Ultimate Road Trip: Recovery and Life Moves On

A heavy depression fell on me the day after we got home.  I woke up with the same vestibular imbalance, things pitching and lurching most of the day, especially if I stood up too quickly or bent over for something.  It went away after a few days; I still don't know what it was.  In many ways, it was good to be home.  I desperately missed my pillow and bed.  Having more than four outfits to choose from was kind of nice.  Letting the girls have space to move about was also good for us all. 

But it seemed all I was coming home to, was work.  Dishes.  Cooking.  Cleaning.  Bills.  Calls to return.  Emails to answer.  And on top of it all, lots and lots of unpacking.  Which is still not done.  It seems like I spent the first three days home almost entirely in the kitchen, and not doing fun stuff.  Three meals a day for the family, plus dishes and a little cleaning.  After two weeks of driving, seeing new things, and eating out, it was overwhelmingly dull. 

But now, a week home, I'm somewhat recalibrated.  Dishes are not so daunting.  Things are more than 50% unpacked.  Some things are caught up.  I'm a little bit back in the rhythm of things.  So glad we still have another week of spring break.  We all slept so late last week, catching up.  This week, we're getting more in our own time zone. 

But life never stops!  This week is Hazel's birthday, Ed's parents come into town, Hazel's baptism this weekend, then Easter on Sunday.  Lots of things to arrange and people to feed.  Also everyone has doctor's and dentist check-ups to keep us all caught up.  So the trip was amazing.  Unbelievable.  Perfect.  But now it's over, and on to what's next.

Ultimate Road Trip Day 1: Comin' atcha from Appalachia

We're on a road trip, did you know?  Chillin' like Dylan with my girlios in Kentucky tonight.  They're on spring break for like a month, and Ed's sister is getting married in Utah, so voila.  Road trip.  Only Ed can't get away until later so he will meet us in Denver in a couple of days.  In the meantime, it's me, the girls, the van, (some wicked good mix CDs), and the open road. 

Long drives are in my blood.  Ask anyone in my family.  And it's been a long time since I went on a good and proper cross-country one.  I had the thought today that I'm finally doing that trip I wanted to do when I was 18, in a VW van, with my hippie friends.  That one never materialized, but this is even better.  Only the details are changed.  I was surprised at the reactions I got from people when they found out I was doing this - awe, and not in a good way.  By YOURSELF?  Are you crazy?  Have you done this before? 

It's not a big deal.  The girls are awesome, I love to be with them, and I'm used to it.  Yeah, I'm tired after a long day, but that's the same as at home.  The only diff is I don't have as good a bed to sleep in. 

Ed and I detailed the car last weekend, inside and out, complete with RainX on the windshield.  I wrote up a daily schedule for the girls and put it in their backseat bin with a travel clock so they can check the time and not have to ask me what's next.  There's a snack bin, cases of water, and a daily surprise bag we open during our morning rest stop; each contains a DVD they've never seen, a special treat/snack, and an activity they've never done (and sometimes a toy or book for Poppy; you can find them in our Daily Report, below.)

This whole time I was planning on taking I-70 out, through Ohio and Indiana.  But we've been watching the weather, and with the snowstorm coming through the Midwest, we decided last night a more southerly route would be prudent.  So we took 66 west to 81 south to 64 west all the way into Kentucky.  I think it was the right choice.  We had some light rain throughout the day, becoming heavier in the afternoon, and only turning to snow the last 10 miles before we stopped for the night.  Tomorrow we'll hook back into 70 at St. Louis.

When visibility was at its worst, due to rain, road spray, and heavy dark cloud cover, I was thankful for two things.  One, the new glasses I got two weeks ago, that have a current prescription and actually help me see clearly.  Two, the RainX'd windshield.  What a difference, night and day. 

Daily Report
Miles: 597
DVD: Felicity - An American Girl Adventure
Activity: National Geographic Ultimate U.S. Road Trip Atlas and License Plates Across the States
Poppy: Tasha's Tea Party
Special Snack: Raspberry Lemonade Fruit Rope Twists
High Point:  Driving through the mountains in West Virginia, and the bridges and rivers around Charleston - gorgeous in a wintery way.  Patches of snow on the ground, and shades of gray, white, gold and amber everywhere.  I was sorry at first to not be in Ohio; I love that drive.  But WV was really beautiful today.
Low Point:  Twenty miles from home, realizing what I'd forgotten - 1) my coat; 2) my allergy eyedrops; 3) the cooler.  No way I was going back, though.

PeeWee Field Trip: Metro (and a bonus Hickman field trip!)

 What I think when I see this picture is, "Our little PeeWees are growing up!"

