Happy Anniversary!

My intent was to post this with pictures, but I have to sort through and size down before I post them, so I thought I'd get this post out now without waiting any more. Some pictures to come later.



Can I just say, Maui is exquisite? The Hawaiin Islands are an amazing place. At least Maui is. My husband and I are historians, but he never likes to visit museums when we go traveling. Probably because, professionally, we look at museums and think about how we could do it different, better, etc. But it was killing me not to know more about the history of the islands. I did, at last, visit the Sugar Museum, because it was also killing me not knowing how sugar was removed from the cane and my cousin, who lives on Maui, wasn't sure how it worked either. I know now and feel so much better knowing.

We went to a different beach on four different days. I got a rash at one. Not sure how or why, but it cleared up after a couple of days of avoiding the beach. We went to Iao Valley, a gorgeous, lush, green place. We went up Haleakala, 10,000 feet, with the clouds floating below our feet. We made a trip to the west side, to Lahaina. I wore a flower in my hair, but never got a fresh flower lei. $34 and up for it was a bit expensive. We checked out a mini-golf place, which was entertaining for the kids. We did some mall and outlet shopping and that was actually fun too. In the end, it doesn't seem we did a huge amount, but we decided we'd go at the pace our kids could handle and it seemed about right for all of us.

We never made it to Hana. I would have liked to, but seeing how winding the road was and how long it would take, I decided to give my second child a break from motion sickness and boredom in the car for both of them. We stayed in north Maui, not far from Kahului. The view out our backdoor was gorgeous, as was the inside of our rental place. My cousin lives further east from there. Paia is a funny little town, we stopped there a couple of times.

We rented a lovely little Ford Focus. If you're looking for a compact car, this was pretty nice. It could give our Toyota a run for its money. You go Ford, and keep it up. It was a cute green color we all liked, too. I didn't even take a picture of it. I should have. The biggest challenge about driving was trying to properly pronounce the Hawaiin street names to the driver, and then having the driver not sure how that was spelled or what it might look like written because we were totally not used to it. We had a pronunciation guide in one of the guide books, but there were lots of exceptions to the general rules of pronunciation, so we never quite got the hang of it.

None of this would have been possible if it hadn't been for my parents. It was my mom's idea to take all us kids and our significant others and children. They took care of the flight and the place we stayed. Everything else was up to us. We stayed in the big house with my sister, her two year old and 2 month old daughter and her husband. My parents had a cottage and my brother and his girlfriend had their own studio apartment under another building. This was my parents' fortieth anniversary present to all of us. I think what made this trip more special was getting to do it with all the family. We didn't always do things together in the day, but we would often gather in the big house at night and make dinner for everyone, talking about our adventures. My kids got to spend time with their cousins who live in Phoenix. Poor WC#2 got to learn what it was like to try to share with a two year old. They both did reasonably well, but there were conflicts. Despite that, they had quite a blast and loved being with each other. Extra special was that I got to see a cousin of mine from my mom's side, whom I may not have seen in 20 years or more. She has a two year old of her own, so my kids got first and second cousin time. I don't think this trip would have been quite as wonderful if it had been just us.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad. Thanks for having us in more ways than one!

The Panic Before the Calm

Tomorrow is the flight to Hawaii. I have been working hard all week, going in early to work, getting prepared for a big to-do we had at work yesterday for the 4th of July. I am exhausted. I haven't had much time to think on what needed to get put together for our trip.

Today is the day. I have to check all the bags, make sure the kids have everything they need, check on toiletries and make sure we comply with all the FAA guidelines. Pack a big bag to check underneath. Put other toiletries in a plastic bag for the ride in the cargo hold of the plane. Make sure we have sunscreen, cameras, bug sprag or lotion, swimsuits, towels, the works. Pay a few bills before we take off, so they don't get forgotten.

Tonight we drive down to Chicago, stay in a hotel room before the flight. I think this is much better than trying to get kids up early, early, early in the morning to try to make it to our flight. We did a little shopping earlier in the week to try to get things for the trip. I think we're set.

But, I'm just a little panicked. I'm pretty sure we can get this all done, but it's not done yet.

At the very least, I got all the things done I needed done before leaving work last night. I was there until 7:15 pm, but it is done and behind me now. I can relax and not worry about all that.

Lots of things to look forward to: my sister's new baby, ocean views, sand and seas, tropical setting, a week there, time with my family. No internet, no cell phone service (well not for my phone, because it is out of network and I just don't use out of network), so I cannot be reached for anything at work. We're not sure what we'll do while there, but maybe we won't do much except explore Maui and check out all the beaches we can. The kids love water and love swimming at the lake, I figure this is the next step up.

Aloha!

