There are plenty of curveballs that come with parenting. By definition, you don’t see most of them coming. There are also more than a few moments when you find yourself wishing for a crystal ball.
We just shared our big news for blog—that we are now podcasting!
Check out the latest podcast where we discuss a tricky parenting decision and then discuss how you “know” when kids are ready for certain milestones. Come to mention it, a manual wouldn’t be so bad either.
Feel free to continue the conversation in the comments!
My family loves Disney World. When we go, it’s the Park Hopper ticket all the way because we have our favorites at each and every park. At Disney’s Animal Kingdom, it’s Expedition Everest. I mean c’mon, it’s a story, it’s a show, it’s an awesome roller coaster that reverses its direction and sends you spiraling backwards through the dark.
We also love Dinosaur, or at least my husband and I do. Our girls, even though they’re in their teens, still claim we scarred them for life by taking them on it when they were little tykes after my husband convinced them it was just like the Finding Nemo ride. So what if it’s entirely in the dark, you’re threatened by meteoric destruction, and a T-Rex steams you with his breath? Save your money on therapists, Girls, if this is your biggest complaint.
This text actually happened. I already knew she was scarred for life, I just couldn’t remember the name of the ride.
Then there is the Kilimanjaro Safari. Not only does it always have animals you can see, it has a pretty intense story line about poachers, too. Any zoo can give you animals, but Disney gives you your hippos with a side of drama.
And then . . . we need a break since we have now trekked to all the far reaches of the park. And we found that break two trips ago at Rafiki’s Planet Watch, located in Asia near the Safari exit.
It’s the negatives that make Rafiki’s Planet Watch special. Really.
No crowds.
No lines.
No over-stimulation.
In a way, I hate to even tell you about because it is such a welcomed, peaceful respite mainly because it is so overlooked. Heck, we passed it over our first two trips when our kids were the smallest and we needed it the most. But apparently what I call peaceful, other people call boring. Puh-tay-toe, puh-tah-toe? Um, no. Those people’s brains have been melted by their smartphones. Don’t be those people.
Basically, you are devoting forty-five minutes to an hour to slowing down the pace and never having to say “C’mon, let’s go,” but still getting a fair dose of Disney magic. One thing though, if you’re hungry, grab something before you start. While there is a gift shop (of course), there aren’t many food choices beyond very light snacks.
It’s a lovely, short walk past lush vegetation to the very cool Harambe Train Station.
Ahhhhhh. Shade.
Of course the station and train are cool. It’s Disney World.
It’s about a five minute ride to Conservation Station. Along the way, the conductor points out some of the sights. You actually see behind the scenes for the Safari where the animals are brought to rest. We have always been able to see animals, but pay attention now because you take a different route back.
Once you pull into the station, there is another lovely, yet slightly longer walk to get to the actual Conservation Station. But it doesn’t matter because it has all kinds of fun things along the way, including a Rafiki photo op.
He’s all mine.
There are usually Cotton Top Tamarin monkeys too, but their exhibit was being refurbished during our last visit.
It’s a discovery trail. Now is the time to meander and relax. Let the kids look at the displays and the backyard habitats. They can pick up a leaf without getting trampled. You’ll get to Conservation Station soon enough. Remember, you committed to slowing down for an hour. The hustle and bustle of Animal Kingdom will still be there when you get back. Promise.
There is a cool mosaic on the ground, but you’ll just have to visit to get a better look at it.
Once you enter, the murals are hugely fantastic and they provide a little sumthin’, sumthin’ for the Type A personalities in your group who NEED activities with goals. The artwork is positively dripping with Hidden Mickeys. I, for one, like to find them on my own. Maps are for cheaters, unless your thing is using the Hidden Mickey maps, then it’s totally cool. I am into clues though, so I’ll leave you with this, look in the eyeballs.
The murals start from the entrance and wrap all around.
But the best part? AIR CONDITIONING! Sweet, blessed cool air. In a wide open space no less, with nary a thing to purchase in sight. You can set the little ones free from the strollers and let them stretch their legs.
Yeah, I just realized the irony of highlighting air conditioning in a conservation station, but it is Florida.
Inside there are sound booths, short nature films, and large animal cutouts. Live-feed video monitors that you can control let you observe animals in their enclosures. There is also a great reflecting pool where a preschooler (or a teen) can be occupied with a stack of pennies trying to float the coins into the animals eyes.
Bring those pennies. The money gets donated to Disney’s Conservation Fund.
Another unique feature is the research and care facilities located along the back wall. You can see vets and researchers actually working. One highlight is the veterinary treatment room. Animals are often given their yearly check-ups in the morning and you can watch it happen.
