Separate Paths

Today, Monday, marks the start of the 4th part of our Westward Adventure - The Split.

• Stage 1:  Sell House (box everything up, don't make a mess and certainly DO NOT fingerprint the windows)
• Stage 2:  Ohio (you've read the blog, you know we've been there)
• Stage 3:  St Louis / Weddings - there are blog postings to be written
• Stage 4:  The Split - Wisconsin for the 3 of us; house hunting for Dad
• Stage 5:  Reunited - In Wisconsin full of many hugs in (estimated date: June)
• Stage 6:  South Dakota (estimated date: mid June, hopefully)
• Stage 7:  Montana and beyond (estimated date: later in June)
• Stage 8:  Arrive in Portland (estimated date: Finally)

  

  Dad's sidewalk chalk map of our journey featuring all of the major destinations

Our time in stage 3 of our adventure has been marked by a roller coaster of events (that was Dad's phrasing).  Stage 3 ends with the same impact - excitement to move on and see Nana + Papa, but sadness to leave Grandma, Grandpa and the ton of people we have seen in St Louis, and sadness to be separated from Dad who is heading to Portland to buy a house.  While we will get to see him through the phone, I have been enjoying seeing him everyday (even if he was distracted by "job stuff"). 

Dad, here are my requirements for a new house (just for reference, we have already discussed them):

1. A Blue house (because blue houses are cool)
2. A garage (I just want one)
3. A basement full of toys (self explanatory)
4. Amelia wants either a hot air balloon or a monkey room (I vote a monkey room, but it may be tough to find a house with one already)
5. Also, please buy a house that has neighbors, so my Alexandria friends can move next door

Onward to Wisconsin!
Phin

PS - We love receiving mail, so please send it to me at my Nana and Papa's house (mom can give you the address)

Oregon Trail - Lisa & Doug's Wedding

There are only two commitments we have on our road trip - 1) Cousin Lisa & Doug's wedding, 2) Aunt Mimi & Uncle Wes' wedding.  Luckily, both are in St Louis and both are just weeks apart. 

With Uncle David's wedding just a month+ ago, I am quickly becoming a pro at attending/being apart of weddings.  I bet by the end of the summer, I could run a "being in a wedding" class for all of my friends.  Unfortunately, it will have to be a video conference class, since all of my friends will be on the other side of the country (in DC).

Cousin Lisa & Doug's wedding was so much fun.  We got to dress up in a lot of pretty and fancy clothes...

They had a special party room for people who got dressed up.  Check out all of this food!  Mom and Dad let me eat as much as I wanted to.  Amelia liked to try one bite of everything (before putting it back in the tray/bowl).

We also had to stand still and smile a lot while we had our pictures taken.  Amelia is still working on the smiling part, and I am still practicing standing still.

One of the best parts of the wedding ceremony was that I got to walk down the aisle holding my cousin Tyler's hand.  I was supposed to hold Amelia's hand, but she cried the entire time and had to walk down the aisle with mommy (it was just a little awkward and funny).

After she kept crying (it was late for her), Amelia had to watch the ceremony from the other room with Dad.  Dad said they still had a great time and had one of the best views.

You can check out all of the photos (that are about me) from Lisa and Doug's wedding here.

Peace Out,
Phin

Lorain, I wish they called it NoRain, because it rained most of the time

Stop #2 on the Oregon trail led us a little out of the way on the map, but brought us some "super fun" (according to MeMoo).

 

With a little navigating help from Amelia and I, we made it safely from the center of Ohio to Lorain (home of our friends Stella and Jack) - a little bit outside of Cleveland along the big lake (but not the same lake big Nana & Papa live near - so many lakes). 

Ohio is full of lots of cool things, like car factories, friends, trains and couches next to the road.  Dad thought it would be funny to sit on the couch and watch the cars go by.  I thought he was being silly, since it just finished raining.

Either way, we had a lot of fun in Lorain - Stella and Jack had a cool backyard with a swing set and we ate dinner by the lake in our own private dining room (which was great because no one cared that we ran around while we waited for dinner).  The next day, we went to Vermilion, OH where I saw train tracks, a light house store, and a freight train.  Oh, and mom saw another friend from college - it was a mini college reunion.

The reunion tour

Waiting for the train - which only came after I left the station. Phooey.

Due to a last minute change of plans, we only spent 1 night in Lorain.  On our way out of town, we stopped to break out the selfie stick and have dinner with Rafi and Leon (in addition to Stella, Jack, and their Mom).  Rafi taught me how to play rock-paper-scissors on the phone; he was also fascinated with the selfie stick.

You can check out all of my Lorain/Cleveland photos here.  Next stop - Cousin Lisa's wedding in St Louis.

Peace Out,
Phin

Oregon Trails - First Stop Dublin/Columbus, OH!

This post is nearly a month overdue, but as you can imagine, finding a reliable internet signal is tough when you are on a covered wagon in the middle of the country.

Departing under the cover of daylight, we headed west to our first stop.  Using well traveled dirt roads (and interstates), we made our first encampment in the lovely city of Dublin, OH.  Dublin, just outside of Columbus, is home to Wendy's, Jack Hanna (neither of which we saw) and our friends Ally and Ian. 

This picture is us playing in Ally and Ian's basement

Dublin is also home to a skate park - where I got to test my skills and go up and down some ramps... check out the video below.  Dad captured this video while I was just exploring; after a few minutes, I was taking some cool ramps, doing some grinding, and flipping off the high jumps.  Okay, I was not doing that yet, but I did do some really steep drop-ins and got stuck in a section that looked like a swimming pool.  I really loved it and look forward to visiting another skate park.


Mom thinks I'm going to be a pro-BMXer

After the park and Amelia's nap we had a great BBQ in Ally and Ian's back yard.  It was so exciting to have a friend with grass around their house!  In DC, no friends have a grass backyard (unless they live next to the park), just brick/wood patios.  Hopefully our Oregon house has a grassy backyard; I like grass.

The next morning, we hit the road for Cleveland, but not before stopping for lunch with our friends, the Dragins.

You can check out all of my Dublin/Columbus pictures here.

Peace Out,
Phin

The Great Line Up

We still need to assemble and post Ohio pictures, but this was too cute to delay sharing. 

One of the teachers at my school noticed that I like to line things up.  She suggested that I buy The Line Up Book (wow, you can get a used copy for only a penny, I could buy a few and line The Line Up Book up).  In this story, it is time for lunch and a boy (like me) decided to create an epic line of things through his house to the kitchen. 

Using that story as inspiration, MeMoo and I created an epic line-up through Grandma & Grandpa's house.  Dad estimated it was over 150 feet of cars, stuffed animals, books, art supplies, art projects, coasters (whatever those are), shoes, boots, Carebears...  Check out the video link below to see our entire line.

 

(email readers, click here or on the image to play the video)

Cannot watch online, click here to download to your machine 

 

 In case you are wondering, it was a lot to put away.

 

Peace out,

Phin & Amelia