A Thousand Little Wishes...

Our Crazy-Ass Road Trip: Part Two- The Midwest

 

So we left the Rocky Mountains and headed to Kansas City to visit with one of my oldest and most awesome friends, Amy and her boyfriend Jesse.  Amy and I had our first job together when we were fifteen at Three Brother's Bakery in Houston.  Now, Amy's something important at the Kemper Art Museum that has to do with the exhibits that I still don't quite understand and Jesse's a talented photographer.  We were so busy having fun that I didn't take very many pictures, but I did take quite a few pictures of their incredible house.  Max deemed them collectors of collections, which fits quite perfectly.  

 

I'm such a city girl.  I loved everything about Chicago- the public transportation, the museums, the buildings.  There's something so wonderful about walking around in a big city like that.  I was completely enamored with those little Thorne Miniature Rooms in the basement of The Art Institute.  I took way too many pictures of them.  They were like 68 of the fanciest tiny doll houses ever. I loved them all.  Millenium Park was pretty amazing, too.  I loved that I caught Max tap dancing in the water.  

And then there was St. Louis and what we loved about St. Louis was the City Museum.  I'm pretty sure that this is the most amazing place I've ever been.  We all felt that way.  It's in this old shoe factory and everywhere you look there is some sort of crazy tunnel to crawl through or incredible slide to go down. Mosaics cover the walls.  Things hang from the ceiling.  There's a ferris wheel and a bus protruding off the 11th floor rooftop.  It was beautiful and quite surreal.  We went after dinner thinking we'd be there a few hours and we stayed until it closed at 1am.  I can't wait to go back.
                   

Our Crazy-Ass Road Trip: Part One- The Mountains

We left Austin and headed to the Texas panhandle to Palo Duro Canyon, which is a really huge and beautiful canyon.  We only camped there that first night.  I spent quite some time pestering Ben to "stop being so bored and whiny,"  "sit up and act like you're enjoying this," and "quit with the pre-teen drama."  Sometime around dinner we realized he had a fever.  Luckily, he perked up pretty quickly with some Advil and didn't hold all that nagging against me.  We were also quite surprised by our furry dinner guests.  We shooed one away and Max accidentally squashed the other one.

 

We spent two nights at Mueller State Park outside of Colorado Springs, which is an extremely gorgeous and well kept park.  Our only issue was that dogs aren't allowed on the hiking trails and we couldn't leave her in the tent, so we didn't really get to see much of it.  But what we did see was breathtaking.  We really only had one full day there, which we spent most of at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs.  I've always loved the giraffes.  They're eyes are so beautiful and peaceful.  We also fell in love with the chipmunks all over Colorado.  We all secretly wish we could have one.


 

We spent four nights in Boulder at Chautauqua, which is a lodge at the base of the Flatirons mountains.  It was nothing like what I was expecting.  It reminded me very much of the resort in Dirty Dancing- lots of cute little cabins and families that have been staying there every summer for decades.  My kids were in heaven with so many other kids around to play with and our cabin was right next to the tennis courts and volleyball court.  They spent a lot of time playing dodgeball and soccer-tennis.  Unfortunately, we didn't get hike to very much, but we did get in some good times playing with the cousins who live only five minutes away from all this gorgeousness.  

We spent the last couple of rainy days and nights in Rocky Mountain National Park, hence the day of bumper cars and go-carts in Estes Park.  Luckily, the rain let up just enough for us to go horseback riding for two hours and to spot (and sneak up on) some wildlife.  The scenery here was stunning.  Again, the dog couldn't go on the trails so what we saw was limited, but still it was magnificent.  

I learned a few things about myself as a camper.  1) Three days is my limit for tent camping.  It all worked out fine and I never got too annoyed, but if we had spent one more night in a tent, I would have lost it.  2)  I really, really dislike going more than one day without a shower.  I know I'm being prissy, but I can't help it.  Running water is my all-time favorite invention.  Ever.  Most state parks have showers.  Most national parks do not.  I now know I prefer state parks.  3)  I want a pop-up camper.  We are going to do more of this.  Our boys are still little and they love camping.  Lee loves camping.  I love camping, too.  Therefore, I need something easier and more rain proof than a tent.  A Coleman pop-up is calling my name.        

Home again, home again. Jiggety, jig!

I have no idea what that saying is from.  It's something that my mom always said to me when would get home, probably something her mom or grandmother said to her when she was little.  Anyway, I love it.

To say that I'm happy to be home, would be a serious understatement.  Which does not mean that we didn't have fun.  We had lots of fun, which I plan to share, but three weeks on the road is a long time.  We were all happy to get home.  

The first thing we did after crossing the border was to stop in Dallas for some good old-fashioned Tex-mex.  I'm sorry, but Mexican food anywhere north of Texas, just isn't any good.  We went to Pappasito's, one of our favorites, and spent way too much money on a pound of fajitas, but it was so worth it.

We got home around 2am on Sunday morning and the only time I've left the house since was to grab a few things for dinner last night.  I hardly participated in the unpacking of the car or the stuff.  I've been ignoring most of the laundry and crap that needs to be put away.  It's probably taking everything in Lee not to kill me right now,  but I just can't seem to make myself get up and do anything.  All I want to do is sleep, read, and catch up on my Google Reader.  Thankfully, I finished my book this afternoon, so that won't be a distraction anymore.  I think I might feel a little energy coming back, that or the caffeine is finally kicking in.  I think I'm going to drink another Coke Zero and start doing something around here!

I'll be back tomorrow with some photos from our trip.

Ahhhh......summer

 

I can finally relax.  A bit.