What a fun place to work.
Hourly, there are cast members with live animal presentations. You can easily interact and get your questions answered.
One of my favorites from 2010. But that darn hawk would not look at the camera.
But besides real animals, there are Disney characters too! Rafiki is usually there and often times, so is Jiminy Cricket and Pocahontas. They are character experiences almost like the olden days when you could just walk up without the long queues and fuss.
My kids were like, “We can just walk up to them?” Even if your kids are shy with the characters, there are always the cut-outs.
So, we’ve covered Hidden Mickeys, science, learning, characters, and air conditioning, but there is still more! The Affection Station is the most adorable petting zoo with the best washing up station ever. Kids can pick up brushes to groom the goats and pigs. There is a little stage nearby where 30 minute shows are given several times a day with animals not usually seen in other parts of Animal Kingdom.
Just a girl grooming a goat.
That about covers it. Conservation Station is a great place to meander, recharge, and have a lower key Disney experience. It’s just a short train ride back to the hub bub.
I know those are big words, but I’m seriously not still suffering from altitude sickness. It was just so PLEASANT at Keystone Ski Resort for me, for my husband, and for our teenage daughters.
Top of Dercum Mountain, Keystone
Yes, it was exhilarating, awesome, and challenging, but I have never had a more pleasant skiing experience. My husband and/or I have vacationed in Vail, Beaver Creek, Jackson Hole, Killington, Smuggler’s Notch, and Snowshoe, WV. While we have enjoyed the skiing in all of those locales, at Keystone, the skiing was perfect and it just had a “happy place” feel to it that earned it my “Disney-like” accolades.
Keep in mind, this is just a girlfriend sharing her awesome vacation with you because we’re buds. This is NOT a sponsored post. I had to sell my left ovary just like everyone else to pay for lift tickets.
The “ease of it all” feel of this vacation really began with getting there. You fly into Denver which gives you a greater chance of finding a direct flight. It’s also a heck of a lot cheaper than flying into someplace like Aspen AND you avoid getting on puddle jumpers. I just do not like small planes. The resort is only about an hour from the airport which is much closer than Vail.
When we got to our condo, my real love for Keystone started to blossom. C’mon, there was a waterfall in the lobby of The Springs at River Run.
And that waterfall traveled under decking to the outside to flow down a waterslide into a heated pool. I KNOW!
Water going down that slide is from the waterfall inside.
We basically just loved our condo. You can see the exact one we rented through SummitCove.com here.
But let’s get to the nitty gritty: the skiing. Here is what set Keystone apart for me as a family resort.
1.Wagons
Something as simple as providing complimentary wagons to make it easier for you to haul your gear makes all of the difference, especially with kids. And while my teens can technically carry their own equipment, they do not do so without complaints. Loved not starting and ending each day with “whine.” Bonus: there is a fantastic wagon story at the end of this post.
2.Gondolas
The way they have the gondola and chair lift network set up, you don’t have to worry about getting “stranded” at the top of a mountain. This is an important reassurance for novice skiers who may lose their nerve after checking out a slope or for someone like me who is babying a bum knee.
Are you wondering why I even went skiing?
Anyway, the layout of Keystone is such that North Peak is behind the main Dercum Mountain and these two ski areas are connected by a gondola. I honestly would have never gone over to North Peak because of my knee issues if I thought my only way “home” was to ski back. And I was right to feel that way because after having a blast on North Peak I was suddenly done and I was so grateful to be able to take the network of gondolas all the way back to the condo. Saved me from the spectacle of taking a ride in a ski patrol sled.
And no, I did not ski The Outback. While I was pushing my knee, I decided not to push my luck that much.
3. The Top of Dercum Mountain is Grand Central Snow Fun
There is more than just skiing up there. In addition to the lodge where you can grab a bite, there is a whole hub of fun.
Bluebird sky kind of day in Keystone.
Learning Area: Often times it seems like the bunny slopes are to hell and gone away from the more thrilling terrain. If your group has any beginners, they are often bid sayonara by the black diamond daredevils until sunset. Not so much at Keystone because there is a learning area at the top of Dercum Mountain. Everyone can easily meet up periodically throughout the day.
In fact, the top of Dercum is the great starting point for a bunch of slopes making it wonderful even for my more experienced family since my knee made me miss out on the Terrain Park. It was so easy for us to go our separate ways for a run or two and then pair up again.
I only viewed the Terrain Park from the chairlift, but it is even more expansive than you can see here. Shaun White has logged some training hours here, so there’s that.
