Spring Road Trip 2010

So, our journey began with the decision to head out Friday night instead of Saturday morning to beat the weather forecast.  Little did we know that the next weekend would be the treacherous flood of Nashville, 2010.  But I jump ahead.

Traveling with kids is not simple.  I've been asked we don't just fly the 16 hours to WI to see Great Grandma.  Seriously?  And pay all those extra fees for all the extra baggage/car seats/ etc.?  Then to go through the hassle of renting a mini van?  Not to mention putting up with those ever-savvy self-righteous frequent flyers who look at you in disdain because you can't "control your children."  Um, no thanks.  We opted for me to go to Seattle alone for my cousin's wedding last month, and while I do wish my kids could have met that part of the family, I enjoyed the VACATION immensely.   Anyhoo, we've been taking long trips with the kids since they were newborns, and thank God we have family en route to the furthest destination.

First stop: Indianapolis suburb.   Arrival time: approximately 6:00 a.m.  Brother in law had an early-morning coffee date (is it a date for guys-probably just a meeting), so really, the timing was pretty good.  The kiddos slept were good, traffic was good, and we made it out of TN/KY ahead of the storms that hit Saturday.  We hung out with crt, computer guy, e, & m and had a wonderful time.  Not counting Hannah's fear of the cat (she thinks she is evil).  Ironically, Queenie, the big pup, doesn't scare her much.  The girls "slumber" partied in one bedroom, playing leapster while crt tried to read them a bedtime story.  It's so much fun to see my kiddos and their cousins play together!  The girls were also great with Brandon, watching out for him as needed, letting him try to keep up.  And when we visited the new church they are going to, we liked it better than the previous one they attended.  School cafeteria Sunday school for the kiddos and choir room nursery and all. 

2nd leg: WI
When we first moved to TN, I laughed at the presence of FFA (Future Farmers of America) and how the guys drove tractors to school on the last day.  I thought Spring Hill, TN was rural.  It was, then, but a lot has changed.  Well, the area where hubby grew up is far more rural than that.  Farming is a way of life, not just an occupation that a few people share.  Great Grandma's farmhouse, where Tech Mom grew up, was built circa 1908.    The house hubby's cousin rents was built in 1905.

We arrived just in time for supper Monday night... Gramma's Spatzlein (German dumplings) with roast beef and gravy.  (She's great Grandma to the kiddos, Gramma to us, and I can't help but interchange them.  Kinda like my Mom calling the cat my name all those years, I guess.)


Hubby's Gramma is the only living grandparent we have left.  Fortunately, she's surrounded by extended family... sister, brother, nieces, nephews, and all the great-grands.  Except her own daughter, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.  I'm thankful she has her community, and her church and relatives do really seem to take care of her (and eachother).  I am so glad that Bear is at a point that she remembers the farm, WI, and most importantly her Great Gramma because we have either visited her home or she has come down to see us and the rest of hubby's siblings and parents at major holidays.  She'll turn 90 years old in August. 

My last set of great grandparents was 94 or 95 when they died, I barely remember them.  We visited their house in the Bronx, one visit they knew who I was, the next they did not, and shortly after that....  One of my grandmothers died in 89, then we had a few years in the late 90's and early 2000's where we lost all except Great Gram.  Hubby grew up near his grandparents, celebrating birthdays and holidays with them.  My visits to my own were fewer and farther between.  But Grandma V, my Dad's Mom, always made our trips to NY special.  In addition to cooking her meals for the family (I can almost still smell them), she showed us around the big city and it's tourist attractions. The Statue of Liberty, Bronx Zoo, World Trade Center, and of course, just taking the subway.  Grandpa RJ, my Mom's Dad, took us on a tugboat ride on the Hudson, sailed with us on Long Island Sound, and made sure we had tickets over to Ellis Island during one of our final trips. 

While our only Gramma left on earth has a much less busy environment, it's strangely novel and even exciting to this suburban girl.  My kiddos love the cows. (After 30+ years of life I actually saw where the term "bullheaded" comes from when the lone bull in the cowyard seemed intimidated by my toddler son.  It stomped and snorted, sending the manure/dirt mixture up over its head and back.  Only Buddy received that "welcome.")  My old flower beds host plants from her yard.  Bear loves to pick asparagus for dinner... from the flower bed.  Buddy mastered the art of mooing.  He also seemed particularly interested in the ventilation grate at the bottom of the steps... the one his Daddy played INSIDE when he was his son's age, but has since been secured to the floor.  We've made a tradition out of going to the cheese factory in the morel mushroom capital of the world (10 minutes from Gramma's farm) and picking up some fresh cheese to bring home with us.

