Vacation Journal: Day 6

We watched Back To the Future last night. Grandma and Grandpa came over to see it with us. It was made in 1985, around the time of Indiana Jones and Star Wars. It is a time travel movie – sort of like Meet the Robinsons, only he travels to the past, it isn’t animated, and there is no Bowler Hat Guy. Other than the language and a couple more adult things in it, it was relatively good. The lead was played by Michael J. Fox, and if you are at all familiar with the show Cyberchase, on PBSKIDS, the inventor was played by the same actor who plays Hacker. Christopher Lloyd, I think?

Today, if it doesn’t start raining really heavily again, we’re planning to go down to Vail and walk around. I’m not sure if we’re taking the gondola up one of the mountains. You know, I just realized that that word is also used (probably more commonly) for those boats in Venice. Hmm. The dictionary also says that it means an open railroad freight car, and an enclosed compartment suspended from an airship or balloon.

One of Grandpa’s cousins and his wife came for dinner last night (they live in Colorado). Bunny (the wife) was really, really sweet, and she used to teach English at Wheaton Academy in Illinois. Now she teaches at a Christian school somewhere in Colorado. I really liked her. Her husband’s name was Ken, and he was really nice, too.

This is sort of off-topic, but have you ever found a souvenir section in a Wal•Mart? I’ve never seen one in any other Wal•Mart than the one here in Vail. It was a bit surprising, to walk into Wal•Mart and immediately see a sign for souvenirs.

Vacation Journal: Day 5

Oh, I had so much fun riding last night! I got to ride a nearly tweny-year-old chestnut Quarter Horse gelding named Blaze. He was really, really nice. You know how most trail horses don’t really move much before they get out of the corral, and pretty much they really like to do is follow the horse in front of them? Blaze was one of the only horses that would actually move when we were still in the practice corral, and I even got him to trot! The trail guide told me later that he had previously been a ranch horse. That was pretty cool! I really loved Blaze, and wouldn’t mind riding him again.

I can’t remember who everyone rode, but Lydia rode a nearly black horse named Little Bit (I loved that name); Nat rode a retired racehorse; Natalie or Taylor got to ride Isaiah; and Dad rode a pinto Percheron cross named Buzz. Mom, Auntie Emme, and the younger kids rode in the surrey. Even though the surrey ride was pretty bumpy, I think Zac slept through it. J

Our guide’s name (he and his wife, I think, own the place) was Jake, and our wrangler was Jay. There were also three dogs; two Parson Russell Terriers named Tick and Zipper (I think), and an Australian Cattle Dog, the name of which I can’t remember.

Talk to you later!

Vacation Journal: Day 4

Well, it’s Tuesday morning, and we had a good day yesterday. In the morning, we just hung around the condos, before heading over to the nearby rec center, which has a really nice pool and a big waterslide, which is really fun. I went down more than a few times! The first time I went down, I got scared I was going to fly off the edge of it, since there is no top (the sides are quite tall, though). I didn’t, though…. I think it was the third time that I thought I wouldn’t be able to have time to plug my nose before I shot into the water, as my nose was kind of stuffed up and it was sometimes hard to take a deep breath.

I think everyone down to Ruth went swimming, and Ruth was with me a lot of the time. She isn’t scared of water, and didn’t panic when I…got water in her face…more…than once. We even got her to try to blow bubbles under the water a few times. There was a zero-depth part of the pool, which was really nice for the younger kids. It was a little colder than the deeper part of the pool, so I didn’t spend too much time in it. Plus it wasn’t as deep. J

This afternoon we’re going horseback riding! It’ll be a lot of fun! We’re going to Mega Mountain Magic in Leadville, a place we’ve gone twice before. The other two times, I’ve ridden a Palomino named Ed, and a chestnut pinto named Kiowa. I wouldn’t mind riding Kiowa again too much, but I would really prefer not to ride Ed. The first time I rode him, I really liked him, but not really any more. I like to ‘play around’ with the horse I’m riding, and the only direction Ed would go in the practice corral was backwards. And, the last time we went trail riding, Natalie (one of my younger cousins) got him, and in trying to kick the horse behind him, he ended up kicking one of the wranglers – twice. He also bucked once, although Natalie, probably one of the more experienced riders in our group, stayed on. It’s kind of funny – everyone is hoping that they don’t get Ed this time. ;)

Vacation Journal: Day 3

We’re here at last! I don’t remember exactly when we arrived, but everyone was glad to get out of the car and into our resort condo. Lydia and I got the guest bedroom. It has a queen bed, two bedside tables, a closet, a dresser/TV stand, a large window, and a TV. There was a little crib that was in Mom and Dad’s room, which we moved into our room for Ruth. Nat and Essie were originally going to sleep next door at Grandma’s, in their guest bedroom, but they decided to sleep in our living room instead. The Three Amigos are sleeping in the ‘Den,’ in sleeping bags. Mom, Dad, and Zac are in the Master Bedroom, with a king bed, TV, DVD player, two-person Jacuzzi, private bathroom, large closet, two bedside tables, a window looking out over the landscaped ‘backyard’ of the resort, a fireplace, and a door to the patio. I would think they have a chest of drawers somewhere, but I can’t picture it, so maybe they don’t. There is a living room, a dining room, guest bathroom, and a kitchen as well. It’s a really nice resort.

