Hit the Ground Running

It is almost three weeks since we left Bismarck for Dubuque.  The journey was a little crazy, and may have involved a mishap or two, but isn’t that just assumed when it comes to moving?  I’ll have a video soon showing a small amount of our fun traveling, but how much can you really show in a 15 minute video.

I did know that we were not doing well packing in advance as I had hoped.  We worked at things, but with 3 kids around and a lot of other excitement it didn’t go as planned.  By the time my folks arrived I was able to see how much was left to pack rather than how much we had packed so far.  We slaved away for 3 days putting all of the stuff in order and getting it into the truck. While we had been working on downsizing, we still had too much stuff to pack.

I had one deadline that I had to hit which altered when we left.  When I picked up the Uhaul they didn’t have a car transporter for me in Bismarck.  I would need to stop in Jamestown to pick that up.  This meant that we had to leave with enough time to get it before they closed.  I thought we’d have plenty of time for that.  As it turned out, we were pushing the clock when we left.  My mom and I pushed ahead, leaving my dad and Jill to finish.  My nephew and niece also helped in the last minute push.

Ultimately we had five vehicles going (not including the one being towed) that were loaded with people and household goods (aka stuff).  We put in about 6 hours on the road that night, staying in St. Cloud, MN.  We didn’t leave that early the next morning, but gave the kids a bit of a chance to run around and stretch their legs.

As the trip went on and on, it seemed to get longer and longer.  I had plans to arrive around 5:00 pm.  We were still about 2 hours away at 5:00, stopping for gas and dinner.  I grabbed things and my nephew and I jumped back in the Uhaul, pushing down the road as soon as we possibly could.  The rest of my family caught up as they could, but it took most of the time driving to do so.  I was so happy to be there that I couldn’t quite explain it.

Then came the real fun, moving in…

Christmas Travels Part 8, Going Home

The time has come for us to made our way back to North Dakota.  It is a bitter sweet time as I know I’m leaving a place I love to go to what is now my home.  This time, however, isn’t going to be as easy as other travels have been.

We start early in the morning.  It was not helpful that I was on crutches.  First was the final packing of the suit cases.  Then getting the kids all dressed and ready.  We then had to put the luggage in the van.  My nephew was a big help with that.  We were on the road before sunrise.

Traffic was nice to us that morning and we got to the airport with some good time.  Still, just as we were taking the exit to the airport I get the text from the airline that our flight was delayed.  It was going to be tight to get from one flight to the next in the first place, but this has made it that we would not land until after our next flight took off.  To sum it up, we were screwed.

We pulled up and got our luggage out.  I got a wheel chair as I wasn’t able to walk around.  I left the crutches with my parents as I didn’t want to have another pair out here.  This was the worst decision I made that day (and I made quite a few bad decisions.)  Yes, we were indeed the Grizwalds that day.

When it was time for us to get checked in, we worked with the agent to get set up on standby for the first flight to go from Philly to Minneapolis.  She also booked us on the first flight that she could, leaving about 10 hours later.  I knew at that point it was going to be a long day.  Additionally, when using a wheel chair at the airport, you need an airline staff to push you through.  I wanted nothing more than to be able to walk again at that point.  I also knew I had pushed it enough the night before and that morning that it was not ready for the day ahead.

Once at the gate, we anxiously waited to find out that… there was no room on the flight.  They moved our standby to the next flight that was going out three hours later, but that flight was overbooked as well.  We were then stuck, looking for the next opportunity, and trying to figure out what to do in the meantime.

Had the situation been different, I would have taken the family and we would have left the airport.  We would have jumped on the subway and gone into downtown Philly.  I would have used this extra time given to us by the airline to enjoy a day in Philly showing the kids all the history and culture that Philly has to offer.  Honestly, those 10 hours wouldn’t have been enough.  It would have been about six hours of tourism in the town that would have been great.  The biggest problem is that the only one who knows their way around Philly (in our group) wasn’t able to walk.

