Family roadtrip

Ah, summer vacation. Relaxing in preparation for the work and school year ahead. Sleeping late. Spending hours bonding with your family over board games and long hikes in the mountains or hours lying on the beach. Wherever your destination, vacations are all about fun and, most of all, relaxation!

Okay, so that's a vacation without kids. What we just experienced, on the contrary, was a vacation with five kids that began and ended with a fairly long day in a minivan. That's a different scenario all together. Family vacations with young children are all about attempts at fun and, most of all, survival and maintaining sanity. We had a great time on our trip, but "relaxation" is not a word that I would use for many hours of the week except maybe the rare few when all the kids fell asleep in the car. And maybe that one really good night out at the restaurant... Let's recap from the beginning.

We made a big push on this trip to be on the road early in an effort to get a few hours behind us while the girls were still sleeping and not yet calling for hourly potty breaks. While we were able to drive away by about 4:45am on Thursday, it didn't save us much in potty breaks. We still had to stop once about an hour into the trip before stopping shortly after 8am for breakfast at McDonald's. The girls were jumping off the walls by that time, and climbed all over poor Ronald.

The potty breaks continued with great frequency but the miles sped by and we ended up in Denver at lunchtime. It would have been fine except that we'd packed a picnic lunch thinking we'd be at a rest area somewhere (we hadn't thought too specifically about where we'd be, or we'd have foreseen this issue). We decided to drive through Denver and see what scenic location presented itself just on the other side of the city. It was perfect. We pulled off and drove the mile or so up to Red Rocks, a tourist attraction and beautiful lunch location all in one. They had a lovely patio behind the gift shop which overlooked the mountains and had a yard for the girls to run around in while I assembled food. After lunch, we made the very hot walk up the steps to the amphitheater.



We arrived in Frisco an hour and a half or so after leaving Red Rocks and spent the evening settling into and exploring around the condo that Nathaniel's friend, Fred, loaned us for the weekend. We owe Fred big time, because the condo was beautiful, with a great location for walking or biking into town and only a short drive from groceries and trailheads for hiking. Not to mention that free accommodations are what made the whole vacation a realistic option! Here's a big thanks to Fred - next time you get to the condo yourself, you can see the artwork left by Marianne on the fridge and the origami from Jake as well.

Friday got off to an early start when the girls roused the house around 6:40am. Nathaniel took Sara and Jake fishing on Lake Dillon at a site recommended in detail by Fred. It was a big-kid-only adventure as the site was difficult to reach and good fishing required a fairly early start. While the girls and I had a leisurely morning at the condo, painting our nails and coloring, Sara and Jake succeeded in catching SIX good sized trout. Nathaniel, sadly, caught none. He was a good sport, though, and was proud of the catch the kids brought home. He cleaned and gutted the fish, insisting the kids watch and learn for next time (Jake didn't mind watching; Sara looked nauseous) and we put them in the fridge for dinner.

We had time remaining before lunch for a short "hike" near the condo that was more a discovery of the joys of climbing on and jumping off of rocks than actual hiking, but was great fun for everyone until the walk home started feeling a little long. After a quick lunch and longer naptime, the little girls and I dropped off Nathaniel, Sara and Jake at a local bike rental shop so they could get outfitted for the next day's adventure, then we did a little last minute grocery shopping so Nathaniel and the big kids could cook up a tasty dinner of "Trout, no doubt"* when they returned from a short practice ride. Once we dropped the groceries at home, the girls and I headed out in a light sprinkle of rain to a concert in the park on Frisco's Main Street. We ran into the rest of our group on the way and they joined us for the music and, for the little girls, dancing.


Most of the cooking we did on vacation was simple fare, easy to prep and clean up, but Friday night's dinner was an exception. Nathaniel and Jake did a beautiful job of seasoning the trout and we had potatoes and broccoli to go along. We even used the nice dishes in the condo instead of paper that night. We're talking big time. It was all very fancy till Nathaniel started playing with the dead, cooked fish on the plates. Since it cracked the kids up, I let the playing-with-his-food issue slide that once.


