We hit the road on March 3rd and our first stop was Cumberland Falls in Kentucky. They call this the Niagara of the south.
We continued on to Fort Campbell and stayed with my nephew Carmelo and Olivia where Jack learned about the parts that make up a computer and how to start building one. He has wanted to do this for a long time!
3-4
The next day we stopped at Rusty's Tv and Movie car museum in Tennessee because the boys LOVE cars, new and old!
Next we headed to Arkansas where we camped in the van then hunted for diamonds!
3-5
Crater of Diamonds State Park was a lot of fun! We didn't find any diamonds but we did find some awesome rocks!
Kaleb wasn't impressed working in the cold water! 😂
Our first picture with our family flag!
3-6
Texas welcomed us with snow!
Did you know that in 1974 two guys from California buried 10 Cadillacs halfway nose down in Texas?! Cadillac Ranch has been there ever since and people stop and paint them! We got our spray paint before leaving Logan and was really excited. Sadly it was 28 degrees and really windy so we didn't get to paint a much as we wanted, but it was still pretty cool!
After that we headed down to Roswell NM and hung out with the strange residents who live there 🤪
The McDonald's was a spaceship!
Good thing I had my Norwex rags cause these tables were dirty! 🤪
After we left I noticed Kaleb put his new friend, Jimmy, in the back window waving at everyone 😂
3-7
Our next stop was White Sands National Park. The boys have been so excited to go here because they wanted to drive their Traxxas trucks on the dunes. They were not disappointed! We got there at 7am so it was still empty and they drove those trucks for over an hour!
Since I'm writing this 3 years later I can say that they still say this was their day/experience of the whole trip!
Barrett loved running in the sand!
Becky and I sledding Haha
After we left White Sands we were focused on getting to California! We made it to Phoenix and spent the night.
Kaleb was excited to see a tall cactus
3-8
We made it to Goleta, California where Tyson and Carrie live!
Taylee and Tripp didn't know we were coming and they were still at school so we decided to go wash the Van, since it was filthy, and surprise them when they were home. This is what the boys did while I washed the van! 😂
I guess we were all so excited we didn't take any pictures that evening.
3-9
After being on the road for a while we had to get back to school! Taylee and Tripp are in a Charter School right now so they only go in person 2 days a week. After they finished their online work they joined us for some science!
Then we headed for the beach!
3-10
Not everyday of homeschooling is fun. Kaleb struggled with getting into school mode since we were on "vacation" This was one of those days, as bad as I hated to, I had to have Josh call and talk to him.
3-12
We woke up at 4am and drove to Los Angeles to go to the Temple! This was the first time Jack got to do baptisms for the dead and it was extra Special because Tru got to baptize him for them. Kaleb and Tripp weren't out enough so they hung out outside. It was a really special morning. I love being in the Temple!
That was an early morning!
The last time we were at the LA Temple was in 2012
3-16
We found a bmx track, Kaleb is super happy! He didn't get to race here but we did go to a practice.
The next couple weeks were full of fun! We visited parks, the beach, and hung out making lots of unforgettable memories!
Apparently Jack was ready to go. Lol
When we left for our trip, Kaleb asked me if he could get a hoodie and I said yes, but only 1 so he better decide where he wanted it from. Every stop we have made he's thought about it and finally decided he wanted one from Santa Barbara since he's had so much fun here! It's a little big bit they didn't have any kid sizes that weren't too childish.
Walks on the Bluffs by there house and playing in a tree!
Aunt Carrie is way more fun than I am! She plays games with the kids and even makes Leprechaun Traps! My kids had never done this and had a lot of fun working on it!
My back has been hurting so bad since we got here so you do what you got to do!
We went to this really cool interactive museum called The Moxi
3-24
I used to live in LA when I was young and worked in the Movies with my cousin Cean. They are currently filming a Netflix movie called The Killer and invited us to visit set! We got to see them shooting a scene where the main character is in a cab and shoots the driver. The boys thought it was awesome!
Cean explaining to the boys what's going on.
After we left the studio, we went into Hollywood and saw the sign, the stars on Hollywood Blvd
While driving down Ventura Blvd Jack spotted a lot full of fast cars and asked me to turn around so he could take a picture
We had lunch on Sunset strip at a great hot dog place. This was the first place Cean brought me the first time I came to LA in 2001!
3-28
Every time the boys see a fancy car they yell "Porsche" "old mustang" etc, so Josh and I yell "Ford" "Chevy" "Toyota" to make fun of them.
Since the boys are so into cars Cean took us to The Peterson Museum in LA and they were in heaven. It was a great day and the boys saw so many cool cars! I enjoyed catching up and visiting her. ❤️
Jack had an extra phone of ours that doesn't have service but he can take pictures with so he wanted to take selfies instead of having me take his pictures. Haha
Then Kaleb asked if he could take some of himself with my phone. He would never admit it not he's always wanted to be like his big brother🙂
At the end of our visit Cean told the boys she wanted to buy them a toy to remember their visit!
Of course Jack got a Bugatti, his favorite car!
Kaleb picked this one
3-29
Of course we spent our last day at the beach!
They loved playing in this stream that lead to the ocean!
Then we got milkshakes, it was exhausting lol
I can't believe our 3 weeks in California is over! We had so much fun spending time with family! There were lots of tears when we were leaving this morning and Jack told me we left his happiness there 😂😂
We did school every week day but 3 which is way better than I figured we would do! I also realized I'm always posting the fun stuff we do so it probably looks like homeschooling is all rainbows and sunshine, but let me assure you there are VERY hard days. Days when kaleb refuses to do his work then puts a water package on his head when he finally gives in. Days with tears and yes I've been know to throw a highlighter or two across the room to get their attention or just cause I'm so frustrated with them not wanting to do school that day, but at the end of the day I'm so glad I decided to do this for them this year! It's been so rewarding seeing them catch up on what they missed last year and surpass what I expected to do this year! I don't know what next year holds but I'm loving the freedom we have right now!
0 comments:
Post a Comment