Our Hotel Home Sweet Home

Our Home for the past 8 Days!!!!

This is actually the living room, Cam was sleeping in the fold out couch, you can see the T.V. in the picture. He was not happy about the fact that everyone was always in "HIS room." But it also happened to be the living area, I am standing right next to the kitchen table, yes, it is tiny but for a hotel suite it sure was nice. It just wasn't quite suited to actually, "live in."

Here is our lovely Kitchen. We were atleast able to have, cereal, PB&J sandwiches and of course I made some chocolate chip cookies, with no recipe. The cookies turned out amazing I was pretty proud of myself for that one!

The kitchen was really tiny but it was nice to have one while living in a hotel.

Here is our bedroom, it was a nice room. Okay, so I realize you are thinking, B-O-R-I-N-G, right? Well, when you have been traveling (and sharing a bedroom) with children suffering from "permawhining" for 3 WEEKS. Your 'OWN' bedroom is like heaven on earth!!!!!

So as you look at this boring picture of a hotel room, keep in mind that this was actually the key to our sanity! :-D

Toby, Kenzi, Katie and Cam all in Cam's bed in the living area. You can see Dave's bike in the background. It should come as no surprise that it is there, Yes, there are days I think he loves that bike more than me. Just kidding, but of course he can hardly part with the thing even though it's only been ridden once in the past 4 weeks.

Toby and Katie have been wonderful. Although as I write Toby is sleeping in his crate, in the back of the truck with the windows cracked. Why? Because the little pill wakes up and scratches, loudly, on his crate at 4am and 7am and we have HAD IT!!

Fishy made it the WHOLE 3200 miles across the country!!

The amazing thing about fishy, he is 4 years old and traveled in the front of the truck in a quart jar with a lid that had a bunch of wholes poked in it. He rode the whole way, stayed in hotels with us and yes, it did get knocked over a few times, we had a few water spills but he's here and still swimming.

Grandpa Gerber didn't think he'd make it but he did!

Virginia Warning;

Okay, so it's probably a fair guess that none of you will ever be moving to Virginia but if you ever do, DO NOT rent a house!!!! Ever!!!

We naively thought it would be like Utah, OH NO!! Not so! As our Real Estate agent put it, very politely, people in Virginia make everything Difficult!! Well, that was an understatement:

After blood samples, DNA testing, giving up our first born plus a few fingers, being searched, credit checked, accountant called to verify income, all previous employers verified, background checked, bags searched, and being fingerprinted we finally got a house!!

Okay, so maybe that was a very slight exaggeration but not by much!!!

The real story: Rentals are done by management companies and real esatate agents. You pay a processing fee of $80 to $100 per application for a rental and you will NOT get the first rental you apply for, so plan on spending minium $300 to $400 just to apply for rentals!

Your credit is checked, they will call all previous employers in our case up to 10 years ago, they will call your accountant, they will check your current employment, they will ask for W-2 forms to prove income, the do charge application fees, it does take up to 10 days to "process" your application and you haven't even gotten to the 14 page rental agreement yet!!

They will reject your application for rediculous reasons even if you asked before hand if it was okay. Basically they make some money off application fees for awhile and then rent out the house, talk about a conflict of interest!

So, yes we applied for three homes and only got the last one because the owners were desperate to rent it. It was more a blessing than anything. Can you tell we are just ever so slightly bitter about the rental process.

We ran into a family living in the next hotel room over who had been living in the hotel much longer than us looking for a rental too. Apparently it is common to spend $3500 to $4000 per month in a hotel while looking for a rental.

Everyone we have talked to gives us a smirk when they find out we came from a laid back small town and the say, well, the people out here are quite different. Meaning uptight and I will tell you they are nice but perfectionistic like you've never seen.

So, after the nightmarish rental process I hope things will settle down and we can enjoy our adventure.

I think once the bleeding stops and the wounds heal we'll be as good as new. Okay, I'm just kidding, it was just a rough reality check that we can look back at and laugh, although it wasn't funny at the time.

I know there were some valuable lessons in patience and faith that we learned through the process so it wasn't really a bad thing, but in our imperfection we found the whole process a little over the top. The big lesson in all of it, is have faith and enjoy the ride because no matter how much you dislike the situation, it is what it is and your frustration and worry won't change a thing!

