Cedar Point is the roller coaster capital.  I had heard so much about it from all of my Ohio friends and knew we had to add it to our summer tour. Everyone in our family has to ride whatever they are big enough to ride- within reason- and luckily everyone likes roller coasters. We woke up and had breakfast in our Airbnb- we had brie, poached eggs, and guac on pretzel rolls. This was a patchwork of things we had in the cooler and we didn’t have oil or butter so we poached eggs! We did a little yoga in the living room, Judah and Elia are trying to do handstands which I’m sure they will perfect before I do. We packed up and headed out to Cedar Point.  The amusement park is on an island in lake Erie that is accessible from Sandusky by a long beautiful bridge.  It had been raining constantly for days before we got there but the sky was completely clear with a high of 74 and we were so grateful. We could see all of the looming coasters on our way over the bridge and the kids were literally vibrating with excitement. Judah was just screaming but I’m not sure he understood why he was so happy.

The parking lot looked empty when we go there. the park opens at 1000 but we had a bunch of prepaid passes to redeem so we go there around 0915. I bought a couple of all inclusive passes during Christmas for a ridiculous price, I think it was for locals. It included parking, entry, a drink bottle with unlimited refills, all you can eat bracelets (eat every 90 minutes), a picture pass, and a fast lane plus (ride all of the rides without waiting in line).  The whole thing cost about as much as one day at Disney for one child. I bought two of those and two regular tickets for the boys with fast passes so we could ride everything, I had read that the lines get up to 3 hours.  I had signed up for emails from the park which is how I found out about the Christmas pass and also how I found out about the Pre-K pass for Elia.  It is a free season ticket for anyone 3-5 years old! Judah is free at 2 years old.  I would NEVER buy things like unlimited drink refills (we only drink water at amusement parks because I feel like a chump paying to feel sick) but since it came with the pack, the kids thought it was the best day ever that I let them get Aguas Frescas between water refills (they had Pear Cucumber!) We also share drinks- I don’t think my kids have ever had their own anything. I would also NEVER buy a photo pass or those pictures at the end of the ride but its pretty sweet to see our pure joy on those rides!

The food situation is also a good deal because we don’t usually eat in the park.  I have always packed a lunch in a cooler and we go out to the car and eat under a tree in the middle of the day.  Adam was uncomfortable with it at first but I was like, “Literally every person where I’m from does this, people who eat in the park are chumps.”  In fact, they just let us bring food into the parks in El Paso because no one would spend money on nasty park food when you can eat something home made for free! EPT for life. However, with these passes it was a good deal for us.  We had two passes where every 90 minutes you could get an entree and a side. That was plenty for our family of six.  We also don’t mind sharing which I realize isn’t for everyone.  We ate BBQ, subway, Panda Express, Italian, and hamburgers. No one was hungry and we didn’t spend anything on food.

We told Elia that today was going to be mostly about the big boys riding the big rides since we had the fast passes for one day and then the next day would be about the little ones.  She seemed agreeable but that was a ruse. She was NOT down to be out of the limelight.  It actually worked out because they have something called Parent Swap at this park.  One parent waits in line with the people who can ride, the other parent stays with the little and does other stuff with them. When the parent gets off the ride, they give a form to the the ride attendants that lets them know the other parent will be there soon to ride and they trade kids.  So Elia and Judah got to ride a bunch of rides while waiting for the boys to get off of the big rides.  It worked out really well. The biggest roller coaster was down all day.  Top Thrill Dragster shoots straight up in the air, arcs over, and spirals straight back down. That’t the whole ride but its evidently the best.  People waited in line all day just hoping it would open.  It never did. Maverick and Steel Vengeance were the best rides of the day.  We also rode this terrifying swing, just Luca and I, that made me fear for my life.

We met up with Adam’s mother, Kathy (Mammy) and our nieces and nephew (Skylar (17), Nya (13), and Dre (12)) for a while but Dre doesn’t like coasters and Skylar’s glasses broke so they left early. Adam’s dad, Larry (Pappy), was still in Miami getting worked up for his final stage of his Stage 4 colon cancer journey.  He is having his colostomy revised and then he should be DONE! When we received his diagnosis almost a year ago, none of us dreamed that the outcome would be this good. In fact, it was at Sea World almost exactly a year ago when Kathy confided in me that Larry was having bloody stool for about 6 months. I calmly freaked out and told her that they both needed a colonoscopy (in their 60’s, never had one) immediately.  He actually left to go get one that day and we got the diagnosis soon after. GET YOUR COLONOSCOPIES!  The new recommendation is 45!  We see it in people in their 30’s now- all of the time.  So scary. So grateful.

