Unexpected Relaxation- Part 2

We're home. Safe and sound in Red Lake. The deep snow outside sets a slightly different scene than the green grass I was looking at a week ago, but this is nice too.

To continue where I left off on my last post... We took over the poor Super 8 we were staying at- with the permission of "Grandma" at the front desk. She let us know that we were the only ones there and suggested that the boys and I take a tour of the hallways. She also informed me of the locations of the candy and pop machines and suggested that I cover the boys' eyes at those places.

By this time, the van had been towed to a nearby mechanic. They called and said that the problem had to be fixed at a Honda dealer. So Honda sent someone to pick us up at the hotel and our van was towed to Mechanic #2. We sat at the Honda dealership for awhile, then the shuttle took us to the airport to rent a car. From there, we went to the mall to eat.

Eventually, Mechanic #2 called us and said it had to do with the remote start Kendall got me for Christmas. He had it installed while we were in Indiana, but it was not installed right and was somehow tricking the van into not starting. So we sadly told them to go ahead and disconnect it. Well, I was sad that I couldn't have my remote start, but very happy that it wasn't something more serious. The van was done by 4:30, but we didn't want to drive 8 hours in dark, moose-infested country. We could have gone 3 hours to the border, but by then, we had already hit the jackpot: A waterpark hotel! When we called in, we were given a great off-season rate- only $14 more than the Super 8 and this one had a real hot tub and more!

The boys had so much fun and so did we. If we had to stay over an extra 24 hours, this was the perfect way to do it.

The 8-hour drive on Wednesday went well and we were ready to sleep in our own beds.

As a side note- Thursday morning Evan puked and continued to puke throughout the day, though he was quite happy between episodes. My favorite was when he did it on the basement floor at the new house. All the other times he managed to make it to a sink or container. I guess this was my favorite because Mr. Nurse was present and pulled out his trusty and ever-ready supply of rubber gloves and cleaned it up. I love being able to say, "You're a nurse so you're used to it." Thanks, man!

Unexpected Relaxation

I'm writing from a Super 8 in Superior, Wisconsin. It is 11:00 am, Tuesday. This was not the plan.

Let me just start at the beginning...

We left Mom and Dad's house at 8:45 yesterday morning and headed north toward Canada. We were pulling a trailer full of trim and doors. It was quite heavy. About an hour down the road, Kendall saw smoke from under the hood. We pulled over and tried not to freak out. Kendall got out to inspect everything and I seized the opportunity to give the boys a pep talk- "Don't ask Daddy lots of questions when he gets back in the car. Don't complain. We'll have to be patient. He needs to be able to think." Then we prayed.

We ended up leaving the trailer at the side of the toll road and got to the nearest exit. Kendall talked to a couple mechanics and they seemed to think that the transmission fluid had overheated and boiled over. They thought we would be okay to drive the van since it seemed to be driving fine. But we couldn't take the trailer all the way to Red Lake. Kendall arranged to have a mechanic flush the transmission in Goshen. So we slowly hauled the trailer back to Goshen, stopping to let the van rest. In Goshen, we ate lunch at my parents' house and I visited Jodi while the transmission people did their work. A few hours later we were back in the van, heading north once again. (My parents will bring the trailer when they come to help out again in a few weeks.)

Wow. What a long day of travel. Kendall and I kept being amazed at how little time had passed on the road. For some strange reason, it felt like we had been traveling 10 hours, when we had only been traveling 6 hours. Oh wait, we had been in the van for 10 hours, but had only made 6 hours of progress.

By 10:30 or so, we were wearing out, though the van was doing great. For some reason, though, we kept pushing it. Finally we pulled into a hotel at 12:30 (1:30 IN time), completely exhausted. I sat in the van with the boys while Kendall made the arrangements. He came out to get us and I turned the van off. After helping get the boys to the hotel room, Kendall went back out to park the van and get our stuff. The van would not start. What?! Are you kidding me?! By 1:30, Kendall had pushed the van off the driveway and thrown in the towel for the night. He was up before 7:00 to work on getting it to a mechnic.

So here we sit. The boys are getting restless. I mean, what are they supposed to do in a confined space where the only means of recreation are a television, lots of pillows and 2 trampolines? I just made them a "hot tub" in the bathtub, so they're sitting in there in their swimming trunks (aka tighty-whities). I hear them blowing bubbles right now.

