vacation

Road Trip (Part 1)

July 12, 2013 by VanessaW Leave a Comment

Driving through Talladega National Forest

It has been a long time coming for the entire family to take a trip home to Texas. My oldest daughter goes back to Texas at least twice a year, I go back once a year, and my husband makes it back whenever he can take leave. This year, we got extremely lucky. He had tons of leave saved up from after his deployment PLUS his new daddy leave. Lucky for us, he was able to take 14 days/2 weeks of regular leave and his 10 days for new daddy leave all at the same time. All of this time off leaves the door wide open for a great adventure for all four of us.

It was originally planned that we would leave for Texas at night, when our two girls have been fed, bathed, and ready to go to bed. That plan was quickly changed when my husband came home at 10 am instead of 4 pm. He was ready to get on the road as soon as possible, and I am happy that he did. We were able to miss a large majority of Friday after work traffic. Our road trip started off quite nicely. The baby immediately fell asleep as soon as we hit the highway and my oldest decided she wanted to color in her coloring book. I turned the radio to some oldies and we were on our way. Everything was going smoothly, we even stopped at a brand new Hardee’s about 3 hours into our journey so we could all take a potty break and eat some lunch. Once again, we were back on the road driving smoothly without any problems or cares. Well, good luck never lasts forever. We were about 10 miles from the main highway to take us into North Carolina when the speed limit changed from 65 to 55. My husband, being the lead-foot he is, decided he could still go 10 miles over the speed limit. I kept telling him to slow down, but he didn’t want to listen. Just as I told him, “Slow down before a cop comes out of nowhere and pulls you over,” a sheriff’s deputy drives by us going in the opposite direction. He literally stops so fast that the back end/trunk of his car pops up as he flies in reverse to come and catch up to us. I am not one to tell my husband “I told you so” but, I said it at least twice. My husband received a ticket for going 67 in a 55, and that was that. After that moment, he was on his best driving behavior.

Once we made it into North Carolina, we were able to finally get some serious driving done. We flew through South Carolina and stopped overnight in Georgia. We had originally made reservations in Atlanta so we could stay overnight and get a decent nights rest. Well, we didn’t quite make it to Atlanta. We ended up making reservations on the fly for a hotel in Commerce, GA instead. I kid you not, when we pulled up to the front of the hotel, I was a little scared. The outside wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t that great either. The inside of our room was just as disappointing as the outside. My husband had to reassure me we weren’t even staying for more than 8 hours, so I needed to relax and try and get some sleep. Once I had the girls fed and bathed, they fell asleep with ease. Now that the hubby and I had some quiet time, we mapped out our route for the next day and planned our gas and food budget accordingly. We had a 12 hour drive ahead of us, and wanted to make each stop count. After we were done, I took my shower and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Stay tuned…

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Previous post in this series – Our Summer Vacation

And so it begins…our summer vacation

June 16, 2013 by VanessaW 1 Comment

This week has been extremely trying. I’ve been running around the house like a chicken with my head cut off trying to prepare for our car ride from Virginia to Texas. Usually, car rides are no big deal, but my husband wants to drive straight to Texas with a few stops for stretching and eating our meals. I’ve tried to convince him to let us stop overnight, but he has an itinerary and he is sticking to it. With that being said, I have our cooler packed with all the foods and drinks that do not need to be refrigerated, all of our clothes have been packed for several days now, and everyday I grow more and more anxious. This will be the first road trip our baby has been on. What’s going to be even more trying is that she has four teeth cutting through her gums on the top and 2 white bumps on either side of the two teeth on the bottom. Yes, she has six baby teeth coming in all at once. Despite being super cranky when she is not being held, I wonder how she will behave while we are driving? Guess you will have to wait and find out in a few days.

Stay tuned to hear about the fun happenings from the Wampler Family road trip.

Road Trips Can Be Fun!

July 15, 2012 by Tori Leave a Comment

The family and I set out on a road trip to our home state. As enjoyable, crazy, stressful and fun as it was, it will be a while before we do that again. My husband, who I have deemed Mr. Road Trip, was super excited for the 2o + hour drive. Me, not so much. There is just something about being stuck in the car with 3 kids for 20+ hours that just doesn’t appeal to me. Ok, now I am starting get off topic a bit. My point in this post is that Road Trips with kids can be an enjoyable experience. If you are semi prepared, you can handle it. Bring tons of things that will keep them busy (and can not be used as a projectile). We bring several books that can be traded among the children. We also have a portable DVD player in the car with a few movies that the kids pick (and that will not annoy you after the first ten minutes). As a side note here, while Spongebob may be entertaining, it WILL annoy you within an hour! So I recommend bringing several choices for the trip.

When I say that we drive for 20+ hours, I mean it! We only stop for gas, food and bathroom breaks. NO HOTEL! It never seems to work out to where we are tired and the kids are tired at the same time, so we trade out driving. However, after every trip we say NEVER again will we drive straight through. So, if you can plan it out to work get a hotel and enjoy a good nights sleep. To help the kids from getting really restless in the car, and the car from getting destroyed, we stop and get out to eat all of our meals. Everyone gets a little break and feels rejuvenated!

