Day Four At Wisconsin Dells

Our fourth day at Wisconsin Dells we spent yet another day playing at Mt. Olympus / Rome Water Park, and I was wondering if we would ever grow tired of all this much fun. We found a campground & RV place across the street of Hotel Rome for $40 a night that also included free passes to the Rome amusement park. Heck-uv-a deal! So we spent two nights and did the endless amount of go-karts and roller coasters.

There are little go-karts for the little tots and it is hilarious to watch! Fionn and Liam are competitive brothers and they each got a car. Lap after lap Liam raced other drivers and paid no attention to where Fionn was. Near the end of the race, Fionn suddenly made a break from the pack and passed his older brother Liam. A fierce race of the brothers took over the track on the last lap. Weaving back and forth, they pushed and bumped each other around tight turns and straights. The track assistant pushed the curb across the track to funnel the kids into the enclosed exit lane. Both brothers raced forward trying to be the first to enter the lane. Fionn and Liam smashed full speed into the lane, which caused all the other cars to crash into the back of them. One after one they came until there was a serious pile up. Fionn’s front wheel was over the curb and they both sat there looking at each other waiting for someone to announce the winner. On lookers realized they were brothers and had a good laugh. So the race was called a tie, and the brothers still tease each other of who was the better driver.

We closed our trip with a ride on the Wisconsin Ducks and toured Lake Dalton. The Duck ride is an amphibious vehicle used in WWII that would carry soldiers on and off land / water. It was a fun and fast trip through the woods, river and lake. One cannot truly say they toured Wisconsin Dells until you have ridden the Ducks!

Day Three At Wisconsin Dells

On our third night in Wisconsin Dells we stayed at Hotel Rome. This is a new attraction that has an enormous variety of wave pools, water slides, go-karts and roller coasters. It takes over a week to play on all of it. It has a Roman theme with a facade of the Coliseum and pillars. It is enormous. The stay included free access into the park for two days so it was a huge savings.

The kids were overwhelmed with what slide to go on first. Each part of the park was so fun that it was difficult to get the kids to move on to another part of the park. There was something for every age and it was fun to watch them swim and play together. Grandma even went down the water slides with us. One has to be fit to carry the inner-tubes up many flights of stairs, ride a thrilling journey down with a child on your lap and then swim it over the side. Thank god my mom has taken care of herself through the years and is still fit and trim.

There is a wave pool that was so spectacular that our children were terrified to swim in it after a few minutes. Sean took them out and when the wave started, it looked like a tsunami! Amazing that people can create technology to create such a thing!

Day Two At Wisconsin Dells

June 21st is Sean’s birthday. It also happened to be Father’s Day, also First Day of Summer, and the longest day of the year. Being in Wisconsin during the summer solstice is wonderful because you can still see the sunset at 10pm. I love that. We spent Sean’s celebration at a water park, had a nice picnic and sang the birthday song. Little did I know that my dear husband liked the park as much as the kids! It is great to see your spouse run up a hill to get in line to go down a slide. Between the three of us adults, we managed to get all the kids on rides, take them down water slides, pass babies back and forth, change diapers, hand out snacks and put band-aids on scraped toes.

That night at the campground we grilled, sat by the fire and I took out my guitar. Crickets chirped a nice accompaniment to my strumming of the chords. The children’s faces glowed in the firelight as they roasted marshmallows. Fionn managed to catch every marshmallow on fire. They started waving flaming marshmallows around like sparkler fireworks and it was time to take their sticks away. It’s all fun and games until someone has a burnt marshmallow in the eye.

Arriving Wisconsin Dells

I grew up going to Wisconsin Dells every fall with my family in the 70s and 80s. Back then it was known for its corny Zanadu and Space World exhibits, the Wisconsin Dells Duck rides of the Upper and Lower Dells, go kart tracks, Indians and moccasins, taffy candy and fudge.

The terrain is unique and easily recognizable with rivers that flow between cliffs of sandstone and rock, giving it a layering appearance. The river waters are brown from the mineral deposits and there are nature paths that run deep through caverns with many species of ferns. The oxygen is so rich you feel high walking through it.

Many of the rock formations along the rivers were named after historic Indians. Downtown Wisconsin Dells still features many Indian clothing, shoes and jewelry. If you have never attended a pow wow, they are fun to attend.