In addition to it's other amenities, Fred's condo came with a nice big hot tub. We were busy enough that we didn't use it much, but we did all take a dip on Friday evening before bed.

Saturday was another early morning. We had discussed with the girls what time the clock should read before they woke everyone up, but clock reading is new to them, so it didn't go well. It was about 6:40am again when they made their first wake up call, and 7:20 when we were all up and out of bed officially. Nathaniel, Sara and Jake headed out after breakfast for a 12 mile bike ride downhill from Vail Pass to Frisco (they rode a shuttle to the top of the pass). The girls and I drove instead to Breckenridge, where we took advantage of a Kiddie Fun Park at the ski resort. Most of their cooler mountainside summer activities are closed this summer due to some construction, but they had a giant maze that we hunted our way through for almost half and hour, and a bouncy house, which is always a sure hit. Meanwhile, on the bike trail, everyone survived and had a great ride down. They stopped in Copper Mountain for a smoothie and a little shopping, and made it home in well under two hours. Sara claims to have won a race against the boys on the way down, but since it sounds like she didn't inform either of them that there was a race underway, her glory is somewhat tainted.


We met back up for lunch and naps, dropped the rented bikes back at the shop, then headed back to Breckenridge for church and a fun dinner out. The hour wait for a table strained our abilities to keep the kids calm, but thankfully a local toy store nearby had a big play area in the back of the store.

Sunday morning we took our time getting ready, then headed out for a family hike on an easy nearby trail. Lucky for us, there was a big biking event that day, so there were a row of port-a-potties set up at the trailhead. If not for that, our hike would have been cut very short by several needs for emergency stops. I mean, we're all for using the woods when possible, but sometimes you really need to give a little girl a seat, and some tissue. You know what I'm saying. So we hiked as a group for a while, then I hiked back down to the facilities with Elizabeth. Then she and I headed back up the trail, only to run into Nathaniel hurrying down the trail with Marianne and Jake. Elizabeth and I continued a little way further till we found Sara and Ruth, then the four of us turned and went back down the trail together. It wasn't a super long or challenging hike, but it was fun just the same (mosquitoes notwithstanding).


On the way back to the condo we stopped on Main Street Frisco at their historical museum, a set of nine buildings dating back to around 1880. They're all filled with artifacts from early life in Frisco. The kids weren't all thrilled to be spending time there (Jake actually referred to it, toward the end of our hour there, as the "worst time he's ever had" or something similar, to which we responded he must have lived a pretty charmed life if that was true), but they were good sports. One of the houses is named "The Ruth House", so was obviously a big hit. The jailhouse had plenty of kid appeal as well.


Sunday evening we visited a colleague of Nathaniel's who was staying at his house in Breckenridge with his family before returning home for dinner and a start to the packing up process. Monday morning (I think we managed to "sleep in" till 7:00am for once!) we washed all the linens, cleaned the condo and packed up our gear to head into Denver. Nathaniel took the kids for one last walk into town to mail some postcards and to get them out of my way while I finished the tidying, and after a quick lunch to clean out as much of our leftover groceries as possible, we started down the mountain.


All the kids napped in the car for more than an hour until we pulled off at the Mother Cabrini Shrine just outside of Denver. We wandered around the chapels and gardens there, saw where the miraculous spring has sprung, and spent a few minutes in prayer. We did not follow the stairs to the top of the Stations of the Cross because it was a hot, sunny day and there were too many short legs in the group, but it was a nice stop.

The big event on Monday night in the city was Morgan's birthday party. Marianne and the other girls had been asking since we left Nebraska when we'd be seeing Morgan and counting down the days till her party. So, after a quick stop in our old neighborhood to show off the kids to the old daycare lady and our neighbors, we headed over to Morgan's house. Holly and Justin had just finished up a huge celebratory weekend for Holly's sister's wedding, so the party was low key but wonderful, with a few good friends of ours and their kids, and good food for all. We visited for a few hours and the kids all had a great time catching up. There was a little incident with a wasp nest, but I won't go into too much detail. Let's just say the wasps are all now dead.


