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Road trip! (We thought we were crazy, but we survived)

This summer, we packed up the car and spent 23 hours on the road over two days to get out to my dad and stepmom's house in Colorado. With two young kids, many people thought we were nuts—and admittedly, we wondered about that ourselves. But we survived...and even had a little fun! Here are a couple of pages to document the adventure.

Journaling: •• Our first-ever road trip adventure to Colorado. Photos: July 31 and Aug. 1, 7 & 8, 2009. •• (Top row, from left) E found lots of enjoyment with the portable DVD player we purchased just for the trip. • G (aside from watching lots of movies) spent TONS of time with his Nintendo DS game system. He’s usually limited to a total of two hours a week, so unlimited DS time was awesome for him! • We eventually resorted to rolling up the kids’ blankets in the windows to keep the sun from pounding down on them. • (Second row) G was SO happy when he woke up from a nap and realized we were in the mountains! • E entertained herself with her sticker book, one of many treasures in her goodie bag. • One of the many beautiful sights on the road home. • (Bottom row) This was my perch most of the time—the passenger seat! • G watches the mountains in awe. • G and E LOVED staying at a hotel (even a dumpy one!). Here they are about midnight on our first day. • (Next page) The kids didn’t sleep as often as we had hoped! • Chad drove most of the way!

(Yep...I had a typo on the journaling if you're looking at the JPG. Oops!)

Sources:

• Background paper: KTeague, Dirty Stocks, Two Peas in a Bucket
  

Fonts:

• Journaling: Gloucester MT Extra Condensed
  
• "On the:" Black Jack
• "Road:" Impact.

Journaling:

• Stats in middle strip across both pages: Danville, Ind., to Ridgway, Colo. • States traveled: Indiana (1 hr, 5 mins), Illinois (2 hrs, 3 mins), Missouri (4 hrs, 31 mins), Kansas (7 hrs, 0 mins) and Colorado (9 hrs, 8 mins). Times are for trip there, including breaks. •• TIME IN THE CAR • Both ways, we spent more time driving on Friday (just more than 13 hours each). On the way there: 23 hours, 43 minutes (or 19 hours, 45 minutes not counting breaks). On the way home: 24 hours, 10 minutes (or 20 hours, 17 minutes not counting breaks). 1348.5 miles on the way there + 384.9 miles while in Ridgway + 1395 miles on the way back = 3128.4 miles total
• Bottom: RIGHT PAGE: (Photos from left) As evening came on Friday, July 31, stormy weather rolled in. We were in Kansas, listening to tornado warning announcements for Gove County on the radio, not knowing what county we were driving through. Soon, this clear spot—which was right along our path and which I thought was a gift from God—closed in, and storms surrounded us. We soon saw a sign pointing to the town of Gove and discovered we were, in fact, in Gove County. I happened to be driving at the time and was NOT happy! (I hate tornados!) There was nothing for miles—no exits, no shelter...just miles of open land (kind of like the next picture). Thankfully, though, we made it through the storms with no trouble. • This was the view from the eastern portion of Colorado. Much of our drive through Kansas and Colorado looked like this! • On the way there, we learned the hard way that just driving until we were tired and THEN searching for a hotel was not a great idea. With summer being a busy season for car travelers, every mainstream hotel we stopped at in Colby, Kansas, was full. After stopping at a couple of hotels, we finally started calling all of the mainstream hotels listed in our AAA book. All were full. We also called to the only three hotels listed for the next exit, Goodland, and all three of those were full as well. Desperate, we finally found one motel, The Crown Inn, with three vacancies. We hurried there and grabbed what we could get, trying to outrun several other travelers we had been bouncing among hotels with. The place left much to be desired, but it had two beds and allowed us to get some sleep! (We picked our stop for the night and called ahead a few hours early for the trip back! We were determined to get a decent hotel!) • The destination was worth the effort! Traveling through Colorado was absolutely beautiful!
• I-70: We entered I-70 near home in Indiana and traveled on it until we reached 977.6 miles into the trip. On the way back, we were on I-70 for 1269.7 miles. (We took an alternate route.)

