Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Day 9/Päivä 9



A special message from Little Miss to Mommy (via my sister): MOM I {heart shape} U

Little Miss continues to do well, today she had been her chatty self and had talked on and on about her special friend A (who is the best friend of our older kids, and 13-years old). He has made an impression on her :)



Things started happening here, too. The Captain was able to get a rental car this morning, a compact little bug. It might be small, but it's ready to take on the Mothership!




Two technicians from McGeorge's Rolling Hills RV Supercenter came by the Mothership, and were able to get the RV rolling toward their service center (teehee). Turns out the alternator had been installed wrong last year, and it had burned up both the alternator and our battery. They ordered a new alternator, which arrived today, but was the wrong one. They are planning to rebuild our old one tomorrow morning, and get us on the road by noon. (We'll see.)



So funny to switch from our huge Mothership to a VW Beetle, but it was actually really comfy and even fit our luggage! Of course there were only the three of us...

We thought we'd be back in New Hampshire by now, and had to call and reschedule appointments up there. A little frustrating, but these things happen. It could be so much worse - in fact the big tour bus accident that happened on I-95N this morning was just miles from where we are. The news crews were camped in our hotel this afternoon when we got back. We have been praying for the people involved, and their loved ones.




Most of the day we spent at the RV service center's waiting room (the Captain was able to get some work done, Mr. D did some homeschool, I finished a book by Francine Rivers), but we also stopped by the huge Bass Pro Shop and had lunch there. It was a lot like L.L.Bean Flagship Store in Freeport, Maine. Fun to look around, and the food was good.

As soon as we rechecked ourselves at the hotel (again), Mr. D & I headed to the pool. That was a perfect ending to our day - it sure is hot down in Virginia! Almost 100F today!

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Meidän oli tarkoitus olla New Hampshiressä jo tänään. Ja tänään näytti siltä, että pääsisimme ajamaan iltapäivällä, mutta ei sittenkään. Saimme sentään vuokra-auton (pikkuriikkisen kuplavolkkarin, ihanan!), ja siirrettyä asuntoauton korjaamoon. Uusi arvio on huomenna lounasaikaan pitäisi päästä tien päälle. Suurimman osan päivästä vietimme korjaamon odotushuoneessa (Kapteeni teki töitään, Mr. D kotikoulua, ja minä luin yhden kirjan loppuun). Kävimme myös lounaalla ja kiertelemässä isossa Bass Pro Shop-kaupassa. Hotellissa illalla hyppäsimme uima-altaaseen, mikä tuntui taivaalliselta lähes +40C helteisen päivän jälkeen!

Täällä lähellä oli paha linja-auto-onnettomuus. Neljä menehtyi ja moni loukkaantui. Hiljaiseksi veti mielen - meidän asuntoauto-ongelmat ovat kovin pieniä kuitenkin.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Day 8/Päivä 8







Travel Journal, Day Eight. It's Memorial Day, and one we won't soon forget. We are thankful for those who have served, and those who serve. Thankful for all the sacrifices made.

Today we are also thankful we are in a safe cool place. God protected us yesterday - even though our RV broke down, it was at a parking lot, not on the highway. And close enough to services - even though we couldn't get anyone to fix our RV last night, or today (since it's Memorial Day), we are in a clean comfortable hotel room. (And even got some homeschool done!)

We are hoping someone can help us tomorrow to get back on the road. If not possible, we have a plan B in the works.

I'm linking this post to Hip Homeschool Hop!

Hip Homeschool Hop Button

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Matkapäiväkirjaa, osa kahdeksan. Tänään vietämme täällä Usassa kaatuneiden muistopäivää, kiitollisina.

Kiitollisina myös siitä, että asuntoauto eilen pysähtyi turvallisesti parkkipaikalle, eikä keskelle moottoritietä. Ja vaikkemme saaneet ketään korjaamaan asuntoautoa eilen illalla tai tänään (pyhäpäivä), niin olemme puhtaassa ja mukavassa hotellihuoneessa. (Ja saimme jopa kotikoulua tehtyä.)