Well, now that I’ve told you what’s in all the rooms, maybe I could try to give you a bit of a feel of the layout. Here goes. Well, when you enter the condo, almost immediately to your left is the Guest Bedroom, which Lydia, Ruth, and I share. To your right, is a very short hall (maybe you wouldn’t call it a hall?) with doors to the Guest Bathroom, the Hall Closet, and the Laundry Room. Continuing down the true hall, you will shortly have the Kitchen on your left, and the Den on your right. Passing those, you will enter the dining room. A little further, and you will be in the Living Room. Once in the living room, you have the patio doors in front of you, and the Master Bedroom doors to your right. Going into the Master Bedroom, the bedroom itself will be before you, and the bathroom to your right. Sorry if you can’t really make much of that.

Vacation Journal: Day 2

18 miles from Vail. Whoohoo! We’re nearly there! We reached our hotel last night well after midnight – around 2:30am. The rooms were quite nice – it was a two-room family suite. Mom and Dad’s room, which they shared with the younger four boys, had a king-sized bed and a Jacuzzi. The older four kids (and Buf) got the other room, with 2 queens. Lydia and I were in one bed, Nat and Essie in the other. Ruth slept in the Pack-N-Play between the beds. Both rooms had their own bathrooms and TVs. Nat, Essie, and I had oatmeal for breakfast, as we got up later than the breakfast was open. Lyd told me she had waffles. Yum.

This will be my third time at the resort in Avon. We’ve actually gone to Colorado three times already, but once we stayed in Breckenridge. It was quite nice there. There were 3 bedrooms – and another room that could be used as a bedroom! Probably the only problem there was that the altitude was pretty high, and several of us got sick the first few days.

Well, I’d better make sure I have everything ready to get out of the car. See you tomorrow!

Vacation Journal: Day 1

Hello again!

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. We left this morning as planned – if only a few hours later – we took off at about ten fifteen, I think. It was a little stressful to get all the packing in order in less than twenty-four hours, but it’s done!

Dad and I took Tipper to our friends yesterday evening. I was pretty sad to leave her, but I’m sure she’ll enjoy herself there.

We’re on the road right now, about 90 miles yet from Des Moines. It’s 4:21pm. We have stopped two times since we left the house – once, at Dad’s work, to pick some stuff we needed, and to eat a morning snack. We also filled up with gas before getting back on the highway. Several hours ago, we took a break at a rest stop to stretch our legs and have lunch. We ate peanut butter sandwiches, along with Sun Chips, really nice grapes, and applesauce. Yum! I saw three dogs there – a Schnauzer, Shih Tzu, and a white poodle. The Schnauzer was cute.

Our eleven-passenger van is now completely full, and Bufie’s joined the ‘Big Girls’ in the back, back, back seat. She’s actually behaved herself quite well, and it’s fun to have her try to repeat something we’ve said or done. Some of her hits – ‘Uh-oh!’ the Indiana Jones theme song, and trying to stick out her tongue and wiggle it at the same time by shaking her head back and forth. She’s ADORABLE! Sweetie Buf.

Other than playing with Ruth, Lydia and I have been amusing ourselves with various things. Watching LOTR on Mom’s laptop with earbuds; playing the Find All the State License Plates game, writing blog posts, playing with the new mini handheld Million Dollar Password game Dad got for vacation, trying to figure out how to knit, listening to songs I’ve bought from iTunes, enjoying seeing all the vacationing dogs at the rest stops (well, mostly me J ), playing Go Fish with our two new decks of Indiana Jones playing cards, loving Iowa’s flat, GIANT farm fields, giving Ruthie her play car dashboard to pull the brake handle over and over and over and over and over, trying to turn it off secretly so it won’t make noise (though it actually doesn’t sound that bad – it’s kind of cute), thinking about the puppy I’d like to have….

Oh – guess what movies Dad got us for the trip! Here you are: Babe, Milo and Otis, Love Takes Wing, Horton Hears a Who, Bob the Builder (Set of 3), Amazing Grace, and Kit Kittredge: An American Girl Adventure! There might be one more, but I don’t remember. Probably the one I’m most excited about is Kit. I really love that movie. It’s better done than the Samantha movie, and the Felicity one. I haven’t seen the Molly one, but I think it’s more along the lines of Samantha’s and Felicity’s.

