Birthdays and Butterflies

“The butterfly effect is very interesting,” Pop Pop tells us as he heaps a serving of potatoes onto his plate.

“I’ve heard of that,” Jack chimes in. “It’s the idea that a butterfly flapping its wings could alter the path of a hurricane.” You just never know what the topic of conversation might be when you visit with Pop Pop and Grammy Carolyn. One day it’s quantum physics, the next day it’s baseball. Today is my birthday and, as I reflect on the past year and look ahead, I’ve been thinking about our conversation about the butterfly effect, in which small changes in initial conditions can lead to big and unpredictable results.

2017 is shaping up to be a year with quite a bit of wing fluttering. Katherine is learning to drive while Jack considers his college choices. I am hoping to complete my Endorsement in ESL this spring, so I could look for a new job teaching English Language Learners. Big Pa will start radiation to fight the cancer tumors in his body. Our niece is planning her wedding. It’s a lot. It’s exciting, and scary, and exhilarating to move into a year with so many milestones and unknowns on the horizon. It makes me teary-eyed with gratitude and sappy with nostalgia to reflect on how short, and precious, life is.  

That may be why the little book of “150 Love Notes” caught my eye as I was shopping for gifts at The Paper Source. I bought it as a birthday present to myself. One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to deliver these notes throughout this year to friends and family. To help them realize that, whether they know it or not, they fluttered their wings, and made a difference in my life. 

A little birthday fun at Mount Vernon. 

Smoke Alarms and Flip Flops

I took the day off today and by “off” I mean pack lunches/ physical therapy/ school sub plans/ eye doctor/ bank/ oil change/ grocery store/ clean house/ respond to work emails/ laundry/ unload dishwasher/ take Katherine to dentist/ drop off and pickup Katherine from cross country/ cook dinner/ clean kitchen/ plan lessons. It felt SO GOOD!

As this is my 10^th year balancing teaching with parenting, the challenges of September are not new to me. (Remember September vs. Allison?) And as much as I try to prepare, each year’s challenges are unique. This year, I have 29 amazing fifth graders to love. The good news: to help support all the different levels and learning styles, our class qualifies for two special education teachers and an ESOL teacher. The bad news: these three positions have yet to be hired. This is out of my control, so I just keep doing what I can do, one day at a time.

I love this bunch!

I spend a lot of time trying to balance work and home and I distract myself thinking about it all. Last week I drove to Physical Therapy to run and realized I was still wearing my flip flops. This week I tried to get a jump start on dinner by roasting a chicken while preparing for work. I opened the oven to check in and a huge poof of smoke came billowing out. “Please don’t set off the smoke alarm,” I thought as I started frantically fanning the cloud.

Beeeeeeeep, beeeeeep.   Too late.

So, when Paul ran out to the kitchen at 6:00 am to find me in my PJs waving dishtowels in the air, I could only turn, smile, and say, “Dinner’s ready!”

One of my teammates is back at work this September for the first time since having a baby. It’s not easy. “I just feel like a failure,” she mentioned as she stuffed her bag full of papers that needed grading. “I don’t understand how everyone else does this.”

Pssst—here’s our secret. We don’t. We try, but we end up burning chicken and running in flip flops. We make choices and prioritize. Sometimes that means eating Fritos and a candy bar for dinner so we’re not late to our son’s game. Sometimes it means falling asleep at 8:00 pm instead of folding laundry. We support each other and we laugh and we drink too much coffee and too much wine.  We lose ourselves in the moments that really matter--with our students, our families, and friends.

And sometimes, we take a “sick” day to stay healthy.

72 Hours in Minneapolis

My friend Chrissy is amazingly energetic, adventurous, and fun. She's also got a bit of a competitive side...which is why I really should of thought it through when I sent her a list of 21 possible ideas for our trip to Minnesota.  She took it as a challenge.  So, over the course of 3 days, we really got to know and love quite a bit of what Minneapolis has to offer. If you are headed that way, we highly recommend the following:

1. Relax on the patio of Tugg's Tavern at Saint Anthony Main enjoying a local brew and a stuffed burger while taking in the riverfront and skyline views.

2. Rent bikes from Tangletown Bike Shop and complete a 14 mile loop around Lake Harriet, Lake Calhoun, and Lake of the Isles.

3. Stroll through a Japanese peace garden and the country's second oldest public rose garden.

stopping to smell the roses and count the sunny days

4. Enjoy lawn bowling on roof of Brit's Pub. (Well, we didn't actually bowl. But we enjoyed seeing others "roll the bowls.")

5. Dine at Monte Carlo under the festive patio lights.

6. Sit under the stars and watch a movie in Loring Park...such a cool concept to have a live band playing during the silent 1929 black and white film, Man with A Movie Camera. We lasted about 10 minutes.

7. Sip fancy schmancy cocktails at a "secret speakeasy" (well, it's on Trip Advisor, so not really) at Prohibition on the 27th floor of the W at Foshay.

