I Like to Run, But…

I think that this past weekend hit the truly ludicrous, at least in terms of getting in a long run.  Here’s the story.

I and my training partner, Mike Fiedler, have been doing our long runs on Saturday mornings.  Like, at 5:30 on Saturday mornings, so that we both can have a day after running for a ridiculous amount of time.

This past Saturday, Jeff left for Japan around 7:15 a.m.  Elijah had a soccer game at 9:00.  As Mike and I planned to run 20 miles, for which we needed to allow roughly three hours and 20 minutes, not including travel time, we would have had to start running in the middle of the night to make this timeline work.  I had a meeting as soon as Elijah’s game was done, and Mike was tied up from lunch time until 8:00 p.m., which pretty much eliminated an afternoon or early evening run, which probably would have been unwise due to the weather, anyway.

So, what to do?

We scrapped the Saturday run.  Elijah’s team tied its game, my meeting happened with the help of a neighbor girl who agreed to babysit, and the kids and I then had a relaxing afternoon.

Mike and I figured out that the only time to do the 20-miler was on Sunday morning before church.  With Jeff out of town, this would be a bit tricky.  What we finally decided was that the kids and I would head over to the Fiedler house on Saturday evening, hang out with Mike’s wife, Robin, their two boys, and their new dog, and spend the night there.  On Sunday morning, Mike and I would head out at 4:45 to start running, while poor Robin got five kids, including my ornery baby, ready for church at their house.

As we were working out this plan, I was struck by how truly ridiculous this training had become!  Seriously?  A slumber party?  So I can go run 20 miles?  Argh!

The plan worked like a charm, though.  We hit the trail by 5:15, after dropping three coolers of water and Gatorade, and ran by headlamp and flashlight for about 45 minutes.  We averaged a 9:39 per mile pace and finished up the run about seven minutes faster than we had anticipated.  We zoomed back to the Fiedler house, cleaned up, and actually made it to church on time.

Jeremy cooperated with Robin, and I think that things went well on that end, too.

I suppose all’s well that ends well, but I’ll tell you…I am mighty glad that we have only one long run left!  Sheesh!

Trip Trivia

So, here are a few interesting tidbits about our road trip extravaganza.

1.  We play the license plate game on long road trips.  Did you know that there are multiple free apps available for this particular bit of highway entertainment?  I started off writing each state down in a small notebook until Jeff discovered a more efficient way to play.  On this trip, we found 40 states!  We think this may be a family record.  Those missing?  Alaska and Hawaii, of course, plus some deep south and northeastern states.  West Virginia and Nevada were on there, too.  Maybe next time.

2.  We discovered all sorts of new foods for Jeremy on this trip, mostly due to hotel breakfasts and grabbed lunches on the road.  We already knew that he liked waffles and Cheerios, but yogurt?  Cottage cheese?  This was good to discover.

3.  We had originally planned to take this trip in the opposite direction but changed course when we realized that we would either have to be in the Wisconsin Dells over the fourth of July (beyond expensive) or not leave until July 5 instead of July 2 (in an attempt to save money).  This was a good call; it allowed us to have the most kid-friendly, fun stuff at the end of the trip instead of at the beginning.  It also took care of our one-night stays early on, which ended up being a lot more restful.

4.  Jeremy is a pretty decent car traveler, especially if his siblings are sitting beside him.  The the new recommendations for car seats say leave kids rear-facing until age two, we were afraid he might get bored.  But not so with Charlotte and Elijah right there to kick and grab.

Next vacation…we’ve got to figure out somewhere cool that we can fly with all of Jeff’s frequent flyer miles!

Finishing Up

Since I have virtually no pictures of the last couple days of our vacation, I’ve decided to finish up our vacation in one post.

And there was much rejoicing.  Especially from me.

On Saturday, July 9, we packed up and headed out to the final destination, save home, of our epic road trip:  the Wisconsin Dells.

I’ll just tell you that I’m not a huge fan of the Wisconsin Dells.  I think that the hotels there are massively overpriced and the amount of fun that one can have in waterparks is massively overrated.  That being said, my kids absolutely love the Wisconsin Dells, so this was part of the trip was much anticipated and much enjoyed by them.

On our way to the Dells, we stopped somewhere in Wisconsin at Moe’s (Almost World Famous) Diner, mostly because we liked the name and were tired of eating at chain restaurants.  It was not a great experience…terrible service, so-so food.  Perhaps we should have stuck with what we knew!

