So Far This Summer...

Logged: 42  hours on the road.

And not done yet.

Trip 1:  May 5 - 9 ~ traveled to Omaha for Dominic's graduation

Trip 2: May 13 - 16 ~ traveled to Denver for friends' wedding

Trip 3: May 20 - 23 (this weekend) ~ traveled to Denver for Michelle's surprise Sweet 16 birthday party

Coming Up:

Approximately 100 more hours to travel!

Where to, you ask? 

Points east (anniversary trip with Dan the middle of June) -- and points west (Spokane and then California the beginning of July). And then, who knows?  

But one thing I do know:  by September, I'm so gonna be ready for a rest! 

Travel Tips From the Road Weary:

1.  Shoes

      a.  Flip Flops  or sandals ~  easy to get on and off at gas and potty stops...  Cheap and easy to replace if they get lost and replace the need for packing socks.

      b.  centralize shoe storage in the motel room and the car.  Make one spot where everyone leaves their shoes.

2.  Mass

      a.  When working parish-away-from-home arrangements for traveling Sundays, totally call ahead of time for directions and Mass times.  NEVER trust the internet information!  Updates and changes don't always make it to the computer!

     b.  Packing clothes  ~ It works for the big kids to pack their own Mass clothes in their own bags, but it's especially convenient to pack all the Littles's things together (including shoes) so we're not scrambling on Sunday morning.

    c.   Packing other important stuff ~ If you don't already have a family missal bag, they're invaluable to have on trips!  Make sure to have enough pockets or space for chapel veils, rosaries, and Kleenex!

3.  Miscellaneous

    a.  Snacks ~  Stick to the tried and true!  Familiar foods  that are already known to be "tummy friendly"  help keep the Littles happy both for the familiarity and for the lack of digestive issues.  Make special treats rare and appreciated.

   b.  Water ~  You can't bring too many bottled waters.  Even if you shy away from them in "normal time" for cost or environmental purposes, trust me -- they're worth the extra pennies and the green-guilt to have on a trip.  The half sizes are great for the "under ten" set.  Drinks other than water (particularly sugary ones!) are best kept to a minimum -- the exception to the rule, so to speak -- just for happy tummy reasons, if nothing else!

   c.  Book lights ~  Get one for each child.  They're worth their weight in gold for night travel!

   d. Entertainment

       1. I imagine DVDs would be awesome for making the time go by on a road trip, but we don't have one in our car, so, um --- well, I can only guess.  ;0)  If I had one, though, I'd choose my movies carefully to be sure they're not the variety that make the kids hyper.   (Y'all will have to let me know if this is really a problem.)

       2.  Books -- we bring about two per child and make sure they're the variety that are enjoyed by all in the younger set -- like the I Spy series, for instance.  The older children bring only two and are allowed a drawing pad, as well.  We have too many children in the car for everyone to bring a bookshelf.  Mom does bring a good selection of read-out-loud books, though, which can be passed around.

      3.  Toys -- Two per child and only two per child here, or else the car would become a rolling toy box.  Very special toys (those that cannot be lost without emotional distress) are only allowed with very strict admonition.

      4.  Coloring books --  We bring two or three which are passed around, along with zipper pouches of colored pencils.  And only colored pencils.  Markers can make a mess of upholstery, clothing, hands and faces; crayons will melt if (when!) left in a hot car. 

   e.  Rest stops ~ at least every two hours even if nobody needs to "go potty,"  because everyone's back and brain needs a rest.  The stop doesn't need to be more than ten minutes, but the Littles benefit greatly from a fun little ten-yard dash in the grass!  And, regardless of what the male-on-a-private-quest-for-land-speed record thinks -- the extra half hour or forty-five minutes akdded to the travel day is not going to matter in the long run...

*  This is just off the top of my head...  :0)  I'll let ya know if I think of any more!

**  Sorry only the one illustration here.  You probably know I'm all about illustrations...  But I'm typing this in our hotel room while the kids are all out with Dan and a bunch of the Denver parish church kids playing volleyball --  and I have troubles downloading images on this laptop.   (And a nap is calling me, so I must answer...  ;0)

Tata for now!

So, Someone Here Was Saying...

A man will goes shopping and spends two dollars on a one dollar item that he wants.

A woman will spend one dollar on a two dollar item she doesn't want.

Doesn't know where he heard this, but he swears it's true.
Whaddaya think?

