Day 3 Ohio, Indiana, Illinois

Day 3 and the kids have asked today more then the last two combined "ARE WE THERE YET"???? My kids are such good road trippers but 3 long days strapped into the backseat of a car will get the best of travelers antsy. Can't give enough praise to our hotel, fun time swimming, great nights sleep and then a killer FREE breakfast. Kids and I hit the road by 8 and headed the 2+ hours to the Toledo Zoo. Kept time tighter today unlike yesterday so we had 2 hrs to get through a pretty amazing zoo, only did half the zoo but got to see a 16 day old baby elephant (SO CUTE) a white lion, tigers and bears. The primates at this zoo are fantastic, orangoutangs, gorilla, and many others. We were bummed that the Hippo exhibit was under renovation, it was one of our favorite stops last year :( Below are some pictures of our day at the zoo








We made it in good time to Dan & Bete Krause's house just outside Chicago late this afternoon. Kids were so happy to see Dan and Bete, they immediately pulled out all the 70's Fisher Price houses and people and were busy for the next few hours. They are now snuggly tucked in bed and mommy is drinking a well deserved margarita :)


It's been a fun adventure so far. It's funny the things that the kids talk about while in the car for such a long time. Emma wants to know if we can someday drive to Paris so she can visit the Eifel Tower! We talked about how Paris was in France and France is in Europe and that was across an ocean but she still wanted to know if we can drive there :)

I really enjoy having this time with my children, I know most people would be horrified at the thought of getting in a car for 8 + hrs a day and driving half way across the country with a 3 & almost 5 year old but I truly enjoy this time with my children, the days are long, routine is out the window, they eat junk, stay up late, and I'm beat from juggling it all but I'm away from all the distractions of daily life. There is no laundry to fold, meals to cook, errands to run. We are driving through some beautiful countryside exploring America together. We snuggle at night more then normal and if they fall asleep with me in bed they stay there something I fear they will soon not want to do anymore :( I look forward to making road trips across this great country an annual event that I hope we'll all look back on fondly in years to come!

Day 2 PA All Day :)

Day 2 was spent mostly in the wide state of Pennsylvania! We had a fantastic time at the Knoebels amusement park. I had set a side about an hour and a half to play in the water section but the park was just to much fun and we ended up staying over 3 hrs and in addition to the water park we also went on tons of rides. The kids had a blast and were so tired that they didn't even stay awake for more then a mile. Here are a few of the fun things they did!








We made it into our hotel by 7:30pm order the kids favorite a cheese pizza and then enjoyed almost an hour in the swimming pool. Kids were beat!!!

Time To Hit The Road!

It's time for our summer adventure trek out to MN again! Have to say that I was much more relaxed this year with planning, not really securing lodging till a week ahead of time and figured out stops a few days ago. Day 1 was from Newport RI to Madison NJ. We stopped at the Roger Williams Zoo to pick up our new member card and then Livingston NJ to have dinner and hang out with my cousin Diana's family finally arriving with two sleeping children in Madison. The weather today was incredible, Down pours paired with numerous thunder and lightning storms. Took us 7hrs to make a 4hr trip, oh well hopefully tomorrow will be sunnier :) The kids had a fantastic time playing with their 2nd cousins 3 boys 12, 9, 6 they enjoyed some delicious jersey pizza and some homemade cookies. It doesn't get much better then that after being trapped in the car for such a long day. We did see a flat bed semi stacked as high as if it had a container on it with bee hives the hole length of the bed covered in a huge net and loaded with bees, It was very interesting! Tomorrow we are head across the great state of PA , landing just outside of Akron OH for the evening. We are all excited to hit Knoebels adventure water park tomorrow as our fun activity of the day to break up the drive. Mommy is looking forward to getting away from the crazy east coast traffic and into farm country where there is nothing exciting to slow us down! Kids are excited that the hotel we'll be staying in tomorrow night has a pool. we'll be enjoying it in the evening as a great way to get out some energy. Good night all time for mommy to get some shut eye before the troops rise bright and early.