First Day of Summer!

We just got back from a GREAT weekend in the Badlands. I could go into endless details of all the fun... but I think I can say it all with the comment that we have probably created a new family tradition -- to spend a our first camping weekend of the season there. It's a wonderful campground with so many things for the kids to do while we 'grown ups' sit and relax. THANKS so much to Anne for letting us "in" on the best kept secret for camping in the Badlands!!

Even the weather was perfect -- the rain stopped the morning we left for the badlands, and started up again, mid-day on Monday as we were heading back home. The first weekend out in the camper went perfectly -- everyone was comfortable and warm -- slept very well all night, even baby Liv!

The only disappointment for Thor was when I said we probably wouldn't go back until next spring... he wants to go again next weekend!

Today was our first MOPS Family Adventure -- the scheduled trip to Bear Country. It actually started to SNOW as we drove away to meet the other moms!! Can you believe that, the last week of May!! It didn't really amount to much, but it was quite chilly -- so we didn't linger long on the walking portion of the trail. If it hadn't' been mostly a "car" trip (view the animals from your car) we probably wouldn't have gone.

I spent most of the rest of the afternoon working on our Family Summer Plan while Liv slept and Thor and Anika were busy (first quiet time, then chores, then played UNO together). Jeannie gave us a great idea at the last MOPS meeting -- to plan a set of goals for each child (and even ourselves) in the 4 major areas of life and growth: Intellectual, Physical, Social & Spiritual. She even made handy little charts for us to take home. There is an area to outline both Goals and Ideas (action steps).

I finished my charts for both Thor and Anika (first) which actually helped me to created our new Summer Daily Schedule with much more ease than I first expected.

I was also challenged by Jen G who had the idea of planning a TV-free summer... Sometimes it's so easy as moms to let the kids chill out and veg-out in front of the TV, now that they are home all day, every day... the TV is the new "school" or babysitter. It has been quite handy for me on days that I really need to get stuff done... but I realize it should be treated as a special event... not as a main-stay of our family activities.

So with those influences -- I have come up with the following plan...
Morrison Family Goals
Intellectual
Thor:(home)school time 3 times a week including Math worksheets (his teacher sent home the extra pages from their math workbook from this year); reading (to complete 3 chapter books this summer, 1 per month); typing (on-line).
Anika: early reader books; preschool worksheets; reading with mom; etc.

Physical:
- 60 minutes of exercise per day, 5 times a week (shouldn't be hard to complete... they both do this on their own most of the time between bike riding, playing soccer or street hockey, going swimming, etc.)

Social:
- a few bad habits we are going to work on together as mom/kids -- areas I've let slip a little behaviorally (just as much my fault as theirs!) We started a reward chart today. They will get 1 star for each 1/2 day he can get through without showing the behavior(s). After each 2nd star they will earn 1/2 hour of TV time. After 14 stars they can also invite a friend over to play for an afternoon.

Spiritual:
- Thor is so good about reading his Bible every day -- and both kids are great about remembering meal and nighttime prayers. To encourage spiritual growth I have given both kids a challenge to help them see they have a purpose and a calling, even as children. We have tried to do Family devotions a few times a week -- my plan is to continue this at least 3 times a week also. Included in that time will be our Family Serve-Like-Jesus-Challenge!

Each week I will ask them to be thinking of one way they can do something to show God's love to someone else; either a stranger, a family member or friend. Then I will do whatever I need to -- to help them complete the act of service. I'm hoping it will help them to see how being a Christian is more than just going to church and reading our Bibles... it's about the ACTION of LOVE -- LOVE is a VERB (to quote the DC Talk song!).

I have a few ideas -- like offering to do chores for Grandma and Grandpa; making a special card of "thanks" for one of thier Sunday School teachers (or ??); bringing a gift (home baked goodies, or ?) to someone who could use some encouragement. Packing up toys or clothes to donate to the Boys Club; maybe even sending a care package to a child through a ministry like Christmas Child or one of our troops in Iraq? I guess I'll have to start looking for good opportunities, and let them choose!

Well -- I feel so "put-together!" Let's see how things are going a month from now?

Anika says...

I was telling Anika a short story about when I was a little girl, and my parents got my a new doll for Christmas -- I named her Melissa. Anika stopped me for a moment and said, "that was when your mommy and daddy had wet skin."

I asked, "you mean, before they got wrinkled skin?"

