48 Hours

This past weekend I was able to take my first trip away from my children....ever. I was more anxious about it at first than I thought I would be, but once I got on the plane and landed in Chicago, it was great. Strangely enough I'm not one of those people who misses my kids nonstop. They're also older and not as needy so I wasn't really worried about them. Don't get me wrong: I love my kids immensely, but if I have time away from them, I'm not going to be scrolling my phone looking at their pictures missing them. 

My favorite part of the weekend was not having to cook and being able to eat out every single meal. Growing up, I wasn't raised with this mentality. I had a lot of food trauma and vacations were the worst. We ended up eating a lot of meals at McDonald's and Burger King.  While I don't mind fast food and I'm not a picky eater, we weren't exactly taught to enjoy the experience of food, especially in new places. On top of the food trauma, I got sick almost every single family vacation I can remember which meant I missed out on a lot of food - some of which is even my favorite now! I just couldn't do it with the anxiety + sickness + stress of being with my family. I have a vivid memory of getting sick one year visiting the Northeast. Everyone was eating lobster and I said I'd eat a clam chowder. I love clam chowder now (and probably then) but being that I was barely crawling out of my sickness, I remember simply scooping the soup out of the chowder and leaving everything else. So sad. 

Here's a look at all the food I ate while in Chicago in reverse order. 

My last lunch in Chicago was at Navy Pier. I ordered a lobster shrimp roll and salad. Did I want the fries or bag of chips? I definitely did. However, I was about to go to the airport and get on a plane so I don't think overloading my body with greasy food was going to be a good idea. The salad was delicious and so was this lobster shrimp roll. 

Friday breakfast was a fruit plate because I had eaten leftover cinnamon rolls earlier that morning. 

Saturday evening dinner. We went to a chain and ordered peri peri chicken. Yum. Definitely spicy but flavorful. I had to eat this portion in two sittings. It worked out great. The equivalent of my dinner and second dinner at home. 

Saturday lunch was to-go poke. I enjoyed it in the comfort of our hotel room. Yay. 

Saturday breakfast at Ann Sather's. The sausage was so much more flavorful than anything I make at home. And here are the cinnamon rolls when I first got them. Ate one and saved the other. 

Gelato! Really good flavors. I love the tart fruity ones. That little sour burst gives me a comforting satisfaction. Anyone else or just me?

Dinner on Friday evening when I landed was fancy and wonderful. We shared a sparerib plate. 

And a salad. I took the photo after the first scoop because you can actually see what's inside. Not the most aesthetically pleasing photo of food, but hey, you would have just seen a bowl of cheese otherwise. 

 

I found another olive lover! I can't even remember when I started enjoying olives but I really like them. We ate half at the restaurant and the other half from the beds at the hotel in the evening while we chatted for hours. 

 

I've learned not to think about the cost of food when traveling. There's a reason why you're traveling in the first place - to get away from the normal busyness and stress of life. And if food adds to the experience of having a good trip even if you don't see any other attractions, it makes the cost worth it. 

I'll eventually tabulate how much I spent over the weekend for my trip for our monthly expense/budget, but for now, I'm going to revel in the memories of having a wonderful weekend with a wonderful friend. 🥰 

The Magic of Disney

We did an extended family trip to Disney over New Year's during last year's winter break. I was secretly dreading this trip for the longest time for reasons of my own, but about two weeks before we left, I made the decision to focus on my kids and make it an enjoyable trip for them as well as myself. Honestly, it was great. We had so much fun and the kids loved the rides at the parks. They were already asking us when we were going back....on the flight home. This was a true conversation I had with my 4-year-old.

Mommy, when can we go back to Disney? Maybe in like five years.

Is that 100 days? No...that's more like 1,500 days....

My kids each got one souvenir from Disney to commemorate their bravery riding some scarier rides they wouldn't have done otherwise. I got myself a souvenir as well. We did buy a family ornament from this trip, but this souvenir was completely for me. It was a last-minute decision and I bought it right before we left for the airport. 