Frog hunting and Bedtime in the Hotel Suite

Frog Hunting and Bedtime in the Hotel Suite

The kids are dressed and ready for their frog hunt before bed. Kenzi brought her little lantern to help find the froggies.

*Disclaimer, no froggies were hurt in the making of this blog

There is a pond near the hotel and there are a lot of toads/frogs hopping around. The hotel is surrounded by grass, trees, and a picnic area so there is a lot of nature around. The kids became fascinated with the frogs that can be seen hopping around the parking lot. So Dave decided to go on a family frog hunt at 8:45. The kids were excited.....well for now.

The frog search is on! Kenzi is intently searching for the first frog of the night. The dogs were with us but they were off sniffing away, not at all interested in the frogs so it was all good.

Kenzi was the one who enjoyed this excursion the most. She is our animal lover, and sorry grandpa Gerber somehow she became an avid environmentalist, at least she begs us to recycle all the time :-)

First frog of the night!! Kenzi was able to touch him, Cam tried and then freaked out when he moved.

He was a cute little frog or toad, whatever he was, he was cute. He posed for the cute for the camera.

Cam did not like it when the frogs moved, and all the sudden the excitement turned to fear. He loved looking at them, but from a distance.

Evidence: Cam is hiding behind Dave as they examine Frog number 2.

I thought this was a cute picture of Cam hiding behind daddy. Cam kept screaming as the frogs would jump away. It was pretty funny. He wasn't terrified, just screaming a little. He said he liked them as long as they didn't move.

The search for froggies continues. I know this is a lot of photos for an evening froggie hunt but they are so darn cute.

Overall it was a very successful evening. We saw 3 frogs and 1 big toad. Although if you ask Kenzi we saw 8 frogs, because they saw the same one several times so her story is much better.

At the end of the night this big toad was standing in front of the door to the hotel. Cam ran away and Kenzi wanted to pet him.

It was a great ending to our frog hunt.

Time for bed. This is Cam's room, or otherwise known as the living room in the suite. He sleeps on the couch fold out bed.

He seems to enjoy it, he's usually completely asleep within about 5 minutes. Generally snoring and all.

Good night Kenzi. She is our stubborn one, she takes forever to fall asleep, asks for a drink of water, food, you name it. But here she is in her room in the hotel suite. You can see Katie's crate right next to her bed.

She has bonded with Katie and wanted her in her room. Toby has to sleep in the kitchenette because his snoring keeps everyone awake except for me and snoring Cam.

Well that was our fun outing today, it's late and time for bed.

First Hotel in D.C. area

First Hotel in D.C. Area

Okay so here's the scoop on the hotel. We tried to find a place to board the dogs so we could look for a house. Well, if you want a decent place to board your dog in D.C. plan on spending a minimum of $50 per night, per dog.

So, instead of pay basically for two hotels, we found a little Best Western right by the Dulles airport that allowed pets. It was a tiny little room, which is fine if you are sight seeing and traveling but not so fun to try to live out of.

With suitcases for 3 weeks worth of traveling and two dog crates it was VERY tight quarters. We managed just fine but the hotel thing was getting a little exhausting, not to mention that Cam was sleeping on the floor because Kenzi absolutely will not let him sleep in the bed with her. She is starting to get posessive of her space and we realized, they need a place to call home.

Obviously Tobsters was not at all concerned about our cramped situation, he is sleeping like a baby!!!

Silly dog thinks his pad is a blankie, he sleeps on his back a lot. What can I say this non-traditional, do my own thing doggie fits right in to our family! Did I mention he also likes broccoli.

We also call him, VEGGIE DOG~

We have since moved to a 2 bedroom suite at the Marriot next to the Best Western to give the kids some much needed space. Cam is on the sofa bed, kenzi in one room and we are in the other. We are so greatful for the tiny kitchen and separate rooms for now. I'm trying to stay in my Zen place about the whole, finding a rental, but I must say it's not always easy.

My two sayings are becoming every minute mantras now "This too shall pass" and "just let it be"

Very effective little mantras I must say, they help me stay focused, present in the moment and calm. Everything in this life is as it should be, even the things we may not be too fond of. We must remember who is in charge, everything happens exactly as it should so just let it be!

