Well, driving a couple hours down I-71 aint exactly 'the call of the open road' and the 4 children in tow puts a bit of a damper on the whole 'road trip as escape' thing (not to mention the $4+ gas)...but it's a trip, and journeys like this are one of my favorite things in life, so let's hit the highway.
Clothes are packed. Food is purchased. Tank is full. Still more to do, but we're thankfully not in a huge hurry in the morning. Plan is to leave around 9, drop the dogs off at Camp Paula, and book it out of town. I made a CD with some of everyone's music on it, even Steph and I got to choose some. I know, how primitive, but until we can get the iPod directly wired into the van, CDs it is. We'll be hopefully heading first to Atlantis Water Park in Clarksville, IN...very simple affair, but very good price. Girls can splash around and do kiddie water slides to their hearts' content. Picnic lunch there, then check into the hotel in Jeffersonville, IN, and chill out. Dinner is at Ditto's Grill...which used to be here in Cincy, and was where Steph and I had our first date. Awww.... Wow. A lot can happen in...14 years? Wow. Anyway, this place has the BEST barbecue chicken pizza on the PLANET.
Okay, gotta run. More packing to do.
Matt
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Specter Family Hostel
Yeah, we tried our first "slumber party" with Faith and Mari last night to prepare them for the sleeping arrangements in Louisville. Mari got a brand new sleeping bag, which she was excited about. Well, all in all, it could have been a lot worse. The good news is, once they're asleep, they stay asleep. The bad news is, well...you can imagine. Anyway, I wasn't the one who was up and taking care of the issues, and it's all kind of a blur to me now. Steph will probably post later with more details. Anyway, one more day to get ready for this trip. Still a lot to do, but I think we're in good shape to get it all done somehow. Wish us luck!
Matt
Matt
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Bwahahaha!
Well, I am going to go ahead and say it - planning a 3-week cross country RV excursion with 2 kids is easier than planning a 4-day trip to Louisville with 4 kids.
We're going on our little jaunt in a couple days, and it totally doesn't feel like we have a trip coming up. And it has nothing to do with the location. We're totally excited about this trip, because we're on a mission to make it the cheapest vacation ever. It's just that we haven't been able to do hardly any prep work because we have no time.
It doesn't help that the whole family has high-tailed it to Hilton Head, so there's not even any help we can call in. But, complain as we might, we know there was no way we could go. Hopefully when everyone comes back they'll be nice and rested and offer to take various children for an hour/day/week... =)
So anyway, this blog will again take on the form of a travelogue briefly starting Monday.
This could get interesting...
We're going on our little jaunt in a couple days, and it totally doesn't feel like we have a trip coming up. And it has nothing to do with the location. We're totally excited about this trip, because we're on a mission to make it the cheapest vacation ever. It's just that we haven't been able to do hardly any prep work because we have no time.
It doesn't help that the whole family has high-tailed it to Hilton Head, so there's not even any help we can call in. But, complain as we might, we know there was no way we could go. Hopefully when everyone comes back they'll be nice and rested and offer to take various children for an hour/day/week... =)
So anyway, this blog will again take on the form of a travelogue briefly starting Monday.
This could get interesting...
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Entering the blogosphere
Okay, so my understanding is that one of the things you're supposed to do with blogs is link to other blogs of interest. Well, Steph has been in contact with a family from the babycenter boards, they have a blog, they've been reading ours, so let's follow standard operating procedure. Please visit the Lee Family Chronicles.
The link is now over on the right as well.
More later today. By the way, I've been adding videos to YouTube, even though I haven't posted them all here. Hopefully I'll catch up, but feel free to visit and enjoy. Here's Day 2 of the 2003 Road Trip.
I will say this - I apologize to the good people of Fond-du-Lac and Oshkosh for making broad generalizations about you. I really know nothing about your towns. And I apologize especially to Oshkosh for saying that Lakeside Park was nicer than Menomonee Park. It was, though.
Matt
The link is now over on the right as well.
