4-20-2012 Taylor's Spring Getaway

Wow, it's almost two months and I am just  posting this! I guess in order to get away I had to play a little catch up, then spring sports, then I thought I might as well dive into dentist and other fun appointments...then the end of school rush and beautiful weather pulling us outside. I had even hoped to finish before Taylor's big 13th birthday, but didn't quite  finish for that, either. I've got to jot my thoughts down about our fantastic getaway to Florida before it escapes me completely.

This year was Taylor's turn to choose a spring getaway with mom. I'll explain more about our spring getaways when I catch up on a post about Addy's trip last year to San Diego. Taylor already knew where she was headed--Florida, to swim with Manatees. She's been dreaming of that for a few years now ever since learning about how they are endangered. Now that we've moved East, Florida fit a lot better into the set budget we give to each of the kiddos for their one-on-one getaway. So Tampa, Florida, it was, and Taylor's only hope was to see the Manatees and just hang out on the beach. Easy enough. Part of the fun was working with her on choosing a hotel and figuring out all that we could fit in 4 days without going too over budget. We found a somewhat beach-front hotel not far from the airport, which was key as I would be renting a car and I'm not the best at navigating new areas, as much as I love to study maps. I was a little more wary about Florida in general compared to the west, just seemed like it would be more crowded or foreign, or both.

Despite discovering Spirit Airlines is cheap for a reason ($40 per carry-on bag?!), having a 2-hour delayed flight, and being pulled over by a tourist-hungry cop just outside the terminal for my lights not being on in a brightly lit airport parking area just after I pulled out with the car, we made it without overly-frazzled nerves and felt right at home at our hotel. Oh, and I might add it also took an extra 45 minutes to figure out how to pull into the hotel from the highway, but we worked that out as well. All that was long-forgotten when we walked out to this view in the morning:
 

Then after grabbing some breakfast foods and beach essentials, and a few more wrong turns, we drove up the beach-front roads in search of a good beach to grab some sun and relax. I never realized Florida beaches were so covered in shells--teeny tiny ones, and not so teeny tiny ones, in all sorts of shapes and colors. Made me wish we had all the kiddos there to enjoy it.

 

 Instead I just reveled in the quiet one-on-one time I had with my beautiful soon-to-be teen. Nothing like enjoying sweet berries on a warm spring day on the beach. We eked out all the sun we could get, and took in another beach in Clearwater, before escaping back to the hotel for the evening. We knew that first day might be our only chance at good sun and warmth, with the start of hurricane season only a few weeks away, so we took in as much beach time as possible.

Day two of our trip we hit the mall, knowing a good downpour was on it's way. And what the downpour! We stayed at the mall an extra hour just to avoid being overly drenched on our way to the car. We ended up only half-way drenched, but made out with some good finds! I'm not sure which Taylor enjoyed more, time at the beach or time at the mall without siblings in tow, both rare occurances.

Day 3 was Taylor's dream come true, and mine, as our tour to swim with manatees in the Crystal River turned out to be perfect. Look at that grin!  

 

 

Then the rest of our free-time, we just hung out and enjoyed the views together, and the quiet!

 

 

 

2012 Trip West: Day 1, Through the Big City

With big hugs and tears in my eyes, the kids and I waved good-bye to Clint as we started on our month-long journey west, and back. Just driving down the road a mile I felt like those moments when you gather the courage to jump into a deep, cold pool--from a bridge. I had a few thoughts if this is crazy to think I can survive all these miles alone with the kids, the dog, and a car packed to the brim through places I've never been.

The calm, happy chatter from the kids and their eagerness to help let me know it would work and we would have a great time exploring the country. So despite the thought of all the long miles ahead, and even more so, the big hole in my heart leaving Clint behind, the first day was a pleasant success.

We took the route around the southern tip of Lake Michigan, through a tiny blip of Indiana and on through Chicago. Indiana did have an amazing rest stop that the state obviously took pride in, with cheerful comment cards tastefully displayed on the walls. So glad we took that breather before heading through Chicago. My original challenge from Clint was to stop every 100 miles or so and run a mile with the kids, but for this first day, navigating through tolls and city traffic jams, we just needed to reach our destination in time to make camp (and hope I really packed everything we needed).