We stayed until dark so we could see all of the rides lighting up. Elia and Judah were still ready to keep going. I was not. He didn’t nap and was still in a great mood.  I was pretty impressed.  We went home, shower bathed in our weird little bathroom and slept HARD.

We told the kids we were going to leave when it was still dark outside so that they could sleep a little while in the car before they got up and ate breakfast.  When my alarm went off at 0500 I was already awake and ready to go- so excited to finally be starting this journey.  We started loading up the van and realized that we really couldn’t bring one more thing.  I was agonizing about bringing my yoga mat and Adam was like, “Really?  You think you aren’t going to do yoga for five weeks?!” I told him I could just do it on the ground.  He said, “Yeah but then you’ll break your leg or something- isn’t that why you have this fancy thing?”  I love my lifeforme mat but I never considered it to be a safety item.  It made it into the car.  We woke up all of the kids and Luca was dragging out of bed.  I touched his shoulder as he walked by and he was BURNING up.  It was his turn.  Elia came home with something terrible last week that lasts about 24 hours and involves an extremely high fever, lethargy (Judah fell asleep while talking to me while he had it), puking, and a raging headache.  All of his siblings had gone through it in the week before, it was his turn. I dosed him up and we said goodbye to Gom, Kam, and the animals and we got on the road by 0600!

We drove around DC and stopped at a really cool park called Rady Park somewhere west of DC to eat breakfast and play on the playground.  We ate breakfast tacos that Gom made for us last night and found some cool new playground equipment.  We loaded back up and drove to Pittsburgh to go to the Children’s Museum which is part of our reciprocal program with the Science Museum of Virginia so we got in free!  We ate lunch there (bean tacos Gom made for us), Judah found a granola bar on the ground that we let him eat (it was in the wrapper and he’s our fourth child so its fine), and the kids played for a couple of hours. It was around 1430 when we left for Sandusky.  This is when we finally let the kids break out their screens so Judah could take a nap.  Until then, we had been talking about our adventure and looking out the window- torture for my screen junkies. Adam looked at Judah and asked him if he wanted to take a nap.  He declined, Adam turned around briefly, and Judah was asleep the second he looked back.  Thank you Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh!  It rained like mad all the way here. Really bad.  The semi trucks were pretty displeased with my crawl in the right hand lane.  Our phones kept going off with flood warnings.  Adam looked at me with his eyes squinted, “I have a headache.” Ugh. I guess adults can also get kid diseases?! Who knew.

We stopped at ALDI outside Sandusky to buy breakfast food for tomorrow- Adam looked terrible.  The plan was to eat sandwiches in our Airbnb when we go there but he did not look like he could make it. I suggested we eat at the Mexican food place next door to ALDI.  It was actually really good and only $35! We made it to the Airbnb which is perfect for us- a room with bunk beds for the kids, a room for us, a full kitchen, living room, and dining room.  There is also a strange little bathroom that is just a bathtub with a slanted ceiling above it so you can’t stand up, no shower curtain, and a hand-held shower head.  Strange but fine for all but Adam who hasn’t taken a bath since he was 12. 🙂 Kids are in bed, we are here safe, day one is done!  I was worried about 9 full hours of driving but I think breaking it up with parks and play places made it really easy.  Now sleep.

Oh- Adam and I also decided to create some kind of refugee welcome program when we get home from worldschooling.  We want to adopt a family and help them with housing, jobs, visas, getting on their feet in America, and finding a community here.  If that works out, we want to keep doing it maybe on a larger scale.  First, we need a new president but that’s another story.  We come up with big ideas when we are driving- that’s how this worldschooling thing happened! Ok, now really sleep.

