~HB ADVENTURE~ – Page 119 – "If you don't see the book on the shelf, write it." ~ Beverly Cleary

June 19, 2013

Jump, Jump!!

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This trip. Oh, this trip. We already know that Maggie remembers bits and pieces of our trip to San Diego from last summer, but this is the trip that she’ll forever remember most of. She’s sorting out all the places we’ve been and reminding us when we forget details. We have most definitely been on the move and are missing being in one place for an extended time. We may need a vacation from our vacation by the time this is over!

My camera died just hours away from pulling into Chico Hot Springs and I was able to force it to get a few good shots before it officially died. It’ll take me a while to get over not toting it around the most important part of our vacation. Thankfully my phone takes okay photos – like these ones.

We have done a fairly good job of not having too much screaming in the car and stopping at fun places – or making fun times at not so fun places. Today we finally reached our destination, after driving through a ton of rain, and unloaded the car’s contents in to the hotel room. I brilliantly made the suggestion that we practice jumping between the beds, which it took Mags and Barry about half a second to begin launching themselves between the two.

I started trying to take pictures with my phone because it was hilarious to see the two of them. Barry also was taking picutres of Maggie as she launched from one side to the other, with Audrey in the background. I took a couple turns and we started to talk about moving on to our next activity (dinner? swimming? both?). Barry left to go refill our coffee cups in the lobby (since Maggie had a nap, we decided to partake in a later coffee date to keep up with her!) and was gone all of two minutes.

Maggie decided to take a turn photographing me jumping between the beds and wedged herself between the two to get the best angle….that’s my girl! My previous jumps had not been up to snuff and so I really wound up for a big one. Turns out it was a big one alright, because in the two minutes that Barry was gone from the room, I broke the bed. Ummmm…..and Maggie got the best shot of my final leap.

And that is how we make memories on this trip.

June 16, 2013

The Electric

Yesterday we were driving in the car and I said something along the lines of “I was a daddy’s girl” while telling Barry a story. He stopped me short and made me correct myself. I admit it: I am a daddy’s girl.

In high school, my first car had died and I was in search of a new one. My parents had said that they’d match any amount that I could for my next vehicle. I’d probably saved a few hundred bucks from babysitting, so we weren’t looking for a super fancy set of wheels. I had said that I would NEVER drive a wood paneled anything, a van or anything ‘ugly’. I just wanted a basic car.

I came home one day to discover my dad with my new car parked in the driveway with the trunk open. It was a cute little Nissan Sentra sans wood paneling. It was also a screaming deal. My dad told me there was a leak in the trunk and he’d need a few days to air it out. I was thrilled to have a new car, so I waited for a couple days without a problem.

A few days later, we were all set to go. It was a great car and Lara named it The Electric because of the funny sound the engine made. It did, however have a funny smell to it. I always explained to people that it smelled musty because of the leak in the trunk.

When my dad wold ride in in my car with me he always casually asked about the smell and if it bothered me. It never did, since I was happy to have a car.

I ended up getting into a car accident with that car in the high school parking lot. Because we’d gotten such a good deal on it initially, when the insurance check came, we actually made money off it!

It wasn’t until years later that the truth came out about the smell in The Electric: Turns out my dad had been looking around at a car lot for me and noticed the Sentra off to the side. He inquired about it and the salesman told my dad that under no circumstances would he want that car. My dad pressed and asked more about the car, which had just come on the lot that morning.

Finally, the salesman told my dad that the car’s trunk was filled with manure with no liner. The manure was directly on the trunk bed and there was a ton of it. No protection against the manure, essentially.

My dad bought the car.

With the manure in it.

And didn’t tell me.

He shoveled the manure into the compost and started airing out the car before I came home from school.

I was recently telling this story to a friend and when I got to the end, she looked at me and said that was one of the sweetest stories she’d ever heard. I’d never thought of the story as sweet, but hearing her say that, I realized she was right. It’s the things that parents do for their kids, and sometimes it literally means you shovel shit for them.

I know Barry would do the same for either one of our girls and I’m thankful that I’ve got a dad that shovels for me daily, both literally and figuratively.

June 14, 2013

On The Road with The HB Crew

We left an entire day earlier than we thought we would and we’re glad for it now. Road tripping with two little ones, no matter how patient everybody is, is an adventure in its own right. We’ve made it closer to our destination and the weather is forecasted to be full of sun and blue skies from here on out!

It became apparent as we talked with Maggie more about this trip that she had very high hopes that we were going back to Canada to Harrison Hot Springs. She was devastated to learn that vacation isn’t always going to ‘the little house’ with some of her favorite people.

I’m choosing to believe that she has figured out this is a pretty awesome vacation that we’re on, too. My aunt (or was it Grandma that started them?) always gave her kids ‘car presents’ while doing long road trips – wrapping up almost anything and tossing one back to the little ones when the time is right. We’ve started the ‘car presents’ tradition and here is what we have learned: 1. Maggie doesn’t have the stomach to draw in the car. (no puke though!). 2. The more challenging the present is to open, the more rewarding it is. 3. Glow sticks are awesome to use in the car at night. And in the bath tub. Best couple of bucks I could have spent.
I felt myself getting giddy about this trip months ago and now that it is actually here, I’m still giddy. Our family functions best when we’re all together. Sure, we break off to do different things (runs, book stores, walks…), but we thrive on time together. Being smooshed in the car all together may seem like a nightmare to some, but we’re happy little campers around here. Some of my very favorite memories from my childhood are from trips that my family took – trips that weren’t overly extravagant, but definitely where being together was the sole purpose. (Thanks, Mom & Dad!)

I have been dreaming about coming back here with Barry for a long time. There’s something about Montana that I absolutely adore. Is it the cowboys? The laid-back, recreational feeling? The mountains? Whatever it is, I’m so thankful to be able to share it with him and our girls. We spent today walking the streets of Missoula and it feels very much like a distant cousin of B’ham, another place I’ve lived and loved.
As we were getting out of the car to start our trek, the parking attendant pulled up in her little truck and hopped out to dote on the girls. We ended up talking to her about all the different places that she thought we’d like, which was beyond the scope of the 2 hours we’d paid for parking. She encouraged us to not worry about getting a ticket because, since we’re from out of state, it’d only be a warning. We took her suggestion and by the time we found Bernice’s Bakery for some coffee and a shared cinnamon roll, our two our parking limit had vanished from our thoughts. At the end of the day, when we returned to our car, there wasn’t even the warning.

The girls were both so awesome today ~ Audrey took a massive nap in the Ergo as we walked and Maggie stayed close and walked SO far. It wasn’t until we were at a park that she took a spill and she started crying….it was then that we decided to head back to the car. I’d passed Audrey to Barry and was in charge of snuggling/carrying Maggie and she’s heavy. I decided to put her in the Ergo to see how it went and it was awesome! It felt nice to have her close for the walk back to the car, where she busted open a car present and munched on it on the way back to our hotel.

Tomorrow is a longer car day for us all and if we played our cards right today, and I think we did, we’ll get off in the morning and both girls will happily nap. Maggie, despite the fact that she has plenty of ‘activities’ to do in the car, turns into quite the chatterbox once we’re moving. There isn’t a favorite topic of conversation, just lots of talking…..

Audrey has been the most amazing baby in the entire world. She continues to be relaxed and happy to go with the flow and has literally only cried once, exactly opposite of ‘someone’ that has never been a great car rider. As long as she’s fed, she’s pretty happy.

And if all else fails, we’ve still got Car Presents!