YTD-Day 2

10:40 a.m.

Well, an hour and a half behind schedule is certainly better than the eleven hours behind we fell yesterday.  We are, again, packed like sardines and 32 states into the license plate game.  It’s amazing how quiet the car is at the moment.  Even Nathan who is ALWAYS talking is quiet.  AMAZING!  Everyone is pretty tired.  But I am wide awake-Thank you, Starbucks!

10:47 a.m.

I spoke too soon.  Ryan is managing to tease everyone in the car…tickling Nathan, looking at Grace “wrong”, and calling me Laura!  Who does he think he is??  J 

(Sigh)

As I sit here in the passenger seat traveling a stretch of road that does not offer much to look at, I think about the road trips I took as a kid.  We never traveled by plane.  Always by car with my sisters and I in the back seat.  I sat in the middle with my feet on the hump.  We brought things to do to keep us busy…crosswords, seek and finds, books, cross stitch projects, music on the FM radio, paper/coloring books, crayons and pencils.  We would make our own fun:  driving Sandy crazy, singing, making up songs/stories, or just looking out the window.  My parents would try to engage us in games like the license plate game, guess the distance, the alphabet game, or they would torture us by listening to talk radio on the AM dial…ugh!  And to get from here to there, we used a map.  Times have certainly changed!

1:15 p.m.             Boredom

Nothing to do…nothing to see.  Just trying to pass the time.

2:30 p..m.

Potty break at scenic overlook. Pretty pic of Grace and other scenery or "ob-scenery". Nathan just couldn't wait so we had no choice. He also didn't realize he shouldn't go right on the walkway. After we got back to the car, this family stood for a photo opportunity right where Nathan peed! Eek!

3:25 p.m.

Soooooooo close to running out of gas but we made it just in time!  First stop…gas station.  Second stop…Wall Drug.  We saw signs for miles and finally arrived.  How Wall Drug started was fascinating.  A couple had a dream and against the advice of some and a lot of prayer and encouragement of family and a church community, they bought a drug store in Wall because it was close to a Catholic church and the people were friendly.   They had little success and thought they made a mistake.  They agreed to give it 5 years and if their business didn’t grow, they would move.  It was coming up on five years during one of the hottest summers during the Great Depression and business was not good.  One day the couple had a conversation about the heat and mentioned the fact that there was a lot of traffic on the highway of people who needed water.  They decided to begin advertising free water.  They posted billboards along the highway and in no time, they found people would take the detour for water.  And it grew from there and is now a major tourist attraction.  I am not fond of those really touristy places but there were a few interesting things and we did get to eat and buy a few souvenirs. Mom…it doesn’t look like they have those fountain sodas.   Here are a few pics:

Later that day...Can't recall the time because I am actually not writing about this until the next day!

The Badlands...Absolutely amazing!!  And can you say "windy"????

I could spend days driving through, climbing, hiking through this beautiful place.  Of course, I might feel a little better if I had all three kids on a leash...especially Nathan who has the energy level of a room full of children after ingesting a case of Mountain Dew and 150 Pixie Sticks.  The anxiety felt imagining one of the kids falling off the edge...ugh!  Yeah....remind me never to take them to the Grand Canyon.  And did I mention rattle snakes?  Didn't see any but there are signs everywhere telling us to "beware".  The weather was perfect...so much better than home.  We are thoroughly enjoying the mid-70s/80s.  These pics will probably not do the Badlands justice but here they are: 

