Day 3- Moving On Down the Road, July 3, 2013

The kids are still exhausted from Kings Island so it’s a great day to travel. We don’t worry about leaving before the sun comes up since I know they will be passed out even in the daylight.

Our destinations are not in a straight path to Washington. We’ve decided on some detours that we want to see. This evening and tomorrow we will be in Chicago. Yany’s youngest brother, Aldo, moved to Chicago a few years ago. So we get to see a cool city with an awesome tour guide (not to mention walk around with cute guys-Aldo, Yany, Kasen).

We flew through Indiana; it was like driving on hwy 287 in TX up through the Vernon, Quanah, and Childress area. There were crops (corn not cotton), there was a flat highway, there were 18-wheelers, and there few convenience stations but not much in the way of a town. The other major difference was that everything is GREEN and the temperature was 68 degrees-July 3^rd-unbelievable!  Gas is $3.34 in IN.

Indiana corn

Windmill farm

I seriously don’t know how women end up marrying men like their dads. Let’s take the walkie-talkies. I don’t know if that idea was borrowed from my dad or if Yany has just always wanted to be a truck driver. I have 2 walkie-talkies in my car because I have an aunt and her nephew who have a hard time sharing (Alyse and Kasen-I’m talking about you). I also drive the fastest and use a GPS more frequently so I am in the front vehicle (but zero sense of direction without a map); therefore I have walkie-talkies “Lead Eagle” and “Eaglet.” Laney is my navigator/babysitter and usually does the walkie-talkie since I drive with one hand and have the other arm straight up. Haley drives in the middle, she’s “Silver Hawk” since she drives a silver Accord. She learned to drive in Okinawa on the wrong side of the road and has the least amount of heavy traffic driving. She has somehow gained her Granddad’s awesome sense of direction that sadly, I did not inherit.  Yany is the last vehicle, also has great directional ability, and his code name is “Bald Eagle”- since he asked my opinion to name the walkie-talkies (he! he!).

Being the seasoned travelers that we are, I graciously gave everyone $5.00 of quarters in a baggie for toll roads-I assumed we’d come upon some in Chicago.

Right before we cross in to Illinois-

 walkie-talkies on-check

 baggie of quarters-check

 raining as usual-check.

 We are ready.

We make it through 2 toll roads no problem ($.70 and $1.80). Next toll road $4.00-oops! I pull out my Mastercard-nope, toll booths in Chicago take Visa. No problem for me, my business card is a Visa. I pay for myself and Haley and wait for Bald Eagle. I see the toll booth lady running up to Haley’s car.

 I hop out of my car in the rain, “I paid for her!”

 Haley is handing her a credit card. “I have a Visa,” Haley announces as she pays for Bald Eagle. Yany is the one without a way to pay-no Visa and no quarters. Maybe we aren’t expert travelers yet.

By this time I have a little boy that needs to pee. There are no bathrooms on a toll road. Bald Eagle is yelling at me, via walkie-talkie, to slow down. We tell him our emergency.

 Bald Eagle asks, “Do you have a water bottle?”

 Eyes wide, Laney and I look at each other. “NO, WAY!” is Laney’s answer.

“I’ll buy you something,” I promise Laney.

Poor Laney is stuck with pee patrol. Not something we had on her list of duties. Bladder empty and ½ a bottle full, and we never slowed down.  Mark that off of our bucket list (although I don’t think it was ever on it).

Chicago should be an adventure.

DeeAnn- Military Lifer Wife

Day 2- Kings Island, OH; July 2, 2013

We decided to break our travels up so the kids will not be riding day after day in the car. My bright idea was to spend the day at King’s Island. It is a huge amusement/water park with the Snoopy characters for its theme.

Obviously, we came a day too early.

The girls-Laney, Alyse, and Stella

 

I am a huge Disney fan. I always want to go “where dreams come true.” King’s Island has Disney prices without the Disney magic-where’s the rat when he’s needed?

 Parking was $12 with tickets an additional $205 (military discount price). Yany didn’t eat enough for breakfast so we grabbed some drinks and ice cream (of course-it is a meal) and a pretzel which came to $34.