Snow Fort: This is where Keystone really starts to embrace it’s inner Disney. There is a huge castel-like snow fort built with slides, tunnels, and thrones. Even bigger kids like it. It’s just cool.
Tubing Park: Right behind the fort is the the best tubing park I have ever experienced. The runs are huge and fast. The personnel serenade you as they ask you if you want to be spun. And there is no “one rider at a time” nonsense here. Up to four tubes can link up to quadruple the thrill. We had a gorgeous day, but I love how the “magic carpet” lift is enclosed. It would have made a huge difference in keeping things fun if the wind had been kicking up.
Do you see the drop on that tubing hill??
4. River Run Village
Things can get pretty fancy at some of the ski villages out west, but I found Keystone to be perfect for families. This is not a fur coat and cowboy hat kind of place. This is where the locals come to knock out a couple of fabulous runs when they get off from work. Of course there are great steakhouses and pricey boutiques, but there are also pizza places and reasonably priced t-shirts. There are tons of fun extras around the village too, like musical instruments, huge Adirondack chairs for photo-ops, ice skating, and ice sculptures.
5. The People
I probably should have led off with this one because it was the Disney World-esque customer service and friendliness that really upped my enjoyment. From the gondola line employee leading us in song and handing out granola bars, to the girl who helped me find an Ace bandage for my blasted knee, I felt well taken care of. They are so smooth, I even got the warm fuzzies when one employee tried to kill me. Wait? What?
I was walking toward the foot bridge leading back to my condo, balancing my travel tray of Starbucks, when I saw a utility vehicle heading towards me from the opposite side. Remember those wagons I was raving about? They have to be rounded up and this guy had a loooong train of them snaking behind his vehicle. He seemed to be going pretty fast and I was in no hurry, so I stepped off the path right before the bridge to wait for him to pass.
Not one drop of Starbucks shed
Unfortunately neither he nor I realized there was a pretty significant dip-bump combo at the base of the bridge. He hit that flying and his train of fifteen wagons cracked up in the air and . . . that’s when everything went into slow motion. As they came crashing to Earth, I barely missed being crushed by leaping over a snow bank.
His reaction must be read in a surfer dude voice: “Whoa, that was intense. You ok?” Maybe I was surfing the wave of serenity from all of the previous great, relaxed service or maybe it was because I did not spill one drop of my $25 coffee order, but I just laughed it off. That counts as magical, right? For me it does.
One more thing. Honorable mention needs to go to the grocery delivery service: Peak Provisions. While not part of Keystone, they were recommended and I see why. Their gourmet prepared rib meal was delicious and they rolled with my delivery time change like it was no inconvenience at all. And they deliver alcohol. Enough said.
6. Night Skiing
There is not a lot of night skiing in Colorado, but Keystone has it. While I don’t like to ski under the lights, I do like the chairlifts staying open past 4pm. Somehow that last 5pm run was the best.
And then on some nights, after the night skiing was done, there were fireworks! Kind of sounds like Disney World, right?So just in case I wasn’t clear, I highly recommend Keystone even though my knee wishes we had gone to Key West.
My knee should stop complaining. It has a date with an orthopedic surgeon and an arthroscope here soon.
Are you cold? We’re cold. If you’re not cold, we don’t want to hear about it. Besides you might have your own set of problems to contend with like drought and bursting into flames. Maybe this is really the Apocalypse the Mayans were talking about, just a year late because of some ancient daylight savings year algorithm understood only by the sun god . . .who wants you to burst into flames.
Erin:But we were talking about cold and trying to angle our way to the Polar Vortex–such a sexy term for what is basically cyclonically freezing your patooty off.
Ellen: Hey, another fun fact–did you know some signs of hypothermia are mumbling and difficulty thinking? I’ve always adored the color green and does anyone really like coconut ice cream?
Erin: Haven’t you thawed out from the train ride by now?
Ellen: The train ride. The Polar Vortex was all fun and games and hot toddies until we took that train ride.
Erin:See, we were going to a meeting in Washington D.C.–a two hour drive from where we live.
Ellen: A two hour drive if every human on earth was vaporized by the sun god. The problem is, we had to travel during rush hour and the last time we did that it took us four hours.
Erin: So since we are sensible, we weren’t going to repeat a travel mistake twice. We were going to take the train!
Ellen: And this is when the Polar Vortex starting to nip at our frozen assets.
Erin:So without further ado, we present to you The Stages of Hypothermia That Slowly Affect You As You Are Sitting On A Train That Is Being Delayed On Your Way To Washington To . . .
Ellen: Rambling. Rambling is also a sign of hypothermia.