We found an area the kids could play, but that was on the other side of the airport.  I had already walked twelve gates to where we were.  Walking four more concourses wasn’t going to happen.  We had to get another wheel chair.  (Why’d I give up those crutches?)  Once there, they kids were entertained for about an hour.  Just under 8 hours left.  What next?  Jill walked around with them a little.  The older two soon found some fun playing on the iPad.  It was taking everything we could to figure out the next hour.

On her walk, Jill had found a food court with a music group playing.  I didn’t feel like getting the help, so I slowly made my way down to the food court.  I would stop and take breaks when my ankle would start to hurt too much.  Counting down to 7 hours.  Between listening to the live music and eating lunch, we started to feel better.  We were now presented with another issue.  Do we make our way down to the gate of the standby flight that is overbooked, or just bite the time.  I was worn out.  I would have needed another wheel chair at this point.  I really didn’t want to race down there to find out that we couldn’t make it on the flight.

After lunch we continued to hang out in the food court before walking one concourse at a time down to our gate.  Everyone was getting tired and restless at the same time.  The kids began running around the terminal.  I couldn’t go chasing after them.  They were worn out of playing on the iPad.  They had done everything else we had with us.  We were down to about an hour before we needed to be at the gate when our emotions were at the brink.  Somehow, we kept our game faces on, but I wanted to go find a hole to cry in at this point.

Finally, we made our way to the gate.  Jill approached them to talk about seating.  They informed her that they had been looking for us with the earlier flight.  Some people had canceled.  I don’t know which hurt more, my ankle or knowing that.  Either way, we were soon on our way

Once on the ground in MSP we started walking to the next flight.  I told them it was only a few gates away.  Jill then told me that it was a few concourses away.  She was right.  We found a cart driver that drove us closer to the gate.  This was much nicer than being pushed in the wheel chair.  After 10 hours in Philly airport, it was only an hour in Minneapolis before we boarded our flight to get to Bismarck.

I am glad to say the flight were uneventful.  I am glad to say that the airline did take care of us.  I’m glad to say that our luggage had made it just fine.  I simply told them to look for the “Thomas the Tank” suitcase.  She knew right where it was at that point  (one fun part of traveling with kids).

Eighteen hours after leaving, we arrived at our home.  I got the suitcases inside, then sat on the sofa until I had enough strength to get to bed.  I could keep looking back wishing that we had caught the earlier flight.  The stress that would have eliminated is huge.  Still, I know that though we don’t always understand it, things always happen for a reason.  I do look back wishing I could have taken the kids into Philly!

Christmas Travels Part 7

So after spending the night at the hospital with my dad I slept for a few hours.  First mission of the day was to return the van.  I went to work pulling out the car seats and cleaning up everything that was left in the van from our late night return. It wasn’t long before I had it returned and came home for lunch.

The day took another twist as I was putting the car seats back into my parents vehicle.  I know I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.  I HATE CAR SEATS!  I hate the fact that you need 1/2 a year of engineering school to begin to know how to install it, then every time you take it to a specialist they tell you how you are using it wrong.  You could drive 15 minutes down the road and show it to a specialist again, and they will tell you how you have are using it wrong.  Every time you switch what vehicle you are traveling in you need to move the car seat as well.  You need to plan on the car seat being with the kids (as best you can anyway) every time you go somewhere without them.  The list goes on!

In case I didn’t have enough reasons to hate car seats already (that could be a whole blog in and of itself) when I was installing the car seat back into the van, I rolled my ankle off the side of the driveway, effectively spraining it, two days before we fly back.

I was mad.  I was mad at myself.  I was mad about he car seat.  I was mad that I have weak ankles.  I was mad this happened on vacation.  My mom came out with a cane and helped me up.  I eventually finished installing the car seat and put some ice on the ankle.  The rest of my day was spent relaxing the ankle.  It meant a few more rounds of battle ship with my son and starting to get ready to go back to North Dakota.

That quickly it seemed our adventure was beginning to come to an end. Monday and Tuesday didn’t pack the adventure that the rest of the trip had been. The kids were able to do a few more things in the Reading area and enjoy some more time with their grandparents and my aunt.