Upon arrival at the Dells, we checked into our hotel, the Grand Marquis.  This place is not one of the mega-resorts with huge indoor and outdoor waterparks, but it was much more affordable, with a small waterpark and pool, and it offered great discounts on tickets to THE big outdoor waterpark, Noah’s Ark.  So, this is where we landed.

One thing to which the kids had most been looking forward, aside from the water stuff, was playing a game called MagiQuest at the Great Wolf Lodge, one of the mega-resorts for which I refused to pay.  MagiQuest is something like a real-live video game, in which “magi” purchase wands and then proceed to go on quests.  The magi finds out what his or her quest is and then runs around a four-story “forest” pointing his or her wand at various treasure chests, paintings, and tree stumps to solve it.

(Really, if you want to know more about MagiQuest, Google it.  I’m explaining it badly.)

Charlotte and Elijah absolutely LOVED this game.  In fact, they played it from 3:30 that afternoon until 10:45 that evening, when they had completed every quest available to them at least twice and I managed to drag them back to our hotel.  Jeff had walked back to our hotel hours earlier so that Jeremy could go to sleep, and I couldn’t believe that the kids actually played this game for this amount of time.  I finally quit chasing them around the place, sat down on a bench, and played card games on my iTouch.  Sheesh.

We did take a short break for supper, when we somehow managed to find a vegetarian restaurant called the Cheese Factory.  No, we didn’t do this on purpose, and, while the Rachael-Ray-endorsed grilled cheese was fantastic, we did find ourselves wishing they’d thrown a little meat on something.  But the kids were chomping at the bit to get back to MagiQuest, so we didn’t linger.

The next morning, I got in a five-mile run, and then it started raining, so we swam and played at the hotel while we tried to figure out our options.  We had coupons for discounted entry to the Kalahari Waterparks, which would let us be inside all day if the weather didn’t clear up, but this didn’t really appeal to any of us.  Fortunately, the weather finally blew over, and we decided to head to Noah’s Ark around 11:00.

Our hotel was offering a fantastic deal for this place:  40 percent off one-day admission.  Noah’s Ark was also offering free admission on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays with paid admission on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.  Since we were there on a Sunday and Monday, we paid about $80 for all of us to spend two days at a really good waterpark.

On our first day at Noah’s Ark, we rented a cabana, where Jeremy and I hung out while Jeff and the older kids hit some rides.  After a late pizza lunch, we loaded Jeremy into his stroller, and Jeff and I spent the afternoon swapping out riding with the kids.  In retrospect, the cabana was an unnecessary purchase, but live and learn!

We stayed at the waterpark on Sunday until about 6:00, ate at a surprisingly good restaurant called the Brat House Grill, and then headed back to the hotel for more swimming.

On the final day of our vacation, we checked out of the hotel and went back to Noah’s Ark, where the kids ate Dippin’ Dots for lunch, and we rode all the rides we had the previous day over and over and over again.  I think this was the kids’ idea of nirvana.  As we had a four- to five-hour drive home, we left Noah’s Ark about 2:00, swung by the Crocs outlet for summer shoe purchases, ate a late lunch at Subway and Taco Bell, and were headed home by 3:00.

This is what the last two days of our vacation did to Elijah, and this is the only picture that I took of the Wisconsin portion of our trip.  Huh.

A quick word about Noah’s Ark…we really enjoyed it.  The kids were able to ride all but one ride, which Jeff tried out, and there were lots of thrill rides there.  The lines weren’t terrible, and it was nice to be outside.  We all ended up a little bit burned, but what’s a summer vacation without at least one sunburn?!

Whew!  What a great nine days.  And what a great relief that I can finally put this vacation in the books.

Before I Totally Lose Interest…

…I think that I’ll finally get back to our road trip.

Friday, July 8, was our last day in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.  The Sandbergs had suggested a couple of places to go when we had supper on Thursday night, so we took them up on one of them and headed to Stillwater, Minnesota, on Friday morning.

This was an absolutely beautiful, charming town.  Located on the St. Croix River, the town heads straight up a bluff a few blocks from the river banks.  We passed through the town, at first, as we really wanted to find the nearby state park in Taylors Falls, MN, and possibly take a paddleboat on the river or do some sort of other safe water activity.

