Resolving resolutions...

I was reading one of those obligatory end of year articles: the ones about New Year’s resolutions that you make and then break about a month later...if you’re lucky to make it that long. To make it worse for us, just how do you make New Year’s resolutions when you’re going to be taking a year long trip around the United States?

Many resolutions involve eating better and/or less in order to lose weight. Eating better on a year long trip? That makes me laugh. How do you eat better when you’ll eating out almost daily? Isn’t that an oxymoron? How do you eat less at restaurants, when they bring you heaping platefuls? When was the last time you ate a portion (a real portion, not a restaurant one) at a restaurant? Not to mention, how do you eat healthy when you’ll be visiting fast food joints, diners, drive-ins and all those other classic Americana places?

Another popular resolution is to exercise more. Yeah, like that’s going to happen on the trip! Which gym has locations in Eugene, OR and Bear, DE and everywhere in between?? Let me know, I’d love to join. Of course, we will be hiking in every state and walking around every tourist site from the Statue of Liberty to Alcatraz, but as far as working out - not so much, just lots of driving and walking and more driving and more walking.

Go green. Well, I’d love to, but it will be difficult while traveling. Sure, we’ll toss our plastic water bottles in a recycle bin when we find one, but it’s not like we’ll have our handy dandy recycling bin right there in the garage with curbside pickup like we do now. When you travel, convenience is key, so one of the first things to go will be being green; although, it will kill me to toss a water bottle or a cereal box or a newspaper in the garbage. What else are we going to do with it, though?

Wait, I think I’ve found it: spend more time with the family. Check! Now there’s a New Year’s resolution I can make and keep all year long. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ll have that one down after a year traveling together in close quarters…maybe a little too much!

(Thanks, by the way, for reading my obligatory end of year blog...)

-The Mom

Live Long and Prosper

On the trip I will miss my friends. Having a house.  Going to bed early.  Getting up late.  Getting my school done early and going to a friends house. 


I will miss Playing in the snow I will miss making igloos with my dad and having snowball fights and playing king of the mountain with my brother.


- the daughter
(Getting our Vulcan daughter to write more than just the facts is, well, not logical...)

The Other Side of Christmas is Always Snowier.

I was starting to get a little depressed thinking about all the things I’d miss about Christmas next year while we’re on the road, so I decided to make a list of the things that I won’t miss:

• Tackling the annual Christmas card – can you tell what I should be doing right now??
• Of course, I already mentioned in my last blog receiving those few, braggy letters in the mail. Do we really need to hear about their new iPhone and becoming president of the Hall Monitors?
• Feeling like everything has to be perfect. I’m not Martha Stewart any other time of the year, why do I suddenly think my packages and decorations need to look like a Martha Stewart work of art now?
• Cleaning up after an afternoon of decorating cookies – how is it possible to get sprinkles on the ceiling fan???
• The detangle-ing of the Christmas lights, and the discovery that half of them inevitably don’t work…surprise, surprise. If I switch over to all LED, will I ever have this problem again? That would be worth it!
• Taking down and putting away the tree and the outside decorations…Let’s just go all out here and say taking down & putting away EVERYTHING! It’s just so, so blah and hum-drum afterwards - welcome to January. Bleck.
• The crazy, busyness of the season. Do we really need to attend the Christmas program at Doggie Daycare?!
• The long lines. The ones at the grocery store, the discount store, the department store, the drug store, the specialty store, the coffee shop, and most of all at the post office.
• The pressure of finding the perfect gift. What!? A Snuggie won’t work for everyone???
• Eggnog and fruitcake!! Double Bleck.  Need I say more?

- Mom

Not So Flakey

Dr. Dorito here it the middle of December and STILL NO SNOW. That will be one thing I miss for we will be in the warm states in the winter. Another is the friends. 