Now it was coming down to preparing to go back.  While I was crutching around we worked to pack our suitcases.  I always plan room to pack thing to bring back.  This trip was no exception.  I still wasn’t sure that we’d have enough space for everything.  Even if we did have space, there was the weight issue.  The packing turned into a much longer process and somewhat harder process then it really should have been.

While I was mad, I also needed to sit back and count my blessings.  We had a great trip.  We were able to do a lot in the short time we were there.  We spent a lot of time with a lot of family.  The kids had some great experiences that they will remember for a long time.  This was one trip that I wouldn’t have minded lasting longer.  Alas, we still had family in North Dakota to visit while the kids were still on break.  It was about that time to go back.

Next adventure, the flight home!

Bemidji, Part 5

Our daily routine is starting to take shape.  Wake up in the morning, get ready to drop off our son and plan a day ahead of us.  This day wasn’t much different.  We dropped off our son and headed into town for a little bit.  We had found a children’s science museum in downtown Bemidji, “Headwaters Science Center”.

We were a little early so we toured around downtown for a little bit.  My objective of touring around was simple, Coffee.  Let me remind you, I don’t drink coffee for the caffeine.  I drink coffee because I love coffee.  I also like to find local coffee shops to support and taste the various blends of coffee rather than the same old.  “The Cabin Coffee House” didn’t disappoint.

As the Science Center opened, we made our way inside.  The place doesn’t look like much at first.  There are exhibits spread out over an open floor.  We start walking around to find what there is.  Most of it is self led, so we read the cards to see how to make things happen.  Before long we were pulling each other from exhibit to exhibit saying, “Check this out”.  All the sudden it was time for us to start making our way back for lunch.

We went back out to the camper and quickly threw together some sandwiches for lunch while we planned out the rest of the day.  One things was obvious.  Cleaning.

Our clean clothing was starting to run out.  We were out of clean towels and running low on other laundry.  The camp had a laundry mat there, which was very helpful.  We hitched the trailer onto the bike and loaded it up with our laundry.  Jill biked it all up to the mat and started that process.

In addition to laundry, our home (for the week anyway) was becoming quite the mess.  As the fun has gone on and on, we were tracking in sand and dirt and spilling our drinks and food.  It was time to clean the camper as well.  All surfaces got swept and washed.  All of our dishes got washed.  Our camper was reclaimed.

While I was still working on cleaning inside our 13 month old needed a nap.  Not knowing what else to do, I set the pack and play up outside and laid him in it.  He dozed off quickly.  To protect him from the bugs I put a sheet over him.

While I was working on the camper Jill continued the laundry with our daughter.  She was making friends with others up at the laundry mat.  She was also thrilled to be riding her bike around at the campground.

I found it a lot easier to get a camper spic and span than a house.  This was nice.  Then I was able to sit outside next to the pack and play and read some Runner’s World, or just enjoy the fresh air.

That evening, after picking up our son, we were able to enjoy playing around at the campground and relaxing a bit while getting a little more laundry done.  While there is always so much to do and accomplish in the rush of life, we forget to just sit back and relax.  Even though we spent the day cleaning, it was among the more relaxing days of our trip this far.

Christmas Travels Part 6, New York!

When it is so seldom that I can get back to the east coast there are always a lot of people I want to visit in a short amount of time.  Perhaps that is how we’ve become so good at putting a half hour into twenty minutes (see Sweet PA).  I have some relatives on Long Island, just outside of New York City.  My great aunt just turned 95 and it was not an option for her and the rest of the crew from Long Island to come to Reading for Christmas.  This meant that if I wanted to see them we would need to travel up there.  This was part of the plan when we rented the 15 passenger van.

So after church on Sunday morning, we loaded my brother’s family, my family, my aunt and my parents back into the 15 passenger van and began our way to Long Island.  We only made two stops, one to get gas and one to eat lunch.  We also has little traffic delays, but I could sure tell how the traffic was different than North Dakota.

