A Quick Hop Across The Pond

March 12, a day which will live in infamy: the day that James, Gordon, and Sara revealed a year long secret that Shelly Warren was going to London.  Do you KNOW what it's like to keep a YEAR LONG SUPER AWESOME secret?!?!?!  I can almost guarantee you do not.  She THOUGHT she was dropping Gordon and I off for our annual European vacation to which we would be visiting Iceland before driving to Dallas with her husband.  She. Was. Not.  I know, I know, you're wondering,  how did she have her passport?  How did she pack?  I'll tell you.  Jesus and three near sociopaths.  It makes sense in my head.  So, here we are at the airport as things are sinking in.  There was a lot of crying and smiling, and more crying, but I think this is where she really got it:

We boarded the plane for a 7 hour red eye:

When we landed, we took a cab to the rental car pick up spot.  They really are like in the movies!  James and I sat backwards and we jostled down the road on the left side with the driver behind ME!

We picked up the car and CAREFULLY drove (and driving is a story all of it's own) to Windsor. First of all, did you know everything in England is metric EXCEPT the speed limit?  50 MPH is a LOT different from 50 KPH.  Driving on the left is terrifying!  You don't just have to switch sides, you have to switch your spacial awareness four feet in a moving death trapl...er....car.  We made a quick stop at a pub got us breakfast and beer/cider, but more importantly, OUT OF THE CAR.

The royal crest adorned the ceiling of the restaurant.

After some duck pate, we were ready to start exploring.  She looks, happy, right?

Windsor Castle was BEAUTIFUL.  The weather was cool and crisp as we walked the grounds.  

Windsor Castle is still one of the Royal Families main residencies.  The Church they attend is inside the gates.  We walked in as an orchestra and choir were rehearsing.  There were truly no words to express the beauty of the building and the music within.

Windsor Castle is also the home of the oldest Tudor castle in the UK!

We could have spent DAYS, just touring the castle.  We were jet lagged, tired, and dreading the 45 mile drive to our hotel.  

We came back to our rental car and received our first UK souvenir, a parking ticket!  Apparently, even the parking signs are polite.  When we asked the meter maid about the ticket, he apologized, and recommended we stay parked there for free for the rest of the day.  Toto, we weren't in Kansas anymore!  We found it rather humorous that the rental agency gave us a Cactus.  Do you think they were politely mocking our Texas origins?

We took the M4, on the left side of the road, with Gordon on the right, with the stick shift on the left down to Lingfield Surry where we were staying.  Jet Lag, Stay Away!  The WarNigs have things to see!

I'm gonna make you an offer you can't refuse....

My moms side of the family are great historians.  They have tracked our families history for generations.  It's been really neat to follow my roots.  My dads side....well, the closest I've gotten to the history of my dads side is a book called Louisiana Power and Light.  It's not exactly a flattering rendition of my history.  Monroe, Louisiana is where the Fontana family settled after immigrating from Sicily, and since we were close, I thought, what the heck, lets go see what there is to see.

Being good Sicilians, they were all Catholic, and Catholics keep GOOOOOD records!  I got a hold of the perish in Monroe, and I hit the jackpot!  I found birth records, baptisms, deaths, marriages...  It may not seem all THAT exciting, but for me?  Well, I'm a huge nerd, and LOVE research, so this was a big deal for me.  Plus, I was able to peek into the lives of my ancestors, and start in depth ancestry documentation.  I hope to one day obtain a dual citizenship to Italy.  Look for Dominic and Lena Fontana (my great grand parents), and Mary Fontana (my dad's mom).  Pretty neat stuff!

From Monroe, we headed for home.  We were able to surprise Gordon a day early!  Travel is fantastic, but it was good to be back home.

40 Essential Items for a Three Week Road Trip

The 40 Essential Items to 24 Days on the Road with Your Kids

ie:  The Packing List

9 days from right now, I'll be taking off with four kids (ages 19, 10, 7, and 3, and picking up an 18 year old along the way) on a grand adventure of a road trip.  We'll be visiting 15 states in 21 days and camping in our tent AND in our van!  See the pics below for our setup.  So, here's the conundrum: I have to be able to fit everything from the trunk in the front two seats for sleeping when we aren't tenting it.  Here, I'll show you....

