States visited: 49!


visited 49 states (98%)
Create your own visited map of The United States
Miles driven so far -
LOOP 1 (Aug 2009 - Aug 2010): 29,000
LOOP 2 (May - August 2012): 10,800

Highest altitude with camper: 11,158ft (I-70, CO)

Monday, April 19, 2010

Nathan’s 5th birthday: Sunday, April 18th

How is our 'baby' FIVE?! We can’t believe our youngest is getting ready to start Kindergarten this year and that he’s already five: we miss those baby years (not the lack of sleep though), however this trip is a lot easier with self-sufficient and somewhat independent kids! Nate has really learned to stand up for himself a lot more in the last few months; it’s awesome to see him growing up and learning so much.

He was excited to receive a little Nerf shooter and target, as well as some other outside toys, a Webkinz and a Mario DS game.

After returning from the Park, he chose the meal: chicken and chips. Chips/fries - the word is interchangeable in our family, it's that 'bi-lingual' thing, you know our kids can speak two languages - are quite the challenge in the camper but I have perfected them using our limited resources. While the chicken is baking in the oven (only enough space for one thing in there....), I par-boil potatoes cut into strips, then drain and spray the griddle with olive oil, add the potatoes, spray them with more olive oil and gently cook them for about 20 minutes - it's a bit of a hassle but gives good results, and Nate was happy, there were clean plates all around.

I had found a huge chocolate chip cookie during the previous week, iced with Happy Birthday and a big green crocodile. Our little man's most favorite lovey is Snappy the crocodile, so this cookie was the perfect birthday treat, practically made for him, I couldn't have created anything better myself (in fact, as Caitlin kindly pointed out, I could NOT have created it myself, I am apparently not a good enough artist - don't you love it when your kids point out your flaws?!).

It was a good day, he even got to play Lego Batman on the wii, which is what he would do every waking minute, given the option - thank you Jake for buying that game and so sorry that you rarely get to play it alone anymore!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Can't believe that map. I can believe the number of photos you've taken though--we took over 2,000 on our 16 day trip to China. :)

For digi scrapbooking, I downloaded fotofusion from the internet (you have to buy it though). I love the program. BUT, it doesn't work on a Mac. So, I have to use it on the kids' old pc which is a real pain.
Kelly

The Valentines said...

Thanks so much Kelly! I'll look into it, we actually use PC's in the camper as that's what Dave gets for work - you know, whatever costs us the least, LOL!

The photo count has gone up again, I can't keep track and desperately need to start doing something with all the pictures! I love your digi pages so figure maybe I'll give it a go. I found a place with a FB link that allows you to create with their templates online but you could then upload them to a Shutterfly time place to have them as a 12x12 page in one of their books but it seemed like a lot of effort - agh, I just need some time!

Loving all your updates and posts, Ali

Unknown said...

Hey, it's been a while. I lost your blog a while ago when I was messing around with changing my template and everything. Glad I found you again, I really enjoy reading your blog.