Toivottavasti saamme apua huomenna ja pääsemme taas tien päälle. Jos emme, niin meillä on suunnitelma B työn alla.

Day 7/Päivä 7 {Sunday Snapshot}





We had such a wonderful visit with my sister and her family!!! (Thanks for everything; the fellowship, food, showers, laundry, groceries, parking spot in front of the house, the power & garbage service:)

Cousin N wasn't feeling well, so we all stayed home from church, and just hung out. It was soooo nice!! It was good to catch up and relax, and the cousins had such a wonderful time playing together.



I am going to be flying back to my sister's on Sunday (we will be attending the Virginia Homeschool Convention), which provided an opportunity for Little Miss to do something really special: she stayed in Virginia as the Captain, Mr. D & I continued our journey north in the Mothership! She is having a week long sleep over with cousins!! Not the first time away from Mom & Dad, but the first time away from Mom, Dad & siblings.

Even though there were tears at first, she is doing really well and enjoying herself, such a big girl!

While Little Miss is doing well, the Mothership is not.



We drove about two hours, then pulled over to a TA Travel Center/Truck Stop to eat (yummy pizza made by my sister!!). Unfortunately we couldn't get the RV started after our stop. At first we thought no worries, we have two batteries, so we can just jump the RV on our own.

But it didn't work.

We called AAA, and they came and tried to start us. It didn't work. A mechanic from the truck stop came to take a look, but couldn't help. On a Sunday night we couldn't find anybody else to help.

We were able to run the generator for a while, which meant air conditioning & lights, but we weren't sure how long that was going to last. Thankful we were in a safe place we looked up a hotel nearby, called a taxi, and said good-byes to the Mothership for the night.

To Be Continued........



Linking this post to Sunday Snapshot. Thanks for hosting, Stefanie!

Sunday Snapshot


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Meillä oli ihana vierailu siskoni ja hänen perheensä luona! Serkut jatkoivat leikkejään niin kuin näkisivät toisensa joka päivä. Kunpa asuisimmekin lähempänä toisiamme...! B-serkku & Pikkuneiti olivat kuin paita ja peppu, N-serkku otti osaa leikkeihin aina kun jaksoi (ressulla oli kuumetta), ja E-neiti oli kovasti kasvanut viime näkemältä (suloinen hymyneiti!).

Minä olen tulossa takaisin siskoni luokse viikon kuluttua, joten päätimme antaa Pikkuneidillemme mahdollisuuden viettää viikko serkkujen kanssa. Oli kyllä haikeaa lähteä ilman häntä!! Taisi olla vaikeampi äidille kuin tytölle.. Kyynelistä huolimatta hänellä on ollut oikein ihanaa tädin perheen luona.

Saimme ajettua vain kaksi tuntia pohjoiseen kun pysähdyimme moottoritien rekkojen palvelupysäkille syömään siskoni tekemää pizzaa. Kun olimme valmiit lähtemään, asuntoauton akku oli tyhjä. Meillä on kaksi akkua, joten yritimme ladata akusta akkuun, mutta tällä kertaa se ei toiminut. Pysäkin rekkamekanikko tuli myös katsomaan tilannetta (vaikkeivat he korjaa asuntoautoja), muttei pystynyt auttamaan. Meillä on jäsenyys tiepalveluun, ja he lähettivät apua, mutteivat hekään saaneet asuntoautoa käyntiin.

Lopuksi ei auttanut muu kuin soittaa taksi, ja mennä hotelliin yöksi. Emme halunneet pitää generaattoria päällä koko yötä, ja täällä Virginiassa (eli myös meidän metallipurkissa) on aika lämmin (+35C).

Jatkuu seuraavassa postauksessa...

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Day 6/Päivä 6




Today is a big driving day, my task is to be a slave driver co-pilot: the sooner we get to my sister's house in Virginia, the longer we have with them!! No pit stops for you, Captain!! :-D

Last night we ended up driving to Georgia, and didn't stop until about 2 am. I am definitely paying for that today (I stayed up too). The Captain seems to be doing pretty well, he got up at 6ish to drive again, and two hours later stopped for a short nap before continuing on again.