Sources:

• Patterned paper in background: KTeague, Dirty Stocks, Two Peas in a Bucket
• Font: Avenir

*****

In other stuff around here, today is the first day of Karen Russell's Online Photographers' Workshop...and I couldn't be more excited! I'll hopefully be sharing some of my assignment work on my good ol' blog over the next 10 weeks. Stay tuned!

Bowling...good times!

Click on photo for larger version.

Journaling:

This was our first time bowling with E*** for sure, and we’re pretty sure with G***, too. We laughed, cheered and had a great time as the kids used all of their might to launch the six-pound ball toward the pins what seemed like a mile away. E***’s ball took a full 60 seconds to make it to the other end! G*** was able to launch his pretty well, even running to get some extra momentum before sending it bounding down the lane. Despite the weight and the sore arms, the kids were ready to come back before we even left. I love these little family adventures. • Brownsburg Bowl • Feb. 16, 2008

FINAL SCORES
• Game 1: Chad 88, G*** 72, Corie 100, E*** 35
• Gabe 2: Chad 166, G*** 67, Corie 103, E*** 45

Digital papers and embellishments: Libby Weifenbach, 7-10 Split kit, SweetShoppeDesigns.com.

A page to pass the time

Things aren't looking to quiet down soon enough around here, so I thought I'd post a recent layout to pass the time.

 

These photos were taken back in December 2007. (I've been revisiting some old photos lately.) G & E used to love getting buried in a mound of stuffed animals. I love the way the pictures turned out. Reminds me of a shot in "ET" when he was camouflaged in a closet full of stuffed animals. Anyway, I kind of like this very simple layout.

(Paper and elements from Out of This World Friday Freebie Add-on - Creations by Karen.)

Things are crazy as ever around here. I'm starting to feel the effects of... (bear with me...I love bullets!)

• spending five days a week at the soccer fields (this week it's only four...woo hoo!)
• preparing for a major purchase that will change the way we live our lives (more on that when it's official)
• a couple of health issues for E and me (lots of doctor appointments lately)
• vet appointments seemingly every week (Molly's thyroid, arthritis and weight; Maddie's incessant chewing/licking)
• a bully on G's school bus (who unfortunately lives on our street)
• work deadlines
• unusual preparations to start working with a new client
• my lifelong priest retiring
• getting back into the school-year schedule (especially the after-school schedule, which often cuts my work day by 2.5 hours and forces me back to a working-nearly-every-night-too schedule)
• a strong desire and no time to do lots more scrapbooking
• a strong desire and no time to do another installment of my digital scrapbooking how-tos on my good ol' blog
• a strong desire and no time to update my blog with lots of pictures of our recent trip to Colorado
• a strong desire and no time to get in shape (wish I had time to work out!)
• a strong desire and no time to learn more about photography, especially photo editing, as I'm getting ready to weed through thousands of pictures from summer (I am, though, getting ready to start a 9-week class I'm very excited about!)
• a strong desire and no time to get together with friends more often, some of whom I haven't hung out with in weeks or months
• a mild desire and no time to clean my house, which is way out of control lately.

Anyway, I'm also starting to get worried about the H1N1 flu, which has hit an elementary school in a neighboring town and resulted in 54 absences in one day. It also has been confirmed at a good friend of mine's daughters' preschool in another neighboring town. Hitting too close to home. Making me worry. I'm good at that. :o)

So anyway, it feels good to make lists when I'm stressed, so getting this down is actually therapeutic for me. I also love to look back on things like this and remember what my life was like in this little snippet of time. So someday I'll hopefully be able to look at this list of things on my mind and know that I made it through just like any other old time. Hopefully I'll be looking at it from the beach or somewhere else where I'm doing nothing but relaxing! :o)

I know, I know. It's been a LONG time.

Yes, once again, blogging has taken a back seat to all of the other craziness in my life right now. It stinks, because I was just getting into the idea of my new digital scrapbooking series, something I am definitely going to re-spark here as soon as I can possibly wrangle the time and feel like I'm not sacrificing something important by doing so. So please be patient with me!

In the meantime, here's the quick update from our little corner of the earth.