More later today. By the way, I've been adding videos to YouTube, even though I haven't posted them all here. Hopefully I'll catch up, but feel free to visit and enjoy. Here's Day 2 of the 2003 Road Trip.
I will say this - I apologize to the good people of Fond-du-Lac and Oshkosh for making broad generalizations about you. I really know nothing about your towns. And I apologize especially to Oshkosh for saying that Lakeside Park was nicer than Menomonee Park. It was, though.
Matt
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
:-)
I hate coming up with titles (and subject lines for emails).
So, I took Hannah and Robby for their 1 month well-child pediatrician visit last Wed. They are both very healthy and look great. They also, apparently, are growing like weeds! Hannah is now 9lbs, 11oz and Robby is 10 lbs, 8oz! Now, I checked and Mari was like 11 lbs, some odd oz at 1 month but still. Oh and the most exciting part for the VERY vertically challenged Durkee-Specters -- Robby's height is in the 80th percentile with his weight in the same! Two good things -- to be in the 80th percentile for height for us is purely a miracle (the pedi once told me that Matt and I are each in like the 35th percentile for adults for height...) and to have it match up with the weight? Even better!
Now, Grandpa D is enormously tall for our families -- a good 6 ft. Average for most, gigantic for us. We have all reason to believe so far that Robby might break through the curse and be taller than 5'9"! I know, I know! He's only 6 wks old and ANYthing can happen. But, we take what we can get!
That's it for now. Off to feed the twins! Steph
So, I took Hannah and Robby for their 1 month well-child pediatrician visit last Wed. They are both very healthy and look great. They also, apparently, are growing like weeds! Hannah is now 9lbs, 11oz and Robby is 10 lbs, 8oz! Now, I checked and Mari was like 11 lbs, some odd oz at 1 month but still. Oh and the most exciting part for the VERY vertically challenged Durkee-Specters -- Robby's height is in the 80th percentile with his weight in the same! Two good things -- to be in the 80th percentile for height for us is purely a miracle (the pedi once told me that Matt and I are each in like the 35th percentile for adults for height...) and to have it match up with the weight? Even better!
Now, Grandpa D is enormously tall for our families -- a good 6 ft. Average for most, gigantic for us. We have all reason to believe so far that Robby might break through the curse and be taller than 5'9"! I know, I know! He's only 6 wks old and ANYthing can happen. But, we take what we can get!
That's it for now. Off to feed the twins! Steph
Back in the saddle
Okay, I think we're going to make a real effort to get back to regular posting now.
A lot has gone on of course. The twins will be 6 weeks old tomorrow. They continue to improve their nighttime sleep patterns. They have had as many as 6 hours sleeping at a time, and are pretty consistently able to give us 4-5 at a shot. They still have an occasional 3 hours only stretch, but that is becoming more and more rare. They also go right down to bed about 90% of the time, which is already better than we got from Mari. AND, they almost always go right back to bed after a feeding. All in all, the nightmare that could have been has not happened.
The big girls continue to have the summer of amusement parks. More trips to King's Island, a trip to Coney Island (the Cincinnati one for you non-locals), and a growing obsession with all rides.
Steph and I continue to plow along. A little bummed that everyone is going to Hilton Head without us next week, BUT...we've put together a little budget trip for ourselves. We'll be heading out to Louisville for a few days and have found a good selection of inexpensive activities for everyone. We'll talk more about that later.
At any rate, since a total stranger (to me anyway) left a comment that she had been missing the blog, we'll be making a better effort to keep things updated.
Matt
A lot has gone on of course. The twins will be 6 weeks old tomorrow. They continue to improve their nighttime sleep patterns. They have had as many as 6 hours sleeping at a time, and are pretty consistently able to give us 4-5 at a shot. They still have an occasional 3 hours only stretch, but that is becoming more and more rare. They also go right down to bed about 90% of the time, which is already better than we got from Mari. AND, they almost always go right back to bed after a feeding. All in all, the nightmare that could have been has not happened.
The big girls continue to have the summer of amusement parks. More trips to King's Island, a trip to Coney Island (the Cincinnati one for you non-locals), and a growing obsession with all rides.
