Adventure

Last August I traveled (alone) to Oregon to visit a dear friend and her family who were temporarily living there as a result of her husbands job.

I had never been away from my kids save the occasional sleepover.
6 days I'd be gone and an airplane would be involved.
I had sold a major chunk of my homeschooling materials to help finance the trip.
It was quite an adventure.

I had every intention of journaling the whole trip, but I only really captured the first day in words. Well, not even the whole first day, just the flight. The rest is just pictures and memories. Over the next few weeks (because I must not have enough to do between school planning, school, football and volleyball practices, painting the rest of the house, and keeping up with my regular household routine) I plan to get at least some of the memories in writing.


This was Day 1. Word for word as I captured the events in my journal.



Saturday, August 4. Austen Straubel Airport. 6 a.m.

A small, slow, old Hispanic woman with a child in tow, the last to board the flight leaving just before mine, left her purse at security.

She spoke no English and all of her identification was in the bag.

Her airplane was already being “pushed out” of the gate. The airport employee at the counter tried to stop the plane by calling but was unsuccessful. “Call the tower!” I heard over the walkie-talkie. “The plane appears to be stopped.” she responds as she dons a reflective vest and runs from the terminal, purse in hand.

From my seat inside I see her appear on the tarmac. The pilot sticks his whole body out of the little window of the cock pit poised to catch the handbag.

Inside, people are watching, wondering if she’ll make a good throw.

Heave...He catches it on the first attempt. As the ticket lady returns to the terminal applause erupts.

A good deed not gone unnoticed. What a lovely way to start my adventure. I wish I had gotten a shot of that.

7:55 a.m. Minneapolis Airport
Well, that was a bumpy flight. Cool though.

I’m sitting in Burger King drinking Caribou Coffee eating my candy bar. Thanks Wendy!

9:30 am
I just walked around the whole airport- You can buy iPods from vending machines. They have TWO starbucks and all kinds of other shops.

I walked/rode on the moving walkway just cuz I could.

I think Concourse F is the hottest and stinkiest place in the whole airport. That’s where I will take off from.

10:30 am
Oh My Gosh! Airforce One is here! President Blush landed to look at the bridge collapse. I saw lots of helicopters and military when we landed but - hey, this IS an airport.

I betcha HE smells good.

11:51 am
Our plane was supposed to take off at 11:25- we’re still parked. The President has delayed our flight (everyone’s actually) It’ll probably be about 30-40 more minutes the pilot says.

12:37 pm
We were next in line for takeoff when the pilot detected a mechanical error. Something about attitude. We’re on our way back to the gate to fix the plane.

12:51 pm
Now it’s raining and someone farted.

The lady behind me is threatening to walk home. I say let her. She’s complaining about everything.

The lady in front of me just put her seat back.

Thank goodness I’m alone.

There are 2 babies that I can hear. I hope they are okay. I’d hate to be their parents right now.

? pm
I have no idea what time it is.

The mechanic was not waiting for us at the gate

- wait a little -

Mechanic in - part in and checked, paper work done!

Shift change everyone working at Concourse F (the stinkiest place in the world) has gone home

- wait a little more -

YEAH the new shift has arrived, there is someone to push us back. We taxi to the runway.

There is a discrepancy on the passenger list, we must wait some more.

I can’t turn on my “electrical device” to see what time it is.

The father of the baby sitting somewhere behind me has invited those annoyed by his infant to talk to the pilot. The baby is doing wonderful in my opinion. It was probably Miss Crabby Pants behind me. He has also offered the job of holding his son to any volunteer.

It’s still raining, I’m feeling warm and a little claustrophobic. At least the people in from of me have their seats in the upright position.

I dropped my pencil.

Brand new mechanical pencil with extra erasure bought just for this trip.

The pilot was right, there was something wrong with the attitude.

2:18 pm
We’re in the air. “Beverages are complimentary on this flight.” The Flight attendant says. “Turn to page 127 of your WORLD TRAVELER magazine and have your selection ready when we come to you.”

My pages are ripped out - AND - my copy is old. The girl next to me shares hers. She’s also skinny enough to bend down to reach my pencil.

PEPSI products!

I wonder what those arrows mean on the wing? I know, really, but it’s fun to think about.

5:24 pm Portland, Oregon
I’m here. The flight attendant apologized for the 2.5 hour delay and says, “ I wish WE could blame it all on the President.”

Chance Encounter

I love the novelty of the bus.

I love that neighbors or walkers by stop and ask for a peek inside or simply give their opinion on the paint scheme. (Overwhelmingly, Partridge Family style)

I love it when little kids talk about it as they ride their bikes by.

I just think it's cool.

Today's encounter was too delightful to not blog about.

While I was helping Hayden with the ladder (he's painting the trim around the windows) a man in a pickup parked in front of the house, got out, and proceeded to inquire about the woman 3 houses down.

