2026 Family Vacation

The crew is back from our summer vacation! This year we explored the Northeast beaches of Connecticut and Rhode Island. I'm getting very close to my goal of visiting all 50 states, and with these two checked off the list, I only have four left!

My last post was about the Connecticut portion of our trip. After that, we spent the rest of our vacation exploring Rhode Island. My favorite part of the state was probably kayaking at Lincoln Woods State Park and enjoying the swim beach. It was so hot that spending time on the water was the perfect way to cool off. We also spent a day in Providence, where we visited the zoo and the botanical gardens. By the end of the gardens, the kids were so hot that we headed to a trampoline park instead of doing more outside stuff. No regrets!

I think one of the most memorable parts of the trip was something that definitely wasn't planned. Our flight out of LaGuardia was scheduled for 9:00 p.m. on Friday, which would have gotten us home in plenty of time to celebrate the Fourth of July with our friends the next day.

Stormy weather kept delaying our departure, but around 11:30 p.m. our plane finally arrived. Yay! By midnight, everyone was boarded, our seat belts were buckled, and we were ready to go. Then people around us started getting upset. We weren't sure what was happening until we found out that, while we were sitting on the plane, some passengers had received alerts saying our flight had been canceled. Boo!

So we all got off the plane and headed back into the airport to figure out how we were going to get home. The first option the airline offered was a flight on Sunday, which would have meant missing the Fourth of July completely. We asked the gate agent if there were any connecting flights that could get us home sooner. She said everything was booked and then asked if we would be willing to fly out of another airport.

At that point, we were seriously considering renting a van and driving the 19 hours back to Kansas, so absolutely we could go to another airport! 😂

Fortunately, there was a flight out of Long Island about 50 minutes away that could get all seven of us on a 6:00 a.m. flight to Baltimore, with a connection to Kansas City. We jumped on it.

We spent our first night sleeping in an airport, but we still made it home by late morning. We missed the Potwin festivities, but after a three-hour nap we had enough energy to buy some fireworks and put on our own little Fourth of July celebration.

All's well that ends well! Even with a few unexpected travel adventures, we're calling this family vacation a success. Two more states visited, plenty of memories made, and now I'm just four states away from reaching my goal of visiting all 50!

Did I drag the whole family to the zoo to see a Red Panda? 

Yes, yes I did!

The Air Bnb we stayed at in Rhode Island had these paddle boards. The boys only used them once but they got the hang of it!

Vacay Part 1 Photo Dump!

I am checking two more states off my list on my quest to visit all 50! This week we're visiting Connecticut and Rhode Island.

We've been staying in East Haven, Connecticut, enjoying a house with its own private beach. It's a seashell beach, which is a first for me! So far, we've done a little sightseeing, but we've mostly been exploring the area, soaking it all in, and eating lots of seafood!

I'll share more photos from Rhode Island later this week!

Daryl is a senior this year so we checked out Yale, just in case he wants to apply. LOL 

Cool exhibits at the Peabody Museum at Yale

They caught so many crabs, I was feeling bad for the little guys. 

At the Connecticut Science Museum

Got to tour the Mark Twain house, Sam Clemens family home in Hartford Ct. It was so cool on the inside but you can't take pictures inside.  

2025 Goal Review, Matching Shirts and Christmas Vacation!

There has been so much fun the last week, this will probably be two posts. The quick version is, instead of gifts this year, Jeff and I took the kids to Cancun, Mexico for vacation. We stayed where the weather was in the 70s and 80s everyday and got off the resort twice to snorkel and to see the ruins at Chichen Itza. 

On our day to the island to snorkel, the family wore matching T-Shirts. They were a hit! The tour guide loved them and the other passengers said it helped them stay with the right group. Even the transport driver got a laugh out of them. The teenagers didn't like the extra attention but it is a small price to pay for a Mexican Vacation. LOL (If you are local, the business that did them for us was Shirts and Such in Overbrook; I highly recommend Kim for your custom gear!) 

I will write more later about some of the other activities we did, but the wildlife kept the kids entertained the entire time. There were what I will call "Mexican Racoons" all over the resort trying to get some trash or just the food off of your plate. There was a petting zoo were Daryl became good buddies with the resident donkey. And in the hotel lobby, a family of monkeys lived in the trees. It kept things interesting! 

Ok, 2025 Goal Recap! 

Read 24 Books 24/24 DONE

Finished three books in December-ish! Instead of missing pickleball with the boys on the resort, I saved the last hundred pages for the airport, and boy was that the right call. We got to the Cancun airport in plenty of time but going through customs and security in Dallas was so long, we missed our connecting flight. I was so thankful I had the best part of my book to get through. :-)   

Let Them, by Mel Robbins is such a great nonfiction book to help reframe where you spend your energy. I understand all the "Let Them" tattoos now, and I might need one. ;-) If you are trying to please everyone at the sake of your own peace. Read this book. 

The Death of Bees by Lisa O'Donnell was one of the books I snagged from the Lawrence Library book sale. So far that haul is two for two, as this was a good book. Sisters growing up in Ireland projects (15 and 14?) find themselves without parents on page two, and how they take care of themselves with the help of a neighbor keeps you reading. I left it in Mexico with a note for the next person to enjoy! 

Book and Dagger by Elyse Graham was my Christmas present from Jeff. It is a non fiction telling of the first intelligence staff during WWII. America was new to the spy game, so they decided to do it their own way with Ivy League professors, librarians and book buyers. There was so much background in the first 100 pages, I was a little worried. But the last 200 pages were amazing things I never knew about warfare. Even if you aren't a WWII person or military person, this book was very interesting and will teach you more about real spies than Hollywood will. The Ghost war chapter was the best! 

