July 7, 2019

We really needed our little sleep in this morning.  Breakfast was beautiful again: white china and linen napkins with fresh fruit, a million jellies and butters, eggs, French toast, pastries, juice, coffee, and so much more. They set the table inside today because it was a little chilly on the patio yesterday. Adam mentioned his aching back and they let us use this CBD balm that instantly made him feel better.  We packed up, I noticed the had folded a load of laundry I had started- these guys are so wonderful! We said our goodbyes and headed back for the border.  I love Canada.  It took us quite a while to get to Portland.  We had big dreams of what we would do once we got there but it just wasn’t in the cards.  We checked in to our Embassy Suites, bit the $43 parking bullet, and settled in to the nightly reception.  I drank approximately one bottle of Cabernet while texting with Nikki and watching the kids play in the indoor pool.  It is nice that we get little mini vacations inside our vacation.  We aren’t pushing ourselves to do things for the sake of it or staying out late every night to make the absolute most of each minute. I had an excellent time getting tipsy and watching the kids play. I ordered two grass fed burgers with salad and braised greens from the upscale comfort food spot in the lobby and we pow-wowed on the floor of the hotel room before showering and heading to bed.

July 8, 2019

I love Embassy Suites for so many reasons.  On the list is the consistently large free buffet breakfast.  The kids get all of the “special drinks” they want, I get a mushroom and spinach omelet, and Adam gets turkey bacon.  We took full advantage of that before searching for Judah’s shoes for a full thirty minutes.  They are gone, forever.  We piled in the van that the valet had kindly parked directly in front of the ancient remodeled historic hotel.  He no doubt noticed the duct taped door and set of drawers in our trunk. I’m 100% positive that most people who see this think we are homeless. The sad part is that so many families actually are.

We had a very uneventful drive through beautiful Oregon. We stopped briefly in Eugene to get the fastest oil change ever at Jiffy Lube and stock up on the bougiest groceries ever at Natural Grocers. We ate sandwiches in their meeting space with our kombucha and bananas while poring over our $130 receipt trying to figure out how this sum was possible.  Adam bought some CBD balm for his shoulder that had worked wonders.  Oregon is FULL of dispensaries.  Its so crazy that pot is legal in only half of the country.  We are listening to Becoming by Michelle Obama.  I just love love love them both.  Their story is beautiful and so are they- inside and out. We arrived in Weed, CA around 6 pm and are sleeping under the watchful eye of the giant Mt. Shasta.  Our villa is adorable and features a princess sleeping nook for B and all of her Sarahs. Judah is sleeping alone in a big room and can’t believe it- its going to be very hard when we get home and Elia is with her grandparents and not there to keep him company as he drifts to sleep.  Adam is in there with him now trying to get him down.  Luca and Dom are in our master bedroom reading under the soft light as a click away on my laptop.  This is as great a day as all of the others- I adore these babies.

Judah finds me no matter where we are.  We always wake up in a different place and he always knows where I am. I get to cuddle this sweet warm little body every morning until I’m completely ready to wake up.  I hear him coming by the rattle in Sleep Monkey (Keep monkey) and Pink Baby as he sleepily carries them around the bed to my side. Adam was not in bed, he had gotten up much earlier because he pulled something in his neck as he was moving around on the air mattress.  He was completely stiff when I saw him.  He could not move his head one way or the other. He was in agony. We packed up, cleaned up, and dosed up on Motrin. We walked with David, Becky, and Toby to 14 carrot diner where we had the best cinnamon roll ever and we spilled two glasses of drink as we always do. We said goodbye to our sweet friends and got on the road to Vancouver.

The drive was totally quick and easy to Vancouver.  We made it to the border where we sat FOR E VER.  There were American police/ICE (they wear outfits that say POLICE on them and carry around a million weapons) on the American side just walking around in a pack and yelling at people to open their cars and empty them.  It was so strange, I grew up on a border and never once saw border patrol hassling people about getting OUT of the country.  This was very handmaiden’s tale-y. No like.  We made it through and drive into Surrey, just south of Vancouver.  We went to a Greek restaurant in White Rock on the beach and the kids ate escargot for the first time. We got ice cream behind a gaggle of Chinese middle schoolers on the biggest field trip ever.  They were just shoving $100 bills at the poor kids behind the counter who just kept saying, “You already paid!  This is YOUR money.” I found a wad of bills and asked them all if it was theirs and none of them would take it. One little girl agreed to take it to their teacher when they found her. I ordered a large ice cream and they gave us four little cones so I could sperate the scoops and give each kid their own- a true luxury in a family this big.  The kids were in heaven.

We walked back to the van and got to our hotel/house/Airbnb.  I booked it with our Chase Reserve points.  Hold on, side bar about this card.  It has no foreign transaction fees, which is hard to find. They reimburse up to $300 in travel costs back onto your card, they have free roadside assistance (this is what we used when the van broke down in Seattle), you can book travel with your points for 1.5x the value making it VERY cheap, and you get like 3x points on gas and restaurants which is very helpful. Anyway, we love this card. So I had booked it through their travel site and it made it look like a hotel but it was a BnB run by this really sweet couple.  They live in a room on the bottom floor and we had rented out the whole top floor, three bedrooms and 2 baths.  We also had full use of the common areas. We settled the kids in and I went to yoga nearby.  It was a new type of flow which is good, I need to get out of my comfort zone sometimes.  Our hosts had a beautiful heated pool in the backyard and super hot jetted hot tub. Adam loved this after being in the car with his injured neck. Elia and Judah made full use of the pool and we had to drag them out.  She swam the whole length of the pool, I am so proud of the swimming lessons we have been doing together.  Judah also feels so comfortable propelling himself around the pool with his floatie which is definitely because of the time we have spent at the JCC on his lessons. We all ended up in the hottub before heading upstairs to make some sandwiches, take showers, and get in bed.  Elia and Judah’s room had stars in the ceiling.  They had installed lights through the attic into the room and painted their ceiling dark blue.  It was gorgeous! The whole house was like this, definitely the nicest place we have stayed- we got a few ideas for our house when we get back from worldschooling.

