Atlanta, Georgia and Spartanburg, South Carolina

We just got back from a big ol' trip...I choose not to post until I got back...

I suppose for the safety of it...

This post is from that trip.

We ended up leaving Huntsville about mid-day to head toward Atlanta...and we arrived IN Atlanta around 5pm on the Friday before Labor Day.  But starting there, well, that's only part of the story...so let me back up a little.  There are so many pictures from this time frame...I'm just going to throw them in here...

First of all, let me introduce my friend the Composer...(hey, look, another picture of me from this trip...)

The Composer and Me, at a football game...
gee, it's like we're 16 again...sorta.

Okay...so how do I know him?  Well, years and years and years ago, when I was between 11 - 13 years old, we lived near each other and were friends.  My best friend, Kehaar (who now lives in Wisconsin) and his best friend, Gator (who now lives in South Carolina) were neighbors in Stuart, Florida.  As their best friends, we often went to the same parties and hung out together.  When I was 16, I went back to Florida to see everybody and he and I went on a DATE...and then I went home to California and grew up, got married, had a family of my own, while he was doing the same thing in Florida and eventually Georgia. 

The very first night...see the video below...the composer decided to get all the kids in the band.

The beginning of a beautiful friendship between Monkey-Face and the composer.  She has a tendency to wrap grown men around her little finger...he had no hope, really.

Fast forward slightly less than 30 years...we reconnected, maybe 5 years ago, on facebook, and have been "friends" in the "oh look, kids" sort of way that distant friends are "friends" on facebook...until Mother's Day of this year when we started talking.  Obviously, we ACTUALLY became friends again along the way. 

It was hot...it was muggy...but OOOOOoh, I love the trees in South Carolina.

Bear and Drummer-boy got along pretty well over all...they are closest in age and have a similar humor that kept the rest of us laughing.

Now, we'd been talking about intersecting on this trip for awhile and there had been a couple of snags along the way, but by the time it was set...the Composer and his two boys and a couple of their friends were planning a "Sissy" camping trip for Labor Day.  See, they'd always roughed it...tents, etc.  For this trip, they were getting a camper.  Once we'd decided that we girls were going to be near the same place at the same time...it became a much bigger deal.

The Composer said we had to have a fire...my less-fun personality said, "Um, it's like 900 degrees out here"...I was disregarded.  Turns out camping is NOT camping without a fire...period.

Lunch...it's a roasted marshmallow on a peanut butter sandwich...not pretty...but yummy, nonetheless.

See, with us involved, it boosted the headcount from 4 or 5 BOYS to possibly 8 or 9 mixed gender all trying to CAMP.  We decided that consolidating us into one vehicle would be easier and more fun than driving two...so the Composer arranged to get a 15 passenger van to PULL the camper. 

Our very "manly" 15 passenger van and the camper.  There was a day dream going around that we were FBI Surveillance...boys are weird.

Drummer-boy unhooking the camper from the van.  Incidentally, we had two hitch issues on the trip...but not one once Drummer-boy started handling it...Coincidence?  I think not.

Only one problem, the Composer was not SUPER familiar with the ins and outs of pulling THAT much real estate down the road.  Enter Grandpa Bob and Grandma. 

See, Grandpa Bob knows all about pulling all manner of vehicles down the road...and he was in Florida the week before we were going to take this trip.  Now, when I called Grandpa Bob about this potential dilemma I was hoping that he would CALL the Composer.  Y'know, talk him through the questions that he had.  In the end, Grandpa and Grandma DROVE to Atlanta to be with the Composer as he went to get the van and camper and then proceeded to teach him everything he could possibly need to know about pulling and setting up the camper.  Let me take just a moment to say how very VERY thankful I am to have Grandpa Bob.

Drummer-boy  and Bear

Perfect marshmallows, Baby!

Okay...so the trip, in a nutshell, we got there Friday night.  We packed and sorted and consolidated for much of Saturday.  Thankfully, we did get there almost 24 hours early, if we hadn't, the consolidating and packing would NOT have gone as well.  It takes a herculean effort anytime one camps, and if we really hadn't been there until midday Saturday, I'm not sure we'd have gotten it done.

Around 5 pm we were ready and took off with the Composer, his younger son, Drummer-boy, and a friend of Drummer-boy's (who shall remain nameless as he is someone else's child), and the four of us...the Composer's older son was unable to join us, so, in the end we were seven in all...to Spartanburg, South Carolina.  We camped Saturday night, all day Sunday and Sunday night, and headed back to Atlanta on Monday.

There are SO many stories.  Seriously, I never knew you could pack that many little tiny things into, essentially, 3 days.  First of all, the kids got along great.  No worries there.

