Anxiety

I had a panic attack Friday morning, standing in my 1^st period class when the student on the morning announcements exclaimed jubilantly that it was FRIDAY, JUNE 1ST! It hit me that we are only 27 days (now only 24 days!!) away from hitting the road. The motor home renovations are coming along, but we still have a lengthy list of things to finish up, repair and organize.  I also thought it would be a good idea if I put together a spreadsheet to start tracking what we have spent on our little adventure.  All our expenses to date are related to renovations and repairs to The King and we've spent about $6500 on that so far.  Not bad considering a new motor home about the same size goes for at least $40,000, but still, it seems like a lot considering we haven't even pulled out of the driveway yet.  I'm feeling a little overwhelmed...

I took some pictures of the inside of the King a few weeks ago. No seats, loose wires, stuff everywhere...what a mess.

Good news, it doesn't look like this anymore. The radio is in and we've pretty much finished the electrical work inside. The only things still not working (that we know of) are the furnace and the oven. We can get the pilot light in the oven to light, but then it goes out, so the husband ordered some parts. He thinks he knows what the problem is. The parts haven't come in yet.

So, where has all that money gone?  Since the teen continues to eat us out of house and home he's now considerably taller than the husband (he's been taller than me since the 5th grade), and no longer fits on the bed made by lowering the table. So, we purchased a “Jackknife” sofa to replace the 2 broken down chairs we pulled out of the main seating area. It looks much nicer and folds down into a bed for the teen. It's also much more comfortable. It still needs to be bolted into place.

We also replaced the mattress in the back part of the cabin.  At 27 years old, the original was in pretty bad shape and considering the amount of sightseeing and walking we plan to do we decided it would be best.  It is, of course, an "odd size" and therefore had to be special ordered.  We're lucky to have a wonderful local company, Otis Bed Manufacturing, that made one exactly the right size in about a week.  I went to pick it up and was rather surprised at the size of the box...it seemed rather small:

The box also had very specific opening instructions and the man who put it in my car reminded me, more than once, not to open the box until we had it INSIDE the motor home.  It was packed in there pretty impressively.

 

We've made some repairs and improvements outside too. One of the awning brackets had come loose and was clearly at some point going to come off completely. The husband spent the better part of a weekend taking it apart, filing in the old holes with epoxy then repositioning and reattaching the bracket. It works much better now.

Finally, the boys picked out a great mother's day gift! A new spare tire cover!! Here's the old one:

And the new one the boys bought me:

I couldn't agree more!  Now let's just hope we don't need that spare tire!

Countdown

The countdown is underway!! We hit the road in only 50 DAYS!! We've made some progress on the motor home and the travel plans are coming along, but I have to admit my anxiety level is rising as the days tick away. The King is running well and we've made some other repairs, but still have lots to do!!

The husband and the teen spent the last couple of weekends chasing down the remaining electrical issues and we seem to have them all worked out. We installed 2 new house batteries that should allow us to run without plugging in for at least a couple of days. They also installed some vent covers on the roof vents so we can keep them open while we're on the road. The teen LOVED hanging out on the roof!

We have also been busy working out our route, finding places to camp and researching things to see. I started at the library where I signed out this book:

It looked like a great guide to the beauty and wonder of Americas' National Parks and I thought it would be really helpful. We never got past the first two chapters...which were all about avoiding bear and mountain lion attacks while in the parks. In case you're wondering, if you encounter a bear you should wave your arms and make lots of noise. If you should happen to run into a mountain lion your best bet is to duck your head and back away slowly. I would prefer not to need either strategy and visions of bears using the motor home as a giant tasty chew toy were stressing me out, so we returned that book. And bought this one:

Maps, tips, places to stay, things to do and see and great restaurant suggestions! It contains preplanned road trips and historical and cultural information and no scary bears. Much better!

Luckily, life hasn't been all work...I took the teen on a nice little educational trip to Washington D.C. over spring break. We had a great time, saw Monticello:

all the monuments and a handful of the many museums there. The teen loved the Air and Space museum:

 and the Newseum:

We also saw the Holocaust Museum, which is very well done but emotionally draining, and the American History Museum, with Dorthy's ruby slippers and Archie Bunker's chair. We had a great dinner at America Eats Tavern and stayed with some wonderful friends. We even got to spend a bit of time with my cousin and her kids!