 Group shot-all smiles

 

This morning’s temperature was still a chilly 71 degrees so we decided we’d ride park rides first. We split up and Laney and Yany went to ride the “thrill” rides. Haley, Kasen, Alyse, and I went to Planet Snoopy for the 48 inch and under crowd. There were a lot of rides for the kids to get on, which was nice. Their favorite was the bumper cars. This ride hardly had a wait and they each were able to drive alone and crash into things.

 

Greatest driver ever! 

Second greatest driver, ever!

After a couple of rides Kasen was sure he wanted to ride the roller coaster. Here’s the photo op.

He doesn’t look excited, he looks terrified-Haley, of course, looks good

Later in the afternoon we headed to the water park. It still wasn’t hot, but we thought we needed to at least get our money’s worth and wallow in the water. A couple of hours later we were trying to keep from going into hypothermia. Haley and Alyse were shaking, and Alyse, Kasen, and I had blue lips (cyanosis-for sure). I left all the 10 towels I am hauling around in the hotel room so we ended up buying a towel and a brush for $27.

Kasen and Alyse-freezing

We all meet back up and ride a few rides together. Laney is sure that she needs a cheesy cartoon drawing of herself and her dad. I tried, unconvincingly, to dissuade her.  $47 got them this lovely artistic rendition of the daring duo.

Yup, they paid $47 for this beauty (it's worse in person)

We stagger to our hotel room and I hear complaints of swollen feet, bruised heels, and witness utter exhaustion. I raise my arm (just because it feels better that way, not because I have a question) and wonder, was it worth it? Spending the day together was worth it-but maybe next time we’ll pick a cheaper place to hang out. Tomorrow is Chicago-I don’t think cheaper is in my near future.

 

 

All I need is $500 and I can get your kids to sleep like this ;)

DeeAnn- Military Lifer Wife

 

Day 1-ROAD TRIP!! (July 1, 2013)

Well, this is what we’ve been waiting for-moving out. The night before any move is always emotional. We know we have to leave, but we hate leaving what we love. We ended up leaving Jace and Charlie (the dog), and a whole lot of friends. I don’t know how people travel with pets for days at a time, but I found it to be very challenging. We booked dog-friendly hotels but what the heck do you do with the dog when you're eating or sightseeing?  That was my biggest dilemma. On top of that, Charlie is terrified of being alone. He loses hair when he’s nervous and I was afraid he’d be bald with the stress of traveling for 11 days and being stuck in kennels and empty hotel rooms.

Boys riding down the road



We planned on heading out at 6am. Stopping in Ohio at Kings Island for the twilight hours and then finding something to do the following day. As usual, it was POURING rain. We loaded the cars while trying to hold up umbrellas (My clothes ended up getting wet inside my suitcase). This took an extra hour. So the official start time was 7am EST. First stop 20 minutes down the road-I needed some coffee. Second stop two more hours down the road-potty break. The day continued like this so my estimation of our arrival was sadly off.

 

Loading in the rain

ice cream for breakfast-frozen dairy can always be a meal.

Cookies for breakfast, too

We went through North Carolina and saw a rainbow (missed the picture because of the trees)- gas is $3.58.

We scaled the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia and drove through a fog advisory -gas is $3.09 (waiting for Laney to send me the picture)

We wove and wound our way through Kentucky, the GPS was set wrong, but that’s a story for another day-gas in Kentucky is $3.33. Driving in Kentucky is like an extreme sport, a roller coaster while you’re in the car. Haley was not impressed. (I wanted to go faster, but I kept losing my trail cars so I drove the speed limit).

 It was also good that we had walkie-talkies (don’t be jealous) because there is no cell reception in the crevices of Kentucky. 

Kentucky-it’s pretty but the roads are built through the mountains.

Finally, we made it to the border of Ohio. Traffic stopped. Not because we were in awe, but because there were a lot of cars. We sat, in our cars, on the highway. Two hours later we crept into Cincinnati.  I had forgotten places still have bumper to bumper traffic. What a sheltered life I have been living. Gas in OH is $3.23.

