How’d you like to crawl through a wire mesh tunnel 50 feet in the air that runs from one suspended airplane to another?  This is my boys’ warped idea of fun, and they got their fill of it at the City Museum in St. Louis.  The City Museum is unlike any museum we’ve ever been in.  It is the brainchild of artist Bob Cassilly, a classically trained sculptor.  He and 20 other artisans have constructed this house of fun from reclaimed building materials made into art from around the city.  Thus the name.  Inside you’ll climb over salvaged bridges, walk on construction cranes, and even crawl through 2 abandoned airplanes.  Everything is “hands-on”.  What’s even more impressive is the way it’s put together.  Every piece looks intentional – like it was custom made for its location, but in reality the whole place is an exercise in recycling.  It is a site to behold and a playground for children of all ages.  Check out this photo tour to see some of it for yourself.   (Tip: Designate a meeting spot on each floor in case you lose each other.  There are many tunnels that lead to various places that are too small for adults to climb into with their children.  It’s hard to trace where your child will come out and very easy to lose track of them.  Also, if your child is too small to remember your phone number, write your cell number on their arm band.)

We’ve been having so much fun looking for license plates.  I know this is nothing new.  People who like travel games do it all the time, and it’s a great distraction for kids, but I am suddenly addicted.  There are 2 different games you can play: either see who can find the plate that’s the farthest away in a given period of time (which is good for short trips, like an hour or two) or try to find as many states as you can on your trip (which is good for long trips).  You will be amazed at how far we Americans travel in our cars!  For the second variation it really helps to have a blank map of the US.  That way the kids can keep track of which plates they’ve spotted by coloring in the states (of course the adults don’t really need a map because we already know how to color and we can probably just remember what we saw and besides, we don’t compete with our children because that would be, well, childish, right?).   It’s also a fun way to sneak in a little geography lesson.  So guess which plate I, I mean we, spotted today in Missouri?  ALASKA!  And just a few days ago we saw MEXICO!  No kidding.  My point is not, as you may be thinking, that we are easily amused.  It is that living on the road has eliminated enough stress from our everyday lives that we are able to enjoy even simple things.  It wasn't that long ago that I was so distracted and so busy that I would have overlooked something like this.  So go ahead, try it.  I know you're busy, but try it anyway.  See how many different plates you can find.  I think it might actually be the cure to road rage. 

We’ve had serious trouble with meals on the road.  With a smaller refrigerator and less storage space our options are: be much more organized and plan ahead or run to the grocery store every 2 or 3 days for food (which is not necessarily bad, think of all the fresh foods we could be eating).  Lazy as we are, and not really wanting to do either of those, we found a third option.  We’ve been eating out right and left!  Unfortunately, it’s killing our budget and our waistlines.  So I determined to find a way to solve this problem – to overcome my laziness and help save some money in the food department.  The answer…let someone else do the planning, for FREE!  I found menus4moms.com, a fabulous site run by a homeschooling mother (I love it when I can support other homeschoolers).  On this site you can register to have FREE weekly menus e-mailed to you, along with the recipes and the shopping list!  At first I was skeptical.  I don’t want to spend an hour every day cooking (there’s that lazy thing again) and I wasn’t sure we’d be able to store everything necessary for the week.  Plus, with 2 kids that can be a little snooty about unidentified “green stuff” in their food, I wasn’t sure if I’d be buying things that would go to waste or if dinner time would turn into a power struggle between me and my kids’ taste buds.  In the end, all of those worries were for nothing.  The boys have loved everything on the menu…everything.  Even the meals with unidentified green stuff.  They’ve sampled dishes that they haven’t eaten before and loved each of them.  I’m thrilled.  They’re quick and easy to make and don’t require a lot of fancy ingredients.  (I guess it’s obvious that I’m no gourmet cook.  Oh well.)  If you have the same problem, and often find yourself wondering what’s for dinner, check out this site.  It might be just what you need.  

As gas and grocery prices get higher and higher we have started looking for ways to become smarter shoppers.  I have never been a “coupon clipper”.  Never searched for “special deals”, but after this email from one of my dear friends, I began to rethink my shopping strategy.  (This family of 6 was in the process of moving from TN to TX.)

