The End

I realize I dropped the ball on the whole blogging thing in New York - I just got too tired!! And, it was easier to just facebook everything. :D

So, if you want to see photos of the trip, you can go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/reneebowen/sets/72157622035302882/

Just click on "Road Trip" - I still need to go through all of them again and make sure I didn't pass over any photos that were great - most of these are ones I uploaded to facebook, so I tried to keep them concise. Believe me, there are SO many more.

The kids are still talking about the trip - they really loved it. We figured out today that we drove through 23 states! They all say their favorite part was NYC. Go figure!

Thanks for following us!!! Such a fun summer; kinda sad to see it end. ;(
xoxo,
Renee

DC and NY

Well, DC, NY and now Vermont is gonna be one post because I'm soooo tired!!!  

DC was a whirlwind.....and NY was amazing.  I really could live there.  Even now, with kids, I 'd totally live there.  I just love that city and always have.  I'm bummed I was only there for one night and one day - but it's so expensive, we couldn't do any more than that!   The kids loved it, though; we arrived in a rainstorm and metmy cousin, Lauren at the Top of the Rock - which was awesome, even in the rain.  I have always wanted pics of NY buildings on a cloudy day....and now I have plenty!  It was great - afterwards we rode the subway to Lauren and Nathan's adorable Greenwich Village apt. and had pizza, sorbet, ice cream, and wine!  What a great night....wish it could have lasted longer.  We hopped back onto the subway and headed back to the Upper East side where our hotel was.  I don't think I can explain how excited the kids were to ride subways.  (and taxi's!)  The kids crashed and the next day we hit the ground running, literally - all the way to FAO Schwartz (it was really hard getting them out of there), American Girl Place and the Nat'l History Museum.  That place is insane - so big; so much to see....the kids were exhausted by the time we left.  We hit another pizza place on our way back to the hotel (by way of Grand Central because Reece really wanted to check it out).  Then the driving started - the LONG drive.

It wouldn't have been so bad had it not been raining - again.  We cannot get around this rain!  Andrew got us here in 6 hours and we crashed!  

Today we went out to Shelburne Museum here in Vermont - really cool.  It's a huge museum; lots of old buildings, dating back to the 1800's, all rich in history....really awesome.  

I'll post some pics later about that - it's been great catching up with family (Andrew's mother and brother & his family live here, so we are spending time with them.....and tomorrow Andrew's older brother, Chris and his family are coming in for breakfast!)  Lots to do, lots of catching up, etc....

Gotta get some rest!!

Heading to NYC

We are 165 miles outside of NYC as we speak - on the 95 North.  Left DC at about noon - after seeing the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution!  Woohoo!  Crazy, crazy, crazy....very tired - but also wired.  DC was awesome - but FAST.  We got to the city at 4pm and raced over to the Washington Monument to see if we could go up.  Andrew was trying to find parking - which took forever!  The kids and I were able to get up - there were no more tickets for that day, but a really nice guy let us up anyway.  At first I thought he was trying to scam us!  He told me, "I can take care of you guys, just have a seat and I'll make sure you go up".....and me, being a hardened Los Angelian, thought he was trying to scam us out of money - or just flat out lying to us!  But he was genuinely nice and after I realized that, I thanked him of course, but I did feel horrible for thinking the worst!  It was a nice reminder that I needed stop being quite so cautious!  It's hard because when you're with your kids, you just want to make sure they're safe and not being taken advantage of.  Anyway,  we got up were able to see DC from the monument, which was amazing.

We then scooted down and hit the Natural History Museum, the American History Museum (ruby red slippers and Kermit!!!) and the Air and Space Museum - in 3 hours flat.  By the time we got out of there, we were starving and of course, all the little kiosks serving hotdogs were closed so we hiked 2 more miles (at least!) searching for acceptable food for these picky eaters.  Finally, we found something - tex mex - and we were off again to see the White House and Lincoln Memorial lit up at night.  The kids were so tired - but we're on a time schedule, so on we pushed.  They crashed when we finally arrived at the hotel.  

All in all, we're doing ok.  Seth has a little bit of a cold - and Reece's tummy was bothering him last night, but we're all good - it's gonna rain the whole time we're in NY, but that's ok.  Love NY in the rain!

Will try to post pics soon.....just too busy and tired!  I'm posting them on FB more because they're easier to upload (faster).

Where's Andrew?

