Tag: mom of two

Longest road trip/vacation ever

by Ariana Peters, posted in travel

My niece graduated high school 2 weeks ago so my mom, my kids and I road tripped down to Southern California to celebrate and be with family. If you have, or had, small children you know a long time in the car is a challenge. We have done a few road trips with my kids and when we are able we break it up as much as possible. We try not to drive more than 6 hours a day.

We were lucky enough to be able to take 3 nights and 4 days to drive each way. Then we spent 10 nights there for a total of 17 nights and 18 days!!!!! It was fun but we all came home exhausted.

We tried to pack lunch every day to limit the fast food.
We got to see family along the way.
Fast food still happened. And soooo many bathroom breaks.
The kids LOVED staying in hotels.
Complimentary breakfast every morning
Toni boxes for the win!!
Railroad museum stop in Sacramento
This place was huge and very cool.
We learned a lot.

In California we enjoyed lots of family time and time with friends and a trip to the Discovery cube museum with my best friend.

Cousins!
First and second generation cousins!

We spent a day at the Aquarium of the Pacific with my mom, aunt and sister.

They had 3 different areas the kids could do some hands on learning

AND we managed a day at Disneyland! (Kids tickets were on sale for $50 so I jumped)

It was a long but great day.

Then we started the long journey home. We left late Sunday night, drove for 2.5 hours and made it to Mojave while the kids slept and pulled into the driveway about 2:30pm on Wednesday. Lots of leg stretching stops, snacks and saying we are so close to being done! We did one museum stop but really just wanted to get home because we missed daddy so much!

Popsicle break in the heat
Hot but beautiful views in Bridgeport, Ca
Got to see a good friend!
Last hotel breakfast
Last park stop
Leg stretching.

Overall the trip was great but so long. We were all done by the end.

Traveling for a death in the family

by Ariana Peters, posted in homeschooling, kids, life, travel

Boy oh boy has it been a crazy few weeks.

Currently I am sitting in a rental car outside my aunt’s house while the kids catch a quick nap in between the funeral of my grandmother and the open house after. But let’s start back at the beginning.

A few weeks ago my little man stayed the night at his Grammy and Papa’s house for some one on one time, before going to pick him up I got the call that my stepdad died suddenly. Then comes the flurry of activities to try and figure out a last minute trip for the funeral.

At the last minute my son got an ear infection so we didn’t go……days later, very few days later my grandma went on hospice and went downhill FAST!

This was just 6 months ago

Enter another flurry of plans to try to get down and see her before she passes…….I booked plane tickets for a 2.5 week trip to hopefully spend time with her and also make the funeral that was probably soon to happen. I booked the tickets and 20 minutes later got the phone call that she died.

We are 2 weeks into the trip, just finished the funeral and fly home midweek……I cannot wait to go home. 2 weeks is a long trip with kids when we don’t have a schedule and have moved houses twice.

We have spent a lot of time outside looking at nature, have done a little bit of workbook stuff and spent lots of time with family

Did I also mention I am solo parenting this trip? Lol. This mama is TIRED!

On the plus side we are going to Disneyland before we leave….had to throw some fun in.

Homeschool Curriculum Pt 3

by Ariana Peters, posted in homeschooling, Uncategorized

This curriculum is about our grade level for sure but I am using it as an introduction to geography and other cultures. Basically we just find the country on the map, watch a few YouTube videos, read a few books from the country and make a recipe from there and try and do a simple paper craft.

We do one country every few weeks. No rush for us to get through it.