Another Guest Post from Erika: My Sweet Boy

I just uploaded the latest round of pictures from the camera to the computer. It was immediately apparent (104 pictures!!!) that Peter had gotten ahold of the camera yesterday morning and had taken a few pictures.

Proof that he loves his sister:
32 pictures of his fire truck from George Cloud
38 pictures of his sister

We didn't plant much of a vegetable garden this year because one of my many jobs is to be the "Farm Coordinator" for a new farming cooperative. You put in a share of the work, you take home a share of the harvest. Since I don't have much time to do actual farm work, I do the scheduling and other coordination to earn my veggies. We currently have greens coming out of our ears. The menu for the week: Pasta with Pancetta, Arugula, and Pecorino, Greens and Rice with Feta Cheese, Greens and Mushroom Quiche, Greens Carbonara. All with salad. Lots of salad. Goodness, I digress.

What I meant to say is that I put in a cover crop and some wildflowers in 3/4 of our garden plot, and left the rest for Peter, who chose: sunflowers and radishes. Today, I took him out there to try and make the connection between "plant seed" and "eat food". His radishes had just gotten to the size of a penny. Some were the size of flies, and a few lucky ones were nearly nickel-sized.

We picked and ate a few, Peter seemed mildly excited. I pointed out the teeny tiny ones that still need to grow past fly size to be worthwhile. Lesson over. I locked the garden gate and went to trim blackberry bushes in the unseasonably cool weather (66 degrees!). Peter went off to give daddy some radishes.

Fast forward 15 minutes or so. Peter appears on the front porch.
Peter: "Mom! Look!" [Holds out a handful of radishes, ranging in size from fly (most of them) to nickel.]
Me: "Oh!"
[Voice in my head: Don't reprimand! Don't reprimand! It's HIS garden, to do with as he likes!]
Peter: "I picked LOTS of radishes! Tiny ones AND big ones!"
Me: "Wow! Sometimes it's better to leave the little ones in the ground..."
[Voice in head: DON'T REPRIMAND! Stop being so uptight.]
Peter: "I went under the gate into the garden!"
[Voice in head: Oh no...]
Me: "That's great, honey."

Peter disappears and reappears some time later with still more radishes.

Peter: "Mom, here's one for you!"
Me: "Thanks honey, but I'm cutting blackberry bushes right now."
Peter: "Here Mom, you can eat it! I'll leave it right here on the stairs!"
Me: "I'm not hungry right now, but could you put it in the kitchen for me?"
Peter: "Sure mom! I'll put it on a plate!"

Some time later, I went into the house and found this beautiful tableau...

What a sweetheart.

Home.

We are back in Nevada City, safe and sound, after yet another full day of flying (Logan, UT -> Elko, NV -> Grass Valley, CA). It feels good to be home, and Pawlene is certainly happy. A few last photos...

Was this Spearfish, SD or Landers, WY? I can't remember, but Peter befriended a real live cowboy during a long wait at some midwestern (emphasis on the Western) airport. They talked airplanes (They are pictured here, perusing an airplane magazine and showing each other their favorites). I think Peter almost got hired on as a ranch hand, but then we had to leave. It was a very sweet exchange. He (the Cowboy) even waved to us on take-off, as promised.

And here are the pictures I hinted at in my last post. Guess where Peter and Celia are. A California beach?

Here is another hint:

Take a closer look at the plants that Peter is hamming in front of. Yes, those are giant MARIJUANA PLANTS!!! Growing WILD on the banks of the Missouri River in...South Dakota. Can you believe it? Denise says they are the kind that you make rope out of, perfectly innocent, etc. etc. Uh huh.

In other news, Martin pointed out that my blog paints a rather rosy picture of our life.

Well, yes. This is true, for two reasons.

One: My natural inclination is to try and focus on the positive, regardless of the situation. This attitude has mostly served me well, and has certainly kept me sane through some rather rough times.

Two: The intention of this blog is to keep my friends and family up to date on the happenings in our lives. It borders on being a Mommy blog, but with a little more "perspective". It is not intended to make any sort of political statement or be a True Confessions type diary blog.