Birthday Reflections

I was musing on my birthday and how I wanted to celebrate it. Looking back to my youth, I remember birthdays were exciting affairs. Anticipation and build up to the event culminated in a party, or cake and presents with candles blown out and lots of joy.

I've been asked by friends and husband what I wanted for my birthday. Not a whole lot, I decided. I took the day off from work, got a nice pedicure, had Chinese food for lunch (my favorite), and just lounged around. Finished listening to my book on CD. This year I don't even care to have my husband take me to a fancy restaurant. Maybe I'll have a beer with dinner, or maybe a drink at book club. I guess once you've had many birthdays, counting another one gets to be a bit anti-climatic.

I don't even care to have a cake with candles, though I wouldn't refuse it if I got it. I didn't let my kids and husband off the hook for a card, but they came through with a fun Hoops and Yoyo card (I love those little guys, they are hilarious). I am looking forward to the next milestone birthday, but that is a couple years off.

As it is, I have my class reunion this weekend, which is going to be enough party in itself. So, we'll go back to my hometown and enjoy that, then get ready for the 4th and for our trip to Hawaii.

At the very least, I marked my birthday with a post. Happy Birthday to me.

Monday Garden Club

See Feet off the Table! for this meme:

My garden is small. We hate store bought tomatoes, tasteless cardboard imitations that they are. We've been saying for at least 4 years we need to get planters and plant our own plants. So, here is our small plot of garden pots with a tomato plant in each.


Yes, those are small green tomatoes you are seeing.


The variety is called Early Girl. I had a plan. I wanted to get juicy tomatoes as early as possible, and I bought the plants, not seeds, so I didn't have to start them either.



I am already salivating at the thought of ripe juicy tomatoes. I hope the bugs don't get to them.

Father's Day

Mother's Day seems to get more play than Father's Day. I don't know why. My children's father is a huge part of their lives. I'm very glad he gets the opportunity to be with them so much. It wasn't always that way for families in the more recent past. Further in the past, fathers probably originally had a larger role in their children's lives.

When fathers worked on the farm, alongside their wives and children, the family dynamic was close, for better or worse. I am sure fathers had a greater impact on their sons and daughters as they grew up. Then factories and businesses moved out of the family home and vicinity and fathers left the household for several hours, spending much less time with their family. Eventually, we ended up with something similar to the generalization of the 1950s, with dads coming home from work, greeted by kids and wife, eating dinner, then going somewhere to do "dad" things while the mother put the children to bed.

Occasionally, one hears stories about how people wish their dads had been more involved in their lives. The way society has evolved made dads spending a lot of time with children much less the norm. I am hoping that my generation and beyond, the guys growing up will want to spend more time with their kids. I am hoping my children have a great example with their own dad and can pass that on to their children. That my son will not be afraid to take a break from his career to stay home with the kids. Or that both my children can work at their home with their spouses. A return to the families of the early United States, where everyone worked together in the home.

But this post was to be a tribute to my husband. I am so proud of him and everything he does for our home and family. I don't think I say it enough. He puts up with conversations with people nearly 30 years younger every day and shows genuine interest. He plans and cooks meals that we sit down together for and enjoy. The laundry is endless, yet I really don't hear him complain about it. I think he likes doing laundry. Often when I come home, the kids are outside and he's entertaining our son with throwing a football or playing basketball, because our son doesn't have any neighbors his own age. He sweeps the floor nearly every day, and is tinkering, doing random landscaping, or mowing. I know the household would not run quite as smoothly if I were doing all this.

He is a good man: solid, practical, charming, sweet, playful, funny. I have friends who have husbands who maybe aren't quite so neat and tidy or maybe don't help as much as he does around the house. I find myself very glad that I snagged him. Even before we were one income, he did a lot of the house work anyway. We were friends before we started dating. His genuine concern for me as a friend grew into so much more. He is a good father to our children, enjoying the things they enjoy, teasing and playing, giving hugs and cuddles. It is great to see his face light up when our daughter wants him for hugs and kisses. He is the solid rock that I come home to every night. When I am stressed about work, the refuge of my home is one of the ways I can de-stress and become calm again. It is something I deeply appreciate and love to come home to everyday.

Happy Father's Day!

Need a post to move that other post on

Random me. Looking at the HUGE but nifty video I embedded in my blog a couple of weeks ago. I hate to get rid of it, because I like the story and the photo and the video, but it covers the right side of my blog with all the essential blogs I need to catch up on.

More random. Sent the book out to friends to read. So it's getting its first read through. All the way through, all 16 chapters of it. Wish us luck.

