Hiking in the dunes

Visiting Nana and Papa

Somehow we had missed Chicago on our cross country journey so decided to make up for it with a trip to visit Nana and Papa and, for David and the older boys, visit the airshow in Oshkosh.  The boys had a great time seeing the planes with Grandpa, Uncle Kevin and Uncle Steve while Mr. 3, Mr. 0 and I spent some time with Nana and the cousins in Indy.  Thursday we reconvened in Chesterton for a few days, squeezing in fishing with Papa, working in the workshop, the neighborhood garage sale, a hike in the dunes, a visit from my cousin Ally, and watching some Olympics.  Mr. 0 managed to knock almost all of the plants in Nana's house over and the boys fell in love with their cat.  I even learned how to grill pizzas (delicious).  All in all, a great visit!

Cousins

The older boys left this morning for Osh Kosh so I took the younger crew (the "A team" as Mr. 3 calls them) down to Indy to visit the cousins.  Mr. 0 is feeling is bit sniffly and is teething so he really preferred to have me within reach at all times, but Mr. 3 had a great time with the cousins.  He and A put on quite a parade with A on the drum and Mr. 3 on the finger cymbals.  After A and L headed home to bed, Mr. 0, Mr. 3, and cousin F had a great time in the bath.  Miss F kept telling Mr. 0 "Sit down Mitahman" - very cute.  And Mr. 3 and Miss F tickled each other, rolled on the floor, and read books together.  We wish we lived closer but I love hearing them all having such fun when we can make it out.

Strawberry pie

Nothing says summer like it!

Frog Pond Sundays

When we returned from our trip, the Frog Pond was open and we headed over after church to enjoy the sunshine.  The boys were excited to hang out their friends S and C and spent the time defeating super villans such as Aquaman (they have an entire superhero story going on).  I love seeing the relationship that has developed with friends they known their whole lives.

What do we eat when we're on the move

We've been trying to eat less meat for a variety of reasons (it's healthier, better for the Earth, allows us to buy meat that we know where it came from, etc.) so at home we eat primarily vegetarian with lots of bean, egg, and tofu based dishes.  We have been on the road for a month, with four kids, and with a limited budget, so figuring out what to eat has been challenging.  When we have been with friends and family, we have been treated to delicious food, but when you've been driving for 4 hours and have 2 more, it's difficult.  Especially since our kids would rather not just sit at a table.  So what do you eat?

One choice we've made is to eat a lot of peanut butter sandwiches in the car with fruit, yogurt, cheese sticks, and applesauce.  Before we left, I bought a case of Go Go Squeeze applesauces on Amazon as well as other snacks.  We have a little cooler and a bento box so I cut up fruit in the morning for later.  That way we can stop, everyone can run and explore and then we get back in the car and have lunch while we drive.  I am now a sandwich-making pro.

In the mornings we often eat oatmeal in our hotel room.  Getting everyone up,  dressed, and out the door is hard enough.  If we then had to spend another hour eating breakfast, we would never get anywhere.  So I bought a case of organic oatmeal packets on Amazon, we brought plastic spoons and cups, and we just use the hotel coffee maker to heat water.  We'll throw in some fruit and it's a great breakfast.

Dinner is the meal we typically stop for.  And will sit for if needed.  Mexican is good - everyone loves it (except Mr. 0 but he has been challenging since he gave up baby food a week ago).  Subway is good although the boys just eat grilled cheese.  There was a Subway that let them get egg sandwiches for dinner and they loved that (especially Mr. 0 who loves eggs).  We also like pizza and salad (my rule was only once a week but we've broken that a few times).  And the boys can get chicken nuggets and fries once a week.  We have also searched Yelp for good vegetarian restaurants and gotten some good suggestions!

And then snacks.  We have all sorts with us but there is often an ice cream stop in the afternoon.  The boys favorite is just a McDonalds with PlayPlace.   And sometimes we'll just google for ice cream nearby with great results (like in Lawrence, Kansas).

