Country Travels - Part 3

12 - We like to reward good car behavior with bad hotel behavior.

But seriously... two beds so close to each other?  It's an open invitation for jumping games.

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Day 4

From Chattanooga, TN to St. Louis, Missouri

438 miles, 6 hours 31 minutes driving time

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13 - Willie Wonka would have loved to travel up the Gateway Arch

Though the elevator wasn't glass, it sure felt like something he would want in his chocolate factory.  Small, white, roundish... Like a giant egg.  At first we weren't sure we wanted to take the time to go up at all (would the kids like it (would TK behave (do we want to wait in that line?)?)?) but shoving those kids in that egg elevator was definitely the right decision. 

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Day 5

St. Louis, Missouri to Kansas City, Kansas

251 miles; 3 hours 50 minutes driving time

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14 - Sometimes your kids make up jokes that aren't funny. You have to laugh anyway.

Other times they surprise you with something genuinely witty that makes you laugh without trying.  I had a For Real laugh when, in an effort to make her doughnut seem more like a breakfast food, Kenz decided to call it a 'frosted bagel'.

15 - Another temple pit stop - this time the grounds were open.

The Kansas City, Missouri temple.

16 - It's Great.  It's got Wolves.  It's a Lodge.  It's Great Wolf Lodge.

According to the kids, this would be the highlight of the trip.  The other activities didn't stand a chance, actually. In the planning phase, it was McKenzie's idea to just 'check and see' if there was a Great Wolf Lodge somewhere close to where we would be going.  I didn't think that was a very good Road Trip Across The Country Thing to do because... culture.  But I felt certain that all of the Great Wolf Lodges were in the eastern states so we wouldn't be passing by one of them anyway.  So I checked for the sole purpose of being able to say, 'well, darn!  I guess we'll have to get to know our country while we travel across it then.'   But then, there was one.  And then there was no hiding that fact because I checked right in the presence of those children.  And so the hounding began.

"Mom, have you decided yet?" became the hourly question. 
"So have you thought more about Great Wolf Lodge?" became the half hourly question. 
And then one morning, after two weeks of this, McKenzie asked,  "Mom, on a scale of 1 to 10, what do you think the chance is that we will end up stopping at Great Wolf Lodge?"  I still had not decided and opened my mouth to say so when the hope in her eyes caught me.

"Uh.  Well..." I started. "I guess I just have to figure out if this cross country trip is more for you or for me." I finally said.

I guess it ended up being more for them.

It was the right decision.  Timothy was a mad-man the whole time - running from one pool to the next.  Jumping, floating, splashing, and oblivious to the fact that he was, several times, close to drowning.  I've never had to watch a child so closely before... he has no fear.  But do you see the picture in the above left corner?  That smile is worth every stressful minute.

The front desk gave us some wolf ears when we registered and they were quite the highlight.  My favorite moment was seeing Miles come out of the bathroom freshly showered with a towel around his waist and wolf ears on his head.  Clearly he was much too busy to put on his pajamas, but he had plenty of time to find the wolf ears (that were under the pajamas).

We spent two days and one night playing in the lodge, with two relatively short driving days on either end.

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Day 6

Kansas City, KS to Nebraska City, NE

141 miles; 2 hours 10 minutes driving time

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17 - There is nothing after Kansas City.  Nothing.

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Day 7

Nebraska City, NE to Laramie WY

539 miles; 7 hours 56 minutes driving time

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18 - There is nothing after Kansas City.  Nothing.  
                Wait... did I already say that?

Except for wide open spaces and beautiful skies.

18 -  And Laramie, Wyoming.  Laramie is after Kansas City.

Not that that's saying much... but we did have a lovely evening there.  The kids were stir crazy after our longest day of driving, so we found a park and let them play until it was too dark to see the frisbee or the potholes in the grass anymore. 

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Day 8

Laramie, WY to Midway, UT

380 miles; 5 hours 28 minutes driving time

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19 - Apparently we need to teach Carson that in order to catch the frisbee, he will need it to be in front of him.

Rest stops were quite handy on these long driving days.  So was that frisbee (I love finding those Take On A Road Trip secrets that take up relatively  little space, but pack in so much fun.  Individual lunch boxes packed with snacks was another one of those things. And books on CD).

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Days 9-21

So Much Fun Family Time

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20 - There is way too much to say about two weeks of family time for me to dive into it tonight.