Stages of Amtrak Hypothermia
Stage 1
Freeze your fingers. Realize what a mistake it was to forget your gloves (Erin) because your fingers might fall off from the cold after only being outside for 2 minutes in the Amtrak parking garage. Turn in the general direction of the Mayan pyramids to praise them because Ellen’s daughter is such a slob and left her funky zebra striped hybrid mitten/gloves under her seat.
Nothing says “professional” like fingerless zebra print gloves.
Stage 2
Turn your toes into ice blocks. You “shun” the warmth of the lobby to wait outside for your train. Hazy thinking has not set in yet, it’s the electronic signs lying to you. When you went up the steps to the tracks the signs at the bottom said the train was on time. No sign at the top of the steps informed you otherwise. Remain in the cold at the top of the steps because you are punked by a train that is not your train coming at the exact time YOUR train was supposed to be there.
Stage 3
Turn your feet into ice blocks. Not because your judgement is declining, but because the punking just doesn’t stop. You’re afraid to leave the platform because after the train that is not your train pulls away, the sign says your train is coming, then that it is loading, and then that it is last call. It must have been Wonder Woman’s newly commissioned train because it was invisible.
Stage 4
Continue to bathe in cold. When you finally get on your train an hour and a half later why let the frozen good times stop there? Drag your shizz through 6 train cars without finding a single seat. Give up and fall into the ONLY two seats available. Hooray! They are those awkward face-the-other-two-strangers type of seats. Bonus? They are right. by. the. door. Cue arctic blasts every 6.5 minutes.
Stage 5
Exacerbate frozen feet by restricting blood flow. The two strangers in the seats facing you are seven foot tall Russians. No blood is getting to your feet because your legs are crunched into 0.2 microns of cubic space. Be further chilled by the glare of the blue-haired, pierced millennial sitting across the aisle who loathes you just for existing. Start to hallucinate that she is Jack Frost.
Why do engineers think these seats are a good idea? We might as well all have been chewing the same piece of gum.
Stage 6
Complaining commences. The Train of Tardiness is SLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOWWW. Ellen starts to loudly point out that a dog sled would be faster. Ducks are walking faster than our train.
Stage 7
Pollyanna cracks. Erin piles on scarves that she is pulling out of thin air like a meth-addled magician. HER complaining begins.
Stage 8
Clumsiness creeps in. When you’re finally released from the Siberian Gulag Express, fall down the steps (Erin) with a dramatic fling of your suitcase at the conductor. Curse the Polar Vortex for piling three inches of ice and snow on the tiny metal steps. Copy down the number for 1-800-YOUHAVEALAWYER because really, if the conductor had just cleaned off the steps he would not have received a face full of suitcase.
Stage 9
Despair and poor decision making sets in. Walk out of Union Station to find a 20 minute line for the taxis. Instead of walking a block to immediately hail a taxi, stand in line like a peasant waiting for bread rations. Still maintain enough coherence to complain that the idiots are only loading one taxi at a time despite the fact there is a whole friggin’ line of them waiting.
Stage 10
Babbling escalates. Apparently once a Pollyanna cracks, the negativity flows out from the depths of her soul. Maybe these cleanses are how Erin maintains her sunny disposition most of the time. Babble-y complain so much that the normal woman in front of you offers you a blanket. Get a relapse of sense and break ranks to jump into the third taxi in line. If the outside is Siberia-esque, the cab is like a pup tent on the frozen tundra. So basically, hour five of freezing continues to tick away.
Even with all of these layers, you could still hear Erin complaining: LOUD and CLEAR.
RESCUE!
Deposited at the first aid station. In this case, the “station” was Cuba Libre and the “aid” was mojitoes and malanga fritters, but you say “poe-tay-toe,” we say “Suck it Amtrak.” Do not ask us to join in singing any round robin railroad songs any time soon, but we may be up for a Cha-Cha.
Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good, but my guy, right here, is both.
Frank is the one on the left.
My husband Frank is a vacation planner extraordinaire. We have first class experiences because he always manages to find a deal to stretch our vacation dollars pretty far. For our fourth family trip to Walt Disney World in Florida, he found us a great room rate at the Walt Disney World Swan. The Swan and Dolphin are talked about pretty much interchangeably, but heads up, The Swan is the one with two queen “Heavenly” beds per room as opposed to the doubles found at The Dolphin. Six inches of bed can mean the difference between your spawn bleating, “Mom, her bony elbows are touching me!” all night long versus Princess Aurora worthy slumber for all.
And the hotel is gorgeous!
It was also a short walk or boat ride to the two parks we wanted to be the closest to–Epcot and Hollywood Studios.
