Day 45

I woke up chilly this morning because we had the windows open for Brayden to have some fresh air. I noticed the quilt he had when he went to sleep was in between us so I recovered him and went into the car to write. I was hoping to get caught up on blog posts to not have to write to much the last few days before Dave leaves.

Dave looked like he wanted to get things going to leave but I climbed into the tent with the girls and told him we wouldn't be able to check in early at the hotel anyway so we stayed in the tent with them to chat for a little while. These days these conversations with them are few an far between with our schedules and their varied interests.

The kids had been looking forward to this next spot since I mentioned it in April. I was struggling with getting us across Death Valley without a 10 hour drive. There was no way I was going to camp there! So we ended up booking a hotel in Barstow for a night. Forget all the work I do daily for these guys on the trip, they just want to swim in a pool, sleep in a bed and gorge on free breakfast!

Brayden was smiling when he woke up and was hungry so that was a good sign. Before too long we were taking the 10mph hairpin turns south out of Sequoia National Park. Our first stop was Amphitheater Point - one of the CCC construction project. This spot had a lovely view of Morro Rock that we'd just climbed the day before. It looked quite a bit bigger from down here!

Next we stopped at Hospital Rock - a picnic area the CCC constructed but also a sacred place to the Potwisha as well as Native Americans before them. Here there were pictographs above the rock where the Potwisha had healed many people including several settlers in the area. There was also an area labled the "Community Kitchen" where Native Americans would grind acorns into meal to be used in different kinds of food. We'd seen this on several trails in California.

The girls were excited about seeing our next stop - Tunnel Rock. In the early days of the park people could drive under this rock. Today the road has been diverted around the rock but the girls still wanted to climb on top!

And of course no visit to a national park is complete without the photo at the entrance. We'd missed the small sign on our way in so we opted to stop for the way more interesting sign at the southern entrance!

Once we arrived at the hotel all the girls wanted to do was to see Lola and Grammie. We learned about their drive, Lola's refusal to pee in the southwest grassless islands, and her fear of elevators.  Poor Lola!

Dave was the first to shower and the kids washed their disgusting feet before putting on their swimsuits and heading to the pool. I put in a quick load of laundry in hopes it would be the last of our trip and took a much needed shower. I also plugged in all the things that needed reviving and prepped things for our early exit in the morning.

We had a Chili's about 50 feet from our front lobby so we opted for a quick dinner there instead of pizza. They don't have too much there for vegetarians but we found a few things to share and had our fill of chips and salsa.

The front desk upgraded us at check-in to a room that had a sofa bed so we were all able to claim bed space for the night. By the time I checked our route for the morning everyone was asleep so I decided to join them!

Day 2

This morning began bright and early as I started to write about the day before before the kids got up.  About 20 minutes in I was greeted by this kid.  What a great good mornings I get!

After I finished writing, she helped me pick out the pictures and edit them before we heard the other two rolling around.  That's when I got out and caught this guy sneaking over to let the air out his sister's sleep mat.  Such an innocent smile that always means he is up to no good!

After a quick breakfast we hit the road first to the nature center at the park.  The kids found out there was a junior ranger program and that's all it took!  

There were some local animals on display, then we stumbled upon the live animal section!  I wouldn't be surprised if this guy just happened to be found in one of the kids' backpacks as we were leaving. He was a big show off and obviously enjoyed the attention!

The only was I was able to tear the kids away was to promise we would come back again tomorrow to see him and say goodbye!  The kids named him Ninja for all his acrobatic climbing he was showing them.

Next up was Desoto Falls.  We weren't expecting much since it was summer and so much of the water is gone.  

 

We were expecting a little more of a hike though!  There was no way the kids were up for hiking down to the bottom of the falls, so I suggested we hike to a few places in their junior ranger books.  It was a very hot, but beautiful day!

    

Once it hit about 98 degrees we opted for some much needed pool time.  This was to be the hottest part of the day so spending it in the pool would be so nice.  Little did we know this pool had a legit diving board.  The kids have been swimming like fish practically since they were born, but right then I realized they had never jumped off one!  After some very slow and reluctant jumps they were doing flips and belly flops like nobody's business.

Once our fingers were raisins and their eyes were red from diving for coins, we hopped back into the car and headed into the little town close by.  We love driving and walking through the tiny towns with their adorable local shops and cafes!  Today's stop was for some very necessary ice cream and a table in the air conditioning.  We savored every drop and were actually a little chilly by the time we left, but within steps from walking out the door we all felt the wall of heat and decided to head to our next stop.

I'd read a little bit about Little River Canyon when I was planning the trip, so I had it on our list of possible stops.  We all weren't up for much hiking in the heat but I remembered there was a scenic overlook drive about 20 miles long so we opted for that.  First stop was the visitor's center where the kids spotted more junior ranger books so they sat right down to work on them.  We took a few minutes to watch the movie about the park as well.

