Guatemala Trip!! Arrival Day

Wednesday.  What a lovely lovely treat: Art and I going, sans kids, to Guatemala for 6 days to visit Aunt Juicenana and Alex.  Despite the slight unease in the pit of my stomach at 1) going to such a high crime place, 2) leaving my boys, 3) getting kidnapped, 4) speaking only "food" Spanish (burrito, taco, etc), and 5) leaving my boys, I was very excited for our adventure!  Which started too too early in the morning with Joy taking us to MARTA around 6am.  Then no issues with bag check or security, us walking the entire distance (instead of taking the train) from security to the E gates, still with 1 hour to spare.

Killing time reading People (thanks Staci for supplying me w/ reading material!)

The flight was educational.  People flying to Guatemala act very differently than people flying to ATL to Dallas.  Can't explain it really, but a different mentality.  It took about an hour just to load the chaotic plane.  Art and I were sitting comfy, excited about our 3 hour flight, able to do WHATEVER WE WANT - not having to entertain kids.  It was about to get even more comfy when a flight attendant, bless his soul, came and asked if we might want to switch to the Exit row (people there had an under 15 kid w/ them).  I shoved and clawed my way there before someone changed their mind!  Now the only irk was that we had so much room that I could barely reach my purse. :)  Flight left seriously seriously late.  Gained time, and we arrived pretty close on time.  Our bags were among the last and I was getting nervous - however unlikely a lost bag is on a direct flight (though later found out a youth group got 19 of their 23 bags lost).  Bags arrive, and we walk OUTSIDE (odd) to meet Alex.  He's there grinning, and my heart swells with gratitude for being taken care of in a foreign-to-me foreign country.  Alex drives us around a bit, showing us Joanna's work, then over to a university where Joanna, surprise to us, was taking the GMAT.  So far, it's difficult for me to tell what is a good area of town, and what is sketchy.  Art keeps asking.  Joanna finishes just as we arrive, and we catch her buying a celebratory Diet Coke to celebrate her being a genius - scoring 770 out of 800.

We leave, Joanna calls Dad, informs me Wyatt has a cough.  Heart seizes.  His last 3 coughs (in Jan, Mar, and May) turned into bronchitis.  Now worried, and reminding myself that PoppiMeMa (as they boys call them) are excellent caretakers.  Off we go to LUNCH!  Why did I not take a picture...so yummy!  First little surprise - the parking lot has an armed guard.  Ok.  Different.  Lunch was a bit Congrats Joanna, and Happy Birthday Art.  Meat lovers heaven.  Plus, we were introduced to the most yummy drink ever...like an Orangeade (instead of Lemonade).  Good!  We had chorizo and steak for lunch, with fries, and yummy bread.  More driving around, showing stuff.  Then off to Alex's house - so lovely!  Love love love the open air feel to it.  Of course Auri the maid was there and super nice.  Her 6mon old daughter Genesis took a shine to Art.  We relaxed under the gazebo by the pool while Alex did a bit of work.  Art got reacquainted with the lovely internet

Art sitting in Marissa's room, using Joanna's laptop

I had to send Dad an email with pictures of Wyatt & Zachary's insurance cards.  Last year, when we left the boys with Poppi & MeMa for 10 days, I was so prepared.  I wrote a permission letter for medical treatment, left copies of their insurance and passports, etc.  This time, though in a foreign country, I made no preparations - ehh, they've got it covered. :)  Before dinner, we drive up to the local coffee shop and get some yummy coffee with Joanna while Alex does some work.  Art and I also get some $$$ out of the ATM for our visit.  Dinner time.  Still not hungry from the gorging experience of lunch.  So we decide to go out for drinks and snacks then will re-evaluate our food needs.  Alex drives the 4 of us to a swanky area near the foothills.  Of course it's pretty early, and we are the only ones there until Alex's friend Hugo shows up.  SO ODD - Hugo is about to move to Groningen, a tiny university town in Holland (we visited Baastian et family there).  He's been there before.  So odd.  So he and Art spoke of Holland a good deal.

Fearsome 4 out on the town

We got tons of little snacks there, which I did not want (b/c I was still so full), but felt the need to eat anyway.  Uggh, so full!  Back to Casa Garcia, where we got to meet Alex's mom for the first time.  Such a cute, tiny, lady!  And so gracious.  She's letting us stay at her house for 4 nights in her daughter Marissa's room (she is visiting their other sister who lives in Orlando).  So generous!  We hashed out the plans for the morning - get up early-ish, and head to Antigua after breakfast.