To go with Lisa's lessons a few weeks ago about trains (see here and here), we took the kids on a field trip to ride the metro. 

Before we went down the escalator into the station, Lisa reviewed what they had learned about passenger trains.  And firmly laid down some safety rules for our trip.

 Everyone was thrilled when they saw the metro map, larger than life, and they recognized it from the one Lisa had made with colored straws at home.

 We stand waaay back from the tracks, and watch for the blinking lights to tell us a train is coming.

 Zoom!  Wave to the passengers!

 We didn't want a long, exhausting trip into the city, but we did want some kind of destination.  What better place to take the train than...the airport!

 We got off the train, took an elevator and a short path, and we were in the terminal.

 We watched the planes and other airport vehicles and had a snack.

 Played in the terminal a bit, then used the bathroom, and took the metro back home!

I was so inspired by how much the PeeWees loved this field trip, talking about the trains, and the tickets, and the lights, and the stops, and the escalators and elevators, that I knew my other girls would love it, too.  We never take the metro anywhere, mostly because driving is faster, and we always seem to be pressed for time.  But last Saturday Ed was in class, and I had a whole empty day to do something fun with the girls.  I saw in the newspaper they were doing a family event at the National Museum of American Art for Presidents' Day.  That's right by a metro stop.  So we did it. 

 Ginger and Hazel loved reading the metro map, and doing their own tickets, and reading the station signs at each stop. 

It's kind of amazing - revelatory - to have big(-ish) kids.  It still surprises me to have big girls that understand so much, that I don't have to do everything for, that can help with things.  It is so freaking fun!  I loooove doing things with them!  When we got back to our starting place, we popped into a Starbucks on the corner for some hot chocolate (with whipped cream of course!) before heading back home.  Two awesome blossom metro field trips in one month!

The 38-Year-Old

 Last Saturday was my birthday, and my birthday is always awesome.  This year Ed was in class all day (he's in an executive MBA program which meets every other weekend), so I had to make my own awesome, which is actually really easy with my girls.

I decided to take them on a day trip.  So at 7:30 a.m. last Saturday morning we packed some snacks and movies, and loaded into the van for an adventure.  We drove 2 hours and 10 minutes north to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to go to a science museum there, the Whitaker Center. 

We'd never been there, but a friend had told us about it, and since DC doesn't have a science museum (lame!), I thought this was the perfect chance to go check it out.  It was just the right size for us, with three small levels, a super 0-5 area, and an IMAX theater showing Flight of the Butterflies in 3D.

 Hickmans running the marketplace.

 Poppy splashing in the baby seats at the water table. 

 Hazel and Ginger could have spent all day just hauling bricks. 

 After an hour of playing, and the 45-minute movie, during which Poppy refused to wear the 3D glasses, asking instead for a Backyardigans show on the iPod, which I had fortuitously thought to bring, we walked across an enclosed bridge to the nearby mall and had lunch at the food court.  There was this cool two-story gadgety clock at the food court.

 Playing with sciencey stuff.

 I built these arches myself, ahem, thank you.  They held under Poppy's jumping and climbing.  Thank you.

 Making, and then racing, soapbox cars.

 Climbing wall.

I'm not going to pretend the day wasn't without snafus.  Hazel lost our very favorite headband somewhere between that soapbox car picture and the next level.  She cried a lot over that.  On the way out I got myself a chocolate frappe at Starbucks - my Mommy birthday treat for the drive home, which I placed too close to the edge of the car's roof to put stuff in the back, and it fell and exploded all over me and Poppy.  More tears.

But it was mostly awesome.  Hazel and Ginger brought money from their allowance to spend at the gift shop, and that part was really fun.  Hazel bought a make-instant-worms kit and a bag of marbles; Ginger bought two stained glass coloring books.  I also got a few things for their Easter baskets and our upcoming trip to Utah.  I had to say no to the 3-foot stuffed dog Poppy wanted.

When we got home, two of my friends were waiting for me, with flowers and a new butter dish (to replace this one.)  Ed picked up the babysitter on his way home from school, and he took me out to dinner at Green Pig Bistro; everything was excellent.  We had planned to see a movie after, but when we checked the offerings on our phones, there was nothing we wanted to see that met our time frame, so we went home early, stuffed, tired, and happy, and watched MIB III from Netflix.  Awesome.

