The End...

What a summer! We just can't believe how amazing this trip was. Before we left, we both wanted to make sure we saw the coolest places and gave the kids a chance to see everything they wanted to see. Looking back, the coolest place for us was everywhere...being together as a family, it didn't matter where we were. From rainy nights playing Rummikub to the busy busy New York to just hanging out in the mountains, we had fun just being together. Darin has decided this is a once in a lifetime experience that everyone should experience. In conclusion, we've decided that life is too short to kill yourself, work 60 hours a week, bark at your kids, and obsess over the material things in life. As we have been busy getting everything settled in Charlotte, I've just gotten around to finishing this log. My next challenge is to convince Darin that we can't stay on vacation forever!

P.S. Every time we see an RV drive by on the road, we wish we were back on "The Trip!"

All set in our new uniforms!

Back to reality (at least for the kids) - breakfast on the first day of school

The final count - 8948 miles!

Darin is reunited with his baby!

Enjoying Mimi's new boat!

We love Uncle Darin!

Carlie is SOOO beautiful!

Lynelle and David

Ryan enjoying unemployment like his Uncle Darin!

All the cousins enjoying the lake

Wrapping up the trip in the mountains

After a brief stopover at the house in Charlotte, we headed for Darin's family's home in Lake Lure, North Carolina. This has become an annual trip for us, and we were blessed to have a good number of our cousins join us this year. We filled our days with teaching Casey and Beau to ski, along with Courtney, Matthew, Nicolas and even Aunt Dawn! All the kids enjoyed getting pulled on the tube by a ruthless Uncle Darin. One of our best days was playing on the beach with everyone - at least until the rain came! As usual, Aunt Lisa helped keep us well fed and all the adults enjoyed games of Scrabble and golf cart rides. Carlie had her first swimming pool dip, and loved it. Of course, the week ended way too soon and we headed back to Charlotte...and REALITY???

Crabs on the Maryland shore...still roughing it!

We wanted a place to camp near the water, and we found it at Assateague State Park in Maryland. Our campsite was just over the dunes from the ocean, and though the weather was overcast the kids played and played in the ocean, jumping the waves and having a great time! We stopped and picked up some Maryland blue crabs for dinner, and Darin cooked them up for a wonderful feast! One interesting note on Assateague...there are wild ponies that will walk through the campsites...we only saw a couple but it was pretty cool. We could have stayed at the beach much longer, but we decided to try our hand at crabbing. After trying for a little while, Nicole scored a couple of small crabs. The kids tied their chicken necks to a string and were able to get a couple crabs crawling up but couldn't quite catch them. The kids wanted to crab longer, but we had to get to DC...what a fun stop this was!

Recovering from the flight simulator!

Catching an Orioles game

Resting between monuments!

Sightseeing in DC

Nicole attempts to catch us dinner!

Job? What job?

Jumping the waves!

Assateague State Park, Maryland

Wild ponies at Assateague

Visiting with Grace and Hunter in Maryland

8000 miles!

Nicole joins us...we head for Philly!

After a few travel troubles, Nicole made it to Newburgh, NY to spend our last week on the road with us. Courtney and Matthew popped out of bed for a change, both excited that their cousin was coming. We had some trouble parking in Philadelphia, but finally found a bus lot and consulted a local fireman for a recommendation on a Philly cheesesteak spot. Those fireman are always dependable...we enjoyed some yummy hoagies and headed for the Liberty Bell. We got as much education in as summer vacation will allow, but the kids seemed a little more interested in heading to the beach, so we drove a little south, and stopped at a state park in Delaware. It was a beautiful campground...Nicole pulled out the cabbageball and found a makeshift bat so we could enjoy a little game while Darin cooked up some burgers. A couple games of Rummikub before bed...to the beach tomorrow!

Getting a little history in...

Enjoying cheesesteak in Philly!

In front of Trump International

Matthew gets Carlie a Wiggles hat!

Dad and kids in NY

On the Miss Liberty

World Trade Center memorial

A 'Wicked' time in New York City!