July 6, 2019

When we woke up, our hosts had made a beautiful breakfast on the deck by the pool.  We cleaned up and got everyone ready for a big drive to Whistler on the Sea to Sky highway.  We do not have service in Canada!  Thanks T-mobile. We used our old fashioned GPS/map skills to navigate Vancouver and make it to the beginning of the Sea to Sky highway.  On our way there, we saw a HUGE fire that had almost definitely been started by a cigarette.  It was in some brush on the side of the road.  We also passed by a huge beautiful park covered in tents.  This was clearly a homeless camp. The whole neighborhood we drove through was full of homeless people.  There was a store on the corner with fruits and veggies- you would not see this in America. They just seem to take better care of people here. We made it to the highway and looked out over the views around us. It was so rainy and cloudy that we couldn’t see anything at all.  Were we really interested in driving five hours in the rain to not really see or experience anything just to say we did it? We turned around and went back to Vancouver to explore.  We found that the big beautiful museum in the downtown Vancouver was covered by our science museum reciprocal pass! We found 2 hour parking nearby and checked in.  This museum did such a good job of talking about conservation in a way that left a lasting impression.  For example, a display asked you to make a plate of food and then it filled a screen of bathtubs with how much water it took to create that plate of food.  The boys and I tried to fill the most bathtubs (a plate of meat at 57 bathtubs!) and the least water (tea,  tomatoes, water, and an orange at 0.7 bathtubs).  I won’t soon forget that. We played a bit, fed the meter, and walked to lunch at Bodega to have tapas. This food was excellent and spicy and we had amazing table right at the window. Yes, we spilled something. We fed the meter and went back to the museum to play. We watched an IMAX dome movie about the great bear national forest in British Colombia that focused on the rare white Spirit Bear. This was the best IMAX/dome movie I have ever seen.  Judah slept through it which was actually our goal. They had a mirror maze.  They had a display about sex, sexuality, consent (complete with the tea explanation video), and anatomy.  It was so respectful of young people and their curiosity and intelligence.

Overall, Canada just seems to trust their people more than the USA trusts us. Pretty much everything is legal and people are expected to just not act a fool.  If people fall down, they help them back up. Everyone is so freaking friendly. Not nice- nice is about niceties and the way people should act. Friendly is different and genuinely cares about you as a human. We stayed at the museum until closing at 6 pm, fed the meter which would keep our van safe for the rest of the night, and hopped on a bus to a Lebanese restaurant called Nuba that my friend’s wife from Vancouver had suggested.  The restaurant was packed with people.  We walked in, looking haggard as usual and asked about the wait for a table of six. The hostess looked around and said, “I think I can get you in right now.” She led us to a perfect little nook in the room with a bench on one side perfect for our group.  The menu was had something called “Le Feast” that the server said would easily feed all of us if we ordered three portions. It was SO MUCH FOOD and all of it was vegetarian and amazing.  The boys found that they love pickled red cabbage, eggplant stew, and Lebanese food in general. As we were wrapping up our long multi course meal, a group next to us got up to leave.  They stopped by our table and marveled at how well our children sat through the meal. They said they just started taking their kids to meals like this and they are in their late teens and early twenties!  It feels so good to hear this.  We start taking the kids to meals as babies. We sit through many meals of spilling drinks, lying down in the booth, having a crying fit, kids fighting one another, and saying over and over that they cannot get up.  All of that is worth it because by the time they are around four years old, we get to have long beautiful meals as a family where everyone participates, appreciates the food, and acts in a respectable manner.  It works, it just takes a long time.  This is very French, as I learned from Bringing up Bebe, the best baby book in the world.

We finished our favorite meal of the trip and hopped back on the bus to go to Stanley Park for the opening of Newsies at Theatre Under the Stars in Malkin Bowl. I had been stalking the online box office months in advance to get tickets the second they went on sale and that paid off!  The boys were very surprised when I led them to the second row right in the middle.  This beautiful outdoor venue was enclosed by flowers and trees and a large grassy area where the dozen children lucky (or not) enough to attend were running, wrestling, boxing, and dancing. It was so refreshing to see children doing all of these things and their parents weren’t freaking out and helicoptering over them. It made it much easier for ours to blend in rather than being the usual spectacle. The show was really good.  I have a habit of falling asleep during live performances which is why I put myself front and center so I could stay engaged.  It worked on Judah as well- I was worried he would lose interest and start yelling. For the last half though, he did say “ALL DONE!” very loudly every time they finished a song or conversation. The actor playing Jack Kelly was ridiculously good looking which also helped me keep my eyes open. It ended at 1030 pm, just as the sun was setting. We caught the bus back to our car.  The bus in Vancouver was really cool, all people ride it: business people, homeless, kids, college students, elderly, disabled, tourists- all happy to chat with one another.  Not one of the drivers charged us, maybe because it was a hassle to charge my American card but it was nice either way.

We made it back to our palace in Surrey around midnight where our host was up in his bathrobe waiting on us- he said he just wanted to make sure we were safe. We crawled into our beds and slept deeply until morning.

We packed up and had a very early breakfast at Frank’s Diner in Spokane.  It is in a train car! We all loved it. The kids watched Princess Bride as we drive to Seattle.  The last time I made this drive was with David when I was staying with him in the summer of 2006 while we were married and getting ready for our citizenship meeting. We went to a three day Dave Matthews concert in the gorge and camped with a million dirty hippies. We still joke about these guys screaming “Honey, Honey, come and daaaaaaaaance me” at 0200 in the morning as we tried desperately to sleep. David and I were married for three years and I really loved spending my summers with him. I knew I would come back with my kids one day and show them this beautiful place and my sweet friend. This drive reminds me of singing Mariah Carey and the Cranberries at the top of our lungs and eating more ice pops than any human should consume. Good memories. Elia is the most observant of the kids.  She genuinely enjoys looking out the window and finding things in the landscape.  She loves windmills, rivers, waterfalls, fighter jets, all animals, and mountains.  I love her joy in seeing something new.

We got into Seattle and met David at his house where the kids destroyed and then cleaned up his playroom. We went to Ivar’s on the water for lunch and went back out to the van to find that our sliding door was full way broken, it had been half broken for many years. Called a tow truck, sat and waited while the kids played at a park. I got to sit in the van by myself for about an hour while David and Adam took the kids to the park to play.  While they were there, they decided on the title of “husband-in-law” for one another.  Adorable. It was very strange to be alone.  I spend so much of my time alone in the OR, there are other people around but no one addresses me other than “anesthesia, bed up”.  It is the way I like it, I can easily peer over the drape and start a conversation if I’m feeling social but most of the time it is just me and my patient and my thoughts.  It was nice to have a little tiny bit of alone time on this trip.  The tow truck driver showed up and loaded the van up on the truck. I probably could have driven it to the Pep Boys but it seemed unsafe to be going 30 mph with a wide open door. He was listening to NPR and we had a long talk about Fentanyl and opioid addiction. He was lovely and so helpful. We go tto Pep Boys and the service manager let me come into the service area and sit on a little stool while he messed with the door.  At one point, he said he would have to cut something.  He used a saw and the door still did not move. He asked me to come over to the door and hold it while the cut the door from its mechanism that held it to the car.  We then picked up the door and slammed it into the hole that is the opening in the van.  It is now locked and the handles are covered with duct tape to remind us all not to open it. I’m just grateful it is closed and that it happened while we were in Seattle with our spouse in laws. We will see how much damage we have done when we get back to Richmond. They didn’t charge us anything at Pep Boys.