Beautiful Lake Dalton is surrounded by lovely homes and cabin resorts. Last year the region was flooded by unrelenting rain and the levy broke. The entire lake suddenly thundered into Dell River. A few homes were swept away whole. I remember the television footage and watching a newly constructed colonial float swiftly down river. Since then, the levy has been restored better and stronger and the lake is at its full level.

Wisconsin Dells has grown a lot through the years. It is now a water park mecca with miles of attractions. Roller coasters, go-karts, amphibious vehicle rides (The Ducks), haunted houses, bungie jumping and other extreme rides (to name a few) line the main strip. There is lodging everywhere from theme hotels with their own attractions to cabins and camping.

Our first night here was spent at Yogi Bear’s Jelly Stone Camp & RV. A great family place with its own water park, hey rides and game room. Clean, fun and cheap. The park has hourly activities for the kids and we enjoyed an impromptu making of a TV special by joining Yogi Bear and Boo Boo for a hayride. It will air in Madison sometime next week.

We made a call my mother, Grandma Net Net who lives in Minneapolis, to camp out with us. Grandma Net Net has the Minnesotan accent and says words like, “Oh fer cute!” and “Oh ish!” The kids were so happy to see her and we went out to eat at Paul Bunyon’s restaurant where everything is served family style—meaning that your family is seated at a large wooden table and the waitress brings the feature food for the evening. A loaf of bread is served, but only cut into six pieces, giving the illusion that this is mega huge and from the man himself, Paul Bunyon. It was great to be with my mom back at the place where I spent time with my family when I was young and sharing it with my kids today.

Sleeping With Cows

Driving from Buffalo, NY to Cleveland, OH was mostly a continuous attempt at keeping the kids happy. I took out my guitar and learned a couple Tom Petty and Johnny Cash tunes. Keegan would light up and smile when he heard the strumming, so I kept on playing. A flash thunderstorm with gusty winds met us by surprise and we pulled over to a gas station and filled up while it blew past. Most of the kids were asleep except Riley, who stood under the protective station’s roof and played in the gusty wind.
We drove until 2 a.m. and found a truck station with some spare room. We pulled in and found ourselves near a trailer full of cattle. As we slept we could hear mooing and the shuffle of their hooves. Bet they aren’t going to Wisconsin Dells.

Thinking About What I Won't Miss

I certainly will not miss the naked old guy that walked the track every day, rain or shine. Envision this: you are washing the morning dishes, the birds are singing, the sun is shining and you look out through the window into your backyard and then suddenly you catch a glimpse of some overly-tan, saggy-man-boobs swaying and bouncing all over attached to a 75 year-old man wearing tucked-under running shorts and white sneakers. He averaged 15 miles a day, everyday. For seven years I witnessed him walking the track. Legs moving like Marvin the Martian. Never said hello or waived until one day, about two months ago, he approached my husband through the fence.

“Nice job you’ve done with the place,” the walker suddenly said.
“Thanks,” replied my husband.
“You know, we’re related.”
Startled, my husband looked around as if he was hoping this conversation was suddenly for someone else.
“Yes, your father’s side through cousin blah blah blah…” he went on.

The bad news found its way into my kitchen. This town was too small and the local booby man was related. Time to move.

Another person I will not miss is our children’s schools vice principal. She lived kitty-corner to us and never mowed her lawn. A large woman herself, mowing the lawn would have given her some healthy exercise but no, we had to do it for her when we got sick and tired of it. Two weeks ago I lost my three-year-old son in her tall grass. I was struggling with my lawn mower trying to take a crack at it but after three hours I called a lawn company to take over. This brought on a hostile situation with the owner who swore she was, “just about to take care of it.” A claim she made every year after someone finally did it for her. Won’t miss her a bit.

