Tuesday 10 July 2012

We made it!

Here is a little update on our venture from Aberdeen SK to Fort Saint John BC.

On Sunday morning Zipp woke up about 4:00am. That was our cue to go. Jon got the coffee going, started to pack up the car with the last few bags and loaded the 3 oldest into the car. I fed Zipp, got dressed, grabbed two coffee mugs, gave a prayer and we were off. Left our yard at exactly 4:40am!


All four kids slept for the first 3 hours, well technically it took about 20 minutes to convince A to calm down and sleep cause it's going to be a long ride. Lil'C was the first to wake up but he just sat there watching out his window then about 4 hours in the rest of the crew woke up just in time for a fill up at the gas pump. We had just got to Lloydminster. Everyone got out went to the washroom stretched I fed Zipp and changed her. We gassed up, I handed out the bananas, cereal and milk I packed for breakfast and we were off again.

We listened to 2 Odysseys, Big C doodled with his DVD coloring case, A played with the zany play board and Lil' C just played on his v-reader for the whole morning. They opened the first of Taunta Doreen's surprise bags, Pez! We also sneaked in a round of the Alphabet-memory game. We were able to drive steady till we had to fill up again at Whitecap. Did the same stretch, potty and feed routine. I handed out the buns, jerky and peas I packed for lunch. Got the kids movie screens hooked up and we were off again. Making great time and Mom praising Jesus for the none fussy baby!

Here they are all ready to eat lunch and watch their movies!


We opened our second surprise bag from Taunta Doreen (the twins foster mom). They were yummy chocolate to eat as a treat with their movie. I got to jam out to some of my own tunes as they watched with their headphones on. Now that was a treat. Once the movie was over the kids were happy to open another surprise bag from Taunta Doreen. A toy for each! They played and read the books they got from the library till we stopped at Grand Prairie. This time I let them run around a playground I found while I fed Zipp and changed her. I think A had fun telling the other mom at the playground that she was from Saskatchewan and that we had been driving all day. We gassed up one last time.

Here they are at the park.
After over 12 hours of driving this is the face I see when I go into the back seat to feed her. What a good little traveller she was.

I passed around our supper that consisted of juice, sandwiches, apples and carrots. The last stretch of the drive was the most troublesome. Zipp had had enough and was starting to fuss. But her big brother and sister were amazing help. Talking to her, making funny faces and calming noised to put her to sleep.

At around 7:20 pm we made it to Auntie Mandi's!!!!!! It was such a joy, none of the older kids complained once, Zipp slept most of the way and I wasn't tired once behind the wheel. All I did when we drove into their yard was pray and thank Jesus for the amazing adventure and all his provisions.

So far we are having a ton of fun at Auntie Mandi's house. A is loving on Auntie's dogs and horses. Big C has already crashed cousin Dar's dirt bike. Lil' C has had a ton of fun with his little twin cousin (Dar and Lil'C are only a month apart) and I have been giving super cuddles to my newest niece Blaik (she was born one month younger then Zip).




Thank you all who prayed for our trip here. Your prayers were definitely heard.

Just One of Those Moments

Dar is telling A a story, "Once upon a time there was a princess named Charli and he was SOOO cute."
Auntie Mandi corrects Dar, "Honey, Charli is a prince. Boys are princes not princesses."
A then says, "Oh no Auntie Mandi, Charli is a princess. My best friend from school is a Charli and she is definitely a princess not a prince."


Thursday 5 July 2012

Mom's Car Survival



There have been some big changes in our plans. We are now not going to Calgary and just going straight up to Fort Saint John. This cuts us down 7 hours so we only have to travel 26 hours now.

We will be leaving Sunday July 8th now. This way I can just chill, rest and Jon can spend time with kids for all of Saturday and get going crazy early Sunday morning. We will probably stop somewhere random along the way to sleep and trek the rest of the way Monday.

Thank you all who shared great advice and support. Here is the game plan for our driving.



Reward Bag:

I am going to have a point system that for every hour they are good each kid gets 2 points. They can redeem them at any point in the trip to get something out of the reward bag. Each item in the reward bag will have a curtain amount of points to get that item.



Games to Play on the Way:

· Alphabet-Memory Game (Pick a theme to go through the alphabet by)

· Color Car Race (Each kid gets a color to watch for. They get a point for each vehicle they see that color. End of the set time whoever has the most points wins.)

· “Don’t Forget the Lyrics” (Put music on an iPod then have each person pick a song put the head phones on and sing. The rest listen to how well they sing the lyrics.)

· Counting Game (Have a list of things the kids may see and start the counting)

· Can’t lose my Clip (Each person gets a clip. You lose it if you say the designated word or phrase. I think ours will be “How much longer”)

· Fortunately, Unfortunately (One person starts off by say “Fortunately...” the next says “Unfortunately...”. Everyone goes back and forth to make up a silly song. Ex. Fortunately I walked to the store. Unfortunately it was taken over by Pirates.)

· Guess who cause I love you? (Like 20 questions but it must be someone you love, family or friends. Everyone asks the person who is “it” yes or no questions to guess who they love)

· Would you Rather (each person takes turns asking the rest a "would you rather" question and everyone gets to answer.)



Oldest 3 Entertainments:

o 12 hours of never heard Odyssey

o Special packages Big C and A’s Foster mom put together

o Pipe cleaners for jewelry and animal making

o DVD Coloring Case (http://stacyvaughnblog.blogspot.ca/2012/04/dvd-coloring-case.html)

o A MadLib for each A (Totally Pink One) and Big C (Star War One), these will be in the reward bag

o A Search and Find Tomas the Train with a dry erase

o Portable DVD Player with two screens plus 4 new DVDs which include Mirror Mirror, Mator’s Tall Tales, The Brave Little Toaster & Animated Star Wars the Clone Wars. Movies will be put in reward bag

o Crayola’s Zany Play Dry-Erase Center

o Homemade i-Spy Bag (http://momscraftyspace.blogspot.ca/2010/07/i-spy-bag-treasure-hunt.html )

o Simone Flash Game

o Making a CD full of upbeat music and one full of Disney songs to rock out to J

o Library Books





Zipp Survival:

o Pumping milk for a couple of bottles

o Several soothers

o Easy to diaper change clothing (onsie with leg warmers)

o Mirror to see her with

o Chew on toys she hasn’t seen yet

o Jitter bug toy she hasn’t seen yet





Car Survival Kit:

· Everyone has a pillow and blanket

· Paper Towel

· Potty

· Toilet Paper

· Sanitary

· Cooler full of water and fresh fruit and veggies

· Snack Bag

· Reward bag full of special treats (mystery skittles, suckers, gum, movies, mad libs, etc)

· First Aid Kit (with Tylenol and Gravel)


Just One of Those Moments
We were driving home from Grandma Karen and Grandpa Logan’s place and lately Saskatchewan has gotten a bunch of storms. Lil’C starts to share that he thinks he is scared of the clouds, sky, wind, thunder, lightning and the list went on. We reassure him that he doesn’t need to be afraid of the weather. He insists that he is and even of the rain, that just started to pour outside of the car. I remind him of our walk in the rain just the day before and how he called it an outside bath.

But the best encouraging comment had to go to Jon, who stated, “Lil’C rain is just God having a big water fight with you but He is always winning.”