Refocusing

Sometimes, you get a photograph you weren't expecting.  This was one of those times.  I thought I'd just be getting a regular landscape shot when, instead, what came back through the lens was something closer to one of those vintage postcard paintings of the Grand Canyon.

Love that nature is just so beautiful when you are looking at it with the right attitude.

Life is like that as well, isn't it?  Sometimes when you look at your own day to day through a different angle, it suddenly looks a whole lot better.  Trying to keep a positive outlook can be tough, especially under adverse circumstances or in the midst of a busy run-around time.  But it is important to try to do that for your own sake, as well as the folks around you.

At least that's what I'll be telling myself this week and next as the back to school season gears up at our house.

Predictably, things have gotten busy:  the library clean-up and reorganization has begun in earnest, in advance of an open house next week; lesson planning has also begun; and we're in the middle of a home re-organization as well, as I work toward where I want things to be before the start of school.
All of the vacation photos certainly bring back that feeling of calm relaxation that we had along the journey.  May have to put them up all over the house to keep that going.  It's time to refocus a bit, but not lose the importance of balance.

That's an awfully tough thing to manage sometimes, isn't it?

Carlsbad Caverns: Adventure 750 Feet Underground

Last year, I had the kids in my class do a research project on a National Park.  The Peanut selected Carlsbad Caverns as her park, and enjoyed learning all sorts of intriguing bits of information about this fascinating park.

So when we began planning our cross-country driving vacation, her one big request was that we stop at Carlsbad and go down into the cave and explore.  She wanted to see in person a number of things that she'd read about.

How can you say no to a child who wants to learn more about what she's already researched, right?

Even if it does involve spending an entire day 750 feet below the surface of the Earth, and leave you coming outside at dusk smelling like musty, damp cave.  Let me tell you:  the whole thing was amazing and I would go again in a heartbeat, especially because she was completely fascinated from start to finish, and got to talk with some wonderful National Park Service rangers along the way.


One thing we did that I highly recommend is to get a "self-guided tour" electronic guide stick:  it is triggered by a series of numbered electronic keys that you find all along the path, and it gives a pre-recorded informational tour of each one.  For The Peanut, it was a great boost to what she had already learned about the cave, and it gave a lot of historical background on discoveries and scientific information all along the initial cave entrance pathways as well as all along the Big Room walking tour that we did on our own. 

We also booked a ranger-guided tour of the King's Palace that we loved.  If you are going to book a guided tour, I recommend doing so online well before you get to the caverns -- several were sold out completely the day we toured, and we would have missed out had we waited.  I booked ours several weeks ahead of our trip, and I am very glad that I did.

Planning A Big Family Driving Vacation...Again

We are trying to plan another big, family driving vacation for this summer.  This time, we're hoping to actually get to go on the vacation (last time was interrupted by a family tragedy, and no one wants to have to go through that again, thank you). 

This has kind of come together on the fly.  My planning is a little all over the place at the moment -- completely not me, as I am much more of a type A plan-a-holic about this sort of thing.

The plan is a sort of cross-country jaunt, punctuated in between by working weeks for Mr. ReddHedd at various offices along the way.  It came about because he had to be out of town for meetings in various places while we are off for our all-too-short summer break, and we decided that we'd like to actually see him for more than 2 or 3 days at a stretch, thank you very much...and thus, the driving idea was born.

Our plan is to go from here to New Orleans for a couple of days, to ride the street cars and see some glorious old mansions and live oaks, and perhaps listen to a little live jazz as well, if we can find a place or two that will allow The Peanut to jam along with us.

From there, we'll head over to Houston on the coastal road of I-10, and stay for a week.

Then across Texas to the Alamo, then Carlsbad Caverns, then over to Tucson, then Phoenix, Arizona to see family for a several days stay.

Then, we'll drive up through the Rockies and over them, taking in the glorious mountains and perhaps a little Mesa Verde as well, then over to Denver for a week's stay there.  Then, we'll head back over across the plains to home.

Thus far, I've managed a lodge reservation at the Grand Canyon, and I'm pretty proud of myself for finding space at this late date.  Yay!

Beyond that, though, there is a lot of planning ahead.

Up Close With Jellyfish

While we were in Charleston, SC, we spent a couple of days at the aquarium there.

I managed to snap this shot after turning a corner and becoming mesmerized by the jellyfish tank for a while.  The first day that we went was a Sunday, the weather was gorgeous outside, and we had the aquarium almost all to ourselves -- which meant we could stand and gaze upon these beautiful jellyfish for as long as we wanted.

There were maybe 7 or 8 of these types of jellyfish in this particular tank, and there must have been a current in it because they kept cycling up and down.  It was like a sort of slow-motion ballet, and absolutely mesmerizing.

Aren't they gorgeous?

I forget what type of jellyfish this was, but their color was just amazing against the bright blue of their tank.

Waaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh

As long-time readers know, we have been planning a big family driving vacation to national parks -- Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Dinosaur National Monument -- and also assorted Laura Ingalls Wilder spots as well.

Alas, that trip is no longer happening this year.

sniffle loudly here

I just spent the last 20 minutes or so canceling all of our reservations.  Boy, that was painful.  It honestly made me physically ache to make those calls, that's how much fun I was having with the vacation planning for this trip.

But it cannot be helped, because canceling this is the right thing to do. 

After we lost our sister-in-law Amy unexpectedly last fall, Mr. ReddHedd and I decided that we needed to spend summer vacation with family instead of driving hither, thither and yon.  Which makes total sense for all of us, and is emotionally the right thing to do for all three of us this year, no question whatsoever.

