Ex Patria

Come walk with us

So, I'm not wonder woman.  I can't do all the things I want to do, and have a clean house, and the laundry all done and folded, and be well rested, and keep my kids off the TV and busy with clever crafts, and feed them wholesome food that I have cooked from scratch.  It's just not possible.

Are you surprised?  I was, sort of.

In the frenzy of canning and freezing and planting the bulbs for spring, some things have to give.  It's kind of hard for me to accept that, especially since having a messy house is making me very cranky.  But my husband has managed to show me the importance of some things (healthy happy kids) and the relative unimportance of others (that perfectly organized and orderly entry hallway).  

We went for a walk this morning, and ended up at the little Bratwurst stand at the Black Moor where they have this nature-imaginative-something playground that we all love.  The kids spent most of the day outside and it always takes me by surprise just how very happy and balanced they are after a day of outside play.  It shouldn't, but it does.  D'uh.

Welcome home, fall

It's fall.  Yes, the days are sunny and warm but the leaves are starting to fall and the harvest in our backyard is in full swing.

We never knew we had so many plum trees.  Last year was a really bad plum year in this area - nobody had much in the way of the juicy blue treasures.  We had maybe ten plums on one tree.  It was an apple year, overflowing to the point where people just composted their harvest because it was just too much to deal with.  We sold most of our apples to the local juicer in exchange for reduced priced juice.  We still have coupons left and may not be able to use them up.

This year, it's plums.  We literally cannot pick the plums as quickly as they fall off the trees. Who knew we also had six plum trees? The branches are weighted down with an abundance of plums and all around women (mostly) are baking plum cakes to eat (with potato soup, a local specialty) and to freeze for the winter.  As do I.

There are also blackberries.  While we were gone, my Mom already turned loads of them into jam.  The ones that are ripening now are eaten off the bush by the kids and us.  Creating childhood memories.

I want to jar some tomato sauce from our tomatoes which are so sweet and juicy, I will never be able to buy tasteless cloned Holland tomatoes ever again.  Quince which beckon to be turned into jelly (David's favorite).  A single apple tree sagging under the weight of  little red apples.  The pear tree with big yellow pears.  Rowan berries and elderberries, herbs to be frozen and dried for the long winter, flowers to be picked...

I love autumn.

We're leaving, on a jet plane

So.  We've not gone crazy yet, and we can say: Yes, it's totally possible to travel with four kids and have tremendous amounts of fun.  Even if one of your kids has ADHD (and we're suspecting another case after this trip but we shall see about that).  Even if you have a teething, mostly miserable newly-minted toddler with you.  Even if one of your kids screams for his Oma at the top of his lungs whenever something goes against his wishes.

We had a great time and we will do it again.  To alleviate the troubles with the hotel rooms -- there were none, really, but we were very lucky to get a one-bedroom suite with Priceline for our last night in New York City -- I found a great website: Six Suitcase Travel.  Here one can find lists with hotels that accommodate six per room(s).  I wished I had know of this site before we started out.  The single most important lesson of this trip is that you do not want to have a tiny closet-sized room in a dingy hotel for those first jet-lagged nights.  Even if it's in a great location and at a great prize. 

Speaking of six suitcases: The other great result was that traveling lightly was the best idea we ever had.  We traveled with two suitcases - one for our stuff and one for our purchases on the way.  Once in DC, we got two more backpacks out of storage and added a duffel bag - so now we're up to five suitcases.  But that's only for the trip back and because we carry so much stuff home. (Mostly clothing, as kids' clothes are cheaper in the US).  But the system with only two T-shirts and two pairs of pants, and one sweater worked great. It helped that we didn't need any jackets.  I'm refining my packing system, though: Instead of giving everybody a packing cube for their own clothes, I will assign cubes to types of clothing: One for underwear and socks, one for T-shirts, and so on.  We had to unpack all the cubes anyway and it made laundry more difficult.

But I'm babbling.  We're in NYC and it's raining, the baby is taking a nap and the boys are off with Doug for last minute (toy) purchases.  Here are some impressions from our trip - you can find more in my Flickr stream (link on the sidebar).

More once we're actually home!