Also, there are way too many pictures for me to add to this already picture-filled post.  But I'll just say that I'm a lucky lady to be moving closer to all those awesome people.  There will be posts to follow about that.

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Day 22

Midway, UT to Enoch, UT

228 miles; 3 hours 21 minutes driving time

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21 - Friends

It was so fun to stop by the Tessems on our way through Provo, and then to stay the night in Enoch with the Christians.  I love these families.  I also love the way TK is looking at Kathleen in the above picture.

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Day 23

Enoch, UT to Henderson, NV

194 miles; 2 hours 55 minutes driving time

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22 - A good book, water bottles, and gasoline.  Three things that kept us moving. (Not pictured - hordes and hordes of snack food.)

Have you ever read the book Wonder?  If not, I highly recommend it.  After I read it the first time, I knew I had to buy it... so I did.  And read it out loud to the whole family on our long drive.  We finished it by the time we got to Vegas and had so many great conversations about kindness and friendship along the way.

23 -After 23 days on the road, we were exhausted, but happy to meet our new home.  But mostly exhausted.

Country Travels - Part 2

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Day 3

From Atlanta, Georgia to Chattanooga, Tennessee

118 miles; 1 hour 46 minutes driving time 

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8 - Pardon me, boy, is that the Chattanooga choo-choo?

 

I had never been to Chattanooga before, but there's no place like it if you want to have a catchy song stuck in your head all day long. Except that, no one else in my family had ever heard it... so I cultured them real quick with a YouTube clip. 

Chattanooga was my favorite part of the whole drive.  We hiked walked through a cave to see an underground waterfall, rode a train down a terribly steep mountain, and spent the better part of our time climbing and hiking around the most beautiful thing ever: Rock City.

9 - I'm glad there are people in this world who think crawling through tiny crevices in giant mountains sounds like fun.

Because then those people tell other people about the cool things they find and those other people tell other people who tell other people and eventually they start blowing up big crevices in giant mountains so that the rest of us rather sane people can walk through on our own two feet and see what there is to see for ourselves. 

Like this giant underground waterfall.  It's pretty cool... but not cool enough to squeeze through a tiny tunnel on my belly for a mile through pitch blackness with only a headlamp and a compass to guide me (which is what the original crazy explorer had to do).  I'm not really claustrophobic... but, that makes me feel as if I might be. The downside to having someone else find places of natural beauty, though, is that they might try to enhance the natural beauty of it by turning it into a giant lava lamp experience. Lights of changing colors... movie music playing surround sound... I might have liked it better if they had just let nature be beautiful on her own... but whatever brings the money, I guess.

10 - Traveling down a 72.7% downhill grade in an old train car attached to the mountain with nothing but a cable felt like something we should do.  With our children.

It's hard to see just how steep the mountain is in these pictures, but if you ever get the chance to see it for yourself, you'll understand. Turns out that 72.7% is a pretty steep grade...

11 - Rock City- I want to go back to there.

This was my very favorite thing of all, and the kids really loved it, too. 

All you can climb rocks... rickety bridges... fairy lands... what is not to love if you're a kid? 

Or an adult, for that matter.

The scenery was gorgeous, and all of our kids were happy. Minus TK who doesn't seem to ever be entirely happy when he has to follow a set of rules (like, no jumping off cliffs (or even walking along the ledges of the cliffs)).

In fact, we tried very hard to keep Timothy from jumping off the edges.  Thankfully we succeeded.  All day.

McKenzie and Carson decided to try a little mountain climbing, and both of them did an awesome job.  Brian rediscovered his new anxiety about tight spaces (after his long MRI a year and a half ago, he wasn't entirely comfortable following Miles through the Needles Eye pictured below.  But that was the only way out, so, now we call him brave).

Loved it all!

Country Travels - Part 1

"Well," I said to Brian as we pulled out of our little Miami parking garage for the last time.  We had spent the morning rolling up air mattresses and folding up blankets, pulling what was left from the fridge and the cupboards and stuffing it all into coolers and lunchboxes, checking and re-checking corners and closets and drawers to make sure we had left them empty, standing on the balcony to breathe the ocean air and listen to the calm wind one last time, handing keys and garage gate openers to our landlord... "Let's go then."

