Kansas heat...9/9 2013

So it's time to pack up and hit the road! We have a long trip a head of us. We are planning to drive around 2400 km...Missouri-Kansas-Colorado-Wyoming - Montana...and we're gonna take our time, stop whenever we feel for it...

We got ready in the morning, left Stella around 10, just before Jamies sleeping time. We are trying to drive when she needs to sleep, then we only have Natalie to entertain...N is usually good. We have alot for her to read and coloring books..And we also plan not to drive too many hours. Its better to stop and play around before they had enough of driving. That keeps everyone happier! 
Anyway we drove up to Joplin ,MO, before we head west on I 400 and in to Kansas. It was going to be a hot day. We ate a mexican lunch in Parsons..good but so much food. I 've learned to order small drinks, they are big enough!  Me and Natalie share one meal, and it's still plenty leftovers. Many people asks for doggy bags to bring food home, here it's nothing weird about that.

Since it was an extreme warm day (reached 100 F...) so over fever temperature.... we drove alot in the middle of the day and stopped to El dorado State Park and spent the late afternoon swimming at a Beach! in central Kansas... wonderful. Well kept place to stay, great playground by the lake, showers and we were almost alone there. A perfect way to end our day. We brought some food and ate outside before it was time for the girls to go night sleep in the car. We continued to Salina, slept in a motel American Inn (80USD) for all incl. a decent breakfast. Totally driving right at 450 km. 

I'm gonna try to put up pics and write more everytime I got internet access...

Over and out...

( Does anyone know a good way to put up a map on the blog where I can mark places we've been etc?? )

Lazy day...

From today's morning walk..

Today we just relaxed at Grandma Rhonda's place. The girls needed a days break after a lot of running around shopping and getting our car... We've had busy days in Branson, unfortunately our bad luck continued with a closed Silver Dollar City..( of course we should have checked that before, but its as unexpected as if Liseberg was closed in mid July...)

We spend a nice day at Table Rock Lake and at our beautiful resort! Sunshine, around 30 degrees- perfect day! And we went shopping at Tanger Outlet. As usually I didn't buy anything for me..just supercute outfits for the girls, mostly at Oshkosh and Carters for Jamie. I've bought a lot of clothes from them before and they are always good quality. Mom bought some Yankee candles. There's a big Yankee Candle store and its almost intoxicating to go in and smell...they have it all! I'm planning to buy a whole bunch in Montana.. After spending a couple of hours there, Natalie had enough...I can tell its a lot easier to go shop with two Grandmas that can keep the kids busy! But still not so much fun for a little girl. We also walked around a little downtown Branson. There's a nice walk by the river with shops..

 



Bass Pro Shop...

On the way back to Stella we stopped in Springfield and the huge Bass Pro Shop. It's like a store for all outdoor activities you can imagine. (They have everything except winter sport equipment.) And the interior is truly amazing with alive fishes, turtles etc. waterfalls, streams... you name it. Really kid friendly and impossible to describe, but the interior designers have put a lot of thoughts behind the décor.. It is a store I strongly recommend for everyone if you ever drive by and they have all top brand like North Face etc. Natalie loves it, unfortunately we were there pretty late so both girls started to be little too tired.

Yesterday we finally could go and buy the new car ( I'll put up pics later). It's a Ford Explorer 2009, pretty low miles and it's nice to drive! So now we can start to pack our car for the long drive to Montana. Car seats from Britax for the girls we bought online so they are here and already used. We are also going to rent a uhaul-trailer so we can put all bags, stroller, Natalies bike, Jareds fish equipment and stuff like that in. A medium sized one we rent here in Missouri and leave up in Montana. I don't know how much a similar cost to rent in Sweden, but I know I paid around 1000 SEK for a one day moving trailer from Gothenburg - Kristianstad. Now we pay around 350 dollars for 8 days.. We will probably need it more, but its like renting a car you can just call in for more days. Tomorrow we'll pack it all in and get ready to leave...exciting! We plan to drive in total around 2400 km. I'll tell you more about the roadtrip later...





New Blog, New Adventures, New Country...

Wow, it's been extremely busy weeks but we are finally here..
I'm gonna tell you the whole story another day!  Right now I just want to put up some pics from our first days in USA. Our adventure starts in Stella, Missouri, where we are going to spend a week with Jared's side of the family. I'm going to write in Swedish to, but it's easier when I can blog from my cellphone..

We had a good flight over with SAS, leaving Copenhagen in the afternoon, got lucky and upgraded from economy to economy extra hehe.. A little more space and one extra seat! That was necessary for an energized Jamie! We have been flying a lot and so far SAS has always been good! Flying with kids can be challenging most important is to keep calm, they're more likely to stay ok.(plan to have a lot of time at the airport!)..make sure they get some sleep, keep some emergency "surprises" in case of needed (both eatable and for activities like coloring books, stickers books..color pencils makes less mess than crayons) and let them suck on something during take off/landing...Both girls were really patient and easygoing almost, almost the whole trip. The only exception was when we finally landed in Missouri ( 20 h after leaving our house..)both girls were deep sleeping but we had to wake Natalie up to be able to carry all our hand luggage, so there we had a short crying moment... The trip took 21 h door-door...Sbg-cph-Chicago-Springfield-Stella. And we travelled with a 9 months baby and a becoming 4-year old, so to all families that hesitate just go!! It 'll be alright flying!

Oh, the "First flight kit" from Annika, Annika and Caroline was very useful! You're the best!! <3

 

 

Natalie was so eager to do it all "NOW mama..." the first day. She remembered a lot from last summer so we had to go ride, feed chickens, pick eggs before 8 o'clock first morning! Luckily for her the girls woke up around 3.30 so we had plenty of time. We went very early to buy a new bike for N,. She picked the absolutely most girly one...but it was her decision not much I could do...Price for the bike ( seems to be good quality) and a safe helmet was 100 $...it's always more fun to shop when it's a lot cheaper.. We promised N a new bike earlier this summer but thought it was a bit unnecessary to buy a new in Sweden for a few weeks.

This last week we have mostly been hanging around at home and visited great grandparents, some friends of J and we went shopping in Joplin. I didn,t buy so much this time (I'll put up pics of new ins later..) ,I gonna go back next week..its not so easy to go shop with N & J.  We also spend one day looking for a new car...we picked a good one, but we cant go get it until Tuesday or Wednesday. It's a Ford Explorer, black 2010. not a 0.4 l car but still better than a big pick up... ..

Oh ...To all beloved friends I didn't have a long talk with before we left, I'll be back November 5:th so see you then... ( and get Skype!)...