Tuesday, I rode like a Mexican in the back of our SUV(it's not a 3-seater, bummer) to hubby's cousin's farm about an hour and a half away. (And I have ridden in the back of a pickup truck as well as some sort of cattle or delivery truck in Mexico, so I can say that without prejudice.) Buddy and their baby boy are about 6 weeks apart in age, and his cousin and I e-mail each other.  We've shared pregnancies, a miscarriage each, and if I ever have a vegetable garden, I know who I will ask for tips. She cans a lot of the food they eat.  She milked cows on the farm during her pregnancy with her son, but they've since bought a robotic milking system that is something to see.  I will admit I have issues stemming from my breastfeeding struggles (and pumping).  I'd like to say I'll try to nurse again, but I may not.  I take things too seriously, I suppose.  Anyway, those poor cows.... that machine was like the biggest Medela or Ameda ever.  I loved the computer room (where they monitor projected and actual yield, among other things), which had been painted white with black cow spots.  How cute.)  Of course, it's their job to supply milk for us, and given the fact that another cousin just had a leg fractured in 3 places while milking, I'm beginning to think that the expensive investment was worth it just for the safety of the farmers.  Buddy and S played side by side, an uncanny hint of family expressions shared here and there, Bear and Buddy loved on Spice the kitty.  Hubby's cousin and her husband were gracious hosts, and Gramma seemed to enjoy the visit as well.  She even wore her hearing aid, so conversation flowed much more easily.


We spent Wednesday relaxing and hanging out with Grandma at home.  I did a bit of laundry in her brand new washing machine (but still had to go down the treacherous steps to the basement to use the drier.  Can't bring myself to hang the clothes on the line with the smell of manure so close.  That's a whole different kind of fresh air.)  Then of course, we went to prayer meeting on Wednesday night.  And of co urse, Buddy and I ended up in the nursery.  Many of hubby's 2nd cousins go there, and one of the non-relative girls in the nursery figured out that I was visiting and also that I was somehow related to the other Mom.  That was fun to explain.  When Bear came up from her class in the basement, her "cousin" whose class she was in asked if she can come back.  I almost cried telling her it would be a long time until we return (our last visit was just under a year ago).  Not because I think I would live there (though the Spring-like weather in the mid 60's was a welcome change to our 80's in April in the South), but because, despite our differences, our visits through the years really have brought that place to feel like another home in its own way.  Just as I used to know how to get from Grandpa and Grandma V's in Yonkers to the mall or the seminary a few blocks away, or how I knew when we approached our cousins in Grove City, or the excitement hit when we reached Route 6A on the Cape to visit my family, there's something about hitting the beltline in Madison, passing the Lands End HQ in Dodgeville, and turning onto Tower Rd. that feels like returning home.

Thursday was the whirlwind "catch whomever we can" day.  We visited hubby's aunt D and cousin M.  M is the one whose leg was crushed by a cow during milking two weeks ago, otherwise he would have been
out working.  We chatted with them for a couple of hours before heading toward Madison to visit a friend and fellow blogger.

Our boys were playing in the living room, the girls were upstairs playing dress-up, or so we thought.  I went up to make sure Bear used the restroom and found a mess.  That was not much of a surprise, but what followed was.

The girl who we were visiting held up a small net and exclaimed, "Look, I caught a fish!"   It was then that I noticed both girls were hovered over a large fishbowl on the nightstand.  And their clothes were wet.  "Let's put the fish back in the water.  It needs to stay wet so it won't die," I said.  "Oh!"
I called for our friend to come join me in her daughter's room.  And we found that while the fish had been removed from its home, other things had been added... my girl's socks.  Some loose change.  An 8 1/2 x 11" sheet of paper, a large plastic gem ("diamond" according to our princesses).

I couldn't help but laugh.  Bear hasn't been around fish tanks before, though I wrongly assumed she knew that fish had to stay immersed in order to live.  I felt bad that she was involved in the Madison Goldfish Massacre, but I was also glad they had fun playing together, and I don't THINK anything was permanently ruined.  Well, other than the dead goldfish that did not revive after it was put back in the water, or the one left missing.

So, we moved the fun outside, where the kids played in the fresh air and we were able to sample some delicious pan fried morels picked from their family's farm out in the country.

Thursday night... we hung out with Great Gram, and one of Tech Mom's best friends from her childhood came by to see the kiddos.  "It's a little J and little L!" she exclaimed.

Friday.... on the road again.  But I must finish this later as I've neglected my kiddos this morning.