Mrs Hannigan's Road Trips- Are We There Yet?

walking, my least favorite alternative fuel

2008-07-12T16:00:00.001-07:00

But I did it. Thursday night I walked the girls to Franklin park for their Thursday night concert in the park. I walked home, too. pushing a double stroller. I survived. Today we're heading up for the Folk Life Festival. It's one of our favorite things about Yakima. You know you should move when a one-weekend event is the best thing about a town. I think by the time we end up moving I'm going to hate this place. I took my girls to Glenwood Square yesterday for the Melody Lane Summer Day Camp performance. It was cute, but the mall is ridiculous. It's empty and deserted. Less than 50% occupied. In a shopping culture, how can a mall be empty? Simple, because it's in Yakima, a town where over 60% of residents qualify for medical and food stamp assistance. This particular mall tries to appeal to the upper crust of society by housing specialty stores. For some businesses, it works. I have a particular beef with the 4D ultrasound clinic. My $125 ultrasound ended up cositn me over $500 because the local lady wouldn't allow me to have one without a Doctor's consent. Her policy stated "caregiver" and I was seeing a midwife who approved and signed her waiver form. Pregnancy isn't a disease, There's nor eason to see a doctor. If the lady is in the business of giving recreational ultrasounds, and I have given her everything her insurance policy needs to service me, then get over it. "Mommy's Treasure" she calls herself. I'd have a lot more treasure if I didn't drive 300 miles to Bellevue just to find out my 6th child was ANOTHER GIRL. Between the gas, the parking and the fact that whenever you drive 5 kids 300 miles you'll HAVE to feed them, the day cost a small treasure. It was fun, though. We celebrated G2's 2nd birthday at the Rainforest Cafe and had a great time.

Biodiesel is going to be a no go

2008-07-12T14:50:00.000-07:00

He's building a hydrogen fuel cell instead. This is a device that separates the H2 from the O and allows a vehicle to be run on water. A friend of ours informed me that her husband ordered a kit to make a device like this- he said it was from this company, and that it wasn't making much of a difference. He speculated that i was because he had fuel injection and that the engine was reading the oxygen level wrong and that he could increase his mileage by making an adjustment to his carburetor. (I think this is what he said) Anyway, I spoke with him today and he said he had made the adjustments and that he was still not experiencing a significant boost in his mileage, although the car seemed to have more power.

He mentioned that he had seen the hydrogen myth busted on mythbusters. My heart sunk, I love mythbusters. I had to check it out. They did, in fact, declare on mythbusters that it was busted, but anyone who watches the show knows that sometimes you're shouting at the TV saying "But what about..." I know they try to address everything, but busting 2 myths in 30 minutes doesn't leave time to explore every scientific possibility.

When I read the transcripts form the show, I was bummed to see that they weren't testing the theory, but the available technology. They ordered a kit or directions online and didn't build their own device. Instead of racking my very non-scientific brain to figure out the other possibilities, I just clicked on one of the many other links that came up when I googled "mythbusters hydrogen fuel" and was happily surprised to find an environmental blogger had created a whole post about debunking the mythbusters episode

So we're back to square one. My husband is blessed with stubborn-ness and won't be told that it isn't possible. How many light bulbs did Edison make before he got it right?

Cheaper than driving

2008-07-06T22:23:00.000-07:00

I was looking at services to move our car from one side of the state to the other. I came across Auto Transportation Worldwide and they have a neat little calculator thing on their site that allows you to select the city you're starting in and the city you're ending in, pick the type of vehicle you're transporting and baddabingbaddabang it calculates the cost of having your vehicle loaded up on one of those car-carriers to be delivered. It's a great idea if you're... moving... ahem. Not that we're actually going to end up moving any time soon, I'm just saying...

It's also cool in case you find a car you wanna buy on the other side of the country or something. I know a lot of vintage car collectors have their vehicles transported around the country to various specialists for repairs or fancy detail work. They also do boats and RV's

I can't imagine how some people manage to move all the way across the country when they have two cars, a camper, a boat, etc. I think it would be so much easier to just have one of these guys haul your vehicles and fly to the new place. Wouldn't that be so much nicer than driving and pulling it all across the country yourself, Especially with kids, this seems so much smarter. I wonder what kind of fuel they're using.

day trip- shopping

2008-07-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

I realize that technically a day spent shopping with 2/6 of my kids might not count as a road trip, but the fact is., it was like 500 degrees out and I was so dizzy from the heat that we had to stop at
McDonalds to get something salty to eat and some water (I have a medical salt issue- I need to eat it or I'll pass out from the heat.) and a hand full of salt is gross. So we got a dish of ice cream to go with it. I originally took this picture to show what a rip-off the ice cream was. $2.50 for 2 little scoops of ice cream at McDonalds, I could have gone to Baskin Robbins and gotten more ice cream than that.

