Guess Who's Back?

I know, 2 weeks between posts is just not acceptable, but maybe I'm back!  Every time I am in Washington for so long, especially in the summer, when I get back to Wichita I seriously struggle.  I get totally depressed, I have trouble finding a routine and schedule again.  I have trouble going to the grocery store, because I'm too depressed that I'm no longer grocery shopping with Kaylee.  I have trouble figuring out a time to workout.  Before I left for Washington I had my workouts totally scheduled and I was doing something at least 5 days a week, but after enjoying lovely summer temps in Washington, the idea of running or riding my bike in 95 degree heat just doesn't sound fun anymore.  I have trouble with the fact I no longer have very easily accessible help with my kids, no grandparents or aunts or uncles to pawn them off on for a couple hours or even over night.  I LOVED staying the night at my grandparents house growing up, and I'm so sad my kids don't have many of those memories.  So, I get depressed, I stop being able to sleep at night, I am not working out nearly enough, I eat way too much of the wrong foods, usually pack on a few pounds which just make me more depressed.  It's a vicious cycle.  But eventually I have to put on my big girl pants and get over it.  And I woke up today feeling like I might have seen my big girl pants in the corner, now I just have to put them on.  So, hopefully I'm rounding a corner.  If not, it may be another 2+ weeks before anything gets posted.  :)

So, with the start of school also began the start of swim lessons.  Willow started talking about swim lessons as soon as we got in the truck to drive back here from Washington, she was ready to get going!

The surprise of the session is that Jayden wanted to start swimming again!  He has decided that he wants to do a triathlon, and after some research I found that for his age group he would have to be able to swim 50-100 meters (a regular pool is 25 meters, an olympic pool is 50 meters, in case you were wondering).  So it is back in swimming lessons to help him get there.  He doesn't call them lessons, so much as, "I'm going to do my swim training now".   It's fun to see him in the pool again.

It's also really fun that because we are homeschooling, we are able to do swim lessons earlier in the day, so the pool is less crowded.  We've done lessons at like 4pm before and the pool is a mad house with all the toddlers and school aged children taking lessons, and then also with the swim teams practicing.  It's loud and crowded.  Right now, it just so happens that Jayden and Willow are the only 2 swimmers in their level at this time, (there are actually only 4 students in the swim school at this time, so the pool is so quiet!) so they are pretty much getting private lessons, and after talking with their swim teacher about what Jayden wants to do, she has him swimming longer distances that Willow some of the time.

1st Day of 1st Grade

Today was Jayden's first day of school!
Sometimes I really wish my kids would let me pick out their outfits, or that they cared about my opinion about their hair, but then, I guess, I wouldn't be getting such a "real" picture of who they are right at this moment.  Jayden won't let me cut his hair, and I can totally make a pony tail in the back!  :) Willow's pants are on backwards.  It's just the way it is!  :)

This year, we decided to try something different.  I just had a few issues with public school, from Jayden's teacher telling him he wasn't allowed to pray at school, to a girl who was constantly draped all over him all the time confessing her undying love for him - so much so that Jayden was a bit relieved when she got moved to a different center group than his, to his music teacher telling him he couldn't sing (who says that to a 5 year old?!?), and some other things that happened.  There were lots of great things that happened at school, and Jayden really did enjoy himself, but I guess I want a few more years to build him up, and instill in him our values and morals and beliefs, so that when he finally is thrust into the "real world", he knows better who he is.  And doing school at home will help put off the bombardment of the worlds values for a bit longer...

So, this year, we are homeschooling!  We are using Andover's online school eCademy, and it seems to have a good blend of homeschooling and brick and mortar schooling.  Jayden has a teacher that will be working with him and tracking his progress, and he will have the ability to actually go into a classroom a couple times a month, as well as online sessions with his teacher and other live classes he can log into from home.  The school, since it is still public and funded by the state, doesn't hardly cost us anything.  We paid $75 for registration and technology fees, and we get all the curriculum sent to our house, as well as any workbooks and manipulatives, a laptop computer, and a printer/copier/scanner.  Jayden is really excited to start school and I think even more excited he gets his own laptop.   And now Willow keeps asking when she gets to start kindergarten so she can get her own computer.

Today Jayden and I had an orientation.  He met with his teachers and did some assessments and met other kids and played games, while I sat through more training on how to use the system and another session on teaching kids, which I'm pretty sure was just suppose to help encourage us that we can do this and to not freak out.  :)   So, Monday starts this new adventure, I guess we'll see how it goes.  I really hope I don't screw up 1st grade too much!