We're moving into the more “fun” updates on the motor home (new cushions and seats and other creature comforts) so I hope to have some more updates soon! Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we'll be able to do a little more each weekend. 50 days...wow, we'll be on the road before you know it!

Spring Update

Wow...been a while since I've been here! The months have flown by and I can't believe that we're less than 3 months away from hitting the road. It's been pretty busy around here what with school and work and kids and all. Despite the winter that really wasn't we were able to be out on the slopes almost every weekend. The boys had a great season and the Teen added snowboarding to his repertoire. I don't think he'll be going back to skis...ever. He picked up boarding pretty fast and I can no longer keep up with him.

But, spring has arrived and travel preparations are in full swing. We had a REALLY unusual warm weather week and took the opportunity to remove what was left of the tarp covering the King for the winter.  It was in pretty bad shape and we were afraid that one good gust of wind would rip off the tarp and take the roof with it.   

Since we didn't win half a billion dollars in the lottery for a new RV, we're having some mechanical work done this week. We found a very colorful but great mechanic and dropped the King off Sunday night. He's been updating us each day and I'm really enjoying coming home from work and listening to his salty, no nonsense description of what new issue they found today and how he thinks we should deal with it. So far we have new rear brakes, repaired front breaks, some new engine oil cooler tubes, and a new temperature gauge. He also proclaimed the husbands electrical work “solid” and said everything else looks pretty good. We should be able to pick it up on Monday. The husband has quite a list of other repairs to make next week during spring break. He'll be replacing most of the marker lights along the top and today bought two new front seats that will have to be installed in the cab. We're also looking at replacing the two chairs and the table in the camper with a jackknife sofa that will flip down like a futon and probably be a more comfortable place for the Teen to sleep. We're hoping to have it ready in time for one more short test trip before we head west.

Speaking of heading west, we also have a date and a first destination!! Get ready Columbus Ohio cousins, because we're bringing the crazy bus to your house first, on June 27^th!! After spending a few days catching up we'll be heading west, most likely through St. Louis then west through Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Finally, my mom has an awesome sense of humor, found this and put it in my Christmas stocking. I'm so hanging it up inside the King when we pick it up next week!

Shhhh...It's sleeping

The King is sleeping. We've winterized it, parked it in the side yard and given it a ratty blue tarp for a blanket. I kinda wanted to decorate it for Christmas, but there's no outlet on that side of the house. I'm betting after one good “lake effect event” we'll be fishing that tarp out of somebody else's satellite dish.

Speaking of lake effect...we've yet to have any measurable snow here this year. Very unusual for these parts. Also discouraging as the boys are signed up for 2 days of ski camp next week. The boards are ready and skis tuned up and sharpened. Really hoping for some white stuff by the new year.

December has flown by and I really can't believe that it is now nearly 11 o'clock on Christmas Eve. Where did this fall go?? Our days have been filled with school, activities, and concerts, shopping, baking and wrapping. It's been so hectic that I dropped our cards in the mailbox this afternoon on our way to church. We did have time to squeeze in a few fun activities to help us find our Christmas spirit. Several years ago the husband bought me a mold for making gingerbread houses. Even thought the boys are getting older they still wanted to make them this year. We spent a Sunday afternoon decorating them, and the teen did a really good job on his. He put a candy guitar on the roof and decorated a gingerbread person to look like he was playing a guitar. Pretty cool huh!

I also spent an afternoon with the middle child and the little dude at the Niagara Holiday Market. It was an outdoor market with little booths set up and filled with primarily local products, some tasty treats to eat and a skating rink at the far end. We were there the day they held the ice sculpture contest. The sculptures were really cool, but of course, as I went to snap their picture in front of one of the biggest sculptures, they couldn't help but show off for the camera. I don't think he really licked it...

