That's right, I actually managed to have two very slow days at home before a big vacation! Woot! Woot! Why is that important? Well, let's face it, Moms don't actually get to rest before, during, or after a vacation when the whole family is involved. Vacation is basically just a change of scenery. The people with their quirks are still the same. They still need fed and clothed and entertained and well rested (not really, right?). And because of the change of venue, food is different, routines are different, so coping with chronic illness and pain is a very big unknown factor, so you have to pack your whole arsenal of supplies just in case. I'm not joking this time. I woke up on Saturday with vertigo, again. No!!!!!! Not today, Satan! Keturah came down with the sniffles late on Thursday, so it's only a matter of time that the rest of us gets it. And for me, instead of a sore throat, my first sign of something is now my ears clogging and having vertigo. Grrr....But, I remembered and am grateful I packed most of everything on Friday. I was able to carry out my normal "vertigo" routine, and sleep off the Dramamine I took so I could feel better the rest of the day. I had to keep reminding myself that I purposefully swore off any major house projects this week so I could give my brain and body a break. I even moved an appointment I had which would have been on Friday, so I could take it easy. There's a million things I could have done, but now I feel mentally rested for the chaos (and anxiety) that vacation brings. And I could have been bummed about the vertigo, and I was for a moment, but decided, yup, I'll just get some extra sleep, which I need anyway. Having an attitude of gratitude helps. And hormones being in the right amount in the right time of the month helps, too.
With Jared home, he helped with kids of course, and the kids did their chores, took showers, kept things picked up and also had time to rest their brains before vacation. At least the two middles who are introverts like me. It's such a powerful thing to know who we are and what works for us and to be able to work with our personalities to have the best experiences. I'm so grateful my parents knew that and talked about it openly with us so I was prepared for the differences in our 4 kids as well. Benaiah worked yesterday (Friday) from 6am to 2pm, and only by the grace of the shift manager because there were some communication difficulties. He was trying to pick up this shift, but the person scheduled actually showed up, too. Oh well, at least he showed initiative! And he learned how to do the breakfast shift. He then was able to pick up another shift tonight from 4pm to close at 11:30pm. That's going to be tough because he has to be at Shelby St. at 7am to play drums tomorrow morning. He also had to get up in time to mow and shower and pack. Justin mowed our yard yesterday and today. He asked which day would be hotter and I said today, so he did the smaller part of the yard today and the bigger part yesterday. He even got up on time without complaining to do it! It helps to have a better mower, too. Abishai had lots of potty accidents yesterday, so today, we kept him in pull ups because I wasn't up to cleaning up all day. He also had a playdate with Hunter, and he was supposed to play in the splashpad but didn't want to. Grandma took him and said that she didn't get much of a chance to talk to Hunter's mom because the boys went off in different directions. But at least he had fun climbing on the playground. It was the one that we went to in June with splashpad and nice playground with the awnings there in Greenwod near the town center and Mrs. Curl's.
Otherwise, it was a quiet, putter around two days, just steadily packing and resting and cleaning and organizing. And then tomorrow begins our 3 days/2 nights away, then back home for 24 hrs, then 3 days/2 nights away, then home for 24 hrs, then 2 days/1 night, and then home for 36 hrs, and then 3 days/2 nights away vacation. This should be interesting. 4 cities/areas in two weeks! Indiana is the crossroads of America and we will be using 4 of the "spokes" or major highways that come off of the big circle around the city directly to our destinations. St. Louis, southern Indiana for Holiday World/caves, north of Dayton/Toledo, and then Chicago. We've never done it this way so it should be interesting. I guess if we can do this, then maybe we can do a bigger loop next time, just making sure we stay in one place 3-4 days at a time, and not driving more than 4-5 hrs a day. We'll see! I hope to type up the big part of the blog every day while away and then add pictures when I get home in between. I'm actually very excited because I've been wanting to do many of these sites for a long time! Like the St. Louis arch and City Museum, and the big caves in southern Indiana, and the Lego discovery center, American Girl doll store, and aquarium/national history museum in Chicago and the Airforce museum in Ohio. Can't wait!