Traffic was actually moving here-this doesn't represent the gruelling ordeal

I don’t think I’ve mention that I hurt my arm about a week and a half ago. I was catching kids jumping into the pool (little kids, you know-Alyse and Kasen) and I felt a catch in my shoulder. The next day it was worse and I ended up asking Yany to come home because being vertical was excruciating. So, even with Motrin and steroids, I am still in a lot of pain. One position that I’ve found that eases the pain is to raise my arm straight in the air. This is good if you want people to think you are waving. If your armpit stinks, then you get a bigger social bubble.

Kasen helps me out.

We drove through rain off and on all day. The temperature at our stop was a frigid 71 degrees. We were looking for our jackets-it’s July for crying out loud!

We are going to try the big amusement park/water park at Kings Island in Cincinnati and do a full day instead of just the twilight part. We are hoping for at least 80s and no rain so we don’t freeze, our blood is used to HOT and humid.

DeeAnn-Military Lifer Wife

Plans do change- lifer wife blight

We bought a house today in Lacey, Washington; I’m told the area is beautiful. I’ve only seen pictures of it. (We did lock in a 3.275% rate-awesome!) I didn’t feel like flying across the country in the middle of my classes, so I picked one online. Most of my family thinks this is crazy; most of my military friends have done it once or twice themselves.

New house in  Lacey, WA

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This is how I plan because of the military. We bought a beautiful house in Whispering Pines, NC, because Yany was told, “buy a house-you won’t be going anywhere but on missions, until you retire.” OK, cool…we found a nice area, great schools, interest rates were awesome, done deal-found our retirement house.  Two years later the same people tell Yany, “You’ve been here too long, time to move; expect to move every 3 years.” I was surprised, but not overly so. 

Next step, fight for orders to move, rent retirement house and get ready to settle down for 3 years in Lacey, WA, for Yany’s job in Ft. Lewis. Now the typical Army part: Because of the budget cuts, an Army General announced today that some army brigades will be deactivating. Yup, you guessed it-Ft. Lewis is on the hit list. Again, surprised, but not overly so.

So, we’ve decided that everything we want to do we will do as soon as we can. If anyone wants to visit come quick, we have no idea how long we will be there. Be sure to have a passport, Canada is not too far away, eh?

DeeAnn-Military Lifer Wife

Alyse's real birthday

Forwarding mail used to be easy. You went to the post office, filled out the card and like magic-presto!- your mail went to your new address. It's much more complicated now. Computers sort the USPS snail mail and for some reason cannot understanding forwarding mail that has DeeAnn Rivera OR DeeAnn Taylor-Rivera. Also, if you attempt to use the form that is free in the post office online, you will be charged $20 as a convenience fee; a few years ago it was $1, I guess convenience costs more in 2013. Now that I'm off my little soap box tirade-you can see what we did for Alyse's real birthday.

Since I can't seem to get mail I asked that everyone just wait on gifts until we moved. I assumed that Alyse would be fine with this since we had her party early, back in May. What I did not know was that she was expecting 2 parties-one in May and one on her actual birth date, June 27th. Daughters and miscommunication-I think I could win an Olympic Gold Medal in this event.

I know moving is stressful, so I did my best to accommodate another short notice party.

 We decorated

Alyse wore a crown to Vacation Bible School so everyone else would know it was her birthday (Anika has a crown, too)

 Making a wish (mini cupcakes because I'm trying not to gain weight this move)

 Presents

 More presents

She played until she pooped out and took a 3 hour nap. Taking care of babies is tiring.

After her siesta Jace joined us for a fiesta of Mexican food and a Spanish version of Happy Birthday complete with a huge sombrero.

 Blurry pic of Laney in the sombrero-she didn't want me to use the other one ;)

 Yany with the sombrero and Orchata

It was fun, I'm glad we did it. My baby Army Brat is now 6 years old-Happy Birthday Alyse!

