Vacation in Virginia

We are over half way to Virginia and my girls are still sleeping. We put on over 500 miles yesterday and will have a nice scenic ride today. We are all excited to be in a different place and meet new people, make new friends. It'll be nice to see people that I am facebook friends with but otherwise haven't met yet! So we are on our second day of journeys and I don't know if we'll have internet access for posting.

A funny: While I was routing the trip on Rand McNally, Bayat says to me, "Mommy, we should have just flown, it's going to take too long" She's actually enjoying the drive and noticing some different things from what we have at home. At one point around Chicago, she said for us to look at the power towers and notice how some of them looked like flowers and others looked like rockets! Pretty imaginative I'd say! We head into the mountains of the Appalachia today and I've not been in the part of the world before, so I'm pretty excited. I'm hoping to try out my new camera a bit!

How's the weather you ask?

Good Tuesday morning~

I just have to admit I am NOT a good routine poster! I don't make the time to post everyday and by the time I realize I've not posted, it's way past bedtime! Life is happening and well. . . . . .

So it's Tuesday and we are getting ready to head out to Virginia tomorrow for the Ethiopian Heritage and Culture Camp. . We are all very excited. We are busy readying the van, getting clothes and stuff packed, etc.

We've had excessive heat warnings here in the midwest and yesterday was the beginning of a string of very hot days. (heat indexes to 112). The humidity is getting everyone. To make matters worse, wast week on our way home from Minnesota and the Mehaber I started with a tickle in my throat. I started drinking Airborne hoping the tickle would just go away.


It did not go away. Last Monday, Fenric and I attempted to run, only getting in 1.5 miles before I thought my lungs were going to pop out of my chest. I tried to believe it was just a common summer cold, as it seems I cannot escape any summer without a stupid cold. . . so procrastinated going to the clinic. By Thursday, my body was not functioning like 'normal' and I went to the clinic. I have bronchitis. Really? In the middle of the summer, bronchitis! I was thinking perhaps a sinus infection and was hoping for a quick fix. The docs won't consider a sinus infection unless you've been suffering for at least 10 days!! I was only on day 5!! Really, bronchitis? Two weeks for it to be done. It's a virus, so no antibiotics, just wait it out and make me comfortable! So I have a really cool inhaler (hear the sarcasm here) to use every 4-6 hours and it is helping, but the humidity is making it really difficult to breath. I now understand better than ever what people with asthma go through on these days!


So my DH prefers the heat to air conditioning. He lives for 90+ degree weather and still will be found wearing a long sleeved shirt to work. And for the most part, I'm usually good with that. But Sunday night it was wet and sticky and thick in my house. We let the girls sleep in the basement, where it's always cooler and they think it's an adventure, and my DH slept in our room. I started out in the living room with the gigantic fan, moved to the basement and finally landed in our room about 3:30 am. Needless to say I didn't sleep. So my DH's profession requires him to be on call 24/7 and at 4:30 A.M. he got a call. So he showers, dresses and realizes that he too is having a hard time dressing when he can't get dry so he turns on the air conditioner!! YEA!! Fast forward to when everyone gets up! It's not as humid in the house, but it's still in the high 80's and not cooling down! After some initial investigation, we conclude that the air conditioner is not working properly! UGH! Really, bronchitis, wet and sticky and now the air is NOT working! This is NOT good. I'm glad that the girls and I are planning a power shopping trip to Madison for trip preparations. At least we'll be in the van and the stores where the air is working!!

Fast forward to coming home: The HVAC guy is sitting in his air conditioned truck writing up the bill when we arrive home with our goodies. It's really a small price to pay to have the air conditioning working and comfortable quarters to sleep in. I'd really prefer to not have the air on either, except for this time I'm having a difficult time breathing and that is making for a somewhat grumpy mommy!

So now that our house is cooled off and we are all functioning within normal limits, life is good! I am thankful that we have air conditioning and think about those who don't and/or about those folks that are working outside in this weather! This is crazy heat.

Tuesday: the day before Wednesday; the last day of work for DH before vacation begins; day of preparation for vacation, making sure the packing list is complete and begin to pack and check it off; the day after Monday; a long day of meetings for DH daytime and evening.

