Weekending: New Van Road Trip

The kids and I just got back from a fun road trip to see our family.  I loaded up the kids in our new van last Wednesday and we headed South.  We had the best time while Kevin was doing his thing at a conference in New Orleans.  He had a great time, too.  I'm trying to take advantage of fun things like this before Olive starts school this Fall.

We had been talking about getting a mini van for over a year.  We finally got serious about it and test drove some different options.  We looked around at colors, deals and decided to trade in my Nissan Rogue for a Honda Odyssey.  I felt a little sentimental trading in the car that both of our babies came home from the hospital in, but I knew we had outgrown the Rogue.  The Odyssey is AMAZING!  I love everything about it.  I never knew I'd be so excited about a VAN.  Mom life at its finest :)

Hello Honda!

Goodbye Nissian.

I surprised the kids with a new movie for our road trip.  Olive's mind was blown.  A movie on the go!  Neither kid got car sick on this trip which felt like a huge milestone.

Kevin and his students did a great job at their presentation in New Orleans.  They packed in the learning and the fun.  He sent me this picture from Cafe Du Monde.  I was slightly jealous!

The weather was wonderful while we were in Newburgh.  The kids played outside a lot.

My parents have a ton of gumball trees and the little kids thought picking them up was so much fun.

 We celebrated my dad's birthday & Fletcher discovered cool whip.

The kids had Build a Bear gift cards from Christmas so we headed there on a weekday.  We had the place to ourselves.  It was so cute!  The loved every step of the process.  They'd never been there before, but longingly looked in the store every time we were at the mall.  It was a fun treat!

We went on walks, played with friends & cousins.  My kids were worn out every day from playing so hard.

 My mom had her candy jar stocked with our favorite chocolates.

We got to visit a new park at sunset.  It was so much fun.  I loved this slide and all the neat equipment they had to play on.

My kids always go straight for the porch swing at my parent's house.

We got home to find so many of our flowers blooming and a fox running through our yard!  It really feels like Spring.  Can't wait to get back into our routine of walking every day.

I just wrapped up reading The Daniel Key: 20 Choices that Make All the Difference by Anne Graham Lotz.  It was such a charming book.  Her stories were relatable and perfectly tied in with her message.  Her voice is so strong throughout the book that you can almost hear her telling the stories.  The set up of the book makes it really easy to read.  There's a Bible verse at the beginning, a short message, follow up questions and a prayer at the end of each of the 20 sections.  This book would be a great Bible study as there are so many things to discuss.  Each message makes you think and reevaluate choices your are making in your own life.  The Daniel Key would be a fun book to work through with a friend, spouse or small group.  I'd highly recommend it.
*This book was gifted to me by BookLook in exchange for an honest review.

 Hope you had a great weekend, too!