Friendship Boats
Plus, we always like to try someplace new. Frank and I have stayed in The Contemporary, The Polynesian, The Yacht Club, The Boardwalk Inn, and The Caribbean Beach Resort in the past. We like to stay on the property so we can take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours.
Okay, so these were the reasons from our Frank’s research that had us choosing The Swan. But here is where the luck came into play. Guests of The Swan and Dolphin have the opportunity to participate in a test of Disney’s FastPass+, the next generation of FastPass Service until January 12, 2014.
This meant we had our very own Cast Members at the entrance of each park ready to load our passes with three FastPasses! If you’ve been to Disney since 1999, you know the FastPass service gives you the ticket to the express lane for getting on an attraction. BUT, you have to go to the ride to hit up the kiosk, only so many are given out per hour so you can get assigned a ride time that is hours away, and you have to wait until you reach the one hour time window on your current FastPass before you can get another one. Also, if you miss your ride window, too bad, you just wasted a FastPass.
None of these “buts” seemed like a big deal to me, that is, until I experienced the glory that is FastPass+. With three FastPasses loaded right on our tickets at the entrance, mad dashes to the back of the park to get to the kiosk of the preferred ride were eliminated. The times were so much more desirable and flexible too. The Cast Member just kept scrolling through options on his tricked out iPad until they worked out for us. And as long as we didn’t activate our FastPass+ at the ride, we were free to change the times or the ride selections even if our time windows had passed.
But hold onto your mouse ears for the best part. You know what happened when the computer said all of the FastPasses for Toy Story Mania had been distributed? WE GOT GOLDEN TICKETS! OOOOOOOOOOOOO! AHHHHHHHHH!
No waiting in the 90 minute standby line for us! I have to admit, we felt pretty powerful, almost like The Hulk if he weren’t the property of Universal Studios. Also, we didn’t smash things and we may have employed skipping to express our glee.
In fact I was so gleeful, I just wanted to give the internet a heads up about all of this. If you’re planning a Disney vacation before January 12, 2014, you may seriously want to stay at Disney’s Swan and Dolphin. Now the FastPass+ service has been in testing for over a year, so I can’t guarantee your experience would be the same, but now you know to ask about it, right? WE wouldn’t have known about it had we not seen the discreet little sign by the shuttle stop.
If you stay somewhere else on the property, ASK ABOUT THE SERVICE! There are automated FastPass+ kiosks around the parks and it looked like some of the other guests were using them. You may be able to use the service through your My Disney Experience Mobile App, which in and of itself was FABULOUS with its interactive maps and attraction standby times, but we were not able to do that. We had such personalized service with our own dedicated Cast Members that we would not have done it that way anyhow. Pretty sure the app would not have coughed up those Golden Tickets.
Knowledge is power, so go out there and get the Mouse! I’ll just be here digging out my thermal underwear because after the balminess of Florida, I’m freezing.
-Ellen
Even though it would seem this is a sponsored post, it is not. All opinions and glee are purely my own and no compensation was received. I paid for my $9.00 hamburgers just like everyone else.
In the beginning, our trip to Pittsburgh to visit family was shaping up to be a lovely moment on the timeline of our lives. My sister, Karen, had finally moved within a distance we could drive on a single tank of gas. She had a new job, a new baby, and a new house under contract. So my husband, Steve, and I loaded up the minivan with our crew of five and pointed her west. Spring Break looks a little different once you’ve traded bikinis for, well, Pittsburgh, but we had high expectations for album-worthy memories on this trip. Which meant there was only way it could go: down in flames. And spectacularly so.
Fate laughs in the face of such hubris.
Trouble started brewing on Friday night, when Eddie (2) started vomiting. There is no faster way to become persona non grata in someone’s home than to start chewing through their linens. My poor sister had been a mom for about 10 minutes, but she was torn. It’s all fun and games until someone needs a bucket.
We had just dropped Patient Zero in the middle of her lovely new home. I could see her mind click through her options: Grab her own child a la Sally Field in “Not Without My Daughter”, kick mine to the curb, or re-create a scene from Outbreak complete with tenting and masks.
My sister may or may not have been thinking this!
Um, we started packing.
At this point, I was harboring a fantasy that the exorcism coming from my child really was the result of his licking the bathroom floor at the rest stop as Charlie (8) suggested. I was packaging this spin for my sister and her husband, Dan, when Victim 2 fell. And hard. The siege was underway.
Pittsburgh is about five horrible, evil, ugly hours from home when you’re under attack. I’m gonna spare you the details, but leave you with this image: Steve pulled the car into the driveway after a looooooooong drive on the Puking Parkway from Pittsburgh and promptly tossed his cookies on the front lawn. Where’s a white flag when you really need one??