Earrings are my way of feeling put-together. I don't spend much time on hair unless it's a special occasion or I feel like putting in the effort, and I don't wear makeup for the same reasons. But adding a pair of earrings can elevate my overall appearance. I've experimented at home in front of the mirror when wearing a t-shirt with my hair in a messy bun. No earrings = frumpy mom mode. Earrings = subtle chic.

Normally, I can't justify spending money on souvenirs like this. I like things to have purpose and meaning. I am working on appreciating items just because we like something for the "thing" it is. My last trip to Disney was when I was around 7 or 8 myself. My mother bought me a piece of jewelry. I was always drawn to the shiny things in gift shops. That's exactly who they're advertising toward - kids/people like me who gravitate toward the sparkles and the glitter. We were in one of the gift shops and I immediately saw the tower of birthstone rings and jewelry. The irony is I always loved the ones that weren't mine - especially March. March birthstone jewelry was always blue because of aquamarine. My mother told me she would buy me my birthstone. 

This one happened to be pink for tourmaline instead of the typical opal I always saw. I agreed and my mom bought it for me. I don't think I ever wore the ring. When I was younger, it felt too special to wear. I saved it in my jewelry box for years and years. My finger eventually outgrew the ring. Yes, it has an adjustable band, but now I choose not to wear it to preserve it. The plastic stone in the left ear fell out sometime in the last 10 years. I honestly have no idea how it happened. It was like one day I went to check my jewelry box and the stone was missing. Even if all the stones fell out, I'd keep it forever. 

My mother couldn't justify spending money on things like these either. But she did, at least this one time, for me. I don't often think about the ways my mom has influenced my life because all of my adult years have been spent independently of her. I've actually appreciated not having to factor my mom's opinion into the decisions I make, but knowing she indulged me decades ago allowed me to indulge myself now.

A reunion, of sorts.

Digging for Diamonds

When I was in 5th grade, I was picked up at 2:00 everyday in the afternoon to go to the middle school for 7th period math. I didn't think much of it at the time, but I had an extra long school day: 7:45 am - 3:30 pm. I had approximately 20-30 minutes of "study hall" in the middle so. I could finish some work, but it made for long days. 

The bus driver who picked me up drove bus number 63. I blogged about this bus and driver specifically in another post. What I wanted to share today has to do with a specific memory from that year. Right before spring break, I was talking to Mr. Bill, the bus driver, and he was telling me about his plans to go to Arkansas and visit a diamond mine. I was intrigued. He told me if he found one, he was going to keep it. If he found two, he was going to give me one. Little did I know as a 5th grader, the odds of actually finding a diamond at the mine are pretty slim. 

After spring break, I returned to school and excitedly waited to be picked up and taken to the middle school. We talked about our spring breaks. I don't remember what I did, but it probably wasn't anything special. He told me unfortunately he didn't get to go to the diamond mine. 

***

This past weekend, I got to go. 

I was talking to a friend and she told me about a trip they were planning to the diamond mine. Jokingly, she asked me if I wanted to go. I seriously did! I talked to my husband about it and we decided to go. We were going to leave Friday and then head home Saturday. I would never have made such an impromptu decision like this if we didn't have friends to prod us. I mean, it's a 4-hour drive away. We could have gone as a DINK couple years ago. But we didn't. Instead, we decided to work on our house and learn how to renovate instead. Not a bad trade, but a different trade. Construction costs have practically doubled now since pre-Covid, so no real regrets there.

Sadly, our friends didn't get to join us because they got Covid during the middle of the week and weren't feeling great. My husband and I ended up taking our two kids on a less than 24 hour long trip to Arkansas and back.

I got to check off a location on my bucket list after 20 years. 

If you actually want to dig for diamonds, taking young children along with you is really difficult for a number of reasons.

- it's hot

- there's quite a bit of walking involved

- they mess up your work

I overheard a father talking to his son at the washing station because his son had dumped the batch of rocks his father wanted to keep. That wasn't fun for either party. 

Needless to say, we didn't dig very much and we didn't find a diamond, but the overall experience was fun and new. My daughter walked around with us, poked around in the dirt, and washed out some buckets of rock with us. My son ate cheerios half the time because he had refused to eat breakfast and played on my cell phone for the other half of the time. He had no interest in poking in the dirt with a bucket and a shovel. I actually enjoyed people watching for a while when we were resting in the shade and commiserating with their parenting struggles. 