Our minivan rolled forward through the crowds along Collins Avenue as we headed north - the ocean to my right, our future to my left - and I took a deep breath.  "You know," I said.  I often say this when I have something to say, but am unsure how to say it.  A way of alerting my husband that I would like to speak, but that I need a moment to collect my thoughts.  He waited patiently for me to form the words, probably expecting me to re-dive into our well worn conversations of how my heart hurt to leave the east... how nervous I was about the future... how grateful I was to have had that year in Miami.  I found the words.

"I kind of feel like we're just leaving a really great vacation."
"...really?" he answered.
"Yeah.  It's so weird.  I thought I would be all emotional... but instead I just kind of feel like 'that was so fun, we'll have to come back again.' And now I feel like we're on our way home."
"...really?" he repeated.
"Yeah. I know it doesn't even make sense because I don't even know what home is."  Brian smiled a tender smile.
"I know what you mean," he said. "I feel that way, too."

And so our journey across the country began.

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Day 1

From Miami, Florida to Valdosta, Georgia

434 miles; 6 hours 44 minutes driving time
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1 - It turns out that I have a hard time remembering things without writing them down these days.

We had plans to stop at all the temples along the route... but since I forgot to write them all down, we forgot several of them along the way.  But we did remember to stop at the Orlando, Florida temple.  Unfortunately, it was closed for maintenance, and even the parking lot was gated.  So, we pulled our car up to the gate and let the kids walk around the outside of the gates for a few minutes.  Just seconds after we pulled in, another van - same make, model, and color as ours - pulled next to us.  Their doors opened wide and four children came sprawling out onto the pavement, shoving crayons and coloring books and snacks back in the door behind them.  Turns out they were a Mormon family from Utah, making a cross-country drive themselves.  We laughed at the parallel lives we were living that happened to intersect for a moment - - - I love that about our church.  Strangers, yes.  But I knew them so well.  God loving, covenant respecting people, teaching their children the same things we are teaching ours. 

2 - When McKenzie sits in the car all day she gets really hungry.

Sixth taco.  Sixth.  After a whole lunchbox full of snacks.  Must be all the calories she's burning.  From sitting.

3 - When Carson puts his mind to it, he can make a mean rubber band chain.

But he cannot check both ways for cars.  Ever.  Sending him out into the parking lot to extend his chain was a little bit of a risk.

4 - TK doesn't let being strapped into his carseat stop his groove.

These are dance hands and feet, in case you were wondering.  Whenever we turned the music up, he would bop along happily.

5 - Never expect TK to sleep in a pack-n-play if he can see his Daddy.

In fact, it's probably best to just not even hope that he will.  Because he probably will just scream and yell "DA-DA" over and over and over until you finally give up and take him to the car at four in the morning.  Thankfully Valdosta, GA is a beautiful place to drive around at that early hour.  And also, thankfully, I felt relatively safe sleeping in my car once the little munchkin fell asleep.  It was a rather... restless night.  At least he's cute.

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Day 2

From Valdosta, Georgia to Atlanta, Georgia

228 miles; 3 hours 25 minutes driving time
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6 - Apparently, it was a popular time for the temples to be closed

Because the same thing happened in Atlanta.  The kids didn't mind too much, though.  They were just happy to get out and stretch their legs.  In fact, who are we kidding?  They would have been happy in a muddy field.  (Well, that just sounds awful on a road trip)

7 - Fun cousins are even more fun when you grow up to be adults.

Gunda was always a favorite cousin as I was growing up.  But at 10 years older than me, she always felt a bit more like a babysitter than a friend.  Now, adulthood has stripped away that filter, and it was so fun to stay in her house for a night, chat about our grandmother (and our great-grandmother whom she remembers but was gone by the time I came around) and get to know her family. 

Also, she has a southern porch. And giant trees. And lightning bugs.

...to be continued...

Roots

One fall day, years ago, a friend stopped by my house in North Carolina with bags and bags of healthy, green monkey grass.  She had too much in her yard, I had too little in mine, so we were both happy with the exchange. I thanked her, removed the plants from the bags, and tossed them into the corner of my yard with the intention of planting them soon.

But fall turned to winter and they were buried underneath layers of leaves and an occasional skiff of snow. Winter turned to spring, spring turned to summer, and still that heap of monkey grass sat underneath those leaves.  Each time I glanced their way, regret pinged in my heart for never making the time to plant them. And so, when the weather started to cool again after a long North Carolina summer, I pulled the rake and shovel from the shed (because it was high past time to add this experience to my ever growing list of Lessons I Learned From Procrastinating), to throw the whole pile into the yard waste container.