This was Saturday night. Easter morning was a mere 6 hours away. So in addition to Eddie, Ace (12) was down, Steve was down, and the other three kids were dropping like flies. We could have used a quarantine sign and some yellow tape.
What did this seemingly sane woman do then? Start wrapping and assembling Easter baskets. It was me against the clock. But much like the scene with Steve hours before, I succumbed right about the time I nestled the last chocolate egg in its basket.
Dawn rose on a day with two parents completely incapacitated. It was not looking good for an Easter miracle, but thank every lucky star in the sky for the resilience of boys when candy is on the line! Ace (12) who not 6 hours earlier had been wrapped around a toilet bowl had regained his usual step. He had no idea what I had in store for him.
Bottom Line: Sonny Boy got a huge promotion, complete with bunny ears and bragging rights. I felt like a stage mom pushing my baby into the spotlight, “You can do it, honey! Just think positive thoughts.” To be frank, I was too sick to move so it was more like gesturing and mumbling, but, whatever, he was my Chosen One.
No childhood innocence was lost in the making of this memory. At least, I hope not. I actually have no recollection of that day, but Ace even took pictures. It happened.
Is this not the most pathetic looking child you have ever seen?
Postscript: The virus took down my sister’s whole family viciously within hours of our hasty retreat. Dan still uses The Great Pittsburgh Easter Plague as the yardstick to measure all other illnesses. In fact, he was completely unsympathetic when another virus took us all down last year.
And I did get my album-worthy memory after all. Mostly because Dan won’t let me forget it.
In a word, the last year has been educational. Blogging teaches you things. Wanna see us resize some photos? Juggle some social media with ease? But while tackling some of the technological challenges of blogging was a little sour at times, blogging has been mostly sweet, and the relationships we have made while blogging have been the very best part. So what’s the cherry on top of this blogging plate of delish? We have gotten to know each other better too. In the beginning, we described each other like this, and we wouldn’t change a word of what we said back then. But blogging has given us a wider window into each other’s psyches — think the viewing window on a autopsy — that we wouldn’t have had otherwise and for that we are truly grateful. So without further ado, we give you. . .
Ten Things We Learned About Each Other This Year
Erin Shares About Ellen:
1. Ellen travels with a capital “T”. I knew Ellen and Frank went places, but we all go places. They GO places. In the past few years, they have visited Costa Rica, Mexico, San Francisco, Chicago, New York City, Washington, DC, taken a cruise to the Bahamas, and done Disney. This is just hitting the highlights. They also go to the beach, and we camp together TWICE every summer. But it’s not just that they go fabulous places, they do fabulous things once they’re there. They climb stuff and repel off things and swim with sea creatures and find great hideaway restaurants and visit don’t-miss museums. Their photo albums look like travel brochures. In one of our conversations, Ellen said that she would rather spend money on experiences than things. She’s not just talk, this one.
2. Ellen still has mad medicine skills.If you didn’t know yet that Ellen is a doctor, you should probably know that. While she chose to gracefully exit the medical profession stage right to raise her kids full-time, she never really put away those skills. She is our resident medical go-to girl for all things that might bleed, blister, or keep you up at night with worry. But I learned this year that she can still walk the walk. I had two pretty big medical things come up in my family this year, and Ellen talked me through both of them with calm, clarity, and confidence. The way she explains technical medical things to us lay folk reminds me that she would be awesome in a practice or on TV as one of those medical correspondents. Move over, Dr. Nancy Snyderman, Ellen still has game.
3. Ellen makes a cake so good that I actually tried and LOVE Nutella.The very notion of Nutella used to make me gag, but this cake made me a convert. If you make it, it will make you the Belle of the Ball, so if you are looking for a fairy godmother, Ellen just might be your girl. Oh, and the cakes she makes her kids—fuggedaboutit. Forget fairy godmother. You’ll want to be adopted, so you can call her mom and eat these ridiculous confections. Really.
4.Ellen is willing to jump off that cliff–metaphorically and literally. Remember what I said about her awesome travel escapades? Ellen is always ready for fun. And challenges. I have yet to find anything that scares her or makes her say, “whoa, that ain’t gonna happen”. Ellen is the girl that gets things done. Period. Again, if she can think it up, it’s already halfway done.
5. Ellen is tech-y in a good way.It took me a while to find my footing in the more technical aspects of blogging, but Ellen took to it like a duck to water. She is always two steps ahead of me on that front which I appreciate, because she is an extremely generous friend when it comes to knowledge and sharing it. I have learned a ton, mostly from her showing me the way.