Becky, David’s wife, picked them all up from the park and took them home while I was at Pep Boys. She fed them and Adam got them situated. When I got home we had some cocktails and put the kids to bed. Their son, Toby, got along very well with our kids. Lots of video games.

July 4, 2019

We had a little breakfast at Becky and David’s then packed up and headed to Seattle.  David has a giant network of Aerospace engineer friends that I had the privilege of hanging out with while I spent my summers in Seattle.  One of them, Aaron, has a houseboat on Lake Union and he is our of town for the fourth of July so he told David we could all stay there for the fourth! The biggest and most dramatic fireworks display in Seattle is on Lake Union in plain view of the houseboat.  We got there and I was blown away by the beautiful houseboat. Aaron and his wife have a son about Judah’s age and he has an adorable baby room that was perfect for Judah.  The boys slept on the couches, Elia slept on their guest twin, and Adam and I slept on our air mattress on the floor in the guest room. Everyone was trying to get into this area for the 4^th and we were so incredibly lucky to find a parking spot that didn’t have any signs that was just a block away from the houseboat! We got settled and took a bus into Seattle to check out Pike’s Place.

The weather was so perfect- about 73 degrees, partly cloudy. We weaved through the shops and bought some cherries and raspberries while we waited for our table at Etta’s seafood restaurant. The owner was a guest judge on Top Chef Seattle so the boys were pretty excited about this meal. We were seated and had the most amazing meal- I had an avocado and grapefruit salad with a creamed hominy masa plate that was inventive and delicious. We wandered around a bit more, went to a comic book shop and got the boys a D&D book.  We took the monorail to Artists at Play park while the kids somehow didn’t injure themselves.  All of this equipment looked incredibly dangerous but the kids navigated it well.  This trip has helped me trust the kids a bit more, they have a survival instinct and they are pretty intelligent so I should give them a little more space. Becky and I sat in the shade and watched the kids.  So perfect. We took Ubers back to the houseboat, it was tricky to find someone who would let us take Judah without a car seat.  I am usually VERY crazy about this kind of thing but there wasn’t really an option to carry around a car seat with us- just as it will be while we are worldschooling.  Becky and I went on a little walk with our juice cups to the corner store to get some hotdogs, sandwich meat, cheese for a cheese plate, and more drinks. I really love her, I wish we were closer geographically so we could hang out more.

We set up on the roof of the houseboat and watched the drunk teenagers around us jump off of their roofs while their very fancy parents had sweater roof parties with their cocktails.  The view of the sun setting was gorgeous. The kids played and watched movies while we talked and enjoyed the roof. It got very chilly as the sun went all the way down.  The people in the neighborhood around us set off their own early fireworks display until the main event started around 1030 pm. People stay up so late on the west coast. Judah fell asleep right before the fireworks started but everyone else was mesmerized.  We tucked in after the show and fell asleep in this incredible floating home.

We woke up from another lovely night’s sleep and had breakfast with this sweet family.  They served sausages and pancakes with grapes.  Judah spilled his juice, of course. We packed up as the kids fed the animals and picked strawberries and got their last bit of play time with their new friends. We also ended up being facebook friends with the hosts- they were so sweet. Dom needed his allergy shots so we did that before we drove out of town. We took the longer route north through the Kootenai Mountains so we could take a small hike to see the Kootenai falls just west of Libby and go across the swinging bridge. We ate nut butter sandwiches and peaches before our hike and explored the trail. The water was emerald green and the falls were powerful. The bridge was being replaced by a newer bridge right next to it and only 5 people were allowed on the old bridge at a time so Adam went with Elia and Dom first.  A lady was complaining that she needed to get on a plane soon but really needed to get across the bridge so we let he go with Adam and the kids.  She was so grateful and confided that she was came here to illegally spread her father’s ashes in this place he had showed her as a child. She said the small bridge did not have the green netting it now has.  It was just wooden slats with two wires to hold on either side.  The thing is terrifying as it is now, I can’t imagine! Adam took a picture for her as she said goodbye to her father and we knew why we took the long way.

Elia and Judah used walking sticks for the whole hike, which was annoying and adorable. We had to climb stairs to go over the train tracks and they were see through which was also very scary.  Lots of “Do not panic!” They kids were very good about it. We got back in the van and headed to Coeur D’Alene.  We played in their downtown park which is too beautiful to believe.  The grass is bright green and perfectly soft.  No bugs, no stickers, and somehow none of use were allergic to it. The kids played on the giant wooden play structure.  Luca and I sent for a walk down by the beach that is connected to the park. We all did handstands and played in the park until we were too hungry to stand it. We very reluctantly left and wen tto dinner closer to our Airbnb in Post Falls at a place called the White House Grill.  Greek and Mediterranean food was amazing and the service was so good. We went to our Airbnb which happened to be an RV parked in someone’s driveway.  It worked perfectly for us and had plenty of comfy beds.  We were all asleep by 8 pm.

I am sitting on a farm in Kalispell, MT watching Scottish Highland cattle tend to their new baby calves as the kids run around the farm picking strawberries, playing with the farm cats, and playing basketball.  This place is gorgeous.  We woke up this morning from the best sleep of our lives.  Warm beds!!  This trip has already given us so much but I am especially grateful for the way it helps us give thanks for what we have in the moment.  The sweet family that we are staying with made a delicious breakfast from the eggs, fruit, and vegetables on their farm.  We ate family style in their dining room and Judah broke a glass of orange juice as we discussed Israel and homeschooling.  They are Mormon and from Washington and Canada.  They have two kids who showed us around the farm after breakfast.  The kids fed chickens and picked strawberries before we headed out for Glacier National Park.

On the way to Glacier, we stopped and got some butter rolls, goat cheese, elk jerky, and apricots for lunch. Eclectic, but exactly what we all wanted.  We used Dom’s fourth grade pass to get us in and it allowed us to skip the long line and also get in free which was clutch. We had another GYPSY tour app for the Going to the Sun road through Glacier which showed us exactly where to stop and gave us the history of the area.  The road was built purely for the enjoyment of the public.  It was difficult, workers died, and it took a long time but it is a beautiful and I am so grateful it exists.  There was one single turnout to see the seventh largest glacier in the park.  There was a picture of the glacier in 1960 and the glacier in 2010 and you can compare both to the current glacier.  It is very sad.  The glacier probably won’t even be there by 2030.  We stressed to the kids that this place will not be here for their children unless we do something immediately to stop destruction of our planet.  This is why we came here, this is why it important that we see these beautiful places.  I do see the irony in driving my gas guzzling minivan across the country to lecture my children about climate change, trust me.  If there were any environmentally friendly way to expose my children to the world, I’d do it.  This is another important reason for them to see these things, so they can build and create a world where we live in symbiosis with our planet rather than as parasites.

