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

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. 

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?

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. 

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.

Thousand Trails Indian Lakes

Our first stop in Indiana was at Thousand Trails Indian Lakes. We loved this campground. I think it has to be one of my favorite campgrounds we have stayed at and DEFINITELY my favorite Thousand Trails location. 

There are A LOT of spots here but not all of them are full hook up. They have a couple large sections that full timers stay in. When we were there they were about to get in a lot of pipeliners. Most of these spots were not full hook up but they were really nice. Most people that live there take really good care of their spots and they looked really nice. The first section for temporary had some full timers in it as well. This section also had a good chunk of pull-though sites though they were set up a bit odd. Not all your connections were on the same side of the rig. Not sure who did that but make sure you have extra hoses and such. There were also a large amount of sites in this section that has no sewer. After this section there is a KOA section. Then there is another Thousand Trails section. This is the section we picked. The spaces are nice and big and from what I saw most, if not all were full hook up. We grabbed a 50 amp that backed up to a view of the park. All the sites have these really nice fire pits as well and there is a place right down the road where you can get firewood for $10. 

The park is beautiful. There is a lake with a slide that goes into it. The kids loved this. The only bad thing was the beach was just really hard packed clay. So they couldn't play in the sand. The water looks a bit sketchy but they check the levels to make sure that it is safe. The playground is AMAZING. There are actually 2 playgrounds. One is old school metal and the other is just amazing. It even has a little workout area. There is a beach volleyball court there (and one by the lake) and some basketball courts. There is also corn hole courts. The pool was nice. There is a small baby pool and then the regular pool. It goes plenty deep and each time we went there was a lifeguard on duty. 

In the front there is a store, gas station (never figured out if this works but I think it is there for the gold carts), a restaurant, and I think even a beauty salon. At least that is what the lady I met a Kroger said. 

We never made it into the rec center when we were there but we did participate in the Friday night movies right next to it. The make popcorn that is free and then they sell drinks and candy for $1 each. The first week was Minions which Zoey loved. Week 2 was Kashi, what a tear jerker. Week 3 we skipped because it was Labor Day weekend and the kids were busy with the MASSIVE amount of kids that were there at the park. 

They have internet at the rec center but like I said we never went do I don't know how it was. Both our Verizon and T-Mobile connections were good. We had no internet problem while we were there. 

Some people have mentioned having a hard time finding a spot, especially full hook up. We came in mid week and had no problems but it was late August as well. I can see it being hard at peak times. Our neighbors at one point had come in during a weekend and did not find a full hook up so they just kept checking every morning till they found one and then moved. I think that is what we would do. Another issue is that the rain seems to just sit on the ground there. So the few times it did rain there were puddles everywhere. Some sites worse then others but it wasn't a huge deal to us. The last thing that annoyed us was the gate system. Most Thousand Trails use a key code system you just punch in the code. Here they have papers with bar codes and you have to scan them. It is a PAIN. It never works the first time so you sit there scanning it over and over and over. Also the scanner is rather low so I actually had to roll down my window and unbuckle and lean down to reach each time. Eric could reach without all that but I couldn't. 

Overall we loved it here. We will definitely be back as it is close to some of our family and smack in the middle of the US. We loved the open feel, the nice big sites, and the nice look of it. Staff was great as well. Totally worth checking out if you are in the area. 

The lake with the slide! So much fun!

Close up of the park. 

You can see the work out area on the left. 

Zoey all ready to watch Minions. She wouldn't let me sit with her on the blanket. :(

Basketball courts. You can get balls from the office.

We loved cooking over the fire pit. This was steak night. Yum!

The fire pit. We made many fires during our stay. 

Moving from Tennessee to Indiana

We decided to leave thousand Trails Natchez Trace earlier then we had planned. Eric was getting tired of working from the rec center and we wanted to get through Indiana before it started getting to cold. We knew we would be in Indiana for 6 weeks so we had to get moving. In case you haven't realized yet, I don't do cold. Yes, I grew up in IL. Yes we lived in DC, VA, and MD. Yes, those are all cold places with snow. Being used to it does NOT mean I like it. So anyway we decided to hit the road. It was a bit odd not having the boys there. I missed my helpers. We all have our jobs on moving day and it was weird having to do it all. 

It was a short move. Less then 200 miles. We try and stay under 400 miles when we move. We only average about 50 miles per hour and so that makes for a long day. We took off and stopped shortly for gas. As we were pulling into the gas station I noticed something dangling under the rig. I follow behind Eric to stay with him and to keep a look out for anything odd. This was odd. So I hooked up to the gas station and went to tell Eric what I saw. He opened the front section and sure enough there it was handing down. A bolt had some loose and part of the horn was hanging down. I opened up a compartment and pulled out some zip ties for Eric to secure it. This did the trick and it was all fixed. It has held up so far so that is good. 

At this point I went and put the gas hose back and Eric checked his fill up. He was still not full but the pump had stopped. That is the problem when your tank holds like 80 gallons. So I had to go inside and stay there while he filled up so they knew we were not pumping and dashing. We got all filled up and hit the road. A few hours later we were at our new spot at Thousand Trails Indian Lakes. 

About to head out. 

Eric fixing the horn piece that fell. 

It makes me laugh how you get to the engine.

Checking to make sure it is nice and tight. 

All fixed.

We had to enter Kentucky for a few miles

We found Indiana