Friday, November 23, 2012

Just some 'mom' thoughts on a day of THANKS...

Day 60

Thanksgiving Day

Two years ago I didn't know that a few weeks later I would find myself in the hospital in a total relapse of MG.  It's hard to believe that it has only been two years.  So much has happened.  So much has changed.

Tonight, I count my blessings, because I am truly and richly blessed.

I am blessed with a God who loves me unconditionally, despite my many failings.

I am blessed with a faith that gives me strength to move forward every day knowing that my God is in control and that there is nothing that I cannot handle through Him.  With HIM, all things are possible.

I am blessed with a loving, supportive husband.  Without him, my life would be incomplete.

I am blessed with 5 beautiful, healthy children.  Each with their own personalities.  They give my life purpose.

I am blessed with extended family, not only my own, but those that I gained when I married Danny.  They have shown me love and acceptance.

I am blessed with friends.  Some I have known 40+ years, I value the memories that we have built, some I have known for far less a span of time, but their's is a friendship that I value more than time can bring, and then there are those friends whom I have never actually met, they have blessed me with a gift unknown before the advent of social media.  I feel blessed to call so many 'friend'.

I am thankful for the gift of life.  I am thankful for the gift of memory.  Less than two years ago I was unsure what life held for me and I was unsure how much of it I was going to be able to hold on to.

Life is a blessing.  Live it well.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Getting the hang of it...

Day 59

We are back in Orlando.  We left Suwannee River at 11AM; one hour later than intended.  We made it a whole hour before having to pull over for our first restroom break, which actually worked out well; we just went ahead and had some lunch.  I've gotten better at packing the inside of the trailer.  I was able to get to the kitchen and make sandwiches.  I really had not planned on everyone else coming in and eating inside, but that is how it ended up working out.  The dining table is fairly accessible.

We were at Turkey Lake Park and actually set-up by 4 o'clock.  Yes, that means it took us 5 hours to make a 3-1/2 hour drive.  But, I'll take it!!!  I feel good about it.  Everything seemed to go really smooth.

I'm not all that thrilled to be back at Turkey Lake Park.  The last week has really spoiled me.  It has been really great to be out living our adventure.  But we have things to do here in Orlando and then we will head out again.  It will also give us a chance to get by the church and get the trailer blessed.  I had hoped to do it before we headed out the first time, but I just couldn't coordinate our schedule with Fr. Roland's.  I was disappointed when we headed out without having had it done, so this time I will be more conscientious of our time.

I know that I missed a few days posting our activities, so I'm going to zip us back in time.  Are you ready?  OK, rewind...

Day 57 -

We go up and hiked the footpaths at the Suwannee River State Park.  My goodness, it is beautiful!!!  We had to drag Hannah out of bed.  She really thought that I would let her skip out on the adventure. Silly girl, this is a family adventure and there were pictures to be taken!!!  Aunt Kathy had specifically requested them.  So we drug her out of bed and she begrudgingly tagged along.  You can see her animosity in this picture:

I'm pretty sure that is why Samuel is giving her that look.  :)

I think she ended up enjoying herself.  It was a great time.  The kids climbed trees, and on to rocks that hung over the river.  They played at a waterfall that was fed by a spring.  They tasted their first non-bottled spring water.  They threw cedar nuts at each other and made very off-colored jokes about the cedar nuts that we were carrying back to the campsite in our pockets.  We laughed A LOT.

When we got back, we ate some lunch and packed up all of the laundry that had accumulated while we were at The Florida Caverns and headed out to find a laundromat.  The washer and dryer cost $2.00 each at the caverns and I refused to pay it!!  You can never trust that the dryer is going to work in one cycle, so I had to guess that it was going to cost me $6.00 to wash a small load.  I just could not do it.  My sister had told me about 'Find Around Me', an app that I had downloaded, so I searched for Laundry Mats and found one near a WalMart.  Danny dropped Samuel and I off at the laundromat and he and the rest of the kids headed out to do some quick shopping.  Timing was pretty good.  After I was finished folding the last of the laundry, I gave Danny a call and he was already on his way back to get me.  Everything worked out great AND he had picked up a couple of Hungry Howie's pizza for dinner.  A perfect day!