CT’s DMV: After five attempts to get our trailer and van registered, I stand here as a witness that the DMV of Bridgeport have proven to be the most stupid people alive.
We bought our camper from some folks in New York. Before you register it in CT, you must get the VIN checked to make sure it is legitimate and matches the vehicle. Upon going to DMV, the clerk instructed me to get it done by a police officer. DMV does not do VIN checks on trailers—too big to fit in parking lot. So, I brought it to the police station, but you need a form—from the DMV. So I go back to the DMV and they don’t carry the form. You have to download online. After researching over 278 forms, I find it, get a police officer to check it and bring the completed form to DMV. DMV says they do not accept forms by police officers. But, no DMV in CT performs trailer VIN checks. Get my point? Stupid. But the real kicker is this: You cannot transport your new out-of-state trailer unless you have it properly registered in CT. But you cannot do a VIN check with DMV’s staff unless they can physically look at it and compare it to the VIN

And so we are finally ready to get it registered! But now the DMV happily announces that it will not issue it as they claim we owe back taxes on a vehicle we have not owned for six years. Although we sold it and paid the taxes a few years ago—we had a permit pulled to get central air installed in our home—so the city charged us again for taxes on that vehicle, so we paid it again because we were tired of fighting and we were hot and needed A/C. Of course, DMV won’t call the City of Ansonia to verify that the taxes were paid, so I now leave DMV again with my five children and go to City Hall of Ansonia. Apparently, the tax assessor only updates her files once a year, and neglected to do so the last few years. I sure hope the DMV out west will be easier to deal with.

Lastly, I won’t miss the frustration of not riding my road bike, not having parks for my kids to play on, not having public beaches, not having boat access, and the blight of living in the Valley.

Niagara Falls

Our trip west took us north through Connecticut through Massachusetts and into New York to Buffalo. I had always wanted to see Niagara Falls and this was very exciting. The weather had been nothing but rain and it finally paused for the afternoon. Because our kids are so young, purchasing a tour pass to see the falls was relatively affordable. Kids five and under are free for almost everything.

I never knew that the falls recede a foot or more every year because under the rock lies sandstone. The sandstone is so fragile and it collapses once the rocks give way. If you look at the bottom of the falls, once can see large rocks that have fallen through the years.

I highly recommend taking the tour. It lasted five hours, but it was well paced, information-packed, and included everything. The best part of the tour was the boat ride where they take you within 70 feet into the horseshoe fall at full throttle for about 15 minutes. Scary and exciting, you get soaked from head to toe if you don’t wear your poncho. Our kids loved it and spoke in high voices from being so excited, “That was amazing! I want to do it again!”
Get yourself to Niagara Falls if you haven’t been. It is really amazing!

Leaving Connecticut

We stayed at my husband’s sister’s house in Milford near the beach for one last night in CT. The kids played in the Jacuzzi, walked the shore and spent time with their cousins. We weren’t in any rush to hit the road and his sister put together a travel package of goodies and drinks.

Upon leaving the next morning we were only two minutes into our drive when our son, Liam, asked, “Are we almost there yet?” Fionn added, “Yeah—I want to ride my scooter!”
They have absolutely no concept of distance or time. They will soon.

The Closing

Our morning started with five hungry kids waking up in the camper parked out in the yard. The refrigerator had been cleaned out the day before so there was no food. The walk through went fine the night before and almost everything was ready to go. The strawberry patch was still in full bloom and our 22 month old sat hungrily and devoured each berry into his mouth that he found…including some mushrooms growing next to the patch.

Luckily for us, our daughter saw this happen, knew it was bad, and reported it to me immediately. I turned my head and saw little Bono chew it quickly and swallow. Now the ironic thing is that the buyer for our home, her husband is a mushroom fanatic. I called her at once and asked to speak with him. His answer was the same as poison control: take him right away to the emergency room.

Now, the buyers are both postal service workers and the husband pulls up in his mail truck and charges into the emergency waiting area with his huge book of everything a person could/would/should want to know about mushrooms. I guess he carries it around with him. He takes a look at the sample mushroom I have and frowns, “Not enough. I must go to the house to get more samples!” So, off he drove as fast as that mail truck could carry him.

Full speed he ran through our yard grabbing mushrooms of various sorts and rushing back into his mail truck. An odd relay game to watch for our neighbors. Back at the hospital he is in full sweat, studying each mushroom with his book in hand, and announces, “It isn’t deadly, but it is poisonous.” He hands me his book and says, “Good luck at the closing!”

Closing? Oh crap! All is messed up now, the packing is left to Sean and the two boys and it is suppose to happen at 11am. It is 10:30. Well, when has a closing ever happened on time for me? Almost never. This excuse was the most unique.