We stayed while in Denver at the home of our friends, Matt and Heather and their three year old, Miranda. Heather is due to have a baby in the next couple of weeks, so she and I bonded over stories of our discomfort and excitement. While our hosts were at their respective workplaces and schools on Tuesday, we took our family to do some touristy things around NW Denver and Boulder. We went to the Celestial Seasonings factory and I took the five and older crowd on the factory tour while Nathaniel entertained the younger girls with snacks and free tea at the cafe. We drove into Denver for the Hammond Candy factory tour, which wasn't much of a tour but included many free samples of sugary delights, so was a big hit with the kids. For lunch, we headed to a childhood favorite of mine, Casa Bonita. The food, with the exception of the sopapillas, isn't much to write home about, but the cheesy entertainment and raucous atmosphere make it a great place to take a load of kids. With full tummies and extreme exhaustion from the wild day so far, the kids all passed out in the car on the drive back up to Boulder and got in a decent nap on the way. We finished up the touristy day with a stroll down the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, stopping in at our favorite toy and candy shops to pick up some treats. Matt and Heather treated us to a tasty dinner at their house, and we wrapped up the week with an evening of visiting.



Now here I sit, enjoying the ability to type up our adventures on Nathaniel's laptop as we drive home. The kids are watching their first in-car movie of the trip, incredibly, and we're less than two hours from home. Hooray! I have no idea what I'll make for dinner tonight or when I'll go shopping for the week. For that matter, I don't really know when I'll move this post from Nathaniel's computer to my blog and insert all the pics... but all that aside, I'm very excited to get home and sleep in my own bed tonight. Vacation was wonderful in it's own way, but there's something very relaxing in the thought of getting back to our regular daily routine. This is one vacation that thoroughly wore me out.


*A reference to a line in the Berenstain Bears book, "Too Much Vacation". For whatever reason, most likely just because "trout, no doubt!" is fun to say, this caught on from the first discussion of possible trout fishing and no one could make reference to trout without using the full phrase.

Off we go...

As quick as that, we've come home with the kids, washed all the clothes (relatives were remarkably kind about sending them home with mostly clean clothes), packed for a wonderfully cooler altitude/climate, and we're off in the wee hours of the morning for the mountains of Colorado. Nathaniel and I were adamant this summer about planning a "family vacation" for just our family unit, and I'm glad. Hopefully it'll be a good weekend of bonding for us all before school starts up. We'll spend four days in the mountains, keeping things mostly low key. We have vague plans for bike riding, hiking, fishing, kite flying, mini-golfing and paddle boating. (Clearly the "we" in that last sentence involves a lot of Nathaniel supervising the kids while very pregnant ME spectates or entertains the kids not old enough for mountain biking, etc.) There are some outdoor family activities and free music events going on around the mountain town we'll be visiting, so we're definitely looking to enjoy the cool evening air and take in some free entertainment as well. Then, for the last two days of our trip we'll be staying with friends near Boulder, taking in some local tourist attractions and taking advantage of one more chance to visit old friends around the metro area.

Keep your fingers crossed that we actually get on the ball about taking pictures, and maybe I'll manage to update my blog in a timely manner! Miracles can happen. In the meantime, have a great weekend of your own!

Wrapping up my break

Practically before it feels like it's begun, my week of peace and quiet is coming to an end. I'm in the process of packing for Nathaniel and I to drive down to the southern edge of Kansas where we'll retrieve the three youngest kids. Then, on our drive home Sunday, we'll swing by the Kansas City area to pick up the older kids as well. When we get home Sunday night, the house will be back to capacity and hopping.

I had a refreshing week, though I can't claim the projects I had in mind are all done to the extent I wish. I did hang a slew of photos and framed pieces of art around the house, so hopefully next time those of you who live nearby visit, you'll notice some subtle differences to the decorating. The differences are underwhelming, though, believe me. Hence my not bothering to post any photos as evidence. But hey, at least I can just stop thinking about how unfinished the house is now, and if I happen to stumble upon a great bit of decor, I'll have a much better sense of whether there's somewhere in the house it might work.