Yellowstone Trip Diary

Day 1: July 5, 2012, Best Laid Plans 6:35 p.m. The plan was to leave at 3 a.m. and drive to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, check into a hotel with plenty of time for the kids to swim. In order to make that happen, we would’ve had to grow a brain and THINK for minute and realize we need cross bars in order to attach the car top carrier to the top of the car! The light bulb moment occurred around 4 p.m. on July 4th. Of course nothing was open and one Craigslist ad and drive to Ballwin later, we remained cross bar-less. So, instead of leaving at 3 a.m. we left at 2 p.m. after finding a dealership that had the part, installing the cross bars and the car top carrier and loading everything up, jam packed even with the car top carrier. Love my Acadia but the one, and only, complaint I have about it is the lack of luggage space. This trip so far has been typical of others. We packed too much, planned too little, left too late. I always envision leisurely preparation with every member of our family happily lending a helping hand. But what actually happens involves much more complaining, arguing, cursing and my attempt to referee and look on the bright side. Bottom line is there is nothing we could do to change it so why get too upset about it. Once we actually left the house, everything went smoothly. That is after one return home to get the charger for the Garmin when we were about a mile away from home. Then the questions began which all begin with one word…Mom…and included “I’m hungry!” I fielded questions, started a movie and then took a deep breath. So, now we are on our way. We are almost to St. Joseph, Missouri. We are 27 states into the license plate game and have stopped two times. We had one scary moment. We were right behind two semis, one was passing the other. The one in which we were directly behind didn’t pass the other completely before he decided to merge into the right lane. Had that other truck not swerved onto the shoulder…. The important thing is, we’re alive! Here we are…And btw, in the pic there are only sunglasses on my head. Grace’s DVD case is balanced vicariously on all of the blankets and pillows crammed in the backseat but it was well behind me.

8:20 p.m. Just ate the dinner that was supposed to be lunch. Why are we eating so late? Because another one of our family traditions is to bring a bunch of crap to eat along the way. And strange thing about road trips…everyone is hungry all the time! We can go through a typical day at home satisfied with three meals and a snack or two. In the car when we are all sitting and not expending much energy, everyone needs to eat every ½ hour, buy candy at every gas station, and we all must have a soda at all times. Can you say sugar high?

About three hours away. Please….no one say they need to go to the bathroom!! Fat chance of that. Nathan had ½ of a huge bottle of Powerade so any time now…

8:53 p.m.

So far so good. Nathan is singing in the back…”Today I swear I’m not doing anything. I’m just laying here in my bed. I don’t feel like picking up my bones. So leave a message at the tone. Today I swear like doing anything.”

Then he suggested maybe Samson should have come along. Mike told him we didn’t have any room. He said, “Yes we do…he could sit on mom’s lap!” Ha!

9:30 p.m.

Bathroom break for boys…exit in the middle of nowhere, shoulder on the exit ramp. Better than peeing in a cup as someone in this crazy place suggested.

9:52 p.m.

How quickly things can fall apart when we have all been in the car for 8 hours! Gum fell out of Nathan’s mouth…can’t find it. Mike is freaking out!!! Looks like no more gum for Nathan!

12:30 a.m.

Finally arrived at our first stop…Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Holiday Inn Express and Suites. After unloading, checking in, getting ready for bed, a significant amount of arguing about who is sleeping where, and me turning into a drill sergeant, we all went to bed. Long day!

“A child’s life is like a piece of paper on which every person leaves a mark”. –Chinese Proverb

Me: Nathan, what's wrong?
Nathan: (pouting) I'm mad about you!
Me: Why are you mad about me?
Nathan: You messed me up...you messed my feelings up!

I was sitting in the drive-through at McDonald's with my window down contemplating what to order when I overheard the person in the car directly in front of me, "A large coffee with two creams and two sugars." I was considering his selection when I became conscious of the fact that I was making "a face". The face you might display when you just smelled something unpleasantly pungent.

What is wrong with me? I don't like coffee and never have. I hear people all the time talking about "meeting for coffee" or "hanging out in the coffee shop" or how wonderful Starbucks is! And I just feel like an immature girl who never quite grew up, never acquiring the taste for this drink that seems to be some rite of passage into adulthood.