Who am I supposed to have nerf gun fights with?  My sister?  What about My B-day party? I will also miss two bathrooms. Trust me you don't want to go into the bathroom after my dad!!! :o  


Also how I'm I supposed to survive without a Library.  That is about it so far. I M Stumpd signing off.


- the son

The Truth about Scattergories - It's Evil

The website is almost ready...very close.  That is a truth...which brings me to why I hate Scattergories.

I'm a solutions kind of guy and believe there's an answer to every problem.  I have solutions for Health Care reform, tastier sandwiches, and even our corrupt, self-serving government.

I believe in Truth.  Not a truth for you and one for me...those are opinions, but I believe there are truths which apply to all of us whether we like it or not - and we need to stop whining about it.

When I have questions, I investigate them.  I don't trust politicians (nothing unique there, only 16% of Americans do) or scientists or even pastors without checking out what they're telling me.  Sadly, it is a world of agendas, not truth.

I've looked into climate change, the existence of God, evolution...speaking of evolution, do you know how many problems there are with that!  Good grief, it's almost a joke.  I was upset when they took away my favorite dinosaur, the Brontasaurus (apparently they had a few bones mixed up and changed it to an  Apatosaurus).  Then recently, after a lifetime of being told we descended from chimps, the scientist folks decide no, we're not descended from chimps, we just have a shared great, great grandpa.

I'm a little bitter...I had a ton of monkey/evolution jokes.  What's next, we only have eight planets?

Oh and let's just look deeper at that one - at some point billions of years ago, some soup got hit by lightning and life started.  All we really have to prove that baby is some experiment in the 50's where a guy made a couple of amino acids.  Of course, he got to use his own soup ingredients and then remove oxygen which would have been impossible.  That's not even getting into how impractical mutating into complex organisms is.  

I love a spirited debate, but be honest and forthcoming with everything and let's seek truth together, not either agenda.

But I digress...so we're playing Scattergories the other night and I come up with a genius answer.  Tropical area beginning with the letter "D".  Of course, it's got to be Dubai.  It's objected to so I take out my handy, dandy internet phone and show numerous examples of tropical Dubai.

In a vote full of emotions and other agendas, I am voted down and don't get a point for Dubai.  The Truth has been defeated and so was I.

Yeah, just a little bitter..
-Dad

Christmas on the Brain

The kids and I baked spritz Christmas cookies last night.  They were having a ton of fun using the Wilton press – so easy!  All of a sudden, it hit me that next year we won’t be able to do this yearly cookie baking tradition while we’re on the road, and it got me to thinking about what else I’ll miss while we’re on the road:

1. Obviously we will miss our extended family and friends - unless they want to meet us somewhere on the trip!  (Yes, this is your official invitation.)
2. I know that I’ll miss my own bed and the convenience of a washer and dryer right off my kitchen.  
3. I’ll miss an attached garage, or a garage at all for that matter.  
4. I’ll miss knowing my way around town.
5. Right now, though, I have Christmas on the brain…   Every year we make a big production out of cookies, and I’ll miss that.  Besides all the Christmas cookies we bake, we really get into decorating sugar cookies.  It’s been a tradition my mom started with us ever since I can remember, and now every year we continue the tradition with her.  
6. Oh, and of course, I’ll definitely miss EATING them, too!
7. I’ll miss the discovery in unpacking the decorations from the Rubbermaid containers and the fun of placing them around the house and on the tree, starting to set the stage for feeling like Christmas.   
8. I’ll miss getting Christmas cards in the mail, seeing the pictures, and hearing the stories over the past year.  (Okay, maybe I won’t miss those few braggy ones.)
9. I’ll miss decorating the Christmas tree and even more so, sitting on the couch in the evening with the fireplace on and a cup of hot cocoa in hand, admiring the lights.  

Mmmmh, maybe since I won’t be able to do that next year at all, I’d better take advantage of it more this year….I’m off to get some cocoa!

-The Mom

(By the way, it looks like the first state we will hit may work out to be Texas...  If you love Texas, please click here and tell us -and the rest of the world- what we need to do in Texas!  Thanks!)

