Mike's Take on Things

For the fun of it, we've each got a separate blog for this trip. Clearly, this is mine.  I started to play around with a new/different thing, decided it wasn't worth it. This one will suffice. I'm guessing I won't update it as frequently as Mike updates his. At any rate, it should be amusing to see our different takes on the same thing. Like the house we drew in elementary school art. About the only thing my sister and I saw that was the same was the color. We both drew a yellow house. Other than that, you'd never know it was the same (ignoring the fact that one was drawn by a first grader and the other a much more artistically advanced third grader). Mike and I compliment each other so very well and part of that is our different perspectives. It will be fun to see how the next 6 weeks play out. Without further ado, here is a link to Mike's blog...

http://mikegilsbach.onuniverse.com/

I will point out that I'm a little more optimistic about our packing prospects. Today was the 4th test pack of the car. Mike's a bit skeptical it will all fit. I think it will. We'll just leave one or both of the kids behind if we're short on room. Double bonus, said kid(s) can take care of the dogs. All kidding aside, Saturday as the official packing day ought to be interesting. Anyone want to place bets on whether we scrape by without having to get a cargo carrier for Brown Car?

The Big Adventure

We're about to head out for "The Big Adventure." Six weeks, probably around 7000 miles, at least 19 states and 2 Canadian provinces. From ATX, up through Maine, into Canada, and back again. All in our faithful little Brown Car. Seems like a good way to waste away some summer days if you ask me.

This adventure really has already started, it started way back in November. Mike came home from work one day and asked me what I thought of taking a road trip - a really big road trip. And it went from there. The sabbatical request was submitted, it took forever to get approved, we planned anyway. Fingers crossed that the stars would align and summer would be spent together, all 4 of us. Hours of planning have gone into the route, accommodations, activities, etc.. More hours have been spent arranging a small army of very kind and generous people to care for the pups, fishes, plants, house, everything that we are leaving behind for 6 weeks. We have test-packed the car on 3 separate occasions already, one more test pack will happen in the next day or so. We've arranged time to visit family and friends, lots of plans of camping and being disconnected from everything but each other. We've slogged through another school year, trials at work, family members with health concerns. The trip has never been a sure thing. Maybe it is now, we'll know for sure when we actually pull out of the driveway. How many times during the last 6 months did I wonder if we were meant to go on this trip? Things would happen that would make it seem as if the universe was trying to tell us no, stay home, do something else. Then suddenly everything would resolve and fall into place and quite the opposite would be true. That is still happening, even today. The pull for us to do this seems so much stronger than the pull for us not to.

We have maps, and a thick folder of reservation confirmations and all other important things, a 3 page itinerary complete with stops for doing laundry and getting groceries. We have 80 pounds of dog food and 7 pounds of dog treats, extra fish food and filters. We have packing lists and chore lists. We have extra shoes and rain gear. We have so much excitement, and some of us have so many nerves and some anxiety. I worry about the pups, I'll miss them like crazy. Will they think I've abandoned them? Will they be mad at me for leaving them? Will they forgive me? Will they be good for all of their caregivers? More than that, did we bite off more than we can chew with this one? Only time will tell.

I hope that the dogs will be fine, that the fish will be fine, that the house will be fine. I hope that Mike comes home refreshed and ready to start work anew. I hope that the boys will remember this as one of the best summers ever, that they will be ready to tackle another school year. I hope that we have the adventure of a lifetime.

We're still here...

What fun is a blog that only gets updated once every 2 years???!!! Eh, since no one reads this anyway, it's not really that important. This has always been for me.  The thought of keeping a journal is always appealing, and I write in that imaginary journal all the time, many times a day in fact. That doesn't even do me any good. It's a nice idea to think that I will remember all the things I want to remember. Reality is I'm hard pressed to remember what I had for dinner last night.

Anyway, it seems an opportune time to revisit the blog, journaling, etc. It's summer once again and that means vacation time. There's a big one in store this year. But that's for another post. For now, we're still here...

And we're off...

Yay for summer!  The school year just slogged on mercilessly.  It was a great year for both the boys and the reading work I did with my first graders was incredibly rewarding.  But... but... but... The end just couldn't come fast enough.

We officially finished the first week of summer, and it was a great one. I am happy to say that the boys hopped right back into the chore routine very easily. Even happier to report that they remembered how to clean a bathroom! We spent much of the first week relaxing, reading, playing, swimming.  Lots of hours at the pool, glorious wonderful cool hours at the pool.

We were fortunate enough to spend a morning with some very dear people at their farm in Leander.  My curling friends invited me to visit when I saw them at the bonspiel a couple of weeks ago.  I somehow or other managed to find the courage to follow up on the invitation.  Something that would be so easy for most is something very difficult for me.  Don't ask why, just know that it's part of my personality. Anyway, we met Spencer the crooked, special cow.  And I totally fell in love with him.  He's a bit lopsided, but totally adorable.  Ben and Alex took turns feeding him from a bottle.  We played with tiny little hyperactive wild kittens.  We fed apples to the horses and watched all the geese, ducks, and chickens wander around looking for feed.  We scooped algae out of a goldfish barrel. And we came home with 5 dozen farm fresh eggs!  It was a great day.

We ended the week with a concert by the ASO last night, featuring the music of John Williams.  The music was amazing, the orchestra sounded fabulous.  Because it was a Pops Concert, the hall was filled with tables, and we had a lovely picnic dinner before the show. Because it was John Williams' music there were some Star Wars characters floating around and we took advantage of the photo op with the boys. Late night, but totally worth it.