I am very happy to say that since I finished my measuring and hammering this morning, I've had time to clean up my handiwork and for once I'm actually expecting to leave the house in a state of general tidiness when we walk out the door. I always dream of doing that when we leave on a trip, but always in the mad rush to exit, there are chores left undone. I know that as soon as we arrive home with all the kids' luggage it'll feel like it was never clean, but somewhere in the back of my mind I'll remember having lived all week in a clean home. I'm actually running the dishwasher today for the first time since Monday, because it's only just full! (Compare that to our usual one to two loads of dishes each day!)

Happy weekend to you all. I hope you enjoyed your three post week - who knows when that'll happen again!

Sleep, Love, and School Supplies

Talk about a good night not to have had the little kids at home! Last night it stormed most of the night, with big thunder and lightening. Usually on a night like that, I can count on being woken up at a least a few times by scared girls. It made it a little strange to go to bed knowing I'd most likely get to sleep through it all (to the extent the as-yet-unborn kid allows me to sleep through any night). Interestingly, though, I think I woke up groggier at 8:45 this morning that I usually do at 7:15 after a morning of fighting to get the girls back to sleep in the storm. All that extra sleep is taking it's toll on me - I'll have to taper myself off of it over the next couple days.

*****

Yesterday was my 8th wedding anniversary. EIGHTH! And in just a month, if we celebrated such things, Nathaniel and I would be celebrating 13 years since we met and started dating. That's 13 out of 31 years of our lives. I don't know why, but it's always amazed me to watching how numbers like those shift as you grow older - how things become a bigger percentage of your life each year, till eventually, God-willing, you've been married for something like 75% of your life to this person. I love the thought that I'm approaching having been with Nathaniel for half of my life. It sounds crazy, but very cool at the same time. My prayer this year as we celebrate our marriage is the same as it always seems to be - that we continue to grow in love and faith, that we don't take one another for granted, and that we have many, many more years to celebrate together than we've had yet.

*****

Today my goal is get some much needed shopping done. Sam's Club, Target, a few groceries. And, the most exciting part, school supplies! I love school supplies. And I love having the control over school supplies. It's so mean, I know. I probably would have hated it if my mom had gone out and done all the school supply shopping without me when I was in junior high (or maybe she did and I just don't remember, but I do remember spending forever flipping through all the folders for the one with the tv show or cool design that I liked best). The way I see it, since I'm shopping for such a large range of kids, I can go and buy all the basic supplies, and then I'll take the big kids (maybe the younger ones, too, but we'll see) to pick out a few folders or fun pencils or something. It's much easier to get the main shopping trip done by myself so I can buy all the cheap spiral notebooks and solid colored folders without having to argue with a little girl who really wants kitties on hers. I was keeping my fingers crossed for the past couple weeks that the school supply list would arrive by this week so I could get out to the store before the kids all return from their trips, so I'm very excited now to get it done! I love new boxes of crayons and fresh paper and pencils... weird? Maybe, but I can't help it.

A quiet morning at the computer

It's Monday morning and I just rolled out of bed at 9:40, grabbed a quick shower while my bagel toasted, and now here I am, checking email and blogs as I sip my OJ and eat. How is such a thing possible in a house with five kids? It's NOT. But they're gone! For the whole week I'm on my own for some leisurely mornings, solo shopping trips and plenty of time to get a few projects done around the house pre-baby.

This weekend my aunt and uncle drove up from Kansas to take the little girls back for some quality visiting time. The girls have been talking non-stop about this trip since Sara and Jake left for their own summer visit to grandparents over a week ago. They can't wait to go "camping" (in a trailer that's more like a house than a tent) and on a boat at the lake, and they can't wait to see all the family that lives in the same area. So Sunday morning when we packed them up, wedging two car seats and a booster into the back of a fairly compact car, they were nothing but smiles. Here they are waving their farewell before piling into the car:
I can only imagine how long the 6+ hour drive (not counting innumerable potty breaks) must have felt to Carolyn and Criss, but I prayed all day that the girls were good for them.

