Enjoying a bit of warmth

I love Colorado.  Yes, there was a time when I was a teen that I dreamed of nothing better than leaving it, moving to Paris to play cello in an attic, or to California to lay and the beach and be "discovered". (Hey, little pudgy Latina's have dreams too ya know. )  And yes, Firelord and I used to talk about selling it all and sailing away, or at least moving to the coast.  We've put down roots now, while future grandchildren might lure us from here, we're in Colorado for the duration.

Still, there are other beautiful places in the world, and it's lovely to visit them.  This week we're in Texas. We spend a night with friends in Sherman, and I have to say, north Texas is lovely in March.  The pear trees are blooming and the air smells of sweet pine and flowers.  Now we're in College Station for Texas A & M's Physics festival.  The air is so warm!  Colorado is below freezing, but here, everytime I step outside I'm shocked by the caress of almost tropical breezes.  Ahh....

The physics festival is just getting started, but last night's speaker was fascinating.  Firelord commented that he finally understood why we couldn't tell how big the universe is, and Lego Kid discovered that it's ok to not understand about Dark Matter and Dark Energy, since the best physicists in the world are a bit stumped too.

The hobbit in me misses home, even before I've left it.  But this place is pretty nice too.  :-)

Steamboat delivers again.

Yesterday we toured the Tread of the Pioneers Museum, checked out the local Farmer's Market, ate at the Steamboat Smokehouse, and swam at the rec center.  The Tread of the Pioneers Museum is in a cool old Victorian house that is (mostly) decorated in period.  It has a lot of Steamboat history in it's rooms.  We had fun doing their scavenger hunt, and checking out all the old tools, instruments, and memorabilia.  Even though there was much complaining before we went, as we left all (voluntarily!) said they enjoyed it.  Lunch at the Smokehouse wasn't as big a hit with the kids as it was with Firelord and me, but that might have had something to do with the pretzels-as-big-astheir-heads they ate in the morning at the farmer's market.  The rec center was fun but, given the summer heat, the hot springs were almost too warm.  Almost.

Today we went to the Wild West Air Fest and splurged on a helicopter ride for the family.  It was a frivolous expense, but also totally worth it.  None of us have never ridden in a helicopter before, not even Firelord who has his pilots license.  The weather was perfect and it was fun seeing all the planes.

Now we are waiting for pizza delivery while Hot Dog and Lego Kid watch college football (BYU vs Washington State).  Sigh... how did I get kids that like to watch sports?

All in all, despite the sad news from home, it's been a very enjoyable little holiday. 

Yellowstone!

Whee!  We just got back from a fabulous road trip to Yellowstone.  We met up with family, a cousin and her kids that stair step in with my younger two. It was planned, and reservations made, well before my cancer diagnosis, and I'm so glad we got to go, slipping this trip in between chemo treatments.
Here was something that I remembered from my first trip to Yellowstone - Bison always have right of way.

Yellowstone is a magical place to me. I've been there at least 3 times before this, and each time is different and special.  I was looking forward to seeing it through my kid's eyes, but mostly they were full of excitement and sillies because they got to meet up with some favorite cousins.  It's wild beauty was a bit lost on them.  :-D

Old Faithful just after noon

When you go to Yellowstone you will see a lot of this-  crowds around the most popular sites.  You'll have to put up with typical tourist behavior, but it's worth it to see things that just don't exist anywhere else in the world.   Don't miss the famous spots just to avoid the crowds, just get up early.

With just a little effort you find treasures that will make it your own special place.  My cousin did a little hunting and found a place where a hot river met a cold river and made a warm bathing spot.  Although this "hidden" gem was one we had to share with many other people, it was one of the highlights of our trip.






And if you are willing to just walk for 10 or 15 minutes on a well beaten trail, you can suddenly find yourself all alone, with not a soul in sight, surrounded by wild flowers, and the big blue Wyoming sky topping the vast horizon.

Of course, if you venture on to the less traveled paths, you have to be willing to deal with what you find there.  On this walk it was a couple of male bison on either side of the path on our return.  Despite one teen's great desire to get up close and personal with said bison, and much discussion on how one should best retreat from a charging bison, we discreetly choose a different path back to our car. 

 

The Bison on the path not taken

Steamboat

One of the silver linings with this new health diagnosis is that I don't feel very guilty about a few indulgences. Since I can't get too far from home for the next few months, one of the indulgences we are looking into are weekend getaways for the family.

Last weekend Firelord got us a condo for a couple of nights in Steamboat Springs. The condo didn't cost very much more than a hotel room, and we got to have an extra bedroom for the kids, two bathrooms, and a kitchen to cook in. We didn't ski. Not only was I not up to it (having had a minor surgery the day before) but they hadn't had new snow for over 2 weeks, and the slopes were icy. Not great for inexperienced skiers.

