The Vittetoe Times » summer

The End is Near…

Karen — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 02:39:06 +0000

I say this every year, but I will say it again anyway. Remember when we were young and summer used to end at the end of August, not the end of July? OK, I’m done complaining. Don’t have much to complain about. Only that we will be leaving Kentucky in five days and it’s a bittersweet goodbye. We’ve had nothing less than a two-month blast of a summer vacation, even if we did regularly participate in activities such as menu planning, grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning and laundering for eight people, and maintaining a car and a yard and a supersized family. None of that seems to matter when you can hop on the bike and take a ride in the country for an hour as the sun sets in the west (never mind the mosquitoes, they can’t keep up). Or when you can take a drive into the countryside and ride a free ferry into Illinois, shop at an Amish dairy farm and bakery, and learn the true meaning of locally made. Or when you can pack up the car for the weekend, kayaks on top, and head to one of the endless lakes with water as warm as a bath and air that stays warm far into the night and campsites within walking distance of the shore and paddling out at dusk and dawn and love, love, love. Or stepping on metal step after another into the depths of the world’s largest cave. Or swimming in Zak’s parents’ pool, eating their delicious home-cooked meals, and feeling like we are staying at a bed and breakfast. Or Bruce taking the girls to visit his family for a good long time, enjoying at last the day at the picnic area in Cades Cove that he has spent our marriage telling me about, where the girls wouldn’t get out of the creek all day and caught frogs and crawdads, saw a snake and a fawn, and had a day they will never forget. Or taking one more day at the paint-your-own-pottery place, where this time gifts for home were on their mind… Or taking a drive into St. Louis to stay in a “fancy” hotel with a circular tower, a room with a view of the Arch, walking distance to the Cardinals game (they won 8-4!), where Bruce and Zak struck up a conversation in line and got handed box seat tickets, where we could pretend for one glorious weekend that we were rich… oh, but we are, aren’t we?

But, alas, the end is near. We will spend the first half of the week indulging in a few more bike rides, one more beach day, and then begin packing our million point five items (we thought we would have so much space going home, as we brought so many items to give to Lucy, but it appears we might be heading back with MORE) into, on top of, and behind the van. We’ll head out on Friday night, make a stop in St. Louis so the girls can go in the Arch for the first time (we didn’t have time over the past weekend), and drive all night while they sleep. Then we will have just ten days to rest and recover, to rediscover our friends and our home, before reality hits. Reality being, school starts! This may seem overwhelming for most families, but for a teacher it’s double duty. Every year I feel like I’m beginning a new job all over again, and this year I kind of am. I am working with different teams and doubling up on my ESL class and teaching a computer class for the first time! It’s going to be a stressful but exciting new school year, especially since it is Riona’s first (and only) year of preschool and Mythili is entering kindergarten! Oh how the time flies… Seems like we were just pulling up, and now we will be heading out… but life is cyclical, so I’m sure we’ll be back before we know it, on two wheels or four. For now, here are my poems for the girls this July.

Kentucky June

Karen — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 15:18:10 +0000

It is impossible to summarize June, and would be more adequately defined, day by day, here. Filled with bike rides that have taken me in all directions from Mayfield, first to the Mississippi River in the west, then the Land Between the Lakes in the east, even south to a Civil War battlefield in Tennessee, to wonderful excursions with the girls, everything from camping along a cove where we kayaked and swam into the night (the water being relentlessly warm), a petting farm with miniature versions of every animal you ever imagined, the beaches where the girls could spend a lifetime (five hours without a fight, complaint, or announcement of boredom), walking along the pivotal intertwining of the Tennessee and Ohio rivers in Paducah, taking the Vittetoe Express (my bike + tagalong + bike trailer–yes, a train of bicycles) to the parks and library, meeting two published Kentuckian authors (and their pets), going out to eat, visiting farmers’ markets that run twice weekly and are just blocks away, baking fresh peach pies and apple cobbler, and alas, sending my four favorite people onward to Tennessee for the next part of our summer-long journey…
It is impossible to summarize June, but for the girls, I have made my usual attempt. Here it is.

Biking, Fishing, and Swimming

Bruce — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 21:49:07 +0000

So we have been here in Kentucky for a little over a week now and have been having a great time. Karen has rediscovered her biking here, the girls experienced their first fishing trip, and there has been plenty of summer swimming.

Karen has been having a wonderful time with her biking, both solo rides and tag-along rides with the girls. On Monday Karen did a 32 mile ride along highway 80 from Mayfield to Columbus-Belmont State Park in Columbus, KY. The park sits right on the east side of the Mississippi River and is the site of a Civil War battle. The girls, Lucy, and I drove to the park to meet Karen and had a picnic lunch overlooking the river. Another thing Karen has discovered with the bike is the Vittetoe Express. That is what she calls the biking contraption she put together that allows her and all three of the girls to ride in one long train together. She takes her bike and attaches the runabout, which is a bike with only one wheel and a long arm that attaches to her bike in place of the front wheel, and makes a two person tandem bike. Then she hooks up our bike trailer to the back of the runabout and pulls two girls in it. It looks like a long bike train going down the road and she says it gets lots of attention from passersby when they see the Vittetoe Express.