However, we were thwarted at every turn because Minnesota was still in the middle of its government shutdown.  (Remember that?!)  Rest areas, state parks, traffic updates from the MDOT…none of these were available during our time in Minnesota.  We did find a place that was offering riverboat cruises on the Minnesota side, but we had just missed one and then realized the highlight of the tour was looking at rock formations, as the “falls” part of Taylors Falls had been dammed or something like that many years before.

Really?  Fifteen dollars per adult and $9.00 per child to look at rock formations for 80 minutes?

We took a pass and decided to cross the river into St. Croix, Wisconsin, in the hope that something interesting would be open over there.  We found a small park on the river and walked from there on a short paved trail to a nearby nature center, where we learned a bit about the wildlife on the St. Croix River.

By this time, everyone was hungry, and we decided to head back to Stillwater, which seemed to be a much more interesting town, for lunch.  We ate the Freight House, at the recommendation of the Sandbergs, and then decided to explore the town.  We headed straight up the bluff to find the Old Court House.

Before we got there, we discovered an amazing little playground tucked away between some buildings.  It was called Teddy Bear Park, and our kids spent an enjoyable 30 minutes or so checking it out.  Apparently, a family of some means decided that the town needed something like this and privately funded it.  It was very well maintained and had something for kids of all ages and a covered gazebo where parents could sit.

This ended up being the only place that I took pictures all day.  I still can’t remember why this was so, but I must have had a good reason at the time!

After the park, we finished our hike up to the Old Court House, where we spent some time looking at a truly barbaric county jail and a neat little exhibit on the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry regiment that served in the Civil War.  As the temperatures were miserably hot, we were ready to go by the time we finished up here, so we tried to stay upright while zipping down the bluff and headed out.

Before we headed back to the big city, though, we found another winery to visit!  We spent 45 minutes or so tasting some wine and ended up buying six bottles.  I’m not sure what our wine total ended up being for this trip, but I think that we came home stocked for awhile!

Then, it was back to Minneapolis, where we had a couple more things we wanted to do before calling it a day.  Our first stop was the Hard Rock Café, where Jeff dropped off me and Charlotte so we could dash in and buy a teddy bear for our collection.  As this was accomplished rather quickly, we decided to visit one more place out of the MSP Visitors’ Guide, a bookstore called Wild Rumpus.

We ended up having a wild rumpus finding the place.  It’s in a neighborhood called Linden Hills, and, apparently, people who live here don’t really want visitors.  We literally drove in circles for 45 minutes trying to find the correct road to take us into the neighborhood where the bookstore was.  To add to the fun, the battery on Jeff’s phone ran out during this process, which means we had no GPS. 

Finally, however, we managed to get in, find a parking space, and get to the store.  And it was well worth the trouble!

Wild Rumpus is an independent bookstore that stocks only children’s books.  It is quirky and creaky and home to several cats, birds, chinchillas, reptiles, and chickens, the first and last of which roam freely about the store.  Charlotte and Elijah loved it here, and each left with a book of choice, paid for out of the dwindling allowance money.  It was definitely a unique shopping experience!

By this time, thought, we were hot, cross, and hungry, so we somehow found our way back to the interstate, bought supper to go from a Sonic near our hotel, and spent the remainder of the evening eating and swimming.  I would probably not call this day a highlight of our vacation, but it ended up being OK.

Next stop…the Wisconsin Dells, the final destination of our road trip.  Finally, we are almost there!

Post Reality Check

It’s been a good weekend.  For this, I am very grateful!

Here is a quick rundown…

My 18-miler went wonderfully well.  I ate more before I ran, took energy GU every 40 minutes while I ran, and knocked out the miles in under three hours.  I really needed this encouragement after last week.  Now, I just have two more long runs and two more short runs (10 miles or less) before the race.  The end is in sight!

Elijah had his first soccer game, which ended in a 4-4 tie.  He played well and had a great time out there.  The 4th/5th grade league is a bit more competitive, so it’s neat to see the kids rise to the occasion.

I spent Saturday afternoon at Serenity Day Spa, courtesy of Jeff.  He has traveled so much this summer that he thought I could use some time to myself that didn’t include running long distances.  I was treated to a one-hour massage, a 90-minute European facial, a paraffin-wax hand treatment, and a manicure.  After the massage, all of the soreness from my run was gone, and I think that I dozed a couple of times during the facial.  The dark rooms, soothing music, and mini-waterfall fountains were very conducive to sleeping, after a 4:30 a.m. wakeup!  It was a fabulously relaxing time.