Where We've Been and Gone and Done,

Headed out over the mountains to Denver on Friday

This is Mount Sopris, which towers over Aspen.  Caught this shot on the way home, actually.  By the time we reached the passes on the way out Friday night, it was too dark for pictures -- but it was snowing and icy on Vail Pass. Can you believe that?  The last week of May?  Two or three of the resorts, including Aspen, have re-opened for some skiing over Memorial Day weekend.  Amazing!

 
Attended the perfect wedding of dear friends Saturday.

It was all so beautiful. (sniff!)  Dan and I were both teary-eyed listening to the words of the blessings and prayers of the Nuptial Mass.  And the choir (Kevvy, Emily, Michelle, and Theresa all sang) was sublime!

Spent time with Kevvy and his girlfriend and our friend, sweet Emily.

 Took the gang to the Denver Natural History Museum on Monday.


Top to bottom, right to left:  Emily (you can just see her), Gabe (7), Anna (8),
Kevvy (22), Michelle (almost 16), William (5) Theresa (12),  Cathy (10)

Met up again with this guy, good old T-Rex.  (I only noticed later that William (l) and Gabe (r) had put on each other's shorts that morning...)



Reconnected with this old family friend, too, old Sabertooth.  You throw a coin in the lion's mouth and it roars, you see.  The children have been throwing pennies down this guy's throat since Paul (our oldest) was a toddler.  That's a long time, folks.  We have quite a collection of pictures with various children posing just lilke this...  :)  (Cathy this time.)

 Then headed back home Monday afternoon after a nice lunch in downtown Denver at Johnny Rocket's  Diner (of which I was too busy stuffing my face and fooling around to take any pictures).

Somewhere near McClure Pass.

And, now here we are back home again.  Let me tell you, it felt good to sleep in our own beds last night!  Today is the children's last full day of school for the year.  I'm spending the day catching up on the laundry from the weekend and calculating final grades for my art and English class students today.  Then tomorrow we start to get ready for the next trip -- which I'll detail later.  It's going to be a busy summer!

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Eye on the Sky...

 And Everything Else!

The view on the way home after a rosary walk Thursday.

(Best when viewed larger.  Click to see the bigger pic!)

For an eye on the sky all over the world today, go check out Skywatch!

Heading out on yet another road trip this afternoon for the much-anticipated wedding of a dear old family friend (a young old friend, mind you -- a beautiful young woman who grew up with our sons!) -- but we'll be back Monday evening. Praying to St. Christopher for a good journey again!  (Do you suppose good St. Chris does frequent traveler miles?)   Here's hoping everyone has a wonderful, safe, and blessed weekend!

Is this cool, or what?

H/T: Sr. Kazimiera

Just a little bit of the...

Love.

We're back from our whirlwind weekend in Omaha. We survived the road trip -- and got to spend Saturday with Jon, Dominic and Michelle and our adopted Omaha family of friends.  It was loads of fun --  just getting the Littles together with their big brothers and sister is so sweet. 

 But time passes too quickly.  Michelle is back in Colorado with us, but is spending a couple of weeks on the eastern slope before we get her to ourselves -- and Jon and Dominic...  Well, we'll just see them whenever we can, as they're both settled in Nebraska; Dominic, officially graduated now, is happily ensconsed as a postulant in the seminary and Jon has a good job working at the hospital in Omaha, and is preparing to enter culinary school. It's all good.  And it was so good to see our boys, but now that we're home, we miss their dear faces all the more!  Thank goodness for cameras! And cell phone family plan!. 

  I hope everyone is enjoying these first days of summer vacation and is finding blessings in the changing of routines and weather.  (Both can be a challenge sometimes!  Yikes!  But then an opportunity for grace, consequently, too!  I keep having to remind myself of  that...)  I'll try to find time to visit and post as our busy summer plans unfold!

* Please 'scuse the unfocused pics; I've got a new fancy camera that I'm trying to learn how to use.  Argh.  It'll be worth it in the end to acquire the skill, but it's stretching my brain and patience now!

Road Trip!

Itinerary:

* Western Colorado to Omaha, Nebraska, leaving Thursday, arriving Friday evening
* Spend day with Omaha Kids, Michelle, Jon, and Dominic on Saturday
* Attend Dominic's graduation ceremony on Sunday*
* Leave for home Sunday afternoon, arrive Monday evening.

!!  If you see Dominic, though, don't tell him we're coming.  It's a surprise!