This was NOT a road...This was a barricaded Horse Path...This included asking children to remove the barricade so that we could drive on this path.  This lawbreaking was done without my knowledge or consent.  I only found out after we entered the "road". This IS my favorite...funniest memory and too bad for you, I'm not sharing it here.

Hello, Deer!!  There were actually two of them.  So pretty.

The Composer is one of those, "Come do this with me" type of guys.  You know the ones, if there is a kid within earshot, that kid is holding the flash light or pulling the rope or carrying the firewood.  Honestly, I was kind of humbled by that.  My, "OH, I'll just do it myself" nature really took a hit watching him set things up while keeping every one of those kids busy and underfoot.

"We're hot...hurry up!"

Best thing ever...kids loading the van...the WHOLE van.  Maybe the Composer helped them with the heaviest cooler...but I don't think so.

One of the more memorable moments was my girls helping him set up the awning.  OH.MY.GOODNESS. I laughed so hard.  I wish I'd gotten it on video.  To say that it didn't go RIGHT, would be a major understatement...but they all laughed (well, I did, anyway) and managed to get it at the right height and shading as it should.

This is actually taking DOWN the awning.  It went pretty smoothly overall.  Not nearly as funny.

Please note the Composer.  He is doing his very manly, "Happy to have CONQUERED the awning" dance.  Sadly, another moment I failed to VIDEO.

He is also a musician (hence the nickname) which came in handy several times.  Whether it was teaching the girls a little guitar, bass, and drum that first night...playing guitar around the camp fire...or picking up the rhythm to the cup song IRRITATINGLY quickly, he fit right in with our bursting-into-song nature. 

 

I think the thing I noticed the most was how comfortable the trip was.  I'm pretty easy going.  I like camping.  But I've seen these things go JUST wrong.  Nothing bad happened.  Even the "stressful" parts, when the camper/hitch didn't work quite like we'd expected, were quickly resolved so we could go on with the fun.  We adults let the kids run all over the countryside with walkie-talkies (of course) and we got to talk...and laugh...and walk...and just relax.

The creek that we managed to get to without driving illegally on a barricaded horse trail after all....

I had to MAKE them be still...creeks are awesome.

Kids on a bridge.

Yeah...I have no idea.

It was a great sub-trip.  My kids have been talking about it ever since and we all hope to have another opportunity some day.  For now, it was great to see my friend again, and get to know him as a grown up and a father.  I really am so blessed that we could reconnect and do this together. 

What is a roadtrip without Cracker Barrel?

See ya around...

AH, the Gypsy Life...

We just got back from a big ol' trip...I choose not to post until I got back...

I suppose for the safety of it...

These next few posts were written in the last few weeks.

 

Getting ready...getting ready...getting ready!!  Yep, we are going on a trip.  Not just another Girly Trip, but an All-By-Ourselves-1/2-Way-Across-The-Country-The-OTHER-Way Trip.  A Learning Journey (as my brother will call it by the time it is finished). 

 

This trip is SO exciting to me.  I have always loved to travel.  In the last few years, much of our travel has kept me sane, giving me new places to see, different routines to follow, other people to talk to.  In a sense, this trip will provide all of that.

 

I crave being out there, out from under my standard; get up, get ready, drink tea, make breakfast, do dishes, check bedrooms, start school, correct child, random chore, teach somebody, correct paper, fold laundry, make dinner, take out trash, feed dog, make sure kids bathe, pray, put kids in bed, watch random TV, sleep, get up and do it again.  That daily routine that shapes my world and makes all things right when we are at home begins to chafe, to feel like bars on a cage, and my wanderlust kicks in.  I fully expect this trip to provide that gypsy escapism.

But there is another aspect.  This trip, by and large, is mine.

The majority of other trips that I've taken in my life were taken with someone or because of something else.  Except maybe my honeymoon, my honeymoon was completely ours.  Before that most of my trips were my parent's trips or I joined friends on their trips...and after that...well, I can't think of any trips that I planned just because *I* wanted to go.  We went on trips when friends got married, we went to family reunions, we went to visit family and friends, there were holidays and vacations with favorite people.  And I don't want to belittle those amazing experiences in any way.  But before now there has only been ONE trip that I planned just because *I* wanted to go, and that one was only 45 hours long.  This one will be between 15 and 17 DAYS.

This is the trip that I decided to go the long way 'round.  There is not one single "HAVE" to on this trip.  There are a couple of "can't waits" and "We'll probably want to leave early to get there in time fors" and there are several "No Plan todays".  But I think the biggest cage-bar-breaker of it all for me is how well I know this trip because it's all mine...every road choice...every hotel...every sandwich...every CD...MINE.

