Packing/Pakkaamista

We have had a busy morning with homeschooling (all done!) and packing (almost done!). We will be bringing Mothership back to storage for a few days, then back to Camping World for some maintenance/repairs. Meanwhile we will be enjoying Florida's West Coast and a beach condo for two weeks - it will be luxurious and oh so roomy after squeezing the seven of us into Mothership. Not sure when our next adventure will be, but probably sometime next month - we don't plan too much, just go where the wind blows :)

We've had a good stay at the Sanlan RV Park, it is a quiet, well-kept and friendly park. In the mornings we've done school, after lunch we've enjoyed the playground (not that great, but it is a nice shady spot with swings and a slide, a climbing dome and a basketball hoop) and the pools. Last year we explored some of the trails in search of alligators, but this year we've only waved to them from the car windows as they laze in the edge of the pond(s).

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Tänä aamuna olemme kotikoulun lisäksi pakanneet kahden viikon rantalomaa varten. Mothership lähtee ensin varastoon, sitten huoltoon sillä välin kun me nautimme 'suuresta' kahden makuuhuoneen rivitaloasunnosta Floridan länsirannikolla. Seuraava Mothership-seikkailu tulee varmaankin olemaan toukokuussa, tosin emme ole vielä suunnitelleet mitään reissua, mutta uskoisin että haluamme seikkailla joku viikonloppu täällä Floridassa.
Meillä oli ihan kivaa täällä leirintäalueella, mutta kiva päästä oikeaan asuntoon pariksi viikoksi :)

Love My Crockpot!

On tonight's menu we have spaghetti sauce with meatballs. Took about 59 seconds to put the liners in the crockpot, add the sauce & frozen meatballs, and add a few spices and honey. Set it on low, and dinner will cook as we play! When we are ready to eat, I will boil spaghetti & serve Italian buns as well, so everyone can choose if they'd like spaghetti or meatball subs. Perfect cooking for RV-life! Leaves time for more important things like driving the Mothership (then we put the crockpot in the sink and turn on the generator so it can cook while in transit), or swimming in the pool, or having a video iChat with Mom :)

Monday Is A Monday, Even In Paradise...

Monday morning came with a Bang! Homeschooling was very challenging, and the laundry piles daunting (and mostly wet and dirty, ugh!). After conquering today's schoolwork, getting laundry started, lunch served, and dinner started in the crockpot, we took a nice break in the campground pool. Aaah...!



It started raining again after dinner, so we popped in a movie and got the beds ready. It is lovely to be listening to rain drumming on the Mothership roof and be comfy and warm inside. A good ending to a busy day..

All Together Again/Kaikki yhdessä jälleen!

Friday night our mini family attended a Hangar Party at the Lakeland Linder Airport during the Sun n' Fun Airshow, hosted by our friends in Lakeland. What a fantastic party with great company, food & entertainment! Thanks, family H, for the fun evening!!

Saturday morning we pulled out of Sanlan RV Park in the Mothership, and made our first stop at Tampa International Airport, where we picked up our two missing family members: Missy & Mr. D. They had had a fun week at my sister's house, but were so ready to join Our Mothership Adventures! They thought it was quite cool to be picked up from the airport in the Mothership :)





From the airport we continued Mothership Travels and drove via the Skyway bridge (very cool!) to Fort Myers, where we met some New England friends, who had relocated to Florida two years ago. We were going to stop by, but ended up staying for a swim in the pool, dinner & an overnight visit! Thanks, Family C, we had a wonderful visit!! We hope to see you soon again!






This morning we drove down to Naples, in rain, and visited Naples in rain. We left Naples about an hour ago (blogging here as the Captain is driving), and it's still raining - so weird, we are listening to music as we drive, and as I typed: "it's still raining", Casting Crowns sang exactly at the same time: "it's still raining" (song Praise You In The Storm).

We really, really like Naples. The Captain's Grandparents used to live there, and we fondly remember many fun times spent there. We had lunch at the Pinchers Crab Shack in Tin City, and had fun browsing the little shops. Everyone agreed the Crab Shack had the best New England Clam Chowder! (The question is - was it really better than the Cooke Seafood's chowder, or are we all just a little bit homesick?)



(Had to add a photo of this t-shirt we saw, just for fun!)

What a great weekend mothershipping around Florida West Coast! Even in the rain..