WI Farm Trip - Last Day - Canoe Trip, Cook-out & C-ya

Today was the day of the all-day canoe trip!  We were packed and ready - lunches, sunscreen, drinks, bug spray, a few toys (unnecessary!), extra clothes for the kids (why not the adults??), hats, water, snacks, candy, and the kitchen sink (it felt like).

We drove and drove for about 30+ minutes to get to the Kickapoo (HA!) river and the Titanic (uh oh!) canoe rental.  We all got outfitted with life vests (which only the kids wore), and paddles.  Note to self (and anyone else with small kids), even though the canoe only requires 2 paddles, PLEASE get one for each of the kids too.  Sigh.  Could avoid 4-5 hrs of "can I have the paddle now?".

Here we are, ready to leave, courtesy of Jess' tripod and camera

Zach, Wyatt, & Shayna kneeling in front, Art behind us, Ulricksons on the right, Barrett family (minus a sick Kriztine), and Chad's sister (or sis-in-law??) & 2 kids in back.

Zach is being pitiful because he's READY TO GO PADDLE. Here he is feeling better

Z showing off the paddle he's going to share w/ DaU.

And that's the last of the pictures, as we did not take the camera with us.  It was a great trip, about 30 minutes too long for us, and our exhausted kids, but worth it.  Wyatt was so tired, that after we gave him his paci around 2:30, he nearly fell asleep in the canoe.  Would have had I not tried to move him to lie down in the front of the canoe.  We discovered that it was best for me to sit in the front and Art to sit in the back.  One time we switched, and Art got more and more irritated because I was too focused on "mom-ing" than paddling or steering.  We *might* have run into many things and gotten caught b/c I was busy with snacks or sunscreen or something.   The boys loved being in the canoe and were wonderfully behaved - almost no whining or complaining (except for "when can I have the paddle??")  We let them hang over the canoe (w/ us holding them of course) and kick with their feet which they loved.  There were 5 canoes total, with some of the occupants switching around, except for us and the Ulricksons. I would definitely do it again w/ the boys!  Art will remember to sit on the life vest to save his billa from aching!

After the trip, we put dry clothes on the boys, changed Wyatt's diaper (oops!  old poop = diaper rash), and drove back to the Barrett place.  Again, the boys were asleep in the car.  Sam was desperate for Zach to wake up and jump on the trampoline with him.  Too bad for Zach, as soon as he woke up, it was into the shower for he and Wyatt!  Then of course, the trampoline. :)  The Barretts were doing a massive cookout.  I had made a heath bar trifle earlier that morning for dessert.  Dave had made iced coffee.  While the kids played, Art and I packed up the car and got ready to go.  After a yummy dinner (and Wyatt pounding on his pemil while apologizing to Steph for pushing her), s'mores, and playing, the Counts family ended the Wisconsin farm trip.  We needed to get back home so Zach could attend his music camp class on Sat morning.  This was the end of our farm trip, but not the end of our Ulrickson trip.  They were spending the night with us again on Saturday night (Carmen's Pizza baby!) before their flight back to ABQ on Sunday.

What a great trip!  Thanks to the Ulricksons for inviting us, and thanks to the Barretts for letting us come and stay on their property (and for lending us the camper!).

WI Farm Trip - Day 3 - CIRCUS WORLD+

Prepare for a long, picture intensive, post.
Goal: Leave for Circus World by 9am.  Actual: 9:30  Not too bad, considering 4 adults, 4 little kids, 2 medium kids, and a teenager, had to get ready, make lunches, and wait for Dave and Art to go pick up the Bronco so everyone could go.

After driving for about an hour, we arrive! In Baraboo, WI:  http://circusworld.wisconsinhistory.org/.  We quickly walked to the BIG TOP to see the main circus performance, complete with jugglers, a balance expert, dog show, acrobatics, clowns, and then finally ELEPHANTS!  I loved it.  Zach was enjoying it, but also a big overwhelmed.  Wyatt's favorite part was the clapping after the acts; he was so excited to clap!  After the show, you could pay $5 to ride an elephant.  Since I was thrown up on through an elephant's trunk while riding one at age 8, I decided to pass.  Zach was too scared.  Sam, Emily, and Kate got a ride though:

Here are Emily, Sam, and Kate riding the elephant.  It was a short ride, just one lap around the ring I think.  The elephant stopped at one point to urinate about 10 gallons...yowzers!