So Bono is taken to his room and a doctor comes to the conclusion that a charcoal treatment is to be administered. An attractive, tall nurse with short, red hair comes in and introduces herself. All seems okay at this moment. Bono is still okay. It takes about 24 hours for the poison symptoms to start. We are only on hour one. Got plenty of time. She mixes two cups of ground charcoal in with chocolate Hershey’s syrup, pops in a straw and hands it to hungry Bono. Curious, he sips it and takes a few gulps. Suddenly he prefers to be hungry. This stuff is deep black, thick and bad tasting. It absorbs the poisons of the mushroom so that his body doesn’t digest it—or little of it. He is not game. A surringe is needed. Bono clamps his jaws shut and arches his back screaming through his nose. I plug it and his mouth gasps open. In went the surringe with the nasty tonic. This goes on for 20 minutes and almost two cups of hell. Bono’s face is black, his eyes red from crying and his trauma is more than I can bear.

“That’s enough. No more,” I said. Afraid for him to throw it up, the nurse would have to start all over again with a tube down his nose. I held him and talked to him quietly telling him I got him and that we are all done. It took a team of nurses to wipe him clean. He looked like he repaved a road.

A moment later Bono was out of my arms and rummaging through all the drawers, emergency equipment and pushing carts all over. He was fine now and being a complete terror.

We made a mad dash to the attorney’s office and left the house undone. This is a no-no. You must always be done and moved out before you close on a property. As a Realtor, this was embarrassing. Once the closing was completed, we hurried back and got the trailer and all the toys out of the yard, packed it all up and pulled out—just as the new owners were moving in.
One thing for sure, we sold our precious home to some wonderful people. Thank you John and Laurie for the care and concern for Bono. We wish you the best in your new home!

Things & People I Won't Miss

I certainly will not miss the naked old guy that walked the track every day, rain or shine. Envision this: you are washing the morning dishes, the birds are singing, the sun is shining and you look out through the window into your backyard and then suddenly you catch a glimpse of some overly-tan, saggy-man-boobs swaying and bouncing all over attached to a 75 year-old man wearing tucked-under running shorts and white sneakers. He averaged 15 miles a day, everyday. For seven years I witnessed him walking the track. Legs moving like Marvin the Martian. Never said hello or waived until one day, about two months ago, he approached my husband through the fence.

“Nice job you’ve done with the place,” the walker suddenly said.
“Thanks,” replied my husband.
“You know, we’re related.”
Startled, my husband looked around as if he was hoping this conversation was suddenly for someone else.
“Yes, your father’s side through cousin blah blah blah…” he went on.

The bad news found its way into my kitchen. This town was too small and the local booby man was related. Time to move.

Another person I will not miss is our children’s schools vice principal. She lived kitty-corner to us and never mowed her lawn. A large woman herself, mowing the lawn would have given her some healthy exercise but no, we had to do it for her when we got sick and tired of it. Two weeks ago I lost my three-year-old son in her tall grass. I was struggling with my lawn mower trying to take a crack at it but after three hours I called a lawn company to take over. This brought on a hostile situation with the owner who swore she was, “just about to take care of it.” A claim she made every year after someone finally did it for her. Won’t miss her a bit.

CT’s DMV: After five attempts to get our trailer and van registered, I stand here as a witness that the DMV of Bridgeport have proven to be the most stupid people alive.
We bought our camper from some folks in New York. Before you register it in CT, you must get the VIN checked to make sure it is legitimate and matches the vehicle. Upon going to DMV, the clerk instructed me to get it done by a police officer. DMV does not do VIN checks on trailers—too big to fit in parking lot. So, I brought it to the police station, but you need a form—from the DMV. So I go back to the DMV and they don’t carry the form. You have to download online. After researching over 278 forms, I find it, get a police officer to check it and bring the completed form to DMV. DMV says they do not accept forms by police officers. But, no DMV in CT performs trailer VIN checks. Get my point? Stupid. But the real kicker is this: You cannot transport your new out-of-state trailer unless you have it properly registered in CT. But you cannot do a VIN check with DMV’s staff unless they can physically look at it and compare it to the VIN

And so we are finally ready to get it registered! But now the DMV happily announces that it will not issue it as they claim we owe back taxes on a vehicle we have not owned for six years. Although we sold it and paid the taxes a few years ago—we had a permit pulled to get central air installed in our home—so the city charged us again for taxes on that vehicle, so we paid it again because we were tired of fighting and we were hot and needed A/C. Of course, DMV won’t call the City of Ansonia to verify that the taxes were paid, so I now leave DMV again with my five children and go to City Hall of Ansonia. Apparently, the tax assessor only updates her files once a year, and neglected to do so the last few years. I sure hope the DMV out west will be easier to deal with.