Saturday evening, we went to the Saturday night service at our church’s other campus to worship and to witness the baptism of a friend’s son.  Afterwards, we went out for frozen yogurt with a couple that we hardly see anymore since switching campuses.

Today, we worked back in children’s ministry and then came home to relax for what’s left of the weekend.

All in all, I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend!

In other news, we did start school this past week.  After two years of American history, we are moving around the world to the Eastern Hemisphere, and the kids really like what we are studying.  Ergo, we had a very smooth first week.  Due to starting on Tuesday and fitting in some other activities that also started, we are already a bit behind…but I’m optimistic that we will get things sorted out by next week.

And these are our current events.  Maybe next time, I’ll move toward finally documenting the rest of our vacation, if for no other reason than I like to finish what I start!

I hope that your weekend was good, too.

Reality Check

I guess, every once in awhile, that a little reality check is good and necessary to keep one humble.  This past weekend provided two such opportunities for me.

On Friday evening, I went to pick Charlotte up from camp.  I rode along with Anna’s mom, Beth, as both of our husbands were out of pocket that particular evening, and we figured that riding up together was a good plan. 

The girls had had a fabulous time and couldn’t stop chattering about all of the great fun they had experienced over the past week…Capture the Flag, night swimming, prank wars, the mud slide, shoveling mulch, prayer time around the campfire, life lessons.  All in all, Charlotte couldn’t have been more pleased with her week at camp, and I certainly concurred.

However, on the way home, we stopped at Dairy Queen to eat.  First, I forgot to order Jeremy any food, although there was very little there that he was crazy about anyway.  The girls had already eaten supper at camp, so they just wanted ice cream.  As this was DQ, it came out before the rest of the food.

Well, Jeremy took one look at what Charlotte and Anna were eating, and he started screaming for ice cream.  Literally.  The restaurant was packed, as many people were eating there on their way home from camp, and our party was drawing more than a few stares.  I asked Charlotte to give him a couple of bites of her Blizzard, while I tore up some of Elijah’s chicken strips, which had finally been delivered, in an effort to cool the food down.

Beth offered Jeremy one of her French fries, which he took with an ornery expression on his face and promptly threw on the floor.  He did the same with some puffs and then with Elijah’s chicken.  The ONLY thing that he wanted to eat was ice cream.

So, he screamed.

Long ago, before Jeff and I even had kids, a man with five children told us part of his philosophy on raising them.  “My kids don’t have the right to bother other people,” he stated.  “When they start bothering other people, I do something about it.”

This sounded like pretty good advice to us, so we’ve tried to follow it.  And, let me tell you, a 16-month-old screaming at the top of his voice in a restaurant definitely amounts to bothering other people.  As I wasn’t driving and no one, including me, was done eating, I did what any desperate mother does.

I ordered Jeremy a dish of vanilla ice cream and proceeded to give it to him for supper.

Nope.  No mother of the year award for me this time around.

This was a fail on so many levels…giving into a stubborn baby, lack of nutritious food,  fear of what others would think of me and my screaming offspring.

Sigh.

Who would’ve thought that one little child could be so…difficult?  You wouldn’t know it to look at him, would you?

Hrmph.  Never mind.

My second reality check came the next morning.  As I’ve mentioned one or two or a thousand times, I am training for a marathon, and Saturday morning was a 17-miler.  The 15-mile run had been challenging and bit tough from which to recover, but it hadn’t been THAT bad.

On Saturday morning, I hit a run that WAS. THAT.  BAD.

At some level, I knew it was coming.  I’ve talked to plenty of people who have run marathons and read plenty of literature about how physically and mentally demanding the last four to five long runs are.  Seventeen miles is a big deal because you finally move into single digit miles to the finish.

However, knowing how challenging something is and actually experiencing it are two different things, and I was slammed on Saturday with the actual experience.  The first nine miles were fine; the last eight were absolutely miserable.  And eight miles is a long time to feel absolutely miserable.

Of course, by now, I’ve looked at a lot of factors that probably contributed to this difficult run, which, by the way, I did finish without stopping.  The DQ meal the night before wasn’t brilliant, although I did avoid a grease bomb by eating a club toaster sandwich.  I had not consumed enough calories before I started running, either.  Up to this point, a couple of 100-calorie granola bars and two ShotBloks every 40 minutes during the run sufficed.  Not this time.  A 17-mile run burns nearly 2,000 calories, the daily caloric intake for most people.  The temperature also climbed before we finished running at 10:15.

