Ultimate Road Trip Day 10: Grandmother's House

When I was a child, going to Grandma's house was magical.  I was lucky enough to have two Grandmas; one lived close, the other far away.  Grandma Cummings' house was like a maze, with endless nooks to discover and hide in, stone fireplaces, a huge floral print wallpaper in the kitchen, a treasure trunk of fancy dress-ups, and the yellow red-hot pot in her pantry, always within child's reach.  Grandma Younce's house smelled like her hand lotion; she had baskets of embroidery mid-project, stained glass and wood-worked things Grandpa had made, fascinating old pictures, cream soda in the fridge, and she made the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had.

My girls also have a close Grandma and a far Grandma.  Ed's mom comes to see us about once a year, but we go to her house less often than that, so a half day at her house is exciting indeed.  She made the girls French toast for breakfast, then quick went mass shopping for all the food she has to prep for Natalee's Colorado reception this Friday.  The wedding is over, but her work has just begun!

Despite all that, Grandma still made time to fill 33 plastic Easter eggs with notes and candy, hide them all around the yard, make a basket for each girl filled with purple Easter grass, and send them on a hunt, beaming at and laughing with them as they sought high and low.  Some of the notes said to see Grandma for a prize, and she had a prize bag they could choose from, some fun things that wouldn't fit in eggs.

Next she laid a kid-size table with a tablecloth, her plastic tea set, juice, and cookies, and sat with the girls for a tea party.  Tea parties are Grandma Marsha's specialty; I am not invited, though I did get a few quick pics.  I got to overhear just a snippet of conversation - what they wanted to be when they grew up and who all their dolls are.

While they partied downstairs, Ed and I washed and chopped some vegetables for the reception, then folded and packed up our clean laundry and other things back into the car.  After lunch we had to hug and kiss everyone good-bye.  After a quick stop for gas and more bottled water, we were on our way again.

We usually open the surprise bag in the morning, but since we didn't leave until about 2 p.m., we opened it in the car.  Their activity was an easy oragami instruction book and a pack of oragami paper, so that kept them busy most of the afternoon.  We had dinner at Sonic in Colby, Kansas (hello, orange creamslush) and ate outside in the balmy sunshine - Ginger was thrilled to have tater tots, and I couldn't believe I'd been freezing just a week ago without my coat.  We changed the girls into their pajamas before loading back up, and drove on until about 10 p.m., in order to get some miles behind us before stopping in Salina for the night.

Daily Report
Miles: 406
DVD:  An American Girl: McKenna Shoots for the Stars
Activity: Easy Origami and origami paper
Poppy:  musical kaleidoscope
Snack:  Lucky Charms
High Point:  Grandma time
Low Point:  Most definitely the uber creepy night clerk at our hotel - my very own Norman Bates.

Ultimate Road Trip Day 9: Look at All These Beautiful Things

Today we had to leave Moab and head substantially east.  I was sorry to do it, but easily consoled by the beauty of the drive.  Desert-ish shrubs and plateaus followed by the eastward traverse over the Rockies.  The girls loved the scenery as much as Ed and I did - Hazel often exclaimed, "Nice!"  Ginger, "Awesome!"  Poppy many times repeated her exclamation from Arches, "Look at all these beautiful things!"  My greatest consolation was that "all these beautiful things" no longer seem as far from Virginia as they once did; my perspective has changed, and a few days in the car is no big deal.

Instagram.  My friend Therese asked me to join a long time ago.  Beyond the blog, I am not so tech savvy, so I never figured it out.  I noticed my sister Maren gramming like crazy over Thanksgiving, so I asked her to help me sign up.  Then I promptly forgot my login.

But I've started to find my insta-groove on this trip.  You can follow me, and see other pics from the trip that I haven't posted here; I am disco_mom.

We had lunch in the charming ski town of Frisco; we were the only folks in the Log Cabin Cafe not wearing ear bands and turtlenecks.  But we've gotten sick of fast food; I couldn't eat something fried today.  I had a really good burrito; Hazel tried onion rings for the first time and loved them.

From Frisco we stayed off I-70 and took the back way on smaller roads, through smaller towns, to Colorado Springs.  Towns I knew the names of, and recognized here and there, though I didn't know when or why I'd been through.  My six years in Colorado ended eight years ago now, and it's sad to lose your memory.

But it's very happy to arrive at Grandma's house!  We got to Ed's parents' around 4:30 and had a great time rediscovering the house, especially the toy trunks.  We had dinner, and then the two families of cousins that live nearby came over for dessert.  Eight girls and two boys pretty much destroyed the whole basement, with toy mess overflow into other surprise places we discovered later.  Lots and lots of cousin love.  Especially for Ginger, who has two girl cousins here her exact age.  Meanwhile, I did two loads of laundry, caught up with the aunts and uncles, and after everyone had left, and our girls down to bed in "the room with the fish tank", Ed and I stayed up talking to his parents at the kitchen table.