This post is about the fact that Andrew has lost his short-term memory - and is driving me insane!   I cannot even count how many times in the last 48 hours that he has said to me, "I'll be right behind you", or "I'll just run to the car for _______ and I'll be right back!".  Yeah - right back my butt!!!   Seriously, he's gone for like an HOUR when he says these things.....what the hell is he doing?  Most of the time, he just gets all ADD on me and gets side tracked on stupid stuff....but last night, in Myrtle Beach, he went down to the car after we let the kids swim in the ocean at midnight - I needed to get them up to bed, so he said, "I'm gonna grab what we need from the car and be right behind you".  30 minutes later, Andrew is nowhere to be found and does not have his cell phone.  So, I'm seething by this point.  One of the things he needed to get was an air mattress for Seth to sleep on, so nobody could go to sleep until he was back up there......finally, I go out of our door, and into the hallway, where there is another "doorway" into our suite area and there is Andrew, blowing up the air mattress - manually - with all of our stuff strewn about.  He had been there for about 30 minutes......knocking on that hallway door!  I, of course, did not hear him b/c I was bathing the kids, etc.....and he was just sitting there...waiting and waiting - and filming himself waiting (b/c of course he had the video camera!).  I felt bad for about a second and then I wanted to kill him again.  

Tonight was another "where's Andrew?" moment - he disappears and leaves me with kids - I'm thinking I'm gonna have to give him a taste of his own medicine at some point on this trip!  

Today we were at the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, VA - and we are here until about noon tomorrow, when we drive into DC for the night.  This place is AWESOME!!!!  There a few of these scattered throughout the US, and I must say, it's definitely expensive, but totally worth it for the kids.  They nearly peed their pants when we checked in today!  And they are finally in bed, after playing on the indoor water slide and then mini golf, the arcade, and the internet/gaming area - and of course, an awesome buffet!  I am happy as can be!  My kids are old enough to let them check in every once in a while and do their thing, (and Andrew was with them anyway!), and I was able to sit and relax for a little while!

Andrew and I agreed that we definitely need to come back to Myrtle Beach, and also North Carolina.  We wanted to see Wilmington, but didn't have time to stop in and check out the city.  We really would like to at some point - but since Andrew has a speeding ticket in NC now, I'll be driving through that state from now on if we ever return!!!  

It's so beautiful here; I've NEVER seen the Atlantic Ocean before yesterday.  And I was amazed at how warm it was, even at midnight.  I definitely need to spend more time on the East Coast!!

The next 2 days will be insane, as we are in DC and NYC.  We are driving machines!!!  I do have to point out that Andrew has driven this ENTIRE trip, with the exception of Houston to White Castle....seriously, he truly is the phantom driver.  I can't believe he's driven so much for so long....I keep offering to drive and he won't let me !  ;o   I'm sure I'll drive a lot on the way back from Niagara Falls to Kansas City - that is gonna be horrible!!   Oh, I forgot - I'm not thinking about that right now!!!

I'll try to post some pics soon - I'm posting a lot on Facebook, and it's so much easier than posting on here  - this just takes forever! 

More from DC tomorrow....

Savannah and beyond

Here we are in Myrtle Beach - and here I am on the computer at 2am!!!  This time change is killing me - I can't get used to it being so late - and I do not like losing hours!  I need all the time I can get on this crazy trip.

We slept in Jacksonville, FL last night and then drove to Savannah - which I loved.  But let's just say the kids didn't share my love for Savannah!  Seth was ok, but the other two were debilitated from the heat/humidity!  You have to walk a lot in Savannah, so they were out of commission pretty quick.  Oh well, at least Seth is my little southerner - and he loves seafood!!!

I gotta sleep - will try to blog more in the next few days, but it's gonna be CRAZY!!!

Posted pics on facebook - 

later!

Post wedding exhaustion

Look at my boys how sweet!  I have so many photos to edit but I just wanted to pull one quick one to post for the blog.  Love this photo of them, just wish I could have grabbed Avery too (no telling where she was!)....I know I have one of all of them but I haven't gone through each and every photo yet.  There's literally 1500 pics at least....I'm a little obsessive.

We had so much fun at the wedding, and so much fun in Louisiana in general.  I'm also happy I got to witness a beautiful storm tonight too, as a sort of "send off" for me.  I love the rain in the south in the summer....and us Californians never get good rainstorms!  Especially not one with thunder and lightning.  I'm going to miss everyone so much - I can't ever stay long enough it seems; and this trip in particular was so short!  Although, Andrew and I were commenting today on how even though we've been gone for only a week, it feels like a month!  I can't believe we've done so much in just a week!!  And our journey is FAR from over....it's going to be great.  

