The Red Cooler

Whenever I'm packing for a family roadtrip, I always wonder what my children will remember most about our travels.  Will it be the places we go?  The sights we see?  Will it be the people we meet along the way?  When they think of their parents packing and preparing, what will jump into their minds?  It'll probably be the most random things that I won't even remember 10 years from now.

We traveled quite a bit when I was growing up.  We lived in the midwest, and my grandparents all lived in Florida.  A lot of hours were spent on the road traveling to see our family.  Before each trip, my mom would carefully prepare.  Amongst other things, we had our suitcases, the 'kitchen' (a basket with all the plastic utensils and kitchen-y extras we could need), beach towels on each seat, coloring books, card games, and the red cooler.

The red cooler fit perfectly in front of my seat in our van.  It made for a great footrest!  It also worked well as a table for playing solitaire.  Packed with lunchmeats, cheeses, and egg salad for my dad, it became a sort of symbol of family vacations for me.

About twice a day while traveling, we would pick up a bag of ice along the way.  This, of course, had to be hit against something repeatedly to break up the ice and make it fit in the red cooler.  Then, there was the careful dumping out of the water that had accumulated from melting ice cubes.  Once we were at our hotel room for the night, there was more dumping of water, and numerous trips to the ice machine to fill it back up again.  The cycle started again the next morning.  I loved that red cooler!

I spotted it just recently in the bottom of a cabinet when I went to go get the cooler we currently use for our roadtrips.  We now have the kind that plugs into the car and doesn't require constant refills of ice.  That's a good thing, too.  If you ask anyone in Europe for a bag of ice, they'll look at you funny.  But just seeing our red cooler brought back so many great memories.  It's one of those random things that I remember about my childhood travels.  When we move back to the US, I think we'll have to start using that red cooler again.

Poland: The Rest of the Story

Rainboots and Umbrella?  Check!

Every trip has a story.  Normally, it's filled with the highlights of "we went here, we saw this, we did that".  On our recent trip to Poland, we went to some incredible places. We went to probably the most somber and emotional place in Europe.  But what's the rest of the story?  I don't even know where to begin, except to say that I don't think I've ever been happier to be back home.

Things started to go wrong before we even left.  Over a week before our departure, I began attempting to contact a specific pottery store in Boleslawiec.  I had read that it was possible for children and adults to paint their own pottery and then the store would fire it, and ship it.  I thought it would be a fantastic souvenir for Tootsie and Turkey.  After numerous failed attempts to contact the store, I was finally able to reach them...only to find out they only did the pottery painting on Saturdays.  We would be there on a Thursday, and were unable to alter our itinerary.

Our hotel on the first night was...well...sub-par.  Amongst other problems with the hotel, the listing on the website I use to make hotel reservations said that it had a restaurant attached.  When we went to the 'restaurant', we discovered it was pretty much just a banquet hall.  When my husband asked if the restaurant was open for dinner, the staff member made a phone call to ask about it, and afterwards said "We can make you schnitzel".  Ummm...ok.  So we all had schnitzel.

The plan to wander through the Krakow didn't go so well, either.  Mother Nature decided to assert herself through rain and heavy winds.  Our first day of attempted wandering started out innocently enough...it began to drizzle, so we pulled out our umbrellas and stroller covers.  Once we got into the open square, however, umbrellas were turning inside out.  The support spines broke on one umbrella, and the handle on another snapped completely off...popping springs and all.  In the midst of all this, we also lost our city map.  So, of course, we got lost trying to find our way back to our hotel that evening.  At least by then the rain had stopped.

Our second day of wandering in Krakow found us fighting the wind to go up the Wawel Hill.  And then the rains came.  (At this point, of course, we were down two umbrellas)  We took shelter under the arches of a building at the top of Wawel Hill.  When the rain subsided, we thought we'd give it another try to see just one more thing....but the wind nearly took us away.  Our stroller (with Tiny inside) was barely stopped from flipping over.  We gave up, and went back to our apartment for a fun family game night.

There were other travel oddities that occurred...but I think I've relived enough for one blog post.  Through all of these difficulties with our trip to Poland, I'm still glad we went.  We were able to see some amazing and deeply moving sights.  The memories of this trip (both good and not-so-great) will stay with me always.  "And now you know the REST of the story"

Weekend in Review

Remember that post about the uncertainties of military life?  Travel Daddy returned Friday night after a two week trip.  Sunday evening, he got a call which resulted in a plan to leave again Wednesday.  That plan was scratched by a phone call this morning with a plan to go somewhere else..."oh, and by the way, can you leave today?"  This is our continual reality.

We also tried to plan an itinerary for a possible trip in the next month or so.  The planning went something like this...

PLAN A:
TD: "How about we do a quick tour of Eastern European capitals? (Budapest, Bratislava, Zagreb, and Ljubljana)
Me: "Ok!  I'll start researching"
(After a trip to the library, checking out 7 different travel books on Eastern Europe, and some research)...