Daily Report
Miles: 450
DVD:  The Flintstones season 4
Activity:  Junior Mad Libs
Poppy:  stretchy rubber lizards
Snack:  pink and white iced animal cookies
High Point:  Family time
Low Point:  Ed getting pulled over for speeding in Lake George, even after Ginger and I had both told him to watch his speed.

Easter Girls

Weekend at the Cabin

 You might remember this post about my parents' cabin in West Virginia.  We do try to get out there a couple times a year, but it can be hard to get all our schedules free enough to do it.  Luckily, this spring break we went for broke and spent a few days in practically-unplugged peace and fresh air.

 I wouldn't immediately say, "There's so much to do at the Cabin!"  but my girls would.  Even though it's been at least half a year since our last visit, they rattled off a surprisingly long list of all the must-do's.
Go to "the beach"
Play in the treehouse
Fill the bird feeders
Make s'mores
Swing on the hammock
Color
Hike down "Bottles & Bones", a trail my Mom named
Ride the golf cart
Ride "Grandpa's motorcycle" (ATV)
Pick flowers
Play with the toys downstairs (a collection of mismatched toys saved from our 80's childhood, with a few thrift store additions)

Could you die?  When I heard their list, my perspective shifted like a gear, and I saw the natural playground my parents always intended it to be for their grandchildren.  And it is. 

The treehouse at dusk

Those hills to the east are called the Seven Sisters

 So much running.  So much laughing.  So much for creative minds to enjoy.

On the treehouse steps

The redbuds were in bloom, and my amateur inner photographer went wild

Last year at Christmas Ginger said she wanted a toy tractor "just like Grandpa's."  So my Dad hunted down an exact toy replica, same color, same brand, on ebay, and gave it to her.  She cherishes it.

Ginger has had terrible allergies this spring, so I worried about taking her out where there would be nothing but nature, and no air conditioning for relief, but in fact they didn't bother her one bit all weekend, her watery eyes only returning when we got back home.  

 Not to say she didn't cry; she wouldn't be Ginger if she didn't.  It just wasn't because of allergies.

Fire pit

Building sand castles at "the beach", a just-the-right-size sandy spot.  My Mom keeps a stash of buckets and shovels for year-round sandy fun.

As usual, we hated to leave, and everyone wants to know when we can go back again.  We love the cabin!

The Girls' Easter Baskets

 When it came time to start thinking Easter baskets this year, I was so glad for this post I wrote last year.  First, it told me whose basket is whose!  This is the first time I've used the same baskets as the last year, and I guess it matters.  It also helped me remember how much it takes to fill them, and what they got last year so I can do some things the same and some different. 

The girls are on spring break this week, which means I didn't know when I could get it all out and take pictures and everything, but the older two are on a Grandma sleepover today so as soon as Poppy went down, the Easter baskets - and camera - came out.

The baskets are not so equal this year, and therefore not so easy to write out.  But here we go anyway.

• All three girls are getting a DVD.  Max & Ruby for Poppy (a steal on the Easter shelf at UNIQUE), Princess Sing-Alongs for the other two.  We borrowed volume 1 from a friend for our Vermont trip, and they loooved it, so we will indulge them.  Truth be told, I kinda like the songs myself, or at least most of them, and I like listening to them in the car better than dialog when I can't see the video.  So we kinda all win.

• All three will also get an Elephant & Piggie book.  Ginger's preschool class has been reading these, so we got some from the library and our family became instant fans.  We love Mo Willems' Knuffle Bunny series, though the pigeon books aren't our thing.  But Gerald & Piggie are the BEST, with hilarious illustrations and truly early reader text, the simple but clever situations these friends get themselves in - and out of - are a delight over and over.

• Got Milk? Flavoring straws - these used to be hard to find but now they're at both Whole Foods and Target - yay for fun straws and drinking more milk!

Now things break down a bit.

• Hazel and Ginger are both getting a Calef Brown poetry book - silly, kinda nonsensical poetry, stories and art.  Our very cultured cousins recommend them highly.

• The older girls are also both getting an eeBoo activity book, while Poppy Maude is getting my new favorite board book, "What's Wrong, Little Pookie?" by Sandra Boynton.  We have a lot of Boynton books; I don't know how this one escaped my awareness before, but it is so adorable and so perfect for a 2-to-4-year old, at least in our family.  Pookie is crying, and Mom asks, "What's wrong?"  Pookie won't answer.  So Mom guesses a variety of things that could be wrong - silly things that distract and amuse Pookie, until at the end Mom asks again, "If it's none of those things, then what's wrong?"  And Pookie just hugs her and whispers, "I forget."  Love it.

• The older girls each get a necklace, taken off the card and placed in a plastic egg.

• Ring Pops, tic tacs, and 4-color pens for Hazel and Ginger

• Ginger and Poppy both get new thermos funtainer water bottles - they are our favorite for summer and lunch boxes, but Ginger's is old and falling apart; Poppy is old enough to have her own.

