Iowa

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Talk about a slower pace of life and a relaxing stop...Iowa would be this place! Iowa was exactly what you would picture...nothing as far as you can see! I am not kidding, you could see for miles as there is nothing obstructing the view and there was nothing but windmills and farmland. The kids and I learned that 90% of the land in Iowa is farmland...I find that number to be crazy high! I get that it is a farming state, but 90%?!?! That's insane! We anchored ourselves outside of Ames, one of the bigger cities in Iowa and a total college town. We spent a day poking around the city and exploring the college...what a beautiful day we picked! 74 degrees in the middle of Winter in Iowa is unheard of and we got to enjoy just that!

Our only "adventure" in Iowa turned out to be quite the interesting one! I found that there was a kaleidoscope factory in Pocahontas, Iowa...about 90 minutes from where we were. This small town is literally a blink and you missed it kind of place. One main street with about a half dozen shops and businesses. The kids and I ventured off for a day of fun and exploring. Imagine my surprise when Leonard (the builder and 'factory' owner) ended up being a member of Mensa! To say this man was crazy smart is an understatement! He gave the boys and I the most  fascinating Physics, Math and Science lesson for the better part of an hour! He then had the boys make their own kaleidoscopes which made the day even more fun! The BEST part of the day came when Leonard asked the boys if they wanted to do the daily news and weather report for the town. What fun this was! The kids made the report 'live'-on air' and were delighted to get to watch it later on the Internet! After spending almost three hours with Leonard, we hit the local bowling alley for pizza and bowling with the entire place to ourselves! Iowa...for as small and unoccupied as you are you were definitely a success!

Minnesota

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Minneapolis, Minnesota in the dead of Winter...isn't that on everyone's to do list??? The good news is there is plenty of indoor fun to be had in this city :) I remember being impressed with Mall of America as a kid and was so excited to take my own kids there. At first I got "why is a mall so cool", "shopping is lame, who cares about a mall" and various other responses from my boys. Well throw a bone to Mom cause once again I managed to knock the socks off these kids! We walked in and their faces froze, eyes huge as they exclaimed "there is seriously 3 roller coasters in the middle of the mall?!?!" We had so much fun we actually spent 2 full days at the mall! The first day we got passes for the Nickelodeon Theme Park. The boys had a blast enjoying all of the rides, smack in the middle of the day with no one else there but a few toddlers! They literally had entire rides to themselves. Day 2 was spent using my Groupons. (I literally need to be an advertisement for them at this point..."how to travel America using Groupons" could be my show!) I had bought tickets for the Maze of Mirrors which entertained them for a good long while, along with unlimited video game cards at the sports bar (think Dave & Busters or Gameworks). Four, yes four boys, each with an unlimited video game card was like Christmas all over! I happily spent 4 hours shopping all four floors of the most massive mall in America while my people happily played till their eyes were blurry ;)

Another fun find in the middle of Winter was the indoor water park, conveniently right across the street from the mall. They are home to the tallest indoor family raft ride and big surprise my people wouldn't let me miss that fun ;)  The extra fun part of this day came when I became the Mom kids (not just my own) were impressed by. This water park was home to a flow-rider (a surfing machine). My crew is big fans of these, having spent lots of time on them at Schlitterbahn and on cruises we have been on. Imagine my surprise and horror when Luke begged Sweetie Pie to to try it too. Brian and Matt burst out laughing at the thought so that was all motivation I needed! I threw on some shorts, tucked my swimsuit into them (no need to show the innocent people of Minnesota what is lurking under that!) and waddled my way (like the penguin I now resembled!) to the line. After watching multiple people wipe out and go flying, I was seriously reconsidering this plan but my guys were now fully invested in having their Mom try this death trap! I took my turn like a champ...I had water spraying down my top and up my butt, could barely see anything but my wonderful husband laughing and videotaping me, but I managed to actually stay on my board and impress my kids...WIN for Mom!

Wisconsin

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Dear friends of ours are from Wisconsin and have told us about all of the neat things to do there. Top that with all of the specials we have seen on the Travel Channel featuring Wisconsin Dells and the mere fact that they are the home of cheese curds (best food on planet!) and this was a much anticipated stop on our trip for everyone!