We are somewhere in North Carolina at the moment, and Mr. D got some homeschooling done. Little Miss (whose feet really aren't as large as they appear in the photo) has been watching videos on the iPad. We have some activity books and toys for her too.

I am posting today's update early, since I know once we get to my sister's house the computer will be forgotten for sure - we haven't seen each other since September! And it was another brief stop on our way South from North. Hopefully the drive there will be uneventful and I can post some pictures tomorrow of cousins together.

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Tämän päivän kuulumiset etukäteen (ettei tarvitse olla tietsikalla siskon luona - yritän laittaa kuvia vierailusta blogiin huomenna). Navigaattorin mukaan meillä on neljä tuntia ajamista edessä, ennen kuin pääsemme siskoni ja hänen perheensä luokse. Olemme tällä hetkellä Pohjois-Karolinassa, en tosin tiedä missä. Olen oikea orjapiiskuri-apukuski, Kapteeni ei saa pysähtyä kovin pitkäksi aikaa ennen kuin pitää jatkaa matkaa taas - mitä pikemmin pääsemme perille, sitä enemmän saamme aikaa siskoni luona! Viimeksi näimme toisemme syyskuussa, pikapysäkki kun ajoimme pohjoisesta etelään.

Eilen ajoimme noin aamukahteen saakka. Tai siis Kapteeni ajoi, minä autoin pysymään hereillä. Ylitimme rajan Georgian osavaltioon, ja nukuimme tervetulo-centerin parkkipaikalla (kyltissä luki ettei saa olla yön yli, mutta jos sinne pysähtyi neljäksi tunniksi keskellä yötä eiköhän se ole eri??). En tiedä kuinka Kapteeni jaksaa ajaa, minä olen ihan puhki valvomisesta. Taidankin ottaa pienet torkut ja antaa Mr. D:n olla apukuskina - hyvä tauko kotikoululle :)

Friday, May 27, 2011

Day 5/Päivä 5




Goodbye, St. Pete! We'll miss you..




Blogger is giving me trouble again with some of the photos, but I'll post them anyway, sideways and upside down. Just turn your monitor around ;-)

We were able to pick up our Mothership today, but it wasn't ready until 5 pm (turn signals work again, yay!). We didn't know it was going to be that late (otherwise would have stayed at the beach all day), so we hang out nearby, at Target and Barnes & Noble. We love our Keurig in Maine so much we picked up a smaller one for the RV too.



We had to return our rental car to the airport, so the Captain & the kids picked me up from there in the Mothership. Not sure what it is, but it sure is a funny sight to see our Airstream motorhome pull into the pick-up lane at the airport :)



We left Tampa Bay by six pm, but didn't get very far. While we still had daylight we pulled over to install new curtains to the front and back. We are most likely going to pull over by the side of the road somewhere tonight to catch a few hours of sleep before continuing our trip, and having the curtains are kind of helpful for privacy ;-)

At the moment we are somewhere in Central Florida. It's 11 pm, and we'll see how far the Captain wants to drive. Little Miss has been sleeping, Mr. D got some school done, and now we are listening to Eric Metaxas' biography on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It's excellent!

Tomorrow we are hoping to make it to my sister's house in Virginia. Can't wait!!!

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Aamulla sanoimme hyvästit rakkaalle St. Petelle, ja lähdimme hakemaan asuntoautoamme huollosta. Suuntavilkkujen ongelma olikin ollut pulmallisempi mitä alunperin uskottiin, eikä asuntoautoa saatu valmiiksi kuin vasta viiden maissa iltapäivällä. Jos olisimme tienneet sen, olisimme viettäneet koko päivän rannalla, mutta ei voinut mitään. Vietimme muutaman tunnin lähellä olevassa ostarissa.