Hi guys!  Greetings from Texas. I'm so amazed at what the Lord has provided for us this week for free or very cheap.  We were really down to bare bones when the movers came and I was very interested to see how the Lord provided for us to restock our pantry.  Since we're still maintaining a lovely house in Bartlett, I can safely say that our finances are going to be tighter than they have honestly ever been in our nearly 18 years of marriage.  I'm so thankful for the tools the Lord has given (thanks Cheryl for MSM!!!) to help me be wise with the way we spend money.  I'm honestly excited about the chance to simplify our living and walking a life of watching to see the Lord provide for us.  All that to say, this may not be the last of these emails.  I get so excited now about free things!! :-)  If nothing else, maybe this will encourage you guys to come to Texas and shop at HEB and CVS!!!
So without further delay, here's my list of what I got free and cheap this week.  And by the way, I'd LOVE to hear what kind of deals you guys got this week as well.  (And BTW if no one is using their Wholly Guacamole coupon, I'll take it.)
FREE this week
2 2 roll packs of 140 count Sunrise recycled paper towels
2 All small and mighty laundry soap
1 Loreal Vive shampoo
1 Johnson's soap buddy
1 Pamolive dish liquid
2 Boxes Kashi cereal
1 chocolate Silk soymilk
1 2 liter Dr. B (HEB brand Dr. Pepper)
2 boxes of Quaker chewy granola bars
1 pkg. Extra thick 25 count recycled paper plates
2 boxes HEB taco shells
2 jars La Costena salsa
1 bag salad
1 pkg. diced fresh potatoes
1 12 oz pkg Bolthouse farms mini carrots
4 16 oz pkg Kraft shredded cheese (2 cheddar, 2 mozz)
1 16 oz pkg Borden shredded cheese
1 pkg Mission flour tortillas
1 box Cap'n crunch cereal
1 9 oz. container Frito Bean Dip
6 8.8 oz pkg. Uncle Ben's Ready Rice (I love this rice!)
2 boxes HEB mac & cheese
2 Balance high protein nutrition bars
1 J&J baby shampoo (small)
1 box Barilla whole wheat pasta
2 12oz hand soap with essential oils
Really cheap this week
6 4-pack Cottonelle toilet paper 25 cents/pkg (This was at Kroger.  They are on sale for .99  The Kroger by mom's house had the coupon machine by the cottonelle that was on the tp aisle.  The coupons were for .75 off 3.  So I got 3 coupons to see if it would take off on all 3.  It did, so I went back and got 3 more)
2 Beef Tenderloin - $4.99 each Regular price is $10.99 each  This was Kroger, too
10 pkg of frozen veggies for $10 - Kroger again
2 1 lb pkg. of strawberries - .49/pkg
5 pkg of blackberries $5 - This was a sale at HEB
8th continent chocolate soymilk $1.59 - reg.$3.59 - this was a markdown at Kroger
1 1/2 gallon organic Borden milk - .99 each - markdown at Kroger
2 Tom's Natural Deodorant - $1.59 each - reg $4.19 each
1 natural lip exfoliator (I've actually been looking for this type of product)   $5-regularly $14.99
So I spent a total of $160 this week. And here's what else I got for the money...
4.5 lb pkg seasoned beef fajita meat
2 All small and mighty laundry
1 Pamolive dish soap
2 pkg. Loreal Preference hair color (Because I'm worth it...)
4 pkg post it notes
1 roll of packing tape
1 roll of duct tape
candy for the boys (sweet treat!)
3 bottles Garnier Fructis shampoo
2 bottles Garnier Fructis hairspray
2 pkg Grands cinnamon rolls
1 pkg Arrowhead Mills whole wheat flour
1 3 lb pkg sugar
1 J&J baby shampoo (small)
2 jars Ragu spag sauce
1 small bath gel with essential oils
1 small hand cream
1 12 oz liquid hand soap w/ essential oils
And I have $5 Extra Care Bucks left to spend at CVS sometime.

Thanks for reading.  Praise God with me.  If He can provide all of this for me, I KNOW He can provide anything (like a buyer for our house!)

So what’s her secret?  How’d she do that?  

