I later asked the waitress if the kind stranger was a regular, so I could possibly leave him and his wife a note of thanks, but she said they weren't, they were just traveling through, so we just prayed safety travels for them and well wishes and enjoyed our free meal.  Thinking back, we must have looked a mess... and I'm sure one of the kids said "I can't believe we slept in the van lastnight!" so I'm thinking who ever it was, possibly thought we were in need of a bit of sunshine to start off our long day of travel.  They were right.

After breakfast, we loaded back into the van, and headed down Route 66 to our next stop, the Explora Science Museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico, so the kids could burn off a little energy before we continued the 6+ hours to Arizona.  It's been a decent trip so far... and at least it's not as bad as Texas!
 

This is Minion Tom, our geocaching travel companion.
He's as surprised as we were to see snow in New Mexico!

 

On the Road Again...California Here We Come!

The packing is done.  The van is loaded.  The tires are aired.  The oil has been changed.  The snacks are packed.  The water bottles are filled.  The camera is charged.  The toilets are flushed.  The dishes are drying.  The blinds have been drawn.  The route has been determined... and we are on the ROAD! FINALLY!!

The kids take a break from media during the weeks leading up to our trip so they can enjoy a few movies along the way.
Derrick and I enjoy the quiet ride as they do so... it's a win-win for the first few hours on the road.

Packing, this time, has been difficult.  I'm not exactly sure why... maybe it was because I was doing it 100% on my own while Derrick scrambled to get all his work done so we could be gone so long?  Or maybe it was the fact that the kids couldn't stop picking on each other or leave their hands off the baby for 5 minutes as I packed?  Or possibly it was because the 3-year-old insisted on playing with every item I had in piled in the living room, relocating it and leaving me to hunt it down again?  Or maybe it was because I procrastinated a little too long... again?  Oh well.  Whatever the reason, we are moving down the road, and I am happy to leave behind the tornado aftermath of packing and finally be heading west for our long adventure ahead.

The crazy mess of packing progress, before the van is loaded.

Where are we going?  Palm Springs, California and a few stops along the way there and back... and I am so excited!  The last time we were there (2 years ago) we had a lot of fun hanging with extended family, sharing laughs over good food, and spending time in the warm desert sun.  I couldn't be more excited to be going back, especially since Iowa just got a large helping of winter snow and the temps are dropping in the single digits.  Burr!  See ya later Iowa!

Since we are driving, and this will be the longest distance we've traveled in the car with all 4 boys, we thought we'd give ourselves enough time to get there and make a few stops along the way.

I have extended family in Phoenix, Arizona, and Derrick has some friends that live there too.  We thought it would be fun to make our way through the southwest and hang out in Phoenix for a few days before joining up with the rest of our family in Palm Springs on January 2 when our condo starts.

The GPS says it's only 21 hours and 49 minutes of driving to get to Phoenix.  Let the adventure begin!

Here is a glimpse of our trip, not including day trips along the way.  We plan to be gone a little over 16 days.

O Christmas Tree

The kids have been begging me to put up the tree since we started driving back from Tennessee, so today they convinced Derrick to carry up the boxes from the basement and after they helped me put a few things away in the living room, we started to put up the tree.

Excited helpers, fluffing the branches as we go.

Eli's Santa hat is a bit too small, but he had fun anyway playing with his toys.

Our tree is actually my tree from when I was a kid, so it's not one of those fancy pre-lighted trees.  Because it's older, it takes some time to fluff each branch, add the layers and string the lights as I go, so I like to do that part to make sure everything ends up in the right place.

The kids really worked together nicely, sorting out the color-coded branches into piles around the living room, taking turns handing me the colors I needed, and also spending time with Eli when he needed a little attention.  About halfway through the assembly of the tree (about the time I was standing on the chair to reach the upper branches) Eli started to really get fussy.  After some investigation, Everett realized it was because his diaper had leaked and his PJ's were wet, so he needed a diaper change.  

They didn't want me to take a break from the tree assembly job, so together they changed his diaper and removed his wet clothing.  Luckily, the camera was on the table near the tree, so from my spot on the chair I grabbed a few photos to capture the helpful trio at work.  Eli cooperated really well.

After I was finished with the branches and the lights, the boys quickly went to work adding the decorations.  Eli took interest in the decorations too, checking out the ones that fell on the floor and looking into the boxes we had around the living room.  Overall, they seemed to take more care in decorating this year, spreading things out all over the tree rather than just clumping them up in one area.  After the first box of ornaments was finished being added, Ethan announced that we weren't going to add anymore, because he "wanted it to still look like a tree".  I was satisfied too, thinking it's less stuff to take down later.  Ha.