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Perjantai-illan vietimme ystäviemme lentokonesuojabileissä Lakelandissa, siellä on koko viikon ollut ilmashow. Lauantaina haimme kaksi puuttuvaa perheenjäsentämme Tampan lentokentältä. Heillä oli ollut kiva viikko siskoni luona, mutta olivat valmiit Mothership-seikkailuihin :) Lauantain vietimme ystäviemme luona Fort Myers'issa, tämä ystäväperhe muutti meidän läheltä Uudesta Englannista tänne kaksi vuotta sitten. Jäimme heille jopa yöksi, ja tänään kävimme Naples'issa. Kapteenin isovanhemmat asuivat siellä monta vuotta, ja meillä on monia hyviä muistoja Naples'in kaupungista. Se oli yhtä ihana merenrantakaupunki millaisena sen muistamme.. Nyt olemme tien päällä taas, hyvä aika blogata :) Kiva viikonloppu Mothership-seikkailuille, jopa sateisella säällä!

Buyer Found/Ostaja löytyi

But who's selling???

A man stopped by the Mothership today and left his business card: "When you are ready to sell, here's our info." He also asked for a permission to take a photo of her. Do we file this card in the RV folder, or in the 'files' under the kitchen sink? ;-)

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Mutta kuka on myymässä???

Eräs mies pysähtyi Mothership'in luona tänään, jätti bisneskorttinsa että voimme ottaa yhteyttä häneen kun olemme valmiit myymään asuntoautomme. Olisi pitänyt kysyä mikä on tarjous :) Sen sijaan mietimme mihin laittaa tämän kortin, asuntoautopapereihin vai keittiön altaan alle? ;-)

Under The Spanish Moss

Sorry to leave everyone hanging on Sunday. We were able to charge our battery enough to drive to a nearby RV park called Spanish Main RV Park. Had a restful night there sleeping in the Mothership. Clean bathrooms and showers too!



Monday and Tuesday were spent driving here and there, combined with my migraine that at times felt under control, and at times... not. We left the Mothership at Camping World and had the battery issues addressed. It has been so nice to have a car this time! Last year when the water pump needed to be replaced, we all (7 of us!) sat in the small waiting room for about 2 hours.



While the Captain was settling in his office, I took the kids to the library. Our big kids are such bookworms they didn't want to leave, so that was an easy way to spend the afternoon on Monday. Little Miss got a little restless, but after reading books and drawing pictures we took a walk outside the library.




Tuesday morning was spent at a hotel pool, and also in the hotel room working on school. We picked up Captain from his office and drove to St. Pete for the afternoon. Weren't really prepared to go to the beach, but soaked our toes (warm water!) and vowed to come back. Soon.



Today we woke up at Sanlan RV Park. My head is feeling better than last night, but fragile, so the kids and I decided to spend the day here. The boys have been working on school (and taking nice breaks!) and Little Miss helped me do laundry at the park laundry facilities (first laundry since leaving home!). The cost: $2 a load to wash, $0.75 to dry (but took 2 runs to dry even medium size loads), and we had two loads. A little over an hour later laundry was clean. (And I have the boys already wearing bathing suits during the day :)



The boys are almost done with school and we may head to the pool. Even though we've had school and work to do, being in the Mothership makes it feel like a vacation. What day is it again??

Oh, and looks like we found a home base for ourselves here in Florida! More on that later...

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Sunnuntaina saimme ladattua Mothership'in akkua sen verran että saimme ajettua läheiselle leirintäalueelle. Maanantaina ja tiistaina asuntoautomme akku korjattiin, joten me suuntasimme yöksi hotelliin. Kapteenin on pitänyt viettää aikaa toimistossa, joten olen lasten kanssa viettänyt aikaa kirjastossa, hotellissa kotikoulua käyden ja uiden uima-altaassa. Valitettavasti kaamea migreeni on vaivannut viimeiset pari päivää, joten se on rajoittanut meidän ohjelmaa jonkin verran.
Eilen kävimme pikaisesti St. Pete'n kaupungissa länsirannikolla, ja totesimme että niille rannoille pian takaisin! Nyt olemme leirintäalueella, sain pyykit pestyä ja pojat tekevät koulutehtäviään. Kohta uimaan! Niin, ja näyttää siltä että löysimme kodin itsellemme täältä, lisää siitä myöhemmin...

Hello, Mothership!!

We have finally arrived!! It was a joyous reunion today between the Mothership and the mothershippers. We lovingly washed her outside, and cleaned and dusted on the inside. (No mildew, only very few dead bugs and a lot of dust inside.)

Discovered a problem though: the battery is dead. Even called AAA to come and help, which they did come, but did not help, but we are able to slowly charge to batteries and hopefully can pull out of the storage park soon!