The next pictures are of our baby eating her first french fry. Did you know that the most-consumed-vegetable for children under 18 months is the french fry. Sick, isn't it. I would never have thought of a french fry as a vegetable. For the record, her most consumed vegetable is the carrot, followed by broccoli, and then bananas. Not that bananas are a vegetable. She also eats oatmeal. Steel-cut, not rolled. In case it matters. It sure tastes better.

Running errands with a bunch of little munchkins

2008-07-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

I have no advice in this department. Here's what I do; bring an older kid (they are 11 and 14) and leave her in the car with the littler kids while I run inside and take care of things as quickly as possible.

Yesterday, however, I had the opportunity to take my 4 littlest ones to Taco Bell. I wrote about it here, as part of the "Life doesn't suck as much as I thought Thursday" meme from Mrs Fussypants. She, by the way, rocks.

Being alone in public with a 7, 5, 2 and 7 month old was kind of.... like being unexpectedly poked with needles. In your sleep.

We're standing in line and I ask everyone "Burrito or Taco?" They all answer (at the same time) and I replay each voice in my head as they carry on so I can take an organized tally. 1 burrito with no sauce and no onion, 1 burrito with no onion and 1 taco. I plan to impulsively get whichever value meal catches my eye when we get up front. I send 7 yr old to reserve a table for us & tell the other girls to stay with me. They all leave in different directions. There's no clean table to be had so they all return to me to report their findings in the investigation.

We get to the front of the line & they're still talking about wrappers and trays and cups and someone didn't eat a whole burrito.

Then, they see a sign up front with other meals, we end up getting 2 chips& cheese, 1 burrito with no sauce and no onion, and I get a value meal with a mexican pizza & two tacos. I treat them with a mango/strawberry juice.

The lady takes forever to come clean a table for us. If I had baby wipes with me, I would have cleaned the table all by myself. I hate it when I go to the register to say "Please just give me the towel and I'll wipe it down myself" and she says- as if she's sparing me the trouble of wiping the table- "Oh no, it's OK, I'll do it (when I'm done with this...) I don't mind wiping a darn table down, I mind standing up in a dirty dining room while the kids run around because there's no where to sit. To be honest, I could have cleaned every one of the tables faster than she did anyways. While I waited for my food. Whatever, moms can do that sort of thing.

Like flying is so much fun anyway

2008-06-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

Have you heard this story of the child with autism who was kicked off the airplane. We've all heard an autism "fit" before, haven't we? It really is hard to listen to, but anyone with common sense knows to just leave the child alone. Sometimes mom can help calm them down, sometimes they can't.

In case you only have half a brain cell in your head, let me make one thing clear- do NOT, under any circumstance, interrupt a cranky child with autism to tighten their seatbelt, repeatedly.

The kid is already hyper-stimulated because they're 1- in an airplane- surrounded by strangers- there's no way out... and the seat belt issue is really second to the child's peace of mind and the eardrums of the other passengers. True, turbulence can create a dangerous situation where a seatbelt restraint is necessary, but if the child is simply freaked out because he doesn't want his buckle too tight, then let him rest.

I think flight attendants have to be some of the most self-righteous bitches on the planet. OK- not all of them, but check out this story about a bitchy flight attendant. What the hell was her problem?

I will be flying in September, with my 9 month old and my 14 yr old, I hope I don't come across any bitchy flight attendants.

So far I haven't, in the past 14 years I've flown with kids exactly 6 times. There's a rule I totally don't get about flying with lap babies. If my baby is in a sling or front-pack carrier, I have been instructed to remove the baby from the carrier and let it sit, unrestrained on my lap. Has anyone else seen the early J-Lo movie where baby bubble is thrown from his momma's lap and dies in the plane crash? Wouldn't he have lived if he was in a sling or front carrier. I understand the possibility that my weight could crush the child. But I'd rather my child be crushed in my arms on my lap than to fly out of a hole in the plane to drown in the ocean or have the wind sucked out of him as he's hurled through the air. Just my preference. They should have a waiver.