It was hot.

Am I sad we didn't find a diamond? Not really. The realist in me was thinking what a terrible idea it was to bring two children ages 4 and 2 to walk around looking at dirt on a hot summer day. The dreamer in me was thinking how surreal it was I was able to fulfill this visit 20 years later.

Turner Falls

I've been wanting to share about various topics, but the time to sit down and write about them has always escaped me. This last month has been full of work, puking, and not enough sleep. Thankfully, I am not the one puking. Unfortunately, the little one's puking involves lots of laundry instead of scampering to a toilet.

However, we planned this trip about a month ago and were grateful it was able to happen.

Usually I teach every other Friday, but we made it a point to not teach/take off Friday the 26th so we could go on a day trip. Hubby's love of the outdoors has infiltrated my life and in our four years of marriage, we have hiked over 30 miles together. We went to Palo Duro Canyon in September of 2015, Big Bend in December of 2016, and Haleakala National Park in Hawaii in March of 2017. Our record together is a 15 mile hike in one 12-hour day, but the approximately 10 mile hike of Haleakala crater (where you go down first and then up) was no joke.

After having Sasha, we knew our days of tent camping and hiking long trails beginning at 5 am would be put on hold indefinitely. And, unfortunately, living in the wonderful and affordable suburbia which we do, nature is not a nearby focal point. However, I somehow came across this small park in Oklahoma, known for its waterfall, which was only about 2.5 hours away from us, closer than driving to Austin or Houston! We decided to make a day trip of it.

When we crossed the state border, we actually started to see a change in the landscape around us - we saw (tiny) mountains and different layers of rock formations! It actually reminded me a tiny tiny bit of Big Bend.

Some expectations and then reality checks of how the day actually played out.

Expectations:

1. We wanted to play the drive there and home right around the time baby would sleep so she could get a good long nap in the car on the drive there and home.


2. We brought our portable high chair seat so she could sit while we picnicked outside for lunch.


3. We'd get in a short hike with her in the carrier.

Reality:

1. Baby woke up at 7 am instead of her usual 8/8:30 am....so we bumped everything up and tried to leave the house by 9 am. We left at 9:15. She slept great on the way there. On the way back, we tried to leave by 2:30, but baby took too long eating so we didn't leave until 2:45/3:00pm. She slept ok and then woke up at 4:00pm and then screamed and cried the final 10 minutes home, probably because she was the only one in the back and had no people interaction for over 2 hours and didn't get any crawling/play time all day. I didn't want to sit in the back with her because I did for our last road trip and I got a headache/nauseas and just wanted to close my eyes and sleep.

2. She sat in her portable high chair seat, which was great so we could eat our lunch....except there were a crazy ton of bees and they wouldn't leave us alone. Had I been a third party watching us try to eat our lunch at this picnic table, it would have been a hilarious sight watching two people swatting their arms around, flinching every now and then, and walking around the table in weird circles and patterns with a baby sitting on the high chair seat on the table.

The only item I paid for in this photo was the hat
she's not wearing! Love hand me downs and gifts.

To be honest, it was really hard to get my priorities straight: run away from the bees, or get the bees away from the baby. Clearly, I couldn't do both because my lunch was on the table and I couldn't carry the baby and carry my lunch (a hot bowl of curry) away at the same time. So hard, right? Clearly first world problems.

A bowl of curry and homemade bread. Could the bees not leave us alone? 😭😭

3. We arrived at the park at 11:45 am and by the time the two of us were fed and we managed to get her to finish a bottle, it was 1:00 pm. We explored the waterfall and took our fair share of pictures, and then had a short hike of probably 1 mile round trip.

It only matters if she looks cute.

Family photo!

Nothing compared to what we used to conquer in a day, but we did see a yellow caterpillar on the way back though and had an amusing time watching it crawl around for a while.

Our little yellow caterpillar friend. We named it Yuzzy!

Traveling with a little one in tow is definitely so different than traveling with two adults, but after doing so twice now, it makes me a little braver to keep going. We're going to get her a passport soon.

2019 is going to be a big year (I hope!) :)