Lastly, I won’t miss the frustration of not riding my road bike, not having parks for my kids to play on, not having public beaches, not having boat access, and the blight of living in the Valley.

People & Things We Will Miss

When you get ready to move across country, get ready for a culture shock. I had one when I first moved here from San Diego seven years ago. People talk to you here. They wave you on in an intersection to go first. People here love children. When they see how many kids I have following me around--or chasing after--they always say, "God BLESS you!"

There are lifers here. People who were born and raised in the same house, live their whole life and then die there. When I first moved here, a person commented, "Yeah, I finally moved out of my home that I was raised in..." I asked him where he moved from. "Derby," he said. FYI people--that was only one mile away!

And everyone knows you or your relatives, knows your whole story one way or another. People still go to church here, have town parades and carnivals. You end in somebody's home movie at sometime or another... I got reports from a few that they saw us in the Memorial Day Parade and filmed Sean running with the jogger stroller with a kid in it to catch up to the family after a refreshment break. I remember it too, he was all smiles running full speed down the hill with cold drinks for us all. Now everyone's got a copy.

Our neighbors down the street, the Burns, a retired couple who keep their yard immaculate. The wife was raised in that house and now is well retired. They have watched us transform our house, walk our kids to the bus stop every morning and back home again at 3:40pm. Mr. Burnes had so much charm and his wife so much class. I will miss them.

There's a boy named Jordan who lives at the end of the street and is alone most of the time, overweight and lonely. He would drop by here to see if the kids could play and ask me for bandaids--he liked my motherly attention. I will worry about him and hope he does well in life.

Our kids will miss the Gavins across the street with three girls in elementary school. All could do cartwheels across their lawn and would always yell hello. A circumstance of allergies kept ours and their children from playing very much. They had three dogs and we had strawberries in the backyard.

Albertos Pizza, a small family joint, kept us fed the first two years we lived here and didn't have a kitchen. Lilly was our favorite waitress who wore blue contacts although her eyes were dark brown. She was always looking for a husband and finally landed one in her home country and then brought him to the states. Now married with one boy and another on the way, my how life brings love and responsibility.

We will certainly miss Riley's best friend Joseph, who is hands down the sweetest boy and friend to us all. We wish we could take him with us! He's going to grow to be a fine man someday.

Our cousins, the DiMauros, who also have a big family--we didn't get to see each other very much due to such crazy schedules, but I'll sure miss Diane. She has a great monotone groan when her kids drive her crazy. She makes me feel more normal and helps me deal with the punches of motherhood.

I'll miss my evil friend in real estate, Annie. She's a beautiful version of Lisa Marie Presley, but makes so many faces (goes cross-eyed, etc) when she is expressing her stress level. She and I would crack each other up by imitating our clients, parents and spouses. She has been my biggest Larkin fan and always made me feel ten feet tall.

And of course, I'll miss springtime here in CT. The constant blossoms of various shrubs and trees, the gorgeous cherry trees of every kind and the petals blowing into the lawn... soft, elegant and quiet.

I'll miss Halloween where everyone puts on their best costume and walks down Wakelee Avenue. Children and parents, adults of all ages, all putting out their best displays of fright, fog, and monsters running around... music jamming and people dancing. What a site.

And lastly, at Christmas time, the firehouse runs Santa Claus all over town. Down every street you can hear the sirens and finally here they come down our street. Throwing candy popcorn balls and bellowing, "Ho Ho Ho!" All the kids come running from every house in their pajamas with snowboots waving and picking up the treats.

It has been a great experience and I am glad for it. It is going to be hard to drive away.

Clearing Out

The house is nearly empty. The second and third floor are cleared out, cleaned and the paint touched up. There is only Bono's crib left in his room up there... he won't sleep anywhere else. We have tried having him sleep with us in what used to be the living room (now a sea of air mattresses) but he just bounces from bed to bed and lands on as many sleeping heads as he can. Once put in his crib, he turns himself off and is fast asleep.

Now that the kids are home from school they have writing assignments in their journals that I have provided them. Each night they write about what is on their mind, what they feel about the move, and then they draw a picture about what they wrote. Liam took a long time last night. He wrote that he loves our fancy kitchen and then took great detail in drawing every drawer, cabinet, stove detail... on and on. Riley drew all her friends. Fionn drew the yard and the camper-- looked like a bunch of dots and circles. Grass and wheels, he reports.