When our oldest son recently got Lyme disease the treatment was several weeks of antibiotics.  We were fortunate to be home at the time, and a good friend of ours who works in a pharmacy passed on this great money saving tip… If you live in an area with a Schnucks pharmacy they  will give you a FREE 21 day supply of these antibiotics (as long as you have a prescription):
Amoxicillin, Ampicillin, Ciprofloxacin, Doxycycline, Erythromycin, Penicillin, and Trimeth/Sulpha. 

Click here to locate a Schnucks near you.  If you don’t live near a Schnucks try asking your local pharmacy to consider the same offer.

Don’t you hate it when you have a ridiculous phobia and your kids really want to do something that makes you face it?  I mean, you don’t want to pass on your fears and you don’t want to look like a weeny, but you also really want to avoid a panic attack.  Well, I happen to have an insane fear of both heights and tight spaces.  I know they aren't entirely rational, but try convincing my body of that when I'm standing near the edge of a big drop.  Fast forward to our tour of the St. Louis Gateway Arch .  The boys had been discussing going to the top to look out the windows.  Neither Daddy nor I were particularly enthused about going up.  It’s 630 feet tall and in order to get to the top you have to ride in a little metal “pod” that should hold 3 people, but instead they stuff 5 people inside (to ensure that all of the oxygen is used up by the time you get to the top).   Determined to get the job done, I bought our tickets without looking at the sample pod next to the ticket counter.  I didn’t even want to know what I was in for.  I just started praying.  This trip is not about fear.  It’s about really living, so I was going to the top, even if I had to puke in the pod on the way!  This would also be a real test for the medication that controls my dizziness because it's usually brought on by stress.  So how’d I do? Read on...

Yesterday our little actor got to “do his stuff” at the Missoula Children’s Theater auditions at Scott Air Force Base.  He really enjoys participating in these plays at home so he was pretty happy to find out that he could audition here in St. Louis.  The play is a silly cross between The Wizard of Oz and Home on the Range called “The Wiz of the West”.  Instead of flying monkeys there are buzzards and the Wicked Witch is named Hawk-nose Halley.  After 2 hours of singing, dancing and strutting their stuff the kids were finished.  The parts were assigned and Griffin is now a tarantula!  (He’s excited because he was told that the tarantulas save the day!)  The troop will practice for just one week and then perform on Saturday.  Should be a good show (can't wait to see the tarantula costume).  Plus now we have a good excuse to stay in St. Louis a little longer and maybe even go back to Charlie Gitto’s for more toasted raviolis !  Yum! 

Before we took off, I approached several different companies to see if they were interested in supporting our trip.  I was always told, “Ask for what you want.  The worst thing that can happen is they tell you no, and even then you’re no worse off than you were when you started.”  I believe that, so I asked all kinds of different companies if they cared to make a contribution to our journey.  I got several positive responses, like the history curriculum that was donated by Oxford University Press and a 3 month family membership donated by the Memphis Area YMCA.  I also got many responses like the one I received from Monaco Coach, who builds the motorhome we’re in.  They wrote, “Unfortunately, we are not in a position to provide a motorhome for your journey.  We are always excited to learn how our motorhomes are being used, and many times they strengthen the family ties through shared experiences like the ones you are discussing.  Good luck on your adventure.”  Oh well.  I tried. 

Then, a few days ago we happened to be eating at Cracker Barrel and to our surprise we came across “The Greatest Family Road Trip Game” sponsored by…guess who?  Monaco.  They are giving away a Monaco coach, plus road trip money to whoever collects 3 stickers – one that says “Good”, one that says “Country” and one that says “Cookin”.  Well, we have “Good” and we have “Country”, now all we need is “Cookin”.  I think it would be so funny if we won.  Our little guy has it all worked out - he thinks we could sell the RV (since we already have one) and use the money to stay on the road longer.  Not a bad idea.  I think we may have to use the money just to pay for gas!  I can see it now…”Hello Monaco, remember me?”  Anyway, if you happen to eat at Cracker Barrel and get a “Cookin” sticker that you aren’t going to use, we’ll take it:)  (and I recommend the chicken fried chicken - yummy!)