Steph and I continue to plow along. A little bummed that everyone is going to Hilton Head without us next week, BUT...we've put together a little budget trip for ourselves. We'll be heading out to Louisville for a few days and have found a good selection of inexpensive activities for everyone. We'll talk more about that later.
At any rate, since a total stranger (to me anyway) left a comment that she had been missing the blog, we'll be making a better effort to keep things updated.
Matt
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Still here
Sorry no posts lately - I've been doing the music at VBS and it's taking up some of my time and a lot of my energy. Things should calm down next week.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Hilarious or boring?
This is one of those easy videos - no editing required. If you know our oldest daughters and have a spare 15 minutes, this one is classic.
A few days before we moved to the new house, we put Mari in her Pack & Play in Faith's room to get them used to sleeping in the same room. We knew it would be an...interesting transition...and this video captures the result. As soon as I knew it was going to be so entertaining, I set up the camcorder in front of the monitor to capture the moments, and just let it run.
This video was actually too big for YouTube to upload, so I had to split it into 2 parts. Turn the sound up on your computer and enjoy!
Part 1:
Part 2:
A few days before we moved to the new house, we put Mari in her Pack & Play in Faith's room to get them used to sleeping in the same room. We knew it would be an...interesting transition...and this video captures the result. As soon as I knew it was going to be so entertaining, I set up the camcorder in front of the monitor to capture the moments, and just let it run.
This video was actually too big for YouTube to upload, so I had to split it into 2 parts. Turn the sound up on your computer and enjoy!
Part 1:
Part 2:
The Trifecta
SO, today is THREE birthdays in our family which is almost too much for Faith to handle. She loves birthdays. Is pretty obsessed with them. At least 50% of her imaginary play is centered around birthdays. So, this is a big day for her. It's our dog Salsa's 8th bday, Aunt B's 30th bday and Aunt S/P's 35th bday. Phew.
Anyway, yesterday the girls spent most of the day outside. I feel like a pretty horrible mommy because both girls, especially Mari, have red shoulders. Ugh. Totally forgot to put sunscreen on them. I didn't even buy sunscreen because of not going to the beach this year (see Matt's earlier post). Luckily, Gma S had aloe to put on them. Anyway, they played in Gma and Z's backyard with the sprinkler and the kiddie pool for most of the afternoon. Much to Gma's delight, they spent a lot of time with their toy watering cans watering Gma's flowers. Then they napped and we went to dinner and then went to the water play area at one of our nicer county parks. So fun. In fact, so fun that the girls slept until almost 8am this morning! Unheard of, especially for Mari!
Speaking of good nights, the babies went a little over 4 1/2 hours when we first put them down until the first middle of the night feeding! Pretty awesome! And, it was Robby who woke first -- again, unheard of b/c Hannah is usually the one who wakes first!
Ok. I'm off to go do puzzles with the girls and Matt. Tonight, is a bday party for Aunt B (grownups and newborns only while Z babysits for the girls) and tomorrow is the family bday party for Aunt S/P. Later. Steph
Anyway, yesterday the girls spent most of the day outside. I feel like a pretty horrible mommy because both girls, especially Mari, have red shoulders. Ugh. Totally forgot to put sunscreen on them. I didn't even buy sunscreen because of not going to the beach this year (see Matt's earlier post). Luckily, Gma S had aloe to put on them. Anyway, they played in Gma and Z's backyard with the sprinkler and the kiddie pool for most of the afternoon. Much to Gma's delight, they spent a lot of time with their toy watering cans watering Gma's flowers. Then they napped and we went to dinner and then went to the water play area at one of our nicer county parks. So fun. In fact, so fun that the girls slept until almost 8am this morning! Unheard of, especially for Mari!
Speaking of good nights, the babies went a little over 4 1/2 hours when we first put them down until the first middle of the night feeding! Pretty awesome! And, it was Robby who woke first -- again, unheard of b/c Hannah is usually the one who wakes first!