We're gearing up for a big ass Griswold style family road trip.  Three weeks in the minivan with two little boys and a dog.  Camping, sight-seeing, visiting family, and friends.  I'm super excited.  I just hope it all goes well.  We've stocked up on books, both with pages and on cd. Some new games and art supplies.  A bunch of food, both junkie and healthy.

We're heading to Boulder, but stopping and camping at Palo Duro State Park and Mueller State Park.  A few years ago we hit the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs and I can't wait to go back.  It's a zoo built into the side of a mountain, which is pretty cool, but the best part is the giraffe exhibit.  It's built up on a deck-like structure so that the human visitors can be face-to-face with the giraffes.  It's very cool.  And you can feed them these cracker-ish things.  I loved it, we all loved it.

We're staying at a lodge in Boulder for a few days playing with cousins and such.  Then camping at Rocky Mountain National Park for three nights.  Then we're going to Kansas City for a couple of nights to visit one of my best friends from high school, who just happens to be one of the most awesome people ever!

After that, we're heading to Chicago!  I absolutely love Chicago, especially in the summer.  Usually we're there for some sort of big family event, but this time we're focusing on hitting the city-  The Shedd Aquarium, The Field Museum, The Art Institute, Lincoln Park Zoo, and the beach!  I'm so excited!  

After Chicago, we stop in Tulsa to visit one of Lee's friends from high school and then we're coming home.  Just typing all of this has been a bit exhausting, not to mention trying to plan for it, shop for it, and pack for it.  But once it's all done, I'll have three weeks to relax!  Woot!

This boy

is ridiculously cute, funny, smart, kind, aware, learning to read, curious, sincere, thoughtful, snuggly, persistent, and insightful.  And now he is six.  My baby is six.  How did that happen so fast?

He is also dramatic, loud, sensitive, stubborn, loud, impatient, wild, and loud.  And yet he's still.  so.  lovable.

His birthday was on Friday the 13th, so we went with the Freaky Friday theme.  This is a boy who has been infatuated with snakes for a few years, so it only seemed fit to invite the Austin Reptile Guy.  To make it a bit easier on me, we had the party right after school on the playground.  It was a gorgeous fall day- sunny and clear.  The kids played all over the playground, had goldfish and clementines, learned about some reptiles, petted some of them, had a cupcake, and went home.  Easy, fun, and done.  Just the way I like it.

We are firm believers in the birthday week around here.  Max loves camping just about as much as snakes, so to continue the celebrations, off we went on Saturday.  And we only had to go about 20 minutes up the road to Emma Long Park.  

It was so beautiful.  Right on Lake Austin, in the middle of the city.  We picked a site underneath some giant cottonwood trees.

We brought along the boys' best friends and they were in heaven- hiking, fishing, laughing, tooting, swimming in the lake, playing in the sand, grilling hotdogs, playing football, frisbee, and tag, making smores, joking about tooting and anything having to do with their you-know-whats, catching worms, and more hiking.  Whew!  Well, it all made for a truly wonderful birthday weekend for a truly wonderful little boy.  Happy birthday, Sweet Love!

Da Beach

We  spent four days at Galveston beach for Ben's birthday.  Galveston is NOT the most beautiful beach, but it was actually very nice.  Our house was right on the sand, which was awesome with the kids.  We did everything you do when you go to the beach:  

Built some castles.

A close-up of our moat monster.

Found some shells and sea glass.

Played frisbee, bocce ball, soccer, and volleyball.  We rode our bikes.  And went crab hunting at night. 

 

And Max and I built our own little tide pool.  I was sooo wishing my camera was better, because we found some really cool little sea creatures.  But all my camera would really photograph were these:

I can't figure out what they are.  But it was really cool watching them and all of the tiny creatures in our tide pool.  Along with our little, blue jellyfish/sea anemones, we caught some hermit crabs and spent a lot of time corralling them.  There was also this tiny little thing that had a circular, open center and five tiny tentacles that it used to swim around.  It was really cool and I don't have a picture of it.  It's center was about the size of big pinhead and it's tentacles were no longer than 1-2 cm.  We also noticed these tiny, tiny little creatures that looked just like a tiny, tiny piece of torn off brown lettuce.  At first I didn't think anything of them because they just looked like a tiny piece off of a plant, but as we watched the tide pool longer, I realized that they were actually swimming by arching (rather dramatically) back and forth.  It really was amazing.  We also noticed these teeny little bug-like things that would come up out of the sand, scurry a few inches across the sand, and then burrow back under.  They looked sort of like tiny, grey beetles- about the size of a grain of rice.  Anyway, it was all very cool to see and we never would have noticed any of it, if we hadn't been trying to keep the crabs and little jelly things in our tide pool.  I highly suggest doing this if you're going to the coast anytime soon.

A Handy Travel Tip

Heading out of town for the weekend?  A quick trip to visit the grandparents?  The thought of packing getting you down? 

Never fear- just throw it all in the laundry basket! 

My good friend Dani, gave me this tip.  It's now my favorite way to pack.  It's perfect for trips to see relatives or friends, or to a beach house or lake house.  I'm not so sure I'd want to haul it into a hotel, say...through the lobby.  But for those quick little family trips here and there, it's pure genius.

A laundry basket can hold a lot.  Way more than a suitcase.  And you can pile it up.  High.  I stack my hair dryer, make-up bag, books, or whatever on top.  And when it's time to go home, all your dirty clothes from the weekend are already where they belong!  I don't know about you, but I tend to leave those bags full of dirty clothes sitting around for a few days before I unpack and wash everything.  But when it's all in the basket, I almost always throw it into the wash as soon as we get home. 

It may not be so classy, but it sure is handy!