Must. Write. On. Blog.

Hiho. Groovy here.

At least now I'm here. I was there. And there and there and there. We also would have gone there, but we ran out of time.

We got back from the big trip last...um (Groovy gets up to look at the calender) Tuesday night. Yeah, that's it.

I wanted to write about the trip as soon as we got back, but we took a bazillion photos and I can't download (upload?) them onto my computer because my hard drive? She is overloaded with more than 6,000 photos. The photo program is starting to shake her head and screech at me if I even try to look at what's already on there. Kinda makes me scared to try to add more.

And when I try to upload (download?) photos from my 'puter to an online photo developing store, my browser freaks out and shuts down. Not a good sign.

So we ordered an external hard drive to keep out pics and music on. It should be here very, very soon. I will move all our photos over to the new drive and organize them so I can remember what the heck they are pictures of. But until then I shall have to go on without showing you all photographs of our fun and exciting trip.

Instead, I shall give you this highly condensed recap of our trip:

4,500 - the approximate number of miles we traveled ( 7242 kilometers!)

9 - the number of different hotels/motels we stayed in. (We stayed in the one near D.C. for 2 nights.)

1 - the number of motor homes we saw hauling helicopters behind them on trailers. ;-)

Entertainment of Choice? Hours and hours (and hours) of Adventures in Odyssey. We never get tired of them! For variety we also played the alphabet game and did a scavenger hunt that I had printed up prior to the trip. Silly-head also tried to get photos of every state "welcome sign" we passed. Sadly, there wasn't one in Texas...

Items I forgot to pack: Our family devotion book (That was OK, Girly-Girl led us in a Bible study every day in the car instead.), my make-up (Had to buy more before the weddding!), bandaids (Good thing they have them at most hotels), paper plates (we brought alot of our own food), bread that does not crumble (Vacuum time!), laundry soap (Those little one shot dispensers are expensive!), a fanny pack for touristy walk-abouts (This would have effectively prevented the BHE's Washington Monument fiasco...)

Sights and Experiences: Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, Scout's and LittleMiss's (now LittleMRS!) Wedding, href="http://www.thealamo.org/visitors/overview.php">the Alamo, the River Walk in San Antonio, the amazing Aquarium in Dallas, the Hermitage, and, of course, Washington DC where we rode the Metro in to see Ford's Theater, the International Spy Museum, the Washington Monument (yes, we went up...), and the Air & Space Museum (part of the Smithsonian)

Food Fun: (None of these restaurants are located in Maine, so they were a treat for us!)

- Eating gator at Razzoo's

- Incredible BBQ at Rudy's

- Cracker Barrel!!!!

- Sonic burgers

- Milk shakes at Steak and Shake

- Krispy Kreme donuts! We got them at gas stations both times, but they were fresh and oh-so-heavenly!

Surprises:

- There are no yield signs in Kentucky or Maryland - at least, not on the interstate on-ramps,

- an orange teddy bear riding on the side of a dump truck,

- Charades is (are?) very difficult to play in the car - especially at night,

- Girly-Girl threw up on the night after our DC visit.

- I slept incredibly well every where we stayed (except or the night Girly-Girl was sick)

- We had no car trouble whatsoever on the trip, but the tire went flat the day after got back. =O

- All of us had good attitudes for the entire trip!

And that's about it for now. More on the wedding once I have my photos available! I'll catch you all later!

Yes, I Was That Groovy Blur You Saw Zipping Past You

HiHo. I am back.

Actually, I was back from vacation a week or two ago. But now my brain is back here in Blogland too - very important if I am going to write.

So, what did you miss? Oh not much, just a funeral where I screeched into a parking place, sprinted across the cemetary and arrived breathlessly - just in time - to sing the opening hymn (Can you say "embarassed"?), followed by a looooong drive to a Navy military training ground deep in the heart of Maine to learn survival skills in a cold, steady rain (fire, anyone?), a looooong drive home for packing/Mother's Day/Silly-Head's preliminary birthday celebration (Look, Presents! and Pictures! and Insanity!) followed by a road trip to Rochester, NY, Silly-Head's next birthday party at the illustrious Chuck E Cheese (Yes, that LOUD, excited screaming that is causing all the patrons to stare would be my daughter; my 26 year-old daughter!), a road trip (Krispy Kreme - Woot!) to Richmond, IN to visit friends (Fun!!!) and buy a fabulous used tandem bicycle (Daisy, Daisy, Give me your answer, do...), a day trip to The Creation Museum just south of Cincinatti (I just KNEW the Garden of Eden was in Kentucky!), a road trip back to NY (more screaming and insanity), a visit to the Lilac Festival (the big butterfly scoop!) and Niagara Falls (Don't forget your cheap tourist sandals!) and a road trip home to Maine (Are we there yet?).

Let's see, then we were home and there were 4,000 urgent emails and a pile of snail mail that went to the ceiling and an ant infestation and a garden that needed planting and a husband who wanted (and still wants) help fundraising for the Trek Across Maine and the American Lung Association. There were families who needed meals and orthodontist appointments and piano practices followed by the big recital and there was, most exciting of all, an actual deployment for Search and Rescue. Yep. Last Saturday evening I got the call that our SAR team was on stand-by. I packed my gear and paced until we got a further call that were definitely being deployed. A hiker was lost in Baxter State Park and an all day search on Saturday had failed to find him. NavyGirl (AnnieOakley's teen daughter) and I met the rest of the gang near midnight and trekked out to the state park. We got there around 3am. There wasn't a ranger in sight, so we decided to try to sleep in our 3 vehicles (4 people to a car!) until the briefing in the morning. We had tents, but thought it would be too much trouble to set them up...

You may commence laughing now.

