What a great weekend we had camping!

Thursday Kirra and I left our house about 6:30 a.m. to get to Pam & Phil’s by 7:15am or so. We got on the road about 7:45 a.m. and were off! We saw so much road kill on the road up there it was unbelievable. I probably counted about 30 dead animals on the way up!

We finally got there at about 11:15 a.m. so we had the whole day ahead of us. We picked out the “perfect” spot for our tent, got our stuff set up, and just hung out. We had a small crowd the first night, but the evening was absolutely gorgeous.

I went out fishing with Phil in his canoe, and my father in law warned that there “were no fish but sunnies biting” at the hour we went….so when I caught my 3/4# bass I was very excited to say the least….so we paddled back to camp,and I abruptly stood up in the boat to show Frank my bass, and as I did Phil leaned back, and we were in the drink! My mother in law said that Phil had a look of horror on his face while I just looked like I didn’t believe it was happening…. I almost lost my “White Russian” drink in the process, but managed to find it swamped in the canoe! A little lake water never did anyone any harm!

Friday was really nice in the morning. I got up early with Kirra since I didn’t have the choice of having Jason wake up with her and got her breakfast of honey nut Cheerios going. I took Cash’s senior photos, and paddled around the lake. Boy oh boy was it gorgeous! ‘Bout 1pm it started raining,and the rain rain didn’t go away….. it rained the entire stinkin’ day! Kirra and I did take an excessively long nap,which was peaceful hearing the pitter patter of the rain on the tent. We only stayed up for about 4 hours before we went back to bed again about 8pm.

Kirra woke me up around 1am crying that she had to go potty,and i could hear that outside of the tent is was a torrential downpour! I thought…great…now I have to get up out of bed, and take her, so we did, and got soaking wet! We changed our clothes, and crawled back into bed…. the rain and the wind were so violent I thought for sure the tent was coming down. I cursed camping, and thought about never doing it again! Kirra went right back to sleep, but I was freaking myself out with every tarp blowing in the wind, and my tent ravishing like the Blair Witch Project! Finally at 3:15 a.m. on the DOT the rain STOPPED! I laid in bed for a little while, and heard some rustling outside… I was a little nervous, and then overwhelmingly smelled lighter fluid…and then WHOOSH… goes the fire! I peered out of one of my tent windows and saw Mike [Jason’s cousin] out there, so I went out and we sat talking until almost 6:00 a.m. watching the sun come up. I laid back down and got about an hour before Kirra woke up.

We had breakfast, and a kayak ride (the highlight of every day for Kirra). Every day I did at least one loop around the lake with her which is about 1.5 miles of paddling. Once I got back it was around noon or so, and Jason called to say he was in Grand Rapids on his way. I had Theo watch Kirra and I went to the tent to nap! I didn’t wake up until at least 4pm, it was so great! Saturday rained intermittently but nothing like Friday, so I was ok with that! I still got to bed fairly early (11:30 pm) but it was so great to have my husband back and to cuddle up to!

Sunday was GORGEOUS with a capital G! Everyone was out on the lake fishing between about 5 boats, and we just slaughtered the lake! Everyone caught a minimum of 3 keepers of sunnies, crappie, and bass. Jason and I took home three full bags! After we were all in,we had dinner and cocktails around the bonfire. I stayed up only slightly later (12:30 a.m.) and again fell asleep hard!

We woke up about 6:30 a.m. to the sound of pitter patter on the tent again. I prayed so hard that it wouldn’t be raining for tear down and pack up,and by 8:40 a.m. when we actually got up God delivered! It stayed hot hazy and humid the rest of the day but no rain!

We got home and unpacked in very very hot and humid weather, and I was so grateful for the basement to be all finished so I could hang out down there when it was SO hot in the rest of the house. I’m so thankful for all the help I got doing it half solo with Kirra, and although I cursed Friday/Saturday I had an absolutely WONDERFUL time! There’s no time like Lydick!

What a super great trip I had in Phoenix! Each year I get to travel to an expo around the United States to help promote the marathon. It’s a fun way to do something different at work while seeing the country. 2011 I got to go to Phoenix with my co-worker Sandy.

We departed FREEZING Minnesota on Thursday morning for our 9:00 a.m. flight. I was happy to learn once on board that they were hosting an in flight movie, “The Social Network”. This certianly would make our three hour flight go by a lot faster, and it did! We landed saftely, and it was neat over looking the valley and the mountains. I noticed one thing on our decent… NO SNOW… and… no grass….. interesting….