The Wandering Goose :: vol 15 :: Goodland KOA

Chapter 1 : Driving Royal Style
So, way back when were in Kelso, I made a tentative plan for stops on our drive back to Kansas.  Royal sat in front of the TV and I couldn't hardly get any input out of him.  So, I made the plan and for our stop today, the stop before our last section of road to cover before we made it home, I had 2 options.  One was in Strasburg, CO, a little over 400 miles, the other was Limon, CO, around 470 miles.  Limon I wasn't too keen on stopping in, you know, since it doesn't hold very fond memories, since the last time we were there it was because our fuel pump had died and we were trapped there.  The drive to Limon would take about 6.5 hours, which for us meant more like 8 hours.  A full day of driving.  Well, that just wasn't gonna cut it for Royal.  He started talking crazy and saying things like, "Why stop tonight?  Let's just keep driving until we get home"  I calculated what it would take on the GPS and it said we wouldn't get home until 11pm, which for us, with food and bathroom breaks and gas breaks, because none of the 3 ever seem to happen at the same time, we'd be home closer to 1 or 2am.  I said, "No. Freaking. Way."  Royal just chuckled to himself and said, "I think we can do it."  So, he kind of compromised and said, "Let's just get to Goodland, KS, eat some dinner, and then decide from there."  Goodland in my opinion was too far to go.  It was almost 600 miles, 8.5hrs, which in Goose-time translates to like 10 hours.  Oi. Vei.  Too. Freaking. Long. In. The. Car.  But we pressed on and passed from Wyoming into Colorado.

And we cruise around Denver and past Strasburg and then past Limon.  I almost cried.  I really wanted to be done driving, but the kid's were doing okay in the back seat watching some new movies we picked up earlier in the day, and Royal really wanted to keep going.  So, I took a pole.  I asked the kids what they wanted to do.  "Do you guys want to stop for dinner and then keep driving and get home, so we have no driving to do tomorrow?  Or, do you guys want to stop for dinner, and sleep in the trailer, and then get up in the morning and drive some more"  Both kids opted for camping for the night.  Hallelujia!  I swear I didn't influence them in anyway, but I wasted no time calling an RV park and securing us a place to park for the night!   Unfortunately, with about 80 miles left before Goodland, our A/C decides it's totally going to die.  Not like before, where half the truck is hot and half is cold, I know how to fix that now.  This is all the vents are blowing air, but it's not cooled air, it's just air.  I almost scream.  Oh wait, I do.  I'm not ashamed to admit, once I had confirmed that yes indeed, the air was not going to get any cooler, I yelled, "I HATE YOU, TRUCK!!!!!"  To which, Royal gasps and pats the truck's dashboard and says, "She doesn't mean it.  Don't listen to her."  The rest of the drive was pretty miserable, but the temperatures were starting to get into the low 80's and the sun was behind us, so I tried my best not to complain, but it was pretty darn uncomfortably warm in there.

And then we drive into Kansas.

And I glance at our thermometer.  It's 86 now.  I swear it was just 81!  It's like we crossed the border and the temperature automatically went up 5 degrees to say, "Welcome back, suckers!"  So, I do what anybody would do.  I stick my hand out and give Kansas the finger. 
But, nevertheless, we make it to Goodland around 7pm.  An 11 hour day with almost 600 miles covered.  Brutal.  I told Royal he is not making our travel plans from here any more!

Chapter 2 : The Campground
The KOA here is really pretty nice.  The sites are pretty big and there is a huge playground and a swimming pool and a 3 acre park where I can take Sam to run.  I have no pictures of it because it was dark by the time I got dinner made and picked up and kid's in bed and well, that's just the way it goes sometimes.  :)

So, we shall be home tomorrow. with only a 4-5 hour drive to do.   I'm sure I'll be glad I was in the car for 11 hours today, when we get home around lunch time, right????

The Wandering Goose :: vol 14 :: Indian Campground

Chapter 1 : The Flat
Today's drive was going to be the easiest of them all!  We had the fewest miles to cover and Willow woke up early, so we got an early start to the drive.  We were headed to Buffalo, WY where it was going to be at least 95 today, so we were excited to get there early and spend most of the afternoon in the swimming pool.  Royal has been a little worried about the truck tires, he says one of them has a few pretty bad cracks in it and he's hoping it makes it home without popping.  I keep encouraging him to go get someone to look at them, or just go buy some new tires since it's inevitable anyway, and it would be better than getting a flat while driving.  Turns out it wasn't the truck tire we needed to worry about.  So, we were driving down the road and another driver pulls alongside Royal and makes motions that we have a flat tire.  Royal and I peer out our side mirrors trying to see, but can't see anything, so Royal says, "Well, I'm just gonna try and see if we can get to the next exit".  Then, we turn some corner and Royal gets a good look at the side of the trailer and says, "Oh crap!  That's a bad one!  We've got to pull over!"  So, as he starts slowing down and pulling off the road, the tread goes flying off the tire!