Counts Fam "rides" the elephant

Now it's lunch time, but first a quick visit to a horse train car that had pictures from back in the day when Ringling Bros & Barnum & Bailey took trains to their destinations.

Kriztine, Zach, Shayna, Kate, Art, Wyatt, Dave, Steph, Sam, Emily

We went outside and sat on some large rocks by the river for lunch.  Dave graciously went to the car to get all the lunch.  Our favorite parts of lunch:  1) Zach growling at Kriztine with his "scary face" and hands, attempting to intimidate her into getting of the "good" rock.  2) Yelling "I'm MAD" when we would not allow him to get on the rock that Emily was on, then later, when she got up, and Sam unsuccessfully attempted to get on the recently vacated rock, yelled "Now I'm REALLY MAD".  We giggled and giggled, which btw, did not help things.  Then back into the park.  First stop, the circus museum, specifically the kid friendly part with a "tight rope" and unicycle.

Zach on the tight rope

Sam on the tightrope w/ Kate waiting in line, then Shayna w/ Kate  Wyatt

My three boys, Zachary, Wyatt, and Art (wearing Wy's hat) on the stationary unicycle

Then back outside to play on the playground for a bit, which was probably our kids favorite part so far.  A ride on the carousel seemed like a needed experience.  It was a super fast one, and Zach was pretty nervous the whole time since I had repeatedly implored him to HOLD ON TIGHT because I was riding this time instead of standing by him.

Zachary, Art, Wyatt on the carousel

Shayna riding

Steph &; Jess, Kriztine, Emily, Sam

Next, we hustled over to the Kid's Interactive Circus - BEST THING EVER (perhaps I'm only saying that b/c our kids were so so cute - imho)  It was HOT inside the bldg w/ the kid's circus.  The female ringmaster came out, said a few things, and then asked for kid volunteers.  Emily, Kate, Sam, & Zach got picked.  Since they were all walking over, Wyatt decided he'd better go too, though he was technically probably too young.  Each kid got outfitted with their costumes.

Wyatt as cutest tiger ever!

First act was a magician w/ an older kid, then time to bring on the animals.  Tigers went first.  Wyatt, Emily, and Sam were chosen to be tigers.  The tigers were marched in to music (look folks, their first trick - walking on their hind legs!) and lined up.

Sam, Wyatt, Emily marching in as tigers

Here the ringmaster had them get on all fours, then lie down

This is where things get SO SO cute (again, IMHO).  It's good that Emily was there to help out Wyatt (she's on Wy's right, and Sam is on Wy's left), because he was not really sure what was going on.  When she had them lie down and roll over, Wyatt rolled the wrong way, which the ringmaster made some comment about.  He was clearly the smallest out there by a bunch.  Then she had them go to sleep.  At this point it's WAY past Wyatt's nap time. All the tigers put their heads down to sleep.  Then she asked them all to stand up and get into line.  They all did but Wyatt.  He just laid there.  And laid there.  I was a bit afraid he'd fallen asleep.  I was on the verge of getting him, when the ringmaster walked over, picked him up, and plopped him back into line, to laughter and a round of applause.  It was so cute - as though it was planned.  Then time for some tiger tricks.  The ringmaster held up a hula hoop and asked all the tigers to jump through it.  Most of them dove onto the mat on the other side of the hoop.  When she got to Wyatt, she said that the littlest tiger of all had a special treat for them.  He would jump through the hoop while she held it aloft.  So there she was, holding the hoop above her head, and Wyatt hesitated, hesitated, then finally ran, again to laughter and applause.  Quite the showman w/out meaning to be!

First Sam dives through, then Wyatt, who hesitates, takes off, and slowly steps through. Check out his foot - he points it at the very end as though saying "check out my performance". Funny kid

Wyatt & Sam

At that point I was crying from laughing so hard.  So cute!  Next up Zach as an elephant.
After marching in, Zach sits on the far left of the stage, next to the ringmaster. They do some elephant tricks

Zach following the ringmaster - since she only has one hand in the air, he does too

Zachary next to the ringmaster, about to perform

Next she put down a jump rope and said the elephants were going to cross the tightrope. She had one kid do it backwards, one do it hopping on one foot, and then she finally got to Zach. First she asks if he's strong, then gets him to flex for the audience. Then says he's going to walk across holding another elephant (kid), Zach looks at that kid, and then takes off down the rope. She brings him back and has him carry a stuffed elephant. Cute!