The kids really were impressed with the Chicago skyline, despite that I suggested they turn off their movie, and that we got to enjoy a great view stalled in traffic for at least an hour. The girls snapped lots of pictures of their favorite features. I forget that a city is such a novel thing to them--I grew up till age 8 with the Portland skyline rarely far from view and seemed to always have a city skyline not far from view. These kids are mountain kids at heart!

After traffic came many more tolls. So glad I learned about that possibility from my trip to Florida with Taylor as I rarely carry cash or keep change. We made one last stop out of the Chicago area at Costco to stop for snacks and to buy Addy's birthday gift, a nice camera. I hoped we could charge it in the car, so she could use it for the trip, but our car outlet is too awkward to reach. She can charge it later while we visit my friend, Gina.

The kids inhaled Costco hot dogs and carrots while I found places to stash our snacks in every available nook and cranny left in the car. I'll have to take a picture of how loaded up we are, despite seriously packing light! Then we were off on the last 3-hour haul of the day through Wisconsin to our campground in the Wisconsin Dells area.

Wisconsin was beautiful, especially in the dimming light of sunset, those rolling hills and wide, open roads almost reminded me of the mountains. There's a hill just outside our campground that I'm wondering if I can even try to run up a bit when I'm done here. We pulled into our reserved campsite at Nordic Pines at 8:00 pm local time with just enough light to set up camp. We had hoped to walk around the camp a bit to stretch our legs, but didn't make it past the clusters of magical fireflies in the blackberry bushes. We are all in love with these new things. Kenna was so excited to have one in our tent to just lay and watch. She insisted I get a picture--I actually caught one with the flash despite the pitch black dark. So glad I could share that bit of fun with her before drifting to sleep.

I slept surprisingly well, and didn't hear a peep from the kids or the dog all night. I did have ONE brief "I'm crazy to be out alone with the kids so long on my own" thought as I listened to the night sounds and potential "dangers" (car camping does scare me a little more than backpacking) but it didn't last too long, as the next moment I was asleep. It's so great to be at a place in life with the kids where we can do this kind of thing together, AND have fun, AND stay sane. Well, I guess we have plenty of more time to tell. 8 or so hours, 421 miles down and 25 hours, 1600 miles left to go till we make it to our long break in Sandpoint. Till then, it's a day exploring Wisconsin and four hours to Minneapolis for a long-awaited visit with my good friend, Gina and her family.

Planning Our Summer 2012 Road Trip

The realities of our long-anticipated, nearly 5,000 mile road trip are starting to sink in, and I'm taking these laid-back summer days to start planning. 10 more days and counting! I'm going to need every one to figure out the logistics of not only packing for 5 kiddos, a dog, and myself, but also packing up the rest of our rental home here in Michigan to (hopefully!!) be ready for soon moving into our newly built home when we finish those 5,000 miles or so.

Here is the general itinerary:

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Michigan --> The Dells, Wisconsin. 8 hours. Camping, and hoping the kids don't notice the water parks.
Wisconsin -->  Minneapolis, Minnesota. 4 hours. Visiting a dear friend.
Minneapolis --> Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota. 9 hours. Camping.
North Dakota --> Missoula, Montana. 9 1/2 hours. Resting and stocking up.
Missoula --> Sandpoint, Idaho. 3 1/2 hours. Back with old friends and meeting up with Clint!
Sandpoint --> Boise, Idaho. 9 hours. Visiting family all along the way.
Boise --> Salt Lake City, Utah. 5 1/2 hours. Visiting grandparents.
Salt Lake --> Idaho Falls, Idaho area. 3-5 hours. Meeting up with Dax and Addy and family there.
Idaho --> Yellowstone National Park. 1 1/2 hours. Seeing if the kiddos won't hold their noses this time!
Yellowstone --> Bighorn National Forest, Wyoming. 5 hours. Camping and looking for bighorn sheep.
Wyoming --> Mount Rushmore National Memorial. 4 hours. Taking in the scenery.
Mount Rushmore --> Badlands National Park. 2 hours. Camping and celebrating Addy's birthday.
Badlands --> Mississippi River, Davenport, Iowa. 11 hours. We get to see the mighty Mississippi!
Iowa --> Our New Home. 6 1/2 hours. Tackling Clint with some big hugs.

4,926 miles * 83 hours of drive time * we'll soon see just how much real time....