We grabbed our luggage after we deplaned and hoped across the road to grab the shuttle to the rental car facility. Once out of the airport we felt the AMAZING warmth that Phoenix had to offer, and it was gladly recieved. I turned my cell phone on for an instant weather report… 71 degrees. Woot Woot!

We drove over to our hotel which was super nice, and got up to our room on the 26th floor with an amazing view. After that we ran over to the convention center and set up our expo booth, which took a total of 15 minutes.

After that we hopped in our rental car and went touring. Sandy had found this Mineral Museum online and wanted to check it out. It was really neat to see all of the different rocks and minerals! It reminded me so much of my grandpa and his love for egats.

Sandy is also a “geo-casher” which means that she does modern orientering with a GPS device. So I happily rode along with her as she looked for chaches. We came across a military memorial park which was really interesting to me and also hosted the anchor from the USS Arizona which was sunk during the attack on Parl Harbor.

We also came across this riduculously old gravesite that was the most pitiful graveyard I’ve seen in my life. Again… no grass… just dirt and delapetated headstones. It was kind of sad to tell you the truth.

Then since we didn’t know where else to go, and since most museums were closed, we tooled around on a impromptu “road trip” through Northern Phoenix, and some mountain foothills/aka little mountains. We had a really fun time looking at the different neighborhoods, and alas we found some yards with grass.

We had a coupon in our Expo packet for a free appitizer of lettuce wraps from P.F. Changs so we took a road trip to Tempe for dinner, and it was pretty good. Our waitor was from White Bear Lake so that was kind of fun in a “small world” kind of way.

Friday we went for breakfast right at the hotel and had a super good breakfast buffet. Probably… the best breakfast buffet I’ve ever had in my life! We were stuffed! After that it was work time! We were across the aisle from some sparsley dressed women who were working with overclothed men. It was interesting… but there were SO MANY people from Minnesota that either came down for the marathon, were snow-birds, or have relocated permenantly to Arizona from Minnesota.

While at the expo my old roomate from the Navy when I was in Spain and Japan stopped by to say hello. It was really fun to see her and her super adorable daughter.

After work we headed out to Scottsdale for a really nice dinner at the Old Town Tortilla Factory which is a restaurant that was remodled from a 75 year old adobe home. It was great. We sat on a sprawling 1,400 square foot brick patio that was filled with heaters to keep you nice and cozy, and lots of white christmas lights all over. It was really a nice ambiance!

After a delicious dinner we strolled down the main road which was lined with Art Galleries. Actually it was called the art walk line . It was just gallery after gallery filled with amazing artwork that went for a minimum of $1,800, and the most expensive piece I saw was a piece by my new favorite artist Pejman going for $42,000. It was definitely a great night spent with great company!

Saturday morning we woke up and had breakfast again at the hotel and this time I had a waffle that was equally delicious! We worked a full day while taking breaks also to enjoy the beautiful weather! We saw lots of Minnesota folks at the expo including some people we actually knew! After a long day it was time to bust down shop…

Shawna picked me up at the hotel, and it was as if I had only seen her last week! It was a great reunion! She brought me to her new sprawling house that was really nice, and some other navy buds were at her house as well. She cooked a very very lovely Carne Asada Tacos for dinner, and we had a bonfire at her house until 3:30 a.m. when we finally fell asleep after some much needed catching up! I miss her so much already! I’ll have to watch for cheap air fare so we can visit each other again!

She brought me back to the hotel in the morning and Sandy and I packed up and headed to breakfast. We didn’t go to the hotel for breakfast but rather some mini chain restaurant that specializes in breakfasts and lunch. It was super delicious. I had an omelet what was super nummy. After that we sadly were due to go back to the airport. Our time in the sun had ended…

We got on our plane – this time with no movie…and headed back to Minnesota. I had so much fun with Sandy on this trip! It was truly a marvelous time.

On our decent I noticed the houses and all of the snow… so much different than our landing in Arizona… but it looked like someone had set up a magnificent “Department 56” display… and again… I was home….

Wednesday once I got off work it was a rat race at it’s finest! Immediately when I got home I had to finish packing for my weekend work trip to Washington D.C. where I was working at our expo booth for the Marine Corps Marathon Expo. Clothes here- clothes there, clothes were flying everywhere… I also had to pack for Kirra and gather a few of Tyler’s items as well.