GiddyUp...

What I'm looking forward to on the trip is going to a zoo in every state because I love animals! My favorite animal is a horse and a dolphin thou I may not see them in a zoo.

If you are interested in zoos too, I suggest you don't go to the smaller zoos because most of the animals are either nocturnal or are sitting down in their little house where you can't see them . But I think you should go to the St. Louis Zoo. I loved it!

-The Daughter

Excitement brewing (not beer - I'm underage)

Hi everybody!  Dr. Dorito here blogging for my first time so sorry if its not that good.  The trip's finally coming up I can't wait to go to Lego Land and all those other fun places. Me and my family will have lots of fun I'm sure. Until next time this is R. U Excited signing off.


- The Son (who also goes by a third nickname. "Whiz")

Introducing...

Readers, I'd like to introduce the first snowball of the season in Lincoln IL.

Snowball, meet the readers.

I will miss snow while we're in the South.

- The Daughter

Have Yourself a Cheesy Little Christmas

One of the things we’re continually doing to prepare for the trip is to get rid of stuff.  It’s amazing how much “stuff” you accumulate.  We’ve had garage sale after garage sale, and yet we still have more stuff than we need!  My theory has been that I have to love it to keep it, and Christmas decorations were not exempt from that policy.

 

I have made real progress, but one thing I couldn’t part with was my container of ornaments.  Our tree isn’t beautiful and ornate - it’s more a hodge-podge down memory lane.   Whether the ornaments remind me of different stages in or son’s and daughter’s lives or they remind me of the Gift of Life my husband was given thru organ donation or they represent a special tradition we have like decorating cookies, each ornament has a special meaning or memory attached to it, so those will definitely be stored away during the trip.

Having said that, I have gotten rid of a lot of Christmas decorations.

As I unpacked the remaining Christmas decorations this year, and we purposefully placed them around the house, the kids noticed many items were missing and kept asking, “Where’s the snow globe we always shake?”  (Never mind that they didn’t shake it once after the initial day we set it up) or “Where’s the fish with a Santa hat that says ho-ho-ho?”  (Hmm.  That one just disappeared) or “Where’s the nativity with the cardboard stable?”  (the one with chubby, little people made for toddlers.) or “Where’s that spinny tree?”  When I replied that I had sold it, they groaned in shock and disbelief and asked how I could sell the spinning tree that played music when you wound it up?!  

Of course, my first feelings were of guilt, how could I be so thoughtless and cruel??  Have I scarred them forever?  Will they ever recover and lead normal lives when I’ve sold all the cheesy Christmas decorations they loved so much?

Guess I’ll have to shake the green and red “Christmas” Magic 8 Ball and find out… you just can’t get rid of that.

-Mom

Why Not Just Buy a Toupee & Red Sports Car?

The first question that keeps coming up is why would we get rid of all our stuff and run around the United States for a year.

First of all, I'm noticing a few gray hairs, and I refuse to relinquish my title as sexiest man alive over a couple of stray DNA replication issues!  (OK, technically "sexiest man alive" is an honorary titles like when famous people speak at a university and then get a PhD for it)  Still it's better than a "Certificate of Participation" that we seem to hand out nowadays for anything.

Anyway, back to the point.  A few of my favorite quotes are:
"Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them."   -Henry David Thoreau 

"Save me from the nothing I've become."   -Evanescence 

Some dreadfully depressing thoughts UNLESS they inspire you to make your life worthwhile.

So how do you make life worthwhile?  We figured we'd either crash a party at the White House or travel the country trying to get people involved in organ donation.

After much deliberation, we went with the organ donation thing...and a little hair dye  (I've seen the commercials the babes go crazy for the guys that color their hair.)

-Dad (sexiest man alive, honorary)

You can join out travel community and help us find cool places all over the USA here:    HelpUs.BestPlacesInTheUSA.com