• We just got back from a trip to Colorado to visit my dad and stepmom. We had a FANTASTIC time. The kids hadn't been out there since 2006, when E was just 1 and G was just 4 years old. (Dad's only been out there full time for a couple of years.) Spending lots of time in the great outdoors did us all some good. The air doesn't get any fresher than that of colorful Colorado. Above is my favorite photo of the trip so far, although I haven't made it all the way through the 1000+ photos I took over the nine days. More to come later.
• Did I mention that we DROVE the roughly 1400 miles out to Colorado and back...with two small children within arm's reach of each other in the back seat?!? Were we insane? Actually, the kids did remarkably well, thanks in large part to modern technology. I'm not usually one for letting the kids sit in front of the telly or play video games all day, but when one sits in the car for up to 13 hours in one day—two days in a row—I'm willing to let down my guard a bit. The portable DVD player we bought for the trip was worth every cent, along with the Nintendo DS and two full iPods (and the accessory that let us play those iPods through the car's speakers, allowing us to avoid the radio-station dance for 13 hours a day). 
• G started back to school on Tuesday. (What, exactly, happened to summer?) He has the same teacher his daddy and I both had back 24 and 25 years ago. :o) The first day, he said he liked her. The second day, he said he wanted to skip second grade and stay home with me. I found out that's because his teacher called him out in class (he says he wasn't the only one) for talking during reading. He was so embarrassed he didn't want to go back. :o) Today was a little better, though. Can't have him dropping out of second grade.
• E has changed classes at preschool, and this week, she started her first "real" organized team sport. Daddy is coaching her soccer team, and after two practices, she seems to really be enjoying it. Given how shy she is, I'm happy she's going out and giving it her all. She hasn't shied away from any of the activities, really. She will probably be the kid on the outskirts of the action during game time, happy as a hummingbird when the ball comes her way but not at all interested in going in the middle of the pack to get her feet on it. :o) We shall see. I'm proud of her for being brave and going for it!
• We'll be spending five days a week at the soccer fields for the next, what?, 8 weeks? I suppose we didn't have anything else to do in the evenings. No, seriously, it should be entertaining. I love cheering my kids on from the sidelines. And this is the first season we get to do that for BOTH kids at the same time. Those days we have conflicting game times will be a bit disappointing, but we'll figure it out as we go.

That's about all that is keeping us busy for now. Before I let you go, here's a recent digital scrapbook page for your enjoyment! :o) More Colorado pics for Dad and Anita! :o) Love you guys and miss you already!

{Click layout for larger image}

Here's the journaling:

(Top right block) We had finally arrived at Dad and Anita’s house, and G** was itching to do something active. So Dad grabbed his shoes, and we headed up the mountain behind their house. The destination: Frank’s Rock. It started to get dark just as we made it to the point where the official (once-cleared) path ended, so we turned around and headed back. G*** was disappointed, but with the whole week ahead of us, we felt sure we’d have plenty of time to make it to the top. We never did head back up to the rock, however. In fact, in my three or four trips to Dad’s house in Colorado, I have never seen The Rock. But I know it’s there, and I know it’s beautiful. Maybe we’ll make it up next time! •• (Bottom right block) At left, E*** was copying every move Dad made on the way back, walking right behind him and lifting her foot, scratching her leg and stretching her knees when Dad did. I think it was her way of latching onto Papa as she started to get settled in for the week.

Digital elements are from:

• Background paper: Americana Mini Kit, Heather Ann Designs
  
• Everything else: The Aidan Bundle, Retrodiva (Tracy Collins). Perhaps my favorite kit ever!

Playing in the Rain

Photos from June 16.

Journaling: Leave it to kids to make the best of a dreary situation! We were supposed to be celebrating the end of G’slast pee-wee baseball season with his teammates. Chad was coach, and we were treating everyone to Dairy Queen. The game scheduled for this night was rained out, but we decided to go ahead and take the kids to DQ anyway. While the parents huddled under umbrellas and the small building’s awning, a handful of the kids (including you two) decided they’d rather get a little wet. Chad and I don’t typically encourage playing in the rain. It’s not that we don’t think the kids would enjoy it; it’s just because we typically are busy and don’t often have a chance (or take advantage of a chance) to just enjoy the rain. Besides, it’s usually storming when it rains in Indiana! But today, we decided to let you enjoy yourselves. It started with a cautious giggle as you stepped out from under the umbrellas. It didn’t take long, though, before you were completely soaked...and completely loving it! Soon, you were joined by Kaden, Hailey and Lainey, and you were having a ball trying to get soaked by passing cars. It was just as enjoyable for us to sit back and watch you enjoy yourselves, having fun like kids are supposed to do. I think we’ll play in the rain more often!