Royal gets out and starts inspecting, I call AAA.  We get the kids and dog unloaded and put in the trailer, and I'm told AAA will be there in about an hour.  Well, that's just gonna be too long for Royal to sit.  So he unhooks the trailer and gets the spare tire off the back.  Then he jerry-rigs a jack he has in the truck and uses the back stabilizer jacks on the trailer to get the tire off.

Did I mention we are on the side of I-90?  With huge trucks and fast cars whizzing by, all while Royal's tush is pretty much sitting on the white line?  I kept begging him to just leave it and let the professional who gets paid to change tires on the side of a busy highway do it.  Well, we all know how well Royal listens to me.  So, I sat in the trailer and prayed the he wouldn't get squished out there.  And Royal managed to get it done, all before the AAA guy showed up!  He's so handy!  (Dad, aren't you glad I didn't call you to come change my tire???)  And this is how we rolled down the road for the rest of the day.  Awesome!

And we drove right into Wyoming!

And right to our campsite, with no further delays!

Chapter 2 : Indian Campground
This RV park is really quite nice.  It's pretty big, with good sized sites, and lots of big trees for shade!  They also have a great swimming pool and playground and lots of room for the kids to ride bikes.

One more campground to go and then we'll be pulling into our driveway!  I'm getting excited to not be riding in the car anymore, and I think Royal's getting tired of me having to buy more books since I pretty much finish one each day in the car!

The Wandering Goose :: vol 13 :: Rocky Mountain RV Park

Yellowstone Again!
We spent the majority of a non-driving day in the car, driving.  It just doesn't seem right.  But, we are here again in sweet Yellowstone National Park, and we just couldn't NOT take advantage, plus Royal needed to see a few things.

We crossed the 45th Parallel

 Sadly, we didn't see a bear today, and hardly any buffalos.  Shocking, since we saw so many buffalos just a month ago!  This one was walking down the road and scared the heck out of Royal when he saw it.  I was looking about my window and I hear Royal shout, "Oh crap!  What is that!?!"  Oh, just a lonely little buffalo, wandering down the side of the road.

Today, it seemed, was a day for elk!  We saw a few right as we were waiting in line to get into the park.

Then, this lonely one munching on some grass.

Then, this herd standing alongside the road!  The only herd we'd found that had an elk with some antlers on it!

 And then there was this little spectacle, of them running down the sides of the road.  I rolled my window up for fear it would reach right in and bite my arm.  I have no idea why it would want to bite my arm, but there are "dangerous animal" signs all around, and I wasn't taking any chances!  :)

We visited some old and new places.  We stopped at Sheepeater Cliff, named from the Shoshone Indians who used to live in the area.  The cliff is formed from basalt lava that cooled 500,000 years ago.

And we took a little hike down Gardner River, because the kids were already complaining about being in the truck again and needing to use their legs.

Then we drove by Roaring Mountain - one of the hottest places in the park - the magma is only 1-2 miles below the surface here.

Then we stopped in at Artists Paintpots

And then drove south so Royal could witness Old Faithful and we could have lunch.  I didn't take any pictures here because, well, I wanted to watch the whole eruption without my camera in my face.  :)  Then we started heading back north and stopped at Black Sand Basin, which has a couple geyers and some really beautiful colored pools, like this one.

And since the kids were tired of getting in and out of the car and just couldn't walk anymore, we didn't stop at anymore areas, but took a couple scenic detours on the way back.  First we hit up Firehole Lake Drive.

And then Firehole Canyon Drive, which had some really beautiful waterfalls, but I don't really have any pictures because we were just driving through and sometimes it's hard to take a decent picture out the window while moving and trying to avoid getting random people in the picture.  :)  And that pretty much was our day.  Long and hot and fun and staring out the window at beautiful scenery that I'm just not sure when we'll be able to see again.  Tomorrow is another driving day.  One day closer to home!

