Brianna

This is a photo of Brianna taken two days before our scheduled departure. Brianna is very excited about this trip and has been learning the states that we are going to be visiting. Brianna is looking forward to seeing lots of different things during the trip, especially wildlife. She is planning on writing to her friends and sending postcards. She is also going to try to keep a travel journal.

Brianna loves to read, play with her cousin, Nina, make arts and crafts projects, listen to her music, dance and sing. Brianna has also been saving her money to take on the trip for things she wants to buy. Brianna can't wait to see the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone. She is also looking forward to meeting her uncle Jim and aunt Sharri, whom she has never met.

Sheldon

This is a photo of Sheldon taken two days before we are scheduled to leave home. He is very happy to be going on this trip and has been saving his money all winter and spring for souvenir shopping during the trip. He is very conscientious about money, at least for a 7 year old. Sheldon enjoys video games, movies, his quad, reading, and baseball. He is going to miss his PlayStation while we're away, but he is "prepared". At least he has a handheld game to bring for the car rides.

Sheldon also enjoys hunting or at least helping his dad to hunt and he really likes seeing animals in the wild. Hopefully we'll see lots of them during this trip!

Brownie

Brownie the dog... Brownie is our 2 year old chocolate lab. I think she is just as excited about our trip as we are. Any journey in the car is one of her favorite things to do. She loves to go anyplace with us and will jump into the back of the truck before we even pack up the car. This photo of her was taken Memorial Day Weekend up at Camp Wildwood. Brownie is notorious for jumping in the car with filthy, muddy feet. Just because we're not ready to leave doesn't mean she isn't ready to jump into the truck!

In addition to traveling with us, Brownie also enjoys swimming, fetching sticks, balls, and the paper, walking all around the camp or neighborhood, playing with smaller dogs than herself, and running REALLY fast. Mud puddles are really fun for her, as well as catching frisbees meant for others, and badminton birdies in mid-air. She doesn't understand why it isn't always her turn, but she will sit and wait if forced to, and then she'll whine about it. Brownie's favorite sleeping spot is anywhere Brianna is, unless she can sneak into Mom's bed, but that doesn't happen too often. Oh, and did I mention that she just LOVES squirrels. Watching them and chasing them. She has yet to catch one, but she'll keep trying!

Car Repairs Completed

Well, the car is fixed and looks like brand spankin' new again. They did a great job and the waxing and detailing was a great idea. Now we're really ready to roll! One week and one day before we pull out and say goodbye to Long Island for the summer. Even the kids are getting excited now and have started putting the things they want to bring aside, so I can inspect how much stuff they (think they) are bringing.

Tomorrow is Sheldon's bowling birthday party. His birthday is not until July, but he wanted a party with his friends, so we are doing it a month ahead of the actual day. It's OK, I've been thinking of him as 8 yrs. old for at least 3 months now. He acts it!

I should be taking some photos of all of us for the next blog. So check back soon!

Car Repairs

We brought the damaged Yukon to the repair shop Sunday night. It is currently being repaired. They are replacing the front fender and fixing the moldings on the two doors that were damaged. They are removing the front tire and balancing it, since it was also hit. (More precisely it rubbed up against the other car leaving nasty black marks on her white car and a little scrape on my tire.)

The insurance check came on Saturday, so at least we won't have to worry about that. We should be able to pick up the car Wednesday or Thursday (at the latest). Hopefully there won't be any delays. We decided to also get the truck detailed and waxed while it is in the body shop. I keep it pretty clean, so it shouldn't be too much trouble for them. The main thing is the waxing. I look at it this way: It'll be really clean so that the first day of our trip we are SURE to encounter the most mud ever. Guaranteed!

Only two more teaching days and then we start finals at my school! Yippee!!! One week, 4 days to go until we leave our home and head upstate. Two weeks until we officially begin our journey! Now let me get back to my "lists" of things to do and stuff to bring. I've already started piling things in the bedroom and in the dining room. That's me, always planning a little too far in advance.

Pre-trip practice journal

Before the trip

June 10, 2006

This is just a test of how it will be to keep a journal on Word on the laptop and then paste it up on the blog when I can. We are officially at the 2 week countdown now and I am really getting excited. I have made all the reservations I want to at this point and am starting to think about what to pack early. I hope we don’t forget anything.

I’m trying to empty out the fridge and that is hard. OK, now to see if I can get this to post up on the blog.

OK, so I see this is going to work! Cool! This means I can keep a daily log and post it up whenever we're at a campground that has internet access! Yeah!

The Three Week Countdown!

Three weeks from now we'll be in Pennsylvania on the first night of our journey. We are all getting excited now. Even though our trip has not yet begun, I can't help but post information that may or may not affect our trip.

This past weekend on our weekend trip up to our property upstate, "Camp Wildwood", we got into a minor car accident. A woman driving a small white car drifted into my lane on the New York State Thruway and smashed right into my passenger side. I saw her coming right before the impact and managed to swerve out of the way somewhat, but not enough to avoid a bit of a side-swipe. There is damage to the front quarter panel, the drivers door and the passenger door. It is not bad, but it is something we need to get fixed. Hopefully that will be the extent of our summer driving difficulties. Thankfully no one was hurt and it was relatively minor damage.

On a more positive note, we seem to have solved our problem with the scissor jack that was not functioning properly. Thanks to my brothers' excellent welding skills and his "portable" welder, it is now working correctly again. Thanks Wayne!