Run 650 Miles 652/650 DONE

I ran 42 miles in December and made my yearly goal! Finishing strong this year is only because I joined two friends to run the Salina half, and we did our long runs together. We kept meeting on the weekends and it has helped me not slack off. My weekly run steak is up to 25! I took advantage of the Mexico weather this week and did two miles in 75 degree weather. It was nice! This goal was brought to me by Aron and Laura, thanks! 

Money Goals

Fund 3-6 month ER Fund - Done April 2025! Yay for selling my house! 

Pay off Car - Done April 2025! Yay for selling my house! 

UFOs (unfinished objects) that need Finished 

T-Shirt Quilt (have the shirts)

Alpaca Quilt I got all of the lantern rows sewed on my Girl weekend this month. I am currently cutting out Alpaca pieces! 

Placemats - Done April 2025 

Alex and Daryl Photo Books 2021-2023 Just missing 2023 at this point. 

Will still have some quilts and photo books to make for 2026. Oh well! The 2026 Goal post will be next! 

Our best family picture! 

Showing off our shirts! "Christmas hits different when it's warm!"

My favorite place to read my real life spy novel. 

Monkey!

Everyone had to say goodbye to our Donkey when we left yesterday.

They were cute but I don't think any of us are going to miss these guys! 

Michigan Vacation Part 2

 While Michigan was lovely, and the weather cool, we took a few days to knock some extra states off of my list. We stayed one night in Indianapolis and had too much fun at the NCAA Athletics museum. The first floor was an awesome showcase of all of the NCAA sports. There were the ones we knew like Football and Track but then there were surprises like fencing and rifle shooting! 

Then on the 2nd floor they had all of the things you could play with! I think the boys could have stayed in the quarterback simulator all day. We also ate at a huge food court called The Garage. It was a delight for a family that can never agree on where to eat. Alex had Indian, I had Greek, the Bergmans had BBQ and Daryl had a lobster tail. Oh, Daryl! LOL 

Before we left Indy we stopped by the War museum. It was a little eerie because the night before we learned about the missiles that the US ordered to hit Iran. Hopefully there is not a new exhibit at the War museum anytime soon! It was good to visit a place that Lucas and Joseph could get as excited about as much as Daryl and Alex got about the NCAA exhibits. We all learned stuff at both places! 

Our last stop before we headed back to Kansas was Casey, IL where we saw a lot of Big Things! World's largest to be specific! Last year I saw this town featured on CBS Sunday Morning. The town created tourism in the middle of Illinois and it was really cool! The perfect end to our road trip. What is more Americana than building a huge rocking chair or mailbox?!

There were other families lining up to try the quarterback simulator. I had to move my boys along, much to their dismay!

We did shoot hoops for a long time. It was nice after being in the van so long!

The War Museum was built after WWI, I wonder what they would have done with all of the space if that was the last war, now they might run out of space.....:-(

When you want to mail your entire family some place!

Or need a birdcage for 7!

When those mice get a little too big.....

The map is looking great!

Bonus of Air BNBs over hotels. Cats! There were six at this particular one and they all loved scritches. I called this guy Baby Mitts because he kinda looks like Mittens.  

Michigan Vacation Part 1

 Last Tuesday through today was our first family vacation with a party of 7! Last year Alex couldn't go because his appendix decided to burst a few days before we left for South Carolina. 

Not only did we visiting where Jeff grew up in Michigan but we are crossed some states off of my list. On the agenda were Indiana, Ohio and Michigan! We rented a big van to take our party of seven. This was the best idea we had of the whole trip. The kids were all able to have a little space as we drove 11 hours to Michigan then to Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Casey, IL! 

In Michigan we got to meet with some of Jeff's Michigan friends. We visited all the restaurants he likes, fished and visited the roller coaster park Michigan Adventure. It rained a little every day but when we had our day at the pool the sun was shining and it was perfect. After our few days in the Muskegon area of Michigan we headed to Cincinnati. In Ohio we enjoyed the River Walk and visited the Ohio Black Music Hall of Fame. It was a cool area and let me check Ohio off of my states list! 

Part 2 coming next so I can include lots of pictures! 

Our rented van for the trip! We didn't tip over!!

Day 1 in Michigan we got to go fishing!

Putting our toes in cold Lake Michigan 

He humored me with a picture by the sign of his Alma Mater

Swinging at the Cincinnati river walk

Our view from the top of the Ferris wheel at Michigan Adventure Land

Spring Break 2025!

 While our kids have the world's longest Spring Break, March 13-24th, we did a quick two days to Kansas City for a mini trip. On Saturday, we got day passes to Great Wolf Lodge. It was fun to swim all day and everyone left good and tired. 

We stayed in the Legends area so we went and saw the fish at Bass Pro Shop and looked at patio furniture at Nebraska Furniture Mart. I really can't believe the boys didn't get in trouble for sleeping in the living room furniture section for almost and hour while Jeff and I looked around. They must have been tired from the swimming! 

On Saturday night we went to K-Pot and the kids had their first Korean BBQ experience. They agreed it is pretty cool and they all had a favorite meat that they liked to cook. 

On Sunday we slept in and then went to the Negro Baseball League Museum. It is a very good museum and we all really enjoyed it. We had more BBQ for lunch, this time Q39 and I had the best BBQ mac and cheese I've ever tasted. I will be looking for excuses to go back and get more of that! 

After a little shopping at the mall, my boys are shoppers, we headed home. It was a quick trip but it was still nice to get away and spend time with the kids. We might need to rent a bigger car for our road trip this summer. There were definitely some complaints from the three that shared the back seat of the Traverse. LOL