We have no idea how long this will take or where we'll sleep tonight. Kendall just talked to the mechanic and he still doesn't know why the van won't start. This morning Kendall asked me in an accusing tone, "Did you pray for patience?" I assured him that I know better. :) I'd say we're actually doing pretty well and not terribly stressed out. And last night I was thinking how glad I am that we're all safe and together in a hotel room. There are many worse things that could happen on the road and the grandmotherly employee assured us that we can hang out here as long as we need to. And, now that I think about it, this plain ol' sitting is a change of pace from the last 2 weeks and from the weeks to come. Maybe we needed it.

And with that, I'm off to get a leisurely cup of tea in the hotel lobby.

Proceed with Caution

Warning: This post contains scenes that may be offensive to some.
Disclaimer: The parental figures are not proud of what you are about to read. But it made them laugh.

From time to time Evan, this 5-year old that lives with us, says things we do not agree with. For unknown reasons, he brags about how he is going to make his wife do all the chores. We warn him that no one is going to want to be his wife if he makes them do all the chores. He is undeterred. We are not proud of that. (Is this better or worse than his former desire to be a "bad guy" when he grew up?)

We are also not proud of the fact that Evan and Eli are still learning to wipe themselves. As we were discussing wiping one day (yes, this is one of the many deep conversations that take place in this home), Evan gave Eli some well-thought-out advice that no one in the family was prepared for. It was (brace yourselves): "You should make your wife wipe you."

Oh dear. I see we've got some work to do.

Cousins

We were privileged to have Kendall's cousin, Delton, and his family here for a few days. Our kids have been together several times, but don't know each other well. However, within minutes of getting together, all five of them were running around having a blast.

Naomi and Eli are just weeks apart in age. Joshua and Evan, less than a year. And little Caleb was just the age that Eli can't get enough of. It was so fun to watch them play together. All 5 played so nicely together and acted like the long-lost cousins they are.

And I'll just say: Eli needs a sister. In church he had ahold of Naomi's ponytail. He wasn't pulling it- he was just hanging on to it and teasing her. I told him to let go. A few minutes later I saw he had it again. When I told him to let go of it, he wanted to know if he could braid it. He just learned to braid and wanted to try it out on real hair. Crazy kid. If he had a sister, maybe this hair wouldn't be such a novelty.

I didn't get many pictures, but here are several of the kids who, for reasons unknown to us, were all yelling in unison:


I like this one because you can see that even little Caleb is joining in on the noise-making.

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Bragging on Kendall

Well, Kendall is happy right now for a couple reasons. First of all, he passed electrical inspection! He has worked so hard on that. The inspector is only in town twice a month, 2 days each time. So Kendall worked like crzy to be ready in time for yesterday's inspection. He has been very busy. Friday night he was quite discouraged, but Saturday had several people out helping him. He felt much more encouraged by Saturday night. Kendall worked at the hospital Saturday and Sunday nights, but was back out at the house Monday afternoon with Delton.

Tuesday morning the inspector showed up. He looked around a bit, then said, "Where did you get these wires?" The answer was "In the U.S." The inspector: "Oh no. This isn't good." He went on to say that they didn't have something important printed on them. He let Kendall know that he has already seen a job site like that where everything had to be pulled out. He reminded Kendall that this was not good. Then he went out to call his supervisor. Delton was in the corner praying. Kendall was making a decision to throw in the towel and sell the house as-is. Then the inspector walked back in and passed it!!!

Yay! Kendall was so happy. He told me that he felt like he had just passed his NCLEX again. (That was the test to get his nursing license and he did cry that time.) Kendall said that the past month of lying awake from 5-7am had just paid off.

So, to celebrate, Kendall went off to enjoy the last day of moose hunting season today. And that brings me to the second reason Kendall is so happy today: A few minutes ago I got a call from my mighty hunter. He told me he just got a moose. "Yay!" I said. Then he said he just got TWO moose. "Oh no!" I said. I see much bloody butchering in my future...

And, to clarify, he went hunting with his friend, Keith. They filled both tags, so yes, it was legal for him to take both moose. Yay for 2 freezers full of meat!

Brrrr...

This morning as I was getting ready to leave Eli's classroom, an announcement came over the PA system: "Recess will be indoors this morning due to the fact that it is -37 degrees with windchill." (That's right around -23 fahrenheit.) A cheer went up from the classroom, though Eli was annoyed. Sledding during recess is often the highlight of his school day. As the teacher walked over toward me, I commented to him, "I didn't hear you cheering about indoor recess." He smiled and sarcastically noted that this would make the day "awesome." Yes, I truly feel for teachers when the kids don't get a chance to get outside and run off some energy.