I am one of those people that feels guilty using a bathroom and not purchasing something. Also, I have noticed that a lot of stores require a purchase to use the facilities. So to remedy the fact that you can spend a ton of money doing that, I have a plan! When you stop for gas everyone uses the bathroom, get your snacks, drinks or anything else you may need. It never fails that one of the kids will have to go shortly after departing the gas station, so we use Rest Stops. Surprisingly, most of them are way cleaner then the gas stations you stop at! If there is not a Rest Stop and you have to use a store then top off your gas tank, this means that you have had a made a purchase and therefore can use the bathroom!

I happened to purchase a License Plate game before we made out trip back this time. It was around $20 ( a had a $10 coupon, so I got it for $10), but it is not your typical License Plate game! It has no loose pieces and it occupied our family of 5 even after the Road Trip ended! We managed to find almost every license plate, we had a few left by the time we reached home. A quick trip to the NEX got us Idaho, Vermont, and Oregon! The kids are still searching for Nevada, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Kansas, North Dakota, and Alaska! Considering we only traveled through 4 states on the way back, I was impressed that they found as many as they did! (HINT: When playing: check )the 18 wheelers, the truck will have one state and the trailer will sometimes have a different state! The best $10 I have ever spent!

Going Home?!

April 13, 2012 by Navy Wife Beth Leave a Comment

As this is published I’ll actually be “home” for the first time since we moved February 2011. I’m thankful in a way that we didn’t make it home any sooner because as I said last month, we’re finally feeling at home here. If I had been able to pull away and go to our safety net in Arizona I wonder if we’d have some of the friendships we have right now. Knowing a trip home was so far off, I had to get outside my comfort zone and build a home here. Now I think we go home with the right perspective. There is so much joy and excitement to see family and friends that have been in our lives forever, but it’s not the life support that it might have been even just 3 months ago. We can go home and enjoy each moment, knowing that when we board our plane in Phoenix ready to head to our new home we’ll be sad to say goodbye, but not dreading lonliness here. We’ll be ready to see our friends and participate in functions that we’ve joined in. My heart is so full to think about it all!

We have decided that one of the Saturdays we’re back in Arizona we’re going to have an open house thing in the morning and anyone and everyone are invited! That way we can see as many people as possible, but we won’t have to be super booked all over town. We’ll see how it goes. Here comes the test, how hard is it to go home? We’ll find out! I just think about the wall decoration I have. “Home is where the Navy sends you” Under that we have all the places my husband has been (basic, training, and here) and the places we’ve been when he’s been at those places. It’s a long chain for the short stint we’ve been in the Navy so far, but I’m thankful to say that we’ve enjoyed all the “homes” the Navy has given us so far, and the friends all over the country are such an added blessing. So as you read this you can think of us, trying to see all our friends and family in just a meer 10 days! It’ll never be enough time, but I am thankful to have a home in Arizona and a home in Virginia! Maybe we’ll see you somewhere in transit!

The Great Vacation Debate

September 27, 2011 by Jenn Leave a Comment

Where do we go on vacation

The debate on where to travel when you are in the military can be tricky for a number of reasons. Certainly, money is often a factor. Heck, most of us survive on couponing, who has the extra funds nowadays for a trip? Nonetheless, sometimes you need to get away and you just want to go somewhere new and fun and which may not be “home.”

My friend was recently posting about this subject on Facebook, where to go she asked the masses when comparing the travel costs to see family abroad or a super-fun family vacation to the land of the mouse. I can totally relate. In fact, last year, for Christmas, much to my family’s and friends’ chagrin, we did go to Anaheim in lieu of heading back east for a snow filled holiday. Don’t get me wrong, I really would have loved to do both, but this was a new experience for my children. I suppose in a way it was a bit selfish on my part too. Still, the costs for hotel and lodging in Disneyland were far less than just a simple flight for each of us back to Boston. In fact, the flights alone were more than a whole trip to Disneyland! So, I feel for my friend. The temptation to vacation and play is often more inviting than pay for a longer flight that costs more to go spend time with people you just saw or expect to live near soon.

Okay, let’s back up. I am uber-close with my family, so please don’t think I am being heartless. In fact, I miss them terribly, BUT, and that is a big huge BUT….we are likely going to retire back in New England and we know that day is faster approaching as our gray hairs that keep popping up are warning us.

On a related note, my dear friend’s husband retired from the service this year, actually he is on terminal leave right now and they have opted to move out of the United States and live a spell overseas. Heck, why not? She landed a terrific job and she is young and so are her kids. Dad is playing homemaker for a couple of years and they can come back to the states for a vacation if they want. BUT, here is that BUT again…they have decided to probably travel to Greece for a vacation instead. Why not, right? I can totally understand the rationale and, wow, what an experience!

So, my advice, weigh the pros and cons cost-wise. If it makes more since financially for your family vacation to be somewhere other than “home” this year, take that vacation anyway and make some wonderful memories. Oh, and take me too, I LOVE to travel.

Alright, back to hemming and hawing over prices I go, deciding how guilty I will likely feel after this year’s “family vacation.” Oh, shoot, where did I plant that money tree again? Maybe it’ll be one of those new-fangled staycations instead.

Road Trip (Part 1)

And so it begins…our summer vacation

Road Trips Can Be Fun!

Going Home?!

The Great Vacation Debate

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