"Yes, before they were old."

She assured me my skin was still wet too, and that it was very "nice" to feel.

T-man

My new nick-name for Thor is T... or T-man. I still like "thor" but sometimes I just have to do something different... (that is just who I am I guess).

So, last night at supper T says... "Mom, I know why ___ has a crush on me at school."

"Really?"

"It's becuase I'm (spelling and whispering the letters like it's a bad word) C - U - T- E."

"She has a crush on you? How do you know?"

"Because she told me so. And she chases me around the playground."

"Oh..." (as I'm holding in the laughter)

"Don't tell anyone!" (as he turns 6 shades of red!!)

"I already knew you were cute, honey."

"You did? how??"

"All I had to do was look at that adorable face of yours."

(more shades of red as he walks away... )

Snow in May!??

This is also a late entry, but I HAVE to write it down for our family history!!

Let me apologize ahead of time, this is going to be a LONG story... hopefully entertaining... but not nearly as LONG as the night we spent in the Suburban, driving to Bismark, ND.

Where does the story start? I have a new position with MOPS International as a Field Leader, providing training and support to the MOPS groups in Western SD and ND. That is a big area... and our training meeting (Council meeting) was in January in Rapid City, the day after a pretty big snow storm. Needless to say, no one from ND was able to make the trip. My husband mentioned it might make more sense for me to travel up there (one person to travel) instead of all of them travelling down here (10 + groups of 8 ladies). I also noticed that one of the churches with a MOPS groups was Grace Lutheran Brethren Church, and Pastor Al Shaner... a good friend of ours from the days at Alpha Way Bible College and Hillcrest. He was also Dirk's pastor the year's Dirk lived in Grand Forks, ND.

OK -- so fast forward -- I planned a council meeting for the first weekend in May. Dirk and I watched the weather all week and decided the stormy weather was just bad enough that if I was going, he would definately drive. We were going to make a lovely family weekend out of it -- stay over at a hotel with a pool, let the kids swim and have a relaxing time.

Thursday the weather reports were not sounding any better -- we expected snow in the Hills, and rain in the outlying regions. I called Dirk at work and mentioned the idea of me packing up and driving up to Belle Fourche to pick him up -- then heading out for Bismark from there (50 miles closer than leaving from home). I heard from the girls in Bismark the forcast there was only rain -- so we thought we'd probably head out of the snow as we travelled and hit rain somewhere along the way. It was predicted that our neighborhood could get as much as 14 inches of snow... so I was motivated to leave the night before to avoid getting stuck in town.

Dirk agreed -- so I packed in a rush and headed north to Belle. It was after 7:30 when I finally got to him... we hadn't eaten supper, so it was a quick drive through at Taco John's. The roads had already gotten slippery and slushy... Dirk confirmed again that Bismark was just getting rain? As far as I knew, yes, just rain. There were a couple of pickups heading out ahead of us on Highway 85, going North -- so the plan seemed to be coming together. I had packed a lot of snacks and milk, so we wouldn't have to eat out the whole trip -- at least enough to keep the kids happy, etc. I didn't think about packing extra winter gear, however... and had taken most of the extra blankets and snow boots OUT.... Well.... it WAS May!!

So -- now Dirk was driving (thank you Jesus!!)... and it seemed like the roads were yucky, but not horrible. We were in a caravan of 4 pickups by this time, pulling up the rear. We had the best driving conditions possible, since everyone else was cutting the trail for us. We were driving through quite a few inches of snow by this point -- probably 6-8 inches at least, maybe more.

The kids had eaten their suppers, and the girls had gone to sleep. Thor was enjoying playing his PSP, now it was time for sleep, since it was getting close to 9:30 p.m. he was hoping to stay awake until we got to Bismark -- no chance of that now!! There was NO rest or sleep for Dirk or myself... the tension of driving on those roads was more than enough to keep us away the whole time. The snow was falling in huge flakes, coming right at us. The visibility was low, and the road was slippery beneath the freshly piling up snow.

For those of you who don't drive in Northern South Dakota that often, especially highway 85... the main problem was the distance between towns. There is NOTHING on Highway 85 -- a small town called Buffalo is about 60 miles north of Belle Fourch, and then nothing more for 60 more miles to Bowman, ND. I kept thinking if we can just get to Buffalo, surely the roads will get much better after that.

