August 14th Update... holding at 43 states!

Whoops!  Looks like I goofed on the last post.  We already have one from Oklahoma... but we still need from Nebraska.  

So, it sounds as though one is on its way from Alaska, and one from New Mexico.  That means just five more!!  Mississippi, Montana, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Wyoming.  I do have a friend that can get me MN and WI, but it may arrive after school starts (but I'm okay with that).

Anyone out there in Mississippi, Nebraska or Wyoming?  That's all!!  Please help!  Can't end the project with 47 states.  :)

G, my youngest, and I did a little sorting yesterday.  We went through all of our postcards and piled them according to state and country.  It looked a little like this:

153 postcards so far!

After we did the sorting, we tackled the graphs.  Here is the country graph.... as you can see, Germany EXPLODED off the chart!  So far, we have 18 postcards from Germany, thanks to my awesome lifelong penpal friend Kathrin and her family!  Time to make a new sheet... we now have 17 countries represented!

And for the States:

I "tried" to do alphabetical order, but I was in a rush when writing the states (hmmm... should've made the kids write them in ABC order!!) and missed a few along the way.  Yes, it'll bug me enough as it is... don't rub it in.  Here's the first 30:

 And the second 20 (+1):

I may have a mini Math session with the younger two at the end to discuss the results and name the top ten states represented... y'know to jog those math brains before school begins in 20 days.

Just to give you an idea of what 153 postcards, stacked, looks like.   My idea of putting them all in a binder ring isn't going to work.  Hmmm..... suggestions?  I thought about an album, but I want to be able to read them, and most photo albums won't hold the size of some of these postcards.

BTW, I plan to keep these.  So for all of those that bought a postcard or two (or several), don't fret.  They'll be kept... and possibly used again someday once I get back into teaching full-time.

Here is the US Map... Soooooooo close!!

Here's a close-up shot of where most of the cards have come, world-wide.  Notice the multi-colored Europe.  None from Spain or Scandinavia... surprising.  But we got North America covered!

And just to show there were from other parts of the world... here's Dubai and Australia!  What a shame that no one we know is adopting from Asia this summer.  :(  

We have friends that have visited other interesting locations in the world this summer, but usually their circumstances didn't allow for postcards.  We completely understand.  We've known of missionaries to Bolivia and Haiti, and of adoption trips to Ethiopia.  Both sorts are very important trips where a frivolous trip to the souvenir stands isn't on the agenda.

We made an observation, when looking at the map, that it would be great to get at least one from each continent.  In that case, we need Africa and South America.  Anyone going to South America?

And Africa?  Hmmmm.... maybe that one cousin who currently lives in South Africa.....?  Gotta get on her.  :)

If you made it this far in the post, thank you so much for your interest.  The kids and I have had a great time so far collecting the postcards.  A great big, huge, gigantic THANK YOU goes out to all who have participated, or who plan to participate.  Spread the word, especially if you happen to know anyone is those missing states.  

I'll keep you "posted" as things progress.

43 states!

We are getting so many postcards these days... I just want to thank everyone who has helped us on our "journey".  We currently have 43 states represented!

Here are the states still remaining:  Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico, Mississippi, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma.  

If you know someone who lives there... or live there yourself... or are planning a trip soon, please consider sending us a postcard.  Just three weeks left of summer vacation.

Even though the kids never even heard of this country, I need to point out the most unlikely postcard just arrived... Liechtenstein!  If we can get a postcard from there, we can get from the remaining 7 states.  Please help!

Halfway!

Well, when I started the project and this blog, I certainly expected to have a lot of free time to keep up with the blog.  Ha ha... as any mom knows, "free time" is rare, even in the summer.

This week marks our halfway point in the summer.  Despite the lack of travel (hence the reason for the project), we have been keeping rather busy.  B has been doing some work for others, running at the high school, and doing various youth group camps/bible studies/fun nights.  R has been practicing piano, babysitting for the first time, and doing many youth group events as well.  T has been busy with some schoolwork and getting ready for football season.  G ... well, she's been busy following everyone else around.  :)  For the last four months, I've been studying for some exams.  My last (I hope) test was Saturday, so I can hopefully keep up with the blog a bit better now.

