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Top Ten Things You Need For A Family Vacation Roadtrip That is Extreem on the Mileage

August

We take a lot of family trips in the Suburban! I know, SUVs are not so popular these days, but our family of 6 who drives on long road trips is very thankful for the space!! I thought I would share the things that we bring along that I think make it possible for us to drive thousands of miles. So here they are in order of what came to my mind first:

1. Igloo full of drinks, and lunch stuff. This should be placed in the car where you can open it as you are driving. You could place it next to one of the kids and deem them the Igloo King or Queen!

2. A box or bag or something full of snacks. Throw in a roll of paper towels, some wet wipes and a knife for extra easy sandwich making.

3. A bag of small sports equipment. When our kids were younger we took a beach ball that we could blow up at each rest stop. We look for a Rest Stop to have one meal a day, either lunch or dinner. Brian and the kids play some active game, this year it was baseball, while I make sandwiches and the best on-the-road meal I can come up with from my igloo and food storage bin. Some of our treasured memories of vacation have even happened at these rest stops!

4. Stop by the library and stock up on books and DVDs. Be sure to pack half of them in hiding and pull them out for the return trip! It works great! (of course you should have a portable or built in DVD player with headphones for each child…but watch videos in moderation or attitudes go bad even faster when the movies are turned off)

5. The Redflix app for your phone. When moral is down we head to the nearest RedBox, aided in locating it from our app, and present a newish movie to watch. We go back and forth on our trips from a movie to two hours of interactive car stuff. We travel hours and hours in the car so the movies help bring a break for everyone.

6. The Hotels.com app for your phone. On our way to Texas we spend one or two nights in a hotel. Having this app helps us find a place to stay while we are driving. Sometimes you really do not know how far you are going to make it in a day so easy hotel reservations are a good thing. We are able to see hotel prices and amenities, as well as ratings. Great tool!

7. Parenting seminar downloaded or CDs (we got ours at the church library). While the kids are watching a movie it is time for Brian and I to talk over life stuff, plan better parenting, be inspired, or listen to a good novel together.

8. A good novel downloaded or on CD (church library once again). Grab a good novel to read aloud as a family as well.

9. A good supply of workbooks from a dollar store. I love Five Below! I can always find good workbooks in the summer time and cheap markers to fill my kids car bags with.

10. The patience and perseverance of Job! No kidding! These long trips are not for the faint of heart, you have to have some gut to push through the family break down moments…because they do come, and sometimes they come BIG.

Hope the tricks we have learned are helpful if you have a road trip coming up. I would love to know any tricks that work well for your family, so I can steal them and glean the benefits! Happy traveling!

I need to add a number 11!

11. Take your husband to WalMart and let him pick a car toy or surprise. This year Brian got Flarp (noise putty), you know what I am talking about right? He said, and I quote “this will be hours of entertainment”, and it was! Brian and I got it out in the car without the kids knowing anything about it and Brian started making the noises. He and I were laughing so hard we both had tears in our eyes. Once the kids figured stuff out they did not stop playing with the two cans we bought till the putty had dried out. Good times! Husbands have great ideas!! Don’t forget to ask them

Category: Family Life, Just for fun, Mandy, vacation Leave a Comment

I am an extravert and I am OK with that

August

written by:mandy | Leave a Comment

Home, it is a great place to return to! We arrived home after a 17 day vacation tour of Texas that included 4,008 miles in the car! We live in Pennsylvania, which is over 1400 miles from one of our Grandparents homes. The majority of our family is dotted all over Texas and it is a big state. After driving to see them as well as good friends from years past (about 1200 miles) we have the 1400 mile return trip. Why would anyone drag a family of 6 through 4008 miles of Suburban driving? We love people, family and friends who we do not see often, that is why!

Eleven years ago the Lord lead us to Pennsylvania, a wonderful move for our family. We came here as a family of three and while here the Lord has added three “moore” to our numbers We love Pennsylvania, it is home! But it does not change the fact that our roots are Texan and our family lives in that big old Lone Star State. We try to make trips back once a year or something close to it.

I was thinking that this vacation of ours would probably be an introvert’s nightmare! We went from one social occasion to another, visiting with people each day. And I loved it! I guess I am an extravert for sure! It is amazing how the Lord makes us uniquely different. We are even different in the ways we relax and re-coop. Give me a room full of family and friends who will sit and talk deeply about heart issues as well as laugh and joke along the way, and I am ready to go.

I hope you are grabbing a family vacation this summer, and that it is tailored just right for your personality.