Zachary's Elephant tightrope performance

Zachary the elephant standing on the tightrope

I loved loved loved the whole thing.  I wish I had taped every part of it, it was all so cute.  Then they had a recessional with all the kids, still dressed up as their animals (Kate was a horse, but I didn't get a picture of her that turned out ok)

Have to look closely, but you can see Zach, the first elephant, and Wyatt the tiger

A rockin' good time!  Next up, the tiger show.  So lame.  Would have been better if they killed the music and let the majesty of the tigers serve as only entertainment.  Beautiful tigers (angry of course), one of them white.  Just a SHORT (<10min) performance. 

After that we were hot hot hot, so we all got a snow cone to cool down. Everything else at the park was pretty expensive ($5 face painting etc), but luckily the snow cones were cheap ($1)! A welcome relief.

Here is Emily w/ a discolored tongue from her blue snow cone

After that we slowly headed out of the park.  We wanted to make a quick stop inside the stagecoach & clown museum, but first, we ran into some wild animals that were thankfully caged

Emily, Kriztine, Kate, Steph, Sam, Zach, Wyatt

Pipe organs and old stagecoaches from the early days

Last stop: make your own clown face from felt pieces

Everyone was exhausted, kids and adults.  We slowly trudged back to the cars, Zach nearly asleep in the stroller and Wyatt nearly asleep in DaU's arms.  Zach got a 2nd wind when he saw Sam climbing the big rocks again and had to join him.  2nd wind did not last long though:

Zachary asleep in the car after a long day

Both boys fell asleep in the car and stayed asleep after we got back to the house.  We parked in the shade and let them keep sleeping.  Crazy thing, but the day is not even over.  We are still headed to a horse show/competition where all 3 girls will be competing in various races. We ordered pizza and watched races from the front row for a few hours before heading back to the campers for bed.  The Barrett family, post competition, came home and unloaded the horses around midnight.  I barely woke up enough to hear them!

Long, great, day!

WI Farm Trip - Day 2 - The Milking of the Cows!

At the Barrett farm, the cows are milked twice a day, and it takes about 4 hours each time.  After our cave adventure, we headed over to the dairy part of the farm.  Outside was a group of calves, still being fed milk at mealtime (instead of grain/hay/etc when they are weaned).  We got there just as it was time for the calves to get their milk.  Mrs. Barrett (Chad's mom) was getting large buckets full of milk from the cows that were these calves mothers, and walking with them over to the calf area and dumping it into their bowls.  Can't get the IE out of me, as I was thinking about how the system to be improved to avoid the backbreaking labor and loss of milk due to spillage.  These are the calves that have been weaned from their moms but not yet off of milk.

Calf pens

Hungry little calf!  They were cute.

At one point this morning, one of the calves broke free from its rope, and escaped.  It didn't go far, still hanging around the calf area, but they had not yet caught it and put the rope back on.  So Dave & Emily thought they'd have a go of it - it's just a little calf right?  HA!  It would have none of it.  They finally reattached the rope when they brought out milk for the little one.

Off to watch the milking area.  I was not aware of the magnitude of the milking process...for some reason I thought it might be manual, and maybe we'd get a chance to do some milking.  Not so.  It's all machinery.

Here's Kate, using a teat disinfectant that goes on before the pumps do.  It stains everything, which is why she is wearing gloves and careful not to get it on her.  All the cows have green teats which looks a bit strange.

Cows with the milking machines attached to them.  Once the cows are empty, the pump automatically drops off and the usher that cow out and bring another one in.  Some cows are done separately, if they were sick (on meds) or are still giving milk to their calves, etc.  Milk from those cows does not go into the large sterilizing machine to sell milk to the public.

Now we're off to see where the cows are kept.

Pens for the adult cows.  So many! Check out those huge fans!

Intimidating large animals.

Zach and Sam petting a young calf - still nursing; they are kept near their moms until weaned

Counts, Ulricksons, Barretts, minus Jess the photog

Off to see some other workings of the farm.