A really cool fact to go along with this being the halfway point in the summer?  We are halfway through the states!!  As of today, we have collected postcards from 25 states so far this break.  Some places are obviously quite popular... we have several from some states.  The big surprises were none from Virginia and/or California, and only two from Pennsylvania, my home state.  I thought they'd be rolling in weekly.  LOL  

My goal for the kids was to get postcards from at least 25, hopefully 30, states before the end of summer.  Now, though, I think we can get a few more.  I'd LOVE to be able to gather from all 50 states, but I'm tapped out of my resources.  I've posted the request on my Facebook status, my Facebook Road Trip page, through emails and through pleas with family.  Spread the word!!!  If they need our address, give them our blog address with the email link.  These are the states we are still in need of.  If you have friends or family traveling or living in these states, PLEASE ask them to consider helping our cause (our cause being... um... making my kids use their brains over the summer?)

Still needed:

Alabama

Alaska

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Georgia

Idaho

Illinois

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Mississippi

Montana

Nebraska

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

North Dakota

Oklahoma

South Dakota

Vermont

Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

Here is the current appearance of our map.  It's looking more colorful... but that midwest and west is still quite white... and those are the big states.  Any Alaskans out there?  Man, that would add some mega-color to our map.

I've been focusing on the US above, but we're proud to say we've also received postcards from thirteen countries so far!  In addition to the US, we have gotten from Australia, Mexico, Iceland, UK, Cayman Islands, Bahamas, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany (a ton!!), Austria, Czech Republic and United Arab Emirates.  The photo below is only on a small section of the world, since it included most of the coloring (save UAE and Australia).  I'd love to see at least one country from each continent... any South American, African or Asian readers out there?

Sorry, this is a tad blurry.  I took it while holding my camera phone up over my head (this map is up HIGH on the wall.... ha ha ha).

If you can help expand the minds of my kids and keep those brains actually buzzing during the summer months instead of shriveling up from all the Cartoon Network mindlessness, please consider sending a postcard!  Thanks!!!

June 11

We're a few weeks into our project now, and things are going well!  Today we have nine states, 3 countries, and one District of Columbia filled in so far.  We're taking turns filling out the information on the various states/countries.  Despite the craziness of a VBS week, the kids and I still managed to squeak out a few pages worth of research last night.  We're even Googling any questions that our senders are asking of us.  If you go to the Postcard Answers page, you'll see what additional information we've learned through them!  Do YOU know what "mutande" means in Italian?  Check it out... it may become a favorite new word in the Hollar house.  LOL

Thanks to everyone for the postcards!!  We'll keep you updated with map progress and who has sent postcards as we chug along.  Check in on the various pages to see what we've done so far!

As T is pointing out... we are about 20% of the way through the US so far.  

We still need lots of help!!

Also... if you visit the About Us page, you'll see who was just added to our family about 11 days ago!

Our Road Trip Journal

First of all, thank you to everyone who is participating in this little trip of ours.  So far, we've received eight postcards... and the school year isn't even over yet!  This morning, my son T came downstairs, ready to "do Oklahoma"... okay, well, he really meant Ohio... but unfortunately breakfast took precedent, and he didn't get time to research Ohio yet.  But, it's all ready for him when he gets home!

Here's a quick shout out to Tricia G., Alan G., the Fetch Family, the Fabec-Spangler Family, Denise B., the Hall Family, and Uncle Paul... who were really on the ball and helped us get this project off to a quick start!

We needed something in which to record our research-findings.  A friend of mine, Terri, who is also doing a similar project, mentioned a composition/notebook that she was planning to use.  Perfect!

We always have extra school supplies hanging around (doesn't everyone?  I totally stock up on those back-to-school specials.)  So rather than get all cutesy (like I usually do), I used a simple notebook and wrote this on the front cover:

I know, I know... if you know me at all, you are gasping, "What??!!" This totally isn't my style... usually I'd go out and buy a fancy-schmancy journal... one with a big map on it or something.  Then I'd use my Cricut to cut out the cute title.  But quite honestly, I expect this to be a big crumpled by the end of summer anyway, so why spend any extra money.  I had this one already.

Inside the front cover, I wrote the template by which I want each kid to make their pages.  State and Countries are slightly different. I plan to make a similar template on a piece of paper that'll tuck into a pocket on the back page... one that is laminated, so that it's easy to pull out and look at while writing on the page, and it'll stand the test of time.  Just haven't gotten to it, yet.