Packed:
* Clothes  and shoes for four children** and two adults for four days + Mass clothes and shoes
* Lunch fixin's for app. four days (assuming continental breakfasts at motels and dinners out)
* Package from Sr. C. to Fr. G. in Omaha
* Scads and tons of entertainment for the trip
-- colored pencils
-- markers
-- drawing paper
-- coloring books
-- Mad Libs
-- the June Readers' Digest
-- the manual for my new camera (A whole other post!)
-- books
   * Runaway Ralph
   * Once Upon a Time Saints, volumes I and II
   * The Little World of Don  Camillo
   * A Treasury of Laughter
   * Do My Ears Ever Stop Growing? And 70 Other Questions That Keep You Awake At Night
   * The Far Side Gallery
   * Time for Learning: The States
   * Saint Margaret Mary (Cathy's personal reading)
   * Spyderwick, books I and II (Anna's personal reading)
   * five selections from the Dr. Seusse library (Gabe's personal reading)
   * The Deeds of the Disturber (My Amelia Peabody mystery--not like I'll have a chance to actually read it, but hope springs eternal...)
   * I Spy:  Treasure Hunt, and Year Round Challenger
   * Can You See What I See?  Treasure Ship
-- Four book lights

Who needs a built-in DVD, I ask you?

Have a good weekend, everyone!
We'll be back online on Tuesday.  :)
 Pray us in safe if you have a minute?

* Dominic officially graduated after the first semester and then entered the Seminary (where he's still doing very well and seems very happy) -- but he's "walking" for his diploma this weekend.
** Only four children are going instead of our five at home because Theresa just couldn't disappoint her teacher and her class by not showing up for the "Knowlege Bowl" this Saturday to represent our school.  She's staying with the Sisters while we're gone -- and will do us the favor of walking home every day to take care of the animals.

William and I Love This Song!

We just cut a rug across the living room floor dancing to it.
And I'm tellin' ya.  We did twists and flips and twirls, too!
But, um...
 I guess it's not a good idea at my age to jitterbug with a five-year-old.
Too much temptatin to bend, lift, throw and catch!
 (Don't tell my chiropractor!)

Unfortunately (or fortunately)  I don't expect this is the last time I'll be remembering it's not a good idea --

after the fact,

with an icepack on my neck...

Mothers' Day: After Mass

 Me and our 11th, the inimitable William.  See my dandelion chain?  Anna made that, and Gabe brought me a dandelion to put behind my ear, though you can't see it in the pictures.  Dan and Cathy and Theresa stayed through second Mass to run support for the Mothers' Day brunch the school children were hosting -- and the Littles and I stayed home and played.  Later on I am told I get to sample some gourmet cuisine ala' Dan and kids.  And I'm just now getting ready to look at all my cards.  Life is good.  Hope everyone else's Mothers' Day is blessed!

Strong Women I Love and Admire

A Mothers' Day Tribute

Pictured here: My great grandmother, Wilhelmina Metz, who raised a family under the most difficult of circumstances.  Raised Catholic, she was forced to relinquish her faith by her husband (God help him, he was not a good husband...), but found it again on her deathbed.  My Dad, who was a family rebel for having converted to the faith, was the only family member she "recognized" in the last hours before her death, and it was with perfect lucidity and tears in her eyes that she joyfully told him: " Chuck, I'm back in the Church.  I'm back in the Church."  A strong and dear woman.

Pictured here: Three generations of my Dad's family, including my great grandmother, Wilhelmina and on her right, my grandmother, Renetta.  My Baltimore city granmother, Renetta (we called her Mommom) raised five sons through the worst of the Depression.  My grandfather was a plumber who didn't believe in Unions (a man of intelligence, my grandfather), but overwhelmed by the difficulties of his time, I think, he became an alcoholic.  My grandmother had an amazing head for accounting, though, and remarkable efficiency and thriftiness that together with great fortitude and stubborness held the family together.  She was a strong and amazing woman.

Pictured here: Dan's grandmother, Wilda became a widow after only three to four years of marriage when her husband was killed in a train accident (he worked at the train yards).  Wilda had to make the difficult decision to leave her two young sons (Dan's dad and uncle) with her mother while she went to work in a distant city.  Then, when she met Dan's step-grandfather, she relocated from Pennsylvania all the way to California where she became mother to her new husband's three children as well as her own two boys.  I have never heard anything but the tenderest admiration for this loving mother.  A strong and courageous woman.