Finally, we spent this afternoon and evening with Grandma and Grandpa, enjoying a lovely dinner and just spending time together. The little dude is, for some reason, obsessed with dreidels (we are Lutheran). He came home from school earlier this week and loudly announced that he was going to “ask Santa to bring him a dreidel for Christmas.” I didn't have the heart to crush his 7 year old exuberance and curiosity, so there will be a small, red plastic dreidel in his stocking tomorrow morning. In the meantime, the husband turned a rudimentary one on his lathe this afternoon and Grandpa was a really good sport and played him for a handful of m&m's.

We have also been busy researching many National Parks and choosing interesting places to stop and see on our trip next summer. A teacher friend of ours had an exchange student a few years ago whose family came here to visit, rented an RV and went across the country. They kept an extremely detailed itinerary of all the places they stayed and things they saw, and we will likely follow some of their travel tips. The itinerary is, however, written only partly in English. Much of it is written in German. Could make for some interesting day trips!

And finally, the King hasn't been sitting totally idle since we tucked it away for the winter. It has been an awesome place to hide all the boys Christmas gifts! We used to hide them in the canoe hanging from the garage ceiling, but they discovered that hiding place last year. No peeking for them this year! Really, because the locks are frozen and the husband just informed that he needs the hairdryer. I'm hoping to thaw the lock and free the presents for “Santa.” And on that note, I would like to wish all of our friends and family a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Blessed Kwanza or Festive Festivus! Have a happy holiday and a Wiz Bang New Year!!   

Thankful

Whew...what a weekend! Our family had a wonderful thanksgiving, and we have so much to be thankful for. We started the celebration with the Middle Child's birthday...11 years old! We had a super fun party with some friends at Buffalo Comedysportz!

On to Thanksgiving, where a fabulous meal was prepared at Grandma's house, complete with a game of Whoonu and a ping pong tournament. We spent the weekend with family, enjoying great food and some unusually wonderful weather that afforded us a fun afternoon at the playground! The kids had a great time.

So, I am thankful. Thankful for all that I have, but most of all, for those I have in my life!

Happy Thanksgiving!  

Things I Will Miss

As exciting as this trip we are planning is, there are a few things that I will really miss next summer. One of them is our vegetable garden. As long as the husband and I have owned a home, we have always had a garden. When we lived in the Midwest and had a huge backyard we turned the sunniest corner into a patch of delicious tomatoes, zucchini, squash, broccoli, cauliflower and lettuce. Back in New York, on postage stamp size suburban lots, we continue to use at least part of the backyard to grow our own veggies and once the boys came along, enlisted their help in deciding what to grow. Their favorites are cherry tomatoes, pumpkins, corn and mammoth sunflowers. I love that they will just head out to the backyard on a sunny summer afternoon and make a snack out of cherry tomatoes straight out of the garden. As we will be gone for the majority of the local growing season next summer, we won't be planting our garden, and I will really miss having those wonderful fresh meals straight out of the backyard.

The garden did pretty well this summer. The first crops we enjoyed were delicious beans and snow peas. The purple beans are really fun! The plants have beautiful little purple flowers that turn into long dark purple beans that turn bright green when you cook them!

We also had lots of tomatoes this year. I made these stuffed tomatoes one night for dinner. They were delicious!!

Having this garden has also been a great way to get the boys to eat their veggies, and also to learn some kitchen skills. The little dude helped me make some kabobs one night from peppers, zucchini and tomatoes we picked earlier in the day. I don't know why food on a stick is so appealing, but the boys love it, and grilled veggies with a little Italian dressing are one of our summer favorites!

We are also fortunate to live in an area that has several farmers markets and “pick your own” farms. We love one in particular, Murphy Orchards. We made two trips there this year, one to pick cherries and another this fall to pick apples. We ate all the cherries we picked, but I was able to make some applesauce to enjoy this winter. We'll be home in time for apples next fall, but will miss cherries, blueberries and peaches, our other favorites.

The boys grew their own Halloween pumpkins this year, and carved them right in the garden. After Halloween, when the carved pumpkins get squishy and start to rot, they smash them into the garden and we bury them...compost to feed next years plants. The boys think it's great fun and the squirrels really enjoy all the seeds left behind!!