North Dakota Traffic Jam

 

My family was looking forward to seeing the Statue of Liberty as we got onto the Verrazano.  It is a great vantage point when looking north.  Sadly, it was foggy and we couldn’t see it at all.  Personally, I couldn’t take my eyes away from the road for a second.  I was doing everything I could to help my family get a view while I tried to make sure that I was in the correct lane without getting into an accident.

After going across the bridge I take the exit and go down along the shore of the New York Harbor.  As a consolation to not seeing the Status of Liberty we got to see a cruise ship pulling out of the harbor.  To many, this may not be that big a deal.  When we live 100 miles from the geographical center of the North American Continent, we don’t see ships like that very often.

Only 24 miles along the Southern State Parkway and we are there.  I’m not usually excited to be done driving, but at that point I was ready for a break.  More importantly, I was ready to see my great aunt and family.  The last time we saw them our oldest would have been four and our daughter would have been turning two.  They have not had the chance to meet our youngest yet.

At the house on Long Island were my great aunt and her son and daughter.  It was great to see them.  The house is a great size for the three of them, but when the thirteen of us arrived on scene it got a little squished.  I spent some time visiting with my great aunt, as well as my mom’s cousins (who I call aunt and uncle) while the kids found their way outside to play some hide and seek.

My great aunt kept insisting for my uncle to get a chair for me (and others) even though I kept insisting that I had sat long enough in the van.  She also kept insisting to go to the kitchen and help do stuff in there.  She refused to believe that we had it under control.  I helped do dishes later in the evening.  She couldn’t quite tell who it was that was helping.  I insisted it was my uncle who was taking care of it.  In my defense, I was told to make myself at home.

This was a point to me to realize how much different life is there than I have seen it.  We have visited on Skype a few times over the years.  There is no substitute for being there in the place.  I was trying to show my great aunt a bit of what life is like here in North Dakota by looking at things on my iPad, but it wasn’t the same.  It is one drawback to having brought my life out here.  It was still a great visit, and it came to an end all to quickly.

Soon enough we loaded back into the van to start our trek home.  I told my dad that I would drive to where we get gas, then have him take over.  This meant that I was getting us out of the city.  This time enough fog had lifted that the family could see the lights of Lady Liberty as we crossed the Verrazano.  It was enough to excite them.

I should have figured that things were going too well on this trip.  Just at the point that my dad was going to take over driving he fell and hurt his back.  It wasn’t that much further home and I pushed it as much as I could. Once home and everyone was unloaded, my dad and I got into a different vehicle and drove to the local hospital where we spent the rest of the night.  I am happy to say that my dad was okay and had no major injury.

So it was, Monday morning, 370 miles and twenty-one hours after I woke up on Sunday, I said good night to my family and went to bed.  Not the first time, and it won’t be the last time.  Most importantly, it was all worth it.

 

Christmas Travels Part 5, Sweet PA

Pennsylvania is a sweet state, seriously.  Okay, I’m not so sure about the west side.  Pittsburgh has Heinz 57.  I’m not so sure what else.  But on the east is very sweet.  There is Wilbur Chocolate in Philadelphia, Palmer Chocolate in Reading and the very popular though not very well known Sweet Street desserts is also in Reading.  They provide gourmet desserts to restaurants across the nation.

While we are sweet enough already, there is nothing that tops the list then Hershey, Pa.  Everyone in America knows of Hershey kisses and it is impossible to make smores without Hershey chocolate bars.  Not to mention reeses, York peppermint, KitKats, Twizzlers and so much more.

Hershey’s headquarters in Hershey, Pa isn’t simply a plant to make chocolate bars and offices for their cooperate personnel.  There is Chocolate World and their very own theme park where you can take pictures along side your favorite Hershey’s candy.  (Picture Disney with all the characters, but candy instead.)  Each Christmas they set up a light show to drive through similar to many towns across the nation.  I went with my parents and brother’s family several years back.

