Visit the inlaws

Since we were under two hours from the in-laws we decided to go see them for a couple days. 

Eric had found on-line that you can download the started pack for Cards against Humanity and get it printed for about $6 so we went ahead and did that one day. It was a great deal but a PAIN IN BUTT to cut them all up even with MIL's paper cutter. It took me well over an hour but it was SO WORTH IT. We had the best time playing and were dying. Imay, or may not have had to run to the bathroom at one point just in case Hey I have had four kids, you know you would have been running too! The only thing that would have made it better is if Sam's Club had the awesome Onion Dip they sell. Eric made some from scratch, even sauteing up onions, but I really wanted the one from Sam's. 

Marcia, the MIL, had wanted to get her screen patio and porch power washed so we all (well all except William and shockingly little Eric). Ashton was the biggest helper. He knew Yaya was paying for the work so he was all over it. He does like helping too even without money. He likes to be the center of attention so he gets that when he is the best helper. LOL He was really excited to help use the power washer too. 

We mostly just hung out enjying the time together and being close. Ashton ended up not coming home with us because he wanted to help his Yaya get ready for her Yard Sale. That meant he was going to have to stay there for 2 whole weeks alone. It also meant he would miss my birthday but we didn't realize that until we had already left. Oh well. 

Eric and Zoey dancing to It's Raining Tacos

Ashton helping Daddy power wash.

Zoey helping vacuum.

Playing Card Against Humanity

Our Visit to The Bookshelf

So I had seen a used book store the other day when we were in the downtown area of Batesville. I loaded the kids in the car and we headed over to The Bookshelf. I will do pretty much anything to get them to read so I was hoping this would do the trick. I used to go to the kibrary on my bike growing up and come home with a backpack full of books. I just can't seem to get the kids to do that. Itry not to force it and I let them pick out their own stuff but they still don't have the interest I want them to. Please comment with your tips and tricks. I even tried a reward chart but that still didn't work. 

I had read on their website they had a lot of books but I was NOT expecting this. It is basically a giant maze of bookshelf, after bookshelf, after bookshelf just PACKED with books. Rory Gilmore would DIE in here.

We made our way upstairs to the young adult section and looked for some things. William was of course looking for books about cats but they were out of Warrior Cats book and we didn't find any other ones though he did pick some books out. I actually had the lady that was working come up and help us since there were SO MANY books there. Eric was driving me INSAINE! It was like pulling teeth to get that kid to just PICK A BOOK!!!! We finally got the Divergent series which I am hoping he will get into. 

Downstairs was the little kid section and Ashton picked up some books and Zoey ended up with two. She LOVES books but kept saying " I get that one later" and putting it back. LOL She kills me. Both her books were also cat books. 

They have a new section as well if you are looking for a new release. They take trades at 25% of the retail and sell them for 50% retail. They keep track of your spending for rewards and also trade in credit. All of their policies are clearly stated on their website. 

We really enjoyed our visit there and I look forward to stopping by when we are in the area again. 

Looking down just one of many paths. 

Books, books, and more books. This was the smaller kid section. 

Swimming and relaxing and playing with friends

We really have enjoyed our stay in Batesville. There have been some kids coming through here and there which the kids have liked. They really enjoy when we go to the pool and other kids are there. They are all water babies (they get that from their dad, not me!) but they always have more fun when they have other kids to play with. 

So today we just relaxed. We hung at the pool for a bit. We stayed till they closed at 5 and Ashton helped pull in the rope. Then went back to play Legos outside with a boy that was staying across the way. We of course had to have a fire as well as it was getting a bit chilly at night. We would stay out longer at night but the mosquitos have been NUTS. Of course they love me with a passion, even my bug spay with essential oils was not touching them. There were some hungry little things.  

Zoey is part fish. 

Ashton helping close the pool. 

Playing with legos.

Using my Alpaca poncho Eric got me in Guatamala

I will miss the fire pit!

COSI in Columbus OH

I always look on the ASTC site when we are in an area to see what museums we can get into with our membership. Like I have said before this membership has saved us SO MUCH money and has allowed us to go to more places then I would have paid for. I looked on the site and found that COSI was about 2 hours from us. COSI stands for Center of Science and Industry. Now we have been to MANY science museums over the last couple of years. Many of them have a lot of the same stuff but this was was different. It had the old stand by exhibits but it had some amazing thing as well. 

