Camping with Preschoolers...help?

I got home from storytime at the library with Kaitlyn to find my husband with various diagrams and lists and maps spread in front of him at the kitchen table.  I knew what this was in an instant.  This was a pitch.  I was getting pitched.  And it's a doozy alright.

Let me jump to the end of the story.  As of noon today we have gone from a family with no real vacation plans for the summer, to a family planning a 16 day car trip to points west.  Oh, and we leave in less than a month.

I need some help.  Some of you think I mean of the mental variety, and you could be right, but here is what I am specifically looking for help with now.

<ol><li><big><b> A tent</b></big>.  One of those jazzy numbers with multiple rooms and ultra-lightweight construction so it folds really small is nifty, but ANY tent is better than the one we have, which is no tent.  Do you or a friend have one we could borrow?  Rent?</li>
<li><big><b>Suggestions.</b></big>  Have you been to Yellowstone/Grand Canyon/Vegas/Mt. Rushmore?  Have you travelled long distances in a car with preschoolers?  Have you been camping?  I need suggestions for things to see/do, there and on the way, with an eye towards frugality (though hot air ballooning across the Grand Canyon sounds awesome) and feasibility (no Vegas shows with a four year old, I fear).</li>
<li><big><b>Prayers.</b></big> We could stay at hotels more.  I can use a AAA guide and internet searches.  But if you think I can make it 2-1/2 weeks cross-country with two preschoolers and no prayers, well, I'll just tell you you're wrong.  That's not even counting the prayers of making it through the abbreviated planning period.  How my husband thinks we can just wash clothes once is beyond me, and I'm already getting discouraged looking at campsites.</li></ol>

I'm actually really excited by the trip.  We had talked of going in the future, but with this being our last chance to go without being constrained by school schedules, Keith crunched the numbers and it's more feasible than we thought.  We're planning on hitting Vegas/Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Mt. Rushmore, plus dart into California, hopefully go to the badlands, maybe swing by Branson... who knows?  And I'm sure there are giant ears of corn or balls of yarn that really need their picture taken with us next to them :-)

 

Oh, and does anyone want to cut our grass for us while we're gone?  Haha.

Kaitlyn's First Chapter Book and KD Season Starts

Kaitlyn and I just finished reading "Meet Felicity", the first in a series of books based on the American Girl doll from the 1774 Colonial Williamsburg time-period. I was looking for the Wanda Brunstetter "Rachel Yoder" Amish books in our church library, and while we didn't have any of those books, my search was not empty!

As much as I love "Goodnight, Dewberry Bear" and "Pete's a Pizza", I am really excited to expand our reading repertoire a bit! The book took us 2-1/2 days, reading a chapter before bed and nap. Kaitlyn loved when I would stop and ask her what she thought would happen next, and has already asked to start on the next book (because of course I got two books, and plan to get more on Sunday if the library is open!) tomorrow.
But "Felicity Learns a Lesson" will have to wait until at least bedtime, because tomorrow marks the beginning of our King's Dominion season! The girls are excited to ride the rides (Kaitlyn, who wouldn't even ride anything except the BENCH on the carousel at the beginning of last summer rattled off a litany of the rides she just had to ride while we were talking about it earlier today); Keith is excited for roller coasters, short lines, and lots of photo ops; and I am excited for long days outside all day... with no bugs because they spray (unlike our malaria factory yard mere yards from a slightly stagnant lake)! Hallelujah. Oh, and all day free refills on soda. I do like that.

So that's what's going on in Dohlchester... what's new in your neck of the woods? Send us an email... really!

We Are... Penn State!

On the first full day of our Pennsylvania trip, we trekked out to Happy Valley to visit Keith's alma matter, The Pennsylvania State University. This was a first visit for all of the other Dohls, and very close to ten years since Keith last visited campus after his 1999 graduation. While there was no football going on, we still manage to have a good part of the quintessential Penn State experience.
You have to go to the Lion Shrine. We also have pictures of the girls sitting on the lion, but they are crying in those! Kaitlyn was disappointed once we got to the lion; she thought it was a real lion we were going to go see. So we stopped by Patee Library to see the stuffed (as in, taxidermist preserved, not plush) Nittany lion on display. This placated her, although she did want to know where the lion's mommy and daddy were.

After hearing Kaitlyn say "This isn't Penn State, this is just [a store, a sidewalk, a restaurant, etc]" all day, we found out what Kaitlyn considers Penn State... Beaver Stadium. She was very disappointed there was no football game going on, but really enjoyed playing in the field that would have been filled with tailgaters if there had been a game!

One of our first stops on campus was The Creamery, but apparently there has been an entirely new and swankier creamery built since Keith was in school. Kaitlyn and Kourey enjoyed the flavor of the week, Chocolate Pretzel, while Keith indulged in Peanut Butter Swirl and Katherine tried out Peachy Paterno. Four days from cow to our spoon... yum.