Sources: All elements from Americana Mini Kit from Heather Ann Designs. Fonts: Effloresce and Avenir.

If at first you don't succeed...

Here is a long-overdue spread! I have been wanting to scrap these pictures for some time, but the thought of weeding through dozens of photos from this day held me back. I finally got over that, though, and made the plunge. This page took me two nights, only because my computer crashed mid-layout last night. (Not fun, but I like the new version MUCH better than where it was headed last night!) Anyway, these are pics from more than two years ago when my son was learning how to ride his bike without training wheels. He seemed to have dead-on targeting for every mailbox on the street, but he surprised us at how easily and quickly he mastered the sport! It was literally just minutes before he had it figured out. :o)

Journaling: We were surprised by how easily you were able to master riding your bike without training wheels. With just a few shaky starts (on your too-little Harley Davidson bike) behind you, you got brave enough to try the “big-boy” bike, easily collected your balance and took off, sailing down our street without a worry in the world. Your aim was perhaps a little shakier than your balance, though. Nearly every mailbox in sight seemed to be your direct target for those first few rides on your Hot Wheels two-wheeler!

Sources: All patterned paper from Tracy Collins' Welcome Home kit. Scallop journaling blocks are my designs, using Tracy Collins' patterned papers.

A day in Shades

We have been quite busy lately, and I have lots of events and little things happening that I want to scrapbook and/or blog about. Here is one of those. Last weekend, we went to Shades State Park and thoroughly enjoyed a creek hike. I absolutely love creek hikes; they remind me of lots of enjoyable fall visits with my dad when I was growing up. (He had lived in Florida and came to see us every fall. We went down there to visit him several times a year, too, but creek hiking in Florida — alongside the alligators — would probably not be a good idea!)

Anyway, last weekend, we enjoyed a creek hike of our own. And as often as we have gone hiking with the kids, dabbling our toes in water on occasion, I don't believe we have ever found a true creek trail like this one. (We typically stay with Turkey Run State Park, which doesn't have much in the way of creeks.)

Here is the journaling: When I was a little girl, my dad (your Papa) would come to Indiana every fall. Each year, we would try to squeeze in a hike in a state park. If we could find a good creek hike, our day was made! Flash forward 20 years or so, and here we are in 2009. Chad and I have always loved going hiking in state parks, and since the two of you have been born, we’ve been hiking several times. But this trip to Shades State Park in Waveland, Ind., is safely one of our favorites to dates! Without realizing what we were getting into, we set off on Trail 5, headed down to the shores of Sugar Creek for some rock skipping, and headed back. For some reason, we chose to head back on Trail 4, and we were so glad we did! It was a true creek hike at its best—narrow, wet and rugged. Daddy carried E** most of the way, but even she got in on the fun. It was a great hike! And we’ll be back!

Sources • Notebook paper: Karen Lewis, Flutter freebie. Background: K Teague, Dirty Stocks, tan. Tab: Tracy Collins, Welcome Back kit, altered with clipped paper from K Teague, Dirty Stocks kit, green. Fabric ribbon flower (altered color): LouCeeCreations, A Touch of Class kit.

101 Things I Love

Remember this topic? A while back, I started listing on my blog 101 things I love and don't. It was a working list that I never quite finished here. But I have been, here and there, adding to my "things I love" list offline, and I finally finished it last night! I figured if I started the layout, I would be more likely to finish the list. :o) So I did just that.

I decided to quit the "101 things that bug me" list, for two reasons. One, I was having trouble thinking of 101 things. And two, I decided that I really needed to just focus on the positives. There's no reason to dwell on the things that make me feel crummy.

So here is my final layout. Rather than copy and paste the text from 101 text boxes in the PSD file so you can read it here, I decided to just post a larger version and let you read it in the layout. So click on the pic above for the full-size version if you're interested in reading all of those tiny little boxes!