One of the overlooks is called Hawk's Glide as it seems to be the perfect spot for spotting hawks circling in the currents.  We were disappointed not to see a single bird.  At the next stop I asked the kids to turn around for a boring landscape picture and they spotted about 13 right when I was taking it!

The views on the drive were very nice, but the driving was spectacular.  The canyon was hidden by the lush summer trees and the river was reduced to the size of a creek, but the winding roads along the ridge were so fun!  I even got screams out of the kids on a few of the hills.  

After what felt like a long rollercoaster we pulled over to put our feet in at a small waterfall.  The girls loved watching the kids jump in from the cliffs all around the swimming hole.

    

And after a few minutes chasing sticks down the tiny rapids we headed to the canyon mouth for the swimming and an impromptu picnic dinner.  The kids were building thrones and talking about taking over the world.  Some of the best plans are made this way right?!

Laney spotted this squirrel from 100 yards away digging into our neighbor's picnic dessert.  Probably the best thing he's eaten in awhile!

The kids were very happy to hear we would not be returning via the way we came.  The GPS took us around the other side of the canyon so we headed back into town to play on a pretty big playground we'd spotted the day before.  The kids quickly made up a Ninja Warrior course and came away with blister to show for it.  

We collapsed on our sleeping bags listening to the cicada lullaby, too tired to take showers saying barely a good night.  That's when you know you've had a full day!

Day 40

Dave and I were up with the sun this morning and trying to quietly attempt to pack the car without waking everyone up.  It's nice to have a lot of help with getting things together. Dave can almost read my mind about what needs to be done next!

Once we got all the kids up and dressed we threw them on the couch for a picture then headed outside to leave.  My kids were tired and not happy about leaving their new friends. We definitely have some pen pals in our future!

Most of Dave's friends were coming back from being out of town for the weekend so we took our time getting to Lancaster, OH.

I put Dave in charge with finding some things for us to do on the way since our plans had changed.  First up was a real fossil dig.  The kids enjoyed using the tools and breaking apart the huge balls of mud to dig through them. We loaded up a ziploc bag and walked out with muddy shoes and hands and happy faces.

Next up was the Toledo Art Museum.  I was super excited about this stop as we'd never done anything like it before.  There was a new "Play!" feature to the museum where the kids could actually play in the art.  Our first stop was to grab tickets for the most popular exhibit, then we headed to some of the others.  The next one we found let the kids swing into the clouds.  They were grinning big as they watched their feet go into the clouds!

Then one of the staff led us to an exhibit called Ground Effects.  There was a giant ball filled with helium in the room.  She taught the kids how to move the ball around the room without touching it by simply using the heat of their hands. The kids were amazed they could move it once they all worked together.

The next exhibit was all about sound.  We could walk around the room under the art and we would set off different sounds.  The kids danced around listening and smiling.  Then we showed them the motion detectors and they understood what was happening so they hunted for them and could then pick out each individual sound of birds, piano, or waterfall.  I loved the idea behind this exhibit!


















It was time for us to head back to the next spot - one we were all extremely excited about.  It looked like a massive crocheted Dr. Suess net and we were going to be able to crawl around and bounce in it!

Brayden and Ryan were first up so while we were waiting I pushed Laney on one of the teardrops hanging down.  Then Brayden and Ryan came down and played.

Laney and I looked around and figured out a spot for us to climb up and before we knew it we were in the top!  It was such a neat sight to look around at the colors, textures, and design of the art that we were sitting on.  We crawled around and explored a bunch of the tubes and nooks.  I decided to crawl out and go up another way.  By the time I got up there and explored a little bit our time was up.  While we waited for all the people to climb down, Laney and I explored a little more then we slid out with the help of Brayden and Ryan.

The girls immediately asked Dave to get more tickets so they could go again. We had about 30 minutes to go explore the glass museum next door before their time slot so we headed that way.  The first stop was the glass hammock the staff told us about.  Ryan was very nervous to sit on it until she saw the rest of us on it.  It's definitely not the most comfortable hammock, but absolutely the coolest!

The girls recognized some of the Chihuly glass sculptures from the garden in Grand Rapids and we were all amazed by the glass mountain created entirely of glass threads.  Next to it on the wall was what looked like a painting but once you got up close you could see it was a scene constructed of masking tape! Laney wanted to try that when we got home for sure!

We left to visit the climbing exhibit again and the girls had a blast playing hide and seek and talking to eachother in secret hideouts.  I've decided I definitely want one of these in the giant treehouse in our backyard. I took a minute to read about the artist and learned this exhibit was born from kids deciding to play on another textile exhibit of theirs and they were inspired. Oh, what kids will do!