We stopped at a waterfall right as we entered the park called the dancing cascades.  We hiked down to the bottom of the small falls and played on the rocky beach.  This may be my favorite experience of the trip so far.  The water was perfectly chilly, we dipped our toes and Judah threw pebbles in the rushing water.  We searched through the beautiful colored rocks and made a rainbow on the shore. Adam made towers of the flat rocks while the boys did bushcraft and I did handstands.  We stayed for almost an hour, way longer than we had planned.  It was just so gorgeous and peaceful. We got back on the road and stopped at a few turnouts to look at the amazing views.  We stopped at the summit for lunch and took a small hike.  The snow was still melting off of the mountain and it covered parts of the trails.  We wore short sleeves and it was sunny but there was still snow! The melting snow made for beautiful water falls and streams all over the mountain. In fact, the road just opened last week for the season! We were so lucky.  Also, the beautiful lakes here aren’t so great for fishing because of…yes, lake trout. Lake orcas.

We listened to a CD with Jewish music on our way back to Kalispell that Judah was obsessed with.  He made us play it on repeat and kept singing all of the words- precious boy. We stopped for huckleberry pie and huckleberry milkshake (shared, obvs) on the way back before stopping for our comfort food (tacos). 😊 Now we relax and enjoy this beautiful place and a good night’s sleep.

When we woke up this morning, it was only 0530 and I had slept barely any. We rolled up our sleeping bags and got the van packed up.  The kids pile din the van and we started pulling out.  We saw the owner as we were about to leave and decided to stop and say goodbye and thank you.  Thank goodness we did that because our car top carrier was WIDE OPEN and we would have lost everything all over the street!  She told us about the carrier and we chatted for a bit about this special place and the mice. She says you get used to the little paw scratches, lol. I left out my earthquake and sleep paralysis experiences. We got out of the mountains and stopped at a gas station to eat cheerios and refill our water.  The kids spilled cheerios all over the outside table where we were eating.  I went inside and asked for a broom to clean it up.  The lady looked at me like I had three heads.  When I brought the broom back in she told me that I was the first person in 12 years to clean up after myself or my children when making a mess.  Wow. She gave me a free coffee which I now drink. I have had a sensitivity to caffeine for about 15 years now. It gives me terrible anxiety.  Turns out, when I haven’t slept at all it can help keep me awake and happy.  I see why people like it. I also started taking B12 about a year ago and it helps me process caffeine so it doesn’t just hang around my body for a full day.

We got back on the road, the kids watched Stand by Me which was probably a little too grown up for some of them. We stopped in a town called Cody, WY and found a park to play and eat our sandwiches. Adam always finds the best parks.  This has been such a good method for keeping the kids tired so they don’t act completely crazy in the car. We drove through Big Horn forest on the way into Yellowstone which was breathtaking. The terrain was mountainous with giant pine trees and a powerful river cutting through all of it.  We got to the entrance of the park and turned on our GYPSY guide.  He was our $5 private tour guide.  He gives all of the history of a place and tells you great places to turn off and look at things. We used him in Maui on the Road to Hana and fell in love. We used Dom’s 4^th grade pass to get in free.  The traffic at the entrance to the main loop around Yellowstone was at a complete standstill.  They are doing pretty major construction. Luckily, that was the only real traffic we saw in Yellowstone.  We stopped at the places our guide suggested and saw bubbling mud pools caused by bacteria and sulfur breaking down rock.  We saw huge waterfalls back dropped by shimmering canyon walls and big blue skies. We made it to our campsite in Canyon Village and checked in. They gave us our shower card, we were entitled to a total of 4 showers over the next three days.  We bought $8 box of firewood and ventured out to our campsite which was at a perfect spot in the middle of the trees and other people so the bears would eat them first. 😉

Bears were a big part of our experience. We were so very careful to clean everything completely and put all things food related in the van.  All other objects had to be in the bear proof locker so they wouldn’t rummage through it looking for food.  We even had to keep our water bottles in the van. We set up camp and started a fire.  It was around 9 pm at this time but it was still bright. We had decided to cook spaghetti because it seemed fairly straightforward.  Turns out, boiling water for pasta isn’t super easy on a campfire. Oh, also spaghetti is messy. We did it, though.  We fed our babies and ate at the picnic table at the campsite. I washed our camp dishes (pie tins) in the bathroom near our campsite and washed the kids’ feet, hands, and faces in the freezing cold water. The temperature in Yellowstone was from 74 high to a low of 32. I was so happy to hear that because that meant no mosquitoes!  Except there are a certain breed of slow fat mean mosquitoes that don’t die in the cold.  They spent dinner and the evening with us. We tucked the kids in to their sleeping bags on the air mattresses in the tent and finished cleaning the campsite as the world got very dark.  We climbed in to our double sleeping bag as the temperature dropped about 30 degrees and we “slept” in the 32 degree weather.  I got up a few times to wrap the kids tighter and make sure they still had their coats on.  Evidently, there are many kinds of sleeping bags.  All but one of our sleeping bags was for warm weather. Dominic was toasty and peaceful in his arctic mummy bag as the rest of us slowly entered hypothermia. At least there weren’t any mice!

 

June 29

Our only full day in Yellowstone National Park! We woke as little blocks of ice.  Judah had climbed in between Adam and I during the night and took all of the warmth we had been creating. He woke us up at 0530 and we got in the van for warmth. I had booked a fishing experience on the lake where we were all going to go out onto the lake and peacefully fish for some invasive lake trout and then our guide would clean the two large fish we caught and we would keep it fresh in the YETI until night time when we would cook our fresh catch over the fire and everyone would cheer me on for being the best mommy ever. What actually happened was it the air was 40 degrees and Adam and I decided to beg the tour guide to refund our money so we didn’t have to take the kids out on the freezing lake where they would scream, fight, complain, and maybe fall in the water. We were very lucky to be out so incredibly early on our drive to the marina, we were able to see all of the amazing Yellowstone animals out for their morning grazing. We saw bison just walking along, and sometimes in, the road. We got to see elk grazing on the side of the road. We learned through our GYPSY guide that the male elk grow velvet horns every spring that are fed by a network of vessels that create the giant horns that they use for rutting season in the fall to decide who gets to be alpha male. After they fight it out, their horns fall off and the alpha impregnates everyone he can see.  He doesn’t even have time to sleep or eat.  By the time spring rolls around again, he is weak and the other males have been bulking up all winter so they have far more chance to become alpha this year.  What a great way to ensure genetic variability!

