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| Their last night in their room before we moved out. Sleeping on the floor in an otherwise empty bedroom. |
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| We've had a lot of moments of waiting with the piles of luggage. This was in Sacramento at our second hotel. |
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| Waiting for food in a weird little town in Nevada. The food took one and a half hours and when it finally came it was inedible. But the kids had fun with the anti-aircraft gun display near by. They had already been on the road for seven hours at this point. |
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| Playing in the park in Santa Fe in the rain. Hannah's leggings are totally wet but the air is so warm she refused to wear her sweater. |
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| They ran around in this park until after dark. Eli made friends with some kids in a nice family that were also there to hear the music. |
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| Izzy was having a hard time that day. He kept getting really angry with Eli. But he and I were the members of the family the most interested in the music. He told me that the singer was very good. |
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| One of the many hikes that started out with a lot of complaining and ended up with happy tired children. This one is in the hills above Santa Fe. |
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| Izzy quietly reading to Hannah on the floor in Texas. |
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| Hannah found a stage for her dramatic presence while waiting in the rain for our table to be ready. The kids have gotten really good at waiting for a table at restaurants. |
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| Everywhere we go our friends and family are doing interesting things the kids get to learn about. This is Mary on her donkey Brownie. |
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| Many of the places we go Eli introduces himself to children around us and strikes up friendships. |
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| Here he is making friends with some kids who just moved to Texas from Louisiana. |
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| There's been a lot of waiting, and a lot of telling the kids to behave and be quiet. This was a precious moment when they all followed that instruction. Waiting in the rain for the trailer to get hitched onto the minivan so that we can get ready to drive to New Orleans. |
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| Some days we took too long to get to dinner. |
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| Even the silly displays in hotels are interesting when they have guns or authentic costumes. This was a Civil War canon in the lobby of a Hilton just north of Atlanta. The kids have learned a lot about history in the last month. |
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| Swimming pools have been one of the greatest treats of our road trip. The kids love to get to a place and find there is a pool. Hannah is already starting to swim as a result of all the practice. |
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| No matter where we go Hannah likes to charm the people around her. Those feet belong to a guy who was sitting next to us in a coffee house. She went right up to him and started to ask him about his work. We are starting to work on boundaries a bit more. |
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| It's a good thing the boys like each other so much. They have spent so much time together lately they sometimes forget anyone else is there. The imagination game is in constant full swing. Here I believe they were developing plans for piracy. |
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| The best stuff is not always the stuff we expect. It's been amazing to look at the country with children as our companions. Everything looks different when you have to take them into consideration. |
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| The boys got to talk on the phone with their friends during this meal. They were in high spirits. It's been a long haul and they have had to spend most of the time with just their family. These kids are social and not used to being trapped with just us. An interesting side effect to the road trip is that they are mostly in the adult world much of the time. |
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| Hannah gets pretty tired during our adventures, and we have had some struggles with tantrums, but when it really counts she's a hardy little girl and a real sport about it all. |
As I read this, the odometer is at 5908. Today we'll visit Mt. Vernon, and have driven over 6000 miles.
ReplyDeleteIzzy has read his first two books the last couple of weeks, the first two in the wimpy kid series. Hannah is spending so much time in elevators that I'm using them to teach her numbers. And two days ago, in a 3' pool that was shallow enough for her to stand in, she swam all the way accross (stopping to stand when she needed a breath). They are sprouting as fast or faster than ever, and being exposed to massive doses of US culture and history.
Eli is ever more responsible. At night, when we ask him to go to sleep, he does. He eats his food with gusto. Confronted with an actor playing George Washington, he asks about how he learned of Benedict Arnold's treachery. He understands much of the answer, and we talk about "Washington" 's use of the word 'providence'. I think he understands what I say.
Izzy knows exactly what he wants sometimes. Before we even get to colonial williamsburg, he wants a tricorn hat, and knows that there will be one for sale. And he gets one. He's conscious of the wimpy kid books being His Books! Eli should not read them.
Hannah reminds us constantly that she is becoming a big girl. Her needs are extraordinarily intense. Helping her figure out how to process them without tantrums is a wonderful exercise for her parents. We try to step up.