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| Tummy oils, a must have for vertigo and traveling, so they are coming with me. |
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| Helpful for mood, bringing another one like these called peace and calming. I put the oils on a disc inside a diffuser necklace so that no one but me can actually smell them. |
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| Mood and inflammtion, again, must haves. |
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| I loved this birthday wish from my friend on PEI. I think I got maybe around 100 birthday greetings. I haven't condensed them into a document yet. I like to do that because it reminds me of the people that are special to me and it's like receiving 100 birthday cards. |
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| Grandma and Keturah's finished painting projects. Grandma had found these itty bitty plastic q-tip looking brushes, only it was the tiniest sponge on the end. They are used for painting models. |
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| At least he tried to get it into the potty right? I cleaned up 3 pee spots, one major one in the sunroom that went under the table, plus 3 huge poop messes in underwear and this pull up. The toilet wasn't clogged but enough was enough! Eek! |
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| Doggy snuggles! |
Sandbox time!
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| I left the sandbox out all day and Abishai came back to it 3 times for like 30 minutes each time, so it was well worth the extra mess on Friday. |
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| Daddy taught Keturah how to shuck the corn we got from a friend of ours. Thanks, Billingsly's! |
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| I've been buying Young Living oils every month for 6 months and got my 2nd free bonus in this shipment! Plus I get points to redeem later on! Woot! Woot! The spray has aloe in it, so I thought it would be good for cooling mild sunburns and other itchy spots while on vacation. |
My kids find all kinds of things to be entertained by. Get off my stuff, kids!
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| Awww!!!! |
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| They are 90 minutes each, so basically two episodes. I will have gotten through the 4th one tonight. I'll watch the last one this week sometime. I'll need to order the next season, season 5. And then I'll have to wait a long time because they are just starting to film season 6. It's a show on the Hallmark channel, which is fairly clean and family friendly. However, there are many mistakes with phrases and even costumes and mannerisms that even I can pick up on. But the romances make for a good brain break and I don't have to worry about nudity and inappropriate relations if you know what I mean. Or swearing. Or even drunkenness. Anyway, it's much nicer than some of the shows out there like Game of Thrones. I tried one episode and had to turn it off. Too much intimate relations! It would be rated R if it was a movie, and not just for violence. Ugh! Anyway, When Call the Heart is a show I can watch with my family, so I'm happy. |
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| They didn't have the canopies up a month ago, but I'm glad they do now! What a difference! Grandma said that Abishai liked climbing up there because Grandma couldn't get him, but Grandpa was tall enough, so he could! Grandpa wasn't there though. |
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| Brotherly love! Wake up, Benaiah! It's 11:30am!!! |
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| Jared loves watering his "babies." Baby trees that is, and yes, he says they are cute! #treehugger #wearegrowingaforest |
These next 4 videos are of the kids trying out the dances on a very popular first person shooter game called Fortnite. I mean everyone is playing it, the youth leaders, and their wives, and every kid imaginable, plus their parents. But the dances the characters do when they win are hilarious. So hilarious that even Grandpa tried some at CIY! We discussed Justin learning some of the dances for the talent show at CIY next year. And Grandpa and Justin can have a dance off on vacation, too! Enjoy!
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| Abishai had a blue lollipop! |
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| Blue teeth! |
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| He loves looking at it, too! That shirt was a favorite shirt of Benaiah's and it still has a little bit of residue from stickers he had on it from the doctor's office that went through the wash on the shirt. |
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| I tried to get us outside of the house after afternoon screen time so we would get our bodies moving. It was nearly 90 degrees so we didn't stay out long. But I reminded them that we will be staying outside in this kind of heat for hours at a time at some of our planned vacation stops, so get over it! |
Abishai wants Jared to swing him so high and then he gives that evil laugh he does. Ahhh!
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| Girly who refused to change out of pj's yesterday and today, in the tree. Gosh they all look so much bigger lately! In fact, all 4 of them have grown 1-2 inches in the last 10 months! |
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| All tuckered out from playing with Hunter. We thought he was going to take a nap this afternoon and almost did when he asked for blankie, paci, and declared "I'm tired!" and wanted to get in his bed. He didn't, and therefore he konked out before Jared could finish reading the second book. Doesn't he look humongous here? I've noticed his hands and feet look so much bigger like they should but still, no longer a toddler, but a big preschooler. His brain and vocabulary and sentence structure, I think, is more advanced for his age. |
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| Adorable! And he only gets paci at night. He doesn't even ask for it during the day. And blankie also stays home now, but he can drag it around the house all the time if he wants. He doesn't play with it much though. They grow up so fast it seems. As they say, the days are long but the years are short. |
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