Must Have iPhone App (For Non-Mothership Traveling)

The Captain and 5ennie are not only coffee lovers, but caffeine addicts as well. In order to travel 12 hours a day, especially confined to small spaces with any number of loud circus animals children, we definitely need our cups of java. Which, in turn, makes us need to stop and use the roadside bathroom facilities on a regular basis. We do try to blame these stops on the children, but the fact is, it's the adults who need most stops.

In the past we'd use the "look and see" method at highway exits to find a restroom. But too often we'd pass the exit and say: "Ooooh, I see it now, yes, there was a Burger King...!", and then desperately need to get off the next exit even if there aren't any signs. Then drive 500 5 miles to the nearest town to find a disgusting gas station with a port-a-potty. Or there would be a sign, you'd get off the exit, and still drive that 5 miles to find that hideously gross facility you absolutely had to use or go hide in the bushes.

No more! 5ennie searched for a rest area iphone app, and found the Rest Area Finder! A free app! A must have for any non-Mothership traveling.




The Rest Area Finder App uses your location to list all rest areas, then tells you what the facilities have or have not, and how far away you are. In our case, we found The Virginia Visitor Center about 10 miles away, a nice clean facility to take our break. Score!!



We have to confess we longingly watch all the RV's on the road. I bet they aren't stopping at every single rest area to use the public facilities...

Roadschooling/ Koulua tien päällä

We left this morning - not very early - and have been driving for a few hours. Stopped for lunch and got a charger for the laptops so we can roadschool. The goal is only to get Friday's work done, and Mr. A is working on a Language Arts quiz and Mr. T is taking a Bible lesson. A pretty fun way to do school! (And blogging!! :)

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Lähdimme aamulla ajamaan, ja nyt kaksi pojista tekee koulutehtäviään läppäreillään. Matka jatkuu...

Ready/Valmis!

We are leaving! Tomorrow morning!!!!!

Last-minute people that we are, we have had crazy nutty two days with impossible errands and to-do lists. I don't know why I always do this to myself, but I can't seem to get things done ahead of time (of course it could be partly because of slight daily busyness: I am the mom/teacher/secretary/chef/laundry person/the list could go on - in fact, I may blog about that soon - filling out the health insurance form I had a hard time choosing my occupation). Then, a day or two before departure I shock myself with everything I/we do get done. Of course I did manage to lose one of my packing lists, so at some point we might find out we left something really important behind...



I was too busy to take pictures in daylight, and can't count on myself to remember to take pictures tomorrow morning, so here are my dark iPhone pics to share. The above picture was taken of our car before our personal bags got in, this is The Captain's office moving South. And possibly his ride to the office if 5ennie & kids are using the car, and he can handle the Florida Summer temperatures...



So all this still had to fit in, plus a few smaller bags we can't pack until the morning...

We are going to try to leave as early as possible, but it won't be before sunrise. I will try to send an update or two from the road. Our plan is to drive all day tomorrow, stop for the night in the DC area, then continue our trip down on Saturday.

Oh, and we will be traveling with only 3 children! Mr. D and Missy are going to take a week off of school and spend some time with my sister. They will only have to drive half way down, then they will fly to Florida the rest of the way. Which is a great plan as I am not sure where we'd seat them in the car tomorrow....

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Olemme lähdössä matkaan huomenna!!!!! Viimeiset kaksi päivää (varsinkin) ovat olleet ihan mahdottoman hektisiä valmisteluiden merkeissä. Viime hetkellä suunnitelmiin tuli muutos, ja lähdemme ajamaan vain kolmen lapsen kanssa. Kaksi lapsista tulee viettämään noin viikon siskoni luona, ja lentävät Floridaan myöhemmin. Mikä päätyi olemaan loistava ratkaisu: auto on ihan täynnä!!! Yritän päivittää matkalta, suunnitelmana on ajaa koko päivä huomenna, olla yötä Washington DC:n alueella, ja jatkaa matkaa lauantaiaamuna, toivottavasti perille saakka.

Silver Bullets & Celebrities On Today Show

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Discovered this neat video on Skippin' Town blog, so had to share - enjoy :)

Happy Easter!!!

He is risen!! Happy Resurrection Day to Everyone!!

We had a wonderful day today, celebrating with family and friends. It was great to see everyone, as we are now starting the countdown for our trip - might leave as early as THIS WEEK!

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Hyvää pääsiäistä! Jeesus on ylösnoussut, kuolemalla kuoleman voittanut!
Meillä on ollut mukava pääsiäinen perheen ja ystävien kanssa. Nyt alkaa lähtölaskenta - saatamme lähteä matkaan jo tällä viikolla!