33 Days~One Colossal Road Trip

So some people might say driving around the country with 3 children and one largish dog is not a vacation.  For me this was not only a vacation but a mental welfare trip.  Yes, there should have been concern for my mental welfare as this first winter living in the Pacific Northwest was brutal.  BRUTAL!!!  I needed sun.  Lots and lots of actually sunny summer.

For the first two weeks my lovely husband was with us as we camped at Yellowstone, explored Mt. Rushmore and then landed safely at his family lake home in Wisconsin.  Much water play, boating and frolicking in the sun ensued.  Jon flew back to Washington to continue funding our travels leaving the rest of us free to further explore our beautiful country.  And yes-oh-yes Ms. America is a beauty indeed. 

 

After leaving Wisconsin the kids, dog and I headed for Taos New Mexico.  We visited my parents and played in the land of enchantment.  Once again, the sun baked us to a dark golden brown as we laid in our mountain stream to cool ourselves.  At this point I hadn't cooked a meal or cleaned a house in a good three weeks.  I was one relaxed mama!

After about 10 days there we packed up again and headed for Colorado to visit with my brothers family in Monument for two nights.  Then we all travelled on to Steamboat Springs for a bit of summer ski town life.  We all fell madly in love with Steamboat.  Can't recommend it enough as a family vacation spot.

 

 

Whew!  Another day and we made it all the way back to Washington.  33 days, 8 mountain passes, thousands of miles, countless adventures, one speeding ticket and I managed to keep all three children alive!  I'll take my mother of the year award now.  Giggle Giggle.

It's the hard-knock life for us!

***Warning: Sad story to follow***
I love to sing that Annie song with my children. Usually we sing it when I am making them perform a cleaning task. The singing makes the work more enjoyable. And of course its poking fun at how good their lives are as well. Sometimes, however life really is hard knocks for a kid. And that just takes all the laugh right of of me.

Yesterday was just such a day. We received news that Dunham's best buddy Will (age 6) from back in Minnesota has been diagnosed with a very aggressive and rare Cancer called Sinonasal Teratocarcinosarcomas. He will under go Chemotherapy multiple times, be isolated for months and then be subjected to a pretty rough surgery to boot. Never have I cried as much in one day as I did yesterday. I cried big heaving sobs. You see Will & Dunn spent almost everyday in each others company between school and play dates. When you spend that much time with someone-elses child they become a little bit yours to. There are pieces of our dear Will dispersed through our everyday. Like when Dunn asks for a sandwich "like Will likes it". Or when Dunn is playing Lego's and sets up a play scenario that Will came up with and he drags me by the hand to come take a look. Wills favorite Koolaid flavor, Bionicle, sword ect...its all documented in Dunns beautiful head. Does that make sense? My heart says it does and its grieving and scared.

I cried so much yesterday that my children were at a loss. I just couldn't stop. And so with wet cheeks and puffy eyes I shared the news with Dunn about Will in the simplest way that I could. The look on my baby boys face was immeasurable sadness. Jon used to work at Children's Hospital and so all of our children know what cancer means and what it looks like on a child. Dunn asked me a few questions about how Will was doing and if he was in pain or did his tummy feel sick yet?. He processed the information and walked away from me with slopped shoulders. About an hour latter as I was making dinner he came and hugged my leg. I picked him up and reassured him that it would be all right because Will was one tough little bugger. Dunn then leaned his forehead against mine (I started crying again) and he said "Mom, I know everything he likes and I can make him feel better".

Ah, yes doll that is true. So true and simple. So we wrote down some ideas and came up with a plan for doing exactly what Will likes cause Dunn knows. And as I laid down to sleep last night with all my children tucked safely in their beds the thought of Dunn knowing was reassuring. Is it odd to be reassured by a 6 year-olds knowledge?

This morning as I sit writing this I am pondering how amazing children are. The natural empathy that a small child posses is enough to light up a very dark corner of the world. I am making a vow today to help my children nurture their friendships even the long distance ones. And to make sure that I put some more effort into nurturing mine too. I am certain that there is nothing nicer than knowing what another person likes and that they know the same about you.

S~

It has been interesting...

To say the least. I have been on the road with the kids and our dog for 17 days now. The move went very smoothly. I can not sing the praises of professional movers enough. I hope that from this move forward that I am so lucky to be afforded such a service. I should use the word "move" loosely as it's only our stuff that has moved to a warehouse in Chicago. The children and I are still moving about the country.


We spent the Memorial Day weekend at Jon's parents lake home with siblings and cousins galore. It was such a relaxing end to what has been a busy four months. After our stint at the lake we drove down to Kansas City Kansas for a lovely two night visit with our friend Kat and her boys Ficher & Ty. All five kids ran around Kat's kid fest house at break neck speed and enjoyed each others company immensely. I just kept unwinding a little bit each day in Kat's relaxed presence. Thank you Kat!

Off to Colorado we went to stay in Monument with my brother Shawn and his wife Michelle. They have three little girls similar in age to my three. All 6 were busy from the start having a water gun fights, making water balloons and running off lots of energy. Much exploring of the woods behind their house ensued over the weekend along with general mess making and mischief. Just the sort of freedom my little people needed after the constraints of house selling perfection.

We are now in Taos, New Mexico visiting with my Mom & Dad. They have a lovely log home right on a mountain stream in the woods. An idyllic setting for all kinds of relaxing and discovery. I celebrated my 38th birthday on the 9th with dinner and a cold beer at Outback Pizza. A place I always visit when I am in town. We went to Santa Fe on Thursday and visited the Georgia O'Keeffe and New Mexico Art Museums. The New Mexico Art Museum had a stellar display of Cowboy Boots as art that made me want to run out and buy a pair. Truly amazing.
We will be in Taos for about another week and then we will head back to Colorado where Jon will meet us. We will all then drive to Washington together. Yea! On the house buying front we are still working through the short sale process on one house. We put an offer in on a second house in the same neighborhood and should know today if they have excepted our offer. Cross your fingers for me because this is the house I wanted all along. Will post a link to it as soon as I find out if it's ours.