Mac & Cheese was diner- because it was quick. We had our last night at gymnastics at 6:30pm, and the kids got to go in costume! So I dressed Kirra in her bee costume which still fits her, and probably will for a few more years. Good thing she REALLY likes the bee costume! Then we were off to gymnastics. They got to parade around, and show all of the “big girls” their costumes, which was adorable… then it was time to play. Kirra got to go on any circuit she wanted to, and it seems that her favorites are obviously the trampoline, but also really liked the rings, balance beam – when she’s NOT afraid of it, and this board that is suspended from the parallel bars that they crawl on hands and knees.

Gymnastics lasted until about 7:15 and then we were back to the house to pack up. Kirra was staying at Grandma Susie’s and Poppie Rich’s, and Tyler was going to Grandma & Grandpa’s. So, we threw everything into the car and were off by 8pm. I got over to Frank & Theo’s by 8:30pm, said a quick hello and goodbye, and got Kirra over to my parents. My flight left at 7:30 a.m. but wanted to get to the airport in plenty of time, so I had planned to get there at 5:30 a.m. that meant I had to wake up by 4:30 a.m.

Once I got to my parents house they gave me the itinerary of what they would be doing with Kirra throughout the weekend, and I had only brought a fall coat, and its definitely WELL on its way to being winter in Minnesota…. So I left Kirra with my parents and quickly went off to Target to get her a winter coat, and mittens.

Once I got back Kirra was in the BIG tubby… everyone likes the big tubby at my parents because it’s a two person Jacuzzi bathtub that is gynormous so all of the kid-o’s think that it’s a swimming pool! I made some tea for my mom and I and then we were all off to sleep.

Really… 4:30 a.m. came way too fast! I begrudgingly got out of the warm toasty bed of my youth and proceeded to get ready. My amazing dad offered to give me a ride to the airport so that I didn’t have to worry about leaving my car at the airport, or taking the train down so early in the morning.

We got to the airport, and had to check our expo bag as oversized, and over weight, which was really unfortunate since there is a $32 charge to check more than one bag… a $75 charge for being over 50 pounds, and a $175 charge for being over a combined total of 62 inches! So we practically could have just bought another plane ticket for the costs of that!

Once we got through security which was amazingly long lines, we only sat down for a few minutes before we began boarding our plane. I had hoped to see Pam there, but she arrived to the airports front gates/doors at the same time I was boarding the plane. My co-worker Colleen and I joked that while we were taxing on the runway that Pam could see us from the window since we could see thru the airport windows the Maui Waui restaurant. We were off on our non-stop flight!

Once we landed in D.C. we got down to baggage claim which luckily we found all 3 of our bags very quickly and were off to find a taxi. Some guy in a nice suit asked us in his European accent if we needed a taxi…. And we said yes… so he says “here this way” and grabs our luggage, and leads us to the elevator… (THE ELEVATOR??) we take this to the second floor where we get out and go into the parking lot… when he said, I’ll be right back, I need to get my car… so he backs out a black SUV with tinted windows… we had to ask the guy if he was a real taxi driver, and he was, but was a taxi for hire, which is a little different than your typical “yellow cab” variety. I took down his licence plate number just in case while he loaded our luggage in and typed a text message draft to be sent to co-workers in the case of an emergency. Collen I’m sure thought I was nuts, but I wasn’t taking any risks.

Euro taxi man with the SUV got us to our adorable hotel safe and sound, and turned out to be a really nice man. He even waited for us to check in and then brought us to the convention center to drop off our expo materials. I shouldn’t be so worrisome all the time, but I watch too much news, and too many crazy horror films… I just can’t help myself.

After Colleen and I got our expo booth set up it was time for some tourist sight seeing. We saw most of the National Mall. We took a bus down there, and headed for the Capitol, and then were off to the Holocaust Museum. It closed at 5pm so we definitely wanted to get there in time to see everything and not be rushed. It was an experience I will not soon forget. The museum covered things history books wont, and also gave background to how things got so out of control. The moment we got to the main exhibit I was choked up and couldn’t even talk to Colleen any longer. There was at one point a room you went into that had voices of survivors that told their stories. It haunted me, because these were the real stories, and the real voices that endured the horror that Nazi Germany forced them to endure. They had various rooms including either an actual train car, or replica that had a very old musty smell. The train car was very dark and only had one window. You imagined yourself in this car, and quite frankly I could not. They also had artifacts of actual shoes worn by victims of the gas chambers which also had the musty smell… looking at all the piles of the shoes in the room was breathtaking, because you realized that these shoes were probably only from 2% of the total shoes.