Day 58

With my laundry done, I had planned on spending some time cleaning.  Our home is small and it doesn't take much to make it dirty.  After I had my fair share of coffee and being lazy, I kicked the kids out of the house and cleaned the bathroom and mopped the floors.  Ewww, the dust and dirt accumulates quickly.  I vacuumed, wiped down the counters, put a few things away and WOW, what a difference.  It is so much nicer when you can actually see the dining table and sofa.  The only other thing that I had planned for this day was to go to The Spirit of the Suwannee and see their bat house.  My old neighbor had told me about it, which is actually what led us to the Suwannee in the first place.  (Thanks, Robin.)  It was pretty amazing.  According to their website, it is the largest known bat house in the United States and can hold 1/2 million bats.  Ewww, can you imagine the guano???  Well, just in case you can't, I took a picture of it for you:
Yep, that's it, all piled up under the house.  

I took more pictures than just that one, I promise.  I even took a video and just as soon as I figure out how to post it, I promise that I will.  The video is much better than any of the pictures that I took of the bats leaving the house.  I tried to use the 'low lite' setting on my camera so that I didn't have to use a flash and disturb the bats (really, I was more concerned that the flash might confuse the bats and cause them to fly toward me), so the still shots show a whole lot of nothing.  But with the video, you can see them and hear them.  It was pretty cool.  They just kept coming out...thousands of them.  Then, as if that wasn't enough excitement for one evening, we went to the ice cream parlor there on the campground and had fresh, homemade ice cream.  Hannah got a root beer float, Jacob had vanilla chocolate chip, Samuel had peanut butter cup, and gosh, I don't remember what Gracie had.  But here's the best part...I had strawberry, cheesecake.  It had just been made the day before.  YUMMY!! It actually had chunks of cheesecake IN it.  It was delicious.  And after I finished mine...I got to taste everyone else's.  They were pretty stingy, everyone except Gracie.  She was the first one up offering.  Dang, I sure wish I could remember what flavor she had.

Well, that was it.  That was our flashback in time.  It was a great first week!!

Thanks for flying with us!!


Sunday, November 18, 2012

Civil War Reenactment...

...and a battle in the shower.  :)

Day 56

We woke the kids up early.  There was a Civil War Reenactment at The Spirit of the Suwanee Music Park and I didn't want to miss anything.  I had been told that it started at 9AM and we still needed to stop by the Ranger station and check in.  We got there at about 8:45 and the gentleman at the gate looked at his watch and said, "Well, you're a little early...".  I thought, only 15 minutes???  Well, Danny saw a cafe and he was hungry, so we pulled in there first.  They had an "all you can eat" breakfast buffet for $8.00.  We decided you couldn't beat that - I can eat enough bacon to more than make up for that.  So we went in and sat down.  It was a very small cafe and it was pretty much 'serve yourself'.    The hostess was pleasant and brought us drinks.  The buffet was the only choice, so there was no thought involved.  Grab a plate and serve yourself...get to eating.

Some women came in dressed in period clothing and sat at the table next to us.  Danny asked them when everything began.  They informed us that the battle was at 2:00.  So we filled our bellies and went back home.  The kids took a hike and I took a nap.

We got back there at about 1:45 and it was 'cash only'.  Danny and I were the only ones who had to pay and it was just $6 each, but we were only able to scrape up $6 total.  We asked about an ATM and she said that the battle was about to begin and let us in.  We got to the battlefield just in time.

The kids seemed to enjoy it and never seemed to get bored.  Jacob never really complained about the noise either; although he did tell his father that his ears were probably going to hurt later.  We guessed who was going to win and sure enough, we were right.  I'm not going to tell you though, you'll have to read your history books for yourself.  :)

After we got home, I fixed some dinner.  Samuel had dragged a huge branch home earlier from his hike and they broke it up and we had a nice fire to eat dinner by.

