Counting My Blessings: Week In Review
It was a wonderful week packed with adventures and memories with family and friends. We were able to spend time with people we hadn’t seen in quite awhile and meet some sweet little ones (new nieces and nephews that we are meeting for the first time). The girls have had a blast meeting the sweet babies, playing with family and friends, spending time with cute animals, and making memories with a lot of people in our lives. Thankful for an opportunity to travel and catch up with family from a variety of different areas.
I want to be accountable to you so the following are snip-its of some of the things I am thankful for this past week.
Counting My Blessings – Week In Review:
Monday –Thankful for an opportunity to spend a day with my cousin Renelle and her family. We even were able to go to Estates Park, a hike, and visit to Bear Lake. It was great spending time with family and in the Rocky Mountains!
Tuesday – Thankful for a chance to explore the Denver Museum of Science and Nature. The girls especially loved the Robotic Revolution exhibit! We spent a few hours there prior to going to the airport.
Wednesday – Thankful for safety as we flew back on South Carolina. Our flight was delayed, but we made it home with about 2 hours to spare before heading into work. Grateful for our friends who took really great care of our house and pets while we were away!
Thursday – Thankful for the girls help in getting the suitcases unpacked from our trip and for a full nights sleep back in our own beds!
Friday – Thankful that the kids had a chance to hang out with their friends from church at a pool party.
Saturday – Thankful for an opportunity to spend time with Jake’s cousin and his family, Luke and Kristen! Always great catching up and the kids played well together!
Sunday – Thankful for a chance to celebrate Father’s Day with Jake. We spent actual Father’s Day with extended family and waited until we were back home to celebrate with Jake. It was fun hanging out together and having fun. Thankful for Jake and everything he does for our family!
What are you thankful for today? I encourage you to take the time to write down a few blessings that you have in your life today. It will help cheer you up and turn your focus on the amazing blessings you encounter each day
Counting My Blessings: Week In Review
It was a wonderful week packed with adventures and memories with family and friends. We were able to spend time with people we hadn’t seen in quite awhile and meet some sweet little ones (new nieces and nephews that we are meeting for the first time). The girls have had a blast meeting the sweet babies, playing with family and friends, spending time with cute animals, and making memories with a lot of people in our lives. Thankful for an opportunity to travel and catch up with family from a variety of different areas.
I want to be accountable to you so the following are snip-its of some of the things I am thankful for this past week.
Counting My Blessings – Week In Review:
Monday –Thankful for the an opportunity to spend time with Jake’s cousin and family. See a little bit of Boston with its great history. As well as a chance to catch up with our great friends Mike and Ashley with their little ones in Maine.
Tuesday – Thankful for friends that are like family that we can spend time with and have a blast whenever we get together. It was wonderful catching up with Mike & Ashley. The girls were thrilled to meet Savannah, sweet girl with lots of personality, and Bradley. Grateful for the ability to fly as we head out to see my family in the Midwest, even though going through airports can be an adventure it does save time if were are wanting to see people that are spread out over many miles and more on a specifically on a limited time frame.
Wednesday – Thankful for a chance to spend some time on the farm in Kansas with my parents and family. The girls always love time spending with the family and animals.
Thursday – Thankful for time in the Midwest with extended family. Grateful that we can see a number of people in this area.
Friday – Thankful for another day with extended family. The girls have grandparents, great grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and more people to enjoy time with during our stay.
Saturday – Thankful for a safe trip to Colorado to see my cousin Renelle and her family.
Sunday – Thankful for some time to hang out with extended family in the Denver, Fort Collins, Johnston areas.
What are you thankful for today? I encourage you to take the time to write down a few blessings that you have in your life today. It will help cheer you up and turn your focus on the amazing blessings you encounter each day!
Counting My Blessings: Week In Review
It was a week fun filled week with a lot of work, travel, time with extended family, and neat activities. Thankful for an opportunity to travel for a few days to spend catching up with family. I added the weekend since this week as well. Grateful for safety as we traveled to see people and for the wonderful memories that were made along the way.
I want to be accountable to you so the following are snip-its of some of the things I am thankful for this past week.
