Meeting Lightning McQueen

As you may remember from Ryan's potty party, he is a fan of Lightning McQueen and anything Cars related.  Except the movie.  We actually tried, but Lightning got lost and tangled up in the fence and he was done.  Even in his (many) Cars books, whenever he sees a picture of Lightning tangled up he covers his eyes and turns the page.  But he knows every character (even the new characters of Cars 2), and has many Cars books that he loves to read, and has several Lightning McQueen toy cars that he sleeps with every night.  Well, we live not too far away from the Michigan International Speedway, and every time we drive by he yells, "There is where Lightning McQueen races!  My car races there!"  So, Lucas and I have been planning for a while to head over there one of the days during a race weekend this summer.

We finally made it.  As you will see in the pictures, it was a challenging environment for my noise-sensitive little man (and to think he had to go for special testing after he was released from the hospital because they were worried about his hearing...).  But we went prepared (earplugs and earmuffs...one pair...but we figured Ryan was the only one who would need the extra layer).

For the first little while we were there we just walked around and got the lay of the land.

 We discovered that Allie will kiss any fish - not just the ones she catches...

 They had a kids' zone where you paid for a wrist band and they could come and go and bounce on the many bounce houses all day.  We were totally in - which was great because it was the biggest hit of the day.

 They both got some pretty good air...

 ...and Allie consistently amazed her brother with her acrobatics!

 They were doing practice laps, so we headed into the Grand Stand to watch.  We discovered, on the way in, that Allie needed something around her head to help hold her earplugs (designed for much bigger ears) in. I improvised with what I could find in the bag.  We went in, found seats, and watched the trucks do laps (the cars were practicing later).

 He hated the noise, but didn't want to look away.

 I tried to get a picture of the cars as they went by, but they were too fast for my camera.  The pictures below were taken in sequence...and cars passed by in each of the spaces...

 I had to get the pictures from far off to make sure I actually caught them.

 Success!  Sort of...

We didn't stay in the Grand Stand for long.  First they had to go to the bathroom.  Then Ryan begged to go back, but Allie didn't like it and left to bounce.  Ryan was determined to stay - especially until he saw Lightning McQueen - but the siren call of the bounce houses drew him away.  He told me that he had so much fun, but he was sad that he didn't get to see Lightning McQueen or bring any of the race cars home.  I think he was planning on inviting them to live with us...

Next year, little guy.  We'll take better, noise-cancelling headphones, and stay to see Lightning.

A Look at Lucas' Trip

I asked Lucas if he would write a post about his trip, but he felt like he didn't really have the time to sit and think (like he would want).  So, I stole some pictures from his slideshow to give you a peek at his trip (I mean, we don't feature the grownups often anymore, but an international missions trip should at least get a few pictures).

A view of Haiti (I'm not exactly sure where)

 A tent village - there are still many from the earthquake.

 Henry (the youth that went from our current church - they met up with the youth from our church in MA!) having fun :)

 The kids playing a favorite - Simon Says!

 Lucas helping give some of the kids a swing.

 Where this blue and yellow tent stands there used to be an orphanage.  It was almost right on the epicenter of the earthquake.  The building, obviously, collapsed.  15 minutes before the earthquake they sent all of the kids outside to play - and none of them were killed.  In fact, I think a few staff members were trapped and injured, but none seriously.  It made international news and a group from Canada came and built them new dorms.

The bunk beds in the dorm.

 Citi Solei - it was actually like this before the earthquake.

 A river in Citi Solei

 A clinic where they brought supplies that had been donated.

 Lucas with some of our former youth.

 The whole team.

 Before the trip, the twins took $20 and picked out toy cars to send to kids in Haiti.  I told them that these kids don't have mommies and daddies to give them special surprises, so Ryan and Allie would send them some so they would feel loved and special.  Lucas snapped this picture, with his phone, of the boys playing with the cars!  Ryan and Allie especially love the one wearing his car as a hat.

I know Lucas would have a lot more info, personal experiences, and stories.  Maybe I can get him to write a post once things settle down (like October...maybe...).  If not, at least you got a little glimpse of his trip to a country that is very much in our hearts. 

Coming Home

And the race continues...to catch up the blog before VBS...when I will disappear for another week...or two...

My parents drove us home - along with the VBS decorations their church loans to ours each year (our church couldn't financially support VBS without this help), 7 boxes of yard sale donations, the bookshelves my dad built for the twins as part of their beds (which will travel here at a later date), and our luggage.  You can't see it very well here, but we were pretty squished.