 

We leave in a few days for our trip around the country! I feel pretty ready considering the year of planning I have put into this thing.  I went to shopping this weekend and found some fun things:

• I am making brown paper bags with little toys/games/crafts inside that the kids can only open when we reach certain destinations- I’ve purposely put these right outside of the areas where we will be staying so they can be excited for something early in the day.  Brain teasers, a portable checkers set, a medicine box with beads and buttons in it for Judah to “organize” with his tweezers, a bracelet kit for Elia, lots of coloring, a Lego pack.
• At LIDL, I found trays $3 the kids can have on their laps for all of these activities.  They have rubber grippies on both sides so things won’t slip.
• Also at LIDL, I found little sturdy backpacks $4 for Elia and Judah. I told them they have to put EVERYTHING they want bring in their little backpack. If it doesn’t fit, they can’t bring it. Elia said it was going to be hard not to have her toothbrush.  I told her I would handle the necessities. 🙂
• At the dollar store, I found 6 small metal bowls for cereal, chili, soup, etc. and I bought 6 metal pie tins that we can use for plates!  They have a perfect lip so no one will spill (theoretically).  I bought a fork and spoon for everyone and a pack of steak knives.  We will be camping for about a fourth of our time this trip and the thought of going to these amazing parks and leaving a bunch of trash made me feel gross so these metal utensils are perfect!
• Adam got a big present for Father’s Day- a YETI cooler on wheels!  I took the littles with me to DICK’s (Dominic’s favorite store in name only) and carried the giant cooler to the front register, it was so heavy! I realized it would just get heavier with things in it and Adam would have to lug it around so I got the one with wheels.  I love it- we are going to put it in the way back with the big boys, we are putting one seat down so they can access it for everyone during the trip.  This cooler should keep everything cold forever so we can bring a lot of meals with us: cereal sandwiches, spaghetti, snacks, tacos, etc.

I have also decided to bring a few things to make this trip easier and cheaper:

• A crock pot! We started doing this a few trips ago.  We bring/buy the ingredients for a crockpot meal and cook it in the hotel overnight.  The next morning we pack it up and it is just the right temperature to stop for lunch somewhere. Eating on the road gets pretty expensive, unhealthy, and not fun. This is easy, fast, cheap, and healthy. I have picked out some great places to eat in most of the places we are going but if I am spending money on a meal, it will not be Subway or Chipotle, it has to be something I can’t get in Richmond, VA.
• A small chest of drawers.  We are staying a max of two nights in most places, 3 only in El Paso, TX.  I don’t want to haul 6 bags of clothes into every places we are staying.  If I pack all of our clothes into drawers that I leave in the van, I can select the clothes we will need for that stay, put it in one bag, and only have to carry that bag around.  I think it will make camping less chaotic and make it far less likely that we leave things behind.

Our packing list consists of about 5 outfits each.  We will be at places with laundry for most of our stays, other than camping of course.  I’m bringing a pretty minimal first aid kit, a lantern, bear spray, basic things.  We each have a sleeping bag, pillow, tent, tarp.  Lots of electronics and chargers although I’m really trying to limit our electronics exposure during this thing.

Our Airbnb guests check out today.  This has been so nice to have that little bit of extra income for the trip and have our house so clean!

We have decided to spend at least a month in Israel while we are on our grand tour so I started taking Hebrew lessons a week ago on my phone.  Duolingo, the app, has somehow helped me learn my Hebrew letters and word faster than any in person course I have taken in the past.  I am thinking about doing something like this with the kids.  Dominic suggested we all get really good at a language so we can be a translator.  Good thing we have a year left before we go!  I am also brushing up on my French which I wasn’t even able to test out of a basic level in Duolingo.  I am a little worried about the language issues in Asia because I really don’t know anything about those languages but I’m hoping the French and English will get us through in most places.

We are leaving for our trip around the country in just a couple of weeks!  The kids are so excited, mostly I’m excited about a month of non-stop time together.  We bought a roof rack and car top carrier (used, obvs) to transport all of our camping equipment.  Even though I pack very light, since we plan on camping it would be a tight squeeze to get everything in the van for a whole month.  Judah moved to a forward facing seat and Elia moved to a booster so that will be very helpful for movies and keeping him entertained.  I bought a new DVD player and holster that fits on the back of the seat in front of it. I am fixing up the new Microsoft Surface Go for the boys with a journal app so they can take pictures and document their journey.  Of course, we will document everything here.  I am borrowing a YETI cooler from a friend to keep our groceries cold when we are camping and even staying different places.  I hate spending money on cheap things like sandwiches and breakfast when they are so easy to make! We have an Airbnb group this weekend and a few while we are gone so our mortgage will be paid that way while we are traveling.  It is all coming together after about a year of planning.

Our summer month-long “trial run” is coming up in two months.  I have been planning this trip for about five months.  I just booked our last Airbnb and we are also staying with four different friends, one set of grandparents, camping three times, staying once in a tipi, once in an RV, a couple of fancy hotels, and once in someone’s spare room (for about the same price as a fancy hotel stay!- thanks Mariposa, CA in the summer).  This trip will not be like our worldschooling year, hopefully.  This trip is planned down to the restaurant.  When we worldschool, I will be buying tickets at the last minute and we should have weeks to really get to know a city.