Buffalo was completely DARK. There were a few vehicles pulled off on the side of the road in town... but not so much as a gas station or convenience store in sight. (We didn't know it then, but the power had gone out in the whole region from ice and snow build-up on the power lines). There was no point in stopping, we kept going.

The roads got worse. We didn't really think it was possible... but they did. Now the snow was 14-16 inches deep. One by one, the other trucks pulled off, some temporariliy to know ice build-up off their windshields, etc. For the last leg of the road we were the #2 vehicle in the caravan. A 3/4 ton pickup was ahead of us... at the worst point, going up a hill on a slight curve in the road, he was fish-tailing and slipping around the road. Dirk was attentive, and tried to stay where he could have better traction... but we were fish-tailing as well.

Somewhere in that last section of road we came across a regular sized white car, stuck. It was sitting at a 45 degree angle in the very middle of the road with it's flashers on. It was not hard to get around around, I kept looking for a person ... but there was no one there. We kept thinking, if we stop in this, it might be two days before anyone could get us out... there wouldn't be any possiblity of calling for help... even if the cell phones did work, no one would come before the sun came up. The forcast was for snow to keep coming until 6 p.m. on Friday night (the next night -- nearly 20 hours later).

We've been driving more than 4 hours now -- and had driven less than 100 miles. We hardly spoke the whole way, partially because of the tension of the conditions, but also to be sure the baby stayed asleep. She occasionally woke up and cried, but always went back to sleep fairly quickly.

I forgot to mention, I had to pee so bad... I couldn't think of anything else. Dirk offered to pull off on the side for a few moments... but I couldn't imagine squatting in the snow and ice... it probably wouldn't have worked anyway.

The next thing we knew... the road was turning more slushy... we could see the black of the highway in the tracks, instead of just packed snow. Somewhere in the next mile we noticed the snow was not nearly so deep... maybe only 6 inches or so. Then the snowflakes got smaller... next they turned to rain... and the road was clear... no snow. Dirk was still driving very cautiously, wondering if it was black ice, ... or ?? He couldn't see very well for some reason. He got out of the Suburban and checked the front end... We had a chunck of ice/snow built up over the headlights about 6 inches deep! After he knocked that out of the way, he could see just fine!

We couldn't believe how quickly we drove out of the snow... after 4+ hours of driving through muck and yuck ... in less than a couple of miles, we were now driving in only light rain! How crazy was that??

Bowman, ND was just a few miles ahead. The gas station in town was the first stop for all the other pickups in the caravan with us. We now saw the faces of the other people who had come through this mess with us! They were all men, driving north for work... I guess we were the only crazy family out that night?! Dirk thanked the driver who had been in front of us the whole way... Everyone was chipping off chuncks of snow and ice, enough to make quite a few snow men!!

We refueled, had a bathroom break, got more Pepsi and snacks, and decided to go until Dirk was too tired to drive. It was still 3 hours to Bismark, but Dickenson was only about an hour away -- which was a big enough town to have some hotel options.

Obviously I was much more comfortable now, with the roads clear and easy driving. The next thing I knew we were just outside of Bismark -- Dirk was asking me what hotel we wanted to stay at. We found the Ramkota Best Western - advertising an indoor water-park. We got in right away, unloaded and got the kids settled into beds. It was now just after 4 a.m. Dirk was finally able to relax and let down. Thankfully we all slept in quite a bit... I took the kids down to the pool area first, while Dirk went across the street to the grocery store for breakfast. He and the baby went back to bed after a couple of hours for a nice nap.

Thor, Anika and I enjoyed a fun, relaxing afternoon at the pool. There were occasionally other groups at the pool -- but most of the time we were the only ones there. By 4 p.m. on Friday the pool was starting to get busy, so we got out, cleaned up and went out for supper. We strolled through the mall for a couple of hours, then picked up Cold Stone Creamery on the way back to the hotel.

I got ready for my MOPS meeting, the next morning, and we hit the beds early, thankful for a wonderful nights rest. Saturday went by very quickly -- my MOPs meeting went very well, a lovely lunch with the girls. Dirk and the kids went to "Space Aliens" with Pastor Al and wife Margaret (pizza and arcade place) -- by 3:00 p.m. we were packed up and heading back to Rapid City! The road were perfectly clean and clear. We saw quite a few electric poles down once we hit the "snow zone" again... and were amazed to see the piles of snow and running water everywhere. There were drifts over 4 feet deep in our front yard!