8. Check out happy hour at a few local hot spots within walking distance of our hotel.

9. Travel via Minneapolis Skyway System--those handy enclosed pedestrian footbridges get lots of use in the winter, I'm sure!

10. Flagship Target Store...because who doesn't love a good trip to Target

11. Minneapolis Institute of Art...otherwise known as Mia. We loved seeing some favorite artists here.

12. Play mini-golf at the Walker art museum. This may be the first and last time I ever beat Chrissy in anything.

13. Contemplate modern art at the Walker. Some of the art took more contemplation than others. Like the drywall we thought was part of the construction, which was actually part of the exhibit.

14. Sculpture Garden (sorta) The famous garden is under construction and looks like it will be amazing when it reopens next year. In the meantime, we managed to peek through the construction to find the iconic spoon and cherry sculpture.

15. Minnehaha Falls...because I just couldn't wait to hike up and down another flight of steps as part of my knee surgery recovery plan.

16. Mill City Museum--we rode in a grain elevator to tour this old flour mill

17. Arch Bridge--bike, walk, or just enjoy the view

18. Betty Dangers Country Club...where you can eat dinner on a ferris wheel

19. South Pacific at the Guthrie Theater

20. Mall of America. I must confess that I wasn't initially excited about this one. I mean, we have Tyson's Corner...why would I want to shop at a mall on my vacation. Fast forward to 5 hours later and we were like Odysseus' men in the land of the Lotus Eaters. We shopped, we ate, we played with Legos, we even went to a theme park in the middle of the mall.

21. Dueling Pianos at The Shout House..and it was 90's night!

I'm so thankful to Chrissy for making this adventure with me to my 37th state. I'm recovering well from knee surgery but am still not 100% and she was a patient friend as I hobbled around. As much as we were able to enjoy in our jam-packed three days, we still couldn't see everything. People kept suggesting more places to see, to eat, to explore. And we returned home on the day the fair began, although locals insisted it would be worth it to postpone our flight and stay another day. Minneapolis, thank you for your friendly hospitality. I'll be back again someday, you betcha!

Hello, Hawaii

Hello Hawaii! Our hotel has beautiful birds to greet us.

It is hard to believe this trip even happened. Several years ago, I developed a fear of flying. It was easy to plan trips close by, or make excuses about the kids' schedules, until I realized I had not been on a plane in 3 years...not even to see my mom in Colorado. When Paul mentioned a dream of a family vacation to Ireland, I decided I needed to face my fear. With a lot of hand holding and a lot of Xanax, we flew to Shannon in 2011 for an amazing family vacation.

Morning view from our hotel--The Grand Hyatt in Poipu

I had just turned 40, so maybe I was feeling reflective, or having a mid-life crisis, bitten by the travel bug, or just inspired by my successful flight...but I set a goal that year: to travel to all 50 states before I turn 50. I believe my social worker friends refer to this as "exposure therapy." Afraid of flying? Book a flight. In the past 5 years I have been to several new states, bringing my lifelong total to 35.

I thought about saving Hawaii for #50, but with two kids in high school, scheduling family travel isn't going to get any easier. Since Paul and I will be married 20 years this fall, we decided to schedule an anniversary trip/family vacation extravaganza!



On our way to Waimea Canyon

Once we decided on the state, the next big decision we had to make was, which island? We finally chose Kauai, also known as the Garden Isle, because it was a little less commercial than some of the larger islands. It was a fantastic trip, making it hard to narrow down the 250 pictures and countless memories to one blog post, but here goes:

Waimea Canyon
We drove along an 18 mile winding road to stop at several overlooks. Otherwise known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, this was a gorgeous introduction to Hawaii's scenery.





Na Pali Coast
In order to appreciate the vast beauty of the cliffs on the Western side of Kauai, we took a boat ride. The kids loved spotting sea turtles and dolphins, Paul loved the waves, and Allison loved getting off the boat. Just kidding, I did OK. Our boat captain was a native of Kauai and I loved all the stories he told, as well as the breathtaking views.

The Luau
Yes, it is a bit of an overpriced, touristy thing to do, but how could we come to Hawaii and not do the luau? The music, stories, and dancing were top notch and the food was all delicious...well, except the poi. I could have done without the poi. Next time, I'll skip the poi and go back to Jo Jo's for second helpings of shave ice.

Golf and Gardens
One day we split up and the boys played golf while the girls toured the Allerton Garden. If you ever go, ask for Juan to be your tour guide. We loved his mix of storytelling, history, and knowledge. The boys loved their day as well and Jack shot his first Eagle on the Poipu Golf Course.

See any dinosaur eggs, Katherine? Jurassic Park was filmed here.

 



Sacred Falls
The only way to get to this waterfall is by kayaking down the Wailua River and hiking through a muddy, rainforest-like terrain. And so we did.

 

Christmas Card, Check

Our hotel offered a complimentary photo shoot with a professional photographer. So, as an added bonus, I ordered a few pictures of our family. Beautiful souvenirs of an incredible trip with my family. And you'll be seeing this picture again in December!