Family Road Trip

So I was laying in bed a couple of nights ago, thinking about how to write this entry, and feeling pretty happy about the prospect. But then I got mad at my husband and instead of writing, I lay in bed fuming at him. It was something about me having expressed an opinion very vociferously and loudly and made my point very clear a few months ago, only to have discovered that none of it made any difference in the way that he decided to do things. I felt rather un-listened to. But now, as its not going to change this YEAR no matter how much I yell, I have decided to move on and not be angry any more and write instead about our great road trip to the north.

We packed up 2 bicycles, 2 tents, 6 (yes, 6) sleeping bags (you can never have too many sleeping bags), enough clothes for an army, and every DVD we have ever owned and headed north to Colorado for the excellent (we hoped) destination of Mesa Verde National Park. Even though it was a 6 hour ride, the children were quite excellent. Charlie never lifted his head from the DVD player, and Ella rotated between sleeping, yelling at Charlie that she couldn't see the DVD player, and telling non-sensical stories about her life as a 2 year old.

Mesa Verde is indeed excellent. We signed on for a tour despite the fact that we hate tours. It was the only way to get to the 1000 year old cliff dwellings that require a climb up a 60 foot ladder. Charlie thought that sounded like the adventure of a lifetime. With Ella firmly strapped into the backpack on Jeff's back, and me ready to grab any body part I could reach if Charlie so much as bobbled on the 60 foot ladder, we headed up, and made it. I almost felt like freaking out at about foot 57, but managed to hold it together as my 5 year old son was, and get to the top of the ladder.

The next part of the tour, where the adults stand quietly around and listen to the guide was punctuated by Ella doing her best banshee imitation - because she like the acoustics there, I think, and me whispering at the top of my lungs to Charlie to get away from the edge of the 60 foot cliff.

When camping, we have decided that using 2 tents works best for trying to get kids to sleep. However, what usually happens is that Jeff crawls in to snuggle and falls asleep at the same time as the kids, leaving me to wonder how to pass the night by myself in a dark campsite with a weak flashlight and no more firewood. I thought the tent might blow away with me and Ella in it a few times, but Jeff didn't even notice that it had been windy at all. I also discovered that despite the fact that we own 4 thermarest pads, only one of them actually stays inflated. I thought I had scored the good one, only to find at about 11 pm that I was wrong. It was a long night.

The next day the kids found a kiva. Kivas are traditional, ceremonial, round rooms dug into the floor with a ladder going down through the ceiling to the room below. My kids thought it was their own private playground. Up and down, up and down, up and down the ladder. Running around and around and around the room below. Did I mention that it had a dirt floor? The dust they stirred up was quite impressive, or oppressive, depending on which other tourists you asked. Some of them seemed to think that their attempts at artistic photography were much more important than my children's playtime, and that the dust cloud greatly decreased their chances of winning next year's National Geographic photo prize. Maybe they are right, but I do know that for sure my children had a ton of fun, while I am not sure that they would win that photography prize, dust cloud or not.

We headed next to Durango where we splurged on a hotel with a working pool, showers and real beds for everyone. Or at least shared beds for everyone. At an attempt to snuggle, Jeff and I moved Charlie into Ella's bed before we went to sleep. She awoke in the middle of the night, having peed herself. She was upset at being wet, but furious at the sleeping Charlie who had invaded her bed. The screams were even better than the banshee screams at Mesa Verde just a day or so before. At 2 am, they might have been even less welcome too.

It seems that Ella has really hit her 2 year old stride lately. Whereas I feel that I have spent the better part of the last 5 years lamenting Charlie's behavioral moments, he now takes the backseat to his noisy sister, hands down. It was in a delicious taco joint that the best display of 2 year oldedness showed itself. She decided that she wanted "Buddy" her pink blanket that travels everywhere with her, but who had been left in the car. As the car was a 10 minute walk away, we chose not to go get it. She screamed, and fussed, and moaned and cried and was taken from the restaurant where she continued to scream, fuss, moan, cry and run down the sidewalk yelling at the top of her lungs. It was one of those fits where people leaving the restaurant stopped to reassure us that it was ok, and where the guy cleaning his Harley on the side of the road said he was impressed by how we were handling a fit of such magnitude. Lovely. The biker dude cleaning his Harley is impressed by our daughter's emotional display. What happened to my sweet darling girl of only a month or so ago? I can't believe that I am now complementing Charlie on his good behavior as compared to his sister's. That is a paradigm shift in our world for sure.

We planned to go north from Durango, so while the kids tried to splash all the water out of the hotel pool, Jeff hopped on his bike for a little ride. We were going to meet him in the next town 50 miles away and find our campsite. After 28 miles I got a phone call - it was snowing and would I please come get him? In his shorts and short sleeves, he was cold. We found him on the side of the road, quickly decided that camping in the snow was not in the cards, and turned directly around to head back south.

Perusing the map, Jeff found Chaco Canyon in the general direction of home, and suggested we give it a try. After 26 miles on really crappy dirt roads that elicited countless rounds of Jeff's favorite made up song, The Bumpy Road Blues, we arrived at Chaco Canyon, and immediately fell in love. Gorgeous. Great community feel at the campsite. So great, in fact, that we lost Charlie momentarily, and found him in the neighboring campsite behind the rocks hanging out with 4 grandparent-ish folks and helping to eat their carrot sticks and chips. They reassured me he was fine, and I reassured them that they were free to return to their adults-only vacation and kick him out at any time. That evening we were sitting around the campfire when our neighbor on the other side came by for a chat. Turns out Charlie had invited him to stop by for a while, since he didn't have his own campfire. As I've heard it said, that boy has never met a stranger.

The next day Jeff took the kids on more 1000 year old ruins exploring adventures while I headed off for a bike ride. As I was pulling in to join them in the ruins after a good few miles, I somehow managed to not unhook my feet from my pedals in time, and fell over from a dead standstill in the parking lot. Gotta love the grace and skill that move showed. I scraped up my palm a bit, but was otherwise unhurt, except for a bruised biker ego. I showed the kids my "owie" and they were very impressed. Ella kept wanting to hold hands, but to make sure that she was holding my "other hand." I thought she was so sensitive and kind, not wanting to further hurt my owie. I thought my dear screaming daughter was really making strides in her social skills and empathy. Then I grabbed her Buddy with my owie hand. "No Mama! Don't touch Buddy with that owie hand!!!" The screams echoed off the bricks carved in 800 AD. "You'll get your owie all over Buddy!" Oh, I realized. It wasn't about her being worried about further hurting my hand. It was about her not wanting to touch my gross cut. Ah well...

Now we are home and life is back to normal - I can't sit on the couch because the cushions have disappeared into a large fort-building project in the other room. I can't walk across the living room because all of Ella's puzzles were somehow mysteriously dumped in the middle. I am not sure which clothes to wear, since my drawers are all empty and the myriad laundry baskets are all full, but there is no telling which ones are clean and which are dirty. The kids have been in bed for an hour and 7 minutes now, but neither are asleep. Charlie keeps walking out of his room saying that he "just can't stay in bed. He doesn't know why, but something just isn't right for staying in bed." Ella is yelling that she needs to go poop, for the 3rd try tonight. She's been on the potty multiple times tonight without result except for smiles, giggles, and the thrill of having procrastinated bedtime a little longer. And, did I mention, the enormous pile of toilet paper that is now off its roll and mounded next to the toilet? The girl can figure out how to entertain herself.