So, I zipped up my down parka, donned my hat, scarf, mitts and boots, and headed out the door for my beautiful walk home. It's a sunny day and that makes me happy no matter what the temperature.

The Things We Are Doing Instead of Working on the House

I haven’t been so motivated to blog lately for several reasons. First of all, our internet was being exceedingly stupid. I had to go out into our hallway and hold the computer in front of the window in the door to get a good signal. Also, the thing that I was having so much fun putting up pictures of (the house) came to what was nearly a screeching halt. So here is a post with a title suggested by Jodi.

1. Telling our Love Story- One night I started telling Eli and Evan about how Kendall and I met. I told them about it for awhile, then I said, "You’ll just have to wait and see what happens next! To be continued tomorrow night!" That drove them absolutely crazy and started something. Now they always want to hear the next chapter at bedtime. It’s good for Kendall and I to tell it together. Eli loved how Kendall accidentally introduced me to his aunt as "Amy." He also liked how Ben and Kendall announced each other’s engagements at church and let us know that he wants to be at church "when Shad does that."

2. Having weird conversations- Evan and I were just eating lunch. Out of the blue, he asked me, "Mommy, don’t you like it when I suffer?" I looked up at him with a very confused expression, only to see the same expression mirrored on his face. Quickly, he asked, "What is suffering anyway?"

3. Enjoying/Battling the Snow- The snow waited a long time to come, but it has more than made up for it’s tardy arrival. We don’t have "snow days" here. The schools are tricky and only cancel bus service. Then school is still officially in session and the missed days don’t need to be made up. From what I’ve picked up, on these days school is basically optional for all students- bussed or not. Anyway, we have already had 3 days of cancelled bus service. That is not normal. Any junk left lying around is now lost until April or May. We’ll wait just as long to see grass. Oh well, at least it’s pretty. Other than the length of winter, though, I prefer this over northern Indiana’s winter. Sunshine and sparkling white snow is beautiful. So, we’re back to deep snow and plugging in the cars and boots and snow pants and mitts and hats all over the place.

4. Learning about world religions- Eli told me he found out that his teacher is a Christian. When I asked him how he knew, he said that there was something about Baby Jesus in their word search. I told Eli that that doesn’t especially mean that he’s a Christian. Then Eli told me that Makale, his buddy, is a Christian too. He said he asked him and Makale said, "Yes. Mohammed." (I don’t get it either.) Then Eli said, "We don’t celebrate that." (I don’t get that either.) Eventually I told Eli that Mohammed is who Muslims believe in. Eli told me that he’s not exactly a Christian. "Then what are you?" I asked. His answer? "A Muslim who believes in God!" And off he ran to play. Has he ever heard of Muslims before? Oh well, we’ll leave it at that for now...

5. Discovering animals a little too close to home- The other day I saw 2 large dog-shaped animals walking across the ice very near to our new place. They were too far to see exactly what they were, but I have my guesses. Hmmm.... When Kendall tried to calm fears of wild beasts and give me a false sense of security by telling me that we were moving to an island, he forgot to mention that the bay freezes in the winter and that when the water is ice, there is no such thing as an island. When I confronted him with this later, all he could come up with was, "Moose don’t like to walk on ice." Excuse me, but it was not the moose in my back yard that were my main concern!

6. Taking care of a 1-year old

We got a call for emergency foster care late Friday night. So we had this little girl here until Tuesday afternoon. Once again, the boys loved her. I am rather spoiled by this point in family life, though, and it was a big adjustment to have a toddler wandering the house. This is a rare picture of her laughing. The boys were the only ones who were really able to get her to smile. Here they were determined that they were taking her outside to play. Have at it guys!

7. Thankfully, Kendall found someone who is able to help him with electrical. He was planning on doing the wiring, but his schedule just wasn't allowing it. He only needed about a week to get it done, but those 7 days would have stretched out into the new year. So someone has supposedly been there this week working. Hopefully getting lots done! Kendall worked Monday night, then got off work at 6am to be at the airport by 6:30 for a 3-day work trip to Fort Severn, way up on the Hudson Bay. His trip got cut short and he got home last night just in time for the boys' keyboard recital. Yea! Meanwhile, I'm trying to adjust my expectations for when we'll be in the new house and just be patient.