annals of a summer family vacation, episode 1

Family Road Trip 2009. Twelve days, five states, one minivan. 

We start at 2pm on Monday 7/13, after a delay in the Market of Choice parking lot to pick up peanut butter, a sippy cup, and a hawaiian plate lunch for Joel.

First stop, Hood River. Windsurfers, Full Sail Brewery, and 403 stairs that we climb for the view and the exercise. 

We spend our first night in unremarkable Kennewick, WA. After an equally unremarkable hotel breakfast we drive 3 hours to Coeur d'Alene, ID, where we spend a lovely day by Lake Coeur d'Alene.
And take pictures on one of the town's numerous moose statues.
Then, we're on to Missoula, MT. Great Mexican food in Missoula, it turns out.
Thirty hours into the trip. So far so good. We decided to take it easy and make our journey, rather than our destination, the goal. So we rest when we need to (ok, when Lucy needs to) and stop for ice cream a lot. 

comeback kids

It wasn't the full 10K that we had originally planned to run, but 4.5 miles still felt like an accomplishment given the recent experience with the boot.  Meagan and I ran 4.5 miles in 39:51, just over 9 minute miles. Running the Butte to Butte was my goal when I started running again in January after having Lucy, and the bursitis was especially annoying given that I had put all that pressure on myself... We crossed the finish and then walked (ok wobbled) to a nearby friends' house to drink mimosas and watch the rest of the race. 

The rest of the family ran too! Joel and Milo pushed Lucy in the Bob, and Liam took off on his own, running with 5,000 of our neighbors to finish in 45:01. I met him at the finish and he looked fresh as a daisy. (Milo, poor guy, has inherited his mom's red face and dad's sweat glands - but he ran the whole way and had fun, which is all that matters.)

maybe you're wondering...

...why I haven't been posting much...

Yes, that's a boot Lucy's messing with. On my foot. I injured my heel (bursitis) running. At least that's the theory. I was in the boot for two weeks, which really slowed me down in more ways than one. I am now gradually returning to normal with the help of physical therapy. I have successfully completed two short runs on the bark track, and one yoga class, so it feels like things are on the mend. And I'll try to be better about posting pictures for our fans, now that I'm mobile and have a better attitude about life.

family day on fern ridge

Recently my grandmother, uncle and soon-to-be aunt visited from New Hampshire. Roh and Nathan took us sailing on Fern Ridge. 

Sailors...or loungers...in training.
Rohanna and Ruth.
Padma and Liam.
"Gruncle" Scott and Lucy. Scott's my dad's little brother.
Trying to keep ahold of Lucy on a 24 foot sailboat....
Back on shore: Milo, Nana Roz, Liam, Scott.

year's end

This June completes three years that our boys have gone to the Drinking Gourd Elementary School. (Yes, odd name. But the kids will tell you without blinking that the drinking gourd was the slaves' name for the Big Dipper. The Big Dipper guided slaves northward to freedom. I'm thinking that the connection is between education and freedom...) This was their last year. Next year they're enrolled at a public school that's closer to our house, has a larger social pool to navigate, doesn't require families to provide snack and attend "work days" - and it's free!

We'll miss the Drinking Gourd though. Liam and Milo have thrived there, and I believe that the education they received is unparalleled by any school in our area, public or private.  With only 27 families, we knew all the parents and had an individual relationship with each child in the boys' classrooms. We'll miss that next year. We'll be overwhelmed by the huge classes and noisy halls and playground dynamics - but we all have to get out into the world sometime. We feel good, and a little nostalgic, about these three years at the Gourd, but we're ready to move on.  

At the end of the school year the kids set up displays in their classrooms about some of the things they learned throughout the year. Here's Milo explaining ceramics to his papa (my dad).

Liam's standing in front of miniature covered wagons his class made during their unit on the Oregon Trail.
Each class (there are only two) put on a play. Here's Liam as a pilgrim in a musical about the 13 Colonies.
And there always has to be a recorder performance. Is that a requirement of every elementary school education?
Milo was the narrator of a play based on an African folk tale. Yes, he really is that much taller than his classmates.

Steep Hill Chase

Joel took Liam and Milo, along with some family friends, to run their first 5K last weekend. 

A local runner and friend puts on an annual 5K called the Steep Hill Chase - this year the steep hill was pure mud. But the boys loved it, and Liam is already planning to beat his time next year.

Liam's time was 31:04 and Milo's and Joel's was around 34:00. 

Post race glow.

and here's what happens...

...when Joel takes Lucy to work with him. 

In all seriousness though, every day I am so grateful for our flexible schedules. This picture is from last Friday - Joel took Lucy to work for the morning so I could sleep (I had put on a party the night before and hadn't gotten enough sleep for days) and call in to my meetings without a baby on my hip. And it's not just the baby - this very afternoon I packed all three kids in the car to take Liam to soccer practice and the car wouldn't start. Dead battery. Joel was able to leave work at 4:00 to save the day. Our combined flexibility is a luxury, and it facilitates a quality of life for which we are extremely grateful. We both work full time, but a parent is here when the boys get home from school almost every day and Lucy is with her nanny only 28 hours a week. It's crazy at times, but we make up the hours where we can, and so far it's working out... We pay for it sometimes with things like missed dentist appointments and forgotten school snacks, but I guess that's a small price in the end.