PS Check back tomorrow for my top ten things you need for a family vacation road trip

Category: Family Life, good friends, Mandy, Pennsylvania Life, vacation Tags: family, roadtrip, travel Leave a Comment

Extra Hot Coffee, & Other Deep Thoughts

June

written by:mandy | Leave a Comment

I like my coffee hot, extra hot that is. You might not know that you can order your specialty coffee extra hot, but you can. Well you have to be in a decent coffee shop, I have tried it in places where they just look at me like I am crazy. A normal temp for coffee is about 82 degrees, ordering it extra hot can go as high as 170. I like mine extra hot so that the heat lasts longer at my perfect temp and is not gone with in seconds of me getting my coffee.

Recently, I was pondering my coffee temp deli ma. When I get it in the drive through the first for the first few seconds or maybe a full minute I can not drink it. Then it hits the perfect temp and I love it for 10-15 minutes however it then reaches a temp that does not excite me and at some soon coming point I wish I had a microwave in the back of my suburban, or in the dash board for that matter! Back to my pondering. As I was driving I started thinking wouldn’t it be great if they made a coffee tumbler with a built in thermometer and a heating device. If one could set their travel tumbler to the perfect temp they enjoy and the tumbler did it’s magic my coffee would remain at my desired hotness! Maybe they already have these, but I have not seen one yet so we will just pretend it is a somewhat original thought.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful for my coffee to be at the perfect temp all the time? On second thought maybe it wouldn’t. If my coffee was always at the perfect temp would that steal the joy? Is there something about the process of getting to the perfect temp that makes it so perfect? Isn’t that true in life as well? It is summer time and usually that means people are taking vacations. I know on our vacation we always have moments that are just perfect. Being a family of six they are only moments instead of being the entire vacation, someone always has something going on or an attitude that needs to change.

Perfect moments come and go, and I think some of what makes them perfect is the contrast to the not so perfect and even the dreaded horrid moments.

If there is a travel tumbler out there with a built in heating device and thermometer, I don’t think I want it I want my coffee to hit it’s perfection for only a short time, so that I can savor it all the more. This summer I am going to savor every perfect moment that comes our families way, they will be a treasure I am sure and I just might have an extra hot no whip mocha to go with them!

Category: coffee, Family Life, Mandy, Starbucks Leave a Comment

Loving the iPad!

May

written by:mandy | Leave a Comment

My birthday was at the beginning of the month and my husband and kids surprised me with an iPad2! I should have known something was up when my kids kept begging me to open my gift from them I love figuring out how to use this technology in my life, for both fun and for productivity! I keep researching best ways to use it and my kids keep stealing it away to take pics, videos, play games and make music in GarageBand.

Our church is currently in a series of sermons that have memory verses included, one for each week. As a family we have been working to memorize these verses. I decided to video the kids saying them and have fun on iMovie putting together the different clips.

The other day, I found Isabelle watching the video clip of her and her siblings saying their verses. I then saw her begin to tape herself re-saying them and including the “good job” comment I added at the end. This got my mind to thinking!!

Isabelle currently is not able to count higher than 13, she always messes up when we get to 14. I have been thinking we would work on this during the summer as well as other things.

The two thoughts came together for me!

I decided to video myself counting objects up to 20. I thought maybe she will watch it over and over and actually count with it! When I made the first video I did not even get it finished before she and Owen showed up wanting to watch it over and over. The second video I spontaneously captured on our driveway after we wrote out numbers 1-20 with sidewalk chalk.

I am looking forward to see what will come of this little experiment! I already found her watching one and counting along! I will let you know how it goes Numbers 14-20 may just be in her vocabulary sometime soon!

My love for my iPad2 grows.

Category: Family Life, iPad2, Isabelle, Mac, Mandy, Motherhood Leave a Comment

PJ DAY!

May

written by:mandy | Leave a Comment

I wrote this back in February, never posted it but I still want to…

I love the way my children are so forgiving!

Isabelle had been super excited about pajama day at school, scheduled for February 2nd…ground hog day. She had been talking about it for a week! I was super excited because the first time she talked to me about it she said “Mom, Mrs Riedel told me….pajama day, slippers, pajama!!” Isabelle has worked very hard to overcome a significant speech delay all of her life. It was years before she talked and talking in sentences only happens every now and then. To hear her say those four words together that are a proper use without significant words left out was music to my ears “Mom, Mrs. Riedel told me…” I love it!!

Back to PJ day! She was super excited! Turns out February 2nd we had no school, snow! So our next day of school I sent her without PJ’s, bad decision! When I picked her up she was more than just a little sad, to say the least. Everyone else had worn PJ’s. There mom’s read the sent home paper that said what to do if there was snow. As well those little kids were able to tell their mom’s much more than “Mom, Mrs. Riedel told me…” They were probably able to tell paragraphs about what to do in case of a snow day on February 2nd. Needless to say I shed a few tears on the way home that day! I had failed my little girl and her PJ day, and she was not able to communicate with me like other little kindergarteners. So what is a Mom to do?