We got to the marina and they couldn’t even find our reservation which was a blessing and also kind of annoying since I spent an hour booking this thing months ago. We stopped at a few hot springs and fumaroles (steam coming up out of the ground smelling of eggs).  We saw one hot spring called the fishing cone.  Back when fishing was allowed in the lake by just anyone, fisherman would catch a fish and turn around and put the live fish still on the line in the boiling water to cook it. They would then sit and eat their little lunch. Crazy!  We stopped at a diner in one of the camps and ate sausage, eggs, and pancakes.  From the first day my aunt served us hotdogs in Wisconsin, we made the decision to eat what was available on this trip just as we will on our year long trip.  We normally do not eat pork to remind ourselves we are Jewish at every meal. We also try to eat organically sourced food and humanely raised meat.  Those are not options we have come across very often on this adventure. We are eating what we are served and what is custom for the area we are in. We also remind ourselves we are Jewish at every meal by simply talking about it. I also drank coffee at breakfast and haven’t yet had a panic attack. The diner was so warm, bright, inviting, and just the perfect thing after our freezing sleepless night. We bought Elia a Yellowstone sweatshirt in the giftshop because it is absolutely perfect for her, it was the only one of that design and it just happened to be her size.  It was meant to be.  I normally would never buy anything from a place like this- I’m way too cheap.

We continued on to Old Faithful.  Stopping at a few waterfalls along the way while Judah napped. He has been really good about getting his nap in while we are on the road. I also stopped about every hour because I’m just luckiest girl in the world and my period has perfectly coincided with this long stretch of living in a tent with no running water or nearby bathrooms! I know it may be jarring to read about someone’s period but I am of the mindset that we treat this perfectly normal part of life in a very unhealthy way. I’m female, I’m fertile, not a big deal. Anyway, we made it to Old Faithful just in time to snag a seat in the front with our feet hanging off the boardwalk.  It erupted after we had been there for only ten minutes!  The people behind us had been waiting for an hour and a half!  The lady with them was so sweet and let me borrow her sunscreen for the kids’ faces since I had left my bag (Judah’s $4 backpack from LIDL that I have adopted as my travel purse) in the van. We watched it explode as the freezing and boiling water beneath the Earth combined and found release in the 4 inch hole below the geyser. We decided to take the short hike around the area to see other geysers. About a quarter mile into our little hike, Judah put his hand down the back of his pants and pulled five poop covered little fingers. I had no bag, I had nothing. I took off his shirt and wiped off his hand and begged him to stop doing this new terrible thing he had started a few days prior. We walked back to the information center shirtless and Luca and I ran back to the van to get the bag. I will never leave the bag behind again.

We continued on the loop to the chromatic hot springs. The pools are a million different colors based on the temperature of the pool and the bacteria growing in the pool.  Some of them are so hot that they can burn off your skin if you fall in them.  It was crazy that they just had these little tiny wood paths winding through these dangerous beautiful pools. The wind was blowing so much that everyone kept losing their hats into the pools and a very nice park ranger would come though with his go-go gadget arm fishing them out. All of the pools had beautiful copious sulfur steam coming off of them. We stopped at a little river picnic area to eat sandwiches out of our cooler and take in the scenery.  Elia wanted to touch the water in the river but I assured her it would be too freezing to put her feet in.  She yelled that it was warm!  I couldn’t believe it but it was nice and warm in the 70 degree weather. The cold river water was mixing with the spring water from the pools up the road, making this water perfect for swimming. Elia just slid right in the water with her clothes on. Judah saw this and needed to get in the water immediately. Luckily, we keep all of our clothes in the car so it was no big deal to dry them off and change them- LOVE these drawers in the trunk.

We made a couple more stops and went back to the camp. We made a dinner of eggs with the asparagus and baked potatoes that were supposed to accompany our trout. It turned into a yummy scramble that filled us all up. We roasted smores by the fire that Luca tended to meticulously.  He is a real boyscout, he learned so much at Camp Airy about camping and surviving in the wilderness.  I love watching him be a little grown up. We cleaned up our site, tried to do dishes but the water was so cold that it kept congealing the entire pound of butter we had used for cooking. I put it all in a garbage bag to wash at our next stop. We went into the camp to redeem our shower tickets. The little ones could shower for free which kept the whole thing free.  The babies came with me and the boys went with Adam.  I initially had us all in one shower stall so I could shower them but it was so freezing and it had been so long since we had showered that all of us just wanted ot stand under the faucet which was impossible.  Once the lady next to us finished her shower, I had the kids climb under the wall to stand under that faucet while I finished my luxuriously warm shower. So magic, so clean. They were grateful and quiet until I called them over to be bathed and clothed.  I sent Judah out to meet with Adam and the boys and a very kind lady let Elia and I borrow her blow dryer so we didn’t die of hypothermia with our wet hair.  We sat by the fire when we got back to our campsite until the sun went all the way down and then curled up in our little tent and went to sleep.

June 30

We woke up freezing again with Judah’s sweet little face on my side instead of between us, I learned my lesson last night.  Adam was the only thing keeping me warm, I’m so grateful that he was forced to cuddle me because of the below freezing temperatures.  Normally, he can’t sleep with anyone touching him so he was obviously desperate.  We packed up the tent and sleeping bags quickly and got on the road.  We saw the north side of the park which was perfect because it didn’t involve much getting out of the van or stopping.  The landscape in Yellowstone changes so quickly and dramatically.  Elia wanted to see the marmots that were all over the sides of the road so I slowed down to see one.  She was playing this animal seeking game the park ranger gave her and wanted to spot all of the animals. As I slowed down, a man honked at me and sped around me.  This is very uncommon behavior for Yellowstone. Most people are going very slow and are in no hurry to go anywhere. I pulled over to let the two cars behind him go by us as well.  We kept driving as they sped ahead of us until suddenly I came around a turn and the two cars in front of me were stopped.  The angry old man was no where to be seen.  We peered over the edge of the cliff to see why the cars had stopped and Adam yelled “Oh my God, it’s a BEAR!”  We were all in shock after talking ad nauseum about the dangerous apex predator and didn’t immediately get the camera so we missed a picture.  He had moved behind a log by the time we were ready.  It was amazing!  If that guy hadn’t honked at me, I never would have let those other people pass and we never would have spotted the bear without their help.  Thanks, rude old man for helping Elia complete her animals of Yellowstone checklist!

We ate breakfast at Mammoth Hot Springs in a fancy dining hall and realized how some people experience Yellowstone: fancy hotels, guided tours, fine dining, heaters.  I’m glad we went the primitive route, it felt more authentic and I’m sure the kids will always remember the freezing cold.  I ate cutthroat trout on my bagel and the boys chastised me about the endangered fish we had learned about the day before on our GYPSY tour.  Evidently, someone added lake trout to the lake and they killed almost all of the cutthroat trout by eating their babies.  They are the orcas of the lake world.  Anyway, the cutthroat trout is fishable again because of efforts to get rid of the invasive lake trout. We drove out of the park and the kids watched many movies.  All of the travel from Yellowstone to Glacier is two lane roads.  Everyone is in an incredible hurry to go everywhere here in the middle of nowhere and they LOVE passing you in oncoming traffic.  I could be going 80 and still get passed by someone who will do so even if there is a visible oncoming car in the lane next to me. It was incredibly stressful and I couldn’t really look at all of the beautiful scenery because I was concentrated on not being killed by people hauling giant tractors that STILL needed to pass me in oncoming traffic going 90 miles an hour.  We made it to Helena where we passed by a children’s museum and a ramen/sushi place.  As we were eating, we checked our science museum pass to see if it could possibly be a reciprocal museum and it WAS!  We ate our light sushi and ramen lunch and walked over to the museum.  The kids learned about plate tectonics, Elia made us a meal in the farm kitchen, I did handstands, Adam built a building and got beat at mind ball by Dom then made up some excuse about it being broken, Judah played with the water feature that had mini white water rafts in a mini forest, and we all left happy.  It was a much needed break in our very long drive to Glacier.