But as I dug the shovel deep into the pile, instead of finding the heap dead, dry, and shriveled up, I found that it was thriving.  The plants had rooted themselves into the hard, clay soil - some were sideways, some were upside down, but all were absolutely alive.  And slightly traumatized when I had to uproot them again to place them in their new homes. 

I. Am. Monkey grass.

When we moved to Miami, I decided that I wasn't going to invest the time and energy into making new friends because it was such a temporary spot.  My heart felt just awful after leaving my North Carolina home, and I was sure I didn't want to go through that painful separation again.  But then all these people showed up in my life and, even though the surrounding conditions were poor, my soul started to root.

And my kids started to root.

By the end of our year in Miami, we had so much to say goodbye to.  Our last two weeks were filled with friends - friends that were just starting to reach that sweet-spot of comfortability and trust - and it was slightly traumatizing when we had to uproot ourselves again to come to our new home. 

Why am I thinking about this today?  I guess it's because... it's nice to have something to look forward to as I sit in this life spot of not actually having any roots.  Don't get me wrong... I like it here, and I think the people are nice and friendly, but... seven weeks.  Hardly enough time to feel rooted, you know?  So, I just want to take a minute to remember what it feels like, and to let myself feel excited for when it will someday feel that way again.  So, let me reflect on those Miami roots I left behind.


*Rooted in our home.

It was a place to live.  A place to create memories and to dream.  A place to teach our children and to watch the choices they made.  A place to laugh and to cry, to work and - best of all - to play.  It was a place to contemplate and to plan.  To ponder on the beauties of life and to be soothed by the ocean breeze and the sound of breaking waves. It was a place to learn and to love and to grow.  It was small, it was echo-y, it was expensive.  It was a reality that grew from a dream.  It was worth it.  It was ours, and it was home.

*Rooted in the intensive family time we had together.

Root Beer floats in an empty apartment after a long day of packing.

Never again will we have the chance to circle the wagons like we did in Miami.  Of course, family time will always be a priority, but the bonds that formed while we spent a year so together - away from many of the responsibilities and pressures of normal life - are a cherished and invaluable token that will remain tucked in our hearts.  How lucky we were to be able to have that year before the kids decide that friends are more fun than family. 

*Rooted in church

Our last Sunday

So many hearts in this branch... the sister missionaries that worked so hard.  Jackie who had so much love and acceptance.  Farah who never let that smile fade from her face, even though her life had hardships that rival anyone I know.  And Marjorie who never let the language barrier between us stop us from conversing and loving each other. 

*Rooted in work

The cornea crew (and, I totally posted this picture instead of the one of all of us looking normally at the camera because somehow the jiggle in my arms coordinated with the light in the sky to make me look super toned (I am not)).  Brian learned an incredible amount of stuff over the year.  Both about cornea, and about what he wants his life to be like (or not to be like).  I was so proud of him for putting in all the hours necessary - and for somehow striking a balance between his work and home life when the two seemed to be incompatible.  It's a gift of his... really it is.

The cornea department took us out in the ocean on our last Saturday, and we spent the day kayaking, paddle boarding, jet skiing, eating, and swimming. It was fun for me to get to know some of the people that Brian had spent his year with... and it was such a great way to relax. 

*And then, of course, (last but not least): Rooted in friends

The 'other' Alders threw us a goodbye party the week before we left. These people are some of the greatest examples.  And I hate to think of what I would have missed out on if I hadn't connected with them.  Brazilian, Russian, Canadian, and American... these ladies taught me lessons on diversity that I never could have gained without them.  

Watching my kids connect with other kids was wonderful, too.  We had the Marriotts over one last time for a dinner/pool/beach party.

My kids fell into comfort with these kids so quickly.  Sweet, polished, beautiful kids.  They were remarkable examples to my own kids.  And their mother was a great example to me.

While we were busy scrubbing walls and tile floors after the movers moved everything out of our apartment, the Almeda's invited us over for a BBQ and to go kayaking in their backyard.  We said yes because... an Argentinian BBQ beats scrubbing walls any day.  Also, backyard kayaking.