I am striving for the level of casual conversation. I could get into all kinds of philosophical musings on whether or not the blog accomplishes this and strengthens connections or weakens them because I use it as a crutch to replace phone calls and face time. One of the reasons we made this trip is because face time is VERY important to me and no blog will ever take the place of a few hours of hanging out together. Sadly, our family (and most of our friends!) is spread pretty far apart, and face time is rare. So, the blog.

Having said that, if you really want the nitty gritty details of our life in Nevada City and why I no longer talk about buying a house or how miserable Martin really is with our current situation and specifically how HARD this trip was (me, barely keeping myself from throwing up each and every time we get into the plane until several hours after we are on the ground, Peter, throwing more than a few horrific fits complete with kicking, screaming, crying, spitting, accusing, drooling, hitting, scratching, and a bunch of other undesirable behaviors...), please, give me a call. I'd be happy to unburden the gruesome details. And welcome any constructive advice on how to deal with it. We've tried nearly everything, with varying results. Yes, we are seeking professional advice. No, we haven't figured it out yet. We are far from perfect parents, but we are trying our best.

And now, the grand finale -- what we learned from this trip. I will try to present a balanced perspective:

1) Taking a 4-year-old who has a very hard time with both transitions and confinement on a trip that requires up to six and a half hours a day in a tiny, confined space, combined with moving to a different location every one to three days was a TERRIBLE idea.

2) There is no substitute for hanging out in person with friends and family. When I asked Peter which part of the trip he would repeat if he could, he did not hesitate to answer: hang out with Avery and Nathan (his cousins).

3) Karolina is incredibly adaptable. She was a trooper throughout all the flying and being passed from arms to arms of people she had never met. The only time she was unhappy was during a few sleepless nights when that third tooth started coming in.

4) Taos, New Mexico (one of our unscheduled stops) is a very cool place to visit!

Oh darn. There I go again, focusing on the positive. Let me think...OK:

5) I really don't like flying, whereas Martin LOVES flying. Three hours is my absolute maximum, and three hours is a short jaunt to him. He is beginning to re-set his expectations, but it will be interesting to see how we resolve this, especially since the easiest way to convince Martin to go on a family vacation is to let him fly to our destination.

6) People are not as interested/friendly when your plane is just a plain old Mooney with a funny tail number, as opposed to an Apache that is a work of art. We had many more interesting conversations with the locals when we were flying the Apache.

7) Conversations with the locals are still one of the most interesting parts of the journey (at least for me). I always gain a new perspective, just from talking to people who don't live anywhere near me. This time, I learned that not everyone is opposed to "pink slime" in school lunch. It was a valid perspective. I learned something.

That's it for now. There is a neglected cat to be petted, a mountain of laundry to attack, and maybe even a lovely California sunset to be admired with another glass of excellent California white wine. I like where I live.

Day 14: Flying, flying, flying...West

I have some great pictures to post, but they will have to wait until we get home. A teaser: the 4th corner of the Emerald Triangle is actually in South Dakota! (I'll explain when I post the picture.)

In other news, we are not in Oregon. We are not even in Nevada. We are on Plan C: Logan, Utah, after a too-brief stop in Landers, Wyoming for a truly terrible lunch. Actually we are getting to plan K or L, but who's counting? My poor stomach finally said: "STOP FLYING RIGHT NOW." And so we did! And then we ate Chinese food. Not sure if that was a good idea or not, but after all the Mexican and the meat, and the daily desserts, I needed something different. No wine either. Clean living, people, we are in UTAH!!!

Not much to report -- everyone is well, and we are hoping to make it home two days early (tomorrow) to have some time to decompress before Real Life starts up again on Monday. Unfortunately it is supposed to be 103 degrees in Nevada City on Saturday. Might as well have stayed in ToC. Except that we have a kiddie pool at home. And someone has to put the ice cubes in Pawlene's water bowl.

Alas, poor Martin will not be celebrating his 40th in Oregon with his friends as planned, but he is already planning a weekend jaunt to scratch the Portland itch. I may never get in another small plane again as long as I live (this trip was really very tough on my tummy), but we'll figure something out. I do have to say that those wacky acupressure wrist bands do actually work. They got me as far as they could. And Peter was a trooper today, sleeping much of the way. Vacations are TIRING!