We may not know the reasons, but that isn't for us to know, it is simply that we stay in the present moment, with faith, trusting in the Lord and realizing that most of us are just big whiners and in reality we have it really good in this life. I'm trying to pass on this knowledge to the kids, to help them be greatful instead of whining. Someday I'm sure they'll get it.

Well, I guess that was my Sunday Sermon, smile, so I better go get ready for church now.

Savannah Georgia

Savannah Georgia

Forsyth Park in Savannah Georgia

In my rush to get the blog caught up, I didn't realize we had photos of our trip to Savannah. What can I say it has been a crazy whirlwind trip, mistakes are bound to happen so you might as well let'em come.

So, back to Savannah we go :-) I LOVED Savannah, it is like an old southern town. The buildings all look historic, the trees cover the roads and the parks, it is just amazing. They have horse drawn carriages, beautiful beaches, excellent shopping, dolphin sight seeing boat tours, ghost story tours at night. I would have loved to stay here for awhile, what an amazing place.

The kids enjoyed playing at the park, then we ate across the street at the Sentient Bean, a cute little vegetarian restaurant right in the center of town.

Okay so if Kenzi or Cam are in the picture you are bound to get a lot of silliness! This was a beautiful fountain in the park but the kids would rather goof around than look cute for the picture.

All I can say is at least they are smiling in the photos, that's more than I can say for them when the camera isn't rolling. I think they have both developed a very serious disease called "permawhining"! Okay, so I made it up, but still, it can drive a parent to insanity so it must be very serious.

In this photo you can see the beautiful tree lined park surrounded by the old historic buildings. It was a VERY HOT day outside, but the shade from the trees helped some, well, maybe a little.

Savannah is on my top ten list of fun little cities to visit. There is so much to do here, it is absolutely beautiful, not to mention the beaches!!! Okay, I'm turning into a saleswoman so let's move on.

Kenzi and Cam found a little bird on the playground. I don't know if it was friendly or injured but the kids were able to pet it. They were so enthralled with the bird that I finally had to tell them to leave it alone and play on the playground equipment.

The kids also were able to play frisbee in the park, they ran around all over. I think they got their wiggles out.

Kenzi is the resident whiner, oh, I mean climber in the family :-D She loves to climb on everything so this was an exciting contraption for her. I couldn't figure out what in the world you would do with sideways monkey bars but the kids seemed to enjoy playing on it. I guess if you can climb on it and be wild kids will love it!



This is an old war monument in the Forsyth park. I apologize but I cannot remember what it was for, we were in Savannah quite awhile ago so my memory of the name is long gone.

The photo is a little dark but it was a really cool monument.

Okay so I have finished the pictures of the cross country trip for real now :-)

Video of the Beach in Hilton Head, South Carolina

Hilton Head, SC to Richmond, VA

Decision to Cut the trip short

As we were preparing to leave Hilton Head, SC we had to decide where to stay that night. The original plan was to go back to Chapel Hill, NC where we stayed almost one year ago. Can you believe that our trip to Chapel Hill was a whole year ago and look where we are now, wow!!

Anyway, the kids seemed tired of the trip and we felt an urgency to get to the DC area to find a house. Dave had about had it with driving, so we decided to make a run for it.

D.C. or Bust!!!

So we take to the open road!! We decided to drive through North Carolina and get into Richmond Virginia by sundown. We made it, tired, bored and all, we rolled into Richmond, VA that evening. We boarded the dogs, grabbed dinner, slept and got up the next morning D.C. bound!!

I hate to say that we haven't taken many pictures these past few days, we have been hurriedly looking for a home to rent. Long story short, finding a home to rent in the D.C. area is worse than getting a loan to BUY a home!

Needless to say, we found a cute little home on a lake, we have excellent credit, but the two dogs killed it for us. Interestingly the owner that lives there now has a BIG dog and two cats, funny how that works!

So we are out looking for a home again. We put in another application on a better home and we are waiting to hear on that one. Yes, there is an $80 application fee for each home we apply for, this could get expensive if we don't find a home SOON!!!

We are living in a hotel suite, small kitchen and two bedrooms.

