The Toy Box Years: Road Trip!!!

The Creators of the Toy Box Years

The creators of the Toy Box Years are my two beautiful daughters and wonderful, handsome soldier husband.

"Nani" (our oldest) is a 11 year old 6th grader who loves Taylor Swift, ballet, books, fashion designing and sewing. Ask her what she wants to be when she grows up and it changes daily to anything from "an artist" to "a teacher" to "a singer/dancer". Nani is also currently fighting a battle against brain cancer -- recently diagnosed in June 2016.

"Nudgie" (our youngest) is a very smiley, very happy, very giggly, very spirited 8 year old 3rd Grader who's favorite toys are anything that gives mommy an anxiety attack - ladders, stepstools, the climbing wall at the playground. Like her sister, she has a love of reading and coloring, loves gymnastics and still provides mommy lots of snuggle time!

"My Marine" is my high school sweetheart. We've been married over 20 years and met when we were 17. (You do the math....) His favorite toys are Blackhawk helicopters, the lawnmower, our steam cleaner, and microbrew beer bottles. My husband is also my hero in that he proudly serves his country as a Blackhawk crew chief (hence his favorite toy!). And need I say that there is nothing hotter than my man in uniform!

All About Me......

Once upon a time I had a career and worked in the corporate world. Once upon a time, I dreamed about leaving that all behind to follow my true calling -- being a wife and mommy.

The first part of my calling was fulfilled in 1995 when I married my Marine (now soldier) and my love. Little did I know that being a military wife would change me in so many ways and that because of that, I would have an extended family all over the world from Japan, to California, to North Carolina.

The second part of my calling took a little doing, but I finally achieved that dream in 2004 with the birth of our first child, followed 4 years later by her baby sister.

So now, when someone asks me what I do for a living - I simply smile and say proudly that I'm following my calling - I'm a mommy and a wife -- and I couldn't be HAPPIER -- I'm living in the Toy Box Years!!

Road Trip!!!

>> Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Ever since we moved to Colorado, in the summer we try to make it a habit of taking one weekend a month and doing, what we like to call, a field trip. We'll pack a cooler with snacks, charge the camera, pull out the map, and jump into the car and drive. We've seen some beautiful parts of our state this way -- and have had some clunkers too.

We're trying to plan some fun stuff for this summer, and I came across this neat website while reading a back issue of Scholastic's Parent and Child magazine. The website was Trip Advisor/Tank of Gas.

By using this website, you're able to find destinations just a gas tank away from your hometown.

When you go to the site, you'll put in your starting point and then select whether you'll have a full tank, half tank or quarter tank of gas.

On the next page, you'll get destination suggestions, local attractions, and the estimated mileage.

We're certainly going to be utilizing this for our "field trips" this summer!

5 comments:

Christy April 20, 2010 at 7:24 AM: Oh my gosh! What an awesome site, thanks for sharing! Road trips are the language I speak! I can't wait to utilize this advice. :O)
Joshlin April 20, 2010 at 7:48 AM: Thanks for this great tip! The site sounds like it would really help when we are trying to save money and do something fun!!

I wanted to let you know that you have an award over at my place. Come on over and visit!

http://asavingmomssanity.blogspot.com/2010/04/happy-happy-day.html
Erin April 20, 2010 at 8:52 AM: Cool, thanks for the site. I know our local paper does an article occasionally about tank a gas trips, but this is better. Thanks for finding it!
One Photo April 20, 2010 at 8:53 AM: My latest post is about my determination to get out and about in nature more, so I am definitely going to check out this site, thank you! We have not done road trips with our daughter but I think this is the year to start. Can't wait to start planning!
Karen April 20, 2010 at 10:04 AM: That is a great site. Very informative. I found one that was similar that does the gas mileage and cost, with gas on the rise (over $3 a gallon here) it'll come in handy for a quick roadtrip.

Great blog. Visiting and following from MBC. Have a great day.