A couple hours later, Nathaniel and I were at our church for the baptism of our newest goddaughter. Livia is about five weeks old I've never seen her do anything but eat and sleep peacefully. She maintained that facade through mass, but afterward, when it came time for the baptism, she was less than pleased. Whether it was the lovely but possibly scratchy dress, or the fact that she just likes to eat when she's not sleeping, she let her displeasure be known by crying through all but the final few minutes of the ceremony. Her mom, Jody, was somewhat mortified, but I assured her that babies do cry at baptisms and it's nothing to be that upset about. Besides, babies that little, even when they're wailing their loudest, still sound remarkably quiet and calm compared to bigger kids' crying, so it's not nearly as hard to listen to. Here's a shot of Livia with her parents just after the ceremony, when she had fallen back to sleep:
Since our kids were all gone by this time, Jody had arranged to have a sitter for her three older children so that we could go out for a fancy lunch to celebrate the baptism. It was a lovely way to kick off our week of kid-free quiet. Livia slept all the way through lunch without a peep.

To round out our crazy Sunday, last night we hosted the couples' book club that we're in. Four other couples came over, so Nathaniel and I spent the afternoon tidying up and making homemade pizza for a crowd. I'd had the foresight to prep my dessert the night before. (If you love a good cheesecake but are too intimidated by talk of water baths and hours of baking to make one from scratch, try Joy of Cooking's Cheesecake Cockaigne. It's a wonderful thing and totally forgiving because if the main cake cracks, it gets covered by a layer of sweetened sour cream. It's to die for. Plus, the recipe actually recommends you make it up to 24 hours in advance.) The party was great fun and conversation about the book we'd chosen (Father Elijah, by Michael O'Brien) branched out into all sorts of speculations on today's world and the major moral dilemmas being faced, which was our hope in selecting the book.

After that, we cleaned up to a degree, but enjoyed the fact that we didn't have to get every wine glass out of reach before going to bed for fear that the first kid out of bed would break them. Of course that means I still have some mess to deal with this morning, but since I don't have much else on my schedule of events for the day, I can handle that. First, though, I'm off to the birthday party of two little girls turning four and five years old. They're friends of Elizabeth's and Marianne's and Ruth's, but given the unfortunate timing, the girls couldn't attend. Since the moms of all the kids going are my girlfriends, though, I've been invited to stop by anyway and hang out at the spray park with them. It feels a little funny, but I'm happy to lend a pair of grown up eyes at a crazy kid party and to spend an hour visiting with friends.

Donation bonus?

I'm going to make myself sound like a very bad accountant in this post, but I've never been a tax accountant and I haven't practiced accounting in years, so I suppose I shouldn't feel too terrible about that.

Last weekend I sent Nathaniel to make a donation to the thrift shop of several big bags and boxes full of clothes that I'd accumulated over numerous months and through some major cleaning out of rubbermaid storage tubs. In the past when I made a donation like this, I'd just have made a note that I'd sent some stuff and called it $100 or something minimal. That was before we filed our taxes this year and I found out that you need a receipt for ANY donation of material goods, not just donations over $200 or whatever the cut off used to be. This time I figured that if I was having to account for the donation with a receipt, I might as well go all out and take a quick inventory of my donation so I could use one of those donation calculators to make a good estimate.

I pulled up this list of values from Salvation Army's website. Mind you, I had a BIG donation which, I was even surprised to find upon inventorying, included over 100 kid shirts and 75 pants plus tons of dresses and bigger kid clothes and a few adult things. In the end, using nearly the lowest estimated values for everything, I ended up with a donation valued at just shy of $900.

WHAT?! Part of me feels like if the government wants me to account for stuff this carefully, then I can and should take advantage of it. But since in my head it was $100-150 in donation because I think more in terms of garage sale value for used clothes, I feel really funny about giving it such a huge dollar value.

Do you guys make clothing donations during the year? How do you value them and track them? Do you end up with hundreds or even thousands of dollars on your itemized deductions from these donations? That feels crazy to me, but maybe I've been missing out.

