"Griswoldlike"

Oh my! I hardly know how to begin. Last Wednesday I jumped on (I actually walked on) a flight from DFW to Washington Reagan and was picked up by my aunt in her "classic" 1988 chevy sedan. ( not sure what model and not sure it's a classic ) We proceeded to the "airplane viewing" parking lot and met my uncle who was sitting in the shade keeping an eye on the U-Haul that was loaded with their belongings.
Long story short, they built a house in Minnesota about 3 years ago and have finally sold their home in DC. I had volunteered to help them get the rest of their belongings back to MN a few months back and the time had come! It actually was a pretty good plan. I would fly out and help them get their things to MN and then stay for a family reunion and then fly back to Dallas.
I have never lacked confidence when it comes to road trips, so I hopped out of the car in the parking lot and threw my suitcase in the U-Haul and basically said,"Let's hit the road". We pulled out of the parking lot with the two of them in the lead in their "classic" car. We merged onto the parkway and headed out towards 270 at 4:30 p.m. About this time I realized that the rear view mirror was a sign the said,"9 foot clearance" and that I would have to trust the very large side mirrors for the next 2 days. But not to be discouraged, I sat up a little taller and mustered up all my self-confidence and joined the erratic traffic that would be my companion until we pulled off the road about 1 1/2 hours later to grab some dinner. Nothing like getting comfortable driving a U-Haul in rush hour in DC.
Let me just stop here and tell you the order of our restaurant stops along the way, just because I know you will be fascinated. 1 - Bob Evans (dinner) 2 - McDonald's (breakfast) 3 - McDonald's (lunch) 4 - Starbucks (10 steps from McDonald's lunch) 5 - Baker's Square (dinner)6 - Super 8 (complimentary breakfast - cheerios or corn flakes - What a selection!) 7 - Burger King (lunch) 8 - Never mind, we were to anxious to get to our destination that we skipped dinner. By now I imagine you are all wishing you could have joined me for this culinary tour. I would have offered you tums.
I might just as well go ahead and tell you that the first night the Motel 6 had bedspreads with pictures of buildings and vehicles on them and a chair with a table that resembled something used in an interrogation room. We stepped it up on the second night at a Super 8. (Does the quality of a room have something to do with number behind it?) The 8 was at least 1/2 a step up from the 6.
My two days of cross country driving where interrupted by three extremely long interstate delays during which I could have written a short novel; way too many gas stops to fill the tank of an extremely hungry U-Haul; and as I referred to earlier, the varied culinary delights along the way.
There is nothing quite like following a single car across a third of the United States for a bit over 2 days. It was sort of like the movie "Ground Hog Day". At each state line I picked up a toll ticket and proceeded across the state where I would pay the toll and then practice my high speed merge only to get another toll ticket a few miles down the road. Repetition! That is what this road trip was all about.
Truth be told, I am thankful that we had no real issues. There will always be construction and traffic and fast food that gets tiresome, but no car problems, flat tires, break downs or the like. We made it safe and sound. 1293 miles of forward motion.
After what seemed to be a pretty short night of sleep at my folks house, it was off to help unload "the beast" at my aunt and uncle's new house. When we arrived they had opened the back end of the U-Haul and as I peered inside to see what I had transported across the countryside, I did my best to hide my surprise when I saw the half-filled truck. It took us ONE hour to unpack what it had taken me a little over 2 days to drive. ( The first load I carried into the house was the largest bag of old hangers I have ever seen. Let me just leave it at that. )
Later on Saturday, my folks and I went to a beautiful park that had been reserved for our family reunion on my dad's side of the family. I found a nice shady spot to sit with lots of extended family members all around and did nothing but catch up on all that had been going on in their lives and relish the fact that I would not be driving home to TX. And now I'm HOME!

The lazy, hazy, days of summer.

After a respite from the heat, we are back in it again here in Texas. While the temperatures were certainly cooler in Montana, the blanket of mosquitoes that surrounded us distracted us some. Those pesky little things sure can stir up some serious annoyance on my part. Usually by early July, it is so dry that you hardly notice them, but this year with the cooler temperatures and rain, it was very lush and green and I guess the perfect breeding ground for the little pests.

But, truth be told, we had an incredible vacation. We did a little 4-wheeling, some fly fishing, lots of eating, and even caught a couple of the world cup games. We get 3 channels and fortunately one of them is ABC. We missed Karl as his project at NIST is going full steam ahead and he just couldn't get away. He will get his turn in October for the opening of pheasant hunting.

The ranch is now my favorite place to entertain. It is a place of simplicity and ease. No fancy dishes, or gadgets, just the basics. We hardly have a picture on the walls. It is a place where you feel comfortable putting your feet up on the furniture and kicking back. A friend of ours got it right. He said it is a place where you seem to be able to squeeze 2 days into one, and boy did we!

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.

"Taste of Addison" - Fun Day with Dean

The festival in Addison this weekend did not disappoint. After Dean's late flight in on Friday, we hung out by the pool. Saturday morning we headed in to Addison for a day in the park. This festival brings in lots of local restaurants who set up booths and serve their favorite menu items on paper plates. There are also lots of artists and vendors selling their wares. The big draw however is a number of Texas bands and then a closing act, this year, Train. We got a big laugh over a band called "Smile-Smile". They were a young gal and guy who USED to be in a relationship. Awkward! It appears their fame has come as a result of recording an album about their failed attempts. (Everything about this screams WRONG...especially getting up on stage and drawing attention to that.) Who wants to see an ex-couple pick at one another on stage when you should be kicking up your heels and having fun? Dean decided they would be better off renaming their dynamic duo, Frown-Frown. Nevertheless, we thoroughly enjoyed the variety of music and the people watching. These kinds of events certainly show a cross section of humanity and we found ourselves in the middle of it.
Dean was on a flight home by mid morning. What a whirlwind of a weekend for him, but a good change of scenery nonetheless. As always, we love it when one of the kids pops in for the weekend.