I found a killer deal, and by killer I mean seriously unheard price for all of the fun we had in Wisconsin! Fresh off our stay in a hotel for a week, we checked into yet another one! Well the kids and I did. Craig stayed with the RV since it was in the negatives outside...(yes you read that right!!!) and we had to keep it plugged in or chance big problems. Somehow I drew the short straw that entailed late nights in a water park, showering 3 kids at 11pm and fighting over bedtimes, the tv show we watched and "I'm hungry again" while Craig got to return to the RV for peaceful nights of popcorn, movies and a place to himself! He casually strolled in every morning after a good nights sleep while I was in the midst of breakfast, the endless fight over brushing teeth and getting everyone ready!

Mt. Olympus is a kids paradise. They have a 40 slide outdoor waterpark (sadly closed for season), a full outdoor theme park (again closed for season), an indoor waterpark, an indoor theme park and a ski/tubing mountain!!! To say we had fun here is an understatement!!! Unlimited bumper cars was the hit of the indoor theme park, we closed down the waterpark two different nights and the highlight was skiing! For kids that have pretty much tried everything, skiing was the one big thing they haven't done! They were so excited to give it a try (I was dreading it as I knew they were gonna love it and see many cold trips in my future!). Having now had both ankles fully reconstructed, I have left my skiing days in the past and was happily a cheerleader, picture taker, hot chocolate runner and kid lifter all day :)  Craig loves to ski and was so excited to get his guys on the mountain with him. They all took to it immediately. Matt and Luke skiied while Brian snowboarded. You would've thought they had all done it before cause these boys just took off down the mountain! I had to close my eyes in fear by the end of the day as these 3 boys are fearless...Luke particularly terrifies me as not only is he fearless, he is 8 year old stupid! Doesn't even cross his mind that he could get hurt...ugh! These three are gonna make me gray and drunk by the time they leave for college :) They skiied for 8 straight hours and I see some sore little people in our future!

Our last day in Wisconsin Craig had to work so the kids and I made our way back to the mountain for tubing! How Craig keeps managing to weasel his way out of the activities that involve complete exhaustion is beyond me?!?!?! The good news is Mt. Olympus has a tube rope so you can be slightly lazier :) We had an absolute blast flying down their 6 tube runs and the kids even convinced me that tying all our tubes together was a good idea as I flew down the chute backwards with the 3 of them laughing like fools:)

Favorite moment of Wisconsin has got to be the morning after skiing. I have 3 kids beyond unconscious thanks to the full day of skiing. I get a phone call waking me up at 8am from the RV service center 45 minutes away that they can get Craig in at 9:30am. (Let me backtrack for a minute...So after getting RV fixed and leaving it for 6 days, they managed to return it to us with the water pumps not working meaning no running water. We tried stopping to get this addressed on our drive to Wisconsin but the service center had sent their staff home early due to bad weather. We even went as far as calling Forest River for an emergency call that night and they sent us the biggest jok on the planet...took our $100 fee for coming out, looked at RV and said "I can't fix this, I can't access that panel" (I kid you not...these things only happen to us!) We could not all return to RV with this still broke and getting it fixed was somewhat of an emergency.) Back to story...so I get this call and the man says "I couldn't get ahold of your husband" (my first thought was "I;m going to kill him when I do!" I assure this man that I will get ahold of Craig and he will be there with RV. Thirteen phone calls later and 10 text messages later, I have determined that Craig is asleep with his phone off! I literally was ready to kill him at this point as I got to wake up 3 sleeping kids, who are completely exhausted, and drag them into the snowing 6 degree weather to drive 15 minutes to wake up sleeping beauty! Wake up was as hideous as you could imagine...Luke was sobbing, Brian was furious and Matt was glaring at me. I pile the kids into the car, make our way into traffic to FINALLY GET A CALL FROM CRAIG! He is laughing, telling me he is sorry he fell asleep with phone in airplane mode. Yea...cause that makes up for my morning so far! I turn car around, pile kids back into hotel, they climb back into their beds and get all snuggly (I was blessed with excellent sleepers!) only to have my phone ring again! Craig was calling to inform me that he had left his Jeep keys with me when we dropped him off last night and yes, the RV keys were on that ring as well!!! (I cannot make this stuff up!) You guessed it...I got to get kids out of bed for a second time, drag them back into snow and drive the keys to my "dear husband". We finally make it back to the hotel to get dressed at this point and find that we have managed to lock ourselves out of our room. I got to finish my morning with a trip to the lobby, dressed in my pajamas with sneakers, topped off with my uncombed bed head to get a replacement key! Yep...I am living the dream people!!!