After a quick stop at a stuff animal exhibit,  we went downstairs to the family art center so the kids could create their own art.  I do believe we could have spent most of the day here! Today's art projects were painting or creating things with wood.  Laney immediately sat down to paint and the others started on their wood projects.  Once they found the little people shapes, they decided to create families of people they could play with.  And when Laney finished her painting she joined right in.

After a little disappointment of having to leave, we got back on the road to Lancaster.  We were headed to the house of Dave's second mom who he lived with in some of high school and college.  We hit quite a bit of construction and traffic so we didn't get there quite as early as expected, but we finally made it.  It was so nice to see Patricia and visit! Two of her boys and their families were headed back into town so they suggested pizza and swimming. All our kids smiled big smiles as they remembered the fun they'd had a few years ago at the end of our first trip swimming in Dan's pool.

We had some delicious Fat Cat's pizza and really enjoyed talking with everyone and watching the kids stunts in the pool.  By the time they were ready to get out their fingers were wrinkled raisins and their eyes were heavy so we headed home and threw them in bed.  It wasn't much later for me and Dave after I published a day of our trip to the blog.  A bed to sleep in for the fourth night in a row? Crazy!

Day 37

In years past we usually had a break from sleeping in the tent every 10 or 12 days.  For me it's been 36 days straight and I think my body is actually used to it now.  I've been sleeping as solid as I do at home the last week or so.  Perhaps it's because we've been so busy but it really is refreshing to wake up in the morning after a solid night's sleep on the road.  It also means I'm not up at sunrise to start getting things ready, writing, or cooking so we're setting off a little later than usual.

As I was just starting to sit down and write, Brayden popped out of the tent fully-dressed with his sleeping bag already rolled up.  I asked him if he might be sick as this has NEVER happened but I think he just might be ready to leave and pick up Dave!

We decided to make some hot chocolate, bagels, and yogurt for breakfast and he got to work.  This was his first time actually lighting the stove so he has a lot shorter hair on his forehead now!  Ryan and I decided to add a few veggies to our bagels - so delicious!

After packing up like a very efficient team, we said goodbye to Sleeping Bear and got on the road to Grand Rapids.  Ryan decided to update our countdown post-it note display!

Our original plan was to head to Kalamazoo to stay with my friend Lydia and her family then I would head back up to Grand Rapids when Dave's flight arrived.  But since we would be going back to Grand Rapids the next day to a museum, Dave got us a hotel.  The kids didn't know it though so once we pulled into the Hampton they were extremely confused!  No, they don't live in a hotel.  No, they aren't staying here.  No, we aren't in Kalamazoo. Surprise!  We get beds tonight!

The kids were ecstatic and as soon as they could get changed we were swimming in the pool.  They met some other kids so they played pool volleyball for awhile.  This version if you knocked it into the hot tub you got an extra point so the boys were hitting the beach ball just about as hard as they could! We headed back up to the room and everyone settled in for a nap since Dave would be flying in so late.  The two hours flew by as I wrote and read through my 439 emails.

Checking around for things to do, I'd found a family night discount at the Grand Rapids Children's Museum so after a quick dinner at Moe's we headed that way.  This museum was probably a little young for Brayden but he still had a bunch of fun.  Their set up was very open and unique and they had a lot of new things the kids had never seen before in all our museum visits.

Ryan looks like a natural at yet another career - construction worker!  Complete with a little butt hanging out!

The grocery store is always a hit!

This bank had a working atm and teller drive through window!

 Can't beat a restaurant with a wood-fired oven for pizza!

Brayden was a bit too big for this climbing wall!

Our family veterinarian is busy bathing dogs.  This guy was just diagnosed with a broken tail and leg so I'm not too sure he was ready for this bath!

I need to make one of these at home.  Brayden could spend hours spinning stuff on this table!

We closed the place down!  We headed back to the hotel to read another chapter of Ryan's Harry Potter book.  I checked Dave's flight and saw that it was actually early so we scrambled to the car to make sure to get there to greet him.  Just as we'd left Ryan noticed she couldn't find the sign she'd made for him so we had to go back and run back up to the room.  We found an owl drawing she'd done for him but that was it so it would just have to do.  Once we got in the car after wasting 10 minutes of course it was found with much celebration.

Luckily the airport was only 5 minutes away so we made it there quickly and parked.  We speed walked inside and checked the arrival board to see where he'd be walking through.  Just as we looked down the long hallway to meet him he was right there in front of us!  Ryan jumped up in his arms and Laney and Brayden flanked the sides while lots of Dads smiled at the reunion.

The kids talked his ears off for the next 20 minutes until we got back to the room.  The kids got on their pajamas but I knew they'd never go to sleep so I suggested we go to the pool since it was still open another 30 minutes.  Dave and I shared one of his Canadian beers as the kids jumped and canonballed until they were finally tired.

Everyone collapsed in bed and immediately started snoring, happy that we were all back together again.

Quote of the Day - "How many more hours until we pick up dad?" said by all three kids about 37 times each.