Kun asuntoauto vihdoin oli valmis, meidän piti ensin palauttaa vuokra-automme, ennen kuin kuuden maissa vasta pääsimme lähtemään Tampan alueelta. Emme ehtineet ajaa kauas, kun Kapteeni pysähtyi, että saimme laitettua uudet verhot asuntoauton etu-ja takalasiin. Meidän on tarkoitus pysähtyä nukkumaan jonnekin tien varrelle, joten verhot piti asentaa yksityisyyden takia.. Siihen meni mukavat pari tuntia, sitten aloin laittamaan sämpylöitä iltaruoaksi ja noin kolme tuntia myöhemmin lähdimme taas ajamaan. Pikkuneiti nukahti hyvin pian, Mr. D sai jonkin verran koulua tehtyä, ja nyt kuuntelemme kirjaa cd:ltä.

Saa nähdä kuinka kauas pääsemme - huomenna toivomme pääsevämme siskoni luokse Virginiaan. En malta odottaa!!!!

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Day 4/Päivä 4



What an incredible day!!! The first vacation day for the kids & I (the Captain had to work).
Mr. D and Little Miss had wanted to try the pool/spa at our inn last night, but it was getting too late. So today they got to go in twice and really loved it. It's the small things for the kids..



We got to go to the beach twice today too. Well, the Captain had work to do for half the day, but he made it to the beach with us on our second trip. I think this picture says it all: turquoise warm water, fine white sand, the sunshine... This is paradise!!!!!



We made wonderful friendships here last year. Joined a fantastic homeschool co-op, made lots of memories, found a great church, and fell in love with this area.. Today we met with sweet friends, and the girls had such a great time together!! (So did the moms, and dads too! Poor Mr. D - his friend wasn't able to meet us at the beach today.)



We love being back in St. Pete - living here last year was a wonderful time for our family, and being back is bittersweet. We would love to be back for the homeschool co-op this Fall, but will have to wait and see if that is God's plan for our family.

But I am so thankful for the time we had here last year, and now this week too.

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Neljäs päivä - ja meidän aikamme täällä St. Petessä alkaa olla lopuillaan... Täällä on niin ihana olla. Olen kiitollinen ajasta, jonka saimme viettää täällä viime vuonna, ja nyt tällä viikolla myös. Varoitin jo Kapteenia että kyyneleet tulevat vuotamaan kun lähdemme täältä.

Tänään Kapteenin ollessa töissä puoli päivää, me lasten kanssa nautimme uima-altaasta ja rannalla olemisesta. Turkoosi vesi, hieno valkoinen hiekka, auringonpaiste on täydellistä paratiisia.. Treffasimme ystävien kanssa rannalla, ja tytöillä oli ihanaa yhdessä. Ainoa päivän harmi oli kun Mr. D:n ystävä ei päässyt rannalle vaikka ensin oli tulossa..

Toivottavasti pääsemme takaisin syksyllä tänne!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Day 3/Päivä 3



Most of today was filled with errands too. We had a good day, despite the fact that my doctor's office was running an hour behind, making us almost miss our next appointment. Stressful, but we made it. And from there to our next appointment and so forth.



Lunch was at Chick-Fil-A where Little Miss enjoyed a little play time. I felt a bit bad dragging the kids from one office to another all day, but they were both so good. Made me very thankful not to have all five kids trailing behind us from appointments to appointments. (But I do miss them very much.)

In the evening we arrived to one of our favorite places on earth (turns out we have quite a few favorites :)










Happy night.

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Meidän kolmas päivämme oli täynnä juoksua toimistosta toiseen, mutta illalla vihdoin saavuimme yhteen suosikkipaikoistamme (joita siis on aika monta, heh heh). Ihana Floridan länsirannikko. Onnellinen ilta.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Day 2/Päivä 2



Not much to report from today. We spent a few of hours cleaning and organizing The Mothership (ran out of time last December and had to dump our belongings there and head North), then took it to Camping World. We need a few things serviced like getting our turn signals working again.

