The Great Escape: Days 4 - 5

Apparently I have a record number of photos from these couple days to share... bear with me :) And don't blame me-- I cannot get the pictures to show up how or where I want in blogger today. Very sorry.

Day 4 (Fri, Sept 3): Katie and Leslie had wisely taken the bedroom when we invaded in the middle of the night, so I had the pull out couch, which meant I got to wake up to adorable blonde girlies coming to see who was there! Agnes (age 4) climbed right into bed with me and started telling me stories, with her expressive face and hilarious sense of humor. She reminds me a lot of her grandpa Fred, who is the most expressive story teller I know.

We spent the day with Glen, Lisa, Agnes, Gracie, and Audrey in the woods of Montana. What a blast! We went off-road, fording 3 rivers in the suburban (yay Lisa), got out and hiked to picnic by a rat infested forest service cabin. Saw an actual pack rat, who had filled this small shed full of winter supplies (packed quite well in fact). Hiked partially in a creek to a waterfall. Agnes, the only one wearing boots, kept repeating as we went through this creek “Good thing we’re all wearin’ boots!” Um, we aren’t, honey, just you. Then a few minutes later “Good thing we’re all wearin’ boots!” Nope, still just you. The rest of us just had soggy tennis shoes, but who is counting. I should also mention that Agnes goes for a hike wearing a green polka dotted dress with matching hat (looks like an Easter outfit), with black stretch pants, and knee high rubber boots. Need I say more?

At the waterfall, we took some pictures and then I indulged my urge to climb the rocks next to the waterfall. I’m not sure why, but I do have a thing for climbing around on rocks… well, at least I like climbing up. Coming down was a little scarier (harder to see footholds) so Glen stood at the bottom to break my fall, just in case. I made it down safely and got soundly mocked by my traveling companions for needing to climb the rocks in the first place. We headed back to the Cronk ranch for naps and dinner, to watch the attempted turkey sex (Agnes, indignant at the two males constantly climbing on the one female: “Get off. GET OFF!! Dose boy turkeys keep zumpin’ on ze girl turkey!”), and play with some adorable girlies. More delicious home cooked and mostly home grown food. Mmmmmm.

A few funny quotes from the Cronk girlies (so many to choose from):
I was drawing a picture (badly) for Agnes. She was directing me who to draw next, her, then Daddy, then Mommy (did I mention I don’t draw well) and at some point I drew a very sloppy looking hand. Agnes, with a concerned frown: “You didn’t draw that very good, did I bump your arm?”

Gracie (age 3), pulling her skirt up over her head to reveal nothing underneath.
Lisa: “Where are your undies?”

Gracie: “I took dem off, dey were wet.”

Lisa: “Well pull down your skirt.”

Grace: “But I want my wegs to get cold.”

It was a warm day in Montana.

Audrey at 1 ½ years old just says “Ith” for everything and smiles and laughs and gives great hugs. What a cutie.

Day 5 (Sat, Sept 4): We loaded the car and hung out at the Cronks until lunchtime. Lisa packed us a great lunch and there were many tears (from Agnes anyway) over our departure. I promised to come back for a longer visit sometime when I don't have quite so much driving or quite so many visits on the itinerary.

The Great Escape: Days 1 - 3

This is the part where I get to bore you with the details of my fabulous trip (and pretend I'm still on it)-- I really am trying to keep it brief yet informative. And share some pics... okay okay, just skip the next 5 or 6 posts if you want :)

Day 1-- Tuesday, August 31: I left work late (of course). Had to race home and pack in a very hot house. Ugh. The dogs caught on to some sort of trip and wanted to wait in the car while I packed it. They are ready to go!

We eventually had the car loaded, dragged the dogs back into the house, and headed to pick up Katie in Ypsi. And then realized I'd forgotten an important bag (battery chargers and all) so we headed back to the Homestead before finally getting on the road… and yes, I was on automatic pilot and did get on I-94 going east… oops. We finally got on the road going west and played what became our trip theme song "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler. I happen to love that song from high school and it makes a great road trip song because it is really really long and ridiculous and I know all the words. How could you go wrong, especially with a song that starts "Turn around..." and has a verse that says "Every now and then I know there's no one in the universe as magical and wondrous as you..." So great. Anyway, I digress.

We made it to Chicago in good time and stayed the night with Brigette and Sam. Got a good visit in with Brigette.

Day 2-- Weds, Sept. 1: We left Chicago shortly before 8… Brigette had let us into the parking structure with the guest parking pass and some swipe card, but of course we had no idea we needed one to get out… until we were sitting ready to exit the parking garage and the door wouldn’t open. Oops. Just as Leslie was going to go to the front desk and ask for help, someone pulled behind us, also wanting out. He handed us his swipe card to get us out and we were on our merry way (well, at least until we got stuck in some lovely Chicago traffic).

We headed up into Wisconsin and had a lovely lunch and visit with Patty and her adorable munchkins, near Amherst Junction. They took us for a short walk around their yard, some raspberry picking, egg gather, swinging, and lots of entertaining. It was a great visit- though too short. And as I told my car buddies, we only stop at the friends houses who have cute kids :)

From there we headed west to St. Paul for dinner with Betsy and her munchkins, Kate, and Angelique. Iain kept us entertained through the meal, and Betsy and Kate fed us wonderful home cooked food and a heavenly dessert (you are amazing Kate!!). It was amazing how much we appreciated real meals, even after being on the road such a short time. The appreciation grew through the rest of the trip… not only did all of our hosts and hostesses feed us well, somehow snacking in the car for days on end really improves one’s appreciation of a good home cooked meal.