But, at the end of the day, what my marathon-running friend Jess often signs off her emails is true:  “No marathon is easy.  It’s supposed to be hard.  If it weren’t, then everyone would do it.”  (Words of wisdom from Runner’s World contributor Joe Henderson.) 

This past Saturday’s run taught me the truth of that.

So, all I do now is keep on running and prepare myself as best I can for 18 miles this next Saturday.  Then 20 miles after that.  And 22 the following week.  Then, I can only hope that I’m ready to run my race!

Yes, reality checks are good.  Not fun…but definitely good!

So, Where Was I?

You know, there’s nothing quite like blogging about a vacation that ended a month ago.  But here I go again…back to the Twin Cities…

On Thursday, July 7, we decided to get back outside for a bit before returning the magnificent (said with more than a little irony) Mall of America.  So, after breakfast, we headed to Minnehaha Park, a beautiful place right in Minneapolis, not far off the interstate.

Minnehaha Park is the home to Minnehaha Falls (wouldn’t you know it), so that was our first stop.  A kind passerby offered to take our picture, one of the few family shots we got this trip.

While the falls were not particularly large, they were scenic, and there was a nice walking path that took us to this shallow wading area.  Jeremy hollered every time his toes touched the water, but the older kids and I splashed about for a bit.

After we walked back, we came to the real reason for our stop here, at least according to Charlotte and Elijah.  We could rent specialty bikes and cruise around the park.  Jeff and I rented a surrey, in which we could park Jeremy in the front basket.  The other two kids selected choppers.  We put on our helmets and were off.

While there were just enough to gentle hills to make this challenging and in spite of the fact we actually took a wrong turn and ended up on a road, this ended up being a lot of fun.  We even took a second loop around the park, except we took the correct path that time!  Here we all are with our fancy vehicles.

Having had enough of the great outdoors, the kids were more than ready to head back to the MOA.  So, that’s what we did.

What followed lunch was every kid’s dream shopping trip.  Well, at least, it was my kids’ dream shopping trip!  We started with a 90-minute stop at the Lego store.  Charlotte and Elijah had been saving their allowances for months in order to purchase whatever they wanted in this particular store, and it took lots and lots of time to figure out exactly what that was. 

Each ended up with a set of three Build-a-Mini-Figures, which in itself was a lengthy process.  (The heads!  The bodies!  The accessories!  What amazing combinations to be discovered!)  Both also spent time filling a container from the Pick-a-Block wall, pictured below.  They actually needed adult assistance with this, as many of the bins were well out of reach.  Elijah also left with some Star Wars sets, and Charlotte found a Lego City set.

When we finally dragged the kids away from here, we took a quick wander through the mall, as Jeff had not seen any of it, save the theme park.  We found a store called Old Vine Wine and were able to purchase a couple bottles of Minnesota wine.  Then, we headed back to the theme park, where the kids had scoped out an attraction called the Ghostly Gangplank, which was a four-story ropes course.  Check it out.

As Jeff had done the theme park the day before, the kids begged me to do the ropes course with them.  I thought, “Why not?”

Why not, indeed.  This alternated between being absolutely terrifying and absolutely exhilarating.  Of course, we were harnessed in, so we weren’t in any real danger of plummeting to our deaths.  But those harnesses seemed awfully flimsy and those rope and board crossings awfully shaky.  But all three of us made it all the way to the top before we came down.  There were about two crossings that I refused to do, but I think that the kids did every single one.

Here is the pictorial proof that we each made it to the top.  It’s a bit backlit, but Elijah’s at the top, Charlotte’s in the middle, and I’m at the bottom.  Yes, I was the last one to brave it out there on the plank.  There was a rope to pull that blew a foghorn.  Yikes!

At this point, it was nearly supper time, and we had dinner plans in downtown Minneapolis with some old Peoria friends who had recently relocated here from their last relocation to Wyoming.  However, we had not yet hit the Build-a-Bear Workshop, the place for which Charlotte had reserved beaucoup bucks.  So, with the warning that we had maybe 30 minutes to build a bear, we hoofed it over to that gargantuan store.

As Elijah had spent all of his money at the Lego store (and really didn’t have as much Charlotte did to start), we thought that just Charlotte would be building a bear.  However, she decided that sharing the experience with her brother would be a lot more fun than just getting a bear herself.  So, she funded everything at this store:  a stuffed bear for herself and Elijah, two outfits for her (one for her new bear and one for an older animal), and a darling Darth Vader outfit for Elijah’s new bear.  There was some brief talk about his paying her back for at least part of her expenditures, but that’s kind of died out.

