Escaping the Heat

About this time of the summer,we feel the need to make the great escape to Montana. Even when the days get a bit hot, it always cools off by late afternoon and you can actually enjoy being outside. It is quite likely that we will even enjoy a good bonfire...maybe some "smores". I am counting down the days until departure.

The best part about this grand escape is that all four of our children will be able to join us for a few days. We will do some 4 wheeling up at Elk Peak, some fly fishing on the Yellowstone, lots of grilling, and some swimming in the river. Life is good!

Beach Etiquette and Oddities

It is rather amusing to spend some time at the beach as the vacationers come and go from one week to the next. I have decided that some people have done it so many times that they just "get" how to settle into the environment. However, there are other folks who make you wonder, "What's up with that?"

For example, yesterday we saw a lovely young woman reading what looked to be a lengthy novel as she walked down the beach. She just about took out a sand castle. Reading and walking at the same time....hmmmm. Another group of multi-generational guys played their boche ball game SO CLOSE to us that at one point, they kicked up sand that landed on my towel. (Keep in mind that the beach that we have a cottage at is not a crowded beach. No condos, hotels, or high rises. Just individual homes and duplexes.) A few days ago, we "parked" our chairs and beach gear in a nice open spot only to find that within minutes a small group "parked" RIGHT next to us even though there was lots of empty space all around us.

Oh, and the tattoos. I think I best leave it at that.

The Fox News Huckabee Show

American Ingenuity! Mike Huckabee's show tonight focuses on Americans who have LOTS of solutions to the oil spill clean-up. It will be replayed tomorrow night, I think. I hope that lots of people see this show. There are so many products/ideas that could have an immediate impact. If we let these people do what they know works, we could be on our way to having this clean-up well underway and the Gulf Coast looking forward to a brighter future.

Old Calendars

I spent the morning with some friends who are MUCH younger than I am and it reminded me of how crazy the month of May is for all those younger moms out there. So, I came home and pulled out my old calendars that record every activity and event for all 6 Schelhammer family members. I have no idea how we made it work. At any given point in time, our kids were each doing 2 sports, some music lessons, youth group at church, confirmation, art lessons, just to name a few. Throw in orthodontist appointments,cotillion, pizza hut nights for Millis Road, skate nights at Skateland, overnights with friends, etc. and well, let's just say it sure was fun while it lasted. And somewhere in there they did homework!
As we sat around the table this morning talking about how frazzled most women feel in the middle of all that activity, and how often they feel like they are not measuring up, I thought about how we need to remember, life is not about perfection, but being available to your family and prioritizing them over the "to do list". Sometimes it's enough to do a good job, not a perfect job. I still believe that cleaning an entire house for a party at which people are only going to be in 3 rooms is a huge waste of time.
As I look back on the years when all our children were home, I am flooded with incredible memories and can't believe how quickly those years flew by. We had some serious fun.