Days 11 - 13: South Dakota

We sure do love those Drews. They are the BEST! Here is a photo of Departure Day: Can you see the family resemblance?

But we had to move on for Karolina's first play date in Elk Point, South Dakota!

Talk about family resemblance. We are not actually related to the Briggs family (as far as we know), but those two babies (Karolina left, Penelope right) were like two peas in a pod! Mama Cara (below) and I had the same due date. Penelope was a week early, Karolina was two weeks late.

Did I mention that Karolina is now SEVEN months old??? She has been working on getting two bottom teeth in for a few weeks now, while Penelope has been working on two top teeth. Karolina popped a THIRD tooth through on the top this morning after a very long night. Still refuses solid food, but her mouth is getting ready (Oh, Lord, please don't tell me that this one is going to be a picky eater!!!).

Cara has had some practice with girls. Here is her oldest, the very poised Miss Celia, reading Peter a bed time story. I can't WAIT until Peter is old enough to put his sister to sleep like this...

It helped that the Briggs family is home to TWO dogs (and three cats, but they didn't give Peter as much exercise).

But can we go back to those babies for a moment? I thought there was nothing cuter than ONE little baby...

Until we put TWO little babies together.

Denise was the stylist. She has an eye for this kind of stuff.

She is also a great cook, an excellent and informative tour guide, and just the warmest, most wonderful, interesting person whose doorstep you could ever hope to break down on. Her mom made us brownies for the road. I ate three of them tonight after our dinner in Spearfish, South Dakota.

Yes, we finally had to leave Elk Point on Day 13 after eating ourselves silly, surveying the new sand dunes in the river left by last winter's flood, eating ice cream at a real old fashioned soda fountain, admiring the babies, and talking practically nonstop for two days. We are headed home, slowly but surely. Our flight today went very smoothly as Peter slept The Whole Way. He was REALLY tired.

Tomorrow is another marathon flight day. First stop: Bozeman, Montana (for lunch). And then, another long hop to Joseph, Oregon. Wish us luck.

Days 8 - 10: Minnesota!!!

We sucked it up on Friday morning (Day 8) and flew a LONG day from Taos to Cozad, Nebraska (2 1/2 hours) for a quick lunch and PIE, and then another two and a half hours to Minneapolis (FINALLY). We were all ready to get out of the plane when we arrived. Luckily, Uncle Jason was waiting to whisk us away to Shorewood (thanks, Jason!), where he and Aunt Becky and kids Nathan and Avery live. There is nothing like hanging out with family to heal from a stressful trip. Upon arrival, the grown-ups received well-deserved Friday night adult beverages and a very refreshing Chinese Chicken Salad with Real Lettuce (something we have been missing lately -- THANK YOU Becky!), and Peter finally got to run all the ya-yas out in Becky and Jason's ENORMOUS backyard with various and sundry neighbor kids. From that moment on, he was a different (much better behaved) kid.

Here he is with Nathan at Psycho Suzi's (a tiki bar where you can get an EXCELLENT brunch AND build your own bloody Marys!). Nathan introduced him to "monkey brains" -- the styling product that you see evidence of in the photo.

And here is Karolina surrounded by admirers. Avery is going to be a phenomenal babysitter some day -- I don't think she has left Karolina's side since we arrived, and she has been keeping the older kids in line during the last couple of nights' slumber parties.

Saturday (Day 9) we spent the day like any self-respecting Minnesotan in good weather -- on a boat on the lake. We swam, we fished (Peter caught FIVE fish!), we ate corn dogs and cheese curds at the local art festival (addictive!). The cabin of the boat made a perfect cradle for Karolina's naps. It was the perfect way to kick off the summer, and the humidity actually feels good after the New Mexican desert.

Today (Day 10) we are relaxing, enjoying each others' company, and gearing up for a short (90-minute) hop to South Dakota, to see our Second Midwestern family -- the Briggs. We are going to try and catch Peter and give him a bath with real soap (as opposed to lake water) before we go. He has been having a heck of a time running wild with his cousins. I sure do wish we lived closer.