This is the layout of the van.  See the trunk space?  See the front seat space?  Well, the whole list of stuff, minus the air mattress, sleeping bags and pillows need to go from the back.......................

to in between the front seat and the dash.  This includes Annika's car seat.  So I'm posting my list to make sure I didn't forget anything, or maybe even skinny it down!  We've done it for two years running.  Next year, we'll be flying to Alaska and Hawaii, so I'll have a whole NEW set of problems....HAHA!  #camperproblems Please comment and FOLLOW!

1.  Air Mattress
2. Sleeping Bags x4
3. Pillows
4. Cooler with Ice
5. Fresh Food
6. Dehydrated Food
7. WATER
8. 2 pair long pants each
9. 3 pair shorts each
10. 5 pair underwear each
11. 5 t-shirts each
12. 1 sweatshirt/jacket each
13. 1 pair tennis shoes each
14. 1 pair Sandals each
15. 5 pair socks each
16. 1 swim suit each
17. 1 towel each
18. 2 pair jammies each
19. deodorant
20. shampoo
21. conditioner
22. body wash
23. toothbrushes
24. toothpaste
25. face wash
26. moisturizer
27. Sunscreen
28. Bug spray
29. Benadryl/Motrin/tylenol/valium
30. money
31. MOVIES
32. BOOKS
33. Emergency Kit
34. Atlas
35. Computer/Charger
36. Cell phones/charger
37. Tent
38. Tarp
39. Stove
40. Baby Back Pack

Car Camping:

 

Tent Camping:

When we went to Greece...only it was Nashville

We started from Kentucky to Monroe, LA,  but had a very important stop to make.  Jacob and Jenna Walker are two of the coolest people we know.  Seriously, I'm not even sure how they stay friends with old, boring people like us.  They are fantastic musicians, photographers, swing dancers, and parents.  You can check out some of their music here.  They moved to Nashville a few years ago, and we miss them, so it was fantastic to get to grab some lunch with them and their sweet daughter, Nora June!  Annika LOVED her pink boots!

We ate an amazing lunch at a local taco place, caught up, and departed.  We were casually flowing with traffic when we saw a sign.  It read "Parthenon - Next Exit".  Truth be told, I get confused pretty easily, but this one threw me over the edge.  I'm not a super smart girl, but the Parthenon is in GREECE (I had to google that since I get the Parthenon and the Pantheon mixed up).  Hook, line, and sinker, we exited.  I'll be dadblamed, there it was!  In Nashville, TN.  

The full scale replica wasn't open (closed on Tuesdays), but we spent some time looking at the architecture and talking about the history of the structure and how it in no way relates to Nashville.  Whatever.  Still a cool find!

It was hotter than snot, and we still had to make it to Monroe, Louisiana which is 7.5 hours from Nashville, so we head West on I-40.  I knew we had friends headed to Virginia that day, so I called them to see if we were anywhere close to being on the same rout.  They had had some changes in plans, and happened to be on I-40 East and had left Memphis!  We opted to meet up for a cup of coffee at a gas station.  Siri was ecstatic to see her friend Aubrey!

We made it a lunch stop.  Peanut Butter and Jelly down the hatch while mom filled up on gas, and we were back on the road.

Spelunking, kind of.

 

From Illinois, we were in the home stretch.  Kentucky was the next stop south.  On our adventures, we've been as high as Pikes Peak, and now we descended into the pits of the earth.  We arrived at Mammoth Caves National Park too late to score a tradition site, but we had enough in our party to qualify for a group camp site.  The coolest part of our site? The car ferry!  The kids LOVED looking out he windows at the pulley system towing our van across the stream.

The next day, we ventured to the park, being some of the first in line for tours.  Can I just brag on my kids for a sec?  After 27 days of camping, they were still overjoyed at the thought of two cave tours, several miles long.  Their desire and drive to explore and learn overweighs any homesickness and fatigue.  I LOVE these kids!!!

 

The tours took two different days with a sleep in between.  We got to see...

 

The Bottomless Pit

 

Cave Curtains 

 

And SOOO many stalactites and stalactmites!

 

My little family is amazingly resourceful.  A tent, a van, some wood, and marshmallows, and we're having a grand old time!

Here's the set up!

 

Only a few days until our vacation ended.  One more stop before home....Next up, NASHVILLE!