•  Poppy loves Strawberry Shortcake.  We have a few DVD's, and she has two figurines like these from McDonald's a year or two ago.  She treasures them, so I went on ebay and got her a complete set from 2010 happy meals.  Clever seller; I never would have thought of keeping happy meal toys, but you never know what suckers like me will buy.

 And of course, a little candy.  I ordered my Easter chocolate from See's this year, and probably will every year from now on.  See's is just so good, why get anything else?  I put a couple of these filled eggs in plastic eggs in their baskets. 

 Also everyone got a Scotchmallow Egg, my personal favorite. 

 And one last plastic egg filled with each girl's other favorite candy - jelly beans for Poppy, Skittles for Ginger, pretzel M&M's for Hazel. 

And that's it, there's the baskets for 2012!  I just didn't want more junk around the house, so with the exception of Poppy's dolls, stuck with useful media, some treats, and just a few extras.  Happy Easter to us all!

*Wondering about Ed's basket?  Well, I waffle, but this year he's not getting one, and he won't care one bit.  I'll make a good Easter dinner, and maybe fold his laundry or schedule his dentist appointment, something thoughtful and useful that means more to him than candy that just sits around.  After 10 1/2 years, I'm learning.

Vermont in 26 Pictures or Less

I think Poppy is teething.  Which explains why we've been up so much at night with her.  Which explains, without excusing, why I seem to have lost my ability to write or speak coherently.  Ed is working across the room and just asked me the formula for the slope of a line.  What a joke.

But I still want to tell about our recent trip to Vermont.  So here it is, pretty much in pictures and captions.

Maren's super cute blue and yellow house.  We made good time Thursday, thanks to Maren's crazy weird guaranteed route, and our commitment to keeping stops very short.  We made it in about 9 1/2 hours and beat them to their own house (they were bowling with friends - we went in and called them from their own phone.)

Maren did an amazing job of both seating and feeding us.  She made us B'stila Thursday night, which is no small feat.  Maybe I'll post the recipe.

 Did you know the King Arthur Flour headquarters is only a short drive (< 2 hours) from my sister's house?  It warranted a field trip on Friday.

The grounds were not picturesque, but they are clearly expanding.  We made plans to someday return for a sisters' retreat at their school.  

 

Oh yes.

Wall of flours, drool

Oh the flavorings!  Pineapple!  Irish cream!  Sweet butter dough!

Gadgets, tools, mixes!

My new hat

The shopping experience was overwhelming.  I got a lot of stuff, most of which I'm glad for, but there are some things I wish I hadn't left.  Next time I'm definitely going without the kids and Ed hovering over me like ticking time bombs and a ka-chinging cash register, respectively. 

Bakery case on the way out.  Don't mind if I do.

But we didn't drive all that way just for baking supplies!  (Though I would have.)  Just around the corner from KAF is the amazing Montshire Museum of Science!  Hazel is particularly interested in science these days, but this place is amazing for kids of any age, from 1 to 37!

All the cutest cousins in the world, lined up on one wall.

Orbit stuff

Air pressure stuff

Air and water flow pattern stuff

Bubble stuff

Bee stuff (love Hazel's concerned expression)

This gizmo was my favorite thing in the whole place.  I could watch it ALL.  DAY.  Super cool glorified/engineered ball track with an awful lot of cleverly geared and weighted pathways.  And you have to turn a crank by hand to make it work.  Which I did gladly for a really long time.

Microscope/entymology stuff

Design stuff

Ooh, and look who found some soapy water just at her height!  Her favorite!

The drive back to Maren's Friday afternoon was just a little treacherous through the mountains because it was just barely starting to snow.  It started down by her house just a few minutes after we arrived home.  Friday night Ed & Quinn took some of the older kids to the Muppet movie on campus (don't you just love free movies on college campuses?).  The snow came lightly but steadily through the night, and we woke up to this:

Ed & Quinn took the older girls skiing, but luckily we had just enough snow back home for this:

Ginger & P saucer sledding down their back knoll

 And this:

Maren pulling Poppy in their little sled - good thing they have snow gear in every size because we sure didn't bring any.  Don't you just love their barn?  Maren said I had to let her edit any photos of her I was going to post.  You don't think she meant this one, do you?

Peas-in-a-pod cousins.  L introduced my girls to the wonderful world of American Girl Dolls during our visit, and they came home suddenly obsessed.  For some reason, I thought this trend might pass us by, but if they become really into it, we can always make a new earning chart for the fridge.

Saturday night the men stayed in while Maren and I did some shopping and went to the movies - "The Artist", which I'd already seen and loved, and which starred the French team from one of Maren's favorite funny movies, OSS 177: Cairo, Nest of Spies.  Which I bet you haven't seen.  But if you kind of understand Younces and the movies they like, you might like it, too.

Saturday night or Sunday morning, Hazel left this message on their kitchen chalkboard. 

It was a short visit, but I think we made the most of it.  We are all so glad we went!