I think the decision should be with the parent. I'd rather not have my child fry from my hands in a plane crash. I wonder what the percentage of plane crash victims survive anyways?

Oregon History Museum. OOPS- free parking!

2008-06-06T00:29:00.000-07:00

Can you blame us, really for not noticing the meter, what with children needing coats, snacks, faces wiped, potty visits, finding the shoes they weren't supposed to take off in the car, losing the lid to the water bottle and THIS awesome mural.

Would it be naughty or rude of me to suggest that perhaps the mural was better than the museum? I guess that wouldn't be entirely true. The Oregon exhibit was cool- pioneer stuff and Oregon history. One of the downstairs rooms was horribly boring, the paintings looked dusty and old and boring, like maybe they're from Goodwill or something. The frames looked old-fashioned, like stuff I'd find in my Grandma's old house. I liked the baskets, but I'm a dork like that. Brandon liked the Navy stuff. There was a "shoes" thing where we saw some Chinese Women's shoes that were 4 inches long. My daughter was horrified when she learned of the old foot binding process, and made sure I knew that we really needed to look into adopting Chinese orphans.

Because bringing 6 little girls to a museum is simply not enough???

Stupid Oregon Gas-Pumpers

2008-06-05T12:17:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the Oregon History Museum. Actually, first we drove all the way to Milwaukie (OK it was 10 minutes away) to go to the Safeway Fuel Station, because we have accumulated 90 cents in Power Pump Rewards, and that means 90 cents off per gallon. How wise to use it for a fill-up before driving 200 miles home, right. WRONG. Apparently Oregon doesn't do the power pump rewards program and the idiots who pump gas for a living in Oregon actually made fun of us for mentioning it. What the F*&& ever- you bonehead. That wasn't our only idiot gas-pumper story. How nice of the state to pass a stupid law for the sole purpose of employing people without brain cells.

The second gas-pumper incident involves us asking a gas pumper "where's the nearest Washington Mutual?" to which he replies "uuuum uuuhhh, wellll... I don't know, dude (heheheeh) sorry, man" and then, a lightbulb goes off "maybe that way..." points the wrong way on a one way street. So we circle around town for about an hour. Keeping our eyes open for a WAMU but really just looking at architecture, landmarks, people, no big deal. We find a wamu and head back for that intersection because it's really where we needed to be.

Darned if there isn't a frigging WAMU a block away from the jerk. How can you NOT KNOW about a business that's a block from your work. Are you blind? No- just an Oregon gas pumper.

What a great reason to go electric or use bio diesel. Sorry, man.

Oregon Zoo with 6 girls

2008-06-04T22:56:00.000-07:00

What could be more fun than going to the Zoo? I know the answer to this one- going to the Zoo with ten thousand school kids. Yep, that's right. Our tranquil day of wandering around amidst the animals was peppered with, well, scared animals because these kids were far more wild than the animals in the zoo. The first thing we saw was this powerful leopard pacing back and forth, I think my 2 yr old thought it was a movie.

Our first stop was Lorakeet Landing. I managed to have a Lorakeet land on me, during a rare student-free moment.

The kids got to watch them eating up close, their tongues have like- bristles on them to help suck up the nectar.

What is it with men? Or is it just MY man? He sees a path. It must lead somewhere. Find the end of the path. Then you can leave. There should be a speed limit law when pushing a stroller through the zoo. We hardly saw anything because he was in such a hurry to reach the end of the path. OK- the kids were cold. Whatever. They didn't bring coats. The zoo should be relaxing though. I knew the zoo was going to be an issue for him, though. Next time we go to the Zoo we're not bringing him. Or he's not pushing. Or we'll bring coats. I think he needs to experience the zoo at a child's pace, it's so much more fun.

Quite funny actually that the sea lions were of interest to him. They're so graceful. He might have slobbered, I'll have to tease him about it later. It was warmer underground.

When my oldest was less than two, we had a friend who worked for Universal Studios. We went backstage at the Animal Show and met the trainers. Daughter actually played with Jethro the orangutan. They swung on a bar like... monkeys. They looked at each other a lot. In these pictures, we had turned a corner to find this orangutan hanging out by the window, watching the people go by. We felt a bit like we were on exhibit.

Portland Children's Museum

2008-06-04T11:39:00.000-07:00

I had to lighten these in microsoft picture editor- probably should have used photoshop or gimp- they were all black & looked terrible. Still waiting for that new camera.

