The family and I went on a wonderful week long, away from everything-including hot running water and phone service-vacation to a charming lake in a charming bunch of wilderness. We had two delightful cottages close to each other-owned by the same family since 1947.
The son of the owner, an older gentleman himself, said he and his siblings recently added the two outdoor showers to the cottages, and later told their father about it. These showers were made of cedar and did have both hot and cold water in them. The cottages had only cold water in them.
This is not sounding nearly as delightful as it actually was. The cottages themselves were utterly charming. We were in a very wooded area on a lovely, quiet lake. The sound of the loons was quite interesting for the little ones, and they loved the lake. The shinny minnows fascinated them as they swam so close to shore.
With no T.V., phone or computer access, some of us were going a bit nuts, but others of us were quite content to leave these everyday annoyances behind for the week.
So we had my parents-whom we always vacation with-our three daughters, two grandchildren and my husband and me. One day we had my brother, his wife and two kids up. Then another day my mother-in-law came up for the day and stayed over night and left the following evening.
Youngest son was on a mission trip with church, which happened to be about 7 miles away from where we were staying. We searched for him, but he was back in the woods someplace and we didn't see him. So we were all vacationing close by, just not all together.
It was blissfully uneventful. I slept most of the week, which is something I'm not very good at. I am an insomniac and this past week just seemed to be the week of sleep for me. I'd wake up, we'd make breakfast, clean up, I'd start to read a book, and promptly fall asleep again. Sometimes waking in time to help make supper.
And the open air showers were pure bliss! Absolutely wonderful! I've asked my husband to build a couple outside so the kids can rinse off from the pool before coming inside, but really I just want to take showers outside in the fresh air. It was great!
All to soon the week came to an end. This morning we packed up our stuff and headed home...And that's when reality hit.
With a vengeance.
About 45 minutes into our trip, my precious little granddaughter (4 years old) said "Mommy I don't feel good", my daughter turned to her and my precious little one puked all over the place.
And continued to puke.
Several times while I wheeled it like Mario Andretti in for a pitstop into the first place I could find. As I grabbed the dog from running out of the car, my daughter got Leah out of the car seat.
I realized we were by a building with an OPEN sign on. I grabbed a towel from the back of the van and ran to the door. I asked the dear lady inside if she had a water faucet outside where I could get some water to clean up the little problem we were dealing with.
This delightful lady helped me, not only with water to clean Leah up with, but with a shirt for her to wear, and since her blankey was covered with "it", she brought Leah the most lovely baby blankey for her to take home. It was just the nicest thing ever.
Disaster taken care of. Disgusting but done.
About 20 minutes later, 7 year old grandson says "Mommy I don't feel good in my tummy..."
And promptly projectile vomits all over the place.
I mean ALL OVER THE PLACE.
Leah's vomit was nothing compared to the vomit sprinkler that was Anthony's.
And he managed to fill my open purse sitting on the floor between the two front seats, and covered the dog.
Now this is a serious mess. I again wheel it into the first place I see-with Anthony crying because it came out his nose and Leah yelling because some got on her foot.
And my daughter and I are wondering what on earth we ever did to deserve this.
When the dust clears, I am in what appears to be a storage rental place. Anthony is out of the car covered with yuck, the dog is shaking off yuck-which causes more yuck, Leah is yelling about her foot, daughter is throwing stuff out of the car and using some colorful language the kids can't hear because they are crying and yelling. I grab another towel and go in search of yet another outside water faucet.
I walk past a white jeep I did not notice before and inside are two delightful young people-very nice kids, I'm absolutely serious here-smoking pot. I ask if there is a water faucet around somewhere. They don't seem to think there is such a thing.
Two more young people come out of a smallish building which I thought was the office of the storage rental place, but, it turns out, is the home of the grandmother of the young man who just exited said building. He, too, has no idea about an outdoor water faucet. But, after some thought, seems to think there may be some water inside the home of his grandmother.
He will go inside to check.
He comes outside to inform me that yes, there is indeed water inside the home of his grandmother.