Counting My Blessings – Week In Review:
Monday –Thankful for the girls help in getting some tasks done around the house. It was a busy day of prepping and packing. The girls packed their entire suitcases by themselves so that saved me time from rounding up all their items and getting them in the suitcase.
Tuesday – Thankful for friends that are willing to watch our house and pets while we were away visiting family in New England. It is good knowing that the everything is being cared for while we are away.
Wednesday – Thankful for a job that I can work part time so I can travel with my family as well. Jake dropped me off at work this morning and picked me up early afternoon to drive to the airport so we could fly out to see family in New England. Also, grateful for airplanes and the ability to travel places relatively quickly. Thankful safety in our travels.
Thursday – Thankful for time to spend with Jake’s Mom and grandparents in Vermont. It was cooler in Vermont but the girls had a grand time with Grandma Kay, Nana, PopPop, and their chickens, puppy, and exploring the woods.
Friday – Thankful for another fun filled day in Vermont to spend time with family.
Saturday – Thankful for a safe trip to Connecticut and an opportunity to spend time with Jake’s Dad. The girls had a blast!
Sunday – Thankful for a safe trip to Massachusetts to visit with Jake’s cousin Matt and his family.
What are you thankful for today? I encourage you to take the time to write down a few blessings that you have in your life today. It will help cheer you up and turn your focus on the amazing blessings you encounter each day!
Travel & Vacation: State License Plate Game
2 State License Plate Game Boards
Our family enjoys going on road trips. We’ve had 40 plus hour road trips before so we are always looking for fun ways to stay busy while in the car. We play games, listen to audio books, read, watch a movie, rest, and more. One of our road trip rules is the only time the kids are allowed to watch a movie is if the trip is over 5 hours long. We found these printable State License Plate Game templates on The Dating Divas website just in time for our last road trip (which was only 19 hours long). The kids have always traveled well and actually look forward to our road trip adventures.
We printed out two of The Dating Divas State License Plate Game sheets, one for each kid. After printing out the sheets we laminated them so we can re-use them for all our road trips. Once they are laminated you can use dry erase markers OR crayons to mark off each license plate as you see it. The only one we have never seen (so far) has been Hawaii. We’ve seen Alaska a few times, but Hawaii is a hard one to locate. On one trip we got 40 plus of the license plates.
You can do variations of this game as well. If you want try to play bingo, see what different shapes you create, four corners, and more. You only get to mark them off if you actually see them and one other person must see them as well to confirm it. So if you spot a few while your sibling is resting or playing a different game you may have an advantage. This is just one of the many fun games we play on our road trips. The kids enjoy it and it keeps them looking out the window and paying attention to the many sights we are passing along the way. Thank you The Dating Divas for this awesome template! We love it!
License plates for all 50 states
Whose ready for a road trip!?
The “Travel and Vacation” series is an insight into our trips together as a family, ways we relax, and tips on how to make trips more enjoyable. Life is short and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to build memories with family and explore of of the most amazing places during our time away. Explore with a good attitude, look for fun, and it will be an awesome trip jammed packed with positive memories. It is refreshing having some time away from the regular routine. Make it a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet new people and learn. You just might see or try something new that takes your breath away!
Travel & Vacation: Look Out the Car Window (Charleston, SC)
Through the leaves in the blue sky and you’ll see a plane coming into Charleston
Whether you are flying into Charleston, SC or driving there is always plenty to see. Our family always sees something new or different every time we go to Charleston. There are a lot of learning and teaching opportunities if you just look out your car window while going down the roads. Sometimes we take the little stuff for granted. When the kids see something they will often ask about it.
I did not grow up near the ocean or port so I learned about more of these things later in life. The first time I saw the ocean was when I got engaged to my sweetheart. Yes, that’s what happens when you grow up in Kansas (the middle of the 48 states) and about as far away from the ocean as you can get.
Some really nice private boats are docked in one of the inlets nearby
We usually see this factory when driving to and from Charleston. You can tell when they are doing certain things because there will be a faint “wet paper” odor in the air. Usually that smell will be coming from KapStone Kraft Paper Corporation in North Charleston. It’s not a bad smell just unique which peaks the curiosity of the kids riding in the car with you.