So if you can't ski in a ski town, what else can you do in Steamboat? If it were summer, we could have had some amazing hikes. If it were summer, we could have camped! But, it's still winter up there, and I'm a weather wuss (no winter camping for me). So we checked out the Old Town Hot Springs. Lots of different pools and hot tubs made this visit worthwhile. Had we had more time and energy we would have come back 4-8 pm when the big slides were open. After swimming (wading for me since I wasn't allowed to get the surgical site wet) we went to lunch at Jonny B Good's. The food was generous servings of basic diner food, but the milkshakes were excellent. Walking around town, our find was the Steamboat Hat Shop.

A camera, kids, and a hat shop make for no end of fun.

When he first saw this hat/scarf combo, Bit Boy exclaimed "Poor Ewok!" :-D

It was lovely to have some family time while I'm still relatively healthy feeling. Steamboat is now associated with fond memories.
Hot Dog cried when we had to leave " Can we come back here again? When can we come back?"
"Yes, sweetheart. We can come back here again, soon."

The Great Family Escape.

Those of you who know me IRL know that one of our dreams as a couple was to sell it all and sail away. That was why homeschooling was always in the back of my mind as a possibility and eventual likelihood.

The Great Family Escape is a website/blog after my own heart. We're not doing it yet. And maybe we won't ever, at least like we had originally planned, but when the time comes to put on our traveling shoes this site has both inspiration and practical suggestions.

Safe travels everyone!

We are on the road, drive across the country, staying with friends and family as we travel to the west coast for a sailing holiday. I am reminded again why it is worth all the effort to travel with kids.

We gain so much from this time. Of course, we get to see people we love, but live far from. My children met family they'd met before, some they remembered, some they didn't remember, and discovered the joys of playing with cousins their own age and being admired by a great-grandfather. We met up with dear friends continuing and strengthening those bonds. We've also met new friends. We've discovered that we have friends we just haven't met yet everywhere we go. It's wonderful to learn that the world is full of interesting and kind people.

We see places that are very different from our own home, yet we see the commonalities that all people share. It's fascinating to see how other people manage their lives. It's enlightening to see how many ways there are of being, to notice that our own way isn't the only way. It seems kind of old hat, these are things we all know to be true in the abstract. To experience it in person drives home the lesson in ways that a lecture or book just can't.

Of course there are things that aren't so great: tired and overwhelmed kids who can't hold it together one more moment, family drama and sorrows, the discovery that some situations/people can't be trusted. I'm learning that these are actually good things too. We learn how to cope with the less than perfect, we build resilience, and the knowledge that we are able to move beyond that and still enjoy what we have at that moment. That's a lesson that I want to remember!

Camping!

We're having a busy summer here. I'm behind in posting my books I know, I've read more than are currently listed, but not much more! :-)

I have my nephews with me for three weeks this summer. My brother is serving his second tour in Iraq right now, and my sister-in-law is working on her M.Ed., trying to finish up, since he is expected back this fall. She needed some to put in some extra work this summer, and also wanted her kids to have a chance to get to know their Colorado relatives, so all of us in CO are taking turns having them with us. My goodness are they a handful!

I have three boys of my own, ages 10, 7, & 3. My nephews are 10 & 8. That means I have 5 (!) boys with me 10 and under. I'm 5 feet tall, (when I'm not quite telling the truth ;-) ), so picture me surrounded by a pack of boys, 3 of them nearly as big as me. Boy, you should see the way folks cringe when we troop into a store! We get lots of attention. "Are they all yours?" :-D This one cracks me up, since the two nephews call me "Aunty April" pretty often, and VERY loudly. Also, their mom is black, so they look noticeably different than my kids. To be fair, we could be a blended or adoptive family. Still, what am I supposed to answer? It could be a personal question. Maybe I was free and loose with my affections! We've had some fun with it. My husband told someone "We've got a couple of rentals". I like to say "They're mine today." But sometimes I want to say "Why? Want to make me an offer?" "I'll take $5 for the noisy one."

We just got back from taking them all camping up at Glendo. We brought our kayaks and sailing dingy too. It was very brave of all of us to do this. My nephews had never been camping. They came with their own gameboys and gamecube. They told me that they don't like to go outside. So our life style of hiking, camping, boating, etc,. is a bit ...ahem... new to them. We have never had 5 boys in our care, so that's pretty new to us. My oldest didn't help, what with talk of mountain lions and bears and rattle snakes. I could have strangled him when my nephews nervously broached the subject with me one bedtime and I realized the source of their mis-information. I was worried - you know how fast a camping trip can go downhill, even with experienced campers. Luckily we had no major mishaps, good weather, and lots of s'mores. The children all had a great time. I did too, something I'm trying to remember as I wade through the piles of smoky smelling laundry.