On swimming and other fun

Hooray for the first day that all three girls could get into the water at swimming lessons! If only it had gone a little more smoothly... as it was, Ruth cried through most of the 45 minutes because she decided after we were dressed and ready to go, after we had sunscreened up and tied back her hair, even after we had driven to the pool, that she really did not want to swim. She cried for nearly 10 minutes before lessons began, during which time I was able to talk her down to a hesitant "I guess I can try" attitude about getting in the water. Marianne ran jubilantly to the teacher they shared, but the quiver of Ruth's bottom lip gave away the trouble ahead and it was an ordeal getting her to the pool. I can't speak highly enough of the program the girls are in this season, though. The head instructor came over to talk to Ruth and got one of the "extra" teachers (most of the teachers are high school aged girls and apparently most days they have two or three more than necessary to handle just this sort of situation) to spend the entire lesson one on one with Ruth. So even though Ruth cried for me for about 2/3 of the class, she was in the water doing front floats and dipping her head in the water whenever the tears ceased. I was impressed.

In other fun-for-the-girls news, Nathaniel finished assembling a playset/fort in the backyard this weekend with much help from his family. It's been back there with no ladder for a few weeks, taunting the girls ever time they played out back, so it's big time excitement to finally be allowed UP the fort.

The other hot topic these days is the girls' upcoming trip to visit my family in Kansas. My aunt and uncle are coming next weekend to whisk them away for several days visiting with my grandparents and camping at a lake. There's an official countdown going each morning of how many days till Carolyn and Criss arrive. It's been a great way to take Elizabeth's mind off the fact that Sara and Jake left this past weekend for a little more than two weeks spent with their paternal grandparents.

The baby in utero continues to grow and thrive and has taken up kick boxing as a pastime. I'm not complaining because I'd much rather have a frequent reminder that all is well, but wow. This kid is a mover and a shaker. I wish I could understand how such a tiny being produces such wild motion, you know? That I could somehow see just what the heck was going on in there through a little window or something (not that I really want a window in my tummy, but you get the idea). I spend a lot of time of late staring disbelievingly at my writhing alien-tummy.

Oh, and we had a wonderful 4th of July celebration in case you're wondering. One more thing I need to update everyone on... Maybe when all the kids are gone for the week I can add to my to-do list to put together a nice long photo post to catch family up on our past few months. A little something on Ruth's 3rd birthday, for instance, since I never posted on that. Man, I'm the worst blogger around these days. For now, I promised Ruth a trip back to the pool to hit the spray park if she actually stayed in the water during swimming lessons. Though she was in the water mostly unwillingly today, I still think I'd better take her or tomorrow will be all the worse.

I hate ears

I know the sense of hearing is a valuable thing. I've always hated my own ears because they are less than perfect in that respect and I'm bound to be in hearing aids at some point. But now I'm hating ears in a more general sense. I wanted to be writing about our recent vacation and the fun of swim lessons this week and upcoming good times, but instead, I'm back in ear infection land. Elizabeth and Ruth are both suffering again from the nasty bug. I took them to the doctor today and got what must be the world's least tasty children's medication. Thankfully it only takes a few days to administer. But the nights have been low on sleep as each girl repeatedly comes down with complaints ranging from pain to chills to general dislike of the darkness and nighttime. Anything to get out of bed and wake up Nathaniel and myself. Oh, and a little vomiting for good measure. Ugh.

Luckily we have lots of kind family around to lend a helping hand or offer support to exhausted parents.

Marianne is still going to swimming lessons while the other girls languish in the shade near the pool asking why they can't swim (between complaints of achy heads and sick tummies - gee, I wonder why?). Hopefully we'll be able to get Elizabeth and Ruth in the water for the second week of lessons, but this is the last session offered at our pool this season, so I can't add on more time.

I'm off to make dinner now with less enthusiasm than I wish. I'm tired. Tired of ear aches and sick stomachs and night fears stemming from illness. But it's alright. This is my path to heaven. A friend of mine has that saying on her wall and I think of it whenever I feel household or mothering duties dragging on me. It has remarkable motivational power.