We stopped at a little quick mart about an hour outside of Kalispell because Adam needed to pee- as usual. My love has a very small bladder and refuses to use the urinal I force Dominic to use when I don’t want to stop. It was the most beautiful rest stop in the world complete with grazing horses in the back rolling hills you could see through the giant windows that lined the back of the building.  This is where the boys were introduced to elk jerky.  It is so good!! We made it to Kalispell in time to load all of our laundry at the laundromat/casino (not a joke) and drive over to a pizza place to grab our phone in order.  We ate at the bar, the place was slammed and full of angry customers. They didn’t even have time to bus a table for us to sit down, thus the bar.  A lady offered to let the kids sit on the end of her table where there were four empty seats.  Elia insisted on sitting at the bar so Adam sat at the table with the boys and they started talking.  She gave us a few tips for Glacier and was very kind. We went back to the laundromat to switch over the laundry and went to a nearby park to play zombie tag while we waited.  By the time we got to the Aribnb, we were exhausted.  We took showers, I took a VERY hot and long bath, and we fell asleep so happy in our giant warm beds.

 

June 27

After we left the cozy Sioux Falls house, we drove through a lightning storm on our way out of town.  The plan was to go to Mt. Rushmore and eat somewhere near there for lunch. Since we left late and the drive was approximately one million hours long, we made the choice to skip Mt. Rushmore (I saw it as a teenager and was severely underwhelmed) so we could spend more time in the badlands and checking out Deadwood, a town on the way to Devil’s Tower.  We stopped at the Badlands National Park, which I also saw as a teenager and remember thinking of Mars, and got out fourth grade park pass.  This thing is amazing.  Every fourth grader in America is entitled to one free park pass that allows them and their whole family access to all national parks for FREE. Dominic is a Rockstar. I had forgotten to print the paper pass but a very nice man at the helicopter tour company right outside the park printed it for me like he says he does for a handful of families every day.  Thank you sir.

It was like Mars. It is giant and breathtaking and very much like a giant termite mound mountain range.  Luca swore he saw a rattlesnake and even convinced another family.  Elia petted many dogs that were walking on the trail that clearly said “no dogs allowed”. We loved it. Adam was initially reluctant to take the hour long detour to drive the scenic route but was ultimately won over by the alien landscape. We got back on the road and stopped in a little town to grab some food for our few days of camping.  Adam stopped at a Duluth Trading Company to grab some pants he’s been eyeing and he took Elia with him.  She, of course, saw a beaver in line that resembled the one from the cabin in Lancaster and HAD to have it.  Because I was not there to be the bad guy so they walked out with a $35 stuffed animal.  This beaver has been named a few things.  Sarah, obviously. Chippy Nippy- an unsupported Judah name.  Beaver also does not identify as either gender consistently.  “Where is Sarah!? Where is he I need him!!” then two minutes later “No, mommy stop calling him a boy!  His name is Miss Beaver Sarah Quinn Bourne!”

We continued through the mountains to the historic gold town of Deadwood.  We LOVED the Deadwood show in HBO and we were excited to see the actualy town it was based on.  First of all, it is in the mountains which I didn’t picture.  I thought it would be an old west town. It is covered in bikers, casinos, tourist trap shopping, and gorgeous views.  I had read an extensive review of the area and had picked out a place to eat that had great reviews.  It was the only place we have stopped so far that we regret.  This was ultimate tourist trap fine dining.  No problem, we knew we would get swindled at one point. Note to self, never trust a reviewer that says you absolutely must stop at the donut place because, “who can resist donuts?”  We saw the place Wild Bill Hickock was killed but declined to pay the $10 per person to see the actual chair. All of the characters in Deadwood were real people!  We learned about the Jewish role in the success of Deadwood.  Sol Star started the store there and pretty much kept everyone alive during difficult times.  He was the mayor for a long time and was well loved.

We grabbed a bottle of local wine from a little shop across from where we parked and headed to our teepee we had reserved on Airbnb.  We drove through the mountains in the most unbelievable beauty.  The air in South Dakota approaching Wyoming actually smells like sweetness. At first, I was put off by the smell because I assumed it was artificial from a gas station when we got out of the car to fill up.  When I kept smelling the flowers with the windows rolled down in the mountains, I realized it is just how this amazing place smells.  We were lucky to be her while all the wildflowers are blooming as well. We made it to Devil’s Tower.  It is a lone mountain plateau in the middle of the fields.  It looks like a petrified volcano with lava flowing down the sides of it. It has a creepy feel to it for sure.  It is also where close encounters was filmed in the 80’s.  We pulled up to our teepee site and the owner was waiting in the drive way.  There are 6 authentic teepees that she built herself.  First, she bought the land and decided to live in a teepee herself because she thought it was the least disruptive way of living out there.  She said tourists kept coming by and asking her questions and gawking at her.  She built the other teepees to make some money!  There was a beautifully clean port-a-potty and a place for trash. She asked us to please not bring any food into the teepee because it attracts mice.  We set up our sleeping bags and got the kids in bed. The teepee was lined with cowhide on the inside and was completely traditional.  Adam and I set up our chairs outside the teepee in the wide open field and drank a tiny bit of wine, we were so sleepy.  As the sun set (around 10 pm) that stars began to FILL the sky.  Judah and Elia appeared, they couldn’t sleep. They sat under our blankets with us and watched the sky.  So special. We got in our teepee and settled in to sleep.

That is not at all what happened. The sleep part.  Well, everyone else slept.  As soon as we settled in, a happy cricket started serenading us.  So loudly. I tuned him out and started drifting off.  Then came the scratches. Little tiny scratching noises all around the outside (hopefully) of the teepee. I imagined the mice running around the teepee looking frantically for food and settling on Judah’s ear as a good snack.  I watched the stars through the opening in the top of the teepee and out of the corners of the flap covering the entrance. I heard footsteps every time I started drifting.  Footsteps of all sizes. Finally, I started to drift more deeply.  Suddenly, I felt a tremble in the ground. The tiniest of earthquakes.  I tried to reach for Adam to see if he felt it. I could not move my body.  I was completely paralyzed. My eyes were open, I could barely breathe, I could not move at all. I tried to say his name. I made a small noise.  As I exhaled I tried to make a louder noise. Be calm. Finally the “Adam” was loud enough to break the spell and I woke up gasping for breath. I have never had sleep paralysis before. I have had nightmares where I feel a pressing feeling on my chest and I can’t breathe.  This was the first time I had no control of my body while awake. Scary. I woke Adam who said he had to pee.  We ventured right outside the teepee to a completely lit up sky. There was no moon but the sky was as bright as twilight. We could clearly see the milky way as stared at the sky.  I wish we could have stayed out there all night but I needed my two hours of sleep.