In the afternoon we tried to renew our vehicle registrations, but DMV's computer system was down. Found out though, that we can do this online. Score!!! Plus that gave us more time to deal with other boring errands like banking.



We ended up having Mexican for dinner, and Mr. D snapped a picture of the sign on the wall. It was a heat scale for the hot sauces :)

Unfortunately tomorrow will be more of the same for us, but we are hoping to plan some fun for Thursday. If all goes well, we'll start driving North on Friday.

As for homeschooling, (Mr. A & Little Miss are done,) Missy has finished two days of school in Maine, same for Mr. T in New Hampshire. They have been working independently (as far as I know), with some email and text message communication. Mr. D here hasn't had that much time online so he has only done a lesson a day so far. But as soon as we start driving up, he'll should be able to do full days. I sure I'm glad to be homeschooling - gives us the flexibility to pull off all kinds of crazy trips!!

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Toka reissupäivämme on ollut täynnä juoksevia asioita: ensin asuntoauton siivousta ja organisoimista, sitten yritys päästä huoltoon (ei päästy, uudestaan huomenna tai torstaina), ja iltapäivällä autojen rekisteröimisen yritystä sekä pankkiasioiden hoitamista. Aika tylsä päivä lapsille, ja huomiseksi luvattu aika lailla samaa. Toivottavasti päästään rannalle torstaina!!

Kotikoulu jatkuu reissaamisesta huolimatta, kaksi lapsista ovat jo saaneet lukuvuoden loppuun, missy ja Mr. T kummatkin ovat tehneet kaksi päivää koulua, ja Mr. D täällä vain yhden oppitunnin päivässä, koska ei ole ollut mahista päästä nettiin. Mutta kunhan (näillä näkymin perjantaina) päästään tien päälle, niin sitten pitäisi hänenkin saada tehtyä täysiä päiviä.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Travel Journal, Day 1/Matkapäiväkirja, päivä 1

Busy morning in New Hampshire: Finish packing, finish cleaning the house, get breakfast & lunch served for all. Grandpa brings Mr. D, Little Miss, The Captain & I to the airport.


A photo by Little Miss!

While we were at the airport, friends picked up Mr. T & Mr. A - the boys are spending the next week or so with their best friend A. And Grandpa brought Missy to Maine with him - she gets to spend the next week or so with grandparents, cousins, aunt & uncle and Nanny too.

A little hard for mama to say good-byes, having the family split in three different directions, but at least everyone is so excited about where they are spending the rest of May. Plus there already has been text messages and emails going back and forth - gotta love technology!! This trip isn't a vacation, we had quite a bit of work and errands to do while here, so it didn't make sense to fly all seven of us down. We so appreciate our friends and family helping us out!!!




The four of us had an uneventful flight down to Florida. We picked up a rental car, had dinner and stopped by the Apple store, before checking into a hotel for the night.

Tomorrow morning we will finally get to our Mothership, and will continue to rest of our trip in our RV. I am not sure yet how our travel plans happen, but we will be in Florida most of this week before heading back up North. Stay tuned....

Linking this post to Hip Homeschool Hop!

Hip Homeschool Hop Button

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Tänään meistä neljä lensi Floridaan noin viikoksi, valitettavasti ei lomalle, vaan hoitamaan asioita täällä. Missy lähti isovanhempien luokse Maineen, ja kaksi pojista jäivät parhaan ystävän luokse New Hampshireen. Meillä oli ihan onnistunut matkapäivä, tänään yövymme hotellissa ja huomenna haemme Mothership-asuntoautomme. Lisää seuraavassa numerossa...

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Sunday Snapshot {Weekend Fun}



What is better than going to our favorite ice cream place?



Going there twice in two days, of course!! Both times we met friends, and yes, both times we got ice cream. Saturday was hot and beautiful, Sunday quite chilly, but still fun.




And I love how the boys are such great friends - and usually invite Little Miss and Missy to their games too, but wall ball can be a bit too active for my girls... :)

We had a great few days in New Hampshire!

Linking this post to Sunday Snapshot.

Sunday Snapshot