DeeAnn-Military Lifer Wife

Free Passes for Military at National Parks this year

Being in the military has its perks. We found out on the last weekend in May that military members and their dependents can get into National Parks for free this year (I like free).

We stumbled across this money saver when my parents made one more trip to see us before we head out west.

My Dad and Barbara planned a trip to Williamsburg, VA for the last week in May and we decided to meet them there for the weekend. Our house rented much faster than we expected and we had transitioned to a furnished golf villa (condo on the golf course). North Carolina and Virginia are some of the prettiest places I have lived so we were excited to hang out with them and see the battle grounds (Well…Yany and Dad were excited to see the battle grounds).

One way the East Coast differs from Texas is in the ages of the towns here.  Some of the towns and states on the east coast pre-date USA. We were tromping around in the exact location where the War of Independence took place. It conjured memories from school lessons about the rag-tag men who were passionate enough to brave the cold without shoes and with inferior weapons, clothes, and training because they desired freedom. How awesome is that?

Us tromping across the fields where American's fought for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (The Grandparents are watching us from the car-it was hot and they saw this before we got there)

We were able to see the land our ancestors had owned (and lost). We drove across the bridge named after our great-great-great grandfather, (Preston) Coleman Bridge; which crosses the river that contributed greatly to the defeat of the British in the War of Independence. This was due to George Washington’s battle strategy and nature’s fury (Washington was a God fearing man, and God honors those that honor Him).

 

If you get your magnifying glass out, you can read about this spot. It says this land belonged to my ancestors and now it doesn't (Reader's Digest version).

 

 I wish my Dad was in this picture. Johnny Coleman is either dad, grandad or great-grandad to everyone in this picture. Coleman Bridge is behind us and we are standing in the York River.

Yany and I by York River with the Coleman Bridge behind us.

The house is still standing where the British signed their surrender proclamation allowing our country freedom from British rule. My Dad, my husband, and I have all felt the need to provide military service to our country, as I have mentioned, I am married to a military lifer (we’ve all served in the Army-I guess we like to run).

Back to the free passes…the tour guide for the house told us that military service members were given free national park passes for this year, we just had to show an ID to get them. So I am sure we will be taking advantage of this benefit as we cruise across America-the land of the free.

We also visited the Yankee Candle Flagship store- oh my gosh! What fun!!! We got there 5 minutes before they opened and let the kids press their noses against the window and doors. We got VIP treatment and were in 2 minutes early-or they didn’t want to clean any more kiddie finger and nose prints off the store front. They had Father’s Day candles out and the best seller is the bacon flavored scent. I love bacon but I thought the candle was kinda’ stinky. They had a Christmas area that snowed-my favorite part. The kid’s favorite part was dipping their own candles in hot colored wax. I am not sure how well these candles are going to travel in the car when it’s parked and hot (I will have to take before and after pictures).

I don't remember this picture-Barbara sent it to me. I guess I wasn't watching my children, I must have been too busy sniffing candles. This is Kasen and Alyse being totems and Laney crashing the picture.

Another fun thing was an ice cream meal. No one was hungry enough for a meal so we headed over to Cold Stone and had frozen dairy goodness for dinner. In the words of Rachel Ray, “yum-ooo.”

My parents had to leave out early Sunday so we stayed and putt-putted with the pirate Blackbeard.

Blackbeard was feared by other pirates-he didn't even show mercy to Laney and it looks like the little kids lost eyes, too-go figure

Final stop was to The College of William & Mary campus bookstore. I can now say I went to The College of William & Mary-I’ve even got the t-shirt.

They got hats-the college is up the street, I guess I am still trying to get the hang of taking pictures ;)

Just another example of weekends being too short.

DeeAnn-Military Lifer Wife

Lighthouses on the outer banks, NC

We've lived in North Carolina for 4 years. When we first moved here, I did my research and found out that the outer banks had lighthouses and the mountains had snow skiing.  The skiing I have taken advantage of, but I kept missing my opportunity to see a lighthouse in NC.

