RV Trip (Days 8-12)

After we finished our stay at the Resort it was time to hop in the RV and adventure back home.

 

We made our way to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta.  They had so many huge fish.  Oh my stars.  There were Manta Rays and Whale Sharks.  We even saw a show put on by Dolphins.  My only complaint was that it was way too crowded.  That is never good for a Momma bear trying to keep an eye on her cubs.

 

 

I love this picture of the children. 

You can see all three boys looking at the fish and lil Ruthie is snuggled in her car seat.

 

Our next adventure was the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky.  It was by far our favorite part of the whole trip!  We spent the whole day there.  It was refreshing to see a museum that displayed a biblical view of history.

 

 

When it was time to load back up in the RV we needed a little comic relief. 

These mustaches provided plenty of belly laughs.

 

Here is our crew at the campsite.  They had so much fun at each new camp site.

I did not drive this beastly RV a single mile during this trip (well maybe one mile but I will tell you that story in a minute).  Rock Star and I took this picture of me in the drivers seat as though I was exhausted from the long trip.  We kept teasing EJ that we were going to post this picture and tell everyone that I drove the whole way.  Hee Hee.

 

Okay, I guess that I do have to tell you a little bit about the driving of this RV...EJ was amazing.  He drove us safely for 2348 miles through 14 states...Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri.  He was a machine!  He has always wanted to drive an RV and he enjoyed every minute of it.

 

Only one time, was I asked to drive...we were in stopped traffic just outside of Mobile, Alabama.  EJ really needed to use the restroom.  We were barely moving on the freeway.  Lil Ruthie needed to eat again soon.  EJ asked me to get behind the wheel just long enough for him to use the restroom.  I was so nervous about it.  After I got behind the wheel the stinkin' traffic started to move!  Oh. My. Gosh.  I had never driven the RV and here I was on a freeway with traffic every where and lil Ruthie was starting to cry for more milk.  You better believe I was hollering for my husband's help!  The traffic slowed again just long enough for us to switch back and I happily took my seat as a passenger once again. 

 



 This was our last picture with the big 'ol RV.  We all had a fantastic time.  I must admit it.  I never thought we would have such a blast.  We made lots of precious memories.  Maybe, just maybe this family will have another RV adventure. 

RV Trip (Days 4-7)

On day 4 we arrived at the resort in Sea Island, Georgia.

If you can imagine, we pulled up our rented RV to this beautiful place.

It was a true Cousin Eddie moment.

(If you haven't seen Christmas Vacation, you need to put it on your must see list)

We were all so excited to spend a few days at the beach.

The boys decided that the ocean was cool but it was a little too sandy and salty.  Hee Hee.

Our bathing beauty.

We had a wonderful time, met some great families and made lots of memories!

RV Trip (Day 3)

After leaving Louisiana we headed for Mobile, Alabama. 

Next stop, the U.S.S. Alabama!

We climbed all over that ship.  It was amazing just how big it was.  You could climb higher and higher and you better believe my fellas wanted to do just that (lead by their Father, of course).  Baby Sister and I bravely followed.

Captain B

Captain W

Captain Q

We toured a submarine.  I don't know how anyone could spend a lot of time in one.  Those are some seriously close quarters.  The boys loved it!  I was glad Baby Sister was in the wrap so I could maneuver around.  It was fascinating to see all the features of the submarine.

The boys had to check out the big tanks. 

B was hungry and so over the picture taking by this point so W and Q took a picture with Daddy.

Baby Sister and I had to get in on the picture action.

We got back in the 'ol RV and started our journey to Panama City, Florida.  The GPS (aka Gypsy as we like to call her) gave us one route.  I thought it would be fun to choose a different one.  The one I chose would allow us to drive by the ocean.  I told EJ I thought it would be a beautiful drive.

Um...not so much.

It turns out we were driving through the popular beach towns like Destin, Florida.  These places were packed with tourists.  The traffic was hardly moving. 

We were stuck!

It took us 2 1/2 hours longer than it should have!

When we got to the RV park that night, EJ had to park that big 'ol thing in the dark.  I must say he did a fantastic job.

No trip is complete without some poor navigation choices.

RV Trip (Day 2)

On day 2 we did something I have wanted to do since I was a little girl.  We went to Louisiana to visit my Auntie H and Uncle G.  I love these two and my hubby knows it.  It was one of the ways he talked me into this crazy trip.  He told me that we could go the southern route and see them.  He is a smart man.

Here is a pic of Mr. Q in front of their place.

We had a fantastic time!

We fought off some fire ants.

We fed a duck named Bob.

We ate the most delicious shrimp.

We stayed up too late talking and laughing.

We got to see my cousin and her daughter.

We learned from experienced RVers that we didn't even have the hot water heater on in the RV.  Oops!

