Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from October, 2010

Our big day

October 31 in the Lundy home is a celebration times 5: Halloween, Allen's birthday, and all three kids' adoption days ( Josh 2001 and Lizzy & Matt 2005 )! We celebrated with a giant spider cake, well cupcakes, and saved the big news til the end of the day. Yeah, we like to make them squirm. After a day of teasing, begging, and no signs of presents, we finally played a game of hangman. _ _ _ _ ended up being J A C K , which is the dog we left behind (with Allen's sister) six months ago when we hit the road . We told them we were picking up Jack in the morning and he'd stay with us forever and WOW were they excited! We've all missed him, especially the kids, who never stopped talking about him. And yes, it'll be inconvenient at times, but he's family and many of you know our motto: Family Sticks Together . That goes for hikes, bike rides, pictures on our wall , and yes, the dog RVing with us. What a wonderful reunion they had! He definitel

RV slide/door solution

I'm not sure why we just thought of this, after almost 6 months on the road! But it's a great solution for when we're just parked overnight and don't want to slide. The door to the kid's bottom room and bathroom is blocked when the slide is in so we can't open it. They can crawl down the hatch, but it's pretty inconvenient and risks dropping things behind the slide that could catch when we slide out later. We can also walk around and go in the back door to the bathroom, but again, inconvenient. So Allen took off the door handle so the door could be open, then we slide, and tada! We can slip in and out as needed. It's not pretty, but it's pretty convenient!

Spooktacular sale at DSP!

Quick commercial break! :) Don't miss the Spooktacular sale at DSP this weekend! Save on select Fall and Halloween products!

The diesel lesson

Today's roadschooling lesson was expensive but effective. After someone, I'm not supposed to say who, but it wasn't me , accidentally filled our truck with gas, we got to learn what happens when you put gas in a diesel engine. Hey, it's called life learning, not always-good-life learning. In case you haven't decided to try that yourself, you get towed to a shop, pay them to drain it, and Facebook it before your husband knows what you're doing . Thanks to this Iowa station's deceptively green handled pump, we got this fabulous opportunity. At the service station, they said it happens there weekly. SO not cool. We should have caught it though, we're usually really careful. Fortunately Josh noticed before Allen started the engine. He said hey dad, why does the diesel say regular? Doh! We just wish he'd have caught it before we put $50 of gas in the tank! But at least it was before the whatever-bad-thing-that-would-happen happened in the engine. So

Halloween in Iowa

When we found out we'd miss Trick or Treat in Ohio, the kids were really bummed! But I asked my friend (and DSP Designer) Nicole Young who lives in Des Moines (where we'd be driving through that day) for ideas and there was going to be a big event at Living History Farms ! So the kids could visit the very neat farm, get candy, pop, popcorn, roast marshmallows, and take a wagon ride, AND best yet, Nicole and her family would come too! Lizzy and her daughter Maddie were already fast friends from the day they spent together at the Minneapolis laptop crop, so they were super excited. It's not every day a nomadic family gets to see friends they've made again! So we drove through Iowa, which is much like Ohio, more southern Ohio, except for all the wind turbines. Not sure why Ohio doesn't have them? Lizzy the rocker and Maddie the pirate. Our rock star, Ohio State University graduate (physics major of course), and Army man. Nicole also had a cute little Mari

Colorado

I know I overuse the word amazing, but driving through Colorado was amazing! Utah was gorgeous but didn't have the Fall colors like Colorado. Unfortunately after luring us in with it's colors and beauty, it then dumped 2 feet of snow on us! Route 70 was closed for much of the day so we killed some time and let the kids play in the snow. (Again, not the best idea without winter clothes.) So when 70 opened, we assumed it had been cleared, but nope! Trucks all had chains on their tires and we just went slowly and prayed that we didn't end up off the road like many others. Pulling your home over the snow-covered Rockies isn't really a stress-free thing! But we made it and still enjoyed the views. It was like driving through a Thomas Kincaid Christmas village scene! I recommend you do it, but maybe without an RV. I took pictures, of course, but they just can't capture what we saw. Colorado is a state we've always said maybe we could live there. We love mount

Arches National Park

After our cold night, we headed south to Arches National Park. We decided we were too close to skip it and if we loved it, we'd stay a few days. Well, we loved it, but it was too cold! We're definitely coming back, just when it's warm! We took a few short hikes, and loved the amazing arches and spires, but it was just so cold and windy that it was hard to enjoy it. So the kids finished up the Jr. Ranger program and learned about the formation of the arches, some that have fallen, the wildlife, and even the fragile dirt? They have a motto "don't bust the crust" because of the important biological soil. Interesting stuff! Then we happily headed out, knowing we can visit again next time we come to Utah, which is already a certainty. More pics...

Snow in Utah

We were trying to beat the snow, but we woke up to it in Utah before we even left! The kids liked it though, and it was indeed absolutely beautiful against the Utah landscape. Utah is amazing anyway, so diverse and interesting, but the snow made it even better. But we headed south quickly to get away from it! We did stop for lunch and let them play in it for a while (which might be where all of our colds came from, since we no longer have winter clothes?!) We did get away from it in the south, for a little while. More pics...

Trick or treating for digital scrapbooking!

If you've never gone trick or treating at DSP , now's your chance! It's so fun and just takes a few minutes. Plus you get digital scrapbooking freebies !!! Visit each of the houses on DSP Street and try your luck at the answers for some treats. If you guess wrong though, beware of the tricks! There are some scary houses, some fun houses, and even a decorated RV for yours truly. Go visit DSP Street and have some spooky fun! Here's a sneak peek...

Farnsworth Farms Cider Mill

We found a farm just south of Salt Lake City (on harvesthosts.com ) where we could park for the weekend during the laptop crop. They make apple cider right there and it's so fresh and so good. It was also the weekend of their fall festival so they had a bouncy house, face painting, apple cider donuts, hay rides, and showed It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown on the side of a truck. The kids loved playing on the playground and the bouncy house. We all loved the fresh cider and donuts! The kids took a fresh, very hot jalapeno pepper challenge, which only Josh could take. :) We looked for a church nearby on Sunday and found City Church only a few miles away. After church, and a little football, we headed out, with snow up on the mountains. (It would soon be much closer!)

Antelope Island in Salt Lake

This place was an absolute bonus! After paying full price for a campground in Zion, we were looking for a cheap few days of downtime before the Salt Lake laptop crop . We found a cheap campground on Antelope Island and it turned into a great stay. It was a private, primitive site (so glad we have our own electric & water!) on the lake with bison nearby! The kids dug in the sand right outside, played down by the lake, and had a ball. As a state park, they even had a Jr. Ranger program so we all learned about the salty lake and the only things that can live in it (brine fly and brine shrimp). There were bison and antelope everywhere! We drove to the historical ranch where we learned more history about the island, saw old buildings and equipment, a horned owl, horses, and coyotes. There was plenty of time for us to work and the kids to play, and great sunsets over the lake each night too. What we didn't know was this was the last time we'd be warm! More pic