Shown here:  Wilda's mother (that's little Wilda in the front holding her mother's hands) and Dan's great grandmother, Rachel, who gave strength to Wilda at the death of her husband and unquestioningly took on the care of her infant and toddler grandsons when their mother had to relocate.  Then when Wilda remarried and moved to California, their grandma had to love those two little brown-eyed boys from a distance.  (As a grandma of a baby  in California, I can sympathize with how great that distance is -- and I'm in Colorado, not Pennsylvania!).  Rachel was a strong and loving woman.

Pictured here:  My Momma, Susan (with my big brother, Steve) raised seven children while juggling the challenges of being the wife of a  career Navy officer.  She held us all together through years of relocations and separations from my Dad (though it was peace time and his duties were never long ones), and instilled in all of us siblings a great loyalty and love for one another  and the greatest admiration and appreciation for her and Dad.  My Mom: a strong and dear woman.

Pictured here: Dan's Mom, Sharon (shown here with her first great grandson, Gavin), started out as a military wife, then supported Dan's Dad through many years moving upward to the nosebleed echelon of California civil service -- while working, herself, as a nurse.  She went on to become a highly regarded professional in women's cancer research. And, most importantly (to us, anyway;) she raised a very wonderful son.   Sharon is an amazing and strong woman.

Pictured here: Our daughter-in-law, Nicole, is  raising her first son (super-cutie, wonderboy, Gavin) for the most part so far, alone in California, while Paul is training clear across the country in North Carolina.  She's learning all the ins-and-outs of military life and handling everything that comes up courageously by herself -- and acing  it all.  We're so proud of her!  Another strong and dear woman.

Pictured here: Mary the Mother of God.  Lived in poverty, crowned Queen of Heaven and the Universe,  raised the Saviour of Mankind, crushes the head of Satan, given to mankind as our Mother by Christ,  steps into help her children wherever and whenever she's asked, always  listens, always understands, always knows what's best.  Our Mother, Mary.  The strongest, the dearest, the most loving.

Happy Mothers' Day to the Queen of Mothers!

Happy Mothers' Day to all the dear, strong women out there!

Low-tech Woman in a High Tech World



Petra --Book art by Brian Dettmer.
You've got to go check this guy out!



We've been using Google since the nineties here at our homeschooling household, and, let me tell you, it was a heaven-sent replacement for our garage-sale-set of 1959 World Book Encyclopedias*.  But I have to admit I do miss leafing through those musty pages, following the reference leads from book to dusty book.

 I have a cell phone, too, of course and am always grateful for the security of instant contact in an emergency -- not to mention the ease of communicating with our far-flung family.  And,  no kidding, texting is the bomb!  But, man oh man, is it hard now to really remove myself from distraction; focus on anything from prayer to following a recipe is almost always interrupted by a text or phone call. (Bless you, though, children, this does not mean I want you calling or texting less!  I'm just sayin'...)



A prenatal MP3 player...
Get yours here!

  I have an MP3 player, but have fond memories of record albums and 8-track tapes.  I had a wonky 8-track player in my first car that played everything in high speed;  Monster Mash is hysterical when the  Beachboys sound like chipmunks.  And I still enjoy listening to music on the radio -- just for the unexpectedness of it.  The MP3 player never plays songs I don't like, but it also never serves up anything new, either.


It's an amazing technological world our children are growing up in.  And it's wonderful and exciting, but I have to admit that it worries me, too.  Though we have Blue Ray players and laptops and wireless Pandora at our house....  we've tried hard to keep things real, too.  We've brought our children up in a farm setting so that they would understand the cycle of life and the beauty of God's providence in nature.  We've tried hard to instill a good work ethic and a core of creativity and practical ability.  All the kids know how to cook, for instance, and can figure out how to corale an escaped cow into the barn if needed.  They can play for hours with nothing but chalk and rocks and jumpropes.   And time to curl up with a good old-fashioned book is a luxury they all enjoy.


Here.

  But they are still children of the digital age. There's no getting around the fact that the world is spinning around our babies very, very quickly and it's all very enticing.  Everything is instantaneous and loaded with fireworks.  Anything a child could possibly want is at his fingertips -- a click away.  If a kid wants to be a ship's captain and sail the seven seas, he doesn't have to read a book or play pretend with his Leggos, or learn how to sail so someday he can own his own boat--  all he has to do is click a couple buttons, fly through Paypal, skip the tutorial, and he's off in an amazingly detailed and exciting adventure on the high seas -- in a video game.  Easy.