Apparently an Argentinian BBQ is slightly different than an American BBQ in that in an Argentinian BBQ, there is only meat.  We had hamburgers, and hot dogs, and steak, and shrimp. And no vegetables.  Or buns. It was awesome.

And then, after scrubbing an empty apartment all day, we invited a few families over to watch the fireworks off of our balcony.  They brought camping chairs and pillows to sit on (because... empty apartment), and we ordered pizza.

Puerto Rican, Canadian, Brazilian, Haitian, Argentinian, American... I miss these people.

It was an especially fun night... and the perfect way to end our year in Miami.  The next morning, we filled our van and drove away.

But at least we left our mark.

Here's to creating new memories.  New friends.  New roots.

July Harvest

The alarm rings at the same time every morning. But then my feet seem to hit the floor a little later... and later...... and later......... and later....................... than the day before.  My walls are covered with calendars and sticky notes and chore charts and menu plans, but then the laundry isn't folded, the children are eating ordered pizza for dinner, and I keep checking to see if I'm wearing pants because it sure feels like I'm forgetting something.

Since when did moving cross-country feel like being sucked into a whirlpool?  There are a hundred and twelve balls being tossed in my direction and I've been instructed to catch them, juggle with them, and remember all their names. But there's a whirlpool, I want to say to my child's teacher who is throwing another ball my way. And it's sucking me in, I want to say to my children who seem to think that they need to eat three times, every day.  So I might die, I want to say to my husband who is convinced that clean underwear is important. 

But I'm choosing to ignore all of that right now, and catch you up on my July Harvest.  (I know your calendar says September... but don't worry about it.)

1 - Good Friends - My friend (in the striped swimming suit) threw us a goodbye party before we left Miami.  I miss her, I miss them, good friends make life beautiful.

2 - I know this guy already made it up on the blog somewhere... but he is just so beautiful that he deserves to be up in this post as well.
3 - I'm sailing!  I'm sailing!  I sail!  I'm a sailor!  I sail!
4 - Chattanooga, Tennessee.  (Wow... there are a lot of double letters in those two words.) Rock City just about made my whole life.  Loved the beauty there.
5 - Beautiful Flowers
6 - Meet me in St. Louis
7 - Atlanta, Georgia at my cousin's house. Something about a rocking chair on a southern porch, plus all those shadow-lines... beautiful! My cousin's husband thought I was crazy for crouching down to take pictures of his rocking chairs at odd angles.  'Um,' he said, 'I think we just got those at Home Depot or something.'
8 - Ten thousand years in the Cave of Wonders oughta chill. him. out!
9 - Hanging fern.  Pretty how the light sifts through the leaves, right?
10 - Back at my cousin's house in Atlanta. She maybe thought I was crazy as I took a picture of her front door.  I think I made a good impression on them...

11 - Laramie, Wyoming.  This picture is beautiful on so many levels... first of all, love the stormy clouds in the background, and the highlights on the kids (my phone did a decent job considering all the different levels of light!). Second of all, it was a perfect night after a very emotional day.  Driving through Wyoming is a little depressing when you're moving from a beautiful place like Miami.  But these kids had just as much fun in this park than they ever did in Miami and reminded me that we can choose to be happy anywhere.

12 - Who said that weeds can't be pretty?
13 - Road to the clouds.
14 - My handsome husband. Gosh I love him.
15 - San Francisco.  Can you guess at which pier we were?  (Hint: it was 39)
16 - Seagulls near Alcatraz, waiting for food to be thrown (or dropped...they weren't picky).
17 - I don't even know what this thing is, but it's so... symmetrical.  Beautiful.
18 - Beautiful breads at Mama's for breakfast in SF. 
19 - Foggy Day - amazing.
20 - Incredible supports on that giant bridge.

21 - Pit stop across the country.  You all know how I feel about temples. :)

22 - 24th of July Fireworks
23 - A beautiful baby in a beautiful setting
24 - This. Kid.  He is gorgeous.
25 - Happy Timothy.  That smile is my favorite.
26 - My little niece Mia.  No description necessary.
27 - TK meeting his great-grandpa Alder
28 - Apparently I thought Miles was beautiful this month.  Sorry other children... I really do think you are beautiful, too.
29 - Weathered Flag
30 - Delicious AND beautiful.

31 - The aquarium in Salt Lake City.  There is a giant part of me that is pleased I won't have to worry about sharks anymore.  I hear they're quite rare in the desert.