But hear me now, Universe:  I am saving my ginormous notebook filled with trip research, activity pages, scientific information and assorted other trip goodies.

Artist's Way Seminar: After The Third Day

Back home again.  I had booked a hotel room in Pennsylvania to break the drive from Massachusetts into two smaller, more manageable bits, but I was too homesick for my family to wait.

And so I drove the whole way and am exhausted this morning...but I am blissfully home, much to the family and the doggie's contentedness.

Yesterday's final session with the Artist's Way seminar was really enlightening.

Julia Cameron has a really crafty way of drawing you out on things you haven't thought about in years, or haven't let yourself think about because they "aren't practical."  But that make great motivators or rewards for your artist when you allow yourself to dream a little.

Very fun stuff.

One of her exercises had us thinking about things as if we were looking at the larger-than-life Hollywood version of ourselves, where money and budget, accuracy to our actual life, and all the other practicalities that get int he way no longer exist.

So, thinking about your own life in those terms, what would the view from your favorite room in your house be?  What would you be wearing?  Where would you have traveled that you have never gone before?  What talents do you have?

And a very fun one:  who would you cast as yourself in your movie?

Carlsbad Caverns Questions

Wow, there seem to be a lot of different options if you visit Carlsbad Caverns in terms of what to see. 

Anyone have opinions on the various self-guided tour entrances -- the Big Room route versus the Natural Entrance route?  Or the King's Palace guided tour, which seems the most likely one of the guided tours that we could do with an 8 year old who doesn't like getting dirty in tow?

Also, has anyone been to either White Sands or Guadalupe Mountains National Parks?   Both are fairly close to Carlsbad, and look like they'd make for some fun exploring.

While I'm at it:  Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest are must do's for us at some point, most likely on the next trip out to AZ.  Thoughts on those as well would be great. 

Especially if you have thoughts on any surrounding attractions, ruins, natural wonders, fossil sites (The Peanut says thanks in advance for hints on those!) or best pie in the universe diner recommendations.  Locals always know the scoop on that sort of thing -- and I've been known to detour for some really good pie or ice cream.

Things We Won't Be Doing At A National Park

Let's just put this on our list of "Things We Won't Try To Do While On Our National Parks Family Vacation," shall we?

Pretty sure this may be photoshopped, but we still won't be doing this.

Darwin in action, boys and girls.

Speaking of the national parks family driving vacation:  we may be changing our trip around a bit due to our family's recent loss. 

I've started planning an alternate route for us that would take us closer to Arizona so we can plan in family time with folks out there -- but still give us a driving vacation to see some national parks and other lovely things.  We're talking heading west from West Virginia, allowing for a stop or two in Missouri, Kansas (gotta get a little Laura Ingalls Wilder into the mix, right?), then into Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona...and maybe a little of California.  Or thereabouts -- am just beginning to research the possibilities this morning.

If anyone has done Carlsbad Caverns, Grand Canyon and/or any other treasures along the southern/western route that they want to share, chime in, please.  I'm in the early planning stages and would love to hear suggestions about things to see between WV and AZ (and maybe Disneyland in CA, too, if we can manage it).

Books On Tape For Long Driving Trips With Kids

As the plans for our driving trek next summer begin to take shape, that nagging feeling of "are we there yet"-itis keeps cropping up.

If you have a child, or have ever traveled with one for even a short drive, you know what I mean.

We've been thinking about possible book on tape ideas that will be interesting for all of us.  The Peanut has issues with car sickness, and I don't want to overload us with too many "read it to yourself" activities because of that.  (We're also going to give SeaBands a try, along with a couple of other things between now and then to see if we can come up with something that eases it back without the sleepy hangover that she gets from motion sickness tablets.)

In a prior thread, Suz suggested the Little House books, which is a great idea since we are planning to visit several of the places that the Ingalls family lived in through the years.  But since we are already reading those books to get through as many as we can between now and next June, I think re-plowing already read territory might prove to be a fatal error.

Mr. ReddHedd and I have been talking about several of the classics:  Treasure Island, Heidi, The Secret Garden, Swiss Family Robinson, Chronicles of Narnia, etc.

Fighting boredom in the car for The Peanut is a huge one for us.  And tackling it in a myriad of ways will go a long, long way to keeping momma sane and happy, too.

As we all know, when momma's not happy, no one is happy.

So help me out here, and let me know what has -- or has not -- worked for you in the past.  Any suggestions from folks who have done this with their own kids for a long road trip?  Or just suggestions for books that work well as a book on tape for a soon-to-be 8 year old?  Would love to hear your suggestions!

On The Trail Of Laura Ingalls Wilder

As we contemplate our family driving vacation for next summer, we begin to whittle down the possibilities of pit stops and historical bells and whistles and natural wonders to a more do-able list.

From "jeebus, we're insane!" to a mere "jeebus, that's a lot of driving, but I think we can do it!"  And perhaps even more, but we aren't there yet.

In any case, one of the things I have always wanted to do is see where the Ingalls family trekked across this nation of ours.

It was an obsession of mine as a kid, you see: the full Little House book series.

Including the teevee show. Even with that mean Nellie Olsen, I just loved Little House on the Prairie.

There is just something magical about the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder, and I want to be able to share that now with The Peanut.  She's at the perfect age, and I'm hoping that seeing some of where Laura traveled along with reading the books will catch fire for her, too.