First on the list of things to do when we got there was of course the Planetarium. Eric wants to be an astronomer when he grows up so I make it a point to visit all the planetariums around us. This one we did have to pay extra to get in to. It was a COSI original film so that was nice since we have seen most of the planetarium shows before. I of course wore my space leggings from LLR, Eric has on his mickey space shirt, and William had on his cats in space shirt. We like to dress for the occasion. LOL And yes, that is Zoey in her Rapunzel pajamas. She refuses to admit they are pajamas and not a princess dress so whatever. She is happy. After the show we were talking with the guy who ran it and he let us go up top and see how everything is ran. The kids always like this part. Don't be scared to ask if you can see this kind of stuff. They often love to let you and often will pull up whatever you want.  

Waiting for the show to start.

After the show we got to ride this balance bike. It was a bike with a huge weight on the bottom and you pedaled it our over the entrance of the museum. We had not worn sneakers but they ones here you could use with those little booties like at show stores. It totally saved my day! So they pedal backwards to get to the end then have to go forward. The faster you go the easier it is. If you go slow you will get stuck, as Ashton learned. They had to call the guy on the ground to get the hook to pull him back in. I can't tell you how hard we laughed! 

All the boys taking their turn. That is where Ashton got stuck. 

I really liked that they had kid sized sinks for the little ones to wash their hands. 

They had a special exhibit that we made it for. It was video games. A whole section just FULL of video games. There were no pictures allowed but my kids could have spent all day in there if I had let them. They had old school arcade games, 3DS stations, computer games, newer arcade games, Play Stations, XBox, Wii, basically any type of video game ever made was there. It was amazing. Outside the game section they had some displays you could take pictures with. 

The brave knight battles the dragon to save the princess

This box had a button that made the coin sound when you hit it. So much fun! 

They had a guy with a tarantula. William and I are the only ones that touched it. 

There was a really cool Ocean area with lots of water play opportunities. The entrance was beautiful Like going into an underwater cavern. They had tubes you could link together to control the flow of water, a water table with sand on an angle to learn about erosion, a mini sub, and more. It was a really neat area for the kids to just PLAY. 

THEY CROSSED THE STREAMS!!!!!

This was fun but some of the tubes we hard to get to stay together.

Such a pretty entrance. 

Our FAVORITE part by far was the Tech Studio. It is only open certain days and I really recommend if you have older kids you go when it is open. It makes this probably the coolest museum we have been to so far. They have an area for a recording studio, computers for MIDI music, 3-D printers that they LET YOU USE, a green screen, vinyl cutters, a laser cutter(they had just got it when we were there), soldering, and SO MUCH more! I mean this place was AMAZING. The staff was great and sat down with William and Eric to show them how to use the 3-D printing software. I texted the hubby and he was very jealous. We could have spent all day in here too. Really, if you are in the area you HAVE to stop by. They offer classes too so check those out if you have the time or live in the area. 

The 3-D printers

Eric made a cup. He was hoping it would be bigger but still SUPER cool. He really learned a lot about how to make a 3-D image and how to remove the middle and things like that. 

William made a cube with a face that protrudes. It was very cool. 

Ashton spent most of his time making music. He had about 5 mins to make a 3-D shape so he made a sphere on a little inner tube type thing. 

Overall this is an AMAZING museum. The parking was a mess. They have a parking area and I paid for parking when we got the tickets for the planetarium. The guy did not give me a ticket though so when I left I had to pay again because it is not staffed and the only ticket I had was the one it gave me when I got there. So that was not cool. That was my only complaint though. It had a lot of original things that we have not seen at other museums and that is a huge plus to us. The kids all agree that it is one of their favorite museums we have been to. 

Cleaning the shower with my oils

So our shower has that rough pebble bottom that seems to attract dirt and hold it there forever. No matter how much I scrub it I can't get it clean. So I decided to make some homemade soft scrub. If you know me at all you know I try and use as few harsh chemicals as possible. Especially since we moved into the rv. Everything is just so much smaller in here I feel all the icky fumes and such just are more concentrated. So I grabbed my oils, the other ingredients I needed and mixed away. 