Judah has started saying “C’mooooon!” about things.  “A two hour drive? C’mooooooon!” and “C’mon people!!” it is exasperated and precious. He is also obsessed with tunnels and it is the best possible thing when we need to go through one.  Every time we pass cows of any kind, we MOOOOOOOO!

June 25

We got up early and headed over the rolling Wisconsin hills to my Aunt Ginny and Uncle Jim’s house in Bloomington.  When I was 12, I spent about a month with them when they still lived in California.  They are so in love with each other, treat one another with so much respect, and are the best role models of a true partnership in marriage. That summer was the best of my childhood and the smell of their house still reminds me of that comfort and love.  Gom and Kamryn were also at the house and had driven for a couple of days so we could have a little family reunion.  My cousins, Joe and Scott, and their wives and four collective children also met us at the house.  We spent the whole day eating, talking, and just being together on the deck enjoying the beautiful Wisconsin weather.  We needed a day of rest after so much running around and it was so good to let the kids just play with their second cousins and be free in the back yard.  Elia became best friends with Paisley, Scott’s 4 year old daughter and later with Zoey, Joe’s 9 year old daughter.  She is 100% a girl’s girl.  Luca and Dom jumped on the trampoline most of the day with Scott’s son Aiden who is 7.  Judah spent the day following Cyrus, Joe’s 3 year old, around and trying to steal his toys. It worked out so well.  Scott’s wife Ashley was so sweet and such a good mom- same for Megan, Joe’s wife.  They are just such a loving family.  We stayed until around 6 and very reluctantly said goodbye.  On our way back to our Airbnb, we grabbed fresh broccoli and cauliflower from the town store and made roasted veggies for dinner.  We put the little ones in their sleep tacos and played spades downstairs with the boys.  We had a long age appropriate talk about consent that happened totally organically- which I know sounds ridiculous but I’m glad it happened. Adam and I went up to our bed and fell asleep easily for about five seconds.  Judah started SCREAMING form the living room.  I grabbed him and brought him into our room to calm him down.  As soon as I hit the pillow, the motion sensor light on the front porch went off. We are in the middle of NOWHERE on 88 acres of farmland with NOONE nearby. So, yes, a horror movie.  Adam found some knives, of course, and patrolled the house for 2 hours while the motion sensor light went off another four times.  I mean, obviously it was an animal but in the off chance it was a deranged killer or ghost, it was nice to have him awake and keeping us safe.

June 26

We cleaned the Airbnb after breakfast and loaded up our van.  The whole state is FILLED with bugs right now- so many gnats.  The kids of course were freaking out as we pulled away from the house with a van full of flying friends.  The rolling hills and windows down helped them leave. We listened to a lot of old music- old as in circa 2001- from my very first CD mixes. Judah and Elia enjoy Powerman 5000. The kids kept busy. I made these little medicine boxes full of buttons, beads, little things for Elia and Judah.  Elia’s came with string so she made bracelets.  Judah’s came with a big pair of plastic tweezers so he could “organize” the box of things.  He sat there for over an hour entertained.  Mommy win.  He told us he was “doing science” and when he later dropped the whole thing on the ground he yelled, “MY SCIENCE! I dropped my science on the floor!!” Adorable.  So far, the activity bags have been working out pretty well but we have lots of buttons, beads, and checkers on the floor of the van. Michael also called and shamed us for not calling him on his birthday. We didn’t have service! We are bad pseudo-parents.

Adam found a park in a town called Blue Earth for us to make sandwiches and eat lunch. It happened to also have a community pool and waterpark right next to it.  Judah has been asking for days to go swimming so we had to stay.  Elia went off the diving board and swam to the side by herself twice!  The slides were actually really fun. Judah was so grateful to be in the water. We only stayed about an hour with all of the blonde people of Blue Earth before showering and getting back on the road to Sioux Falls. By the time we got to Carnaval Brazilian Steak House, I was starving and  SO DONE with driving. The kids loved the endless meat and the ceiling was lit up with stars- the place was cool.  We went shopping afterwards and made it to our Airbnb where we stayed with a very sweet couple who rented out their lower level on Airbnb.  Judah woke up screaming again and we calmed him down.  I hope that stops. We were supposed to leave at sunrise but we are waiting out a storm and watching Teen Titans.  This is perfect.

June 23

We got up early and left the Airbnb in Sandusky to drive to Chicago.   We were worried about making our 1230 brunch reservation until we realized the time would change and we would get there an our early!

Finding parking was tough and expensive- $14.00 for 2 hours! We walked to Maggie Daly Park which is right near the water in downtown Chicago. They have a bunch of park areas for kids of all ages. Judah loved the boat area, I loved the amazing slide area and spent time riding the slides with Dom. We  walked across the street to the Chicago Bean in Millennium Park.  Elia was “starving” and not impressed. We walked to brunch at Ema Mediterranean which was about 30 minutes away during which Elia almost died from complaining. We passed Trump tower which was pretty epic looking- I can see how people who know nothing about politics might see his tower and assume he would make a good president…?  We passed over the river and watched the water taxis.  I had been watching the forecast all week and it was supposed to rain the whole time we were in Chicago so I already felt so grateful that we were able to see Maggie Daly and the Bean.  We finally made it to Ema, were immediately seated at our table in the packed restaurant, and the sky opened up.

We took an Uber (Adam does not endorse Uber due to its labor controversy and something about women being harassed, he wants our children to know this when they read this one day) anyway we took the Uber to the Adler Planetarium where we used our Science Museum pass to get us in for free!  The movie in their dome about the moon was still $9 a person, not counting Judah because he doesn’t count as a person unless he is in my womb or over 3 years old. He fell asleep during the movie and somehow stayed asleep the whole time we walked to the Field Museum nearby.  The sun was shining so hot on our skin as we walked along the water (Elia insisted we walk as close as possible to the “ocean”/Lake Michigan) that we all got mini sunburns.  Judah woke up just as we walked into the Field Museum, right as it started raining.  We proudly marched up to the security guard at 4:20 to enter the museum that closed at 5 and he said…”no”.  The last entry was at 4!!  But this is our only chance to see the T-Rex!  We have come so far!  We already have free tickets with our reciprocal membership! He gave zero Fs about what I was saying.  I asked to use the bathroom.  On my way there, I saw an employee.  I started to plead my case.  He cut me off and said, “Whatever, go in, I don’t care.” What a sweetheart! Luca was with me and said that the second I started talking to that guy he knew we were in.

