State #15 Kansas and back home Friday

We rolled out of Oma and Papa's by 8:00 (Central). Quick visit:-( We made Thursday a long leg (about 9 hours up Missouri and into Kansas). We made a quick stop for some fireworks:

This is Henryk crying for another rocket, aka I need a nap:

The KOA in Goodland, KS isn't bad. We played some mini golf:


They had a nice playground and a solar-heated pool.

We are driving in Eastern Colorado now and should be home by 1130a!

15 states, 4,000 miles, 60 hours in the truck, 3 weeks, around $900 in fuel but savings of $600 in daycare, average gas mileage about 10 mpg, able to see LOTS of family and friends, countless bugs killed on the front of the camper, no one injured and everyone had fun. Every time we leave a place, Henryk asks for a couple of hours afterward "where is ____" (insert the person we just left). He doesn't get how fortunate he is that his parents have the time to do such a great trip. Hopefully we can do something similar again!

Thanks for reading.

-erika and mark and henryk and kennedy

Accomplishments in Springfield 6/10 Thursday

Kennedy chews on everything. Teething? Probably.


Henryk learns to wink:
Lots of love from Oma and PaPa!

We're on our way to Kansas (state #15 and our final one). We should be home by noon on Friday.
-erika

Bass Pro

No trip to Springfield, MO is complete without a stop in the Bass Pro flagship store, even though we have one in Denver. It's not as fun as this one!



Someone did not want to leave, aka needs a nap!

State #14--MO and Oma&PaPa's House

We were on the road pretty early for once; gaining an hour and the nothing special KOA both contributing. We crossed into Missouri right where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers join. Two kids slept through it:

We saw a deer cross the road, as well as tractors and Amish horse-drawn wagons:

We made it to Oma and Papa's before 4p, an hour ahead of our ETA!

Leaving GA for Paducah KY

We got in one last swim at the pool. He is getting really good putting his head under water and actually swimming. I got him a small kickboard and he didn't want to get out.


He's becoming an expert at roasting a marshmallow anytime there is a fire.

Henryk must have been a tired camper the last night in GA because he managed to leave his bed on the floor and somehow traveled 10' to the back of the camper, behind and almost under Kennedy's crib. Earlier that night he sung Kennedy songs to help her get to sleep. He even crawled into her crib to tell her he loved her.


We drove about 4 hours to a KOA near Paducah KY. Clean Kampground, but older and a bit tired looking. We swam a little bit because they did have a pool, and then decided to give fishing a shot in their pond. It was more of a shallow cesspool. It did yield a couple of fish caught on Henryk's pole though. That was enough excitement for him, he gave up in favor of helping Mom with dinner.


Erika found a tick (EEEK) on her head, probably came from our camp in GA, we saw them all over the place there. She checked me (none found), and then Henryk. He had one on his head, buried in his scalp. We soaped it, and tried to burn it, finally it came out after a ton of pulling on it. I'm so glad we don't have to deal with this in Colorado! After a couple of well deserved baths, we now have two clean kids.



-Mark

Rock City, TN

You can't help but notice the See Rock City signs all over TN and GA as you are driving near Chattanooga. We did what they told us to do and went to Rock City. Our friend Lori drove up from ATL to experience the Ruby Falls (a cave with 140' water fall). We walked through a tight cave with various formations to get to the falls. It was about an hour and a half of being dazzled.




-erika

Jumping Beans. KOA's are a riot!

ATL visitors to KOA and fun events Saturday

Miss Sydney (and her Mom Belinda) visited Saturday night, renting the Kabin right next to our camp site. Sydney is one month younger than Kennedy but doing all the same tricks! The drove 2.5 hours up from Atlanta, along with Belinda's niece (10 years old).

So this KOA has a long list of events on Saturdays. We slept too late for the egg toss, although Henryk did drop an egg in our camper while helping make breakfast. So we felt like we didn't miss much! We did, however, sign up for tie dyeing t-shirts. So much fun, none of us can remember ever doing it, at least not in the last 20 years. $5 got us our t-shirt, thorough instructions on how to make different patterns and color designs and a couple of hours of fun!

Henryk did the bulls eye design. Mark did a swirl design. Erika and Pam did waves. Tracy did campfire rings. Belinda made one for Sydney and Halley did one too. There's no reason to go off campus when you stay at this KOA!

Posing on the jumping pillow. See the next blog for fun jumping pics.

Henryk enjoyed the play ground at this KOA. Notice the sluice in the background, or "water fountain" as H called it. You could buy a bag of dirt with gems in it for $3 and pan for gems. We had more fun tossing rocks in and playing in the water and never panned for gems.


-erika

KOA so fun...no time to blog Friday/Saturday

We arrived at what has been our favorite/nicest KOA yet. Keep in mind, it's only our third! We got a spot next to the woods and our spot had a small wooden deck. This KOA is SW of Chattanooga near Trenton, GA. We rolled in around 5p and ordered a pizza to be delivered! Aunt Pam and Aunt Tracy arrived around 8p.

Saturday morning, Tracy had reserved a horse back ride for two of us--Tracy and Erika were the lucky ones. It was a nice hilly, shaded trail along the 40 acres of this KOA. These were super nice horses named Sweet Sue and Sweet Sarah. Here's the pic of our little cowboy waiting for Mommy to come back from riding:

The horse riding guide let Henryk ride with her on the back of her horse up the hill near the pool and campers. She made him get off before we got in eye shot because she isn't supposed to let kids under 5 years old ride.

This is Henryk wanting to ride more....such a sad little cowboy!

Tracy had wedding mints, which these horses love to eat! Go figure. Henryk cried again because he couldn't keep his hand flat and Sweet Sue bit his finger.

-erika

Fun Times in VA...Off to TN/GA Friday

Fishing at the KOA pond...we didn't catch any :-(

Playing with the worms was more fun

This is Henryk putting a worm on his lure and Mark trying to get his hook free from some funk at the bottom of this lake!

Henryk modeling his new Scrapkins t-shirt. If you don't have one, GET ONE!

Sweet babies crossing over into TN

Our ETA at KOA SW of Chattanooga in Trenton, GA is 5p. Just in time for dinner and getting ready to host Aunt Pam and Aunt Tracy. Their ETA 8p. That KOA site looks fun--another jumping pillow, horses, pool (no fun slide though), panning for gems...endless fun for 3 nights!

Another popular question: Does Erika ever drive? Answer: No.

TN state #11
GA state #12

-erika