So off we go to Florida tomorrow - will just stay the night in Jacksonville and then head up through Savannah, Charleston and Myrtle Beach the next day....hopefully I'll be able to get some editing done in the car tomorrow so I can start posting some pics from the wedding.   I still can't believe Nic is married!  I realize he's a grown man and everything, but when your brother is 10 years younger than you, it just feels strange!  (and makes you feel old!)  I'm so happy for him, though; Holly is amazing  - just PERFECT for him and such a beautiful person, inside and out....and of course, she made a stunning bride, which is why I can't wait to edit those pics!   It's funny, I was in such "work" mode the entire time, and about midway through the ceremony when they were exchanging vows and I was behind the camera....it hit me - my baby brother is married - just didn't register until then, and I got all teary, which is not good for a photographer - gotta see what we're shooting!!!  Reece was really cute - Andrew said that when Nic and Holly walked up to the altar, he looked at Andrew and said, "Ohhhh, Uncle Nic is getting married!"......I mean, we've only told him a million times!  But he had to see with it with his own eyes I guess!   Too funny.

Bye from Louisiana, and I'll try to post more tomorrow from either Mississippi, Alabama, or Florida!  

Fishing/visiting

Yesterday we spent the day fishing and visiting relatives. The kids love to fish - could do it all day, even in this heat - and I mean HEAT. I thought Andrew was going to pass out - and then he kinda got used to it. It's just so humid - Reece, as expected, stayed inside most of the time! He came out occasionally to fish but preferred the A/C! Seth caught a catfish, Avery caught a mullet and Andrew caught a garfish - some weird combo of alligator/fish. Very alien-looking and with sharp teeth! We threw it back. :) After the fishing we stopped for a snoball (way better than any shaved ice) and stopped in to see my grandfather, Paw Paw Tim.

Then we went over to the arena to see Paw Paw Paul and the kids were in heaven because it's one big dirt pile - they love dirt! (what kid doesn't, right?) I posted pics on facebook - this wi-fi is just too hard to upload a bunch of pics - and we're getting ready to leave for the rehearsal dinner in a little while, so no time!

The wedding is tomorrow; probably will not blog until after it's over - gonna be fun!!!

Southern sounds..

Just wanted to post this because I love all the sounds in this video - all the crickets, birds, and whatever the heck else is making noise!  Give all my CA peeps a feel for Louisiana.

Home

Just a little video of the kids playing with Gage, Mom and Pop's dog - right after we got there....

love the wind; kinda hoped it would rain, but not today....

Louisiana here we come!

We are on our way to Louisiana - had to make a stop outside of Lafayette to get a crawfish poboy at Fezzo's - really good!  (Thanks Aunt Jan & Connor for the recommendation!)  Of course we had to pose with the alligator outside the restaurant before we headed out.

We arrive at Nonnie and Poppie's - checking out the cows.....

Taking a walk.....

Louisiana has such beautiful sunsets ~ Avery was more than happy to pose for me.

So here we stay until after Nic and Holly's wedding on the 17th.....which is gonna be SO much fun!  We are all very excited.  Gotta run - must rest - eaten too much food!!!  And I'm sure I'll eat more tomorrow too...

Why are still in the middle of nowhere?!

That's pretty much all we heard all the way from Midland to Houston - and this is what it looked like pretty much the entire drive: 

I thought this guy sitting on his stoop was pretty cool, but we were in the car so I didn't get exactly the angle I was hoping for....

and then we got to Houston to Aunt Jan and Uncle Chip's - here are the kids with Aunt Jan and Connor

We started swimming almost immediately because it was SOOOO hot!  I was pretty sure Andrew would pass out from the heat/humidity.  OMG!  Here's a pic of Seth showing off his boy scout pocket knife - yes, we allow him to have a pocket knife.....well, I should say Andrew allows him to, but that's pretty typical.  

Coolest googles ever

And then we were off again to White Castle - it was so nice to stop in Houston, though.  Wonderful company, wonderful food, beautiful home, slept like a baby and was ready for the next part of our journey!

Rockhounds game - Midland, TX

We went to a Rockhounds game tonight here in Midland - it was really fun!  The kids had a great time and the first pic here is of Avery on the big screen dancing....

Here they all are with Rocky the Rockhound mascot.

Here we are with Grandpops

Grandpops giving the twins "magic stones" ~ secret fairy stuff, apparently

Midland is not so ugly at this time of day!  LOL

Here's a video of Avery and Andrew dancing after the game...will post more videos on facebook because it's easier than doing it here, believe it or not!