Oddly enough, my sister feels the same way. I called her after exiting the drive-through to discuss this topic reminiscent of a Seinfeld episode. I explained to her my plan to move to the next stage of my life...that of a coffee drinker. There must be some kind of coffee out there that I find appealing. Maybe something hazelnutty or chocolaty... something smooth and creamy and frothy! I will WILL myself to enjoy it and maybe when I feel that jolt of caffeine I usually welcome every morning when I drink my diet soda, I will suddenly fall in love with that warm cup of Joe.

Then, after I become a coffee connoisseur, I will be able to join the rest of that club...that of "the coffee drinker.

Right now...

Ryan was sick today so he stayed home from school. I worked from home most of the day. Grace went to school. Nathan played with his fire trucks, watched the Wiggles (his latest obsession), and asked me a trillion questions. All of my answers were quickly followed by another question..."why?"

Grace got home from school, picked up her Ipod and went outside to play with Ali and to ride her electric scooter. She came in later to gather some blankets, which she laid in the back of Mike's pick-up (You know...the one from last year that we have not yet gotten rid of. Yes...I am trying really hard to fit the part of hoosier/red neck girl. I have the broken down truck in the driveway. Now all I need is to have bare feet, a baby on my hip and a beer in my hand and it will be official!) Anyway, I called Grace in to do her homework, helped her with it, and scraped together some food..."dinner" in the loosest sense of the word!

Ryan's fever went down thanks to Target's generic brand of Motrin so he felt good enough to organize some of his Pokemon cards. He brought them to me and announced that he was going to sell them on Ebay for $400. Grace came in and got some candy. Nathan got into the closet and found an umbrella which I promptly took away from him because he has broken every one we've had. Then he found this green, frog raincoat. I can hear the sound of the plastic as he puts in on, takes it off, puts it on again upside down, takes it off, puts it on, and comes to me to ask me to "snap it up".

Ryan just came out of his room dressed in nice black pants, black leather dress shoes, a light blue oxford and a tie! He said he was going on a pretend date. He walked back in the room and sprayed a little Axe. Then he sauntered into the kitchen, leaned against the wall, put one foot up on the wall behind him and gave me a look like he was modeling for GQ. Ugh...I hate that he is growing up so fast. I only have about 8 more years left before he leaves home for college!

Where's Grace? Let me check...okay...she's running up the street with her helmet on with a walkie-talking in her hand while her friend, Ali, rides her motor scooter down the street. Why do I always see someone else on Grace's motor scooter? She is just so sweet...always sharing. But I fear she also gets taken advantage of.

Oh...here comes Nathan with his frog raincoat..."This isn't working, mommy!" Nevermind...he just walked in to ask Ryan if he wanted to wear his "froggie jacket". Ryan is now playing the Wii and for some reason is telling Nathan not to be "weird". And Nathan is calling him "Dorothy the Dinosaur". I still hear that plastic...uh oh...Nathan is now really frustrated. He can't zip up his raincoat. Let me help him....Okay...I did it. He was so pleased. I told him to go look in the mirror. He smiled, pointed his fingers, leaned back, lifted one leg and said, "To the big red car!", which he says about 15 times a day. Anyone who knows the Wiggles will know that phrase. Then he went to look in the mirror.

Here comes Grace. She wants to know if she can go down the street. She pleaded, "Anila really super, super wants me. She's a really nice friend from school. Can I go play down the street? It's just right down there, past the stop sign." Okay...just for a few minutes. Ryan's moved on to Wii tennis. Nathan is watching him. Oh no...I hear arguing. I think Ali just threatened to go home because Grace was playing with someone else and then Grace said, "Okay I won't play with them!" See what I mean? I will take care of this..."Grace, it's time to come in." Nathan just said "poop". Now Ryan and Nathan are talking about "toots" and "farts" Well, that's where "right now" ends...I need to move into "later".

:-)

Yesterday, Ryan brought me a baseball and a pen and asked for my autograph. He said, "Your autograph should be worth a million dollars because you are the best mom in the world!" And I will cherish all of these moments because when he is a teenager, I am fairly certain he won't feel the same!