-
Making Our Trail: KOA Kansas City East, Oak Grove MO Review
We’ve been a camping family for a long time, actually. But somehow we have never stayed at a KOA. Until our giant road trip adventure this summer. And pretty much, all the way to Colorado and all the way back, we stayed at KOAs. KOA stands for Kampgrounds of America and the very handy thing about a KOA on a…
-
Ranch Thoughts
I peer down from my cabin porch and I see two matching cowboy hat heads. And. Oh my goodness. They are whittling. I know this experience is a genuine gift to our entire family, but it seems like it’s something a little extra to my sons. A wildness. A freedom. A bit of rowdy goodness. Otto looks even more miniature…
-
The Journey Home: Making Our Trail
“I don’t want to ever come home. And I am ready to be home.” This is the text I sent today to my friend. It’s about all I have for you guys tonight. Goodness, it’s hard to come back down to sea level when you’ve been frolicking on the mountain top. Yesterday and today the sea level problems included miles…
-
Lost Valley Ranch: At The Beginning
An Immediate Disclaimer: This isn’t going to be the “real” Lost Valley Ranch post. I mean, I probably cannot do this past week’s experience justice in one blog post anyway. (Also. My internet connection is rather shady so it can’t handle lots of photos and links tonight.) Also. Re-entering the world of Instagram and Facebook and even…
-
Five Finds Friday: On The Road
Is it really Friday? Like, for real. Is it? At least a half dozen times today someone in our car said, “Seriously, you guys – what day is it?” (Mostly that someone was me.) Because when you have been on the road for a long time, all the days blur together. I don’t know how my dad does this regularly.…
-
Making Our Trail: At The Beginning
We are en route. On the road. In the car. (Well. Not currently. That would just be dangerous.) We’ve been in the car A LOT. And these blog posts will just be on and off and when I can find an internet connection and when I can have a millisecond to type. (Thanks so much for your patience.) So far…
-
a “did you know” kind of Monday.
Monday morning the kids and I spent nearly an hour driving from shop to shop looking for homemade bread. For Otto’s birthday lunch he had requested the simplest and sweetest of lunches. (It’s a birthday tradition in our family – you get to pick all of the meals.) The perfect peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Homemade jam. Homemade salted caramel peanut…
-
happy birthday otto fox. you make seven lucky.
Half past midnight. I’m rolling over, reaching to turn out the light when I see it. A six-year-old elbow with a substantial scratch. Unfamiliar to me. I don’t recall kissing it or tending to it and that somehow hurts me a little. Gently I lift that sleeping arm, hold it to the light, examine it for a minute. I…
-
Five Finds Friday (27) (guess what Trader Joe’s carries now?)
(drum roll.) It’s Friday. Some weeks I think about skipping these posts. But my friend Walter says he likes them. So. I mean. I’ve got to keep Walter happy. . FUNNY This wig. And what it apparently brings out in people. Also. This dog in this hat. FASHIONABLE (See above.) I hope it’s fashionable to wear cowboy hats in Colorado…
-
Teaching From Rest: A Book Review
Sarah Mackenzie. Mother. Writer. Homeschooler. Blogger. Speaker. Etc. She’s like the homeschool mom I would want to be if I wasn’t already the homeschool mom I actually am. (What I really mean by that is — I really like so much about Sarah Mackenzie and what I read and hear from her. Our styles (and some of our weaknesses) align…
-
scars. and healing.
My eyebrow has this little sliver of a space where no eyebrow grows. It’s a scar. From nearly forty years ago. I fell right out of my bunk bed when my younger brother was born and he was handed over my crib and I was forced to move to a top bunk bed. I fell right out of that bed…
-
Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty: A Timberdoodle Review
The kids and I still love checking the mail. I thought maybe I’d outgrow that daily hopeful walk to the mailbox. But as it turns out, I have not. Even when I am not anticipating any letters or packages, you just never know what you might find in the funny shaped tube at the end of the driveway. Receiving the…
-
another thing to miss.
And when I glanced across the aisle, I saw them. I didn’t know them, but I watched — I watched husband and wife grey hairs and wrinkled skin, slightly curved spines, bifocals. Hands intertwined (clasped) the satisfied smile of years upon their beautiful faces. Hands held through the song. Granddaughter whispering in her ear. It shouldn’t have surprised me. The…