Ellen Shares About Erin:
1.Erin is a whiskey drinking girl. Erin will partake of a mellow merlot or a cold brew, but her first choice is a whiskey sour slushie. It’s her fun-loving Irish roots shining through, but it always surprises me and makes me smile. She is such a gentle soul and whiskey just seems like a bar brawl fire-starter.
2. Erin is the ring leader, CEO, and Grandmaster Flash of fun. When we go on our Big Love trips with sixteen children ranging in age from 5 to 18, Erin orchestrates getting us fed, corralling us out the door, and divving us up into canoes. But you know her super duper secret that you should tattoo on the bottom of your foot for future reference? She is FLEXIBLE. She is not a slave to her schedules. The masses revolt because they don’t want to get out the door by 8 am? No problem. We’re having a blast at the playground and don’t want to start on the hike? No problem. She should have the theme song, “Enjoy the fun you’re with” playing around her at all times.
3. Erin is your role model for how NOT to hold a grudge. Erin is amazing. You can have a calm discussion with her, come to an agreement, and then she – wait for it – moves on. It is like watching a miracle unfold before your eyes. It is truly in the category of unicorns and leprechauns. There is a dark side though, but it is only for her. She assumes other people are also this generous and she has gotten burned. I’ve told her more than once that perhaps she didn’t get kicked enough as a kid. Hmmm, reading this over, I may need to work on my graciousness. I definitely have my cynicism down pat.
4. Erin loves fire. She really loves it. I’m a girl who has used her fireplace twice in 14 years. Her family’s most cherished times are spent around their fire pit. She is a girl who uses fire as an entertaining staple. Don’t forget she brought us the “Bonfire to Go“.
5. Erin is a master of organization, diplomacy, and calm . . . except when she is not. For the love of the Brady Bunch, she keeps her five kids’ lives trucking along in the most fantastically enriched, grounded, and fun manner possible. And she does it without an Alice — but on second thought she does it without the hindrance of a Cindy, so really it’s a wash. But she is only human as demonstrated by her sock sack of shame.
What’s the big deal you say? Just you wait.
She also takes a stand on the most unlikely issues. Discussing religion and politics? The United Nations should attend her charm school. Discussing Andy Griffith? Insert the sound of an explosion in your head. In the land of calm, she is the cucumber when kids are breaking arms or scrabbling with each other like feral cats. Regarding certain instances with crock pots and lining up shoes for a photo? I started to have secret fantasies of whipping out a tranquilizer gun. But those are stories for another day . . .
In the spirit of Thanskgiving, we owe some big thanks to Kerstin Auer at AuerLife for this week’s Listicles topic. We love an opportunity to write about each other and not just our families and friends. You’re all welcome to love her now. Kerstin has a great blog and her latest post about her life in numbers is worth reading all 41 entries. Really. Check her out.
As always, we owe a debt of gratitude to Stasha whose Monday Listicles are our favorite place to link up every Monday.
Where are we going? Who gives a reserved room away? Dang, that’s a lot of pigeons. Is this porter going to drop dead hauling our luggage over this bridge? Who knew all of Europe plays in Venice on the weekends (certainly not Barb the Travel Agent)?
These questions crashed in my head as we uneasily followed our decrepit porter with his back hunched, his seventieth birthday a distant memory, and his hat borrowed from an organ grinder monkey.
One hour earlier, we had arrived in Venice at 6pm on a Friday night to find our room released. Apparently, our paid reservation only guaranteed a two minute check-in window.
So I pulled out my smartphone, consulted TripAdvisor, and found the perfect room on the Grand Canal…not! This was 1995. Siri was a gleam in Steve Job’s eye. We were at the mercy of travel agents, language barriers, tour books, and weasely desk clerks.
Instead, I turned to the universal language that makes men quake: sobbing. In two shakes of a Parmesan canister, the porter grabbed our luggage and hobbled out the door. The clerk grinned smarmily, clapped his hands, and proclaimed, “We possesses just de place from you.”
Rule number one of international travel? Follow your effin’ luggage. So against all reason, we followed those bags over three bridges, into an alley, through a steel door, up two flights of steps to a triple locked apartment door. All I can say is that we were young, invincible, and had NO FREAKIN’ CELL PHONES.
Methuselah dropped our bags and shuffled out of our lives. The dust motes swirled manically in the fading sunlight as I dashed through the serial killer inspection checklist: under the bed, behind the shower curtain, in the closets. We were sharing the apartment with three eerily empty suitcases, but no discernible bloodstains. So I did what anyone would do: I called dibs on the shower.
