Back to the road trip...Minnesota reunion for 4 days

Only 3 hours of driving...woohoo!!  We ended up in Osage, MN on Straight Lake where my dad grew up.  My grandma, aunt, uncles, and cousins all joined us and we packed every one in tight.  We had 3 cabins, one very large one and two tiny ones but we all seemed to have a bed to sleep on.  My dad BBQd while we were there.  Walleye, ribs, burgers and bacon.  We all pitched in to help with food prep.  It was a wonderful time!  The kids played on the play ground and in the lake and had a blast!!

yummy, grandpa's BBQ

grandpa's ribs are finger lickin good

This was my first time managing D on the road other than day trips.  I packed a ton of stuff too becuase you never know what is going to happen with D.  We did temp basal increases for the time in the car.  Our endo recommended for Bekah to go +110%.  I was nervous, especially with no CGM but it worked like a charm.  The challenge was then the activity once we got to the hotel with swimming and laughing with cousins we had a few lows before I had a plan.  Bekah wore her pump in the pool and the lake and I wasn't sure if she would so I had a frio pack for it to go in to keep the insulin from getting skunky.  I kept the extra insulin in a frio pack when we were on the road and put it in the fridge on the days we were at the cabin.  I had Lantus and Novolog just in case of a pump malfunction. 

Minnesota was a different ball game becuase the activity was constant so we did temp basal decreases of 60% (it wouldn't let me go lower becuase her basals are tiny) and then we had to wake her up for a juice most nights on top of it all (not low but 80s).

I chose to do my best to keep D in the background.  I wanted Bekah to live and have fun and not have be the center of attention as I carefully weighed all of her food.  I swagged every meal (and did great! sorry to brag but I was pretty proud).   We just rolled with it the whole time.  I had her kit with her at all times but didn't make a big deal of it.

the two Jasons just hangin

my grandma in the middle with 6 of her 8 grandkids

There was one time when Bekah was playing on a swing that hung from a tree when she hit the tree and her site pulled out.  I felt terrible for her in that moment.  The kids were all staring and worried (other than family) and wondering what was going on.  Bekah hates attention so I nonchalantly answered their questions, cleaned up the blood and mess and she put in a new site.  Then she went about her business playing.

There was one time when I thought I was going to pee my pants.  I was the only adult at the playground watching David.  Bekah's sugar stash was gone (didn't realize that) in her kit and she had a low.  All I could do was put my 9 year old niece in charge of David ( and Bekah)and run back to get some sugar.  I had to pee but didn't want to stop for that luxury (when your child is low and you gotta pee there are priorities and it doesn't matter how bad you have to go, peeing is not a priority at that momnet).  Luckily my bladder held out until Jason got back from the store to check on me.  It was close though.

While we were in Minnesota we went to a parade in Park Rapids.  My uncle has a store selling pellet stoves and he had a float in the parade.  He had restored my great grandpa's tractor and was driving that with some stoves on the back.  It was a very fun small town event on the 4th of July.

Uncle Bob driving the rebuilt tractor

All 17 of us

The Plane is on the Ground

We interrupt this road trip to bring you some current news.  We picked up our pup on Monday night at PDX.  The local news was there and they did a little story.  I look like a total dweeb in part of it where I say "the plane is on the ground".  My husband won't quit teasing me about it.  He will randomly chat or text me "the plane is on the ground".  He is not trying to be mean, he knows it'll make me laugh.  I was so impressed at how well my shy girl did at talking to them and the edits they made to make her look like a pro!  Unless you know her, you would have no idea how super shy she is.  I wanted to share it here (many of you have already seen it on FB) along with some puppy love photos.  Click here for the news story.

here comes Dee Boghetti our master trainer with Sarah in hand

hand feeding to create a good binding experience

Road trip day 5 (not so boring South Dakota)

As we parted ways to go to our rooms on Day 4, my sister said, "oh yay we get to drive through boring South Dakota tomorrow."  Day 5 our final destination was Fargo, ND.  We got up and left at different times.  One sister and her family wanted to stop at Wall Drug and the Corn Palace.  The other sister's kids had not had much swim time so their goal was to get to the hotel as soon as possible so they could swim.  My husband is a night owl and just wanted to take our time getting out of the hotel so he didn't get sleepy while driving.  For our family stopping as little as possible is what works best.  Once the two year old is out of his car seat then he is done and it is a fight to get him back in that seat.

I don't recall now what time we left the hotel, just that it was much later than I wanted to leave.  My sisters had looked up the hotel the night before and seen that our next stop had not just a regular pool but a water park.  I wanted the kids to get to swim too although they had had a lot of that since we started in the lead and stayed at an extra place along the route.  I was grumpy and irritated and like any husband trying to appease his wife who was in a hurry to get where we were going, my husband put the pedal to the metal.  We were traveling only a tad bit faster than traffic (going about 10 over) when we saw the lights and heard the siren behind us.  Once pulled over the cop kindly asked my husband to step out of the car and follow him.  It seemed like an eternity as I looked out the back window at not one but 3 cars, with drug sniffing dogs and the whole nine yards.  Bekah starts crying.  David is screaming to get out.  A little more excitement than I would like. 