The kids all got their showers and while Danny cleaned up the kitchen (thank you, honey), I went down to the bathhouse to get a shower.  I had all of my stuff set up when I noticed a HUGE spider in the stall with me.  I tried to scare him out.  I'm not really afraid of spiders, I just don't want them in the room with me.  I fully believe that they serve a great purpose; like eating the bugs that I am afraid of, but he needed to leave the stall or I would forever wonder where he was...like hiding in my slipper.  Well, once I decided that he wasn't going to leave, I figured my only alternative to stepping on him, was washing him down the drain.  He gave up an amazing fight, but I finally won.  I got him down the drain and I could still see him clinging on underneath.  I gave the drain a good whack and I could not longer see him.  Convinced that he was gone, I went about showering...all the time keeping an eye on the drain.  After several minutes, I relaxed and went about showering without worry.  Just before I was done, I noticed him hovering in the corner behind me.  He was pretty soaked and trying to get his legs to work.  (Ewww!  Shivers just ran up my spine as I typed that.)  I quickly got my stuff out of there and started drying and dressing as quick as I could.  I could see him starting to move...kicking his spider legs out one at a time and I was doing all I could to get out of his way.  Just as I was picking up the last of my stuff, he started heading for me.  I scurried out of there, all the while feeling really bad because I had heard a mom and her little girl come in and get into one of the other shower stalls.  I really felt like I had thrown them to the wolves as I hightailed it out of there.


Saturday, November 17, 2012

Swayin' and Swervin'

Day 55 -

We got a late start today and spent most of our day on the road.  We are slow travelers.  No one seems to be on the same cycle.  Fortunately, we are not in a hurry.

I DROVE!!!  Danny was really tired and he is one who will fall asleep at the wheel, which is never a good thing, but especially when you have your entire family and your home with you.  So, it was my turn.  It wasn't too bad.  We were on the interstate and traffic was light.  I had noticed that there was only 49 miles to go, so I volunteered.  Danny pulled over and we switched seats.  He gave a quick lesson on how to apply the trailer breaks if it seemed to get wiggly, then off I went.  I really thought that there would be a little more guidance, but within minute of my being on the road, Danny was snoring.  I thought I did pretty well for the first 10 miles or so.  There were a couple of times that I felt the rear end sway a little and I did as I was instructed.  A couple tractor trailers passed and I handled that well.  I even managed to call the Suwanee Music Park to confirms what time the Civil War Reenactment was going to begin on Sunday.  Danny woke up once, asked if he was snoring and then went back to sleep.  Well, a few miles up the road and I was coming over a slight hill, I felt that I was going a little too fast and applied the brakes and my rear end was all over the place.  (I could hear the kids in the back going, "Weeeeee".)  I was swaying and swerving and cussing and swearing and, needless to say, Danny woke up.  He began again instructing me on how to apply the trailer brakes and not to over-correct.  I made it through it.  It was tense, but everyone survived.  Danny offered to drive "if I wanted him to".  But I opted to continue.  I joked that I figured 'he was awake now'.  We finally took our exit and when I got to the stop sign at the end of the road, I let Danny take over.  I really do want to learn to pull the trailer, but I think I would prefer to stick to the interstate with long stretches of nothing but highway.

Danny got us safely back to Suwannee River State Park.  We don't have the handicap spot this time.  Maneuvering the trailer into the campsite was a little tight, but Danny did an amazing job and set up went pretty doggone well.  While I finished getting the inside of the house back in order, Danny ran up to the 'gas station' to get a few items that we needed for the evening and brought home a pizza.  I did a load of laundry, we enjoyed some time around the fire, everyone got showers and then hit the hay.

So far, I think I'm enjoying this life that we have chosen.

Friday, November 16, 2012

1 Capitol down - 49 to go

Day 54

I woke up around 4AM.  Could have sworn that I could hear the sound of animals barking, fighting, howling???  I don't know.  But whatever it was, it sounded near the trailer.  So, naturally, I woke Danny.  Immediately, the noise stopped.  My theory is that the movement of the trailer from when Danny was jarred awake frightened them away.  Of course, I could have also been dreaming.  The night before I had walked to the bathhouse alone and without a light.  You would be very surprised how dark it gets in these woods at night!  Our lot is only a stone's throw from the bathhouse, but your visibility isn't much more than 2 feet in front of your face.  Danny had told me that the night before when he had walked to the dumpsters that it was pretty scary out there.  He was right.  On my way back, I could see NOTHING!  I would hear a noise and turn around to see what it was and there was nothing but black.  Seriously!  Someone could have been standing right behind me and I wouldn't have been able to see them.  And you don't dare run.  You're really just guessing at your footing.  I couldn't tell where the pavement ended and the campsites began.  Anyway, I did make it back safe and sound only to find out that I had left a bath towel down there.  I wasn't going back.  I didn't care what happened to the towel, it was lost to me.  :)  Danny did 'man up' and go down there.  But he will tell, it's scary in them there woods.