Day 28: Pittsburgh to Hopewell, NJ

Another morning waking up in a hotel, but this was our last time for a little while and everyone seemed almost giddy.  We stopped at the McDonalds on the way to take advantage of the playground and to let Mr. 0 eat some scrambled eggs. And then it was onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Around 11:30 we were approaching Harrisburg and beginning to feel like we needed a break.  I looked for something fun to do and realized we were close to Hershey, Pennsylvania, home of Hershey Chocolate.  It looked like they had a free tour and it was only a few minutes out of our way so we decided to try it.

Hershey's Chocolate World is the glitzy, big corporation wonderland to Taza Chocolate's small, neighborly atmosphere.  Rather than a walking tour of the actual production plant where someone who knows everyone who works there talks about how they make sure there are only 2-4 ingredients and they're all picked with great care - you take a carnival ride through a pretend production line with singing animatronic cows.  Actually it's fun but I think Taza is more our style.  We bought some chocolate and headed across the parking sea to our car.  A good break but on to more important places.

The younger boys were sleeping as we passed through Valley Forge so we kept going but hope to make it back.  We were headed to Hopewell, NJ, to visit a good friend of David's from college and his lovely family.  R was actually the best man at our wedding, meaning we saw all but one member of our wedding party on this trip.  They welcomed us with open arms and the kids immediately threw on swimsuits to join theirs in the sprinklers.  They fed us a delicious dinner and we walked to the nearby ice cream parlor for homemade ice cream.  After the hour of craziness that is necessary to get 6 kids to bed, we had a chance to just sit and chat with R and L.  And we now have a whole list of excellent books to read on faith and science (I actually bought one of their recommendations on Google Books today).  We hope they will return the visit to Boston soon as it was so wonderful to see them and get to know their lovely girls.  Their older girl recommended the series Bella Sara to Mr. 7 and he read the first 2 chapters of the first one before bed last night.  We do love good book recommendations

Day 27: Pittsburgh

After our rather disastrous arrival in Pittsburgh, everyone slept in.  We woke up with Mr. 0 around 8am and the 3 older boys were still sound asleep in the other room.  Around 8:30, we heard Mr. 3 rattling doorknobs and we found him looking for the way out.  He had been asleep when we brought him up to the room, so didn't know which door was which.  But the question remains - where exactly was he going?

We brought him into our room and he played with Mr. 0 until Mr. 7 woke up around 9am.  An unheard of time for our early bird.  David used this time to find and reserve a room for the night - we were not making the same mistake twice.  Once everyone was awake, we had some breakfast while watching the making of a double-barrel cannon.  During breakfast, Mr. 0 decided it was time to crawl and just did it, with all of us cheering for him.  We were surprised he wasn't distracted by all the yelling but perhaps he's just used to the chaos.  We warned the boys that now Mr. 0 was on the loose and we'd have to be more careful with our things.  Finally, we packed up to go visit friends.

Our friends in Pittsburgh are in the process of moving to the Northside, a fun,  eclectic neighborhood where people hang out together on their front stoops, work in the community garden, and restore beautiful old brownstones.  We wandered down to the park, watched ducks in the pond, and hoped to see a train come by.  On the far side, they introduced us to Gus and hand-scraped snow cones.  Gus has been running this stand for 50 years and the snow cones were delicious!  It felt a little like we were now part of Pittsburgh history.

We found a table for 10 for lunch at a local pizzeria with the kids at one end and the adults at the other.  Then we headed over to the National Aviary for a little bird watching.  The rooms are open and birds wander across the path or fly right over your head.  The tropical room was like wandering down a path in Costa Rica.  A loud rhinoceros hornbill woke Mr. 0 from his nap.  The kids watched penguins from under the tank (and argued over the best spot).  Finally it was time to wish our friends good-bye and head out of town.  It was so fun to explore the neighborhood together and we can't wait to see the new house after all their work is done!

One thing that we've really enjoyed is seeing our kids play and interact with new friends in cities across the country, often after late nights or crazy days.  We've been proud of the good guests they've been and the way they've jumped in to new situations well (not necessarily their forte).  They've grown up this month.