Ok. I'm off to go do puzzles with the girls and Matt. Tonight, is a bday party for Aunt B (grownups and newborns only while Z babysits for the girls) and tomorrow is the family bday party for Aunt S/P. Later. Steph
Friday, June 6, 2008
Vid comments
Posted a couple of videos to YouTube somewhat recently, but never mentioned it here or gave my commentary. Might as well now.
St. Charles evening - This was the night of the first day of the big 07 trip. This video represents one of the two main things I go looking for on a road trip like this. Simple pleasures. Taking your kids to a playground. What could be simpler? And as I've gone down this road of parenthood, it's become something I cherish. I know that it's not long until the innocence of swinging and sliding fades and it takes more and more to entertain my children. Somehow I've always known that I will remember these times on playgrounds so fondly, and I will probably be sadder about not being able to take the kids to playgrounds than any other part of their growing up. Whenever we travel now, I research parks along the way to let the girls go play on a park they'll probably never see again. I remember looking up parks near where we stopped on the way to Jacksonville in 05, and realizing it poignantly then. I feel blessed that it's 3 years later and we still go regularly and it's still fun for them.
The other thing I look for in a road trip this video isn't the best example of, so I'll save that for another time.
Anyway, the point is...this was a really nice memory. Driving all day, the mystery and excitement of the remainder of the trip ahead of us, and taking the time to stop at a playground which was a mile or so from our RV park. The music captures the contemplative mood (despite the grisly title), and there are a few sort of 'iconic' pictures as well. I particularly like the one of all of us walking away from the camera (director's secret - that was actually us walking INTO the playground, but it looked so much better as us leaving, so I stuck it at the end...revisionist history!) and the sort of 'artsy' one looking down at faith and the red stepping-stone things. Steph is a big fan of the ones with Zayde swinging.
In other random info, the restaurant scenes at the beginning were from the on-site restaurant at the RV park. The "Beefeaters" restaurant had apparently been named the best on-site restaurant at an RV park in the nation by some magazine or group or something. Kinda cool. And it was pretty good. And we would have liked to explore the shopping district in St. Charles more than we did. But, oh well. On the next west trip, maybe we'll do it then...
Okay, enough for now. I'll talk about the other vids another time.
Matt
St. Charles evening - This was the night of the first day of the big 07 trip. This video represents one of the two main things I go looking for on a road trip like this. Simple pleasures. Taking your kids to a playground. What could be simpler? And as I've gone down this road of parenthood, it's become something I cherish. I know that it's not long until the innocence of swinging and sliding fades and it takes more and more to entertain my children. Somehow I've always known that I will remember these times on playgrounds so fondly, and I will probably be sadder about not being able to take the kids to playgrounds than any other part of their growing up. Whenever we travel now, I research parks along the way to let the girls go play on a park they'll probably never see again. I remember looking up parks near where we stopped on the way to Jacksonville in 05, and realizing it poignantly then. I feel blessed that it's 3 years later and we still go regularly and it's still fun for them.
The other thing I look for in a road trip this video isn't the best example of, so I'll save that for another time.
Anyway, the point is...this was a really nice memory. Driving all day, the mystery and excitement of the remainder of the trip ahead of us, and taking the time to stop at a playground which was a mile or so from our RV park. The music captures the contemplative mood (despite the grisly title), and there are a few sort of 'iconic' pictures as well. I particularly like the one of all of us walking away from the camera (director's secret - that was actually us walking INTO the playground, but it looked so much better as us leaving, so I stuck it at the end...revisionist history!) and the sort of 'artsy' one looking down at faith and the red stepping-stone things. Steph is a big fan of the ones with Zayde swinging.
In other random info, the restaurant scenes at the beginning were from the on-site restaurant at the RV park. The "Beefeaters" restaurant had apparently been named the best on-site restaurant at an RV park in the nation by some magazine or group or something. Kinda cool. And it was pretty good. And we would have liked to explore the shopping district in St. Charles more than we did. But, oh well. On the next west trip, maybe we'll do it then...
Okay, enough for now. I'll talk about the other vids another time.
Matt
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