Can you believe all 5 of the pictures above were taken in the same room? I loved the gigantic macaroni picture frame. I wish it hadn't been cut off by the photographer. (oldest daughter) I love that I had my picture taken with Mrs March. All the girls enjoyed brushing the alligator's teeth. (Crocodile?)

The girls loved the market playroom and the play cafe. Here's M2 working at the grocery store. She asked one of her customers for the coupons. My apologies to the lady with the deer-in-the-headlights look. You can finish studying now. Good luck.

Littlest girl practiced crawling, her new hobby.

Here's everyone taking a break from the hustle and bustle of the museum to engage in the creative pursuit of pottery. Or clay sculpting, rather. I thought it was a Spartan warrior my husband was so carefully crafting, with his manly bum perched on top of an 18 inch high chair. For over an hour. Perhaps a representation of the war-like feeling that accompanies traveling with 6 children who like to run in different directions. Alas, however, it was a Mohawk Indian. I get it.

End of the day; my M1 and Mrs March's Meg enjoyed the Most Extinguished Guest trophy and E1 and I enjoyed the ball wall. I wonder if my husband would let me decorate my house like a children's museum. I'll bet he would, what a lucky girl I am.

OMSI in Portland

2008-06-03T22:23:00.000-07:00

Today we went to OMSI. It was a madhouse. There were bus loads of school children everywhere. Some of them were animals, some of them were misbehaving. Some of the adults supervised them well, others did not. Overall, I'd rather have been there when it was less crowded. Not to self; next time wait until 2pm to go to the Science Museum in June.

We noticed that everywhere we go, Portland is covered in Dinosaurs. It's like some kind of cooperative theme or something. Here at OMSI they had a T-rex outside the door and this Pterodactyl flying over our heads in the lobby.

The kids got to dig for dinosaur bones. One of mine said "There's no dinosaur bones here, just these stupid pieces of wood." Well, those were supposed to "be" the bones. I guess there's no fooling her. And to top it off, she says; "And it's not even real dirt, it's like rubber." I'm thinking it's recycled tires, like the kind they use on playgrounds. Poor thing, she's seen a real Mammoth dig and this was definitely not what she had in mind.

Once she let go of her preconceived notions of what a dinosaur dig looks like, she had fun throwing the bits of rubber at her friends.

OMSI had a physics lab that was a lot of fun. I liked the water table. Kids liked the glass elevator "ride." Husband and I really liked the little exhibit about the world's water supply & clever inventions for de-salinating water and carrying it to remote villages and capturing rainfall for the garden.

We tried taking a family portrait. My camera has issues. I need a new camera. Do you hear that, Nikon, Olympus, Sony, Anyone? I've had this Samsung Digimax 301 for almost 5 years now and I'm done with it. The flash doesn't always work well and neither does the focus and I'm just plain DONE. Anyway, here's what our family portrait looks like when the camera's timer is failing. Isn't he sexy? No wonder we have so many kids.

Also of interest was the Submarine. There was one parked along the river. Being outside was wonderful, the weather had cleared up. I loved to see blackberries growing wild everywhere, it reminded me of Seattle. The kids found a snail, My oldest had a headache so she wasn't much fun. We ate Tuna sandwiches in the parking lot and went back to the hotel so the kids could swim some more. I wished we had done more sightseeing. I did get to swim, it was so very nice and relaxing. Baby enjoyed the water, so did the other kids.

We Made it to the hotel

2008-06-02T22:14:00.000-07:00

We made it to the Comfort Suites Portland. The Drive was beautiful. Here's a shot from Multnomah falls. It rained the whole way here. I didn't check the weather before we left, but I did tell the kids to pack something warm. I'm sure they didn't. My husband thinks it's a sign of bad parenting if the kids are shivering without a coat. I think that forgetting to pack a coat when you were specifically TOLD to pack a coat is a logical consequence. Next time, I'll bet they pack a coat. What is it about road trips that makes us want to eat during the ENTIRE DRIVE? I swear, it's like a disease. It's a good thing I packed semi-healthy snacks.

The hotel- OK so far, we're just barely checked in. There seem to be a lot of kids here. I'm anxious to meet some of the moms I've made friends with online. Kids want to go swimming right away, the pool is full of kids. I wonder how many families are on this trip.