After leaving the RV at a friend's house, we hopped on the train headed for Trump International to enjoy a couple of days in New York. We caught some of the touristy stuff, the World Trade Center, Statue of Liberty, etc. In typical kid fashion, Matthew and Courtney were most interested in hitting the hotel pool! But, the definite highlight of our trip was the play 'Wicked'. Both the kids and adults were mesmerized by the story of Oz before Dorothy arrived...it was truly an awesome show! Wednesday morning we got up early to catch the Today show, complete with a performance from 'The Wiggles'. A little too young for our kids, but we all enjoyed seeing Matt, Katie and Al up close. After hitting the pool one more time, we headed out for a little shopping and back to the train. The kids really enjoyed New York, and we will surely be headed back for a return visit!

Courtney is NOT happy that Carl Edwards loses to Kurt Busch!

While Lynelle and Courtney enjoy it from the view of the front seat of the RV!

Darin and Matthew watch the race from the top of the neighbor's RV

Our star sighting...Mario Batali of the Food Network

Darin and Matthew learn the ropes of washerboard

Zoom, zoom, zoom!

We arrived for the Pennsylvania 500 in the Poconos and were very happy with our ebay ticket purchase of a trackside RV spot. We soon learned that all of our neighbors had been doing this for some years, and were professionals. They quickly welcomed us into their game of washerboards, similar to horseshoes, and also shared their grills, RV roofs, etc. We were relaxing enjoying some people watching when Darin spotted Mario Batali, star of the Food Network, driving by on a golf cart in his signature orange shoes and turquoise socks. Other kids may not be excited by this, but ours are food network junkies, so they were quite pumped. Courtney waited for Mario's return and caught a quick picture of him, very pleased with herself! Raceday came, and the boys watched from the top of the neighbor's RV, while the girls enjoyed the quiet and convenience of watching from the front seat, with the TV on to show us the rest of the track. Kurt Busch pulled out the win, much to Courtney's dismay, since she has adopted Carl Edwards as her favorite driver (hey, if you live in Charlotte you have to have one, right??). We enjoyed the race, but we were all excited to head to New York City, so off we went!

Hershey Park

Matthew's a Twizzler, Courtney's a Jolly Rancher!

We arrived in Hershey, PA around mid day and got settled into the Hershey Highmeadows campground, about a mile from the park. Darin registered us and came out with a big treat - a huge Hershey Special Dark bar, Lynelle's favorite! What a guy! A friend had given us the scoop on the to dos in Hershey, so we took in the 3D movie and the Chocolate Tour, which were great. Heading over to the park around 5, we checked out the map of rides. In this park, your height determines what rides you can go on, and each level is a candy...thus Courtney was Jolly Rancher, Matthew a Twizzler! We hit almost every roller coaster, and Matthew convinced Courtney to go on the first water ride. Once they were soaked through and through, they hit the remaining 3 water rides before it was time to go. Our favorite was a roller coaster where spectators on the ground could shoot water up at the people on the ride. Darin and Lynelle waited patiently for the kids to get on the ride, then Darin expertly douced them with the water guns!

One of the tamer rides...

Outback and WalMart

As we have done many times, we began heading in a direction, figuring we'll find somewhere to stay. Well, for those of you who may be wondering, there is really nowhere to camp in southwestern Connecticut. This has not happened a whole lot, so we resorted to plan B...found a WalMart! If anyone isn't up on the RV world, most Wal Marts allow RVs to spend the night in their parking lots...very convenient in a pinch! Since we had drive much farther than originally anticipated, we were all a bit hungry. We decided to break our 'no eating at chain restaurant rule' and enjoy a steak from Outback. With our bellies full, we headed to our home sweet parking lot and got some rest. Off to chocolate world tomorrow!

At the Cape Cod National Seashore

Sandwich and the Cape

At the recommendation of our new campground friends, we spent the evening at a campground in Sandwich, MA. It was a quick stop but moved us along to our destination, which was the ocean side of Cape Cod. We had a yummy lunch at a local spot - the Yardarm, enjoying some more clam chowder and their own brew of root beer and lemonade. We found a parking lot for the RV and boarded the shuttle for the Coast Guard beach on the Cape. The place was packed, but we found a nice spot on the beach. The kids headed for the sandbar that everyone seemed to enjoy jumping the waves on. We were a little hesitant about them being far from shore, so Darin was a good daddy and headed into the 58 degree water so the kids could enjoy the surf. The time at the beach flew by and it was time to head towards Pennsylvania...off we went!