When Adam and I were in Maui a couple of years ago, the Airbnb owner told us about an app called Gypsy Guide that he suggested we use on the road to Hana.  It was $5.00.  You turn it on and go- it was like having a tour guide in the car with you.  I found out that Gypsy Guide has a tour for Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier, the Grand Canyon, and the sea to sky highway in Vancouver to Whistler!  I want this trip to be educational for the kids and I hope that having this tour guide in the car will help that happen.

I’m not going to lie, I’m worried about having Judah with us this summer.  He has been the TWO-est of all of our children at age two.  He is a ball of hitting, biting, crying, fitting, spitting, licking energy.  He likes to relax, he likes to play, he likes to cuddle but if he’s not in the mood for those things, he can be insane.  I have planned the trip so that we are stimulated pretty constantly with physical activity and I hope that keeps him busy so that when we have down time, or dinner at a nice restaurant, he will be chill.

In anticipation for our giant trip around the world, I have given notice at my job.  I was offered a position at another hospital that is paying almost double.  It is a commute, it is a lot more work but it will allow us to save so much more money for this trip which will give us a lot ore freedom and security while we are abroad.  So, I took the plunge.  Hopefully, it was the right decision!

I don’t want to carry a bunch of floaties around the world.  I also don’t want my children to drown.  Luca and Dominic took swim lessons a few years ago and can swim but I wouldn’t feel comfortable with them out in the ocean without me.  Elia still wears a floatie and Judah blows bubbles in the bath but that’s about it.  Adam and I had swim lessons for all four children in the shopping cart of the online order portion of the JCC  near our house when I realized that this is a great opportunity for one on one time with each kid- something four kids don’t get a lot of. So every Saturday morning we have been heading over to the J and doing individual swim lessons with the kids- taught by us!  I took one semester of swimming in college and I ditched half of them so I am no swimming expert but I remember the main strokes and I can youtube what I don’t.  The goal of this is to teach the boys to endurance swim, not panic in any situation, and float forever if they need to.  I want them to be able to swim confidently but also respect the power of water and not get themselves into dangerous situations.  There are only two adults and although I will be watching for boys carefully when we are in the water, Adam and I will have to be much more present with Judah and Elia so the boys need to be strong swimmers.  For Elia, the goal is for her to swim confidently without a float, to float, and to respect the water and her own limits.  For Judah, basic water safety, floating, doggie paddling, and swimming under water.  We will be swimming a lot this summer, as well, but we will bring our floats for the little ones.

We own a house close to downtown Richmond.  We love it and don’t want to ever sell it. When we decided to travel, we had to decide what to do with our home.  We could sell it but then we would come home to no where to live and we love our house too much to let go of it.  We could rent it out for the whole time we were gone to someone.  Then we would  have to store all of our furniture somewhere and find someone who only wanted the house for a year.  We thought about letting our nanny stay in the house and have her flip rooms and rent them out room by room.  That seemed like too much work for her so we took advice from our friend who rents her whole house on Airbnb and decided to do it that way.

Airbnb is awesome and what we use for lodging when we travel.  I always look for superhosts, which means the host has rented to a certain number of people that year and has great reviews.  So how were we going to make sure our house got rented while we were gone and how much to ask for?  We decided to start renting our house out while we are still here.  We set up our account, asked for an amount higher than most in our area (so it is really worth it to us to vacate when someone wants to rent it) bought specific linens and towels for Airbnb that we only use for our guests, made an excel spreadsheet with a checklist of how to get our house ready, got rid of a TON  of stuff we don’t  really need, and cleaned our house like crazy.  We have now rented about 12 times.  It is wonderful because now we have a superhost status, we know what to expect, my mom knows how to flip the house and has offered to do that while we are gone (in exchange for the cleaning fee), and our house is super clean because we are always getting it ready for the next guest!  We do it about once a month and have made some extra money for our big trip!  We go to friends’ and family’s houses while we are away, the animals get boarded.

We plan on dropping the price a bit and offering long stay discounts while we are gone to keep it occupied as much as possible.  We will also clear out all of our personal items.  They currently stay there while the renters are there and we have never had a problem with rifling or theft but this will give us peace of mind.  AND make us get rid of more stuff we don’t really need!