 Disappointed that they didn't get go on any fun adventures with their grandkids in Nebraska, my parents decided to work an adventure into our trip home - a stay at a hotel with a pool.  My kids are at the age where they think hotels are amazing - elevators, different beds, and pools.  Dad and I took them swimming.

 Once home, we immediately got to work transferring our yard sale to a storage facility (a couple miles away) where an aunt of a friend generously donated space for us to set up for a big highway specific yard sale...the day after Lucas got home.  So it went like this: get home Thursday, immediately start pricing new donations, spend most of Friday transferring the many boxes and tables for the yard sale, pick up Lucas at 11:59 pm Friday night, get home at roughly 2am Saturday morning, get to the yard sale by 7:30 am to finish setting up, spend the whole day Saturday trying to sell stuff to raise money for our adoption, collapse that night.

We summoned enough energy to squeeze in another adventure before my parents left (they drove home Tuesday).  We hit up one of our favorite zoos!

My mom hates pictures of herself, but I like this one - taken because Beulah Miller (which just happens to be on the sign) was her grandma's name!

 Riding with Papa

 The Gibbon

My camera battery died about 15  minutes after we got there though...figures.  Oh, well, we had a fun adventure (seeing the animals, riding the carousel, and feeding giraffe's) even if I have no pictures to prove it!

It was wonderful to have my parents for the 2 weeks during, and a little after, Lucas' Haiti trip.  I was sad to see them leave.  Sigh.  Nebraska and Michigan just need to be closer...

Nebraska

Confession: there isn't a ton to post about from our Nebraska trip.  My parents are in the process of moving, and I was determined to single-handedly move them while I was there (which didn't happen...partly because I couldn't move the big stuff by myself and they - unwilling to be moved so suddenly - wouldn't help).  But it meant that our time was mostly spend doing this

However, the twins LOVED playing in Papa and Gigi's new basement...mostly because the big room was basically empty and they loved having all that open space to run and play.

We did do a few fun things though.  We continued our (new) tradition of riding to the park in Papa and Gigi's convertible (the twins really love riding in a car with no top).  While at the park we came across a Cicada.  One of my favorite thing, as a child, was the sound of the locusts in the evening.  I also loved looking for their shells in the fall (they shed their skins in this perfect shell).  I collected them each year.  The twins thought it was cool to hold it in their hand.

We also got the opportunity to hear my uncle preach!

He did a sermon on  Nehemiah, and I loved that it was a totally different take than the (few) sermons I have heard from that chapter.  I was hoping they would have it up on their website so that you could just click over and listen (if you were so inclined), but they don't have it up yet.  So take my word - it was insightful, challenging, and encouraging.  I was so proud.  So were his children.  My little cousins (I'm the oldest of the grandkids and his youngest is the youngest, so they are the little ones) were eager listeners, choosing to forgo Sunday School to hear the sermon twice, and sitting as close as they could.  I'm so happy I got to be there too!

The twins also enjoyed their tour of toys - which is what I call the visits to their favorite places (and toys at those places) in Nebraska...such as my grandparents and my parents' church.  

Through the Eyes of a Child

Part of requesting cameras for the twins' birthday was so they could record our adventures this summer.  We got a few of their pictures from our road trip...but they deleted most before I got to them.  This trip, I managed to catch more before they were erased (although Ryan somehow got to his camera before I saved his really great pictures.  sigh.).  Here is the train trip from from their perspective:

Allie's beloved seahorse with HIS baby seahorse (spiky thing below the nose).  She got the mini seahorse as part of a group of plastic sea creatures I gave her for the trip...and promptly lost it somewhere on the train.  We are still mourning the lost seahorse...

 A well-timed shot of a railroad crossing.

 Coming up to the Mississippi River.

 They make a big deal about the Mississippi River (which I LOVED).  They announce it over the speaker system.  The bridge is one of the oldest in the nation so they have to slow down to 10mph when going over.  The twins are still talking about the BIG river (because they cannot pronounce Mississippi, so they stopped trying).

Almost 3 weeks after the train ride (I know...I'm so behind on blogging.  Sorry grandparents!), and the train mania continues.  It is all trains all day long.  They build trains for their babies to ride, they pretend - at mealtimes - that they are eating on the train, they sing train songs, and they prefer to watch train shows (some of our favorites - btw - are Chuggington (of course), Choo Choo Soul (Allie can be heard singing the song pretty much all day), and Dinosaur train (a recent discovery that combines two of their greatest loves).

All Aboard!