My husband cried bullshit on the entire situation, put on his armor à la shining, and went to find us a new room armed only with his utter lack of Italian.
Once my gallant knight triple locked me in (I mean who else could possibly have keys?), I stripped down to wash the dust of a thousand civilizations from my being. Twilight fell as I lathered up…and the lights died as the water turned frigid. Then keys turning in the locks. Naked wet panic is a beast all its own transcending geography. This Psycho remake was almost complete.
Quaking with sudsy fear, armed AND covered with only a throw pillow, I felt my heart leap as the door burst open to reveal…my husband. Shining with pride. He found a room with this view for us.
Distant view of the Grand Canal was much better than hanging around to find skeletons stuffed in the air shaft
We hustled back to the cacasenno desk clerk where my Italian grew some coglioni and his understanding grew by leaps and bounds. Pocketing our refund, we bid him “Arrivederci!” smiling as the collective groan of a thousand serial killers echoed throughout the piazza.
Look at what pumpkins we were. Perfect serial killer bait.
This week we are “On the Road” with Monday Listicles. Whether you are on the road for a day or more, nothing helps the miles click away better than some great tunes. So that’s what I am linking up. I make absolutely no claims about this list other than these are great road trip songs. In my last phone call to Ellen before she disembarked on her cruise, I asked her for her thoughts. “Well, definitely not the theme song from Titanic.” Got it.
So these are all me, plus a little bonus for Ellen. Enjoy and feel free to leave any of your favorites in the comments. I wrote and rewrote this list a thousand times, so I know some of what’s missing. I might be able to make a whole new playlist from your favorites. Thanks! Erin
1. “Blitzkrieg Bop” by The Ramones—In the opening riff, it practically begs you to hit the road and then the beat just keeps you going. Really you could probably put any Ramones song on your list and be just fine, but this song is sheer perfection if you are hitting the blacktop.
2. “Mr. Blue Sky” By ELO— You might be tempted to dismiss this song. Don’t. You cannot hear this song without head-bobbing and toe-tapping—a definite plus to get you through boring stretches of highway or traffic snarls.
3. “Where the Streets Have No Name” by U2—Way back in the day, my Uncle Bill told me that Irish people were a little left of center as an explanation for the sheer genius of this group. Whatever the reason, they just work for me, and this song works for a road trip. You can sing along to lyrics (a definite bonus for a road trip song), and the music itself has all the energy and rhythm of wheels to pavement.
4. “Mercedes Benz”—Janis Joplin-— No road trip playlist is complete without a song about a car. There are a bunch to choose from, but I am a chick so this is where I go. It also has that sing out loud quality that catapults a song from good to great.
5. “Good-bye, Earl”–Dixie Chicks—This song might be one of the most fun songs on the planet, and it makes the perfect road trip song. Great beat, fun lyrics, with a little shot of Thelma and Louise—two of the best movie characters ever to hit the road! Channel your inner bad-ass and get out there!
6. “Bamboleo”–Gypsy Kings—If you have never heard of them, well, then let me introduce you. If you question me bumping La Grange by ZZ Top for them, well, then let me convince you. Steve travelled through Indonesia and Asia for 5 weeks listening to them, then we travelled for 2 weeks through Ireland on our honeymoon listening to them. Pretty much anything by The Gypsy Kings works on a road trip too,but this is THE song—listen to the rhythm, the melody, the beat and pretty soon you have arrived effortlessly on the doorstep of your destination.
7. “Roadhouse Blues”— The Doors—I don’t need to convince anyone about the magic of the The Doors. This song’s bluesy folksiness, perfect lyrics, and great advice (Keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel!) will really get you where you wanna go.
8. “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”—The Proclaimers– These Scottish twins know how to have a good time, and we can all thank The Housemartins for giving them their big break so they can let us in on the fun. Remember that toe-tapping I was mentioning before? Try to stop yourself.
9. “Radar Love”–Golden Earring—Probably one of the best road trip songs ever. I’m not saying anything else. Just perfect.
10. “Thunder Road”– Bruce Springsteen—Oh, Bruce, you totally nailed it on this one. The longing, the harmonica, the lyrics—“well, the night’s busted open, these two lanes will take us anywhere”—well, try to keep your keys from the ignition after this song.
But in case you aren’t feeling my list, NPR has many more. Check them out and get out there!
PS–A little bonus track for Ellen who is safely back on dry land, but rock-climbing with Girl Scouts today. You can’t keep that girl still for long.
There are plenty of curveballs that come with parenting. By definition, you don’t see most of them coming. There are also more than a few moments when you find yourself wishing for a crystal ball.