Portland Homeschoolers Field Trip

2008-06-02T10:05:00.000-07:00

Today is the day. Here's the plan:

Check into hotel tonight- the Comfort Suites Portland Airport- pick up our Attractions Pass early in the morning and spend the 3rd at OMSI, the 4th at the Zoo and the 5th at the History Center.

The Attractions Pass actually has like 10 places we can go. We hope to hit the Children's Museum, the Pittock Mansion, the Art Museum and the World Forestry Center Discovery Museum.

See you there!

5 more days 'til Portland

2008-05-27T13:21:00.000-07:00

I was planning on buying diaper covers at a real diaper store in Portland, but I opted instead to buy them from a mom online. At the diaper store they would have been $5-$6 each (pull-ons, vinyl) but I was able to get instead 18 for about $20 and that included the shipping. Darn it- I liked the idea of visiting a real cloth diaper store, but the price couldn't be beat. There is a Steve & Barry's in Vancouver, though- but I don't think we'll be going, except that I'd like to. For whatever that's worth. I thought there was an AMC Theater in Portland, because we have this gift card and a few coupons for AMC but alas, the nearest ones are in the Seattle area. No such luck.

So- today I will continue to pack a week-long vacation bag, making sure that everyone has swimsuits, socks 7 shoes and everything else we need for our trip. How do John & Kate travel with their 8? I saw last week, they went to Utah, John & the kids went skiing and Kate went to the Spa. Amen, kate. You rock.

Yesterday, they went to see Oprah. Aunt Judy cracked me up. See, I've always known I'd meet Oprah, too. So when I get my call, I will be just as goofy as Aunt Judy. Just wait and see.

For now- we'll get ready for our trip. In 5 days. And thank heaven we're not traveling with 6 identical three year olds.

Use This car for free & they pay for the gas

2008-05-20T07:36:00.001-07:00

Sound too good to be true? I found an agency that helps match cars with drivers. All you do is check the list to see where cars need to go from your area. Each car comes with a full tank of gas and most also come with a fuel allowance (although not always enough for the trip. I saw an F150 that needed to go from Portland to Texas for $100- Imagine that! Currently, Gas is almost $4 a gallon. $100 won't get you far. Anyhow- here's the list of cars and destinations, you'll figure it out! Have fun.

travel with teenager

2008-05-14T09:16:00.000-07:00

traveling with my moody 14 yr old isn't something I am looking forward to. maybe she's just moody this week. generally speaking, she's not moody. every once a month though she drives me nuts. Maybe I'm more sensitive to it once a month. She'd freak out if she knew I was posting this. Especially this week. generally, though she's an angel, very helpful and sweet and funny and lovable. She's also upset that we're moving. I moved when I was 14, too and I was so mad about it. You just don't realize how short life is at that age. I can't tell her that, though. And she'll never believe that I understand her, either. Whatever- the trip will be good for her.

marriage

2008-05-11T09:13:00.000-07:00

wow- he decides to film a travel video and look how much work i have to put into planning, it would be easier just to stay home, but lazy isn't my style. I wonder if I pretend I"m not considering all these details if he will begin to decide he has to think about things like food and what the kids will do to occupy themselves. No- he'd just get a tv for the car (or six of them) and buy fast food every day. He's more of a rock star than I am. I'm more like the indy singer. Except I can't sing. my oldest daughter can. she just got back from a bus tour to Portland, I should post pictures of multnomah falls, she had a great time.

food & drinks

2008-05-09T09:08:00.000-07:00

I have a terrible problem with eating in the car on a long trip. I pig out. I could eat the entire time. Of course, last big road trip I took I was 7 months pregnant, so maybe it's not as bad as I thought. Still, I don't want to spend a fortune on food and I don't want to starve. I think we'll bulk-buy a lot of snacks before we leave and keep a cooler full of sandwich making supplies. We'll eat out less if we have access to camping cookware, I think I"ll start hitting yard sales to acquire a cook-stove and things like that. Will we have access to running water at all times? I don't know. I don't want to use disposable dishes, maybe we can select foods that don't require utensils...... maybe we can each carry our own utensils and clean them with drinking water? we'll need a lot of bottled water, have you seen those new canteen bags? they're disposable but they take up a lot less space than the bottles. I wonder if they're biodegradable.

clothes?

2008-05-06T09:05:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking comfortable clothes, jeans and sweats. We won't be any place really cold- in fact, I guess we should be bringing shorts and swimsuits. I think if I limit our foods to things that don't make stains and try to have the kids be very clean when they are eating, things can be worn more than once. I just don't want to be all wrinkly and messy. When we're shooting, if the kids are in a scene, we need to have something that's... cute and not holey or stained. It's not a fashion show, but these things do need to be considered. So many things to consider...