Indiana

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We ended up spending a great deal of time in Indiana, not originally planned :) We started off in Indianapolis and had so much fun! We went to America's largest Children's Museum and spent a whole day exploring the endless floors and rooms. The kids and I found a super fun pool, complete with a rock wall over the water that we couldn't get enough of! Funny thing is we saw walls like this online last year and they were dying to play on one in real life...who knew we'd stumble on it in Indiana?!?! Craig and I took the kids for a tour of NCAA Hall of Champions, an interactive hall of fame museum dedicated to all things NCAA. Yep...add another Hall of Fame to our list for this trip :) Seriously...we have made a whole chunk of trip out of theme parks and halls of fame! We also took the kids on a tour of true Indianapolis...racing. It worked out for us that we have a neat connection to this...Aunt Christy. Her Papa is the one and only A.J. Foyt! The boys love this celebrity connection and A.J. is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. We so enjoyed getting to spend some time getting to see how this city has so much in his honor!

Next stop in Indiana...South Bend. Just outside of South Bend is a little city known as Elkhart. Elkhart is home of all things RV. 7 of the 10 RV manufacturers are located there, Forest River (our RV) being one of them. We have had an ongoing punch list of repairs we needed (yes, some we caused ourselves...ugh!) and the easiest way to get everything fixed under warranty was to come to their factory. What a giant pain this was...we moved into the Hampton Inn for a week. When you are living and driving in your home, this becomes more of a pain as I literally had to unload everything I thought we might need in a week's time into a hotel room. Top this off with getting a massive snowstorm while we were there and our room was full to the brim with everything from swimsuits to sleds! We made good use of our time in this part of the country (also right on the Michigan border!) with a behind the scenes tour of a chocolate factory, a trip to Notre Dame for Ash Wednesday Mass (such a beautiful church!!!), a visit to the Children's Health Museum for a day of fun learning about all things bodies, a quick stop at the biggest chocolate store and the coolest factory tour yet...our RV manufacturer!!! Seeing our RV built right before our eyes (seriously, it takes 8 hours from chassis to paint room!) was such a cool experience! We even learned where a few things were we didn't know about!!! All said and done, we spent more time in Indiana than we had originally planned but sure had a fun time doing it! Good news is our repairs our done and we are back in our home, happily on our way to our next stop...Wisconsin!

Michigan

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Michigan was a quick "true visit" as we were literally staying on the border (see Indiana post!) and were able to visit multiple times (grocery store, shops, etc.). The kids and I made it our mission to do something fun in Michigan though and sledding it was! Of course we picked a bitter cold day, complete with snow to sled but still managed to have fun! The local park had a really neat  setup with a small lodge and a giant tubing hill. Bummer...you had to trek your tubes up the hill yourself...no ropes. Fortunately for me I am raising true Texas gentleman who carried Mom's tube every time for her!!! A fun few hours with only one injury (poor Matt is rockin the nastiest elbow bruise I have seen in a long time!) made Michigan a success!

The biggest bummer came when a major life event happened...I'm talking this is my own personal version of turning 40! I seriously took this harder than any birthday! After 36 years of perfect vision, I had to get glasses.I have been struggling with my eyes for about a month. Seeing as it came out of the blue, I had myself convinced I had MS or a tumor. Good news is I am just insane and spend too much time googling my symptoms...bad news is I not only had to get glasses, I had to get bifocals! How the heck I went from nothing to bifocals is still baffling and I am now sporting glasses...ugh.