I don't know what to say about being 38.  It's surreal to be 20 years past 18.  I found my first real age spots on my face just a few weeks ago.  I know I look my age, probably even older.  I've been severely sleep deprived for about 8 years, and that takes its toll, both directly and indirectly.  I'm glad to come from hardy stock, so things aren't even worse.  But looking past my physical age, I consider my life - my kind husband and loving marriage; my children who are complex, wonderful people; my home and friends and many roles I try to fill, often falling short, and sometimes hitting the mark.  It doesn't all seem to be what I expected; in most ways it's better.  It's an amazing life, and I'm so grateful to still have so much more ahead of me.

Scarred for Life

What was already promising to be an eventful week started out even moreso.  Last night we went to a friend's house for dinner.  I made rolls, so we also brought our butter bell and a jar of apricot jam.  Ed and I carried hot pans of rolls from the car; Ginger carried the butter bell, and Hazel carried the jam.  The sidewalk was dark, and Ginger was concentrating so hard on carrying her dish, that she accidentally tripped and crashed not steps from the door.  She started screaming, "I'm sorry!  I'm sorry!" when she saw the broken dish.  We all rushed to her, and when she looked up, her face was covered with blood, and gushing into (or out of ) her mouth and down her coat.

I picked her up and ran to the door - this was our first time at their house, and what a way to arrive! We rushed in and asked where the bathroom was.  I had her around the waist with one arm and the other hand cupped under her chin, hoping not to spill blood on their floor!  There were a lot of people there, all was commotion, but I got her in the bathroom.  I tried to hold her over the sink to contain the blood but when she saw herself in the mirror she started screaming, so I had to put her down.

I wiped her up with toilet paper enough to see that it all came from a large, clean cut on her forehead that was bleeding profusely.  We put pressure on it and started to wipe up her face, mouth, clothes, and the floor.  She said her head didn't hurt, but her knee did, so Ed started doctoring the large scrape there.  They brought us a first aid box, and we continued to wipe and press.  I was afraid she'd hit her mouth, too, but then remembered she has so few teeth in the front, there couldn't be much damage there, and in fact there wasn't any.  Her hair and coat were crusted with blood, and my hands were covered.  She kept crying how sorry she was, and of course we kept telling her it didn't matter, we don't care about the dish.

We waffled over stitches, but decided to just give her a tight band aid for the duration of our visit (they didn't have butterfly bandages.)  She was shaken up and melancholy for a little while, then cheered up and played and ate with the other kids.

On our way home, we stopped at CVS to get butterflies, but they didn't have any.  So we went to another one.  Ginger and Hazel fell asleep in the car.  That store didn't have them either.  We finally drove to a third drugstore, and also called my brother-in-law, who's a doctor.  As we'd been driving, doubt had crept into our minds about home gluing or bandaging it, and he confirmed that with a cut so long, of unknown depth, and in such a prominent place, we should take her to the hospital.

We dropped off Ed and the other girls, then I drove to the hospital and parked in the last ER spot, but not before getting into a fender bender in the parking lot (awesome.)  I woke Ginger up and took my exhausted, disoriented, almost-6-year-old in for the lengthy runaround that is the Emergency Room.  Did I mention tomorrow is her birthday?  That's why our week was already going to be eventful.  Family and school festivities on Wednesday, then a friends party Friday night.  We've been preparing for weeks.

Luckily the ER wasn't crowded, so we got in quickly and took a look.  She definitely needed stitches.  They slathered on a topical anesthetic ("Tinkerbell's Magic Fairy Paste" - I told the doctor she could talk straight about everything, that Ginger was cool and wouldn't freak out if she told things like they are, but we still liked calling that stuff Tinkerbell Paste.)  Then we had to wait 40 minutes.  At home I'd armed my purse with a banana, the iPad, and a handful of lollipops, so we were good.  We played games, then I took the opportunity to film her 6-year-old interview on my phone.  Adorable.  Candid.  Sweet.  She said she wanted to give me her saved allowance to pay for the butter bell.  I told her too bad because I was going to order a new one on my phone before we even got home.  I'll put some excerpts from the interview in her birthday post.

 They finally came in and gave her five stitches in blue thread.  She cringed a lot so I don't know if the whole area was anesthetized or if it just felt strange.  We put her blood-crusted coat back on, with our marching orders for laceration care and blood stain removal, and came wearily home just after midnight.

When she first found out she'd have stitches, she said she didn't want to go to school until they were gone and she was all healed; she didn't want anyone to see them.  Then I told her about how when I was little, I was so envious of kids when they had stories of going to the ER and getting stitches or a cast.  I never once got to do that, and I thought it sounded like such an adventure.  She must have thought about it, because on our way home, after being built up by the doctor's praise of her bravery, she said she did feel like she'd had an adventure.  And this morning, after she slept in as late as she wanted, she proudly regaled her sisters with tales of the ER, and was excited to go to school with a big bandage across her forehead - a bright pink Barbie band aid.