The Wandering Goose :: vol 12 :: Rocky Mountain RV Park

Chapter 1 : The Drive
Today's drive was suppose to be kinda easy peasy.  We had about 350 miles to do, roughly 5-6 hours,  a doable day.  We didn't worry about our departure time too much, just let the kids sleep in, slowing got breakfast, they rode their bikes around for awhile, and eventually we hit the road, ready to get to our next destination.  But then 20 minutes into our drive, we were at a dead stop.  And we continued to sit like that, along with the rest of the cars on the road, for about an hour and a half.  Royal shut the truck off.  I got out and got back in the trailer to get more movies for the kids to pick from, and to get our poor, whining, trapped dog some snacks to chew on.  We eventually drove past the culprit of the backup.  A car and a semi truck had collided around 6:30 in the morning and both of them had caught on fire.  All that was left for us to look at was completely burned out vehicles being loaded up on tow trucks.  Sad.  :(  But at least we were finally driving!  At least for about 5 minutes, when Willow declared she had to go to the bathroom.  We made her hold it for a bit and we found a truck stop, and I figured since we were stopped and it was close enough to noon that I'd just make lunch.  It had taken us about 3 hours to go 51 miles down the road.  Ugh.  But on the bright side, Royal found a $5 bill when he was out walking Sam around the parking lot.  So I took the kids inside the travel center and bought them ice cream cones.  :)  And then we hit the road and started making some good time, at least until we would go through another construction zone and would have to go 35 mph.  We finally pulled into Gardiner, MT around 4:30, about 7.5 hours in the car.  A little too long of a second day for me, but we made it.  AND we crossed the Continental Divide!

Chapter 2 : Boiling River
Our campground, Rocky Mountain RV Park,  is literally a mile from the North Entrance into Yellowstone National Park.  That's right!  We're back!  Get ready for some more buffalo pictures! The kids and I decided that Royal was not to miss out on the fun we had here!  And we started our fun right after dinner tonight.  We drove into the park and drove a few miles to the Boiling River to go for a soak.  The Boiling River is a hot spring that dumps into Gardner River and makes areas of the water warm to soak in.  Boiling River's water is REALLY hot and will totally burn you, Gardner River's water is FREEZING, so you have to find the right spot where the two meet to soak yourself in warm water.  The current is also a tad bit strong for my liking, so I had a hand on the kids pretty much the whole time.  But it was still pretty fun.

The Wandering Goose :: vol 11 :: Eagle Nest RV Resort

Chapter 1 : The Drive
Man, could I get used to this boring driving!  Is this what "normal" people's camping trips are like???  I'm kind of jealous!  It doesn't make for many interesting stories though!
So, we took off from Kaylee's driveway this morning around 6:15, with a big 550+mile drive ahead of us.  Royal wanted to go up to Glacier State Park on our way back this time, but it was quite a ways out of our way, so we decided Flathead Lake would be a good spot to go and if we could find a good campground, then maybe we'd stay for 2 nights.
Goodbye beautiful Western Washington....:(

Hello Idaho...

And then a little bit later...Hello Montana

The kids did pretty darn well today.  Not much complaining, lots of movie watching, they both took naps (this was shocking, they hardly slept on the drive out west!), frequent bathroom stops, and gas fill ups.  We did stop in Wallace, ID for gas and there just happened to be a park right off the freeway, so we decided to stop for a bit and move our legs and have a snack in the shade.  We still had a good 2 hours to go to our destination, so this park came at a great time!

We all went down and stuck our feet in the river.  It was 94 out, so I was really tempted to just lay down in the middle of the thing and stay forever!

(did you notice Willow's shoe is starting to float downstream?  don't worry I caught it!)
Then, it was back in the truck for the final part of our journey for the day.   It took us about 10 hours to get to Polson, MT, which is on the south end of Flathead Lake.

Turns out, Polson, MT is a hotspot.  Everybody was full, except for the 3rd RV park we called, and we got their 2nd to last spot for the night.  Unfortunately, we only have a spot for tonight.  So, we don't even get to stay and explore Flathead Lake tomorrow, since our next stop on our way home is another 6 hour drive ahead of us.  We kinda drove all the way up here for nothing.  It's a bit of a bummer, but it sure is beautiful!

Chapter 2 : Our Site
We are staying at Eagle Nest RV Park.  It is really quite nice!  I was surprised, since this one ranked 3 out of 3 on my list, mostly because it was in town and was the farthest from the lake.  But the camp sites are beautiful and clean and all of the people camping here are really friendly!  And thank goodness they have a pool!  And the drive loops they have are small enough that the kids can ride their bikes around and around and we can keep an eye on them right from our site!  More energy burned is never a bad thing!

We are backed right up to a golf course!

So, it's on the road again for us tomorrow!