In case it's difficult to read, the facts they need to research are:  Capital, Year it Became a State, Population, How it Voted in 2012, Number of Representatives in the House, Geographical Features, Famous Person, "One More Fact", and "If it's noon here [in VA], it's ____ there."  As the days go by, I think of more and more things to research, but since I expect this activity to keep them pretty busy as it is, I'll just leave the research questions to these.

And here's our first sheet (Washington, DC).  This was written by R, my older daughter with the neatest handwriting.  :)  She and I did all of the online research together.  As the summer goes on, I'll leave more and more responsibility to the kids... hopefully including this blog.  

After she completed the research online, I made these extra notes at the bottom.  That way I can go over the research with each kid later (so everyone learns a little about every location) and can make it a bit personal for each child.  

I included these extra questions: Number of Postcards (since we've already received duplicates, this will help us keep track), "Who Wants to Visit?", "Have we been here?", and "What is something you would like to do or see here?"

Here is West Virginia, written by my youngest, who is just learning cursive.  Because she took so much space, I edited my questions at the bottom a bit.

 So... we're off on our adventure.  If you can help these cute little faces learn a little more about our great country... AND our great world... and to color in our maps!...consider sending us a postcard from your own home town/state/country or from your vacation/business trip this summer.  Email us for an address.

BTW, HAPPY 14th BIRTHDAY BEN!!!

And the second postcard...

Comes from Sin City, USA... Las Vegas, Nevada!

This came to us from Alan Garman, world-traveler (aka busy businessman).

Mike and I, and B and R were actually in Las Vegas as very-small children in their Aunt Tracy's wedding at Caesar's Palace in 2003... however, neither really remembers it.  Good thing.  We remember seeing the loads and loads of "litter" on the sidewalks  (aka naked-lady brothel advertisements).  This was in the days of the "bring the family to Vegas" days.  Um... NOT!  Who were they kidding?

"Look up, Kids, look up!" was one of my daily sayings.  Rather... "close your eyes entirely".

Nonetheless, no trip to the US should leave out Vegas, right?  It's like an amusement park stretched out for blocks and blocks (and some of the REAL entertainment lies within the buildings... oh the cha-ching of the machines, loud music, free drinks, Elvis!... )

Alan said it reminded him a lot of Dubai, only with more alcohol, women and gambling.  

Hmmm... Dubai sounds kind of cool...

Again, this arrived in the midst of Memorial Day craziness, so we'll be researching Nevada soon.  Thanks, Alan, for our postcard!

What else would make any sense.....

Our first postcard (which arrived 5/24/13) was from ....

President OBAMA!

Okay, okay... not really, but close.

Good ol' Washington DC.  Mike's aunt Tricia (and Uncle Steve and cousin Chris) sent this from Washington DC.  How fitting that our first postcard was from the closest "city".  I had an empty frame near the maps that framed our "first" so beautifully.  :)  Thanks, Hollar-family crew!  We'll be researching DC really soon!  (The kids have a minor delay in their research due to the Memorial Day weekend crazies.... birthday parties and an amusement park trip are taking the front seat this weekend.)

Tricia's suggestion was to visit DC sometime after-hours and do a night-time tour of the monuments!  I've lived in the DC area for over 17 years, and never once did it occur to me to do that.  We may just have to put that on the to-do list.  

Now... guess where the second postcard came from.  It arrived this morning.  

Hint:  It would have been shocking had we not gotten one from there... I am always finding Facebook friends vacationing there... but we haven't been there in 10 years.  Thankfully we have an awesome friend from college (and our current hometown) that travels often!  And, fortunately, he's a good enough friend to not collect all of the "free handouts" that come along with visiting the main city to send to our children.  LOL  Despite the ads a few years back, "family friendly" this city is NOT.  So, a simple G-rated postcard is just what we needed.  :)  

Check back tomorrow.

It's in! The FIRST postcard arrived!

Our first postcard arrived on Friday!  Who was it from?  Where was it from?  Stay tuned till tomorrow!!

Our New Summer Project... the Virtual Road Trip!

Check back often to see how we are filling up these maps this summer!  Click on the tabs above to read more about our Summer 2013 project.