Charlotte is not really a naturally generous person, so it was truly delightful to watch her share her resources so that Elijah could have as much fun as she did.

By the time the bears got stuffed, clothed, named, and purchased, we’d been there a bit longer than 30 minutes.  So, I called the Sandbergs and let them know that we were running a bit behind, and then we motored over to the Old Spaghetti Factory downtown.

Once there, we had a wonderful time catching with Todd and Christy Sandberg and their kids, Brennen and Kindrid.  As it has been over three years since we’d seen the Sandbergs, all of the kids were a little shy at first, but that didn’t last long.  Elijah and Brennen found they had much in common, and we found ourselves hushing them for most of the meal.  Kindrid is as crazy about American Girl dolls as Charlotte is about Build-a-Bear stuffed animals, so they chattered away, as well.

Before we went our separate ways, we took a couple pictures of the kids.  One of the outfits that Charlotte had bought for her new bear was a Minnesota Vikings football uniform.  Coincidentally, we could see the Vikings stadium behind where we were parked.  This isn’t a great picture, but this is Charlotte, her Vikings bear, and Kindrid posing with the stadium in the background.

And here is one final picture of all the kids.  Technically, Jeremy is in it, but he wasn’t very interested in posing for a picture.

Then, it was back to the hotel for some swimming and shut-eye.  Whew!  What a day!

Growing Up

Here is one last post before I finally get back to our vacation story.

This past Sunday, Jeff left for Thailand, and Charlotte left for camp.  After church, we finished her packing and made the 80-minute drive down to Little Galilee Christian Camp, our third trip in two weeks.  Charlotte was beyond excited.  She was quite jealous that Elijah got to stay the last time we made the trip and has been counting down the days until it was her turn.

This year, camp for Charlotte is a very different animal.  She decided that she wanted to try Wilderness Camp.  So, instead of staying in an air-conditioned, en suite cabin for the week, she is staying in a hogan that has no electricity and two port-a-potties out the back door.  Instead of windows, the hogan has screens and roll-down flaps.  Instead of sinks and showers, there is a hose.  Instead of eating in a dining hall, she will eat her meals in a covered picnic pavilion.  Instead of 70 other kids in all the activities, only eight other girls and 12 boys will participate.

Here are her quarters until Friday.

She is over the moon.

Once again, her friend Anna is joining her, so she won’t be alone in all of these new experiences.  I’ll tell you, though, the whole thing was a bit more primitive than I was expecting!  Outside the front door of the hogan is a huge propane tank with a lamp on top of it.  That will be the only light out there, besides flashlights, after dark.  Wow.

Here are the girls out the back door of the hogan.

However, the campers will have access to showers and sinks in the pool house, so they are not completely roughing it.  I think that Charlotte will have a great time; she likes smaller groups anyway, and the kids participating in Wilderness Camp will have a chance to get to know each other a little better than they might in a bigger group.  Also, the weather up here broke on Monday, so the lack of air conditioning shouldn’t be a big issue anymore.

The boys and I will pick her up on Friday evening.  I can’t wait to hear about her week!

Time with Family

The kids and I spent the last half of last week visiting with my brother and his family in Michigan.  My niece, Elynne, turned one on July 23, and we weren’t able to attend her party, so we decided to take these few free days to head that way.  Jeff had originally planned to be in Thailand when we were in Michigan, but his trip got pushed back.  So, he stayed home, for a change, while the kids and I were away!

Our normal route to Michigan includes passing close to Chicago, so that’s what I did on the way there…much to my regret.  Interstate 80 at Interstate 55 is down to one lane from three lanes.  So, no sooner did I try to get from 55 to 80, I drove right into a parking lot, where I sat for over 45 minutes.  When I finally cleared that, I noticed that the other side was just as backed up going back toward Chicago.

Hmmm.  Time for alternate route for the drive home.

The trip normally takes a little over four hours, and I had not planned on stopping to eat.  However, the traffic jam messed that up, and, while the older kids and I could wait, Jeremy really couldn’t.  So, I pulled off the interstate once I cleared Chicago to get some milk and yogurt for him.

The service station at which I stopped had neither, because their refrigeration system was down!  This meant loading back up into the car and finding something else.  By this point, I just pulled off at a Subway, and we all ate.  What a mess.