Over the weekend, we had a chance to take the girls fishing for their first time. Zak and Elizabeth know some people who own a small farm with a pond and they invited us over to let the girls try some fishing. We had a great time and quite a bit of success. Each of the girls caught at least one fish each and were super excited to reel in their catch! We caught a mix of bass and blue gill which we later had as part of our dinner. While at the farm, we also got a little tour of the farmers chicken coop where they raise hens for eggs. All in all it was a great experience for their first time fishing.

Coming to Kentucky we knew it was going to be hot, but coming from the dry Colorado climate we are not quite use to the sticky humid air. So needless to say swimming will be a regular activity for us here. We bought the girls a small blow-up pool to use here at the house which has been a perfect activity for when the girls get too bored. Over the weekend we also went to Lake Barkley Resort State Park where we had a picnic lunch and a few hours of swimming. I sat this one out, the sand blah!, but the girls had a great time playing in the water and sand. Public pools are pretty scarce around here and the closest one is about a 30 minute drive. We made the trip yesterday so we could see how it is and the girls had a great time regardless of the drive.

We are trying several different activities to fill our time and so we can see more of Kentucky. This weekend we are doing at least on night of camping. Lucy’s first time! Hopefully all goes well.

On the Road Again Summer 2010

Bruce — Sun, 30 May 2010 00:52:58 +0000

It is May 29th and we are on the road again. Destination, Mayfield, Ky to spend two months with Karen’s sister and new baby Lucy. We will of course be making a trip to TN to spend a few weeks with my family and who ever else may want to come around.

We are renting our house for all of June and part of July while we are gone. Karen put the ad up on Craigs List and it only took a few weeks for us to find the perfect couple who needed a temporary place to stay. It was a lot of work cleaning out the house and getting everything ready for them, but it will be well worth it since the extra money will help pay for our trip. It was also helpful to go through all the junk and get rid of what we didn’t need anymore.

We just left Karen’s parents house and before we were 20 minutes down the road we hit a hail storm slamming marble size hail onto our windshield. Of course it wasn’t that bad since we were able to pull over and sit for a few minutes while it passed. With any luck, that will be the worse of the weather we experience while driving.

Hopefully I will have time to write here some more as we go, though I don’t think there will be anything exciting to write about since the drive is pretty boring. At least I can say we will be able to since we now have a brand new iPad with an unlimited data connection! Woohoo! I will write about that later.

Spring has Sprung!

Karen — Fri, 14 May 2010 20:43:39 +0000

Though the weather has remained obstinately winterish, we are in the midst of spring and have been running around like crazy! For the past five weeks, we have gone on a family hike every Sunday, most of the time with the grandparents. It’s been just nice enough most weeks, and for most of our hikes we have been able to use the stroller, which is great for all of us: less whining from the girls and being able to walk farther for the adults.

In addition to hiking, Isabella and I have been super busy with various Girl Scout activities. In addition to our usual biweekly meetings, we hosted our first bridging ceremony at Isabella’s school. This ceremony celebrates the girls moving from one level of Girl Scouts (Daisies) to the next (Brownies). Our troop learned a bridging song sung to the tune of “Frere Jacque” and they each received a certificate, a patch, and got to put on their new Brownie vests after they crossed our homemade bridge. It was a great ceremony, and we celebrated with homemade brownies, of course! We also went to a recruitment celebration where Isabella learned all about different types of animals such as service dogs, Great Danes, and even a horse. Last week, I took all three girls to another GS event–a mother/daughter event. They had different tables set up where the girls could make a potpourri gift for their moms while we made bracelets for them, they got to wear high heels, and then we took quizzes about each other. Now, we are in the midst of planning for our troop camp at the end of August, which, as with everything else with GS, requires a lot of paperwork and training. We’re also going to be doing early bird registration for our troop (another pile of paperwork), so needless to say, I have been very busy!

Besides the Girl Scout activities, Isabella has attended a couple of birthday parties, participated in a dance night at her school, and is getting ready for an end-of-the-year field trip to the zoo. Mythili has been busy practicing her songs and dances for her preschool graduation, took a field trip herself to the Plains Conservation Center, and just got picked by her teachers as Best Kinder Kid!

We celebrated my 32nd birthday with a prime rib dinner at my parents’ house followed by a hike. Bruce got me one of the best gifts ever–a homemade quilt, made by our good friend Heather. It’s a “sister’s choice” pattern in various shades of green to match our bedroom. The work that went into it is incredible, and I will always remember this as one of my most cherished gifts.

Meanwhile, I have been “training” for my half marathon, coming up this Sunday, via the bike. I’ve had a problem with tendonitis and have been unable to run, so I’ve been riding the bike like mad to keep up some form of cardio regime. I know it’s not the same, but at least I will be able to walk/jog the marathon on Sunday morning.

I have also started “teaching” another University of Phoenix course which will carry over into the summer a bit. And we’ve been super busy getting our house all prepped because we found renters–two doctors and their three-year-old-twins–to rent it for the summer while we’re in KY! Just goes to show–if you do good deeds, good things happen. Seems like that’s been happening a lot lately. I mean, I still have a job next year at my school despite the horrid economy, the massive budget cuts in our school district, and having so few students. Hmmm… it must be the weekly brownies and cakes I bake for everyone! (I know it’s not a direct correlation, but those good deeds bounce back, I swear!)

And yes, we are still spending the summer in KY. Baby Lucy is awaiting our arrival, and we’re almost all set to go. We leave the night of May 28, returning July 31. Exciting! If I don’t keep up with this blog, you can check out my other blog–my resolution for 2010 is to write every day: Step Write Up.