McKenna's #7

Birthdays around our house are a pretty big deal, especially as starting in April, with Miss Kenna, we have one birthday every month through October. Each month is full of anticipation for the next celebration. Kenna started planning her special day at least 2 months ago. Her first idea, sincere and full of hope, was a trip home to celebrate with her best friend Miss H. I almost considered it, especially with those big blue eyes saying how important it was to her, AND we were all homesick at the time, AND her birthday would be during spring break, AND skiing in Idaho sounded fun. BUT, I also knew as a mom we should start making some roots here, and I honestly needed the break to recover a little bit from the move. I knew if we gave it some time, Kenna would make some friends here and would want to celebrate here. I encouraged her to start planning her party, in hopes it would take some of the sting away, and her grin gradually returned once ideas of pinatas and egg hunts were floating around in her head.

The next challenge was that Miss Kenna really wanted the party at our house. Normally that's not a problem, and my preference, but still being in a smaller rental, with little furniture and few belongings (ie: no party supplies and  toys to keep kids occupied), I had to really hope we would have good weather so we could celebrate outside. The yard is great for a party, though, especially with the beautiful lake for a backdrop. So I went ahead and just hoped for good weather. We got it. We've been really lucky with the weather here so far, the sun truly seems a blessing just for us when we really need it. That sun made all the difference for a beautiful, fun day. But not quite as much as our amazing older girls who really helped pull everything together, genuinely happy to make Kenna feel great on her special day, help Kenna's friends all feel included, and help me when I needed it most. At the end of the day I felt so blessed to not only one little happy daughter to celebrate, but 5 terrific kiddos.

Kenna invited a few of her new friends from her class for an afternoon of egg hunting, piñata bursting, crafting and cake-eating. She was especially excited that her friend with autism made it. Kenna seems to have a special connection with her, whether that friend realizes it or not. Kenna doesn't say much around her, but for whatever reason Kenna  just beams when she sees her and seems to feel genuinely warm inside whenever she sees that friend. I get it.  The last few years Kenna spent a lot of time with her friend Miss H and Miss H's family as they worked through the diagnosis of autism for Miss H's sweet brother, Mr. H. Few things made me feel so good inside than when I'd see that little Mr. H greet me, clapping and marching in place as he'd burst out with, "it's Miss Meadow! It's Miss Meadow!" I think part of his draw is that he's just so genuinely honest, I sometimes feel like clapping and marching when I see people I love, too, I just don't. Makes me wonder how we'd all feel if we REALLy showed people how we felt (I guess that could go the other way, too....). Now Kenna didn't always feel so comfortable with Mr. H, gave him lots of strange looks, for sure, but she seems to have made some sort of connection that she brought with her here. One of many things I was touched to see in my kiddos on her special day.

We've kind of made treasure hunting of one sort or another a traditional part of every birthday. Sometimes it's to track down all the presents we've hid, other times it's to find the birthday cake, or in Kenna's case, with a birthday so close to Easter, has often included searching for eggs with pieces of a treasure map inside. This time Kenna drew the treasure map herself and Dad marked the spot where he and the big kids hid the pinata before cutting it up. That was one tough pinata! We filled it mostly with craft stuff, gumball bracelets and felted flower headbands, which the girls then put together with the help of the big girls. Thank goodness again for their help!

Cakes are another big deal here, and seem to become more creative every year. I am anything but an expert baker, food for me has more function than form, but I try. The kids are always very specific with some sort of scene they want depicted. I've done some great hamburgers, a snake, even a pirate ship (that did sink before it reached it's destination, but was still pretty cool), but lately the kids seem to want toys in certain spots, doing certain things, usually an idea from some picture they saw or drew. Now they take more of a lead in the decorating, and I just oversee the project to ensure they don't get too carried away. As long as they are happy....and get those ideas out in frosting and candy.


With a successful party behind us, the girls continued to go above and beyond and ALL play happily with Kenna. I love that I was able to catch this moment, may be one of the last...

Then we had a beautiful evening as a family with another birthday tradition of a dinner chosen by the birthday girl, or boy. This year: boxed Mac and cheese, broccoli and fresh pineapple. I threw in some broiled hot dogs (still no grill) for some extra substance. Mmm, mmm, mmm! (those mmms were mostly for Kenna and everyone else--I was happy with my gluten free spaghetti.) 