Days 4 - 7: Change of Plans (New Mexico)

Well folks, it looks like this is as close as we are going to get to New York City:

This photo was not, in fact, taken in New York City. Martin snapped it in Chloride, New Mexico, the most populated "ghost town" we have ever seen. Populated with live people, that is. But let me back up.

When I last posted, we had landed in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, and I was happily blogging as Karolina slept and Martin and Peter ran errands. One totaled rental car later (everyone is just fine, Martin was not at fault), Martin was having serious second thoughts about flying with a very distracting 4-year-old. The flights have been, well, *trying* to say the least. Peter is sleep-deprived and not used to being cooped up for several hours, and the end result has been just short of disastrous. Martin put his foot down. He would fly no farther East with this child. Well, not as far East as, say, Virginia. He was willing to compromise and make a few short hops to Minnesota, and not give up on the trip entirely. But he needed a break.

And so, here we are, three days later, still in New Mexico. We spent Day 4 driving around ToC, looking for a place to cool off. We tried Elephant Butte State Park, but it was like going to the beach on the moon, only with the sun really REALLY close. We needed trees to act as a buffer in the 103 degree heat, and so we headed to Caballo State Park, or something like that. Only a little nicer than Elephant Butte, but Karolina and I found one tree to park under while Martin and Peter went for a swim. At least I got my sopapilla fix (a form of fried bread only rarely found outside of New Mexico) for dinner. I could eat this kind of food for weeks on end, especially since I have been cruelly deprived of decent Mexican food ever since we moved to Nevada City.

Day 5 I spent mostly sulking and making tearful phone calls cancelling our East Coast plans. We changed rooms at the hotel (Why is it that packing up, even for a move as short as three doors down, STILL takes several hours???), and then headed out to find SOMETHING to do in the heat. We picnicked along the bank of the Rio Grande, which sounds nice until I tell you that I could neither see nor feel the coolness of the river from our picnic blanket. Peter sustained an injury walking along a searing hot metal half pipe (OUCH) and so we got in the car and drove an hour and fifteen minutes to Chloride while Peter slept it off.

Chloride has a museum (closed fifteen minutes before we arrived).

Chloride has a cool old tractor. (Do I look like the chick from the famous Dorothea Lange photo?)

Chloride has funny signs.

And Chloride has cute babies! Oops, that one is mine.

Day 6 I was still sulking a little bit, and may not have been paying attention when Martin declared our new destination (Pueblo, Colorado). After an hour and a half of BUMPY flying, I inquired (perhaps a little shrilly) HOW MUCH LONGER and learned that we were, in fact, 20 minutes from Taos, New Mexico, which just happens to be the only location one can still find one of my favorite brands of ice cream: Taos Cow. My mood improved SIGNIFICANTLY when I learned that we could land there.

A retired United pilot gave us a ride into town, and we treated him to ice cream as a way of saying thanks. Taos Cow's raspberry dark chocolate did not disappoint. I got my ice cream, Peter got a replacement scoop of cinnamon at no charge when the first serving met with an unfortunate fate on the floor, and Martin and Grant got to talk airplanes for half an hour or so. Everyone was happy.

Karolina is always happy. Here she is in a new fashion color head band (Martin bought the multi-color pack to keep her ear protection in place).

And so, Day 6. A little flying, a little ice cream, a little swimming in the Best Western's pool, and a real gourmet dinner to finish the day off. Definitely mood elevating. In fact, we liked it so much that we decided to stay another day. Which brings us to:

Day 7: Taos, New Mexico. Martin had some work to do today (like for his JOB), and so Peter and I set out on an adventure while Karolina settled down for nap #1. After a disappointing exchange with the extraordinarily UN-helpful front desk:

Me: So, what are our options for transportation if we don't have a car? I noticed a bus stop outside the hotel...
Clueless Front Desk Chick With Stuck-together False Eyelashes: We have a shuttle.
Me: And where does the shuttle go?
CFDC: It goes within 5 miles of the hotel.
Me: And what is there to do within 5 miles of the hotel?
CFDC: Ummmm. Here is a map.
Me: Ok, where are we on the map?
CFDC: Ummmmm. I guess the map doesn't really have a lot of stuff.
Me: Does the shuttle go to the Pueblo?
CFDC: Oh, yes. The Pueblo is only a mile from here.
Me: Does the shuttle go to the Park?
CFDC: Yes.
Me: Ok, never mind. We'll figure it out (SINCE I SEEM TO KNOW MORE THAN YOU DO ABOUT TAOS).