I'd been a little sentimental earlier, as we drove from drugstore to drugstore, that our perfect little girl was scarred just before her 6th birthday, but Ed put it in perspective.  Everyone gets scarred, he said, sooner or later.  It's part of life, and each scar tells a story, and now she has a story to tell.

I have a feeling she's having a good time telling it today at school. 

December Roundup

It's only December 4 and I feel eerily behind, though I'm not sure on what.   

My (sorry-excuse-for-a) Christmas cards are mostly sent.  

Presents mostly bought, or at least planned out.  There will be another post about that one.  For sure.

Advent activities planned (mostly.)  Speaking of, I'm listing them on a page here (or see tab at the top) in case you're curious, but also so I can remember for next year.  We're trying a few new things this year, so I hope they go well. 

 

Same with our Christmas books.  I bought a few new ones this year, and ordered a few others from the library, but at this point we have way more than twenty-five, so I just put the ones that didn't get wrapped in a bin in the girls' room, and we read those, too.  There are some really lovely Christmas stories out there.  I especially likes ones with a new angle or twist, but still with a good message.  

  

Stockings and wreath are up.  We'll get our tree this weekend, then I guess I can start wrapping presents and putting them under the tree.  I like the idea of putting them all out Christmas Eve, but in the meantime, where to keep them?  Last year the wrapping all got kind of messed up, stacked in a closet.  When do you put your presents out?  And in the meantime, where do you keep them?  Wrapped or unwrapped?  I seem to need a whole room for this situation.

Tangent: what does it say about me, that my favorite catalog we've gotten this year is PBTeen?  Hello, this and this (for starters.)  Am I pretending to be younger, or that my kids are older?  Or just find the in-between exciting?

So I guess things are in order.  I am once again hooked on Lifetime (and similar) TV Christmas movies - predictable, low-budget, feel-good cheese, oh how they warm the heart and ease me to sleep like a mug of warm milk & honey.  Sometimes Poppy comes down after her sisters have fallen asleep, and asks if she can watch TV with me.  She's so snuggly in her footie pajamas I can hardly say no.

The weather has been mild the last few days; here's what we did on Sunday:
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm so happy it's December again.  What awesomeness are you doing this month? 

Here Comes Sandy

I guess the storm's a'comin'.  School's cancelled today.  And tomorrow.  Which means I've got three extra bodies around here in my space.  Good thing I like them.  They say a power outage is more likely than not, come nightfall and the high winds that come with Sandy's landfall a few hundred miles from here.

We've got batteries, water, and loads of food.  We're spending our apparently last hours of electricity today watching movies & news, charging i-things, baking, doing laundry & dishes, vacuuming, pretty much anything I can think of that we might need power for this week.  I will be bummed if we lose the contents of our well-stocked fridge and freezer, but so it goes.  Some day we'll get a generator.

In the mean time, we're keeping an eye on this tallest-on-the-street tree in our neighbor's yard. (It looks like one tree, but there is a short one on this side of the street, and a tall, tall one behind it by the white house.)

Also mourning a bit the fall foliage that may be blown off before ever reaching full color.  Hoping our sump pump can keep up with the water.  Crossing fingers Halloween will be OK.  And wondering what kind of natural event it would take to give MOM a day off.  I know, no such thing. 

I'm keeping a few activities in reserve, for if and when we lose power, like a blanket fort, nail painting, easel painting, story telling, pillow fights, et cetera.  The rain's really coming down, the wind starting to pick up.  We are hunkered down with The Weather Channel and some peach pie we baked out of the freezer this morning rather than risk losing it.  Our evening plans include homemade pizza and carving pumpkins.  So don't worry about us, we'll be OK.

Krop's Crops

 And speaking of pumpkins, last Saturday I wanted to take my girls out to get some, but I wasn't up for the drive, expense, or crowds of Cox.  I decided to try out a new place (new to us) - Krop's Crops.  As you can see, the day was perfect, and it was just what we wanted - a simple hay ride out to the pumpkin patch, a few pens of animals, and a small store with apples and local honey (which supposedly helps with allergies - gonna try it out.)

A bonus discover when we got there, and the hit of the day, was a sizable corn bin to play in.  And since this place is low-key, we had it practically all to ourselves both before and after the hay ride.

Then we went to Wendy's for lunch, and Target to buy Halloween candy - pretty much a perfect Saturday.  When we got home the girls colored their smaller pumpkins.

And that night I went with grown-ups to the Mariinsky Ballet's Cinderella at the Kennedy Center.  Yeah, I'd say a perfect Saturday.