I was interested in taking my family this time.  I knew the older two would love the idea of chocolate world, and they always look forward to the lights in the park.  My parents rented a 15 passenger van (slightly smaller than the 57 passenger buses I’m used to) and we loaded up.  First step was getting the car seats in.  I am really looking forward to not ever needing to work with car seats again.  I appreciate the safety they provide, but the planning involved has caused me so many complications over the years.  I was limited in what seat I could put our youngest based on the seat that would fit his car seat.  Not to mention that we had three other car seats to get in the van.  Then we had to figure out where everyone else was going to sit.  The mathematical equation for this included who wanted to sit next to who, who needed space for their legs and who was able to get to what seat.  I tried making suggestions, but I was over-ruled on everything I said, so I stayed out of it.  I knew which seat I was sitting in.

Once we were all in and settled we pulled out.  Again, I know my way around, but things have changed a lot in the past 14 years.  I thought I’d go one way, but my dad, acting navigator, said I should go a different way.  My kids got the experience of riding along on the back roads of our area.  I’ve forgotten what it is like to drive the winding and hilly roads of PA.  Then there’s the part where the road changed.  My parents forgot that the road wasn’t there when I lived there.

I also forgot that PA changed their exit numbers.  I used to know which exit to get off.  Without my dads help, I’m not sure how much farther I would have driven.  But you know you are in Hershey when you get there.  The street lights are shaped like kisses.  The town seems to have a different feel to it.  As we drive past my nephew is excited to point out the vista school, a private school that Milton Hershey set up for underprivileged children.

Finally, we pull up to the lights show.  My next accomplishment was to drive in the line of cars entering the show while tuning the radio to the station that the lights were synchronized to.  This proved to be much more challenging than I would have imagined, mostly because I couldn’t figure out the difference between 93.5 and 95.3.  If you are ever in the area during the season, it is worth a small jog over that direction to check out the lights and Candy Cane Lane.

After the lights we got some dinner before making our way back over to Chocolate World.  My family has a way of fitting a half hour into twenty minutes.  This wasn’t different.  Once we had the van parked we walked into Chocolate World and my mom got into line right away.  I was a little behind the crowd as I was finishing parking with the help of my brother and dad.  My mom scheduled a chance for us to make our own chocolate bar.  More on that soon.  Timing was a small issue.  We had just over 1/2 hour to go on a 15 minute ride.  That didn’t include getting to the ride, then getting onto the ride, then off and back to where we needed to be for the candy bars.  We had about 10 extra minutes total, giving little room for error.

Thanks to my aunt needed some assistance getting onto the ride we were able to sneak in the back door to get on the “tour” ride.  This gives an idea of how the chocolate is made at Hershey.  Best part of the ride is the free candy they give out at the end.

Then we were off to make our own chocolate bars.  For this part, it was great to have my niece and nephews with us.  With all of the excitement going on, they helped take care of the younger ones.  At the last moment, when we were going to enter, we needed to wear an apron and hair net.  Our youngest refused to keep it on.  Finally my family had to come take him and wait with him.

I’d love to tell you about the experience, but it’s even more fun to show you.

We got back late but got ready for another fun day on Sunday.

Christmas Travels Part 4, Christmas

Christmas Eve

Since moving to the midwest in 2001, I haven’t been to my childhood church very much.  At most it has been three weeks a year.  Since being married it is more like one or two every year and a half.  It has changed a lot since I was there.  In 2009 we attended the Christmas Eve worship.  It was the 1st time we had a kid with us in that church.

I was always part of the Christmas Eve service growing up.  Usually it would be a pageant or some form of music otherwise.  I didn’t suspect I would be that year.  As the children’s sermon started, the leader asked if any of the kids knew of a baby in the congregation.  Our oldest had just turned 1.  My niece volunteered him as a baby.  My wife and I were invited to bring him up as the beginning of what turned out to be an impromptu manger scene.  He had the role of Baby Jesus while my wife and I were Mary and Joseph.  One by one people were volunteered to take on a role in the scene.  Well, when it came to the three wise men, three young men (who had been in elementary school when I was there) didn’t hesitate to join the scene.

That was the last time I was part of the service for Christmas.  That is okay with me.  We had spent our day on Christmas Eve wrapping presents and finishing getting everything ready for Christmas Day.  Our traditional meal of Swedish Meatballs was prepared by my mom.  It never gets old.  Then, after everyone was dressed we were off to church.  Our family took up three pews.

