A timeline

It's been a crazy busy summer for us.  I wanted to just jot down my notes for a record for my memory.  Maybe just to document how crazy I really am?

June 19-21 Kelly work conference at Lake of the Ozarks (3 hours away)

June 28- John flies to South Korea for work (close to 24 hours of travel time)

June 28 (afternoon)- my dad offers to meet me at the halfway point with my mom and drive me the rest of the way to MN.  I agree.  Frenzied packing and list making happens as I pack 3 kids for 8 days at grandpa and grandma's house.

June 29 - Drive myself and 3 kids to Iowa city (3.5 hours away) and meet up with my parents.  We divide kids and drive the remaining 3ish hours to their house.  W&A ride with grandpa.  Gemma and grandma ride in the backseat while I drive.

June 30- We are able to attend my niece's (Z) first birthday party in Minneapolis.  On my way to the party, I decide it is a good idea to swing by IKEA and pick up a bookshelf I have had my eye on.  Shipping it to our house was going to cost $785.  Over the next 2 weeks I curse myself over and over as it is now next to impossible to get in and out of the van.  The boxes are super heavy and require the seats to be folded down which blocks the exit/entrance to the vehicle.  Super duper bonus points go to Amelia for monkeying her way around the boxes to get to her carseat in the back row for every single car trip.
-various friends and family meet ups occur.  Our friends and family do such a great job arranging their lives around our travel plans.  It is awesome to see someone different every day!

July 7- drive with Grandpa and Grandma to Mount Pleasant (3.5 hours away).  I get all the kids back in my van +bookshelf and we drive the rest of the way home (3 hours).  We make it home in time to take the big kids to soccer practice.

-we have various activities this week: soccer, swimming, a library story time, etc.  Something to keep us busy every day.  It is still a LONG haul chasing 3 kids by myself.

July 12- John arrives home from South Korea (close to 24 hours of travel time)

July 17/18- We get a phone call that my Grandpa's health continues to fail.  We have been getting updates on his health at least on a weekly basis for the last several months.  We have a trip scheduled for the next week to North Dakota.  After much discussion, we decide we need to make the trip.

July 18- drive to Rochester, MN (7ish hours)
July 19- Drive to Grand Forks, ND (6ish hours) I am able to spend some precious time visiting with my Grandpa.  We also get to see my brother, sister, my aunt/uncle along with my grandparents.  It is good to be surrounded by family.

July 20 - Drive back to Rochester, MN (6hours)

July 21- Drive back home so John can be at work and William can attend the one camp we signed him up for this summer. (7 hours)

July 23- Grandpa Tom passes away.  So thankful for our trip the previous weekend.

July 26 - I fly solo with Gemma to Grand Forks, ND.  The trip is good and uneventful with the exception of the time Gemma shoved her finger painfully up my nose.  As a reflex, I jerked my head away from her prying, sharp fingers.  When I did that, I managed to smash into the head of the poor woman sleeping next to me.  Oops.

*John picks William up from his Inventor's Camp and drives to Rochester, MN (7 hours)

July 27- Gemma and I attend Grandpa's funeral.  While sad, it is wonderful to be surrounded by family.  Family I haven't seen in years is there.  It was wonderful.  Also, stressful when Gemma wasn't interested in sitting.  At all.  A huge thank you to my new sister in law (Jenny) for taking Gemma on a nice walk.  Another thank you to my aunt Kaye for chauffeuring me and Gemma around town and to my mom for picking us up at the airport.

*John drives with the 2 big kids from Rochester, MN to Grand Forks, ND.  They miss the funeral (it is likely they would not have attended anyway).  They DO get to visit with all the cousins, aunts, uncles there including a few they hadn't met before.

July 30 - We drive to Medora, ND for our previously planned family vacation.  We started talking about visiting the badlands of ND this past winter and scheduled it weeks ago.  We briefly discussed cancelling, but then decided to forge ahead.

Along the way, we stopped to visit the gravesite of John's mom/Grandma Heidt.  Our girls have not been there before and we thought it was important to have them visit.  I forgot what a peaceful, quiet and scenic place this is.

We then made a stop at Fort Lincoln State Park outside of Bismarck, ND.  John has many fond memories of visiting this location from when he was growing up.  We thought this might help break up the car trip for the kids as well (okay, for the grown ups too).

Total driving time- 7 hours. 

*Time spent at Teddy Roosevelt National Park including A SCENIC DRIVE! (3 hours+)

August 1- drive back to Grand Forks, ND.  We stop at a dinosaur museum along the way.  Total drive time 6ish hours.

August 2- Drive back to Rochester, MN (6 hours)

August 4- drive back home (7ish hours)

Is it any wonder that when I went to put Gemma in her carseat on Monday, she arched her back and screamed?

Area we crazy?  Probably.  But, it was fun AND I am thankful for the time we had together.  I'm also thankful John talked me out of driving another 6 hours one way to see Glacier National Park.  Maybe next summer?

Little one

This little monkey. I looked away this morning to eat my own breakfast and when I observed her shoving a cherrio into her ear. Why? Who knows. Maybe she has an ear infection. Maybe she just noticed she has a hole in her ear. Maybe her sister did the same thing when I wasn't looking and Gemma was just copying her. There is never a dull moment. Nothing is getting done today. She wants to be right on me. Every second of the day. I was crabby about it for awhile this morning and then had to remind myself: I don't stay at home so I can have a clean house or be caught up on laundry. It's so easy to get caught up in the day to day demands of dishes, laundry and other commitments. It turns out today all of that is on hold. At least until naptime. I have some books to read to this sweet, sweet baby of mine.

Breakfast thoughts

Amelia: William! William! Do you need to smell both ways before you cross the street?

(Both William and mama stop, mid chew of cereal to stare at her. Gemma continues to bang her spoon, screech and toss Cheerios by the handful as normal)

William: what?

Amelia: you know! You need to look and listen before you cross the street. What about smelling? You could maybe smell some tires. Or the gas. Or the paint on the car.

William: no. There is no smelling when you cross the street. Just looking and listening.

Sent from my iPhone

How do you use this thing?

Hmmm.....

Baby entertainer

Dear hotel,

Thank you for the awesome baby entertainment device! Our daughter has loved emptying the tissue dispenser and then shredding each individual one! Emptying plus shredding took her almost 20 minutes this morning! What I don't understand is why would would refill the box when all the evidence was still on the floor in front of the area there.....

But, thanks to you I predict more fun in our future!

Sincerely,
The mama

Just a girl

The kids went to the basement to play with granGerry for awhile. When they returned, each was holding a toy they had been allowed to pick to bring upstairs.

William: I picked a lizard that breathes fire! His name is FireFace!
Andy: I picked this soft purple bear. His name is Cuddles.
Amelia (in her sweetest voice): I picked this beautiful bride with moneyer teeth and claws. She also has hosable hair to put out any fires. Her name is Megan* and she has EARRINGS.

Then the kids went on to play together.

*i believe the doll was named already when Amelia selected her.

Sent from my iPhone

Gemma warms up

Gemma is kind of a rough cookie. Several factors are at play here:

1. She has never been a snuggler. She isn't much if a sitter. She is more of a get up and go kind of girl who is busy, busy, busy. She doesn't really want to sit with me for any length of time except on very very occasions. She'd much rather be out climbing, running and chasing the big kids.

2. To a smaller degree, she is a little shy. She likes people, but not lots of people all at once. Unless you are her siblings. Then you can be in her face and as loud as you'd like.

So, when she does warm up to people, it is a very big deal. My family has spent the last few days working on her and after four days we had some success.

Success was so exciting it required documentation!