On a sewing note I am working on an Alabama Chanin skirt. I have to figure out how to get the pictures from my camera onto my mom's computer so I can post them here. I am working on the beading of the third panel (3 of 4). Only one more to go and then I can assemble it. I hope to complete it while I am still here as it's the perfect kind of thing to wear in Taos.
Lastly, Thank you for all of the kind emails, Washington info and suggestions and general well wishes. It always makes my day to hear from you. I have found more interesting blogs and crafty artistic souls since I started blogging. So much inspiration out there.
Happy Trails,
Sonja

SOLD!

Just a little update to let everyone know our house in Minneapolis has finally sold. I had a celebratory two beer night last night. I also let the kids take out as many toys as they wanted and they didn't have to put them away before bed. Let's just say that made this morning a little more stressful for me but the kids think I am the most amazing mom ever. So off to Mom Hall of Fame I go.


Now on to the actual moving and packing and closing on this house. We put an offer in on a house in Mukilteo, WA. It's a short sale...Have any experience with those? A whole nother beast I tell you. In all likely hood the kids and I will be homeless for at least the month of June. So I am devising an all over the country road trip with three kids and a dog. I am calling it an adventure and not a vacation. During an adventure you expect things to go terribly wrong. Because part of the fun of an adventure is the unpredictability and digging yourself out from under unfortunate happenings. Whilst a vacation is horribly ruined if things don't go as planned. See, it's all about setting the expectations.

Wish me luck!
S~

Who steals a minivan with three car seats in it?

Last night such an individual did exactly that while we all snoozed softly in our beds. A Toyota Sienna Minivan might be about the most uncool vehicle imaginable that one could steal. However mine is a snazzy apple red which might have been the enticing factor.

Here's a recap of my life at this very moment...My house is for sale, My husband is in Seattle (Mukilteo really), I have been single parenting for 8 weeks and now, My only vehicle has been stolen with the car seats in it and we have about one cup of milk left. Oh! and yesterday my less than a year old Electolux vacuum died. You need a working vacuum when your trying to sell your house. You also need a car so that you can get out of your house for showings.

I really feel like sitting down and having an ugly cry...the kind where my eyes get huge and puffy red and snot runs out of my nose and loud wailing noises emanate from a deep hidden spot in my gut. But I can't do that yet because I am waiting for the insurance people to call me back.

S~

Ella Boo Bella

Little Ms. Ella turned three over the weekend. It also snowed here. Both are equally shocking. Cold wet weather does allow for some good party throwing and crafting so that is what we have been up to. Ella having an October birthday in a house with a mama who adores Halloween ends up with a pretty creepy birthday bash. No, not Crappy! CREEPY.

This is the third year that Ella has had Southern Living's Chocolate Pumpkin Cake as her birthday yummy. It is so good and makes a very dramatic presentation. The recipe is HERE. The black cake stand which of course I purchased just for making this cake is HERE. The cake stands come in spectacular storage hat boxes just in case your tempted.
Due to the snow I had tender plants to bring inside. This is a large cast concrete bird bath basin filled with succullents from my garden. Instant centerpiece with the addition of a human skull.


The glittered spider and vulcher silhouettes admired our guests as they supped. I printed off silhouettes from google images and glued them to orange card stock. I then painted in the shape with glue and poured on the glitter. My pictures are not doing them justice as they are quite sparkly and alluring.

Our yearly goul or witch (changes each year) Neighbor Greeter was present to welcome our family, friends and fow. The foot traffic in front of our house increases dramatically after I put up something scary. Lots of kids come up and have a picture snapped or inspect our scary's. However, come Halloween night many of the same children cross the street when they come to our house. We have creepy music playing, rats creeping out of crevices ghosts lurking in the mist. Mostly I think it is the murderous screams that scare them off. Oh well...more candy for me.

What do you think of that playdough hook? Her normal nose just wasn't very witchy.

On the front porch I put my much loved Crow in my also much loved antique birdcage.
On Halloween night I light votives in the cage for a very spooky effect.

I managed to get one spooktacular skirt sewn for Soren. Ella's matching skirt is cut out and just needs to be sewn up. I used the same skirt pattern as this one HERE.
As a little crafty bonus I was able to make this banner for above the dining room buffet using left over scraps of Halloween fabric from the skirts and random bits. It was so fun to make. I mounted the fabric using photo mounting spray from a photography class I took a few years ago. The stuff worked great for sticking the fabric to the cardstock triangles. Addictive! Now I am all tuckered out and have caught a virus. I'll be back in a week or so.

Giraffe Food

At the Minnesota Zoo a few days ago the kids had the opportunity to feed the Giraffes. Rye crackers is apparently what giraffes eat. Two rye crackers for $5 which I had to borrow from my friend Karen because there are no ATM's in the African bush.

Soren followed up the day with a horrific long black tongue licking her nightmare in the middle of the night. She was so freaked out by the way the giraffe's long tongue was hand like in it's ability to grab on to stuff that's all she talked about for at least 24 hours.

Ella didn't say a word......just stared at the sweet spotted head in amazement

Soren even though she kept screaming and dropping the cracker every time the giraffe tried to take it from her, thought she should comfort her little brother just in case he was scared too. He wasn't but how thoughtful of her to transfer her fear to him so that she could get a little distance from it.