Today was piano recital day.  Happily, our teacher broke the recital into two groups. She has so many students, she didn't want people to have to sit through an interminably long recital!  Alex and Ben were the last to perform in their group. They did a great job.  A small hiccup at the end of Ben's second piece, but he persevered and worked his way through unfazed.  The thing is he has played that piece perfectly dozens of times, including 5 minutes before we left the house. Had it been me I'm fairly certain that at a misstep I would have crumpled into a blubbering mess.  But that's why I don't perform solo.  As his teacher said though, it happens to every single musician at some point and he handled as perfectly as anyone ever could.

So this week the boys are off to art camp and who knows what else we'll do.  It's summer, it's not school, we're happy.

Hello August

It's been awhile. I've thought about sharing some vacation pics.  Truth be told, it was such an amazing trip and it was so very hard to come home that my heart just hasn't been into the retelling of it.  I think of the trip and wish I was still there.

August is by far my least favorite time of year in TX. It's just hot. Stupid hot.  And there is no break in the heat, ever. And we want to go out and do fun things and enjoy the end of summer break, but it's so stupid hot. Swimming brings little to no relief because the water temperature is like a warm bath and that's just gross in the middle of summer. And everything and everyone is all about back to school, except for me. So there it is.  And I look at vacation pictures and in my whole heart that's where I want to be with my little family.  Not here in hot Austin.

All of that aside, I suppose a bit of a recap of July is in order.  Fireworks on the 4th - was hesitant to go since we were heading out of town the next day.  But, we were all pa.  cked and we had a great water balloon fight, there was a bit of a breeze that night and it was great.  Fireworks on the 4th always make me happy.  Then we left and we had 2 amazing weeks of hiking and travel and adventure. Came back, headed into appointments and real life and it mostly just sucked.  Then my birthday happened and that was fun.  My sweet boys (all 3) took such great care of me and we had a lovely lazy day and lots of great chocolate cake.  We made another trip to the farm to visit my friend and her very special cow.  The boys gathered eggs, we played, had lunch, lovely visit. And back to life.

So that pretty much wraps up July. I haven't mentioned anything about the ongoing efforts to sort out some minor allergy/asthma issues with Ben.  It's not really noteworthy other than to say we've spent too many summer hours sitting in Dr. offices, too many follow up appointments. Even had fun with x-rays.  There is no trouble, just a nagging little thing we are trying to sort out. Ben is in perfect health.  It's just been an annoying part of the summer.

We were very lucky to get to meet Spencer the special cow, luckier yet to see him a second time.  Sadly, he died last week.  The heat got to be too much and with his health problems he just couldn't handle it.  Makes us all sad, he was more like a dog trapped in a cow's body than a cow. Anyway, future visits to the farm won't quite seem the same without a tipsy cow following us all over the place.

Can't end an odd and somewhat depressing post on such a sad note. So. Maybe just one pretty vacation picture. Carhenge.  Just because :-)

Separated

We can't seem to leave well enough alone when it comes to house projects.  No sooner are the stairs done and we are jumping into the next thing.  In my never ending quest to get the boys to clean up their toys I decided that we should rearrange some things in the house, making it either easier for them to keep things clean or easier for me to close a door and ignore the kid mess. We've been talking about this for awhile, but figured it would, in all honesty wait until the fall or the very least after vacation. Nope, just days after the steps are done, we're at it again.

The playroom no longer exists. Instead, Alex and Ben each have their own rooms now. We didn't set out for this to happen, it just sort of did.  We planned on having the boys do a long overdue purge of toys and things and then move the remaining things upstairs, either to their shared room or to the art room.  I think we figured that the art room/office would cease to be an office and maybe become an area for Alex to work on his models, or maybe move my sewing room in their or toy storage or something.  Point being, lots of shifting of stuff was in the works. Anyway, what ended up happening was the big purge followed by the separation of rooms. We polled both the boys, they both wanted the new room, ultimately Ben was given the choice.  In the end, he chose to stay where he was.  I was skeptical that it would work.  Not only has it worked, it's been amazing for them both. They love it.

As for the playroom.  It's now sporting a brand new coat of paint and furniture will be moved accordingly tonight.

I think that really is it for the projects... except for the fence. Which we paid someone to do, and he did a horrible job. So now one side needs to be redone. Sigh. That's a topic for another day.

But, in the last year we have...

• Updated the living room (new floors, new paint)
• Updated the library - new built-in book shelves
• Went from carpet to wood on the steps
• Converted playroom to dining room
• converted office/art room to bedroom
• rearranged master bedroom
• re-mulched the front yard
• new fence around the back yard
• had the trees pruned (yes, it's a noteworthy thing. They are huge, have to be pruned here in TX for several reasons).

Anyway, lots of love for the old homestead lately.

The Stairs

I finally finished the stair project yesterday.  What was supposed to take just a couple of weeks ended up taking 3+ months.  Yes, a large part of that was time spent waiting for wood to be delivered and then taking the time to properly finish said wood.  But still, there was just a crazy amount of work on the installation, namely those bottom 3 angled steps.  No part of those bottom steps was easy, at all, ever.  Every time we had something figured out, we would have to tweak it. Every. Single. Time. Happily I only miscut one 99 cent piece of wood. Better to have the mistake there than on the much more expensive tread.  Anyway, it's done, they look fabulous. It's time to move onto the next project.