Finally Jason returned to the car, ticket in hand.  Apparently there is a drug ring out of Washington state traveling across the country smuggling drugs.  It was the Washington plates that tipped the cop off and he was ecstatic to have pulled over a family from Washington and interrogate them. (I bet he got a bonus doughnut for that one)  We were stopped for about 15-20 minutes total.  (Remember that it is important later)

Determined not to speed anymore we set the cruise for 4 over so we could still make some progress.  As we were traveling we could see the clouds getting darker.  My sister sent me a text to turn on the radio.  There were storm warnings that soon turned in to tornado warnings.  We trudged ahead.  My parents along with one sister were about an hour in front of us and my other sister was with in a couple of miles after they had to stop for 15 to 20 minutes for my nephew to poop.

We got to a place on the road where there were 6 semi trucks flipped over, one right after another.  They all didn't even have emergency teams there yet.  We missed the tornado/high winds by about 15 minutes.  Chills??  I still have them when I think about it.  $150 ticket might have saved our lives and poop saved my sister and her family.

Once we got to Fargo we all breathed a sigh of relief and gave my sister a bad time for calling South Dakota boring.  The kids played for 2 hours in the pool.  It was so fun!!

cousins after swimming

A storm chaser video taped some of the storm that we drove through click here to view it

Today is THE day!

When I saw Meri's Lawton on her blog, the dream of having a diabetes alert dog for Bekah began.  We still have a ways to go with fund raising and the company we have chosen to go through has been amazing. 

Today Bekah turns 8!  Today our new alert dog will arrive!  Today we launch a website that my husband made for Bekah to help pay off her dog as well as educate and keep those who are curious up to date on our progress and life with our new service dog.

http://www.bekahssupersniffer.com

Stay tuned for many pictures and fun experiences with our pup!  I will share here some but mostly doggie stuff will be shared on that site.

Road trip days 3 and 4

(This post is picture heavy, I found my camera hiding in the stroller when we got home.  I put it there in the Black Hills so this is where most of my photos are from)
We woke up in Butte, MT on the third day of our road trip and went downstairs for breakfast (we had free continental breakfast at each place we stayed and this one was a huge buffet).  As Bekah was checking her BG I could feel the elderly man at the next table watching.  In a minute he got up and came over and talked to us.  "That's not new to me, I have had the sugar for many years. I was 43 this morning, plumb nearly passed out."  (read with a not think drawl but slight southern accent) He was so cute and so sweet. (His wife was equally as cute and sweet) We talked D for quite some time.  He was very interested in Bekah's pump and I gave him quite an education about it.  He left excited to talk to his doctor about getting on a pump himself. 

Today our mission was to drive to Keystone,WY.  We got there in time to enjoy some delicious pizza along the "strip" in Keystone.  I love the Old West atmosphere in Keystone.  We stayed the night and spent the next day doing the tourist thing.  Mt. Rushmore was first on the list and my brother-in-law is an 8th grade history teacher so we didn't just do the "hey looks it's 4 heads on the side of a mountain" thing.  We went on the guided tour around the mountain and really got in to it.  David was not really in to it so I skipped some of the tour to keep him from completely melting down.

Mt. Rushmore in all her glory

Megan is into planking (this is a bust of the creator of the beautiful detailed work on the mt)

Cousins resting

the Timm clan

our tour guide

Josh loves video editing so he was getting some footage

poor little bored guy

my little planker

Bekah posing for a photo op (I cut the heads off of the mt but got the important part, my girl ;) )

my parents with all 9 of their grand-kids

Bear Country was next.  We started out seeing some random wildlife.  Then we turned a corner and there were bears everywhere! 

nice rack

oops I accidentally caught this guy relieving himself

bring on the bears

you'll have to excuse the quality these were taken through the widows in the car (I'm no fool)

a random bison

I could have watched the baby bears all day

pretty scenery all over

Next we hit downtown Keystone to do some window/souvenir shopping and get some dinner.  We started at a buffet and saw the prices so we went across the street to Teddy's Deli.  Best decision ever!   The service at Teddy's was great and the Reuben was the very best I have ever had.  Yummers!! 

"honk"  David had to honk Abe's nose

my brother-in-law and I enjoying the best Reuben either of have ever had

We  were going to head to Mt. Crazy Horse next but got caught in a down pour and enjoyed watching the thunderstorm instead.  The next morning at breakfast I spotted a teenager with a pump clipped to her jeans.  Megan was mortified (she is 13 I guess it's allowed) that I got up and went to talk to this family.  The mom was a bit caught off guard but was friendly none the less.  Her daughter was dx 10 years ago.  She assured me that packing and trips become second nature just like bolusing for a meal is now.  I would have loved to share pics of those random D meet ups that we had but I didn't want to come across as a total freak so I kept my phone in my pocket.  =)

Road trip

Two weeks ago today we returned from the most amazing road trip!  13 days prior to that 17 of us (my parents, my sisters and their families and our family) packed up and went about 1,800 miles to the lake my daddy grew up on, Straight Lake in Osage, MN for a family reunion and then back again.  We had three vehicles, 2 mini vans and an SUV along with a U-Haul trailer to carry extra stuff.  We made stops in Butte, MT and then spent a day in Keystone at Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills.  We stopped for the night again in Fargo and then hit our destination for 4 nights.  Back on the road we stayed in Dickenson, ND, West Yellowstone stopping most of a day, Idaho Falls and back home. 