We finished it off with a second round of birthday cake, but the real dessert was family present time. Our kids are amazing at putting all their love into the simplest gifts for each other, whether it's a hand-me-down toy, homemade craft, or even a special card, and even more amazing at truly feeling the love in receiving those simple gifts. Before dinner, the big kids snuck away into Taylor and Addy's room, obviously putting together something special. Kenna, of course, was curious and knocked on the door a few times, feeling left out, but had a big hunch they were doing something special for her, so for once didn't come crying to me about it. This was her surprise:

Little Kenna has truly become one of the big kids. Knowing that her big sisters and brother approve makes all the difference. Dad also gave her a special big girl gift, a real necklace with a heart charm. None of the other girls make a bee-line to the jewelry in a store like that girl, so wanting to give Kenna something special, Clint thought it was time to give her something that would last longer than a week, and for her to know how special she is. For a guy who isn't always the best at remembering things, or taking the initiative to buy gifts, anyway, he made the day all the more special.

Sidenote: lest I make it sound like the day was all peaches and cream, it wasn't, of course. We had our normal squabbles just like any other day. The difference was in all those little things put together, and the big kids really did do their best to make Kenna feel special, at all costs. Apparently, the next school day Mia titled her writing assignment: "Why I hate birthdays," then explained how hard it was to still be nice after the princess (or prince) for the day can have such a high and mighty attitude. Made me laugh, and brought me back to reality after what I thought was a "perfect" family weekend. I guess Mia's thought was really what made it perfect, and real.

Scotchmans' Peak, September 10th

 Hiking is one thing we love to do with the kids. It may take a bit of cajoling and preparation, but over time it is getting much easier. Candy bribes sometimes make it easier, if I remember to bring them along. For some reason the hardest hikes are some of the easiest, bribes or no bribes, as I think the kids feel so much more satisfaction than a simple hike nearby. This was one that heard a lot of complaints on the way up, but was rated 5 stars on the way home.

Early last fall we took the kids up Scotchman's Peak, just above Clark Fork, Idaho. It's the tallest peak in the Lake Pend Oreille area, so gives some fantastic views. The four miles up and 3,700 feet elevation gain makes for a grueling climb, and an increasingly painful descent on my knees each year.

Clint had just interviewed for his Michigan job a few weeks earlier, so we knew this could be our last chance for awhile, if forever. September is great for fitting in as many outdoor activities as possible, few tourists, usually good weather, after the summer hubub and before ski season hits. We even opted out of soccer last fall to squeeze as much of our nice September weekends as possible.

We waited for a day we knew would be a little cooler, and it was, maybe a little too chilly, or we were just underprepared. Some days I'm just happy we all have shoes that fit, let alone ones that are appropriate for the conditions. Despite the chill at the top, we were happily rewarded with this goat also enjoying the views from the peak. If I had to pick a favorite animal, it just might be a mountain goat. I can just relate. Looked like he also found us a little amusing, or he was just chewing his cud.

Mia was especially happy to try out her new camera. That girl's got talent. I love seeing her light up when she is inspired by something. All the kiddos had a fantastic look of awe and pride of having made it up there. Those grins on their faces are just about as satisfying as the vistas around us, maybe even more so.

Kenna was especially proud to sign the mountain log at the top. She may have been the youngest to climb on her own 2 legs, and if not, surely the smallest! That girl's got more endurance than the rest of us combined. Not that she didn't voice some complaints on the way up AND down, but she was the first one later on to say it was her favorite hike!
  

Hikes down a mountain are always fun with our crew, hearing the kids barrel down the mountain, feeling so free as they see how fast that they can make it. I usually want to do the same thing, I just have to keep my mom hat on and help Clint keep any stragglers in tow (he's much more patient at that, something I love about him). This day we all sprinted when we could, just to keep warm and to avoid the pending storm.

I felt so liberated on the way down, knowing we can all tackle something like that together AND enjoy it. Not having a baby carrier on my back was also a new, bittersweet experience (Clint will tell you, that Kelty was awfully hard for me to give up...he never got it, it was my only ticket to freedom some days). My knees still hurt, this time from age, but the view and sound of giggles and chatter took care of the pain.

I hope that somewhere along the line we all make it back for another climb, if not soon maybe even a decade or so later with a few of our kids with kids in tow or on back. I'll be sure to bring candy bribes. If I can catch some of those smiles at the top, too, I know my mothering will have had another little success.                                                        For more info on hiking Scotchman Peak and other Sandpoint, Idaho area hikes, see the Friends of Scotchman Peaks website.

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