We got inside and found our way to Sue the T-Rex. She was amazing!  She had holes in her jaw and they think she died because she ate rotten meat, got infected, and then her mouth hurt too much to eat anything and she starved.  This is why we don’t eat food off of the floor, Judah.

Walking back to our car, lots of complaining, we had left our car parked for about 8 hours so when we got to our car we found a… ticket. Expected that. We drove to our hotel- the Warwick Allerton and it started pouring.  We are staying with friends from college in Lawrence, KS and one of them, Susan, calling me as we pulled up to the hotel and Adam got out to check in. She said their house is flooded!! I felt so bad and she said she was sorry they couldn’t host us which is obviously not the problem- her poor house! As she was telling me this, the valet came up and banged on my window.  I rolled down the window and yelled  “WHERE DO YOU WANT ME TO GO?!” over the rain because he obviously wanted me out of the valet lane. I had a short conversation with him as Adam finally came out of the hotel and go tint he van so we could leave.  I realized that Susan had been talking that whole time and probably assumed that I screamed “WHERE DO YOU WANT ME TO GO!?” at her since I don’t have a place to stay in Lawrence that night. LOL.  I had already wrapped up my call with her in the chaos so I had Adam call her back later and explain. Just as I pulled out of the hotel to go to dinner, I heard a loud scratch bang.  It was our care being hit by another car on the driver’s side. I saw the lady on her phone the whole time.  She got out, looked at our cars and said “I don’t want” as I said “That’s fine” and we both drove away.  Ours was just a little bit of paint on our already cosmetically challenged 11 year old Odyssey. Hers was damage to her BMW. I didn’t get it but I’d take it! We drove to Rotary Sushi- the food was so good! Sushi comes around the restaurant on a conveyer belt! Scallops, Mochi Ice Cream, Hot Cheeto Roll. They just count the plates at the end and charge you! Ubered to our hotel.  Our driver was an Egyptian visa lottery winner with four kids.  Such a nice man. The max you can tip on an Uber is double the fare, just FYI.  Our room was smaller than my dorm room at Jester. The kids got cozy and we watched Jurassic Park to sleep. Luca declined to watch. Wonderful day.

June 24

I woke up early and snuck out of the room to walk around the corner to a hot yoga studio chain called Core Power Yoga for their Power 2 class which was free!  Told Adam where I was going in case I got captured. Packed up the kids and our stuff and Uber’ed back to our van which we left by the sushi place because we can’t park anywhere in Chicago other than the street due to our giant box on our roof.  In fact, that is how we ended up getting this box.  It was cheaper to Uber both ways than pay for parking.

Drove to Tweet for breakfast.  Go to this place! They gave the kids toys to play with.  Elia named them all Sarah. The boys ordered a Lox plate, they give you fruit and cake when you sit, delicious vegan food, Adam had veg biscuits and gravy. The had an Obama portrait looking down at everyone. LOVE. We headed to the Museum of Science and Industry.  For free of course with our Science pass. They have a working coal mine, a fantastic doll house, mirror maze, Tesla Coil, Mind Ball that can tell how calm your mind is, a display of embryos and fetuses from 6 weeks to 38 weeks, dissected muscles, and a legit play area.  There was too much to do and we loved every minute of it.  Best museum ever. Adam is a stickler for line cutting and explained that to an old lady and her granddaughter who tried to cut in line to use the mind ball.  I love him.  When we first arrived at the museum, the kids were off playing an the guide told us about a plane hijack in the 70s by a guy named DB Cooper.  He got away and was never found. As we called the kids and walked into the museum we were talking about how crazy it was. Dom goes, are you guys talking about DB Cooper? What?! How did you know that? He told us the whole story and many more facts about the case than the guide had mentioned. He said he’d read it in a fact book once.  The kid amazes me. We wanted Chicago deep dish before we left so we went to Lou Malnotti’s.  That was two hour detour that was so worth it. We hit a lot of traffic on our way to Bloomington, WI. Lots of rain but we mad it!  Tucked our kids into taco beds (a blanket wrapped around them) and finally slept.

Day two at Cedar Point was far more relaxed.  We all slept in until around 0900- which is an absolute miracle for my children.  Judah has a pretty strict no later than 0600 wake up time. We all played on our respective Duolingos- Adam started German again, Luca is doing Spanish (the language he chose for sixth grade), I am working on Hebrew.  I was so impressed by how much Hebrew Dominic knew while I was doing my lesson yesterday! Also, the kids love it and want to do it all of the time- I love the video game structure.  Adam made breakfast tacos while Luca and I drove to Shoreline Park and did some yoga on the shore.  There were a group of ducks in the area when I started and after about 30 seconds they all came over to see what I was doing!  Luca was so curious and followed them around until I saw a goose and told him to stay back- those things are mean! We grabbed everyone from the house and headed to Cedar Point around 1100.  The place was slammed.  Granted, it was a Saturday during some dock festival so this was to be expected.  We met up with Mammy, the cousins wanted to do their own thing for the day.  We saw that Top Thrill Dragster was operating- this is the first Strata coaster and shoots you up 420 feet straight in the air at 120 mph.  It was broken all day yesterday so Adam and the boys got in line immediately, the regular line- no more fast passes today.

Elia, Mammy, Judah, and I rode a million baby rides- all with very long lines.  Elia rode the boat, my favorite ride, with me even though it really scared her.  Judah almost lost his mind in a few of the lines- nothing like a busy day at the theme park to teach your kids patience.  Sois sage as they say in France. Adam and the boys were on the platform when the ride broke.  He decided to stick around to see if it was a quick fix.  Fifteen minutes later he showed up in Snoopy Land with my Parent Swap ticket!! The boys and I ran back over there as they talked nonstop about the best ride ever.  We ran to the Parent Swap area and the girl took my ticket and said only one kid could go with me- evidently those are the rules but no one has ever enforced them.  Dominic said “Rock, paper, scissors?”  Luca said “No, its ok- you go with Mommy.”  It is times like this that I am most proud of my children.  He wanted to go so bad but he didn’t want Dom to be sad or have to wait alone.  Love.  As I sat in the the car on this ride I was actually a little scared.  When it started speeding off at 120 mph it took my breath away.  During the 2 seconds you are cresting the top, you can see way out over the lake.  This ride was every bit as good as the kids said and I am so grateful it was open!!  We rode a few more baby rides, Luca and I rode another huge swinging ride that was epic, and we all rode Judah’s first roller coaster!!  Around 1700 we ran out of the park to make it to our dinner reservation at Small City Taphouse in Sandusky near the water.  The sushi was so good and we ordered ALL the vegetables we could find- it had been a while. We said goodbye to our sweet cousins- Judah especially loved Nya and tried to sit with her all of dinner.  Early bed after little bathroom shower/baths and sh’ma. Great day.