Like I said we are excited about going to camp and I'm going to bring the laptop and hope that I can get wireless somewhere. . . I bought a new fancy camera (really a small point and shoot) and am excited to play a little with it. Easier to use and upload pictures! This IS Good! Lots of swimming in rambling thoughts today, but it's a post!

I know wordless wednesday but. . . .

I've been thinking about the blog. . . and I've been feeling icky since last week and haven't been feeling like posting, thinking and sometimes want to stay in bed. . . I feel like it should be winter time and I should be wrapped up in a blanket with a fire in the fireplace, but that's not the case. Instead my hubby is sitting on the couch eating chocolate cheerios and watching Battlestar Galactica (sp?) and I'm attempting to write something. . . Have a great night all~

Fenric & his pool!

The Mehaber

Blog entry for July 9, 2011: There is an annual Mehaber in Minnesota at their state fair grounds. It’s a day event, about 5 hours long and there are vendors, Ethiopian food, Ethiopian goods to buy like clothes, jewelry, coffee, spices, etc. There are also organizations there supporting causes, like water well building projects.

We attended last year and had an enjoyable time, so thought we would do it again. My in-laws have a place up north Wisconsin, so it makes the drive time bearable, a little over two hours. We always take pictures before we go because we often forget to take pictures while we are busy “doing”. We did manage to take some pictures as you can see. . .




The program on the big stage seemed more organized this year. The stage was full of song and dance and there was even a gentleman who planned to read a poem in four different Ethiopian languages and then in English. We arrived and of course it was all about the food, so we got our name tags and then proceeded to find Ethiopian food. The girls each ate a very big adult sized plate of food! I sometimes feel like they lose their minds when they smell ET food and some instinctual behaviors take over. Anyway, then the shopping began. We found some great beaded necklaces and bracelets that support women in Ethiopia. Their organization is called Global Team Local Initiatives (GTLI) and their website is www.gtli.us. They have some cool projects, go take a look. Another organization called Empowering Ethiopian Children by Education was present. They were selling jewelry and bags to support the children’s education. They currently support 20 children and their first full week of school was held November 2010. Go check them out too!

I did manage to get a spice list from Workinesh Spice Blends, Inc. They don’t have a website, so I was hoping they would be at the Mehaber. They are still working on a website, but if you call them with an order, it’ll be shipped the next day! They are located in MN and their phone number is 952-303-6710. We also bought some t-shirts and a wall hanging of an Ethiopian women weaving a basket! Very cool. . . .

We didn’t manage to get to the two water projects, but the ones represented at the Mehaber were Water to Thrive and Mudula Water . We wanted to listen to the one speaker near Gondar, but lost track of time and missed the session. So it’s online searching we go. .

We sat and watched the little kids (K-2, so 5-7 years old) dance to Ethiopian music. We then listened to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church choir sing traditional songs with drums. It was calming and we really enjoyed it. We visited the churches booth and they let the girls put on traditional Ethiopian church clothes for us to take a picture.

So for the last hour, we let the girls go and play on all the inflatable stuff (slides, jump houses, etc.) since they are kids and they can’t sit and listen and watch all day. . . .so off we went to spread out a blanket for the grown ups and watch the little girls play! At the close of the event, we drove back to the cabin, all having a great day!

An excursion to the woods

So these are writings from the weekend! I am just now getting them up. . . I've been feeling under the weather since Saturday evening and well. . . just haven't posted! So here are some posts. . .

June 8, 2011: We manage to finally get to the cabin up in the deep deep woods, (not really that deep, but no internet, so deep enough) about 7:00 ish. . . We unload and rearrange and then go out for dinner as planned. It’s late for the girls and for that matter all of us to be eating that late, but we do and then come home and crash! It’s going to be an exciting day on Saturday. Side note: I always envision things a certain way, for example, leaving at a specific time planning for certain activities, etc. Even though I try my darnest to get things done, packed and loaded it never seems possible to leave ON TIME! It was even hard with just the two of us, but now with two little people it’s even more fun!! Fenric the dog is easy and he has his own little bag for all his belongings!