Dave is at the truck, rummaging through all our junk trying to find church clothes so we can go to church. It's crazy stuff I tell you. He is waiting for me to come down and pick out what I"m going to wear to church today so I better run. I'll post more pics of our fun adventures in the D.C. area. It's so beautiful here, we've passed the washington monument and lincoln memorial a few times already.

Leaving Nashville and on to

Alabama & Georgia

A photo of Alabama

On our way from Nashville to Atlanta we decided to take a short detour into Alabama. It was my goal to hit as many states as possible and Dave's goal to get to DC as fast as possible so we compromised. We didn't stay in Birmingham, we just dropped into the top of Alabama on our way to Georgia. Alabama was very green and beautiful! I know I've said it a million times but the whole south is amazingly beautiful!!

We had been driving for awhile so we stopped at a pretty place in Alabama to stretch our legs and exercise the doggies.

The kids were playing fetch with Katie, you can see Cam throwing the stick for her. She loves to play fetch and when she gets tired, she runs off and lays down with the stick to chew it up.

Toby just watches her, he is very lazy. The kids just bury him in leaves while he lays there. Silly doggie.

Our Atlanta Adventure, or Scare, depending on whether you are an optimist or pessimist.

As far as Atlanta goes, we didn't take any pictures, we only stayed one night. We got there for dinner, went to bed, checked out and left for Savannah. We do have a fun story though. We were looking for a vegetarian restaurant that had rave reviews. It was about 7pm and getting a little darker outside. We started noticing that we were getting out of the nicer part of atlanta.

We ended up on an old, run down street with homeless people lying around. There were gangster looking men hanging around on the street. It really looked like a scene from a movie about the wrong side of town!

We walked quickly to the restaurant door and it was closed at 6pm. We seriously ran back to the truck, jumped in and left as fast as we could. The gangsters looked at us like, what in the world are these people doing here. Luckily that was all they did. We were all a little scared but managed to find another veg restaurant that we all loved near our hotel. We were starving by the time we got there but had a great meal.

Well, during our travels we decided not to stay in Savannah, but to stay in Hilton Head South Carolina. I took tons of beach photos there. We went to a beach in Savannah one day, and the Hilton Head beach another day. The kids LOVED it. Now they can say they have been to a beach on the pacific and the atlantic ocean!!

We Arrive at the Beach

Mommy and the kids on the beach in Hilton head. The water is very warm, like a warm swimming pool. Dave LOVED it.

Sorry but these beaches are better than California, warm water and white soft sand you can't beat that. We went at sunset, it was absolutely beautiful!! Kenzi and Cam were playing in the water and by the time we left to go back to the hotel they were both drenched. But they loved it!! Dave wanted to swim in the ocean so bad.

Dave and the kids, notice the ocean, it is so amazing. This is BEFORE the kids drenched themselves in the water. It was fun to watch them play, I had the camera handy the whole time. They had a BALL, so darn cute!!

Well, up next, is the slide show of our excursion to the beach at Hilton Head. It is adorable!!

Slide Show of Beach in Hilton Head, South Carolina!!!

Country Music Hall of Fame

Country Music Hall of Fame

Here we are at the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Okay, so I'm way behind on our blog, what can I say it has been a whirlwind vacation. It all seems like a blur, seriously. It was a lot of fun and I must say we all learned so much on this trip. We learned so much about the country and different kinds of people.

If you ever have the chance I would highly recommend touring a part of the country far from where you live. It is so enriching to learn about people. The south was our favorite. That southern hospitality is amazing, they really are so sweet!

Okay, back to the topic. This is in Nashville, yes I'm still stuck on our Nashville photos. Dave's computer has not be very cooperative on this trip so posting has been, well lets just put it nicely.....a nightmare!! But we are here in D.C. and the internet here in the hotel is working great, so here goes...

I cannot for the life of me remember whose care this is. But we are in the country music hall of fame so a country music star is a good guess ;-D

The car was cool and the kids had fun posing for the pics. Kenzi thinks she needs to be the 'star of the show' it's pretty funny.