The kids are always on the lookout for the cargo containers being moved around. If you time it just right you can see the huge crane picking up cargo containers and loading (or unloading) them from the ships. They think it is neat to watch.
One of the cargo ships coming as we cross over the bridge.
The “Travel and Vacation” series is an insight into our trips together as a family and ways we relax. Life is short and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to build memories with family and explore of of the most amazing places during our time away. Explore with a good attitude, look for fun, and it will be an awesome trip jammed packed with positive memories. It is refreshing having some time away from the regular routine. Make it a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet new people and learn. You just might see or try something new that takes your breath away!
Travel & Vacation – Exploring Colonial Williamsburg
Our wild crew at Colonial Williamsburg in front of the Governor’s Palace!
We had a chance to explore Colonial Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia on our recent road trip up the East Coast! It was our first big stop an our road trip. After driving to the area the day before we spent the night at a local hotel and were up early the next morning with our picnic lunch packed and ready to explore the area.
Jake had to work on Friday so for the most part it was just the girls and I exploring Colonial Williamsburg. He did get to join us for a little bit over his lunch break though which was really nice. It was a lot of fun seeing so many neat historical places. The girls did the quest exploration and scavenger hunt. My phone didn’t work in all the areas so we didn’t finish all the quest activities, but we did get our prize for completing the scavenger hunt.
Last year in school the girls studied a lot of about the American Revolution, Civil War and more in Social Studies so this adventure really ties into some of the items they have been learning about in school. Colonial Williamsburg is like taking a step back into America’s past during the time of the American Revolution. There are hundreds of restored buildings, exhibits, homes, government offices, trade shops, museums and more to explore.
We’ve made it!
Hiking along the path to the next location to explore! This was a neat bridge with a stream and path running underneath it, nice and cool on a hot summer day!
Brina and Karlie outside the Governor’s Palace!
Beautiful display of pistols with the family crest in the entry way of the Governor’s Palace!
Standing in front of the fire palace with a small portion of the weapons on display in the palace. The Governor’s Palace had impressive displays of muskets, pistols, swords, curve-blade sabers and more! The hundreds of weapons visible once stepping into the house was meant to both wow and intimidate you.
More weapons displayed on the stairwell. Brina really thought they did a great job hanging the guns!
Touring the gardens at the Governor’s Palace!
Jake with his girls near the palace greens!
George Wythe House and gardens!
Exploring inside George Wythe’s house!
Wow, he was studying some really cool scientific items.
Playing the game of “Pick up Sticks”
Watching him hand-make cedar shingles for a building at Colonial Williamsburg! The fresh wood shavings smelled awesome!
Oh no! Brina and Karlie in the stocks, what did they do?!
Touring the print shop! Wow, there are some BIG books! Karlie loved it!
Brina all smiles!
Grinding up seeds of grain. This is going to take forever if we want to make some homemade bread!
Outside the capital building!
We had a blast exploring Colonial Williamsburg! The girls were ready to stay for a week and explore even more. We only had the one day at Colonial Williamsburg along our road trip, but we packed in a ton of activities into that one day. Thankfully, we started early and were able to get through a large portion of the items that the girls wanted to do. It was really neat learning what it would be like to live there during the time of the American Revolution. All the people were very friendly, helpful, and it was a great day with the kids. We were all exhausted by the time we got back into the car later that day and headed back onto the road towards our next destination.
Road Trip Tips – Easy Games to Pass Time in the Car
Karlie having fun and being goofy on the road trip.
On the road again….! After a full day of work, horse camp, packing the van, and more fun we set off on another road trip adventure with the whole family. The kids are excited and we have several days worth of fun on the road planned. We get to go to a few places we’ve never been before so that is always fun for the family!
Road Trip Game ideas (here are a few that we played on this particular trip):
- Road Trip Bingo – you can buy a road trip bingo board or create your own if you know some of the items you will be seeing such including road signs, building, national monuments, animals, etc….
- I Spy – you don’t need anything to bring for this game. You just have someone say “I Spy With My Little Eye” and the rest of the family has to guess what object they see whether in the car or outside of the vehicle.