Car-Schooling

2008-05-04T09:02:00.000-07:00

If you have any copies of any educational books on CD that you don't want, sent them my way, please.

Mrs Hannigan
PO Box 11036
Yakima, WA 98902

Books are heavy, and books on CD take up less space, and we can listen to them in the car and learn while we're driving. We will be taking books, but mostly field guides to animals, flowers and insects. I'm hoping to find an ethnobotany book, too. I love learning about how native people used plants. We're also bringing math books (the kids are thrilled- just kidding)

Should we put a TV in the bus?

2008-05-02T08:58:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking no way. Part of the reason we're taking this trip is for education, and what will they learn watching spongebob when the world is right outside their window. We'll have all the laptop computers, so they could conceivably watch a DVD or streaming online video content if we have a connection. I think I'd rather use the kids use their minds and bodies helping with the production and exploring the areas we're shooting instead of watching TV. We'll have school work and books to read if they get bored. Also, they'll be able to draw or write or something, to. This trip is about getting away, and TV would ruin it. I know I'll have to argue a bit with my husband on this, he thinks we should have a TV in the car for trips around town, too- he's all for the idea. It's a good thing we don't disagree more often.

More about biodiesel

2008-04-30T08:42:00.000-07:00

OK so maybe we don't need 2 biodiesel campers, one can be a bus. I'd like to convert one of those tourbuses, like a rock star. OMG then I'd be more of a rock star than Fussy! Talk about going to great lengths to outdo someone, although there really is more to it than that, isn't there. Anyhow, so we're preparing to travel around in a bus with our 6 kids and a video production crew for 2-3 months. The first thing we need to do (OK one of the million things we need to do) is find a bus and convert it to biodiesel,or veggie oil there's a conversion kit that runs around $1000 and then of course, we need to find the diesel vehicle we'll be converting. Attention- if you own a biodiesel bus company and would consider loaning us one we'd treat it very nicely. And you'll get some press from it, too. Not only will I thank you to high heaven here on this blog, but we'll edit it into the opening credits of the travel documentary we're making for PBS and the children's travel show we're making for Discovery Kids. Not that discovery kids knows this, but whatever, they don't need to know just yet. PBS knows about the travel thing, though- and our first episode is seling wonderfully to the libraries and to the wineries. SO- here's my link to a company that makes converter kits for diesel engines. Hopefully they will notice a ton of traffic flooding in to them through this link and they'll come here to check it out and say to themselves "By golly, I'd love to send them 2 free biodiesel tour buses. Go ahead, keep them. And God bless you, green travel goddess." Golden Fuel Systems ansd there's also Greasecar Systems and Frybrid Diesel/Vegetable Oil

Hiking with seven 11 yr olds

2008-04-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

That's what I'll be doing this June. Any advice? The girls have all decided to spend a day in the mountains. Actually to be honest, they wanted to camp overnight but the whole idea just sounds way too dirty for me, and neither of us Girl Scout Troop leaders has or wants to get our outdoor training, so we're going to use our mom-mind-powers to get the girls to decide they'd rather go up for the day, and buy matching T-shirts with the proceeds from their cookie sale.

So- we can still do the camp fire, roast marshmallows, play in the woods and in the lake, and get just as dirty as we wanna get, but we don't have to sleep that way and we don't need to get a special license from the Girl Scouts.

toddler destroys ancient art with sippy cup.

2008-04-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share a delightful article about traveling with children. I was hooked the minute the child threw her sippy cup at the world famous painting. Anyhow, it's a great read on flexibility while traveling with children. Something I'm going to need a lot of soon. Enjoy the article

We need two Biodiesel Campers

2008-04-22T23:43:00.000-07:00

Strange thing to need, isn't it but my task tomorrow is to start to learn about such things. This travel documentary we started filming only 6 years ago, before our wonderful detour, is just about finished and we're doing a feasibility study now of spending a few months on the road filming more cities. While I love the idea of touring around for a little while, like a band of gypsies, and sharing space with 6 kids and a dog is really just part of life; sharing space with a mobile film studio does not sound like much fun. So if you want to teach me about biodiesel campers or some other form of green transportation for like a gigantic camper- please spare me the research and just send me a link, OK. If someone donates the vehicle, there will be shots of it all though the video.