You must forgive my ugly hair, it was a long, HOT day!! We came here after Mammoth cave and 3 1/2 hours of driving so yes, I have travel hair and I'm just wearing comfy clothes but hey, I was a good sport and smiled for the picture :-)

Okay, this was a cool one, Elvis Presley's Gold piano. The entire piano was done in gold leafing. It was very cool, I must admit it looked like a fake, gold painted piano but I'm sure Elvis really did have a gold leaf piano.

It was fun to see. I wish we could have made it to Graceland while in Memphis but we couldn't find it, I know that seems silly but it's true.

We are in front of the silver, gold and platinum albums from the Country music stars. It was cool to see all the country music singers we knew on the records. You can open the record case and here the music from the album, very cool.

They recommend spending 2 hours in the museum, well we finished in a record of 20 minutes. Both Dave and I are not big on loitering, it's look.... cool... and on your way!

Here the kids are sitting on round cement decorations on the sidewalk outside the Country music hall of fame. They are so funny, picture taking was the highlight of their trip.

Well, we are at the end of our 4 day trip to Nashville. I highly recommend visiting Nashville, it is an awesome city we had a great time!!

Mammoth Cave Kentucky

Mammoth Cave Kentucky

The rotunda in mammoth cave entrance

I know this photo is hard to see, but this looks like a large rotunda, but it is naturally made, the ceiling in the cave is amazing!!!

Mammoth cave is the LONGEST cave in the WORLD! It has six levels or 'floors' that have been discovered. We only explored about 3/4 of a mile on the first floor. It is HUGE and amazing. I would highly recommend a trip to mammoth cave.

Kentucky is BEAUTIFUL! Trees and fields everywhere. Dave decided he wants to move to Kentucky. The people are extremely friendly as well.




Kenzi and mommy on our way down into the cave. We walked 440ft. underground into the cave.

Kenzi is smiling in the picture but she was holding on for dear life and wanted to go back up. She was scared!!

Cam was fine until Kenzi started freaking out, then he started freaking out too. They were fine once we got into the rotunda.

Mammoth Cave was about 2 hours away from Nashville, so made it a day trip. It was so worth it. We also purchased a TON of rock stuff at the rock shop. Yes, the shop a holic in me just took right over. I don't think any 12 step program could fix me, I guess I'm a lost cause...hee, hee.

Kenzi and Cam in the 'hallway' of the cave. You can't see the dark cave very well because of the flash.

They were very well behaved in the cave and stayed right by us. Probaby because they were scared but I guess that was a good thing :-)

We were in awe as we walked through the cave. It was magnificent!

Dave giving Kenzi a piggy back in the entrance to the cave. This was where the roof of the cave was very low. We were walking to the rotunda. You can see how wide the cave is.

This is a photo of mining work done by slaves in the 1800's. It was very interesting to see the intricate work they did to mine guano, or bat droppings in the cave.

This was seen in the rotunda of the cave.

The cave is approximately 360 miles long, but they are still exploring and finding more tunnels.

This tour of the cave was supposed to be 1 hour and 15 minutes, it seemed like 15 minutes to us, we were in awe at God's beautiful creation.


You can see the long flight of stairs in the background of this picture, they are much longer than you can even see. I wish I could give all of you the experience we had here, it gives you such a reverence for nature, and for the beautiful earth we live on. So magnificent, have I said that enough yet?? :-D

Last Two Days in Nashville

Our final Days in Nashville

As much as I have enjoyed blogging our adventure, it takes for ever to post all the pictures. So for today I am doing slideshows to finish up the trip in Nashville. It was a great trip!!

Dave was the one who insisted that we go to the Veggie Cafe in Nashville for lunch and dinner everyday. He LOVED the grilled tofu sandwich and the BBQ tempeh sandwich.

We had a great trip, Tennessee is beautiful. We even picked up some real estate magazines for future reference if Dave decided to work in Nashville after school. The home prices were amazing but I think Dave was enthralled with Kentucky, it was very beautiful. I don't think they have any big law firms there though :-)

Enjoy the pictures.

I hope you enjoyed our little 'video'. There are a few pictures of our little excursion to mississippi, we had to get in as many states as possible so we drove to a beautiful park in Mississippi on our way from Little Rock to Nashville.