Growing up Christmas was always very magical.  We would go to church, then spend the night looking at lights or visiting friends.  It always seemed the night stood still.  This year wasn’t much different.  It was the first Christmas I got to spend with our youngest (I was working on Christmas last year).  While it was a little different having three kids, it still felt magical.  We didn’t go around looking at lights this year, nor did we stop and visit any friends.  After church we went straight home and got kids ready for bed.

Christmas Day

As a kid it didn’t matter that I wasn’t a morning person.  I was up right away on Christmas day.  I would hurry to the tree, excited about what lie beneath it.  Once everyone was in the room and ready the presents would be distributed as fast as possible and the games would begin. There was the obligatory, “wait, that was meant for…”  and, “Where did that one end up at?”  as my parents discussed the gifts that didn’t appear under the tree.  After we opened those gifts we would have breakfast and open our stockings.  The day seemed to go on as more and more family would arrive.  We would spend time playing with our gifts before lunch, then opening more gifts in the evening.

As we are preparing to go to seminary, I am imagining what will happen with all of the gifts my kids are getting.  The house we will be living in is much smaller than our house now.  When I came down and saw what was under the tree I had to gulp.  Please, don’t catch me wrong.  I am grateful for how blessed our family is.  I knew there were boxes there that included clothing and other stuff that is not just toys and clutter, but stuff my kids would be use of.  Still, it looked like a lot of stuff to me.

We enjoyed opening the bounty of gifts that the family brought forward (admittedly, there were quite a few people to have gifts for, not just us or the kids, so it wasn’t as bad as my heartburn was telling me it was) and we finished opening them, we had breakfast and cleaned up to prepare for the rest of the family.  That started around 1:30.

The family that joined us was my brother’s family including his three kids, his wife, sister-in-law, mother-in-law and father-in-law, as well as my sister and her dog.  My aunt was already there helping out. Seventeen people and one dog.  After a good dinner and some great conversation we relaxed the afternoon away before… opening more presents.

For me, the highlight of the gifts was my nephew’s drone.  He gave me a brief chance to fly it.  I got it to do a flip (don’t ask me how).  There were a lot of other great gifts, but I’ve always been into that kind of stuff.

At the end of the day, what made the day exactly what I am used it was having the family around.  It has changed over the years.  Some of the family that used to come can’t anymore for various reasons, yet some of the faces will always be the same.  Bringing the Scheirer family together will always have its quarks, but it wouldn’t be the same without it.

There is, perhaps, one more reason I’m slightly more sentimental this Christmas than others.  The past seven years I have been working dispatch.  I haven’t been able to spend many of those Christmas’ with my family.  I’ve had a few here and there, but I’ve worked more than I’ve had off.  I’m okay with that knowing that I am answering a lifeline to many who have situations on the holidays.  But now I am ready to go into the ministry.  I don’t know how many more Christmas’ I’ll be able to spend with my family like that.  I doubt that the family would all come from Pennsylvania to where I am  (12 vs 5, not gonna happen) and most pastors need to preach over the holidays.  With no idea of what lies ahead, I will relish every moment I have in the present.

 

Bemidji, Part 4

It was Tuesday morning.  We woke up and got everyone ready to do.  We had breakfast and we were off for another day.  We dropped the oldest off at camp again.  Then went back out to the camper.  We started to actually get ourselves settled into the campsite.

I was a little nervous, but I started letting our four year old ride her bike around on the road at the campground.  There isn’t a lot of coming and going traffic, but I still question her street smarts, in this sense.  She was thrilled that she could ride her bike around.  She was enjoying the extra freedom she had.

It wasn’t all work.  We were able to enjoy a bit of time sitting back relaxing in the middle of coordinating what we were doing.  We also established more that we would need and started putting together another trip into town.  After lunch we loaded up for another DTT (Daily Target Trip) and some other stops before heading out to the camp to pick up our oldest again.

