Is It Just Me?

Sarah Ann here.

Is it just me or do ice cream trucks stalk people? And do strangers always appear just when you need them most?

Let me explain. We just got back from our "practice trip" to Rhode Island. Last night when we got to our campsite, Rachel, Taylor, Christian, and I went to play at the park across the street while my parents set up the "pop." (Christian came up with that name for the pop-up camper.) We were putting on our pajamas when....

THE ICE CREAM TRUCK APPEARED. You have to understand this is a BIG deal because none of us kids had ever seen an ice cream truck before in our WHOLE ENTIRE lives. We all got ice cream.

Rachel and me by the ice cream truck

Eating ice cream by the "pop"

The next morning, my mom and dad were trying to make the camper work. It wasn't cooperating. It was very stubborn. The fuses kept on breaking (I don't really know what that means but that's what they kept saying.) My dad bought a new battery. He thought that would fix it. It didn't. The guy in charge of the campground came and tried to figure out what was wrong. He was really nice but he couldn't fix it either. Finally, we gave up and decided to just go to the beach.

We hadn't gotten very far when our car got REALLY hot so my dad had to pull over into this little parking lot for boats. You'll never guess what happened next.....

THE ICE CREAM TRUCK APPEARED. Really. I'm not lying. So, we all got ice cream again while my dad tried to figure out what was wrong with the car. Christian got a Spiderman ice cream. It was really, reallly hot outside and he wasn't so good at licking a big popsicle. It melted all over the place - and made a big, big mess. My mom even had his ice cream on her toe and shoulder. We all got saved by a man who had this - cooler - or something I can't remember it's name - for the car that made it not so hot.

Ever after we had this cooler-stuff in, we had to stop every half mile on the way to the place where they were going to fix our car. At the car place, we were sitting in the shade of some people's trees. It was hot. Really hot. We wanted to go to the beach - but they said it would take a long time to fix the car because it was a BIG leak. Then, another stranger saved us. He drove us to the beach while my dad stayed with the car.

The beach was fun. My dad finally came with the car. Then we drove home safely with nothing at all more going wrong.

Remember in my other post when I said something always goes wrong? Now do you see what I mean?

We hope our real summer trip doesn't go anything like that practice trip. Well, except the ice cream part. I wouldn't mind if the ice cream truck ketp following us.

The Practice Trip

Taylor here. We are going to Rhode Island to practice with our pop-up camper. I mean, we are going RIGHT NOW. We'll just be gone one night. Hopefully the bearings don't go out again on the camper. Actually, we aren't going right now anymore. My dad just let the cat out while he was carrying stuff to the car. I can't believe it! Now we have to catch the cat first.

Are you wondering what we need to practice? We need to practice putting the camper up and taking it down. We don't really have time to go on a trip right now, but my mom says she NEEDS to practice. My dad isn't gonna be there for the first part of the summer trip - as in the first three weeks. That means trouble. That means my mom has to be able to do everything by herself - I mean with our help. We're pretty good helpers. Sometimes.

I'm glad there is a practice trip because tomorrow we will go to the beach and swim. My dad has NEVER been to Rhode Island before even though we have lived in Massachusetts for six years. Even though he's been to 47 states. After today, he will have been to 48 states. It's pathetic that he hasn't been to Rhode Island.

Our house is really clean right now because we hope we have a showing while we're gone. Our house hasn't sold yet. It did sell once but then the buyers backed out. So now we have to sell it again. It always makes me a little sad to see it so clean because it doesn't look like we live in it. Normally, it's kind of dirty. (My mom doesn't want me to write that. She says it isn't DIRTY, it just has kid stuff out everywhere. Not everywhere. Just some places.)

Be sure and come back tomorrow because we'll post some pictures for you to see.

Taylor signing out.

P.S. Rachel just got the cat. Now we are going RIGHT NOW.

Contradictory Words, Exploding Marshmallows, and Untrained Puppies

Rachel speaking. I'm feeling kind of philosophical tonight.

Move. It's such a contradictory word. It sounds so matter-of-fact and yet it raises so many questions. Where? When? Why? And more important questions like: Who will I sit next to at lunch? Who will I laugh with? When will I see my Massachusetts friends again? Moving is an adventure - exciting. But leaving people behind is not.

Then there's the trip. A whole other adventure in itself. Putting Taylor and Sarah Ann together in the back seat of the car is kind of like throwing a marshmallow in the fire. It heats and starts to expand - bigger, bigGER, BIGGER. Until it POPS. The question isn't IF it will explode - it's WHEN it will explode. Taylor and Sarah Ann start out just like the little marshmallow - sweet, innocent, and tasty. Well, okay - the tasty part doesn't fit. Then slowly the tension starts to boil. Sarah Ann "accidentally" hits Taylor. Then Taylor "accidentally" makes a mean reply. Slowly, their interaction builds to an EXPLOSION - tears, shrieks, and shoves.