Eli enjoyed the jingle bells the most.

I don't know what he's saying here, but he's making a lot of noise.

As much as I thought I didn't want to put the tree up this year (because were in Tennessee right after Thanksgiving and will be leaving soon for California, so it will only be up for a few weeks at most) I'm glad they talked me into it.  It's festive having it lit up during the day and in the evening the light it gives off is relaxing and soft.  I'm thinking we will be taking it down right after Christmas, so we don't have to do so when we return from California, but for right now we will enjoy it as it is.

Merry Christmas!

Rainy Days Don't Stop Football Fun

It seems we are stuck in a never-ending rain storm.  This morning it was slightly dry, but as soon as the boys were ready to go outside, it started raining again.  That didn't slow them down.  They put on their rain boots, grabbed their stocking hats, and headed outside to toss around the football.  

Eli watched from the doorway and even crawled out on to the porch a few times to get a closer look.  Although wet, he temps were right around 60 and with little wind it was actually pleasant outside.

Nothing but smiles.

 

Eli was very interested in all the running, laughing and tossing of the ball.

That 2nd tooth is almost through the skin.  This boy is really growing up!

After the game of catch was done, they collected pieces of hard clay dirt and smeared them on rocks for "face paint".  I didn't get a photo, they had washed before I could get the camera, but they were all, at one time or another, wearing face paint and telling me how cool it was that there were so many colors they could make.  

I'm thankful for these slow and lazy days (although I see more laundry in my future)..  It feels good to sit, relax and enjoy the rhythm of the rain.  Later, we are going to check out the aquarium in town and until then we will enjoy the time here at the cabin.

 

The rain didn't stop the fun!

 

This smile just makes all the "ornery three year old attitude" fade away.

Science Centers make Road Trips more Fun

Last night (or actually early this morning) we stopped at the Hampton Inn in Clarksville, Indiana/Northern Louisville around 2 a.m. to grab a bit of sleep before checking out the science center and getting back on the road.

Honestly, we question why we even stop sometimes, especially at 2 a.m.  It never fails, we wake up in the morning feeling like we had ZERO sleep.  Driving all night was probably not going to happen because we were starting to get tired, plus, we wanted to check out the science center in Louisville, Kentucky along this trip, so we paid the money ($112 with tax, which is a bit much but some of the other hotels didn't have any rooms left with double beds) and got a room.  With complimentary breakfast for our family it saves us a bit of money, but normally we don't like to spend that much on a room... especially for a few hours of restless sleep.  The beds were pretty tight (I swear they are not queen beds), especially with Eli sleeping between us, so that could have been part of the issue as well.

At breakfast, we ate with a girls basketball team and one of them said they spotted a mouse near the microwave... so, it was an interesting start to our day to say the least.

Once breakfast was finished, a little before 10 a.m., we drove the short distance to the Kentucky Science Center in Louisville, Kentucky (right down the street from the Louisville Slugger baseball bat factory) and started the fun.

Right away the kids were impressed by the giant mirror mosaic outside the front doors, and giggled and laughed as they watched the images change as they ran back and forth while we waited for Derrick to park the van in the ramp.

Mr. Incredible!

Now... that's trouble!

Once inside, there was a lot of hands-on activities, a few we have never done before, and we worked our way through the exhibits.

Giant climbing wall for kids (and adults if they decide to give it a try)

Build Your Own Coaster was a favorite of ours.

This is one exhibit I would like to see our science center purchase.

Here the kids had to bounce to get a ball to the top.

This wall was a giant air flow wall that sucked in silk scarves and then popped them out at different locations.

 

The water area was a great place to splash and explore.

Elliot enjoyed it.

The kids used a variety of materials to build things to fly in the air tunnel.

They played a game where the floating cups would catch the other floating cups.

The PVC pipe from above almost hit me in the head... this exhibit needs some rubber elbows to keep them from slipping.

This is a large metal wall with magnetic pieces to line up for balls to roll over.

Before long it was past noon and we needed to get on the road.  When asked what they thought of this science center the kids agreed it wasn't the best they've ever been to (Oklahoma City Science Center still gets that award from us), but it was fun and they would come back if we were ever passing through again.

On our way back to the van we peeked in the windows of the Louisville Slugger factory and got a glimpse of the process of making a wooden bat.  Maybe we will stop again and take the tour when we have more time someday?

So now, it's on to Gatlinburg, Tennessee!