Better than Soft Scrub

2 heaping Tbs of Baking Soda

3-4 Tbs of Hydrogen Peroxide (depending on desired thickness)

1 tsp of Castile Soap

3-4 drops of Lemon Essential Oil

1. Blend the oils into the baking soda to help keep them from floating on the surface of the liquids. 

2. Add castile soap and mix to paste.

3. Add the hydrogen peroxide until you get the thickness you want. this will depend on the surface you are using it on. 

Apply to surface using a cloth or soft bristle brush. run into the surface. Rinse clean. For tougher stains leave it sit for 5-10 minutes. 

That is the recipe I used. It doesn't make a lot so if you have a big area I would double it. I will double it next time I do the shower floor. 

All my goodies

The before. It was hard to get a good shot but trust me, ICK!

MUCH better. Not perfect but 95% better. I think another dose will get it all. 

Relaxing and a rainbow

It was another beautiful day out so we decided to head outside while the kids were watching a movie and hang out together. When you live in less then 400sf with 6 people you get creative with your "date" time. Yes, we have had many lunch dates in the front seat of the van. Anyway this time Eric was making steak outside on the fire pit and I was relaxing in the hammock while we talked a bit. 

Eric and I discovered we can both fit in the hammock together. We love this thing. I ordered it for Eric for Christmas last year. He has wanted a hammock for years and we never have trees to hang it and it seems ones with stands are so expensive. This one I found though had great reviews and was the perfect price. It is huge and very comfortable. In fact Eric has used it as a bed when he goes camping with the the boys and scouts. It comes with a handy carrying bag that isn't much bigger then a camp chair. We have taken it with to hotels too so that the kids don't have to share a bed. You know, keep the risk of touching down to a minimum. Though, in the kids defense, William is both a bed hog and a human furnace. Also it works as a great place for little kids to hide during hide and seek. Anyway here is the Amazon link. Yes, this is an affiliate link, which means I receive money if you make a purchase using this link.  Amazing awesome hammock 

Yep, I look ridiculous. But for real, look at all the room. We are not tiny people

There was a rainbow. I asked Eric to grab a picture since I couldn't turn around to see it.

Steaks from Crooked Row Farm

Visiting my MIL's CSA farmer

When I went to grab the kids from my MIL it was the day she picks up her goodies from the farmer, Crooked Row Farm, up the road. Zoey and I tagged along and I was really glad I did. He had a great set up. He has signs telling you how much of each you get with your share and some items were even take what you wanted. The tomatoes on the table for the share were beautiful and then he has tables full of "uglies" that you could take what you wanted. Same with some other stuff. 

He also had local honey and a fridge/freezer with things. He was out of cheese but had some eggs which my MIL swears by. He also had some frozen meat. I grabbed some jowl bacon which I had never had. I grabbed some to make green beans and bacon with and it was AMAZING. I also got some steaks. You know the picture of us grilling the steak over the fire? Yeah that steak was from here. We got some breakfast sausage links too which everyone just gobbled up. I still have some Italian sausage in the freezer. 

When we were walking to the car I spotted to CUTEST little minature picnic tables. If we didn't live in a RV I would have totally bought one. 

If you are in the Lexington KY area I would recommend contacting Thomas and seeing if he has any openings. 

Where everything is stored. 

Look at all the yummy tomatoes

Aren't these the CUTEST?!?!?!

Yummy yummy veggies

See the potatoes? Zoey wanted all the "baby" ones.

Doesn't it all look so good?

Making atoms

For the younger boys we are doing Chemistry R.E.A.L Science Odyssey with Pandia Press. We have used their science before and love it. In fact we did something different last year and the boys asked when we could go back to the fun science where we get to do lots of fun activities. That is for sure R.E.A.L Science Odyssey. Today was making atoms. We used marshmallows for the Protons, Neutrons, and Electrons.  We had to use most of our floor because we were supposed to space things in the way you find them in the Periodic Table of Elements. We had a really good time with this one and it really helped out learn about the relationships between the 3 things. We just love this science and for those of you who want a secular science this is it! You can stop looking. You're welcome! 