Me: "There's too much to see near Ljubljana for the time that we have.  We'll have to divide up the capitals"

PLAN A2:
"Why go to Zagreb when the sites in Split are so much better?  We could see a Diocletian Palace!  Oh!  and check out the Plitvice Lakes National Park!"  (In all honesty, I have NO CLUE how to pronounce Plitvice...so this was more like..."check out this place with the lakes!")
"If we drive to Dubrovnik, we will get to go through five miles of Bosnia-Herzegovina."

**discovered that one of the sites near Ljubljana does not open until the beginning of April**

PLAN B:
"New Plan!  How about Budapest, Bratislava and Vienna?"
"There's too much to see in Vienna to combine it with Budapest and Bratislava with the time that we have"

PLAN C:
"What's if we go to Poland instead?  Warsaw?"
"If we go to Krakow instead of Warsaw, we'll be right by Auschwitz...I'd really like to go there"
"Do we want to take the children to Auschwitz?"
"Do I want to celebrate my birthday with a trip to a concentration camp?"

PLAN D:
"How about Vienna?"


At time of posting, I have come up with 7 different itineraries, complete with mileage charts and fuel cost estimates...and we are no closer to actually going anywhere.  I have, however, learned how to pronounce Ljubljana, and discovered that Slovenia is a BEAUTIFUL country.  Hope we make it there someday!

Book Recommendation...

I don't know how often I'll do this, but I really feel compelled to let you know about this book we've happened upon.  It is clever, it is cute, and Tootsie and Turkey really enjoy it.  Drumroll please............................

Exclamation Mark!
By Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenhelf

Follow the journey of a punctuation mark, as it tries to figure out it's role.  Other punctuation marks make their appropriate appearances.  As I'm typing this, it all seems very silly, but REALLY...check it out from your library.  You won't regret it :)

Dino Days!

We just finished up a fun couple of weeks here, with a Dinosaur theme!  There was stomping...there was RRRRROOOOAAAARRRRIIIINNNNGGG, there was even redo of the 80's tune "Walk like an Egyptian" to become "Walk Like a Dinosaur".  I just now realized that we SHOULD have gone with "Walk the Dinosaur" by Was (Not Was).  DOH!  Maybe we'll extend our theme for an extra day to fit that in :)

The highlight of the week for the T's was making fossils with salt dough, and then going on a 'dig' to find them.

We had some fun books for storytime...

• Dinosaurumpus! by Tony Mitton, illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees
• Stomp! Chomp! Big Roars! Here Come the Dinosaurs! by Kaye Umansky
• Countasaurus by Megan E. Bryant, illustrated by Luciana Navarro Powell
• What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs? by John Morris and Ken Ham
• Dinosaurs Before Dark (Magic Tree House, No. 1) by Mary Pope Osborne and Sal Murdocca

And we had a great time using the Dino Stomp Number Line Activity Mat from Excellerations during math.

We even had fun with our food :)  We just happened to have a sandwich cutter that makes dinosaur shapes, and I found dinosaur egg oatmeal at the store.  Happy coincidence!

Up next week: the Water Cycle.  Makes me thirsty just thinking about it.  

Have a wonderful weekend!!

A Tale of Two Mornings

Hit the snooze, hit the snooze...how much sleep do I have to lose?
Check the time, check the time...rush a shower, looking fine.
Baby's up? Time for milk...sneak a cuddle?, spit-up on silk!
Wake up one, wake up two, do they know what to do?
Rush through breakfast, brush the hair..."Brush your teeth!"  Do they care?
Time for clothes, time for socks...keep them moving, trip on blocks
Shoes for one, two, and three, But where are the shoes for me?.
Jacket? Jacket!  Zip it up.  "Mom...MOM! my zipper's stuck!"
Out the door...out the door...Keep them moving a little more.
Carseats buckle, buckle away..."Whew!" the exhausted mom will say.

<<Breathe>>

Wake up to joyful chatter, snuggles, cuddles, love abounds
Yummy breakfast, happy talking, extra time can always be found
Not a schedule, but routine, as we move throughout the day
Still accomplishing our tasks: household cleanup, school and play.
Linger longer in the joy
With my girl and two young boys

Selective Thinking...

"Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?" ~Luke 12:25

There are things that I choose not to think about, for I know that they would just cause unneeded and unhelpful worry.  In the forefront of my mind, today, is this image of my husband standing in the back of a cargo plane that's opened up to the sea.  This is part of his job, I know, and I'm so proud of him for what he does, but, I simply cannot think about the risks he will take when he leaves on a mission.  Instead, I choose to trust.  I trust that he knows what he's doing and is taking every precaution.  I trust that the people he's with are also taking every precaution to ensure the safety of the crew.  Most importantly, I trust that no matter what happens on that mission over those waters, "God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." ~Romans 8:28  

If I do think about it...after he's home safe, of course...it's pretty awesome.