I wish I would have taken more time to make notes so I could do a better job blogging it all.  I will try over the next few weeks to throw in a bit here and there about our trip.  One post won't do it justice. 

My family of 6 had the most children in one vehicle and we decided to leave the night before everyone else and stop half way in Coeur d'alene.  It was a great decision.  We had spent the whole day packing and loading and the kids were excited to get going.  We spent the late evening traveling across the state.  This was good on so many levels because being the first leg it got the kids used to being in the car, it was night so they slept most of it and it made for a shorter trip the next day.  The best part of staying in Coeur d'alene was that we got to have lunch with a dear friend whom I had not seen in about six or seven years. 

I did not take any photos in this spot but I found this one on-line and I think this is the exact table where we sat and ate a picnic lunch at City Park.

After lunch we leisurely made our way to Butte, MT to meet up at the hotel with my parents, sisters and their families.  It was a great start to what could have been an arduous day.  

Happy Birthday Megan (11 days late)

 

On July 6th, Megan turned 13! (I am a little late)  We were driving through Bismark, ND on Megan's birthday and stopped to visit with my best friend and her family.  They had cake and ice cream to celebrate Megan and a giant, singing balloon (it didn't last long as an extra passenger in our car becuase they girls felt squished sharing their car space).  We enjoyed dinner together at Golden Corral (we lived in Florida for a short time and GC became one of their favorite places to go out to eat so ever since my kids have been searching for one and sadly there is not one close to us but they were so excited to find one along the way on our road trip)

I can't believe that I now have two teenagers.

Megan is turning in to an amazing lady, she is fun and creative! 

Happy Birthday Megan, I am so proud of the woman you are becoming, your siblings are lucky to have such a fun, caring sister.  I am glad God chose you for our family!  I love you lots!

it's been too long

Sorry it's been so long since I have update my blog.  I miss you guys!  I have been wanting to blog about our trip but my camera got lost and it's just not the same to just tell you about it, I need to show you photos of the fun as well. (I am hoping it will turn up or my sisters will share their photos with me)

No sooner did we arrive home than the nesting started as I unpacked and did laundry and scrubbed floors, walls, and bathrooms to change gears and get ready for our pup.  I have done about 20 loads of laundry this week (washed, dried and put snugly away), changed beds, bleached and magic eraser-ed walls, scrubbed bathrooms and linoleum, clean out and scrubbed the inside of the fridge, reorganized the playroom, cleared out a place for Sarah's crate, cleaned the carpets, pulled the cushions off the couches and vacuumed under them.  Now I just need to get new burner pans for the clean stove and reorganize the pantry. 

It may have been the arrival of the dog that motivated me but it was finally seeing the dirt that kept me going.  We lost our dog and had David the same week (I always give myself a year of grace after having a baby to wait to deep clean as caring for and nursing a newborn are the priority).  Only a few weeks after David turned one, diabetes came in to our world and I have been in a fog.  I am not a slob by any stretch of the imagination but I have been happy to keep my house surface cleaned.  I let the dust pile up under the couch and pretended it wasn't there (really I couldn't see it becuase I was so engulfed in diabetes and carb counts, insulin to carb ratios, basal rates etc).  It feels so good to have a clean, really clean house.

It has also helped that my children have been busy with the trampoline that their grandma had set up as a surprise when we got home from our vacation.  (no pics sorry, I miss my camera)  The girls both have July birthdays so it was a combined gift for them and has proven to be just as much a gift for me.  I am used to having a whiny toddler following me around preventing me from getting much done.  Now he is out with one of the kids almost constantly bouncing and giggling.  (I love my little guy but being able to have both arms free as I watch him have fun is nice)

Today we got a box in the mail from Sarah's breeder.  It was quite large and contained treats galore, collars, a leash, a plethora of dog toys and a dog bed.  It was packed with packing peanuts which are now scattered all over my house.  My kids had a bast digging in to the box and taking out one item at a time to ooh and ahh over.  Then they dove in the box and it became a car, a bus a train etc.  Hours of fun were had. I love that it's just a little clutter on freshly cleaned carpet and will be simple to wisk the mess away and a clean house will remain. 

I hope to update about our amazing vacay soon but for now I will just move forward with our doggy adventure.  Super Sniffer Sarah will arrive in just 11 days. 

our local news paper

We are still on the road having an amazing trip of a lifetime.  I will blog about it all when I get back to my computer and have a moment to process it all.  I want to share with you an article that our local paper ran about our puppy that is being delivered on Bekah's 8th birthday!  =)  We still have more fundraising to do and have plans to work hard the rest of this summer and over the next year or so to pay off this precious pooch.

Here is the link:    
http://www.columbian.com/news/2011/jul/04/dog-can-guard-girl-from-dangers-within/