After about 2 hours of sighing, swatting mosquitoes, listening to classic rock, sticking legs out windows, growling at those who snored and shifting position every 12 seconds we all gave up and started patrolling Millinocket for anywhere open at 5am that might have bathrooms, food and coffee. It may have been the first time, as an adult, that I was glad to see a McDonalds!

The rangers and other searchers arrived around 7am. By the time we were all briefed and made the long drive to Mt. Katahdn it was 8:30am. We broke up into groups and basically scoured the area assigned to us for 12 hours. And by scour I mean scaled rocks and forced our way through puckerbrush while peering over, around, and under rocks and trees and stream beds yelling "Michael"!

35+ searchers on the mountain all day long and no luck. Not a sign of him. One searcher did get hurt and had to airlifted out amid much ado, but no lost hiker. We were exceedingly tired and somewhat discouraged when we plopped into our tents that night. The next morning we all headed home, glad there were fresh searchers to take our places.

I was so relieved when I got the news that he was found the following afternoon - injured and bug bitten and embarassed, but very much alive. I cried as I watched the video of him talking from his hospital bed. Hopefully, the publicity and Michael's humility will help other hikers to avoid his 3 major mistakes:

1. He hiked alone - never a good idea. Even if you are familiar with the territory, it is wise for two-three people to hike together so someone can get help if one hiker gets injured.

2. He left the trail looking for a "shortcut" and he had no map. Baxter State Park is ginormous and Katahdn is the highest mountain in Maine. You NEED to know where you are going!

3. Once he realized he was lost, he kept moving. Though it is OK to move to a stream or open area where you can be seen, in most cases it is better to STAY PUT and put out something bright colored that searchers can see. If he'd had fire starters with him (he did not) he could have started a fire. The rangers would have been able to use the smoke to locate him the first evening!

At any rate, this searcher is thrilled that Michael is alive and well. I'm looking forward to our team's debriefing tomorrow!

Now, Let's finish out this whirlwind review with some photos. Enjoy!

Tis GrammaJ and I on Mother's Day. I gave her a much coveted morter and pestle.

Mulletman and his mom celebrate Mother's Day witha spin on the old tandem!

(The new one is WAY nicer!

The girls gave me cards and homemade fairies and - oh joy of joys

-a rearview mirror for my bike!

This picture in Erie, PA says it all. (Sadly, there are no Krispy Kremes in Maine. *sigh* So we stopped here TWICE and bought a total of 3 dozen donuts!!!)

Oh Looky! Silly-Head is NINE!

Our beautiful Silly-Head.

The handsome J-Man with Funsocksgirl (at Chuck E. Cheese, of course!)

I think the birthday celebrations wore them out!

WE had the privilege of taking Girly-Girl's longtime friend, IndianaGirl, to the Creation Museum with us. The botanical garden there is outstanding!

There was also a petting zoo there. Mulletman made special friends with this camel.

Funsocksgirl had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction at Niagara Falls.

Yes, those top four VERY wet people belong to me. I was down below with cameras and belongings and dry hair. ;-)

The Lilac Festival in Rochester, NY was loads of fun. Mulletman bought us fruit smoothies to share. We had three different flavors and loved them all .

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And let me conclude with this happy news: Mulletman did it: He raised $1,000 for the American Lung Association!

Thank You to ALL who donated!!!!

The One Stupid Problem With Homeschooling

Actually there are two problems, the first being that I never get surprised by cute little cards or gifts the kids make in school for Mother's Day.

However, that's not the problem I wish to address in this post.

No, one of the biggest problems for me as a homeschooler is that I have absolutely no idea what sort of schedule the public schools are or are not keeping. Therefore, when we planned a 3 day family getaway to Boston this week, we did not realize that it was winter school vacation and that 843,692 other families decided to also spend the "holiday" in the Boston Area. Even more specifically they all converged on the Boston Children's Museum the very same day we did.

It was crowded, LOUD, crazy, LOUD, chaotic, LOUD, claustrophobic, LOUD, and confusing. And did I mention it was LOUD?

Oh well, being the Groovy clan we are, we had fun anyway!

We stayed at the Red Roof Inn in Woburn, MA. It's not a 5 star hotel, but it was clean and affordable, the indoor pool was fabulous, and the staff was truly couteous and wonderful. It didn't offer a continental breakfast, but we brought our own bowls and cereal and milk and snacks, so we were fine. Other guests headed a block down the road to Panera Bread. If you and your family decide to head to Boston, we highly recommend the accomodations!

Here are the girls relaxing on the beds. Looks like Floyd and Teddy were pretty tired too after the 3+ hour drive there.




As a side note: Floyd was a little leary of staying at a Red Roof Inn. Last time we did so - in Vermont - he got left behind! It was over a month before that Inn managed to mail him back to us!

Here are the girls at the pool. It was clean and warm and wonderful. They are giving their "Flamingo impersonations" for their mingo loving big sister, Funsocksgirl.



Several months ago, Mulletman scored an extraordinary deal in a local store that was closing down: Brand new, name-brand suitcases for $5 each. The girls were SO psyched to finally get to use them. Unfortunately, it seems Girly-Girl isn't quite sure how a suitcase works. Here's hers in the hotel room:



Note to self: teach Girly-Girl that her stuff goes IN the suitcase, not beside it!

Of course, more exciting than using new suitcases. Better than running every floor of a five story hotel. More exhilarating than unlimited indoor heated pool use. More tantalizing than visiting the great children's museum of Boston:

Is......RIDING THE SUBWAY!!!!!!!!! WHOO-HOO!!!!!!!!




Then there was the museum itself:









After all that excitement and noise and activity, we were all exhausted. Fortunately, Teddy is a bright fellow and he drove us back to Maine while we all dozed.



And you'll be glad to know that Floyd made it back safely as well. :-D