We're off tomorrow EARLY for Houston - wanna get there by 5 or 6 so we're outta here at like 7 or 8am...should be interesting!!!  

I'll hopefully finish uploading pics in a few minutes and hit the sack - goodnight!

What's that stink?

Andrew and I decided that this will be our new slogan for the rest of the trip - coined of course, by Reece.  For the latter part of our drive into Midland yesterday that's all we heard - "what's that stink?".   And it never gets old - we laugh every single time he says it!  Maybe it's the way he says it - or his little "accent"....but it cracks us up.  Of course, Seth was more than happy to provide us with enough stinks to last the entire journey. Such class, that one.  To his defense, we were also passing through cow country, so it could have been the reason for quite a bit of that stink.

Anyway, we're thinking of getting t-shirts made that say "Bowen Road Trip 09 ~ What's that stink?"  Maybe by the time this whole thing is over, we'll be able to sell them online! LOL

Tonight we are heading out to see the Midland Rockhounds play baseball.  You're jealous, I know.....

Actually the kids are so excited - it should be alot of fun for them.  And, they sell alcohol there I'm pretty sure, so we're excited too!  (There seems to be a theme on this road trip....)

I'll post more pics tomorrow when we're on the road to Houston, unless Andrew makes me drive.  ;(

Pics from day one

Pics from White Sands

Day One

Okay, so here we are in Texas.....couldn't blog until now because we got in SO late last night. Finally got to the hotel in NM at midnight, but of course the kids were HYPER once we got into the hotel room.  They didn't take too long to settle down, and ended up sleeping way past me this morning.  I'll try to post some pics tonight when we get to Midland - hard to do in the car, so I'll try and get that done later.

So other than the never-ending battle with flies, we've been good - seriously, EVERY time we open the car, another fly enters the car and Reece freaks out.  I'm not sure if we're attracting the flies or what, but it's getting pretty annoying!  

The kids were pretty good on the way here yesterday, and considering we were in the car for 13 hours, they did great.  Sure, there was the occasional freak out, but we're used that.  As I mentioned on Facebook, we had to coerce Avery into peeing on the side of the road, which was more funny because I was on the phone with tech support from Verizon trying to get our wireless  connection fixed.  This guy must think we're insane, I'm sure.  Avery started freaking out, and then of course, Reece got upset because he can't stand when Avery or Seth cries.  It was incredibly loud for a few minutes there.....and we finally had to just stop and tell Avery that it was either go here or go in her pants.  She finally succumbed and realized it wasn't so bad!   That was in Arizona; somewhere outside of Phoenix, and it was insanely hot.  115 degrees.

The lightning storm in Tucson was scary - mainly for Reece.  It was pretty ominous for awhile, but also really cool!  Us Californians never get to see actual weather, so it was a treat!  We stopped for food at McDonald's after we passed through the storm and then we were on our way again.....this last part was the longest part of our journey.  I am not looking forward to that 16 hour drive from Niagara Falls to Kansas City on July 30th.  Okay, I can't even think about that right now! .

Today we went out to White Sands National Monument in NM - about 50 miles from Las Cruces.  This place was so cool.  The sand is actually gypsum that was deposited at the bottom of a shallow sea covering the area 250 million years ago.  Eventually turned to stone, these gypsum-bearing marine deposits were uplifted into a giant dome 70 million years ago when the Rocky Mountains were formed.  It spans 275 square miles.  I only wish we could have seen it at sunset - or on a full moon.....that has to be incredible.  It's miles and miles of white (blinding white) sand.....and the kids were able to sled down the huge mounds.  They lasted about 30 minutes and then they were DONE, because it was so hot.  It was only 96 degrees, but with all that white sand, it felt alot hotter and talk about sunburn central!  We were covered in sunscreen, but I still felt crispy.

We had to pass through Las Cruces again to get back down to the 10, and on the way to El Paso saw miles and miles of cows - seriously, the largest dairy farm we've ever seen....had to be more than just one farm and probably not just dairy farms, if you know what I mean!  Reece looked out and said, "Mom, at dairy farms, they take the milk from the cow's virginias".   You can probably guess that he meant vaginas - which is also just as funny, but the way he says it just kills me.....anyway, we cleared that up.  :)

Now we're on the 10 heading toward Midland and we're doing Mad Libs.  Mostly toilet humor based Mad Libs, but they're pretty funny.  

Okay, more later...gotta make a pitstop!

Our Journey.....

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