 I never really got much sleep after that and the coffee was set to perk at 6, so as soon as I heard it start, I got up.  After everyone else was up, I made some breakfast, stuck a turkey breast in the crockpot, and we headed out to Tallahassee to take care of seeing our 1st State Capitol.

The kids had spotted an awesome dolphin sculpture while we were looking for parking, so one of the first things they asked to do was get their pictures taken with it.  No problem!  It sounded like a great photo opp!  So, there we are, trying to get as close to the dolphins as possible, I snap a couple of pictures and then we are getting yelled at by a uniformed woman.  "Hey, you all are not supposed to be in there."  OK, no problem...until I realize that we are at THE Capitol Building and she is with the Capitol Police.  No harm, just a little embarrassing.  Especially when she is the one who scans us and lets us in.  I'm sure they kept a close eye on us the whole time we were there.

It was a good day.  It was a long day.  Jacob is the only smart one in the house.  He went to bed around 8.  Of course, before we traveled to the FL Caverns, that would have been 9PM and tomorrow we will head back to Suwannee and lose that hour again.  I will be glad to be back in EST.  It gets dark WAY too early here.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Angels Watching Over Us

Day 53 -

We left two days ago.  We traveled for about 2 hours before having to stop on the side of the road so that Samuel could 'relieve himself'.  About a mile up the road we reached a rest stop.  :)  I had packed sandwiches, so one meal was on the road.  After about 4 hours total, we arrived at Suwannee River FL State Park before the sunset.  Set up went pretty well and then we headed out to get some dinner.  The Ranger that checked us in had told us that the gas station just 1/4 mile up the road had a really great deli with an awesome burger basket, so that was where we headed.  The kids were shocked when we pulled into a gas station and they figured out that that was where we would be having dinner.  Funny, as I type this, I realize that they would have never thought twice if we had pulled into a Wawas for something to eat.  Hannah was practically refusing to go in (the clientele on the outside of the store was looking a little 'woodsy').  When she realized that we were going in without her and her second option was to wait in the car, her attitude changed, but only slightly.  It was really quite a fun experience, especially given the children's reactions to the patrons and the staff.  Only 4 hours from home and you would think that we had entered the 'Twilight Zone'.

When we got back to the campsite we were able to build a fire and hang out outside for awhile.  The kids really seemed to enjoy themselves.  Suwannee River Fl State Park is a great place to camp.  We took advantage of my handicap and managed to get the premo handicap spot.  All paved and sidewalks up to the bathhouse.  AND THE BATHHOUSE!!!  Oh my goodness, I could definitely live there.  An endless supply of hot water!!  WOW!  What luxury.

The next morning Hannah and Danny took a short hike before we headed out.  It was a good first day.  We will be back to Suwannee in a few days, but first we were headed over the the Fl Caverns State Park.

We hit the road a little later than I had anticipated and I had not packed lunch, so we stopped in Tallahassee at Cody's Roadhouse.  The meal was fairly good, but I won't be rushing back there any time soon.  Then, back on the road.  I called ahead, just to make sure of the gate code.  The Ranger felt we had plenty of time.  HA!  He did not realize how new we are to this traveling while pulling several tons of house behind us.  However, we did not realize that we would be crossing over a timezone and gaining an hour.  Thank goodness, or we would have been late.

The extra hour did not, however, stop the sun from setting.  By the time we got to our site, it was dusk and there was a slight drizzle.  The sun set quickly and we were left to unhitch and set up in the dark. The kids just don't quite understand how much is involved is set up.  They are always busy being kids and enjoying their new home location.  Despite our numerous requests for them to settle down so that we could get through the things that we needed to do, they continued to play and be loud.  Danny had the trailer unhitched and on the 'cone type' stand and BAM! it slipped off and the trailer hit the ground, then the jack went a good 6" into the dirt.  It was quite a scary and tense moment.  The kids got a good lecture and we set about trying to figure out how we were going to get out of this situation.  (Well, Danny went about figuring it out and I went about praying.)  God is good and faithful, Danny devised a plan and within 30 minutes we were set up.  Praising God for His mercy and there being no damage to the trailer or injuries to the family.  Needless to say, there was no fire and fun that night.  Sandwiches were had for dinner and early to bed!!

We got up early today (Thursday, Nov. 15) and headed to the Ranger's Station to buy tickets for the Cave Tour - the main reason we had headed to this park.  We got the first tour at 9:30 and went back to the trailer and ate some breakfast, then headed out again.  The cave was pretty awesome.  In fact, Jacob said he "wanted to go again".