Sean has left us again to Rome. He has barely been home and going through this whole change without him has been hard on everyone. When we have needed our sense of security, we have had to turn within ourselves. My mood has been irritable and without patience. I sit on the steps leading to the kitchen and admire the detail in the crown moulding that Sean had put up a few years ago. Leaving this house is more than saying goodbye to all the children's first, it is also leaving the loving detail that my husband laid out throughout the home.

I called him as he arrived the airport and I told him, "Thank you for all the years in this house, for every detail you gave us to enjoy. You have given us your very best and our home has been beautiful." He replied, "You are welcome, Love."

So, it is time to journal again and to start planning our future. It starts in five days.

Swine Flu in the Valley

And so I get this school newsletter informing all parents that the Swine Flu has been confirmed in two students at our kids' school. No information was given about how the children contracted it, how severe their symptoms or what the school is doing to prevent further spread of the virus.

So, I pulled our kids out of school. I called the school office asking what they have done / are doing to protect the further spread of this virus and they informed me that they are disinfecting the school and the buses, but school will stay open. I thought this was a rather laid back approach to what the world suddenly feared for their lives only a short time ago.

My husband had to fly a trip to Mexico when the Swine Virus was first found and the schools were closed down there. When I heard the news and knew that he was to come home in two days, I called him and told him to stay away and sleep in the van, fly another trip, go do something else...ANYTHING than come home! With a newborn and two kids with asthma--one severe enough that he is on lung anti-inflammatory drugs morning and night, I wasn't about to take any chances. So, my poor husband did just that: slept in the van at the airport and found other things to do until we knew for sure he was not infected and showed no signs of sickness.

So, not understanding why the sudden scare is now an acceptable status for us all to live by, I called our pediatrician. I spoke with the nurse and told her of the two confirmed cases at our school. Startled, she laughed and said,"Oh, there's more than TWO!" and then told me of several other cases in the surrounding towns.

My heart sank. I called the school back and told the secretary what the nurse told me. Apparently, people are reluctant to report their cases in fear of losing their privacy or fear of causing a panic.

So how many cases are there? I don't care to find out, nor do I care for my kids to find out the hard way. Our last days here will be spent in the house, away from public areas to the best of our ability and hopefully we will not contract it. I don't want to be responsible for carrying it from state to state on our move!

So, look out, everyone. Don't rely on the media to tell you everything is fine. Call the doctors and ask them how many cases have they treated in the last week. Find out the truth!

Re-Selling & Recycling Through Craigslist

We decided to start out fresh and not move our belongings with us across country. But how to get rid of just about everything and recapture the money we invested into our high-priced items was a challenge. We also didn't want to throw away perfectly good things and add to the already full landfills, so we opted to use craigslist and our local charities for making donations.

It took two months of taking decent pictures of everything we own and posting it on craigslist. Now, I know a lot of you are timid when it comes to this way of selling or buying anything--we all have heard the horror stories--but here are some helpful tips to be a success:

1. Know how to use a digital camera and upload pictures onto the computer. If you don't have the knowledge, get someone to sit down with you and teach you.

2. Take photos for every listing. People tend not to buy anything without looking at it. Make sure it is a close up of the item--only without the background of your home or kids. Never post a picture of a child in any photo...you don't want to give anyone knowledge of the inside of your home or of the people that live there.

3. Tell as much about the item as you can, but leave out your life story for security reasons.

4. On items over $100, do not leave an anonymous email. Leave your phone number (without a name) to contact you instead. This will make scammers pass you by as they only prey upon those via email on high ticket items.

5. If possible, have all items waiting outside your home for pick up just before their expected arrival time. Do not invite anyone into your home.

6. Take cash only.

Doing these tips will make doing business very successful. I have successfully sold over 250 things from computers, furniture, toys and tools this way without dealing with shipping costs. It is better to resell and donate than throwing things in landfills.

Letting Go

I am sure that many of you have a memory of "home" when you were a child. The place where you had Birthdays, Christmas, where you learned to ride your bike. A wall where your mom or dad measured you against and wrote your name with a date to mark your growth each year. A grave in the backyard where your pet was buried, or other animals you found dead and felt they needed a proper resting place.