Except for 3 days.  We have a 3 day camping trip tucked right into the middle, with a very old friend (the composer) and his kids.  He's got that planned.  See that's HIS trip...we just get to intersect.  Those 3 days are MY break.  I get to relax, sit by the camp fire, drink wine, and talk to my friend.  It's a total "can't wait".

My thirst for adventure is beginning to eat into my desire to pack everything just so, which is problematic because on the road, I'll want to know where everything is.  But I love the excitement of the preparing, too.  It gives a different cadence to the daily-ness of the days and makes even the most mundane tasks sparkle a little.

I love to blog trips...you know I do.  But I also hate the pressure of trying to blog and keep up with the fun.  So I have no idea what you can expect now that I've determined to write. 

I expect I'll eventually write...but for now, I've really gotta find my bathing suit...

See ya around...

 

Ah...Togetherness...

That day...you know when the cosmos dropped the bottle on my water line??  Well, there were more people in my world that day.  I spoke to a few people on the phone.  I spoke to my children.  And looking back, I've gotta tell you everything pre-catastrophe is a little tainted with the crab.  I'm not ready to claim complete responsibility, I believe that every other person in my world was crabby and I was merely in a bad mood due to these interactions.  Yep.

However.

Immediately following the team work that the flood required there was a spontaneous upsurge of joy in being together.  After our earlier behavior, we were all "grounded"...no electronics...except for me because I'm in school plan mode, but even me for the most part. 

While I worked at pulling stuff together the girls disappeared up the stairs.  Earlier they had asked if they could set up our new GIGANTIC tent in the school room.  After the "incident" I just couldn't face it.  I'm pretty good at "It's not a mess, it's a memory" most of the time...but I'd reached my limit.  So when they offered to JUST make a fort...I was all over it.

And WHAT a fort.  I spy sheets and a shower curtain and numerous pillow cases...oh my.

Also...it's two rooms, there's a queen air mattress at the front and a twin REAL mattress crossways at the back...enough room for 3 girls to sleep comfortably...

 

 Dear reader, how could the children be expected to sleep without a fan or two (or even 3) blowing into their beautiful pavilion?  Surely, at least the southerners among you understand this need.  Sadly I didn't think to take pictures of all three fans...but yes, there were these two oscillating fans AND a box fan on the other side...

 

 



Eventually they put in a TV, a roku box AND a CD player.  Quite the oasis in our desolate game room.  All the comforts of home, right out in the middle of the ... ehem ... room. 

 

As a side bar...I did let them build it again the next night, after they proved that they could put it back...and it was even bigger and better...

 

 

 

 

Sometime around dinner time this was all completed and while I was throwing together the last bits of dinner, Beanie came down and we played with cups a bit.  Please understand, this is not a rehearsal, nor a performance...this is pure goofiness...we actually CAN do this song fairly well, if we wanna, but we didn't, we just wanted to play ... This kid?  She's one of my favorites...

 

 

 

And then the rest of them showed up.  And there were MANY videos recorded...but my favorite is this picture...

 

 

they make me happy ... I should let them, always.

 

All in all a perfect end to a poorly started day. 

 

See ya around...





Preliminaries...

Yes, indeed, we ARE going camping.

We haven't been camping since the summer of 2002. That's when this picture was taken...Isn't she cute?


But you know what? I wanna. I used to love to camp. But then we moved here and the seasons for camping are so different than California...and then I was pregnant...and then had these nurslings...and then toddlers...and honestly we were too skeered to try to camp with littles. So we just fell out of the habit of thinking of camping as an option.

But, there is this opportunity to go camping coming up...and I wanna go.

So I had my girls learn to put up the tents this week. That's right, TENTS. It's sort of a long story.

I know you all believe my children to be little angels sent down from heaven to smile at you. That's not exactly true.



See, the leaving of the Grandma...well the preparing of the Grandma to leave really put my girls a little out-of-sorts...so the camping trip offered up a chance to learn a little team building...



They set up the purple tent 3 times...the first time was outside...but it was SO windy I was afraid we were setting up a flying experiment...so the other two times were set up in our play room...it just BARELY fit.



But they managed it...and by the time they were done, they were a team again...


Thank heaven, because I thought I was gonna have to pinch 'em...



Okay...but I promised to explain TENTS...

Well, you see we THOUGHT we were going to have buy another tent for the trip. I mean we maybe coulda squished into the purple tent. But then, as I was diggin out the rest of the gear, guess what I found...that I'd COMPLETELY forgotten that we owned...



And the process started all over again...


On the bigger tent they needed someone taller...ME...


You'll be pleased to know that we actually DID get a tent stake mallet...I refused to allow my meat tenderizer to be part of the camping gear...I mean what would I use when I next need to hammer a nail into the wall if it's packed with the camping stuff?


They are getting to be a pretty crack team of shelter builders...can't wait to use these new skills for real. Stay tuned.

See ya around...