If you're a scrapbooker (and even if you're not), I'd highly recommend making a 101 list of your own. Not only did it make me realize that I had 101 things (actually, even more) in my life that make me happy, but this list paints a nice picture of who I am right now. I hope that my kids will some day enjoy looking back on this list and remembering me...especially after I'm gone! :o) I also posted this layout on my bulletin board behind my computer at my desk, so I glance up at it now and then and can remember that there are lots of things that make me happy, even when I'm stressed out! :o) Anyway, take some time to make your own list. And please share some of your 101 things in my comments section! (Just click on the word Comments right below this message.) I'd love to read them! :o)

Digital scrapbooking element credits: Most pieces are from the Cabana Boy kit by Dani Mogstad. The ribbons are from Katie Pertiet's Little Princess kit. Fonts are Blue Highway Free D (from MacFonts CD) and Black Jack from MyFonts.com

Miscellaneous Monday

A few random thoughts today:

1. I miss blogging. I am in a blogging funk. I just haven't really felt like it much lately, and yet I miss it, all at the same time. I hope to get back to blogging about stuff soon. And not just scrapbook layouts (although I enjoy making and posting those, too).
2. We just got back from a weekend get-away to Cincinnati, just Chad and me. It was wonderful. We needed to get away - away from work, away from animals that puke and need walked and poop where they shouldn't, away from kids whom we love but who need lots of attention, away from a house that needs cleaned and clothes that need washed and dirty dishes that never end. We enjoyed ourselves quite thoroughly, if even only for two days. Maybe I'll blog about that sometime soon.
3. I got into Karen Russell's Online Photographer's Workshop! I am super-excited about this — and wondering whether it was a necessary purchase. I LOVE Karen Russell's photography. (Check out her stuff on her blog.) She's what I call a "real-life photographer" - someone who captures life in the moment, as it happens, without any (or much) posing. That's my kind of style. She is famous (in the scrapbooking/photography world) for photos of her own family life. She doesn't photograph other people's families like "normal" photographers...and yet she has a captivating way of telling her life's story (and making it into a profitable business!). Anyway, I tried registering for this class last year, but ended up one of 745 (or was it 795?) people on her waiting list. So when registration opened this morning, I was clicking on Register just as soon as it was active. And I was so, so excited when I got in! (Then, as buyer's remorse set in, I began wondering if I really need this class. After all, I did go to school for this stuff. Still, I think she can teach me a lot! Hope I learn some great stuff!)
4. I am having trouble staying motivated today. I was doing well earlier. Not so much this afternoon. Hmmm...
5. Can't let a post go by without a photo. So here's my layout that I did for Chad's and my anniversary. I'm too impatient right now to wait for Photoshop to open (my computer is in a funk, too) so I can copy the text and paste it here. So you'll have to click on the image for a bigger version, and then squint! :o) I hope I don't get sick of this picture of us. I have used it a LOT lately - on everything from a Christmas ornament to an 11x14 picture framed in our house to scrapbook layouts to a little canvas for Chad's desk at work. I love this shot! (It's by Connie Phillips, if you're from around here.)

Have a great week!

A little bit of chaos

The lower photo on this layout just makes me laugh.

It is a pretty clear representation of the chaos that ensues when you mix five young kids, two adults, four animals (at the time) and a small space. (This was last year. When we get together now, there are four kids and five animals!) I'll stop here and let the journaling tell the rest of the story.

Journaling: On the surface, this photo looks pretty imperfect. After all, nothing is in focus. But I love it. Why? Because it is a pretty clear picture of what our little house feels like when there are five kids, four adults, three cats and a dog sharing space. But despite the chaos, we absolutely love when our friends, Kevin and Kelly, and their three (and not long after this photo was taken, four!) kiddos come to visit. We love hanging out with our friends whenever we can. We’ll take the chaos any day.

Credits: Beige background - K Teague, The Basics, Beige. Loopy embellishments: JenAllyson, Adorn LoopyFrames, 2 Peas in a Bucket. Fonts: 2 Peas Renaissance (title) and Avenir. Blue background paper: Skrapper Digitals, Nighty kit. Small ring to right of photo (with date): Chipboard circle by Design by Dani, Cabana Boy kit; clipped paper: Nighty kit.