We followed Angelique to her apartment to stay the night... including a massage (oh my gosh awesome) and some late night pillow talk. So much fun and once again, much too short (are you sensing a theme?)!

Day 3-- Thurs, Sept 2: The Long One. This was the longest stretch on our trip. We drove from St. Paul, MN to Canyon Creek, MT. Did you catch that? We drove through Minnesota, North Dakota, and halfway through Montana that day. Saw a lot of hay, cows, hay, cows, barns, hay, cows... you get the point. We had a blast, saw some beautiful country, scoped out several farms I was sure I’d be perfectly content living in… and even saw some interesting sights along the way... like the giant Holstein cow "Salem Sue" somewhere in ND. The ND Badlands. And naturally we used every excuse for a good photo shoot (doesn't everyone pull off the highway to climb on hay bales?) And took a few random roadside stops to get out, tackle Reenie, ya know, the usual.

Really, until that last two hours, it didn’t feel like an 18 hour day in the car… until that last two hours. Let’s just say we were really ready to get out and crash when we finally arrived at 1 am. Linus, the vicious watchdog, licked us and let us sneak in without even a bark.

Parties and Progress

Last night we had a birthday bash for Jenny Pink and my friend Elizabeth. It was kind of an odd assortment of people, and missing a lot of my friends (though some were here) but was a lot of fun and a good celebration. Not to mention a good excuse to clean the house. Notice the lack of cabinet doors still...

Our newest housemate having her first car bomb. She just got a job, takes her nursing boards on Thursday, and moves in sometime after that. Hurray! We are all very excited to have her move in to the Homestead.

And then today, my on call handyman came over for a couple hours of work, along with me and Leslie, and tada!!

Cabinet doors!!! Eeeeee. So excited. True, a few of them need a little sanding. A few need some paint touched up. A few need the old hardware hole filled and touched up. And I am short a couple handles. And look, I definitely found the door that belongs here totally unpainted in the basement. Ugh.

But progress is progress. And it looks so much brighter and more finished in there. So excited to have doors again, that only took 5 times longer than it should have! And of course, the work is never done, coming up:

-- finish complicated trim pieces

-- stair nose on the landing

-- cupboard door touch ups

-- hang pictures

-- add more cute kid pics to the fridge

My boy

To make up for that last ridiculously whiney post (I do apologize for breaking my own blog rule of no whining)... I'm sharing this. One of my favorite kids in the whole world, who I wish I could just hug right now.



I love this kid. He's absolutely delightful. And I wish I could have recorded him reading a book to himself. He perches on the edge of the couch, feet dangling, and reads each page carefully in Andrew-speak "mmm mmm mmm mmm," then turns the page "mmm mm mm mmmmm." I love you buddy.

Ugh

Re-entry into the real world, and very specifically, my job hasn't been easy. I love coming home after traveling, but of course, at home, I'm always about a dozen steps behind on everything.

And work... oh work... Let's just say I left very strategically in the two weeks between the end of registration and the beginning of everything religious ed related. So when I got back, not only do I have my regular full time office admin stuff to do and catch up on, but I also have ridiculous amounts of late registrations, questions, program stuff to get together, lots of meetings... Basically I am swamped. Don't get me wrong, I care more about the religious ed side of my job- it's a good challenge, good work to do, and a lot that needs to happen. BUT... it may have been unwise to take on what should be a full time job on top of another full time job, no matter how mindless and boring I was finding the original full time stuff. Regret runs deep right now. Maybe in a month or two things will slow down a bit, or return to a normal frantic pace, but right now I'm buried... and that lovely two week vacation seems like a lifetime ago, not just a few days. And mostly I'm ready to escape again.

I have friends who have said it isn't work taking vacation because it's too much work to prepare and recover from them... I can't say I'm there. That two week trip was fabulous- probably the highlight of my year... but ugh, recovery is pretty rough right now.

So if you don't see me for a month or two...

The Great Escape 2010

What an adventure!! Starting August 31st, after work, two of my friends and I climbed into my new (to me) Honda CRV and headed out for a road trip west to Washington State and then home again.

The stats:
3 passengers
11 visits (as in stops to see friends)
12 days
15 states
5,000 miles

As with all road trips, it is hard to put into words all of what happened. Suffice it to say, I had a blast. I wish it was longer. Wish I could have visited longer with everyone, but am so glad I was able to do it and see so many of my cross country friends and family. I'll fill you in on the details later... after driving through Friday night and then arriving home this morning (Sunday) at 3 am, my brain is mush. It was an awesome adventure and it is great to be home.

And it is kind of shocking to arrive home after being on the road to realize it is mid-September. I am refusing to check my work email until work tomorrow-- that will be soon enough. In the meantime I need to clean out my car, clean my house, do laundry, deal with veggies from the garden, and more. Home sweet home. Happy mid-September my friends.

Edit: I should also mention our terrific housemate Jenny Pink who stayed home and took care of the dogs and house in my absence. Such a huge help, although we wish she could have gone with us instead.

Also, the dogs were so excited when I walked in last night that Maggie threw herself into my arms for a huge hug and Suzie wet the floor. Sure is great to be loved. :)