He goes back inside.
Moments later he comes out with water in an empty icecream bucket. Followed by his grandmother. And his girlfriend with a gallon sized ziplock bag filled with what I can only assume is OREGANO.
The two in the jeep are joined by the grandson (with the icecream bucket of water) and the girlfriend with the OREGANO. They seem to have plans to leave, which I certainly would do, except I was stripping my grandson down to wash him, then the dog, then Leah's foot so she would stop screaming, then the inside of the van, then the mess that was between the seats, oh and all over the back of the seats, and...oh, hell with it. You get the idea.
Anyway the four of them were leaving, but OREGANO girl for some reason just climbed in one side of the open jeep and climbed right out the other. With the very large bag of OREGANO in her hand the whole time. And then she sort of wandered aimlessly toward the house, but then off to the side of the house, then back to the front of the house, it was quite odd to witness.
All the while cleaning up The Vomit of 2014.
So after an inordinate amount of time and a huge amount of disgust, we are on our way again. We have kept the icecream bucket, a gracious gift from the grandson of the grandma of the storage unit people. But this trip is not over yet.
Oh no.
You see, we are caravaning behind my husband and the trailer he is pulling, my two middle daughters in their car, and then us in the van.
Middle daughters have to go potty. So we stop. And we wait. In a vomit covered van, in sweltering heat with no air conditioning and two unhappy children and a puke covered dog and my purse is filled with vomit. And neither my oldest daughter nor I are smelling our best at this point either.
And I look at her, she looks at me, and we laugh.
And laugh.
And laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh.
We laugh so hard we have tears rolling down our faces. Our stomachs ache, we laugh so much. The kids both start yelling "don't laugh at me!" but we're laughing to hard to tell them we're not laughing at them...
For the rest of the way home, every now and then one of us will just start laughing all over again...And when we finally get a grip, it starts up again...
At last we're minutes from home. We are so close, less than half a mile...Leah says "Mommy my tummy feels icky again..."
Thank goodness for an empty icecream bucket from the grandma with the grandson with the girlfriend with the gallon sized ziplock bag filled with OREGANO...
The son of the owner, an older gentleman himself, said he and his siblings recently added the two outdoor showers to the cottages, and later told their father about it. These showers were made of cedar and did have both hot and cold water in them. The cottages had only cold water in them.
This is not sounding nearly as delightful as it actually was. The cottages themselves were utterly charming. We were in a very wooded area on a lovely, quiet lake. The sound of the loons was quite interesting for the little ones, and they loved the lake. The shinny minnows fascinated them as they swam so close to shore.
With no T.V., phone or computer access, some of us were going a bit nuts, but others of us were quite content to leave these everyday annoyances behind for the week.
So we had my parents-whom we always vacation with-our three daughters, two grandchildren and my husband and me. One day we had my brother, his wife and two kids up. Then another day my mother-in-law came up for the day and stayed over night and left the following evening.
Youngest son was on a mission trip with church, which happened to be about 7 miles away from where we were staying. We searched for him, but he was back in the woods someplace and we didn't see him. So we were all vacationing close by, just not all together.
It was blissfully uneventful. I slept most of the week, which is something I'm not very good at. I am an insomniac and this past week just seemed to be the week of sleep for me. I'd wake up, we'd make breakfast, clean up, I'd start to read a book, and promptly fall asleep again. Sometimes waking in time to help make supper.
And the open air showers were pure bliss! Absolutely wonderful! I've asked my husband to build a couple outside so the kids can rinse off from the pool before coming inside, but really I just want to take showers outside in the fresh air. It was great!
All to soon the week came to an end. This morning we packed up our stuff and headed home...And that's when reality hit.
With a vengeance.
About 45 minutes into our trip, my precious little granddaughter (4 years old) said "Mommy I don't feel good", my daughter turned to her and my precious little one puked all over the place.
And continued to puke.
Several times while I wheeled it like Mario Andretti in for a pitstop into the first place I could find. As I grabbed the dog from running out of the car, my daughter got Leah out of the car seat.