And, sure it's fun, but is this high tech, high speed environment really good for "growing up"  our next generation? Is it good for the psyche of our nation that these things are taken for granted? Since I'm an "old-timer,"  I can Google my research but still remember how to use an encyclopedia; I can enjoy my cell phone and appreciate not being lassoed by a phone cord to one room in our house; I can slip in my earbuds and power walk to Jack Johnson, but remember the hours of Statler Brothers spinning on the turntable of my parents' stereo when I was a kid...  And I like having that history.  This next generation doesn't have the comparisons and appreciations that my peers and I do.  Children today arrive in this world on a Disney digitally-simulated rocket ride into space -- and don't remember the rickety old wooden roller coasters of my youth... 



No babies really inhaled nicotine
in the making of this image --
we certainly do hope...

 And I haven't even touched on the topic that worries me the most: the sad fact is that a lot of what's "out there" is not as wholesome as the high seas adventure computer game I mentioned -- but it's just as easily accessed.   How do we work around not only the innocent diversions of our high tech world, but the dangerous temptations and the evil that is also just a click away?  How can parents and educators compete with it all -- and teach children enough focus that they can really apply themselves to anything amidst all the distraction?

Our second son, Kevvy, has a blog where he discusses a lot of these issues dealing with education and technology and it's interesting to see his take on these things.    He recently linked to an educator in a high-tech high school who  lamented:

Not long ago, students would ball up scraps of notebook paper and pass them around the room. They now instant message three friends at once. Boys would tuck copies of Sports Illustrated under their textbooks — now they open another tab at SI.com. They no longer fold elaborate fortune-tellers out of loose-leaf; instead they go online to check horoscopes or play role-play games. When I spoke at a conference last year on being a young teacher in a progressive technology school, the most important understanding shared was that I was not as interesting as what they could pull up on their screens.  (Find the link to the rest of the article here.)



Cartoon taken from Paul Silli's blog post
 "Why Should School Districts Invest in
Technology."



It's a puzzle, isn't it?  What are ya gonna do?  It's not like technology is just here for a trial run and we can decide against it....  We don't have too much trouble in our world keeping tabs on things, though; our Catholic school kids' experience is low tech for the most part and closely supervised, and we can easily control our homeschoolers' use of the computer, --but it's easy to see how gadget control in the classroom could be a problem in the larger world.  If it's not laptops, it's cell phones; and if it's not cell phones, it's ipods...  Kids these days!  =sigh= 

I guess there's consolation in the fact that every new "modern day" has its unique problems.  Our great grandparents worried about the dangers of electricity and our grandparents watched the effects of television with a wary eye (and rightly so, imho) -- and the effects of these inventions have been enormous -- but most of the world  now takes them for granted. For better or worse.

If only the better part of discrimation came with the worst part of all the access; if only wisdom came with the knowlege. Like most new things, we always have been and always will be able to choose how much -- and whether or not -- we use technology.  It's not all bad.   I'm convinced that there are ways of harnessing the use of modern technology to enhance education and further our society in good and wholesome ways.  And I know that there are teachers and parents out there right now who are working toward this goal...  But it does seem like a the very nature of the problems with our day's new inventions makes them difficult to control.  Information is everywhere!  And it's not all good, either.  It scares me for the upcoming generations.  Too often our worst instincts take over and before we know it, the lowest common denominator becomes the norm. 

Horse and Buggy Days -- Paul Detlefsen

 But don't get me wrong -- I'm not living like the Amish here in Western Colorado; I'm as addicted to technology as anybody. (Check it out: I have a blog!)  But I still wonder if we weren't really better off in the days of the horse and buggy when we provided our own entertainment -- by writing letters and sending them by snail mail, by playing our own music instead of listening to someone else's recording, by reading stories aloud instead of watching television, by enjoying nature instead of playing the wii, and by talking with each other in person instead of texting.  I wonder if we weren't happier when we had less.  When we saw and heard less and perhaps understood more.  I mean, when life was slower don't you think enjoyment may have been sweeter?

Wouldn't you like to live in a Jesse Wilcox Smith kind of world?

I would.

But, then,  before I had internet access, I don't think I knew who Jesse Wilcox Smith was...  And in less than ten minutes, I was able to download seven of her beautiful paintings and share them with others who might not have ever heard of her. 

So, hmmm... Technology: good or bad?

I don't know.  It's complicated.


*  Just an interesting aside:  Check out how to repurpose old encyclopedias:  Hints from Heloise, June, 2010