Illinois

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We made it to Chicago! We could not have gotten luckier with the weather...45 degrees in February was more than we hoped for! We started off at Navy Piers for a day of fun! The kids loved being right on the water and had a blast at the maze, fun house and blaster games. We ended Navy Piers with an authentic (and delicious!) Chicago pizza :)

Next stop...the shops on Magnificent Mile. The kids particularly liked the Under Armour store with its interactive games on the top floor. We headed to Wrigley Field next and got to see one of the oldest, neatest stadiums. Seeing all the homes in the neighborhood surrounding the filled with bleachers on their roofs was the hit of this adventure! Our final stop was the Sears tower, now known as the Willis Tower. Craig, Matt and Luke took the elevator to the top of the Skydeck for an incredible and downright scary view of the city! Standing on the glass walkout ledge did not appeal to me or Brian so we safely waved from the ground at them :) Chicago...success!

Missouri

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We have arrived in St. Louis. Craig has actually been here before so we did more of a middle of the week trip than staying for a weekend for Craig to enjoy. The kids and I spent the first day excited to go to the top of the Arch...did not happen :( Unfortunately for us, they are in the middle of a complete restoration due to be done in April. Tours to the top are not being given right now...such a disappointment. Particularly after we sat in the museum and watched a full 30 minutes on how it was constructed, getting our hopes up! We opted for a fun lunch and then stumbled on the BEST place in downtown..."Sweetie Pies". Luke took to calling me Sweetie Pie before Christmas and it stuck. He has actually not uttered the word "Mom" once. He decided to call Craig "Big D" at the same time. His theory behind this is that if we are out and he needs us, everyone calls their parents Mom & Dad. He seems to think we will know he is calling us by shouting "Sweetie Pie & Big D"! Imagine the delight when he and I looked up and saw the real Sweetie pies...can we say photo op?!?!?!

The kids and I have made an entire homeschool unit out of Lewis & Clark as we keep ending up in places referencing them. St. Louis was the kickoff and the museum they have is fantastic. It comes complete with a replica of their boats and an actual restored camp of theirs. I have never in my life cared much about anything historical...yawn...but this trip is quickly changing my tune with all of the fascinating places I keep taking the kids!

I know I say this a lot but our final stop in St. Louis has got to be one of the neatest places I have ever seen! It literally left me speechless. "The City Museum" can only be described as Pee-Wee's Playhouse x100! I have truly never in my life seen something like it! It was apparently created by an eccentric man with a vision for an adult playground. That vision has turned into what truly must be the most incredible indoor playground in the world. It is housed in an old shoe factory, over 18 stories tall with things to do in every last corner! Everything in it is re-purposed and completely mind blowing. From the 10 story slide made out of an old chute, the ball pit for big people, holes in the floor with secret tunnels to another wing, a human sized hamster wheel, a full cave in the ground and even an airplane in the sky you climb nest to get to...their is literally something for everyone!  I got there right as it opened with the kids thinking we'd get in early and get out early. Uuuuummmmmm...no. We literally closed down the place 9 hours later! I kid you not, my 3 boys, with the attention span of fleas, managed to play in a place for 9 hours without once asking what time it was, how much longer and were mad when the place closed! Rude awakening came the next morning when the 3 of them could barely walk! It's not really funny but I couldn't help but laugh as I tried to explain that when you do a variety of physical activities for 9 straight hours without a break...you are going to be sore!

Ohio

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Ohio was a state we didn't really see on this trip as we were just there in June! If you remember...we flew to Cleveland, spent a few days in Sandusky at the BEST theme park in the world...Cedar Point, and saw some relatives close to our hearts in Warren. The one place we didn't make it in June was Cincinnati, and it was the ONLY Ohio stop this trip!

Cincinnati is the new home of Chandelle and Aaron, Craig's sister and our precious nephew. Aaron has been suffering from a variety of complications, all stemming from a transplant years ago that has sadly caused more harm than good. We unfortunately do not get the the opportunity to see them as Aaron's condition is life threatening and any germs we might give him could literally kill him. The last time the kids saw him was before transplant which is heartbreaking for all of us. I had the privilege of getting to spend a weekend with Aaron last year and was excited to get to see my precious little buddy again. The boys were so excited to get to see Aunt Chandelle and Aaron, and were more than happy to accommodate the special precautions necessary in order to spend time with them.