We had fun anyway. We did laundry, we smelled the enormous purple-flowered mint plant. (There are beautiful flowers planted all the way up and down the main drag in Taos, in front of each shuttered art gallery -- the economic downturn has hit Taos hard.). We walked the labyrinth at the Presbyterian church, and then we got a text from dad that Karolina was AWAKE and HUNGRY.

Back at the hotel, work plans thwarted, we decided to visit the Pueblo together. The Pueblo is the local UNESCO heritage site -- home of the Taos Pueblo Native Americans, who have been living there continually since 1300 A.D. or so.

We took the free guided tour (our sweet young guide's first tour!), and it was fascinating. We learned why the front doors on some of the buildings were on the second story (The women of the tribe would pull up the ladders upon first sighting Apache invaders).

We learned how the natives integrated their own religion into Catholicism after the Spaniards backed off. The Virgin Mary replaced Jesus as the central figure of worship -- she doubles as Mother Earth. The adobe Catholic church is the white building in the background of this photo.

And here is the Catholic cemetery:

Gorgeous Clouds -- hopefully a harbinger for another fantastic lightning show like the one we got last night. And hopefully that will be over by departure time tomorrow morning -- we are aiming for Minnesota again, as early as we can possibly get up and at 'em.

This is how one artistically inclined citizen keeps the dogs out of his adobe bread oven:

And this is how (back at the hotel) I am finding the time to write this blog while Karolina naps and Martin finally gets his work done (Thank you, Steve Jobs!):

And so, while we are woefully disappointed that we won't get to see our East Coast friends and family, we are soldiering on with the family vacation, winging it, taking things day by day. Anyone (Mom, Jana) in possession of the itinerary I planned can just toss that aside. I will try and keep the blog updated or you can always call my cell phone to find out where we are.

Days 2 and 3: San Diego!

What a pleasant start to our journey! We spent Saturday at the enormous San Diego Zoo with the Kopplin family, who kindly lent us a stroller. Panda bears and elephants and jaguar kittens, oh my! Saturday evening the boys (and Karolina as a rather unwilling participant) waged a full-on nerf battle, while the Ladies indulged in a scrumptious Farm to Table dinner at the ... Kensington Grill? I hope I am getting the name right -- the place was fantastic.

Sunday morning, Shannon ran the half marathon while we slept through lock-down at our hotel (since our hotel was ON the race course, nobody was allowed to drive their car out of the valet parking between 5:00am and 10:00am). Shannon survived (go, Shannon!), and so did we. I am SO glad I did not run that race.

We made a quick trip to Coronado beach...

And then the Kopplins came to see us off at the airport. Peter was especially sad to say good bye to new friends Guyer and Patrick. Is that Indiana Jones in the right seat???

Why yes it is!

As you can see from the stripes on the side of the airplane in the picture, we are NOT flying our usual bird. Martin sold the Apache a few months ago. We are lucky enough to be borrowing a Mooney from one of Martin's friends. It is smaller than the Apache, but burns a LOT less gas. Yay!

Delay upon delay put us into Truth or Consequences, New Mexico at around 10:15pm, local time, last night. We watched the bats swoop for their dinner while Martin put the plane to bed, and then ate an unconventional dinner of salami, cherries, bread, chips, pea pods, carrots, cheese, and chips. It would have been easier if we had remembered to bring the knife from the plane, but we were hungry.

This morning we woke up to a nice long soak in our personal hot tub, fed by the natural hot springs in this area. We are staying at the FireWater Lodge, where we stayed last time we came through this way, on our way to New York City in the Buick, with Pawlene. My, that seems life times ago.