- License Plate Game – how many of the 50 states can you see while on the road trip, if I remember correctly we got 37 US states and even some Canada ones too! It was the closest we have ever come to getting 50 states!
- 20 Questions – this does not require any prep or packing either. Have one person think of a plant, animal, or thing and the rest of the family gets a total of 20 questions to determine what object they were thinking about. The person answering the question can only answer “yes” or “no” and nothing else.
- Animal Game – the first person to spy an animal or pen of animals (a herd counts as 1 point) gets one point. If there are different types of animals in the same pen or location (such as horses, cows, donkey, etc…) they can get additional points for each type of animal if they call them out first. Wild animals or unique farm animals (other than birds) such as deer, coyotes, emus, llamas, etc…. get a bonus 5 points for each type they see. Our rule is at least one other person in the car must see the animal as well.
- Car Game – everyone picks a different color of car and gets a point for every car they see with their color. This game works best in a quieter traffic or two lane highway since in a big city the score keeper will have a harder time keeping up and it becomes a series of yelling “I see a red, white, blue, green…..one!”
- Historical Marker Game – the first person to see something of historical significance gets a point.
- ABC Game – this one is great for areas with a lot of road signs or billboards. You start with the letter “A” and find a written word that starts with that letter than move onto “B” and so forth.
- Car Color Bingo – we picked the car color “yellow” and the first person to spy a yellow vehicle would call out “Bingo yellow Penske truck or Bingo yellow convertible, etc…” and they would get one point per vehicle they spotted. Another person had to see the vehicle to count and the majority of the vehicle had to be yellow in order to count.
These were a handful of the ones we played on our road trip. Hope you enjoy some of them if you are going on a road trip too! It is a great way to pass the time and have fun. We all want road trips with the whole family to be fun and pleasant for everyone!
We stopped for dinner at a Chic-Fil-A along the way and let the kids run around in the play area for a few minutes while we waiting for the food. It was a great way to let them stretch their legs and have fun. It helps break up the time just sitting idle in the vehicle too.
Our family enjoys road trips! It is a fun way to spend extra time since we are all packed into the van together. While in the car we have plenty to talk about, games to play, snacks, videos to watch, audiobooks to listen, and even summer workbooks to complete, stories to tell, memories to laugh about, books to read, and more so the time goes by quickly! Yes, we are one of “those” families that make their kids do summer workbooks to keep them up to speed during summer vacation, although we don’t necessarily make them do it everyday (road trips are a great time to get a few pages of some workbooks done). Even though we have a DVD player in our van the kids are not allowed to watch it very often. It is our rule that unless the trip is 5 or more hours the DVD never gets opened. Since we had a 40 plus hours of driving ahead of us the kids were excited to watch a few DVDs on this trip! What do you do to make road trips fun for your family and break up those long hours in the vehicle with the kids?
Road Trip Tips – Pack 1 Outfit Per Day for Each Family Member in Ziploc Bags
All packed up and ready to go!
We are all packed up and ready to go on our long 40 plus hour road trip! Thankfully, the kids travel so well. We have a blast on the road exploring various places.
This particular road trip included different stops each night for a week before we got to our final destination where we would stay several days before heading back home. As we were discussing how to pack for the trip my husband suggested packing our clothes in ziploc bags in one suitcase. In the suitcase we had a row of bags for the girls (both of their outfits still fit into one ziploc bag), one row for Jake, and one for me. On top of the rows we had a couple extra shirts and items for Jake and I in bags on top. There were also 2 bags with everyone’s swimming suits and 2 bags of pj’s.
When we stopped each night we would pull an outfit out of the suitcase for each person and put it into a backpack with all our toiletries. We had everything we needed in one backpack each night when we stopped whether we were staying at a house or hotel. We didn’t have to bring in any suitcase or make multiple trips because it all fit into one backpack. It was so simple, easy, and worked perfectly for our family! It made the overnight stays so much more efficient for our entire family.
Our suitcase completely packed with a weeks work of outfits for everyone in the family.