Well, let’s see where we are now. It’s 5:59, and we took another stop while I was writing this, at the really nice rest stop between the Minnesota/Iowa border and Des Moines. We’ve gone 271 miles. That leaves 434 more to go tonight. Oh….. I guess I’ll probably be putting this on my blog tomorrow morning, if we have internet access. . Lord-willing, we’ll be stopping in Nebraska for the night, before the final 200 miles or so of the 1,072-mile trip to CO.

Stay tuned for the next post!

P.S. I will try to write again tomorrow – and sorry this was late.

Vacation Journal: Day –1

Hello everyone!

I thought it might be fun to keep a journal while we're on vacation, so I'll try to keep my blog updated during the next couple of weeks.

First of all, I should tell you where we're going. Avon, CO, to a really nice resort that my grandparents traded a week of their Florida timeshare for. We'll be there for a week, Sunday to Saturday, I think. It might be Sunday to Sunday – I'm not quite sure. I'm really looking forward to it, though I wish I could bring my dog along with me. I'm going to miss her a lot, though I like how dogs are so excited when they see you again after you've been gone for several days. But I know she'll be very well taken care of while we're gone. She's going to go stay with a family from church, who have almost as many kids as we do, and one of their girls really loves dogs. She'll have a lot of fun with them!

Well, I had been planning to pack the suitcases yesterday, so they'd be ready to go in the trailer today, but Mom and I went to the fair for a few hours to see a neighbor get an award for his farm having been in the family for a hundred years. We weren't home until 4:30, and I was pretty tired, as I'd gotten a cold a few days before. So none of the packing got done. And, right now, as you may have realized, I am sitting on my bed with Mom's laptop (Zac's with me :) ) writing this blog entry, and NOT packing. Reason: I have nearly lost my voice, my nose is plugged up, if I get up and talk, I start coughing, I'm having cramping, so...Mom told me to rest for a while. Any other day, I'd be perfectly content to just sit here and enjoy myself, but I wish I could be up packing and getting ready for the trip, as there is still A LOT to do, and we want to leave in seventeen hours from right now, although we probably won't get off until at least 6am tomorrow morning. We need to leave early though, as we've got ten and a half hours of driving time, barring bathroom breaks, gas breaks, meal breaks, and baby breaks. Which probably adds at least two hours onto that.

Would you please pray for us, that we would be able to get everything done today that we are supposed to get done and be able to leave on time tomorrow, and for me (and the rest of those in our family who are sick), that we would be healed quickly. And especially, that Mom and Zac would not get sick. And for all of us, that we would be given Christ's incomprehensible peace and joy as we get ready for this trip, and that we would be granted a new measure of faith and trust in His perfect plan and care. Thanks!

Zachary

I have a new baby brother!

So far, he is as close to a perfect baby as you can get. He never cries, unless he's hungry. He sleeps for hours at a time. He's a very beautiful baby. I pick him up almost every time I see him out of someone's arms. :) I love him so much. When Jon was a baby, he was so easy, and would fall asleep in my arms. Ruthie wasn't ever really a snuggler, but I still really, really love little Bufie. I am so happy that Zac is so sweet, so I can hold him a lot.

Here are some photos I just took of Baby Zac this afternoon:

Isn't he absolutely adorable? God Bless you, Zac! I love you!!!

My [Clean] Closet

A kid's least favorite thing to clean. Their rooms. And (along with under the bed), the very messiest part of kids' bedrooms would be...the closet.

I don't know if I've ever seen a closet messier than mine. It was a disaster. There were boxes in it, full of junk from our move. The move five years ago. Yes. It was bad. There were stuffed animals crammed in the corners; shoes that didn't fit anyone in particular jumbled on the floor; old sweaters stacked on the shelves. Sometimes it didn't even close.

Until yesterday.

For a very long time, we'd known we needed to clean the closet, but none of us wanted to do it. But at last, at Mom's urging, I decided it had to be done. Now. So, I recruited Lydia's help and together we completely – completely – cleaned out the closet. It looks so nice now! Finally...after five years. Hehe. It looks like we just moved in! And now we actually have a place to hang our clothes!

And from all this I learned something I didn't know before. Even fourteen-year-olds can hurt their backs.

Our Chickens

We live on six acres, and recently got our very first batch of chicks this past April. The 'chicks' are now almost eight weeks old, and have moved out into their coop (which is actually in our wellhouse). I have three that I named – Madi, Georgie, and Marion. We have five different kinds of chickens: Buff Orpingtons, Barred Plymouth Rock, Australorps, Black Sex-Links, and Gold Sex-Links. In total, we have twenty. Here are a few of them (I took these about a week ago):