But once we got there, we had a really nice visit!  Elynne had only been five months old the last time we saw her, and she surely has changed a lot.  One thing that had not changed, however, was the fact that Jeremy looks like a big bruiser next to his petite cousin!  In these pictures, he is taking issue with the fact that Elynne will not let him have the toy guitar that Papa gave him as a gift earlier!  I love the expression on her face!  Neither baby is accustomed to sharing, so it was pretty funny to watch them.

My brother has built a beautiful play set in his backyard, and all four kids had a big time playing on that.

Elynne also opened her birthday gift from Charlotte, Elijah, and Jeremy, two books that she apparently liked very much.  She is just the cutest little girl!

The kids also got to visit with their Nana…

…and their Papa.

And we managed to get a picture of all four Hoyt grandkids, although neither baby was really cooperative.  (Of course, Jeremy wasn’t cooperative for ANY of them!)

It really was a lovely visit.  We even managed to visit the Cass County Fair one evening, which was definitely a blast from the past.  The only downside was the first night when Jeremy woke up in his playpen at 1:00 in the morning and then woke up every hour for the rest of the night.  I finally put him bed with me around 6:00, and we both got a couple hours of sleep!

I did take an alternative route home, and I got there in just over four hours.  Whew!

Hard Things

It never gets easier to hear about the untimely death of a young person, especially one with whom I’m acquainted. 

My dad called a little bit ago with the news that my cousin’s 22-year-old son was killed in a car accident.  He was recently married, new father to a baby girl, and a member of the armed services.  I have pictures of him as a baby and as a child in my scrapbooks, and, although it’s been years since I’ve seen him, he was still family.  His death is beyond devastating to his parents, sisters, grandparents, aunts, and uncles.

I also found out on Facebook last night that a former student of mine from Middle Tennessee Christian School was killed in a car accident.  He was 30 years old and also much loved by his parents, brother, daughter, and fiancée.

I know I should probably say something spiritual and uplifting about all this, but, right now, it’s just terribly sad and very hard to understand.  If you think about it, join me in praying for these two families.

Breaking Boards and Breaking Away

Well, I’m not sure where the last week went, but I’m going to take a break from vacation stories and tell you about what’s been happening otherwise.

Last Saturday, Charlotte and Elijah both tested at tae kwon do.  This is the first test in which they did not get a new belt color.  They earned their red belts last time and kept them after this testing cycle, with the addition of a yellow tip around the belt; however, instead of being red belts, they are now recommended senior belts.  They will test one more time before they earn their navy blue senior belts.

At this test, for the first time, they had to break two boards.  And each one broke the boards on their first attempts!  It was very cool to watch.

Here are Charlotte and Elijah with their broken boards and their new yellow tips.  Well, you can see Charlotte’s yellow tip anyway!

And here’s the whole family at the end of the test.

This is one activity on which neither one has wavered.  If they keep this up, they are on track to earn their black belts in another 18 to 24 months.  We went down to one class a week during the summer months, as they were gone a lot, but they will be ramping back up come September.  We are very proud of these two!

Last Sunday, we took Elijah to church camp for the first time.  He did the same thing that Charlotte did last year, a two-night “First Chance” session.  Elijah was never very thrilled about going, but a friend from church was going with him, so he rather grudgingly tried to get excited about it.  Of course, his sister was over the moon about camp, so she tried to get him pumped up, too.  This was his very first time away from home without family members, so this was a milestone experience.

Shortly after church, we made the 90-minute drive to Little Galilee Christian Camp in Clinton, Illinois, and got Elijah checked in.  His friend Tyus joined him, and here they are getting settled in the Patience cabin.

After two very quiet days without my boy, Charlotte, Jeremy, and I drove down Tuesday afternoon to pick him up.  Aside from having a bad case of the sniffles, he had an OK time.  Not great, not terrible, just OK.  I had rather hoped that he would enjoy it a bit more, and I think that he MIGHT go back next year.  But some kids just really aren’t campers, and Elijah may be one of them!  We’ll see.

This Sunday, Jeff leaves for Thailand again, and I will drop Charlotte off for her week at Wilderness camp down at Little Galilee.  To say she is excited would be a gross understatement!

Anyway, this past Wednesday, the kids and I headed to Michigan to visit my brother, sister-in-law, and niece.  And I’ll post some pictures about that next time.  And then maybe I’ll get back to our vacation.

I hope that your weekend has been good!