The De Jager Family’s RTW Adventure

I can’t believe we have been on the road for four weeks.  I find myself trying to remember everything and then panicking when I think I have forgotten something.

Tatey got the chicken pox today.  But we’re not stressed.  All we have to do is keep him comfy and away from the other children for about five days and then we’re home and dry (as long as Torien doesn’t get it :-()  He is for the most part still incredibly cheerful, if a tad on the snotty side.

We are loving the RV – although the driving has been pretty hard on Torien.  We have travelled about 3000 miles so far and seen many, many places.

Last week we visited Graceland – this is without doubt one of the most memorable experiences of my life.  I felt a little foolish walking around with a tissue but I found the tour moving and so very, very enjoyable.  We stopped later that evening in Beale Street in downtown Memphis for a meal – it’s a really vibrant and amazing town.

After Memphis we drove a mammoth 1000+ miles over two days to get to Santa Fe in New Mexico.  Wow, this place is amazing and so different to the lush, humid south.  We’ll spend a few more days here and then head off to the Grand Canyon and then onto LA for a Disneyland and Theme Park extravaganza.

I won’t lie and say it hasn’t been stressful at times but I’d not change one single thing.  We are learning coping techniques for dealing with a stroppy five year old and have learned (very quickly) that the best time for travelling with little children is in the early hours of the morning when they are sleeping.

If you ever wondered what it would be like to do this, take a chance.  I promise you will not be disappointed.

I’ll be back after Disney.

Stella (aka dejags)

So we fetched the RV on Saturday the 13th.  Great stuff, I hear you say.  Well that’s what we thought until we attempted to leave Long Island and get into New Jersey.  We have never encountered worse roads, worse traffic, highways that you get stuck on.  We got given directions to get to the Verizano Bridge to cross from LI to NJ.  The cab driver who gave them to us forget to mention that the main road we were to use was for vehicles no higher than 10ft.  Our RV measures up at 12ft – it was a hair-raising Griswaldish (National Lampoons Vacation) experience.  But we survived.

We have since got used to the RV – it’s fairly spacious and we are comfy and more importantly so are the kids.  Well they were until…

Caelan developed Chicken Pox!!!  Tate is just coming down with it and Torien has never had it, so will in all likelihood get it too.  Poor old Cael spent his 5th birthday miserable as sin, covered in a zillion blisters and trying his best to put on a brave face.

We are still having a great time though.  We visited Washington DC, and today have driven to the more westerly part of Virginia (Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive) – it’s an absolutely stunning part of the world and what’s more, the camp we are staying in has WIFI :-).

Everything is good, although the kids are ill, we are handling things just fine.  The park we are staying in for the next few days is breathtakingly beautiful.

The end-of-day Budweiser has been a little more appreciated than usual over the past few days but I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world.

Signing off for now.

Stellx

In the last 48 hours we have seen:

Downtown (three times) including everything below Times Square, been to see the Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, Brooklyn at night, the Empire State Building and to be honest I am now well and truly knackered and had my fill of Roof Top Bus Tours.

It has been another amazing day for our kids – they have enjoyed the day with us far more than I ever imagined that they could or would.  We took the children to Toys R Us on Times Square this morning to buy a gift for them with unused birthday and xmas money.  Caelan chose a Starwars Light Sabre and Tate chose (or we chose for him) some building blocks and a talking book.  I took them on the indoor ferris wheel – it was expensive at $12 for three tickets but worth it.

We were out and about for thirteen hours today.  There wasn’t one tear or tantrum which had absolutely nothing to do with good or lucky management but rather two amazing little boys.  I looked at our oldest tonight, happily playing with his light sabre on the tour bus and I actually shed a tear – I am so proud of him.

Ok, gush over.  We are off on Saturday  morning to fetch our RV (in some far flung part of Long Island.  Will update from tehre.