Packing this way took a little more work as we packed, but it worked so well it was totally worth it since we were at a different place every night the first week of our road trip. If we were just going to one place for the entire vacation it would still be easier to pack regularly, however, this will be our new way to pack when we are doing road trips with a number of stops. I found that if I packed the clothes and bags in the evening while we were watching TV it only took a little bit to get it done. We did pack a couple spares bags for each person (just in case or rain or something unpredictable). If you are looking for a simple and easy way to pack for a family on a road trip we highly recommend you pack one outfit per day for each family member in ziploc bags! While on vacation you will have more opportunities to relax and enjoy your vacation, take those pictures, and create special memories!
Weekend Getaway!
Beautiful Day for a road trip with my Handsome Man!
Jake and I were able to getaway for a weekend while the girls were at church camp! It was nice to spend some time relaxing together. We were able to chat and have some one-on-one time without any interruptions for a solid weekend. One of the best parts about where we went is that no cell phones, email, or internet work so there were less distractions! We even had our first couples massage which was so very relaxing!
Drinking my morning coffee while Jake makes breakfast! I am so spoiled. Grateful for a husband that cooks!
My date for the weekend! Love you Babycake!
We rarely take pictures together so we snapped one after our couples massage at the Old Red Bridge in Hot Springs, NC!
Our home away from home for the weekend!
We went to the Hot Springs Log Cabins, it was so nice and peaceful in the rocker on the front porch. The only thing you could hear were the birds!
We know how to bring in the summer and celebrate! It’s going to be a busy one so having a weekend together was a true treat! It was awesome to truly get away from it all! Thankful for opportunities to spend with him. He truly is my best friend and the love of my life. I am blessed!
Travel & Vacation: Road Trip Snack Container
Have I mentioned before how much we enjoy traveling??? 🙂 We have been blessed with a number of opportunities to travel over the past few years. On a quick side note – While it is great to get away and explore new places it is always wonderful coming home.
You may have noticed one of my previous posts about these Road Trip Snack Containers here or here, but I want to encourage anyone with kids who take roads trips to try these out. These have come in very handy over the past few years at our house.
The girls are always super excited to see what I have packed in their snack containers. It helps with the “I’m Hungry” statement you hear in the middle of a road trip and it allows you to pack a little container for each kid instead of bringing the whole box of crackers or nuts or whatever it is you typically bring. Plus it gives the kids a variety of snacks to choose from, kids really do love having choices!
The girls have yet to finish an entire snack container on the trip so usually it provides snacks throughout the time you are away too. It always surprises me what they choose to eat first. I cannot count the number times that they go for the nuts or fruit over any of the sweet treats.
One Child’s Road Trip Snack Container
Items that we packed for this road trip:
- Animal Crackers
- Raisins
- Whole Cashews (without shells)
- Fruit Marshmallow Bites
- Cheesy Bugles
- Fruit by the Foot
- Peanuts
- Sweet Tarts
- Chocolate & Mint Swirl Marshmallows
- Golden Raisins
- Chocolate Covered Raisins
- Whole Peanuts (with shells)
- Fruit Chews
- Whole Pecans (without shells)
- Ritz Crackers
- Whole Pistachios (with shells)
- Organic Applesauce (in a squeeze bag)
- Flavored Peanuts
- Cheese & Peanut Butter Crackers
- 2 Packs of Flavored Fruit Drink Packs to add to their bottled water (1 Kooleaid Fruit Punch & 1Mixed Berry)
- Rainbow coated Sunflower Seeds
- Ritz Bites Peanut Butter Crackers
- Rice Krispie Treat
- 2 Million Dollar Mints
All packed and ready to close up so we can put them on the girls car seats before we go to bed!
We don’t stop a lot on road trips unless we need gas, go to the bathroom, or for a quick meal (a lot of times we’ll pack a picnic lunch to eat on the way). The kids are content to read, work on workbooks, play games, or occasionally watch a movie if it is a long road trip (our rule is that the trip needs to be 5 hours or longer before a movie is part of it).
We picked up the containers at Walmart for a couple of dollars. The stickers were at Hobby Lobby in the scrapbook section and we used a 40% coupon. We have used these Road Trip Snack Bins for several road trips with our girls and they have held up well. Once the trip is over and they have finished eating the items in the bins all you have to do is wash them and store until the next family adventure. It is a blessing to be able to travel with our family. We have created many amazing family memories on the road together.