We got a good nights sleep and started the morning in the best way possible...

Uncle G's strong, smooth coffee and Auntie H's biscuits and chocolate gravy.

I never wanted to leave!

Somehow we did not get a picture of all of us together so I snuck this picture off her facebook so you could see their precious faces.

Thanks for the great time.  We love you guys!

Our big 'ol RV Adventure (Day 1)

EJ has always wanted to go on an RV trip.  Me, not so much.  I figured it would be tons of work.  I like to go on vacation and let other folks cook and clean for me.

The opportunity to travel to Sea Island, Georgia and stay in a resort for 4 days sounded very good to me.  However, I knew that no matter how we traveled it was going to be hard to transport 4 kiddos.  We decided against flying so we were planning to drive. 

Just a few weeks before the trip I started to get cold feet.  This was going to be hard enough with three wild boys but now we had a nursing baby.  Eeeek!

In a moment of weakness, I told EJ that perhaps we should rent an RV to make the travel a little less painful.  It would cut down on our bathroom breaks, etc.  By the end of that day, EJ had done all the research and was ready to sign us up.

So...welcome to our big 'ol RV trip of 2012!

We loaded up our three handsome boys and our sweet little princess and away we went.  Well, not exactly.  I planned and cooked and packed for a couple weeks.  Then EJ and I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning the night before loading the RV up with supplies.

Then, away we went!

I have never seen a man so happy about driving!  He was in rare form.  I joked with him that having a big sign on the RV that says, "1-800-RV4RENT" might as well say, "Drivers Ed."  People know for sure that you have no idea what you are doing!  You should have seen some of the looks we got on the road.

The cowboys thought the table was pretty cool.

Baby Sister was a happy little RVer.

Our first night was spent in Ennis, TX at a lake.  The view of the water was pretty and they had a swimming beach.  The boys loved swimming!

That first night was a little overwhelming.  Trying to get that many people settled in for bed in such a small space was crazy.  Not to mention that our hot water seemed to be broken.  Nice.  Cold showers.  I'm not going to lie.  I was close to tears a couple of times.  The good news: we all slept well and woke up ready to tackle day 2.

Of course, we had to make a trip by the camp "dump site" to empty the "black water" and "grey water".  I have learned that the black water is what comes from the toilet and the grey water is what comes from the shower and sinks.  I knew EJ was going to be the official dump master so I let him go to work while I made sure to photograph the experience.

The first thing he said, "this hose is broken!"  Turns out the clips on the hose had broken off so he had to hold the hose on there while everything emptied.  He said it was disgusting to feel the poo move through the hose.

Gross!

This is his tribute to the movie "RV".  Have you seen that one?  Let me just say there is a little mishap at the dump site.  It is a pretty entertaining movie.  Everything that could go wrong in an RV did.  We watched it before our trip and laughed our heads off.  Then we prayed that none of those things would happen to us!

W's Update

We took W to see the neurologist.  He performed an EEG to see if there was any seizure activity in W's brain.

In order to prepare for this test they asked us to keep him up until midnight the night before and then wake him up at 5am.  Then they didn't want him to take a nap before his 1:30pm appointment.  He needed to be sleep deprived for the test so he would fall asleep.  We were also instructed not to let him eat for four hours before the test in case they needed to sedate him.  (Thankfully, they didn't have to)

So, we took an exhausted and hungry 5 year old and headed to the neurologists office.  W fell asleep before they even finished putting all the electrodes on his head!  He slept soundly through the test.

We quickly ate something between his test and the appointment with the doctor.  Our appointment was scheduled at 3pm.  We waited in the room for an hour and fifteen minutes.  1 HOUR AND 15 MINUTES.  That is ridiculous.  Thankfully they had legos and W was feeling better after a nap and some lunch.

When the Dr. came in, he reviewed the CT scan from our ER visit as well as the EEG that was just performed.  He asked us several questions about W's history.  He wanted to know what happened before, during and after the seizure.

In the end, he found no seizure activity in the EEG and no abnormalities in the CT scan.

He felt that the sleep deprivation leading up to the seizure could have played a role. (We had just arrived home from our big 'ol RV trip the night before the seizure).

He suggested that we make sure W gets enough sleep and limit his caffeine intake.  He also suggested that we limit flashy video games.

The only one we need to worry about is the sleep.  We don't have a video game system and we certainly don't give our kids caffeine.  (Momma needs the caffeine, not them)

I find it strange that sleep deprivation can induce a seizure.  After all, wouldn't every mother with a newborn baby be having regular seizures?  I'm just saying.

We are so thankful that the Dr. feels another seizure isn't likely.  He told us we don't need to follow up with him unless another seizure occurs.

We are praising God for the good report and asking for him to show us if there is anything else we need to do.