Aaron had a blast with the boys! He unfortunately does not get to spend much time with kids and was so interested in his rowdy cousins. Craig even babysat all the kids for us so I could take Chandelle out for a much deserved night of dinner, drinks and shopping :) While Ohio was very low key and uneventful, it was one of the best memories for this trip and we are so grateful for having the opportunity to make it to Ohio and spend time with Chandelle and Aaron!

Kentucky

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What fun we had in Kentucky! We started off in Bowling Green...home of the Corvette tour. This was such a fascinating factory tour and unfortunately I have no pictures as cameras were banned :( I can tell you this though...if you are ever in the remote area, make a point of going here! It was amazing to watch cars be built from start to finish! The robots driving around and building are fascinating for kids and adults to watch. We took a one hour tour and were not the least bit bored.

Kentucky was also where Craig got to live a personal dream and watch his favorite whiskey be made! But sadly his bubble was burst when his dream became a kid filled nightmare! Yes...we had to take the kids along for this factory tour (quality parenting here!!!). Brian and Matt were actually quite interested. Luke on the other hand was plugging his nose and making gagging sounds the entire time. This fun was brought to an all time high when he promptly barfed in the tank room! Yep...big, chunky vomit falling through the grates, dropping about 100 feet to the bottom. The extra fun of this was Craig and I couldn't just leave the chunks that didn't fit through the grates and we got to pick them up and put them in our coat pockets!!! (I swear I cannot make this stuff up!) We spent the rest of the tour reeking of Luke's stomach, our hands freezing cause our pockets were otherwise occupied and waiting as hard as we could for the tasting room, where we could down samples and forget this nightmare had ever happened! On the plus side...we did get to make our own bottle of whiskey, complete from start to finish which will now serve as a permanent reminder of this special day!!!

From Bowling Green we headed to Louisville...home of lots to keep us busy! We took a tour of Louisville Slugger Factory and watched baseball bats start as trees and finish as useable bats...way too cool! We saw the custom bat orders of so many players and even left with our very own bats! Stop 2 in Louisville was Churchill Downs...home of the derby! This was an unexpected win! I knew it would be cool to see the track, but their interactive museum blew us away! Our final stop was mega Caverns...home of a 3 square mile underground dirtbike course. Uummm...this has my peoples names all over it! I opted out...riding bikes in a cave on dirt with bats....yea...I'm good saying I have never done this!!! I dropped them off for fun and took myself and my kindle to Starbucks and an oil change :) Imagine my surprise when I returned to filthy, mud covered people...complete with Craig's pants  being ripped from his groin to his knees! And the best part is they had the time of their lives!!! I say daily and will say it again...I live with morons!
Here is what I texted my Mom and sisters...
"Well Craigs pants are ripped from his nuts to his knee (literally showing his thigh and undies), he swears he tore his nuts in half, Matt has a bruised and swollen wrist, Luke looks like he bathed in mud, cut his lip and his snot is literally brown from the amount of dirt he "ate" and Brian's shoulders are so sore he can barely lift his arms...and they all said they would go back tomorrow if they could!!!"
#ilivewithmorons

The BEST part of Kentucky was the blizzard that came though. The kids were in complete heaven with the 14 inches of snow we got! We spent so many days playing outside, sledding, snowboarding and making snowmen. For Texas kids....a 14 inch snowstorm is like the mothership arriving and we made the most of it!

Louisana

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Ahhh Louisana...still one of the filthiest states (in more ways than one) I have been to. Having been to New Orleans a few times, Craig and I were okay not spending a great deal of time there. Top that with we have 3 boys (2 of which are a delightful age with extremely curious minds!), we limited our stay in the famous french quarter to an afternoon, in the daylight :)

The boys were actually quite interested in the amount of street performers everywhere. We stopped many times to watch an impromptu show, concert, etc... We also played true tourists and hopped on a carriage for a tour of the city. Playing catch with Daddy at the park was the highlight for the boys while swinging under big old trees was perfect for me :) No trip could be complete without Cafe Du Monde and we all stuffed ourselves silly. We finished off our day in New Orleans with a visit to the cemeteries (kids were baffled!) and of course...Walmart for glasses repair :)