Then there's Christian. He's like an untrained puppy. Puppies are soooo adorable. Loyal. Lovable. Always making you smile. UNTIL they rip your favorite shoes to shreds. UNTIL you have to search the house for their toy. (try finding a binki - that Christian threw on purpose - while Christian screams "I WANT BINKI!", the car lurches back and forth, and you can hardly see the floor because of all the piles of books, games, pillows, etc.)

I am excited for the trip - maybe just not for the marshmallows and puppies in the car.

Where My Toys?

A story for Christian with Rachel as translator.

The boxes have been feasting again - this time on the toys in Christian's rooms. Yesterday, when my dad was putting him to bed he suddenly sat up and said, "Where my toys? My toys all gone!"

Dad just said, "You can have toys in the morning."

This morning, Christian told us, "I get NEW toys."

Yipee! Yipee! Yipee!

Hi there. I'm Sarah Ann.
I have two feelings about this summer. The first one is that I'm sad because I'm moving. I'm going to have to leave all my friends and go to an unfamiliar town. It's actually next to the town I was born in. The town I was born in was Madison and I'm moving to Middleton. But we moved from Madison to Spain when I was a baby. As you can see, I've always been a traveler.

The other feeling is that I'm really excited. I'm excited because I get to have another BIG summer trip and write to you about it. Two summer trips ago, I went on an even longer summer trip. That one was two months. This one is only five and a half weeks. This one is more adventurous though because I'm not going to sleep in any hotels. I'm sleeping in my pop-camper. Our family has never really camped before so we don't really know what we're doing. And it's kind of hard to pull that camper all around behind your car. Especially when you have to back up. But now my mom is really good at it. She can do it in one try. But my dad can't.

We've gone on one trip in the pop-up camper before. It was to Cape Cod. On the way home, a crazy man started signaling at us because our tires were smoking. We had no clue about the tires. If we hadn't pulled over right then, our pop-up camper would've caught on fire. And before you know it, our car would've caught on fire too.

So anyway, about the trip - there are some things that are going to be like the other trips. First of all, we're going to take lots of photos. We'll make sure that we put plenty on this blog. The second thing is that something is going to go wrong. It always does. The third thing is that it's going to be fun and adventurous and we'll learn a lot.

I'm excited about everything on the trip especially going to Four Corners, seeing Charlie Dog (my Aunt Laura's dog - that's a joke that I'm most excited about that - but I do like her dog), seeing my cousins and lots of other family, hiking the Narrows (it's a famous hike at Zion National Park), and going to Hershey, PA to see them make chocolate.

As you can see, this is going to be brilliant adventure. So make sure you check this blog EVERY DAY. You never know what might happen with four kids and one GIAGANTIC adventure.

The Trouble With Moving

Now it's me, Taylor.

We are moving in twelve days. Like most people, I don't want to move. Most people are nervous about leaving but confident that they'll make new friends. Not me. I'm not sure yet. The packing is hard and tiring. I'm hoping to get away with just watching Christian - no actual packing. Probably not though.

Last night, Christian got into one of the boxes my mom had packed and found the nail polish. He now has nail polish on his hand. My mom was glad it wasn't on the wall too. That's not as bad as when Christian cut a hole in the brand new couch covers that my mom had bought to make our house look perfect so people would buy it.

Back to moving.
Most friends I won't see again. For example, the friends which our parents don't know each other. I might cross paths with them when I'm an adult and not reconize them. Luckly I'll see some friends again.

The only thing I'm excited about is the summer trip. I'll see lots of historical stuff. I am ready and prepared for the driving. I have lots of books, my Kindle Fire and books on tape. I'll never get bored. Besides, I'm an expert traveler which will make it a little easier. The bad thing is Christian is older than last summer when we went on a long trip and will probably be a little more bad. I mean crying and stuff. I'm excited to see Gettysburg, see where the Amish lived, ride horses in North Dakota, and slide on sand dune at White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. I never even knew that people could do that before. Sounds fun, don't you think?
Signing off. Taylor Huber.

Go! Yay! Go!

Hi! Rachel speaking. Welcome to our blog. I hope you'll stay with us until the end - the end of our trip, that is. Launch date: July 8. Until then, we'll just take you along as we get ready.

Every family has the story they tell to everyone. My family has quite a few. One is Christian's first words. Here is the story:

Once my mom went to put Christian's coat on. He was only a year old at the time. Once he had his coat on, he must have realized that that meant he was going somewhere. Christian smiled and said,"Go! Yay! Go!"
         
Well, this summer my family is "go"ing. What I mean by that is we are leaving our house in Belchertown, Massachuesetts to spend 6 weeks traveling (by car) and end up in Middleton, Wisconsin. Half of those nights will be spent camping in our pop-up camper. Trust me, with a 2-year-old, that could be a disaster. During the trip we will visit lots of family, 2 countries ( U.S. and Canada ) and 23 states. I don't even want to know how many hours that will take.

 Right now a bunch of boxes seem to be feasting off of our house - all in preparation for moving. They eat everything from cups to my stuffed animals. I loooooooove stuffed animals and blankets. I told my mom that the boxes couldn't eat a single one of my 3 million blankets or Stitch Bear, a stuffed bear I've had forever. I guess they will get swallowed up eventually, but not now.