There are 8 total and the range up and down the NC coast. In my romanticized trip planned for this past weekend I figured I could see at least 3 and maybe 4. So, with very little planning (Yany is the planner- I'm the "CHARGE!!!") I loaded us haphazardly into the car and zipped down the highway to New Bern. FYI-New Bern does not have a lighthouse. The GPS announced we'd reached our destination and everyone looked at me while we were in the middle of New Bern without a beach in sight. "The lighthouse is in a town around here," I informed my husband (the planner). I could tell by the flare of his nostrils that he was not real happy with the information. I won't go into all the details, but day 1 did not have a lighthouse in its itinerary. What we did get to see was Carrot Island, (off of Beaufort-Blackbeard had a house here-ARRRG!) where they have wild Mustangs. We spotted a pod of dolphins while we toured the non-lighthouse N. Carolina shore, and there were no vacancies at ALL hotels/motels anywhere remotely close to the shore.

Alyse driving the boat with a fake wheel.

Me, Alyse, and Kasen taking in the water sights.

Alyse with the Captain driving the boat for real.

Cheesing (real smiles-my family is used to my "adventures")

Yany and me (he knows the success of the trip is now up to him)

Did I mention the weather had been HORRIBLE up until the time we hopped on the boat? Smiles for sunshine and being out of the car.

 

 

 

We ate at a mediocre restaurant that had expensive food and realized that Haley and I had miscommunicated. She wanted to be home Sunday by 6pm. The ferry ride to the first lighthouse (Cape Hatteras) was by reservation only and would take 2 hours to get there in the morning. From there you have to drive back making our trip home over 4 hours. Obviously, that plan was not going to work for everyone.

 

 

On to plan B. We decided to drive towards Wilmington and hopefully find a hotel for the night. We would then try to see the lower lighthouses "Old Baldy" and the Oak Island Lighthouse.

 

 

We found a hotel in Swansboro (how appropriate). 

 Stella needs to do some yoga, she is very stiff and not real portable. I am not sure why Laney has an apple in her mouth-saving it for later?

 We were loading up and didn't give Stella a chance to look around Swansboro (Hamilton Inn had wonderful service and the rooms were nice). The one problem with this hotel was it doesn't take pets-good thing Charlie didn't come on this excursion.

 

After a surprisingly good breakfast from the hotel, we were ready to hunt down those elusive lighthouses. Yany decided to do some homework and we were sure we would see Oak Island (this one you could drive to) and then swing up to see Bald head Island (time permitting since it had a ferry crossing). Rain was still pouring, but we were practicing for Washington and so we braved the elements and set sail (I love nautical terms).

 

First stop Bald head Island. Yes, the GPS guided us to "Old Baldy" when we had set our course for Oak Island. (spoiler alert) I have to say this ended up being an awesome mistake.

 

 

It was about a 30 minute ferry ride out to the island. Yes, it is raining.

 

 

Passing Oak Island Lighthouse on our ferry ride. It is still a functioning lighthouse.

Bald Head Lighthouse-it is a little homely and non-functioning.

I wish we had gone to this island before now. The weather broke as we neared this tropical little paradise (it is actually the northern most tropical island). It was so much fun.

Kids are in awe of a payphone (I'm in a payphone trying to call home all of my change I've spent on youuuu)

Kasen did not like his view being blocked by Haley's back, he loved riding but didn't make it easy.

This is our mode of transportation around the island. We could have rented a golf cart, but we were trying to work off our cheesecake from lunch. No vehicles were allowed ferried over. Laney is super-excited about the law requiring helmets for bike riders under 16 (NOT!)

 

Alyse is learning to ride without training wheels so we loved the hitchhiker. I really want to get one of these when we get to Washington.







Alyse thought it would be a good picture (Old Baldy x2 he! he!)

It's hard to see but we are doing "goofy faces"

We biked to the end of the island somewhere around 4 miles, beautiful scenery and fabulous beach houses.

Sun and sand

Happy beach goers

First and only up close lighthouse seen in NC-so worth the trip.

 

We ran out of time to see any more I wish weekends lasted longer...

 

Military Lifer Wife-DeeAnn