I realized we were by a building with an OPEN sign on. I grabbed a towel from the back of the van and ran to the door. I asked the dear lady inside if she had a water faucet outside where I could get some water to clean up the little problem we were dealing with.
This delightful lady helped me, not only with water to clean Leah up with, but with a shirt for her to wear, and since her blankey was covered with "it", she brought Leah the most lovely baby blankey for her to take home. It was just the nicest thing ever.
Disaster taken care of. Disgusting but done.
About 20 minutes later, 7 year old grandson says "Mommy I don't feel good in my tummy..."
And promptly projectile vomits all over the place.
I mean ALL OVER THE PLACE.
Leah's vomit was nothing compared to the vomit sprinkler that was Anthony's.
And he managed to fill my open purse sitting on the floor between the two front seats, and covered the dog.
Now this is a serious mess. I again wheel it into the first place I see-with Anthony crying because it came out his nose and Leah yelling because some got on her foot.
And my daughter and I are wondering what on earth we ever did to deserve this.
When the dust clears, I am in what appears to be a storage rental place. Anthony is out of the car covered with yuck, the dog is shaking off yuck-which causes more yuck, Leah is yelling about her foot, daughter is throwing stuff out of the car and using some colorful language the kids can't hear because they are crying and yelling. I grab another towel and go in search of yet another outside water faucet.
I walk past a white jeep I did not notice before and inside are two delightful young people-very nice kids, I'm absolutely serious here-smoking pot. I ask if there is a water faucet around somewhere. They don't seem to think there is such a thing.
Two more young people come out of a smallish building which I thought was the office of the storage rental place, but, it turns out, is the home of the grandmother of the young man who just exited said building. He, too, has no idea about an outdoor water faucet. But, after some thought, seems to think there may be some water inside the home of his grandmother.
He will go inside to check.
He comes outside to inform me that yes, there is indeed water inside the home of his grandmother.
He goes back inside.
Moments later he comes out with water in an empty icecream bucket. Followed by his grandmother. And his girlfriend with a gallon sized ziplock bag filled with what I can only assume is OREGANO.
The two in the jeep are joined by the grandson (with the icecream bucket of water) and the girlfriend with the OREGANO. They seem to have plans to leave, which I certainly would do, except I was stripping my grandson down to wash him, then the dog, then Leah's foot so she would stop screaming, then the inside of the van, then the mess that was between the seats, oh and all over the back of the seats, and...oh, hell with it. You get the idea.
Anyway the four of them were leaving, but OREGANO girl for some reason just climbed in one side of the open jeep and climbed right out the other. With the very large bag of OREGANO in her hand the whole time. And then she sort of wandered aimlessly toward the house, but then off to the side of the house, then back to the front of the house, it was quite odd to witness.
All the while cleaning up The Vomit of 2014.
So after an inordinate amount of time and a huge amount of disgust, we are on our way again. We have kept the icecream bucket, a gracious gift from the grandson of the grandma of the storage unit people. But this trip is not over yet.
Oh no.
You see, we are caravaning behind my husband and the trailer he is pulling, my two middle daughters in their car, and then us in the van.
Middle daughters have to go potty. So we stop. And we wait. In a vomit covered van, in sweltering heat with no air conditioning and two unhappy children and a puke covered dog and my purse is filled with vomit. And neither my oldest daughter nor I are smelling our best at this point either.
And I look at her, she looks at me, and we laugh.
And laugh.
And laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh.
We laugh so hard we have tears rolling down our faces. Our stomachs ache, we laugh so much. The kids both start yelling "don't laugh at me!" but we're laughing to hard to tell them we're not laughing at them...
For the rest of the way home, every now and then one of us will just start laughing all over again...And when we finally get a grip, it starts up again...
At last we're minutes from home. We are so close, less than half a mile...Leah says "Mommy my tummy feels icky again..."
Thank goodness for an empty icecream bucket from the grandma with the grandson with the girlfriend with the gallon sized ziplock bag filled with OREGANO...