Love this.

This is a manure pit.  It is HUGE.  It's visible size is deceptive.  Emily was telling us that it is very deep too - 20+ feet (?? can't remember).  She said they had a lot of fun when they poured the concrete but had not yet started putting manure in.  They took bikes, skateboards, etc into it.  Like a giant empty pool.  That now has manure.  They sell the manure for fertilizer, and do well with it.

Getting close to dinner time, so we loaded back into the car and drove the 100 yards back to the young Barrett house.  Before dinner we went for a swim in their above-ground pool.  It was a bit strange b/c the water was an odd greenish color due to the ph levels being at the max.  We still went for it. We had a yummy meal of spaghetti w/ meat sauce & garlic bread.  Zach spent the rest of the evening alternating between jumping on the trampoline (he LOVES this).  After the little kids went to bed, the rest of us stayed up watching tv, and playing games.  Anna taught us a fun word game that I will certainly use with my kids when they get older.  Tell a short 1-2 sentence story with 2 separate words, that when combined, make a compound word.  Ex: The neighborhood had a fire so terrible, they had to fly in firefighters = firefly.

Off to bed!  Big day tomorrow at CIRCUS WORLD!

WI Farm Trip - Day 2 - Cave Adventure

After naps we needed something to do.  The sun had come out, and it was getting hot hot hot.  Jess thought a nice cool-down in a cave was in order. So we drove (everywhere is driving 15+ min) over to an unmarked trail, taking us up to the cave.  It was a difficult climb with all the little ones.  Jess' nieces Kate & Emily went with us too.

Counts, Ulricksons, Barretts outside the small cave opening

Zach and I lead the way; Zach was pretty nervous to go in there, despite the fact that he had a flashlight.  I could not disagree with him, it was a bit creepy walking in there!  Not everyone had a flashlight but everyone wanted one!  It was a neat little cave, nice and cool inside.  We probably only walked in 50 yards or so.  There was evidence that someone had made a fire in there.

The crew on the inside of the cave

Jess & Steph braving the steep trail down

During the decent, some wild raspberries were discovered and everyone had a good time picking and eating them!  Now back to the house - time to tour the farm!!

WI Farm Trip - Day 2 - Jess' hometown & Camp Douglas

We woke up EARLY.  Too early.  It gets bright here earlier than in Evanston.  As far as we could tell, we were up before anyone else.  So we took a walk down the road looking at farm stuff.  Jess came and got us once her family was up, and we all ate breakfast (cereal).  NOTE: The milk we drank was milk right from the cow, collected earlier that morning.  Not homogenized, etc.  Logically, no big deal, mentally, a bit weird, not drinking milk from some official grocery store container, and it still being a tad bit warm.

Jess took us into New Lisbon, the next town over, where she grew up.  We went and chatted with her mom, saw the house she grew up in.  So fun to see where people came from, and what it was like for them!  Then off to the church (they were having VBS, and we thought for just a few moments that we might want to drop the big boys, Sam & Zach off. hmmmm) she went to, the school, and most importantly, the library where she volunteered (inspiring her to want to be a librarian one day).  The old librarian had just retired but the new one had heard many stories about Jess (she was a fav!).  We read a few books to the kids, did some coloring, and Art and I checked our emails (sweet sweet internet!).  Then we were at a loss as to what to do.  Jess had wanted to go to the "ole watering hole" but it was raining. What to do, what to do.  Luckily, Camp Douglas was allowing visitors on to view the museum.  FOR FREE (my fav admission price!).  They had a museum inside of war/soldiers, etc throughout the years, and outside they had war-time vehicles throughout the years.

Sam, Zach, Wyatt with rockets (and Art trying to stay out of the picture)

Zach posing by a soldier in a bunker

Old-timey vehicle w/ Sam & Steph climbing on it

TANK!

Sam trying to shoot Art and Dave

Wyatt and Steph preparing to rule the world

Sam, Zach (mid-air) and Wyatt checking out the Huey

military vehicle row

It was drizzling on and off the entire time we were outside.  We piled into cars and drove around the complex looking at all the aircraft they had on display.  Poor Sam.  He would ask "Mommy, is that a Firebird XLJ 290 (or whatever)?", and Jess would say "ummm, Sam, that's a....plane" :)

Back to the house for lunch & naps!  A very nice impromptu activity.