Well, ok, there was one mishap. But it didn't involve the kids. My husband took our sailing dingy out in a stiff breeze and tried a new maneuver on it. One can presume, since he came to shore on a power boat w/ the dingy in tow, that it could have gone better. Still, since there were no children with him at the time, he was wearing his PFD, and the power boaters didn't claim salvage rights, all was well in the end.

It's interesting how 5 nice boys which ,when taken individually, are each great kids, become a pack of misbehaving miscreants when spending any time at all together. I can't believe I had to explain why chanting "Bacon! Bacon!" loudly at a restaurant isn't ok, even if it is just a fast food place. Then there's the difference in socialization. My youngest has taken to copying his cousins' speech. "Ya, Riiiight" he says sarcastically. Aghhh!! I don't need that from a 3 year old.

But it does go the other way too. Being UU's my kids have a concern for the environment and took to picking up every bit of garbage they found at the park. It didn't take long before the cousins were helping and being taught which was recyclable and which wasn't. Unfortunately there was a lot of it, the 4th of July weekend having just passed. "Mama, lots of people must like this kind of soda" said my 7 yo holding up another empty Bud Light can. LOL!

Life with 5 boys is busy, noisy, exhausting, and, yes, fun. But I'm not sure I'll be doing it again any time soon!

On the road....with kids

My boys and I have done some long-ish road trips together. Given that we have 3 kids, still need car seats and boosters, and airports being what they are, we have found that driving when we can is a fun and economical way to travel, even including the cost and trouble of gas and hotels. We've come to look forward to our trips as special time together, as well as a way to get from point A to point B.

It helps to have a plan. Here's what has helped our family have a good time on the road.

Activities: Every kid has a pencil box of colored pencils and markers, sticky notes, tape, etc.. and a notebook of paper. If I need to push on when I don't think they'll want to, I keep a stash of crafts or toys to dispense as a bribe to get back in the car and keep going for a while, dollar toys, modeling wax (LOVE IT!), Wikki Stix, magic modeling clay (if you get white it's cheaper and then they can color it with their markers.), sticky notepads (great for making flip books), pipe cleaners, etc.. I tried beads once, that was a mess! Note: crayons will melt in a warm car, then leak through whatever they're in to find the lowest potential energy. Melted crayon does not come out of carpeting very well at all.

I also really like books on tape. I know a lot of families swear these days by portable DVD players and hand held gaming systems, but we haven't gone that route. What I really like about road trips is that we are all in one spot together sharing our experience for a good length of time. With DVD or electronic games, the driver isn't involved, and the kids don't interact with each other or the driver. With a book on tape we're all listening at the same time, sharing the experience. We stop it and talk about it, which is very fun. Also, because I have to turn it off when I need to concentrate, the kids tend to notice our surroundings and the traffic patterns more. They are actually helpful, being extra sets of eyes.

Food: We pack lots of healthy snacks and water, that way we don't eat junk and get grumpy and over-sugared because we were munchy when we stopped at the gas station. It also helps for any family where there are allergies or food issues. Rather than a gas station or fast food join, we tend to stop at the rest stops for snacks, picnic lunch, and running around when someone needs the toilet. We tend to feel like we really got a break when we play outside, which we don't get to do at commercial places. We'd rather eat McDonalds in the car and then have time to run and play when we find a park or rest stop.

Planning: Because I am the only adult, I'm doing all the driving myself. We stop at night, so I can sleep. I try to find hotels with swimming pools. I really like the AAA guides to help pick out places while on the road and then use the cellphone to call in a reservation - no hunting around a new town with a car full of fussy kids! (If you don't have a membership, you probably know someone who does and would be willing to lend you the books you'd need.) The novelty of swimming pools and cable TV makes the whole thing a great treat to the kids.

Stopping frequently is also helpful. On one leg of a journey my husband joined us, and so we didn't need to stop as often, or as soon. The kids really hated it! Taking a break every ~3 hrs and driving no more than 8hrs in a day really seem to work better for them. Driving at night while they slept might be an exception that would work.

In addition to designated rest stops, we have enjoyed visiting museums and sights along the way. With our membership to a local museum we get a list of reciprocal museums that we get into for free. We plan ahead to use as many of these for our rest/play stops as possible. We've had so much fun with this that the children now ask in advance what museums we'll be getting to see on our road trips.

Happy travels!