I wanted to write down a quick reprise of our trip last week since I ALWAYS forget the details and wish I’d at least made an outline for future reference. This was the trip on July 9th to 14th. Here goes:
Sunday, the 9th — left about 9 am and drove north for about 8 hours through the heart of California, in 100 plus heat. We stopped 3 times since we had a passenger with us and I was afraid she’d be too polite to tell us she needed a bathroom break. Arrived at 5 pm and a couple of hours later I left the little ones in the charge of Liam and Clare while I went to see the local reportory theatre version of Sound of Music — one of our friends had a major role in it. I was a bit freaked out by being away from the littlies in a strange place, so much so that I accidentally turned on the voice mail of the cell phone which proceeded to record some part of the musical. Everything was fine though. I am not sure why I think I, me, myself am somehow more able to keep the little ones from harm than Clare and Liam devoting full attention to one child each.
Monday, my friend and I went to preview Pirates of the Caribbean. Honestly, I didn’t enjoy it much though it was fun to be at a movie sans children for the first time in probably, hmm, 15 years?? Then we went to their little town library and drove around for a bit and chatted. When we got back I had to face the sorrow of Clare and Kieron since I decided that Kieron shouldn’t go. I think it was that evening that we went to the lake for a picnic. Aidan swam with an inflatable tire for almost the whole time we were there.
Tuesday, the older kids went to Pirates and we ended up bringing the littler kids to see Cars, chaperoned by Liam who wasn’t really interested in Pirates. This ended up being a busy day because my friend was having a sort of open house for a few moms interested in homeschooling their kids. Since she was busy with the prep and hostessing, I shuttled the kids back and forth to the movies (of course, beginning and ending at different times) but fortunately, the cinema was five minutes away so no big deal. We had ice cream cones which Aidan absolutely loved. In fact, Aidan is such a foodie that he loves being at someone else’s house trying out new dishes. His trade question, “What are you making??”
My eyes were almost swollen shut that day. I assume an environmental reaction but am not sure to what. Anyway, it was mostly gone by the next day and didn’t return.
Wednesday, we went to the local quilt shop… all the girls so this time the boys watched Paddy and Aidan. After that we had a quick lunch and then went to a historical museum where there was a quilt show going on. There was also a working model train which you could start with presssing a button — in fact, two of them in a charming landscape. Aidan loved this and spent most of the time there, as did Paddy. They also enjoyed the rainbow trout hatchery right next to the museum.
Then we went to a lake in a volcanic crater — spectacularly beautiful. We played at the side and went for a shortish hike. The evening — hmm, I don’t remember — I think for some reason that was the night my friend and I stayed up till 2 am. But why was that? Don’t remember.
The next day, Thursday, was a quiet day. We spent the day making soap, or at least the girls did. I did laundry and helped my friend weed a little, and packed. I also took the little ones and Kieron to the grocery store so we could buy snacks and drinks for the trip the next day. That evening the kids went to see the Sound of Music production and I stayed there alone with the two little ones, which was really relaxing EXCEPT that their dog somehow decided to try to break through their screen window — so I had to zip outside to leash him up before he destroyed the thing. But we revisited the chocolate ice cream cones, and Aidan had a long bubble bath, and Paddy watched 101 Dalmatians, and I puttered around tidying up the room I stayed in and the kitchen. Pretty relaxing, but the others came home way late and were pretty tired by the time they went to sleep.
Friday, the next day. we left as soon as we could get going, which wasn’t very soon — it’s difficult to leave friends you know you won’t see for a while. Yet we made good time. It was hot again but didn’t seem quite so hot in the car this time. We stopped twice to fill up with gas and that was about it. It was Friday and no one wanted fish sandwiches so we made do with car snacks rather than stop for fast food as we usually do. Oh yes, we stopped by our local market for a few minutes to get fish sticks and fries for dinner.
It was nice to see Kevin and Brendan again… we were glad to be home. Paddy ran to hug Kevin as soon as he got out of the car.
Our friends have a much more active lifestyle than we do. Partly it’s because they live in a larger town than we do and there are various local activities. Partly it is because their temperaments are more extroverted. But in addition to this, they have a love for beautiful, traditional, personal things — things that are unique and have memories associated with them. If you pick up anything or remark on anything in their house, there is a whole story that comes with it. They have several projects going on, like quilting and scrap-booking.
Our family life is quite different; I am attached to a few little things around the house but most of it is just a delivery platform for some idea or necessity. Maybe this is the difference between Sensory and Intuitive in the personality scales? I can see the benefits of taking Things more seriously. I’m reading Crunchy Cons right now and it talks about the sacramentality involved in real life. Choosing natural food, home cooking, organic products, American-made rather than sweat-shop manufactured; independent living, learning how to improve your own gifts rather than just consuming — I’m still not sure how far I agree with him that this is in all regards a better way, yet, but I can see the beauty and goodness in choosing carefully how to live. I suppose I would just fear that for me, getting caught up in Things, even Good Things, could go too far and get to focusing on the accidentals rather than the essentials. “Do not lay up treasures on earth,….etc” This is something I would like to think about more. So no conclusions here, just pondering.
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