I planned a few travel adventures for the twins and I this summer.  It started with our massive roadtrip in May, and ends with our most recent adventure - a train ride to Nebraska.  The twins love trains, and are at an enthusiastic age, so I thought this summer would be the perfect opportunity to plan a train adventure.  I scheduled it to coincide with Lucas'

 trip to Haiti (did I fail to mention Lucas was going to Haiti? Sorry).

Let me share some things that I learned on our trip:

- Excited children will have a difficult time waiting for the train at the station (no matter how cool of a station it is - exhibit a).  Moving outside to watch for the train will help. but will cause everyone else in the station to panic and move out too.

A friendly fellow-passenger offered to take a family pic. 

 Can you see Ryan's face?  He is so excited!  And behind us you can see the conductor who is getting ready to yell the classic, "All aboard!"

- packing periodic surprises (like on our road trip) helps, but for the majority of the trip, they will do this:

- Trains provide MUCH more room for seating (and playing) allowing for me to easily sit with the twins (when there were only 2 seats side-by-side) and for the twins to have tons of fun playing (even building a tent with their trays at one point!)

- People on the train are generally more laidback and enthusiastic about raveling with kids (partly because a lot of them are traveling with their kids).  The one exception is when your kids are holding up traffic on the stairs and the people behind them are the smokers trying to hurry out to get the most out of their smoke break.  Do NOT get between the smokers and their smoke break.

- The observation car is cool for a change of pace, but if you do not head over shortly after the conductor takes your tickets, you will not get a seat.  People in-the-know go as quickly as they can to snag seats and keep them the entire trip/evening.

- The Dining Car requires reservations.  Those with sleeping berths get first pick at reservations.  If you are riding in coach (we were) on a sold-out train you will likely not get a reservation before 9pm.  So don't tell your kids how cool it will be to eat in the dining car...or they will be disappointed...although eating the food from the Cafe Car in their "tents" will help softn the blow.

- Stopping to change trains might be an adventure.  Our stop at Union Station in Chicago included:

*The twins being terrified as we walked between 2 trains inside the train...building.  I ended up carrying all of our luggage and both of my terrified twins more than once.

*Teeny bathroom stalls - if you are trying to fit in yourself, 2 children, and all your luggage, be prepared to get stuck.

*Noisy bathroom hand dryers that frighten noise-sensitive children.  Don't forget your hand-santizier or you will be paying $5 for a tiny bottle at the station store.

*An illusive hot-dog stand (that ended up being outside the station).  I regret the 20 minutes I spent on a wild goose chase around the station.

*An accident on the escalator - It did feel steep.  And then a guy behind us fell backwards and couldn't get up as the escalator took him to an ever-steeper, upside-down incline.  If you scream a lot, the station security will come and help.

*The WONDERFUL Great Room at the station.  A haven.  Lots of sunlight,

Benches where we could set down our luggage and rest,

and a relaxing place for us to eat and run around.

We spent most of our time there.  I highly recommend anyone else with kids and luggage do the same.

- Get to know your seatmate.  I sat next to Santa.  He never actually gave me his name but he was big and round and jolly, he had the classic white hair and beard, he spent the last 70 years driving livestock (as in a sleigh of reindeer), and he not only knew everything about every highway/interstate in the US but he also can tell you exactly where an address is anywhere in the US (as in where it is located on its road and which side of the road it is on).  Totally Santa.  I shared our snacks with him...just in case...

- You will see cool things (where the freighters - Poppy's boat - dock in Gary, IN, the Mississippi River, beautiful train stations).  Get pictures...better ones than I did at least.

- Getting kids to sleep on the train can be difficult.  Be smarter than me and just snuggle with them to begin with.  They will sleep sooner and you will enjoy the snuggle time.
(note: sleeping on the train was one of their favorite things!)

- No matter how many times you tell your children the name of the train you are riding, they will be convinced it is actually a train from one of their favorite train shows (In our case it was Chatsworth from Chuggington)
- Train-themed books from the library will up the excitement.  The classic "Little Engine that Could," is officially a new favorite.

- The trip was just as long (longer if you count the stop in Chicago) as a car ride, but so much more enjoyable that it felt like less time.  The best part was that I got to BE with the twins the whole time, and that helped the time go by faster.

- If your kids are like mine, they will love traveling by train.  Ryan kept saying, "Mommy, this is so cool!" and Allie told me her favorite part of the trip was spending time with me.  Aww.  And their first-hand experience with trains has made them truly train-obsessed.  If they want to spend hours putting together empty boxes to be their "train" and taking turns playing conductor, I'm happy!