Making atoms with marshmallows

Nitrogen looks yummy

Playing in the rain

While we were outside making S'Mores it started to rain. While everyone else ran outside or under the cover of an awning or slide Zoey and William ran around outside in the rain. There is nothing like the pure joy of kids running around playing in the rain. 

I RUNNING IN THE RAIN MOMMY

Will Will is gonna get me.

The rainbow after. 

We made marshmallows

We have realized that William reacts to food dye. Like MAJORLY. Night and Day. Calm to Meltdown. Happy to Inconsolable. So we have cut them out. Finding marshmallows with no dye is hard. Not impossible, but hard. Especially when you are constantly traveling and are not sure which stores you will have to shop in. So we decided to try our hand at making marshmallows. 

Now this is not a hard thing to do. It does however take some planning as they need to sit about 8+ hours to dry out. So it isn't a hey let's whip up some marshmallows to make S'Mores activity. I scoured the internet and pretty much all recipes were the same. Where it differed a lot was on how to prepare the pan. Some just had you sprinkle powdered sugar on the bottom. Some had you grease and then powder sugar. Some had you oil and then line with parchment. We went with the powder sugar only because I was out of cooking spray and I would not do just that again. I would spray and powder or use parchment. 

They turned out pretty good. I think I needed to whip them longer though as they were REALLY sticky. Like REALLY REALLY STICKY. We had them dry overnight and until evening. They tasted AMAZING though. William kept saying over and over how much it was worth the wait. When we used them for S'Mores he made me post on Facebook how homemade was so much better and post a picture. We will definitely make them again. 

Recipe

3 packages Unflavored Gelatin

1 C Cold Water split into 1/2

1 1/2 C Granulated Sugar

1 C Light Corn Syrup

1/4 tsp Kosher Salt

1 T Vanilla Extract

Confectioners Sugar for dusting

1. Combine gelatin and 1/2 C COLD water. Let sit in bowl with mixer with wisk attachment while you make the syrup. 

2. Combine the sugar, corn syrup, salt and 1/2 C water in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Raise the heat to high and cook until the syrup reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer. Remove from the heat.  

3. With the mixer on low pout the sugar syrup into the dissolved gelatin. Turn mixture on high and whip until the mixture is very thick. About 15 minutes or so. Add the vanilla and mix until it is all mixed in. 

4. Dust the pan with a generous coating of confectioners sugar. You can also oil and then dust or oil and place a later of parchment down. Pour in mixture and smooth out and dust with more confectioners sugar. 

5. Let sit at least 8 hours or overnight to dry out completely. Turn pan onto cutting board and cut into squares and dust with more sugar.  

Eric mixing up the ingredients

Getting it up to temperature

Adding the sugar syrup to the gelatin. Be careful and make sure it is on low. IT IS HOT! 

Whipping it up. 

All ready to dry. 

Zoey approved of the leftovers in the bowl. 

Finished S'Mores. DELISH! 

Let's go fly a kite

It seems every year the kids get kites for Easter. Almost every year they hardly get to use them or they get broken because they open them and loose pieces. So this year they have been stored under the rv. We have not really been anywhere with a nice open field or enough wind to fly them if there was a field. Well finally we had both at Indian Lakes Thousand Trails. Eric was super excited and got all the kited out and we set them up for him and his brothers. Zoey's kite was missing and I am pretty sure was tossed for missing pieces. Anyway we got them all sorted out and set up in the field. It was a perfect day. The wind was consistent and strong enough to keep the kites up for a long time. 

Eric's kite went up really easy and Ashton's was pretty easy as well. William's however was a PAIN! The shape of it made it kinda hard to get up so daddy had to step in and help. Eventually it was up and flying. They stayed out there quite a while flying them and letting Zoey have a turn since she didn't have one. It was one of the most perfect afternoons we had had in a while. 

This is one of the things I just love about this life. If the weather is perfect for flying kites we just go out and fly kites. No worries about soccer practice, or homework, or needing to be at this meeting or that meeting. No telling my kids we can't go outside because I am to busy cleaning my 2200 sf house because people are coming over or it just needs to be done. We have so much more free time now and it is AMAZING. 

Eric and Ashton are up and running

Eric helping Zoey fly the kite

She is so proud of herself

No help needed now. Though you can see Eric is itching to get it back. lol

William flying Ashton's while dad gets his up. I love when they share.