Once we got back to the camp we were quick to take advantage of the water activities that were available.  The kids were quick to get into their swim suits and put on the life jackets.  Our 13 month old was barely big enough for his and he was even less happy about it.  My wife held him in the back alongside our daughter while the oldest and I (well, mostly I) paddled a paddle boat around the lake.  The lake was clear enough at spots the look deep toward the bottom of the lake.  We were able to see the vegetation that lied farther below.  I was glad I didn’t see any fish as I hadn’t brought my fishing gear along and I wasn’t prepared to get a Minnesota fishing license.

After a while on the paddle boat we went back to shore and traded it in for a canoe.  My wife stayed on the shore with our youngest while I went out with the kids.  This time I was very nervous that our son was going to drop the ore into the lake.  I was thankful he didn’t.  All three of us were loving being on the lake and wished we had more time.  Fact was that dinner wasn’t going to cook itself.  We rowed back to shore.  The kids continued to enjoy time at the beach with my wife while I went back to the camper and fired up the grill.  It was hard to pull them away when it was time to come eat.

When you’re camping in the north in the summer time, it is hard to use the sun as a judge of time.  It stays light late into the evening.  Combine that with the fresh air, good food and excitement of the whole trip, it is hard to start getting the kids ready for bed again at the end of the evening.  The kids tried to play every card they could to avoid getting showers.  In the end, everyone got cleaned and made their way to bed.  It couldn’t be that easy and it took another lullaby run to help calm the madness.

While it was starting to seem to us that we had an endless list of what we needed in town each day, I was remembering that this is our first true camping experience.  We have been out with the camper before, but not for the amount of time we were on this trip.  There were so many ways we were trying to adjust to this different form of home away from home.  While we tried so hard to plan for what we would come across, there were so many little details that we didn’t plan for.  The camper is getting stocked more and more to help us prepare for future outings.

Another factor we weren’t prepared for were the boats.  This was a happily unexpected surprise and benefit of the campground.  We could have enjoyed most of our afternoons on the water if had wanted to.  When the kids did have the chance, they did enjoy the beach.  Had we not brought our own life jackets, the camp had some that we would have been able to use.

Another day down! So many more adventure left…

Christmas Travels Part 3, Decorating

One thing that is nice about being at my parents house is that my parents are early risers, while my wife and I aren’t.  Thus, I’m not as concerned about waking up in the morning.  This trip was a little different.  If the youngest (who was sleeping in the pack and play in the bedroom with us) wasn’t up early, than the other two were.  But they didn’t go down to  see what was going on down stairs, they start playing in the next room.

I opted to let them play so long as I didn’t hear any screaming or fighting.  They played well, and before I knew it we had slept pretty late.  We did finally get up and start moving around.  Today’s plan was to decorate the Christmas Tree.  The kids were looking forward to this as they had already decorated our tree in Bismarck.

In the meantime, our kids were bringing by my childhood.  They found the board games my parents had stored in the playroom, as well as some of the other toys from my room.  It was fun to see my kids, especially my son, enjoying what I had spent so much time enjoying when I was his age.

One game he found was Battleship.  Once he learned how to play battle ship there was no turning back.  Every chance he had he was asking if someone would play battle ship with him.  He was actually starting to get pretty good at it.  I was still somewhat merciless in winning.  He would always give me a good fight, but I knew where to hide my ships that he wouldn’t find them.  Someday this will catch up to me.

In the trips of the past my parents have always had the house decorated before we arrived.  This year we arrived a little earlier.  My parents weren’t able to get everything together as they had in the past.  So we helped decorate the tree for them.  My kids had seen some of the ornaments on the tree in years past, but this time they were pulling out the ornaments one by one.  They would occasionally take the time to ask about them.  My family has often bought ornaments on family vacations or times that represent a meaningful moment in our lives.  This was an unexpected upside to them decorating the tree.

Most of the time they would pull the ornament out and hang it on the tree.  But then there were those special ones that they would hear stories about.  They got to hear about trips to Minnesota in the summer, which is something we are starting to do with them as well.  They got to hear about my time in Band in high school and trips we made.  They got to see a picture of our band marching in Disney World, which they are looking forward to going to.