It was a great museum, but it had other things that like I said- didn’t show you in your text books that were downright horrifying, and straight out of a Quentin Tarantino film.

Two and half hours later we were back on the national mall, and we realized we weren’t going to make seeing everything we had planned if we stayed on foot. We were going to take a trolly bus but they all closed at either 4:30 or 5pm and it was just a bit after 5:00 p.m. at this point… so we hopped on a “Pedicab” which are people who are on bikes with a buggy on the back that tour you around. It was really neat. Our driver was a history major and definitely knew his facts about D.C. and the National Mall! We got to see the Washington Memorial, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, The FDR memorial the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Wall, the WW 2 Memorial, and the white house! There is definitely no way we would have been able to see what we had!

Once we got off a fairly expensive buggy ride we were off to dinner (at 9:00pm!) We ate at a tavern and I had a cup of Chilly, and had a hamburger. It was all very delicious! The next day we woke up early to work the expo. We were having a motivational speaker in our booth as well so I was excited to meet him.

The expo was HUGE, and well coordinated. Colleen and I took turns taking breaks for lunch, and even just to walk around to shake things up. Standing in one spot for 11 hours can get a bit tiring! The speaker/author – Mike was a hoot! He was an inspiration, as well as very humorous, so the three of us had a lot of fun at the expo.

Friday night we went out for Thai food, and I think if I would have ordered something I liked it would have been really good. I ordered the Green Coconut Curry dish, and I discovered I’m not too much of a fan of coconut milk, but you never know until you try right?

Last day at the expo was fun as well. It was quite a bit more populated with participants than the first day so it made the day just fly by! We each took turns watching Mike’s speech and it was amazing! I called my parents at one point, to see how Kirra was doing, and they said she was laying in bed crying for me L That was pretty sad…. Saturday night after the expo closed and we packed up our booth we went to an irish pub which was packed with Halloween goers. We had an amazing dinner, and a few drinks, and went home to grab some sleep before the start of the marathon!

Marathon morning we woke up really early and were out the door. The taxi cab could get us only so close to the start but we really didn’t have too far to walk. On the way we passed the Seabee Memorial which I didn’t even know there was one, so I snapped a quick photo of it. It was really neat to see.

Once there it was enormous! All of their volunteers were Marines or so it seemed, I think there were over 20,000 at the start which was significant! We watched as about 30 or so marines humped out early with packs on their back (as they were humping the whole 26.2 miles) and then about 100 or so wheelers started!

Finally the massive 20,000+ runners took off and it took nearly 30 minutes to clear the start line! After the start Colleen and I walked over to the National Cemetery to get some cool photos. We even saw JFK’s grave site.

It was finally time to return to home. Our flight was great ,and once I got to my parents I went upstairs to find Kirra sleeping in my old bed, so I crawled in with her and she was sooooo excited to see me!

Well this morning we all woke up at 8am to head out to the Great Minnesota Get-Together! When we got there we bee-lined it for the ESPN stand to see if Brian and Jill my co-workers would get their babies name approved during the baby walk. Joe Soucheray will “approve” or fog-horn your baby’s name if its a strange name. Well my co-worker named his son Sawyer, so we thought it would for sure get approved, but instead it got fog-horned… duluth foghorned. I think he was heartbroken….

What a super fun Thursday Kirra and I had. Jason was working late,so I met up with Betsy and her aunt Sarah, and all the kids at Marketfest tonight. Its basically a super super mini state fair with lots of food vendors, jewelry, arts and crafts and more. Kirra and I had Carbonies pizza for dinner, and then later had mini donuts. We can’t forget those!! Ended up running into some people I knew so we of course stopped and said hello.I even got a purse, well because Lillian’s was open, and it was on sale! I can’t seem to ever pass up a cute purse on sale!!!

What a great weekend we had! We had planned to leave at 6:30am on Friday morning, but didn’t even wake up until 7:30am. I was up until 1:30 packing, and was just way too tired to wake up early. Jason had a long week at work as well, and wanted to sleep in too. We finally left the house about 9:15am,and got up to Lake Lydick around 1pm. It was so fun, and Kirra had a blast. We went fishing with Kirra, and caught lots of fish.