With this in mind I worked hard to ask the children at the end of each day , "What was your favorite thing about today?" And then I jotted the y down on our calendar for some context. Hopefully it will offer the kids a way of "remembering" these past years.
Here is what they had to say...
Quotes by AJ in red... LJ in blue
May 2017
-Driving to New Orleans-
The train at Lambert's Cafe
Crossing the "big bridge" in New Orleans
Playground at the campground
Playground at the campground
-Kayaking New Orleans Bayou-
Seeing airboat pass by the kayak
Playground
-Downtown New Orleans-
Playing on boats at the Children's Museum
Playing with trains at the Children's Museum
My favorite - 25 cent oysters and $1 drafts!
-Driving to Houston, TX-
Watching bonus features on Chuggington DVD
Playing outside
-Lake Conroe Campground-
Playing tetherball with Daddy
Playground
-Visiting friends in College Station, TX-
Playing with toy train and playing "green monster" with Madison
Playing soccer outside with Daddy's friends
-Day at the pool, Lake Conroe Campground-
Watching TV poolside in the cabana
Swimming and watching TV at pool
TV... Seriously? *Sigh*
-Houston Zoo-
Playing outside after dark (tennis, tetherball, playground)
Tetherball
 |
| Unfortunately no pictures were taken of the intense tetherball battles! |
-Lavon, TX campground-
Swim lessons
Swimming pool and going to Nana and Papa's
-Lake Tawakoni Campground-
Chick Fil A
Pool
"How To Train Your Dragon" movie
Nana and Papa visiting and all the fun activities
Swimming w/ cousins
Playground
Spaghetti dinner and bike ride around campground past playground
Quiet time during dinner listening to birds
June 2017
-Lavon, TX-
Baseball game with Uncle Ben & ice cream
Ice cream sandwiches
Birthday part for AJ at bowling alley x2
July 2017
-Independence Day, Golden CO-
Fireworks and soccer
Getting face painted
-Rocky Mountain National Park-
Bighorn sheep
Seeing a bear
Playing on Thomas the Train at library
Shark puppet at the library
Playing in creek and hiking to waterfall x2
-Bicycling Glenwood Canyon, CO-
Throwing little apples at each other next to the bike trail
Fast tunnels in the bike path
-Penny Hotsprings near Glenwood, CO-
Playing in hotsprings along the river
Finding orange rocks
-Hike to Hanging Lake, Glenwood, CO-
Seeing nocturnal animals - bugs, snake and mouse
Rock climbing the trail
-Moab, UT / Arches National Park-
Climbing to Pinnacle Arch
Arches National Park Junior Ranger badge
-Kayaking Colorado River, Moab, UT-
Swimming in the Colorado River from the kayak
Playing on an island in the Colorado River
-Canyonlands National Park-
All of Canyonlands
-Duchesne, UT / Starvation Lake State Park-
Running in the sprinklers
Giving Baby A kisses
Dinosaur National Monument
-Salt Lake City, UT-
Chick Fil-A
Dinosaur Museum
Great Salt Lake
Planetarium
August 2017
-Grand Teton National Park-
Spending the day in Jackson and playing by String Lake in the park
Antlers in Jackson Square and playing cornhole outside brewery restaurant
Boat Ride
Seeing the wake from our boat crossing Jenny Lake to our hike to a waterfall
-Yellowstone National Park-
Old Faithful sprayed us
Seeing bison up close & the roiling water pits
Seeing the golden eagle at the Grizzly Bear Refuge
Hot chocolate by the fire
Bike ride through Yellowstone and the geyser and bubbling mud
Seeing the fox with new friends while climbing Mt. Washburn
Time with Mommy
Seeing Old Faithful
Ice cream by the Dine-In Bus in West Yellowstone
Seeing the osprey nest at Yellowstone Grand Canyon and drinking hot chocolate by the fire
Seeing bubbling mud pits at Fountain Paintpots
Seeing the fox
Eating chicken fingers from the cafe
-Bear Tooth Highway, South Dakota / Montana-
Playing in the snow on the side of the highway
Playing in snow and throwing rocks in the waterfall
-Wyoming-
Driving through thick clouds on Chief Joe Highway
First day of (virtual) kindergarten
Walk with Mommy at the RV park
-Black Hills, South Dakota (including Mt. Rushmore)-
Train ride through campground
Wind Cave National Park
Playing basketball at Pizza Ranch restaurant
Train ride, marshmallow roast, playing on playground at RV park
Wind Cave National Park
Running in puddles by the pool in the rain
I unfortunately failed to capture their memories on paper from this point forward. Which is a shame, because we still had most of the country to cover before arriving in New York in the fall.
But in the end, after seeing so many beautiful places of such variety, one thing stood out to me. For a young child of three or five years old, these were the only things that really mattered:
1) Attention and love from his or her parents
2) Time to play outside
3) Way down in third place: new experiences
I suspect as the years pass, the visit to Mt. Rushmore will replace the time on the playground as a key favorite memory that day for the kids. And for me, I'm just happy to have been there with them. Granted, I still prefer the new experience type memories, such as playing on a snow covered mountain in August at 10,000 ft, compared to running around on the playground in the RV park. But even the playground times have made some worthwhile memories for me. I'm excited to see how the boys and little lady's interests change in the years to come!
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