That's what me and my best friend, Donny Peterson, did after severe thunderstorms--find dead birds and bury them. We would make little stretchers made out of long grass and would run the little birds to their resting place--all without our dear mothers knowing what missionary work we did for the neighborhood.

But memories of home and the children we once were are lost in a place unreachable during the wakeful hours. Only visits during dream time do we find our old rooms, the safe places and beds that knew our little bodies as well as a mother's lap. And so now our children get ready to say goodbye to their names on the wall, the place where they first stood, first spoke, first puked. The familiar sounds of a certain cadence down the steps in the morning and the guessing game my husband I would play of, "Whose feet are those?" We will no longer hear at this house of five generations old.

Riley's bedroom set is sold, an antique piece of 100 years old. Refinished and repainted in a soft, pale yellow. As my husband pulled the headboard away from the wall I read an inscription on the back written in his handwriting. It read, "Rebuilt and repainted for Riley Larkin. Love, Mom 2003" The memories of her tiny body sleeping night after night on that bed left me standing in her empty room silent and afraid to cry... as this is the place where I know I will long to be in my old age. Letting go hurts.

Free Cotton Candy

Well as many of you associate Spring with flowers, warm sunshine, the sound of baby birds chirping... I now associate this season with my new added memory of Fionn's episode at AutoZone.

Fionn, our three year old, who is quick-witted and known for his one-liners, was out with his dad to go shop for some new license plate covers for the new passenger van. It was a sunny day and a whimsical breeze brought all the cottonseeds floating through the air to gather in the parking lot's curb, near our son's feet.

With the recent outing to the town's carnival the previous month, the taste of cotton candy still danced in Fionn's memory and the excitement that this "free" cotton candy was floating through the air and landing at this feet in large clumps was too good to be true!

My husband, Sean, went to take Fionn's hand to walk across the parking lot to the store when he noticed Fionn's mouth was covered in white cotton. Completely covered. Just eyes peeked out. Suddenly Fionn began to vomit large amounts of this "free" cotton all over the curb, leaving a few mounds of wet cotton mixed with pizza.

Sean asked Fionn while trying to wipe the wet white mess from his face, "Why did you eat this! This is not food!" Fionn cooly replied, "I was looking at the sky with my mouth open and a car drove by and it made all this cotton fly in my mouth. That's all."

My husband's face went blank. Then puzzlement. Then quickly said, "Just don't eat it, okay?"

"Yeah, right," Fionn replied and took his dad's hand.

Moving to Washington

We moved from San Diego, CA to Ansonia, CT seven years ago to restore my husband's great grandmother's home where three generations had lived. The restoration of the victorian farmhouse took five years of back-braking work -- utter hell if you want to put it more planely.

We arrived with a newborn, lived here the seven years, decided this part of the country wasn't for us, and now we are moving back to the west with now five children.

Riley, who just turned seven, is our oldest and only daughter. A beautiful girl with a talent for music and dance and an addiction to barbie dolls. Liam, who is five and a half, a very spirited and athletic kid who has tourettes--he is kind-hearted and emotional. Fionn (pronounced Fin) is three and a half, smart as a whip and as funny as Steve Martin, he is known for his one-liners and quick thinking. Bono, who is one and a half, is the brute of the bunch, amazing strength and determination--he brakes everything in the house, throws everything across the room including play pianos, trucks, balls, food, etc. The latest addition is Keegan, who is four months old and is as cute as a button.

My background is real estate, residential and commercial. My husband works for the airlines and so is gone at least half of the month or more, leaving me with the bulk of the child raising, home cleaning, shopping, bill paying, doctor running, homework reviewing, bathing, problem solver, etc, etc.

The task at hand now is selling our beautiful home, purchasing a passenger van and a camper trailer, routing our way to the west, finding residence in WA, finding schools and doctors and employment while selling everything we own.

Currently, I have sold almost everything we own and are now sitting on the floor, sleeping on air mattresses, keeping our clothes in neat piles, and packing everything we will keep into a trailer that sleeps ten. Much of the chaos that happens on a day to day basis I have decided to write about, as this may be the hardest time in my live, it is the best years of it.

Now that you have a quick run down of who we are, where we are going, and what is needed to be done, I look forward at writing more in detail of what makes me laugh, cringe, scream and I hope you will get a good laugh from it to!