Once we arrived home I decided it was PJ day at our house. Isabelle, Owen and even myself headed upstairs to change. Such a simple thing, but both of my kids thought it was AWESOME. We had lunch in our PJ’s with a blanket, an episode of Dora and a good book reading. We had our PJ day right here at home, and my sweet Isabelle was thrilled. I am thankful to have forgiving kids! When Brian got home that night he looked at me in my PJ’s with a question in his eyes…”it’s PJ day!” was my response!

I am thankful that the Lord has made each of my children uniquely! And I am thankful that he blesses me with their love and forgiveness!

Category: Family Life, Mandy, Motherhood Leave a Comment

It Is About More Than Baseball

May

written by:mandy | Leave a Comment

If you follow me on Twitter, or if you are one of my Facebook friends then you are well aware that I have an obsession, a healthy obsession in my opinion, with the Texas Rangers and baseball! This season Brian and I have been blessed with the opportunity to see the Ranger’s play three times, once in Baltimore, once in NY and recently in Philadelphia. It always amazes me that people are surprised that we go to other ball parks dressed in our Ranger best to cheer for the visiting team, our Rangers. In Philly Brian had a man come up to him and say he respected us for coming to cheer on our team even in an away stadium and that we would do so making our loyalty loudly known by our clothing. I would not have thought we were a bit unique in that way, but I guess we are. To date we have never had a bad experience in a ball park, we have enjoyed a little fun razzing, and some colorful words that could have been left out, but that is about it.

The night we went to the Yankee stadium was a profound memory maker for me!

The tickets were given to us by a friend of a friend. I have no idea who they originally belonged to, but let me just tell you they were AWESOME seats! You know you are in good seats when the chair is cushioned and the back of the seat in front of you has a sign that reads “Be alert for flying bats and foul balls”. (for those who would like to know we were located 19 rows back from the Yankee dug out)

When we first received the tickets I felt an overwhelming since of God’s extravagant love for us. Why in the world would He choose to bless us with tickets to see our favorite MLB team, and I am not talking about the Yankees! Why would he choose to do so by blessing us with wonderful seats. There are so many needs in the world, why would he choose to bring this unneeded, just for fun blessing our way? I had the since that we were suppose to be in NY for a reason, besides learning that God loves to love on us.

During the game I had the privileged of sitting next to Tom, a Yankee fan who was gracious enough not to be annoyed at the fact that a Ranger fan was seated next to him. We had fun talking baseball and teasing each other about the game. He kept blaming me for the on and off rain that happened throughout the game. In our small talk the Lord opened the way for big talk! I told Tom how Brian and I had moved away from Texas for Brian to be a pastor in PA. This opened the door up for Tom to tell me his current beliefs and church practices, which were rather interesting. We talked off and on about what he is doing now in life after being raised Lutheran. I was able to share my testimony in a few sentences with him and was thankful I had the opportunity to honor the Lord in that way.

Tom was with his son, Brian who plays little league ball. After a bit the conversation turned to Josh Hamilton, the Texas Ranger’s left fielder who at that time was on the DL but since has returned and hit a homer off the first pitch he received (now that is what I am talking about!).

Last year I read Josh Hamilton’s book Beyond Belief. My oldest was interested in reading it and I decided to read it at the same time to check on the content and to be able to have good discussions with her. I loved reading this book! First due to my obsession with baseball, the Texas Rangers to be specific, so any book about the Rangers is wonderful to read. Secondly, Josh is a strong Christian man and his testimony of the dark roads of the drug lands that the Lord pulled him from is inspiring and hope filled! Since Tom had brought up Hamilton the Lord prompted me to suggest he and his son read the book. The book includes a beautiful testimony of the Lord’s redeeming work in Hamilton’s life as well as a dramatic picture of the power of the Word of God. Through out the book Hamilton keeps writing that his life and his talent are about more than just baseball, they are an opportunity for him to point people to the Lord. Hopefully, Tom and his son will take my suggestion and read the book, you never know what the Lord can do! It is about more than just baseball.

I think that is what I saw that night. Getting to go to the game was about more than just baseball…and I love baseball! It was about getting to talk to Tom and hopefully encouraging him in his walk with the Lord. What a treasure! The Lord takes our delights and uses them to spread His word and His love, and that is a home run in my book.

Do you have delights in your life, favorite pastimes?

Are you making them available for the Lord to use?

I hope He is blessing you lavishly and helping us all to see how every area of life can be sacred when He is in it.