Continuing random. Facebook is weird, fun, stupid, and exciting all at once. Today I saw posts from people I knew in college that I had lost track of. I wonder if I'm strange in that there are some people that I never kept up with by phone or letter, or even email, yet, 15-20 years later, I am curious about how they're doing. Like to see that they have families, or interesting things to do. Ordinary or extraordinary careers, fun home lives. Why am I so incredibly curious and then genuinely interested? It's all just very strange to me that I would care enough to spend an hour clicking around in there. I really don't do the games unless I'm really bored and want my brain to debug after a long day. I "found" links to former elementary school friends. Whom I may have last seen in 1982. But it was neat to find them. One of them had a really cute older brother from what I remember. Today he had a commented on one of her Facebook quizzes. So I clicked on his link to see his profile picture closer up. Ok, who said these people are allowed to age?! OMG! I just about died, I said to myself, wow, he's getting old. Except, see, I think he was only a couple years older than us. So, ouch! What's that mean for me?

More random. My babies are back home. Mr. Wild took them to his hometown for 3 days, 2 nights. He's got a potential working gig there, a little extra cash to help pay for extras, like braces for #1. He went to examine the project and make a bid on it. They got some Grandma and Grandpa time. And what did I get? Two late nights because I hate sleeping alone in a house. So tonight, I should go to bed early. Mr. Wild left for a little poker tonight. It's okay, because I'm going to watch the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with the kiddos. Boy, do I miss having a family. I can't imagine going back to being single and without children. It really kinda sucks.

More random. Why is it when I lose a pair of sunglasses, then go buy another pair, I find the sunglasses again? I said so to my friend on Wednesday, when we were out buying stuff (some accessories for my 20th class reunion) "Look I'll buy these and then find my missing ones." The ones I got were nice and $6 each. Then, yup, you guessed it, today I found the ones I had lost. Then....lost the new ones I had taken to work today. Doh! And I like the new ones better than the old ones. I was so mad at the end of the day. Just at myself.

Final randomness. I missed Wardrobe Wednesday. But I think that Aliceson will appreciate my Wild Child's fashion sense.You're seeing correctly, flowers in the butterfly, stripes on the skirt, and the addition of polka-dotted stretch pants. At least the socks match the pants, sort of.

Happy Father's Day weekend everyone. Shhhhh! Don't tell Mr. Wild, we're taking him to UP as part of our festivities!

Twenty three days

Twenty three days to Hawaii.

It's cool to get to go to Hawaii. It was my mom's idea for her and dad's 40th anniversary. They have been very generous in an attempt to get us all together as a family. Hawaii is a very neat setting, but the part I like the most is getting together with family. My kids are very excited about Hawaii, maybe mostly because I am, but it is fun to talk with them about it and have them ask lots of questions.

The older I get, the more I appreciate what little time I get to spend with my former nuclear family, my mom and dad and brother and sister. These are the people I have known the longest in my life. When we were younger, my parents were really good at taking us on road trips in the summer. Dad was a teacher when I was in elementary school, and we always took road trips.

Mom and Dad have lots of pictures of these. We went to Colorado 3 or 4 times, to visit my aunt and uncle and cousins. We could stay at their place, and then go do day trips into the surrounding mountains. My parents had friends with a cabin on a lake in Minnesota. We went up there 3-4 times as well. Saw the Mississippi headwaters, many other lakes and enjoyed swimming and fishing in rustic settings. My parents also sorted out a trip to the Big Apple when I was in between 10th and 11th grade, I think. Again, we stayed with friends of theirs, saw the Bronx Zoo, West Point, South Street Seaport, Broadway and Wall street, Radio City Music Hall, took the train in and back, caught a rainy Mets game, that they lost.

Sometimes the getting there was just as fun as the being there. Since my mom was not a morning person, we kids would come up with a plan for early mornings in the car as we rode off to our destination. One elaborate scheme was scheduled out, hour by hour, with arts project activities, assigned time for quiet reading, games and general controlled mayhem. It ususally worked out pretty well. My brother and sister were good enough to let me dictate some of the activities. I don't know how I convinced them to let me make them special ancient Egyptian paper dolls one trip, but they let me patiently create a boy, a woman and a priest. I don't know that we got to roll playing with them. I seem to remember a lot of time spent on creating historically accurate outfits for each character, and making sure the man and boy were bald. I think the woman was too for that matter, and then they all had wigs they wore.

I haven't taken my family on any summer road trips, because my job requires the most of my attention during the summer. We could take winter trips, but with the kids in school, that makes it a little more tricky getting time off. Now I wish I was a teacher.

So, I'm looking forward to this big family gathering. We're not all going together, but we'll be there together, and I hope it feels a little like the family trips we used to take. We're much more extended, with spouses and significant others, and a few more little kids. With my brother in Iowa and my sister in Arizona, it is difficult for us to all be in the same place at the same time on any regular basis.

Happy vacationing to anyone with trips planned.