"Do you know if she moved?"

Not really knowing WHY he would be asking I didn't really disclose any information. The fact that I had no clue as to her whereabouts anyway must have shown on my face because he continued,

"She drove bus for us at Lamers last year and she's the only driver out of the 130 that we could not contact to see if they were going to continue."

I told him that yes, I had seen the bus parked there but that I really had no clue if she had moved away. Then, I pointed towards the bus...

If he were a cowboy, I think he would have whooped, hollered, smacked his own behind and thrown his hat in the air.

"Which one is she? Did you get her from the farm?" He asked.

"391, straight from Lyle, would you like to see what we've done?"

"Well, I'll be... What a cool idea. You'll have to drive it on over to the office when you're done so the guys can see her."

He took the grand tour, we chatted for awhile and then he needed to be on his way.

I think I was glowing as much as I did when I had a new baby to show off.

Seats, Seatbelts, Carpet? Check

We're 99% legal!

The only thing we need to do to be legal to drive Errabundus Bus is paper work! Which is handy as we are only 32 days away from her first outing.

We need to flag down a police officer or drive down to the DMV and have them fill out a form stating that she is no longer a school bus, get some plates to slap on, and contact our insurance agent. When I called him earlier in the process for information he stated that in order to be insured as an RV we need to have a working toilet or sink and no more than 15 seats for passengers. Mainly, he informed me, to assure his underwriters that we are not driving a party bus like this.

(Viewer discretion advised)



We laid pad and carpet before leaving on vacation and Matt finished bolting down the seats yesterday. Only 8, so we're good there. I wonder if having a birthday party sleepover for 11 year olds would constitute as a party bus in State Farm's terms? We just won't tell him.


This week I will be shopping for the kitchen/bathroom flooring. I'm thinking bamboo. Matt is working on finishing up the closets as we speak so we'll have a place to store our clothes. There are still lots of trim work and details to see to but nothing of vital importance that will keep us from traveling next month.

The kitchen will be put on hold for a winter project because I cannot possibly make any more decisions regarding the future needs of our cooking area as we have everything we need to do all our cooking out doors. Sorry, no flame thrower.

Hands On Learning

Last weekend, my parents took the kids to the zoo. Does it look like this porcupine is hot to you? That's an ice block he's cuddling.

The boys dutifully posed for every shot Hailey asked them to, doing things they would NEVER do on their own.

They drank all the soda that was offered and snacked their way through the grounds.

Do you think Hailey will make us go in THERE? I had a really hard time getting out of the snake den.

Summer Vacation

I have debated (does that surprise you?) on whether or not to take the computer on vacation with us. It's not a laptop, but it would be completely portable.

I've decided it's not going with us. As much as I'd love to, along with it would come the "can I have computer time" voices that haunt my days at home.

So, I'll see you when I return.

We're going to China.

The Letter

I may have mentioned once or twice how much we like football at our house. (and here)

Griffin has been patiently counting the years until he would be eligible to try out for the West Side Wolverines, our local 5th-8th grade football program. Well folks, this was the year.

Saturday morning was Skill Testing day, where they received their number and the try out process began. Each day this week they've been working on the basics for 2 hours in the hot muggy afternoons. Griffin is #546.


And the catch was GOOD!
Yesterday, was Letter Day. After practice each boy received a sealed envelope and STERN instructions as to proper unfurling etiquette.

Not on the park grounds.
Not in the car.
Not until your arrival at home.
If it was discovered that you peeked before hand, your position on the team (if you made it) was in jeopardy.
If you made it and teased or mocked someone who did not make the team, your position was in jeopardy.
If you made the team, your equipment was only to be worn AT PRACTICE.
You are NOT allowed to wear your equipment to play with your brothers in the back yard.
And you are NOT to let your brother wear your equipment to play with you in the back yard.

Each letter contained either a "Congratulations" or "Thank you, try again next year"


We went straight home unlike Parker's family...
who had to stay later due to the fact that his big sister was trying out for the Cheer leading team for the Wolverines and their practice was held immediately following the boys.

Unlike his buddy Jake (no photo available) who's dad had to run to the grocery store on his way home from practice.






The phone calls started coming about 30 minutes later. Parker and Jake also made the team!

Do you think it would be cruel to tell him now of my plans to move the whole family to New York.

I suppose it would.

I'll just have to cheer for Brett from here. Through my sobs.

My True Colors

I've been avoiding all the speculative talk of the fate of Brett Favre, or the Packers for that matter.

To hope was like salt on an open wound.

Every time anyone started that conversation, I outright told them I only wanted to know the outcome, not what they thought was going to happen. If you were around here in March you may remember how much stress his retirement caused me. We took a whole week off of school for goodness sake!

Well, tonight, I think he's back.

He's back! (I think)

He's back! (I think)

If this doesn't turn out my way, I may not be able to handle fall.