The garden is all done for this year, and we had our first snowfall yesterday. Just a few flakes, nothing that stuck to the ground, but enough of a reminder of another summer has come and gone. I snapped a picture of the last 2 roses left when I covered them up for the winter. Yellow ones, my favorite.

I'm hoping to be able to find lots of farm markets on our trip next year and have looked at some apps for my phone that will help locate them. I was encouraged to find some of our local markets on Yelp, hopefully other towns have their markets listed as well. While no garden is a small sacrifice to make for an adventure like this, nothing beats a tomato, warm from the sun, picked and sliced directly into your salad or on top of a juicy, fresh grilled burger. I'll miss those tomatoes...

School Pictures

I've never had a lot of luck with school pictures. Too many variables I suppose. When mom's not there, the collar may or may not get straightened, hair is often haphazardly combed, and not often the way it would usually be done. And the photographer has to snap pictures of around 300 bored and wiggly kids all in a few hours during the school day. I get that it's a nice little fundraiser for the PTA, but it often becomes a quantity over quality kind of thing. These pictures sit atop my piano for 12 whole months. 2 grandmothers hang them on their walls. And they are expensive!

Last year I had to work on picture day. I left the house before anyone else was even up, so it was up to the husband to get them “picture ready.” Now, the husband is a great guy, he packs lunches, helps with homework, and I think even makes them brush their teeth and make their beds most mornings. But God love him...this is what came home after last years picture day:

Sweet Jesus, I was not about to put that in a frame and have it follow me around the living room for the next 12 months! So this year, I came up with a plan. Avoid the inevitable argument with the teen about what to wear to school, no worries about boys who are not fond of hairbrushes, I'd let them just be themselves for the school pictures, and take them to the local portrait studio for nice “hang on the wall and give to grandma” pictures. I made an appointment for the end of the summer, when they would be nice and tan and full of fresh air and summer sunshine. After all, we live in the northeast, and if you wait until closer to the holidays, the color in their faces has often faded and then the pictures tend to look like they were taken during the last zombie apocalypse (see above). I made haircut appointments for the morning, picked out nice crisp shirts and ties and gave myself a big pat on the back for coming up with this fabulous idea!

Some of you know what happened next...and if you live in a house full of boys you can probably guess that all did not go according to plan. The morning before picture day the little dude came stumbling out of his room in his Star Wars pj's, hopping from foot to foot with that early morning look of urgency on his face. The teen was in the shower, so I waved him on into my room with instructions to just “use my bathroom, and make sure you flush...” He finished up and headed down stairs to breakfast without so much as a “good morning” and the next thing I heard was the husband SCREAMING “What happened to your eyebrows!!!” Complete and total silence followed...nobody was admitting to anything. I checked the bathroom and the evidence, tiny little fuzzy brown eyebrow hairs, were all over the sink and counter. He had used the husbands razor to cleanly and efficiently remove his eyebrows. Where he once had eyebrows he now had perfectly arched tan lines. When we calmed down I snapped a picture:

The inquisition began during breakfast. “Why on earth would you shave off your eyebrows?” “On what planet would this seem like a good idea?” “What on earth were you thinking??” Slowly, the story began to emerge. It seems that the middle child and a neighbor kid convinced him that he could score 25 large on America's Funniest Home Videos (is that show even on anymore?) if he shaved off his eyebrows then filmed his father's reaction and sent it on in. Alas, as 7 year old boys are not that well organized, he shaved without recording. I briefly considered bagging the whole picture day adventure and trying to take some kind of photos myself, but lets be honest, at best I would have ended up with something like these:

Now, seriously considering why on earth I agreed to spend 8 weeks in a 27 foot tin can with this group of nitwits, I decided to forge ahead and came up with another plan!! We headed to the mall for haircuts, and when the little dude was done I dashed him over to the department store makeup counter. I retold my tale of woe to a VERY Kind young woman who, with a look of horror on her face, penciled his eyebrows back in, we dressed them up in shirts and ties and headed upstairs to the portrait studio. It took a while, but we did end up with some very nice photos. Here's one of the three amigo's, they clean up pretty well:

The tie's a little crooked, but the eyebrows don't look too bad.  I sure hope grandma likes her copy!!