On the Go

Ahh...  road trips.  I believe they encompass all the joys and trials of parenting.  From the initial "they're finally secured in carseats, I can breathe" phase to the "WTF?  how are they wrestling while buckled securely in the carseats with a 12 inch space between them?" stage. 

We've been wanting to take a trip down to Seward for most of the winter and finally decided to just do it.  We woke up on Tuesday to almost the messiest house we've ever had; every dish in the house was dirty, there was barely enough clean underwear to go around for the 3 day trip, and I literally couldn't even walk into the kids room.  Justin, being the amazingly awesome and hen pecked husband that he is, managed to get the dishwasher running and the kids clothes packed while I washed my face and got dressed.  In trying to make up for my lengthy face washing session I decided to load the suitcases into the back of the minivan.  Well, I got them loaded ok, then I went to shut the hatchback door and my head got in the way.  As a normally very clumsy person this is something that I have always feared, but never thought it would ever happen.  After getting my sobbing under control and chastising myself for being a complete idiot, we were on the road. 

We only had time to have dinner once we got into Seward that night and then head to our hotel room (not much happening on Tuesday nights in Seward, AK after 6pm.).  We spent Wednesday morning at the Alaska Sea Life Center.  I love going in there, so many cool things to see, I could stare at the different fish for hours.  Of course even a few minutes would have been nice.

Me:  "Hey I'm not done looking in this tank, check out this fish, he has eyebrows!"

Child 1, 2, or 3:  "Whoa, cool.  Now come look at the octopus we found 50 ft. down the hall when you didn't notice we were out of your site." 

Of course by the time we got to the octopus they had moved on to the sealions.  Since the kids were moving through the exhibits at hyper speeds we were done at the Sea Life Center in about an hour, a trip I could have enjoyed for probably 3 hours. 

After that we went to the beach at Lowell Point.  We found some beach glass, one lone pink star fish, and some locals showed us the tiny hermit crabs they found in the tidal pools. 

Then we found a coffee shop for snacks and espresso, which happened to be on the same block as the local yarn and fabric stores!  No road trip is complete without visiting these shops.  Reuben was the only child brave enough to visit the stores with me.  At the fabric store we walked around for a few minutes then Reuben shows me what he wants to buy and tells me what he wants to make with it.  He's so cute when he's being crafty with me, completely melts my heart and he can get whatever he wants out of me.  He bought a Bali Pop (2 1/2 inch strips of batiks) and picked out his favorite buttons from their random button basket.  He plans on making dinosaur stuffies with button eyes.  I got a panel of fabric with batiked moose on it (which would go well with some of the fabrics from Reuben's selection, I'll have to salvage a few pieces for myself).

At the yarn store, he wasn't quite as interested in shopping.  Although he did find the biggest knitting needles in the store and wanted to buy them for sword fights (my heart had stopped melting at this point and I easily deflected this request).  I picked up some yarn to knit my mom a replacement hat for the one she felted recently and a handcrafted shawl pin for myself.

The rest of the trip was spent eating and trying to stop the kids from jumping across the 3 foot spaces between the beds in the hotel room.  We were headed out of Seward at about noon on Thursday, in what was, hopefully, the last snow storm this spring.

The Beginning

The opening blog post.  I'm very intimidated at this point.

I guess I'll start with the reasons for blogging.  I'm looking at the blog as a type of journal for myself.  I tend to go through life (days, weeks, and months at a time) and look back and think I have nothing to show for it.  I know there are a lot of things I've done and experienced, but I just can't remember them.  My life is not exciting or dramatic, it's the exact opposite; and that's the way I like it.  Because of this, some might think my posts are mundane.  If that's the case, you have my permission to not read them.  But I'm hoping there are others out there like me who might be interested in what I have to write.

Posts will include many topics from all aspects of my life including: crafts, sewing, quilting, homeshool, simple living, alternative homes, my family, the horrors of momhood, and whatever else comes along.

Enjoy!!