Music City, Nashville Tennesee

3 Days in Music City, Nashville, Tennesee

This is the AT&T building in downtown Nashville. Dave and I thought this was the coolest building.

The kids on the other hand called it The Monster Building!!

They said it was creepy and hollered everytime they saw it as we drove around Nashville. It was cute for awhile, but then the whining got a little old ;)

There are a million things to do in Nashville, we wished we could have done all of them, but you'd have to be here for a LONG time. There is a dinner showboat you can ride down the lake, a fabulous zoo, children's museum, country music hall of fame, Grand Ole Opry, shopping........

The Grand Ole Opry. We only got a picture of the outside of the Grand Ole Opry.

FYI...they only have shows on weekend evenings. I know they have tours but the office was closed by 5pm so we missed out. Maybe next time.

Kenzi and Cam having a great time at the Nashville Zoo. They loved all the animals. Any Zoo outside of Utah is amazing. The Zoo in Utah has terrible enclosures for the poor animals. This zoo was HUGE and all the animals had beautiful natural settings to live in.

It was a hot day so a lot of the animals were in the shade and hard to see, but, one perk of the Nashville zoo, walking through the zoo is beautiful enough!!

Baby Camel at the Nashville Zoo

As we were going up to see the giraffes the kids saw the merry go round and begged to go on it. We were all hot and very hungry but decided that we couldn't pass it up.

They loved riding on it. We ran up to see the giraffes and it was off to our favorite restaurant in Nashville.....The Veggie Cafe!!

This is a photo of the lush, green, beautiful zoo. All the pathways were lined with trees and bamboo everywhere. It was just beautiful.

Well, I can't fit all the pictures of our three days in Nashville on one post, also it is almost 11 o'clock at night here on the East Coast, yes, I'm a little behind on the posts, we are actually in South Carolina today. But more on the East coast beaches later, one tip, they are MUCH prettier and warmer than beaches in California. Good night.

Little Rock Arkansas

Travel Through Arkansas

We really enjoyed Branson, MO but we had to say goodbye. It was a long drive through Arkansas to Little Rock. Arkansas is a beautiful state!!! It is full of rolling hills and green trees. We did not run into a town larger than about 200 population the whole way to Arkansas. We felt like we were out in the sticks until 6 minutes before we hit Little Rock.

You can see from the photo that Arkansas is a beautiful place. On our drive we past a small town hit by a tornado. There were homes blown clean off their foundation with debris everywhere. There was a tanker truck laying on its side, smashed. It was quite a sight to see. We past it so quickly and Dave was on a mission to get to Little Rock so I didn't get any pictures.

Here is a photo of the family going in to the little cabin entrance to the natural bridge in Arkansas, I have no idea what little town we were in.

The cabin was adorable, the path to the natural bridge was amazingly beautiful!!! They don't even use irrigation it is just lush and green everywhere.

You can see Kenzi having struggle with Katie. She has to walk right next to Dave no matter what. In fact, we stopped at a Subway and Dave tied her to the Tow things in the front of the truck while he picked up sandwiches, I was supposed to watch the dogs, well she chewed through the leash and stood at the Subway door until Dave came out. I wasn't a very good dog sitter :-)

This is the natural bridge, it is a natural stone bridge.

The kids were fascinated with the bridge, they wanted to walk across it. We also found several caves on the trail to the bridge, it was a beautiful place to get out and stretch and sight see on our way to Little Rock.

Today traveling wasn't so bad. Give the kids Ipod's and you won't hear a peep out of them, well except for some karoke singing to the music :-)

Dave and the kids on the trail to the natural bridge

We didn't get the chance to take many photos of Little Rock. The drive was long and we only spent one night in Little Rock. We didn't have time for exploring or sight seeing in the city so this is pretty much the extent of our photos in Arkansas. But I think you can see that it is a beautiful place.

This is our last photo of our trip to Arkansas. We stayed in a very nice Comfort inn Suite so that we could have the dogs with us in the room.

Kenzi climbed into Katie's crate with her and stayed in there until we made her get out and get ready for bed. Kenzi loves Katie and Katie seems to relax and enjoy snuggling with Kenzi. I thought this was so cute!!

The next morning we were off to Memphis, TN, Horn Lake, MS, and Nashville, TN.