Next part came the stockings.  We all have similar stockings that were hand knitted by my aunt.  The kids were going up the line to see what characters were on the stockings.  Mine is Rudolph.  Some have Santa Clause while others have Mrs. Clause.  Between my father and the kids they decided what order to hang the stockings on the rail of the steps.

I had no idea how much different this trip was going to be from those of the past.  We always have a great time when we visit with my parents.  It is a different world in Pennsylvania from North Dakota, and we experience a glimpse of that each time.  This trip, however, started to show me how much different my kids are becoming.  My oldest, especially, was taking in so much of the area and the stories of old.  He was finding the games that my parents have that are different from the games that we have.  He was enjoying the time he could spend with his cousins and all the activities they got to do together.  He was enjoying being out in the “nice” winter weather (warm temps and mild weather).

All that said, another round of battleship?  Anyone?

Christmas Travels part 2, Picture Day

This trip was the first time since 2012 that my whole family was in the same town.  This includes my parents, my brother with his wife and three kids, my sister, my aunt, my wife, kids and I.  That is a grand total of 14 people.  We like to do family pictures when we can, but that isn’t always the easiest to schedule.  We had a two hour appointment for pictures for all of us.

The day started with us relaxing a little bit from the traveling the day before.  I managed a run that morning (see “The ‘New’ Run”) and we started planning out what needed to happen that evening.  For one thing, I needed some shoes.  When we were packing I was able to find one of my dress shoes.  That one made it in the suitcase, but the other shoe remained lost until we got back.  Nothing like an impromptu trip to Kohl’s.  So long as we were going, there were a few other things we needed.

Leaving the kids at home with my parents and nephew close at hand, my wife and I went across town.  Reading isn’t that big, and I knew my way around when I was living there.  But somethings have changed and I’m not as clear on the directions as I once was.  For one thing, Kohl’s wasn’t there when I lived there.  Operation “Find Kohl’s” wasn’t that hard, except that I couldn’t find the correct road into the store.  It was only two wrong turns and a turn around, until the trip home.  All and all, about 10 minutes extra.  It wouldn’t have been a problem but time wasn’t a luxury we had at that moment.

Then came the time for the pictures.  As we were all getting there in shifts, it was decided that our family should go first.  Jumping in to position, we all tried to look pretty (harder for me than others).  Then our oldest decided he didn’t want to smile.  This is a game that was predictable.

Our family was lining up a lot of picture sets that night.  Time was no more available now than it was before.  We did everything we could think of to try to get him to smile.  All this time we are trying keep our 18 month old ready for a picture.  My quickest reaction is to be unhappy with him.  We want these pictures of the smiling boy with a happy family.

Now my family will tell you he is just like his daddy.  Unable to smile every time the camera came out.  Even now I’m still not the most photogenic person.  We were able to catch a few smiles with him, and even some with the younger one looking the correct direction.

At one point the the whole process, I was getting tired of doing all the tactics to pull this together and I said the the photographer (who was very good) “Perhaps we’ll just need to consider that his smile.”  He replied, “I can live with it if you can.”

On Facebook we get a small snapshot of what our friends lives are like.  We see what they choose to show us.  Sometimes that is the best of things and sometimes it isn’t.  Family photos can be much the same.  While those pictures aren’t going to show what he is really like, nor would the extensive effort that the family would have continued to go through for the big bright smile that he is worth.

A year form now we’ll be able to look at all of those family pictures.  We’ll have the stories to tell; trying to get smiles, the youngest clinging to mom, and how time wasn’t on our side.  Will the pictures be perfect?  I wouldn’t hold my breath, but with the masterful photographer we had, it will be the closest that the Scheirers will ever come.

After the long picture session, we went to a local restaurant.  Asking the youngest to sit for longer was all the more fun!

 

I do need to admit one more thing here.  Everything I’ve said above is, yet again, a snapshot of the whole time.  We were at the photographer for over two hours that day with several sets.  Many o the stories are not mine to tell, but when there are that many people around, the stories are endless.