The kids and Danny managed to get a quick hike in when we got back to the campsite.  We had some lunch and then we headed out to find wifi.  The kids have been 3 days without the internet and as I type, we are sitting in a Lowe's parking lot while everyone gets their fix.  We had started at a McDonald's where I spent $15 on hot chocolate and coffee, only to find out that their wifi was down. I suggested that we go inside the Lowe's and sit in the lawn and garden center, but the kids chose to sit in the car.  :)

So far, so good.  Danny said that he was sure that there must be angels holding our trailer up.  The tires refused to even connect to the wheel chocks and he set lots of large rocks around them...just in case.  God is definitely with us.  Praise be to God!!!

OH, Don't forget to check out the photos at Wheel Life.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

A Few Notable Things

Day 49 - We haven't really traveled yet, but today is the 49th day of living in our humble trailer.  We have planned to leave several times.  First, we were going to head straight up to Shenandoah Valley, VA and see the sights and history of the NE and then work our way back down the Eastern coast. Several days before we were scheduled to leave, Hurricane Sandy hit the NE and we were thanking God that we had not already headed that direction.  Then as we sat back and reevaluated our calendar, we realized that we didn't have time to get too far away from Central Florida.  (Hannah and Jacob have orthodontist appointments the week after Thanksgiving.) So we decided that we would head into the panhandle and see the sights up there.

I am amazed what all Florida has to offer.  You would think that two native Floridians would have done a little more in our own backyards, but I think that we could spend an entire year in Florida and still not see it all.

Some things that I have learned in the past 7 weeks:

1)  "It's my kitchen.  Leave it alone."  - Danny had an chance last weekend to fix himself breakfast.  I had taken a rare opportunity to sleep in.  He made himself some cream of wheat.  I believe that I may have been asleep for 1 hour while he scoured the cabinets looking for everything that he would need to properly make his porridge.  While searching the cabinets and moving things from one space to another, he devised a plan...a plan to make things 'better'.  By the time I got up, he had it all figured out.  He would build a cabinet 'here' and we could move that 'here' and if we just did 'this', it would all be better.  I explained to him that there was NOTHING convenient about living in a travel trailer with limited storage and six people and he should just leave it the way that I already had it.  I had a system that worked pretty well for me.  (OH, and on a side note, I ate his cream of wheat.  It was very good.)

2)  "There is NOTHING easy about living in a travel trailer with 6 people."  Storage is very limited in our home.  The manufacturers have tried to make up for this small detail by giving you additional storage in odd spaces.  For example, both bench seats at the dinette are hollow.  You remove the cushions, lift the top and WAALAA, extra storage.  Same goes for the bed in the 'master suite'.  Of course, you need to plan out very carefully just what you want to store in these areas because getting to them is NOT going to be easy.  One example...Hannah has, I believe, the largest wardrobe in the family.  In order to try to accommodate her need for so many changes of clothes, I gave her two baskets and told her that we could store them under my bed.  It seemed like a great solution, until I realized that every day and every night I would have to go to my bedroom and lift my bed while she decided what to wear.  I soon realized that anything that was going to be stored under the bed needed to be 'excess' and items that we would 'rarely' need.  (Hannah now stores her clothes in the largest of the three closets in my bedroom.  I have told her that if she can fit it in there, she can keep it.  It is much like a can of sardines.  Be very careful opening the door.)

And lastly, (for now, anyway)

3)  "The oddest things, bring me pleasure."  One day I had Danny show me how to empty the 'black water' tank...just in case.  (For those of you who don't know the terminology, we have three tanks:  fresh water, this would be our fresh water storage if we were 'dry docking' and not hooked to a water system (like we are here in the park), grey water, this is the water that is disposed of down your sinks and bathtub, and then black water, this would be the water (and other things) that are disposed of down your toilet.)  I had watched a very detailed youtube video (a link for the truly curious) on dumping your tanks, but I wasn't comfortable with just that, I need to see it and do it for myself.  I know, TMI.  But I've got to tell you, there is something very comforting knowing that your black water tanks are CLEAN.

I am looking forward to Tuesday.  It will be good to actually be on the road.  I told the kids that this week they needed to be studying caverns, the Civil War, and BATS (not sure that I am looking forward to that one).