The Odegaard family: in progress: Our "First" Family Vacation

As a family, we love to travel to visit other people--friends and relatives alike. (Well, most of us--one of us still gets a little anxious when traveling and meeting new-ish people.) The problem being, that when we take a family vacation, we barely speak to each other. So we decided to change that by taking our first immediate-family-only vacation since the memorable Traffic Jam Trip to Kentucky before Naomi was born. Which makes this, as the girls noticed, our first full family vacation! Fun!

The idea was met with universal disappointed "oh's" as we broke it to the kids that while we were headed to an amazing natural resort-ish cabin/lake community, we wouldn't be seeing friends like last time, or family. I believe we even garnered a "boring." And this from kids who think gravel is exciting. Matt and I agreed we really need to do this more often...

Naomi tends the marshmallows while
Daddy gets the fire going.

Fortunately, as the kids adjusted to the idea that they'd be stuck with only their dearly loved sisters and parents for company, they started to get excited. And of course, by the time we pulled into the cabin, only an hour away, they were bursting out of the van and exclaiming about everything, from the fake owl on the railing (Old Mr. Hoot, as we named him) to the TWO sets of bunk bed (Elise had claimed the top for weeks) to the beautiful lake in our backyard.

Sooner than you'd think we were ready for our first rowboat ride around the small lake, with Kalina adamantly refusing to hop aboard "I'm not getting aboard that thing!" since it seemed tippy. But we soon convinced her aboard, possibly only because the rest of us were all aboard and she hates being left alone anywhere, and were commenting on fishing prospects when at the far end of the lake, around a slight curve, we noticed a small herd of deer drinking from a shallow stream. They noticed us as well but, being somewhat used to people, decided we were alright--at least until we got close. We saw these deer on almost a daily basis, but never for long.

Next came pizza on the deck for supper and a campfire, where we rationed out the marshmallows and chocolate in the event that we would be so lucky as to have a campfire each night--or at least, that was our excuse.

And although we'd had Naomi skip her nap in favor of the prospect of getting her to sleep in a strange place at night, we decided that since the sky was clear and the weather beautiful, we should do some stargazing. We found a flat, open place nearby that happened to be both near a lake and right by a virtually empty road--not ideal for darkness with kids, but a very short walk from our cabin and a really good spot nonetheless. We spread out a blanket, and Kalina and Elise flopped down on their backs while Naomi curled up on her tummy. It didn't take us long to figure out that darkness + soft blanket + lying horizontally was just what our sleepy three-year-old craved.

Up until that point in their lives, the girls had only seen stars faintly through tree branches. Constellations were something you read about in books or on educational placemats. Here, however, while on our guard for traffic (there was none) and kids rolling into the lake (which we didn't even come close to) we saw a relatively full array, including multiple constellations, both real and imagined, the Milky Way, and two planets.

We'd been studying space this fall, so the girls eagerly put their knowledge to work. Identifying constellations in real life, however, when you've only done so previously in a dark bathroom with a glow-in-the-dark book can be pretty tricky. I reached into the recesses of my mind and pulled out what I remembered from seventh grade earth science and was soon able to point out Cassiopeia, The Big Dipper, Polaris, the Little Dipper, Pegasus and Draco. My phone app may have helped, too. While Matt and Naomi bonded, I helped Kalina and Elise look for "the big sideways W," trace the handle of the Big Dipper along the treeline, use pointer stars to find Polaris and the rest of the Little Dipper and line up the triangle of Draco's head. After umpteen repetitions, I believed the girls had actually seen some stars in some of those constellations, if not the whole constellations themselves, and we all returned to the cabin rather proud. Elise declared to the entire lake: "I see the Big Dipper!" ("I want everyone to hear me, Mommy!") Kalina, for her part, "discovered" a new constellation that she named Chef Pig.

Back at the cabin, we quickly brought the night to a close with Elise savoring the top bunk (but a little scared), and Kalina and Naomi sharing the full-sized double bunk. Despite their insistence that it took them a while to get to sleep and Kalina talked to Naomi, I've never heard it so quiet after bedtime.

Feeding Ponyella grass. Plumpkin
(or Bun-Bun) is nearby. Spend any
amount of time with Naomi (or Elise
at age 3) and you'll probably end up
reading the book.

Bright and early the next morning, Matt attempted fishing (not much luck), while the rest of us prepared for a fun-filled day. The afternoons have been warm but the mornings chilly--the beach would have to wait. We headed out after breakfast to a hike around some horse stables, where Naomi was pleased to see Ponyella, a favorite character from a favorite book. Ponyella made the toddler's joy complete by nibbling on long grass we handed in to her. The trail was virtually encrusted by pretty rocks--nice enough that Matt gave in and let the kids keep some of them for the rock tumbler at home.

After this hike we tried another, where moss was the highlight this time. Then lunch, and a nap for Naomi while Kalina and Elise explored the lake by boat with Matt, including wading in the lake stream and catching minnows.

Elise puts her shells to good
use on her sandcastle.

At the beach in the afternoon, the girls mostly stayed on the sand, as the water was colder than we'd expected. Shells were plentiful, and minnows available, so everyone had a nice time. Elise made a sand castle and Naomi wandered around with buckets. Kalina set up a museum of minnows and shells and such, and Matt and I enjoyed a conversation.

After showers, dinner and a campfire we decided to stargaze again--even Naomi wanted to. The sky was clear, so we did, and located our familiar constellations, included Chef Pig, again. When Kalina got home, she drew a sky map from memory. You can't plan these things...

The next morning was a bit rainy, but we were all glad of the chance to sit inside and work on knitting and crafts. Soon enough, though, the weather cleared and we decided to walk around our "neighborhood" (minus the neighbors--we saw more deer than people) before lunch, nap and more boating for Kalina and Elise, which included the catching of about a hundred minnows, a decent-sized crappie and a quite big frog.

"Don't point that frog at me!" -Mommy

After lunch, we headed to a stream that came highly recommended from the friend who highly recommended getting a cabin here in the first place. With lots of big and small rocks forming pools and fun climbing spots, the kids were in their element. The water level was low, but the fun was not: we walked downstream toward the lake and found Crayfish Cove, where we caught 10 good-sized crayfish. We debated the merits of making them pets, bait or dinner, but instead, as a large-scale compromise, we simply released them at the end of our stream adventure. Another pool became Catfish Cove because Matt found small catfish there. The fish all eluded us, although possibly if it weren't for Naomi's (and eventually Mommy's) impatience, we might have outwitted them in the end. Either that, or we might still be there.

"I want to catch something!"
-Kalina
This was a common position
to find Kalina in whenever
we found ourselves near water,
which was a lot.

Walking downstream, we came upon some stunning rock ledges that were at just the right height for an adventurous hop-down. The stream trickled through the middle of them, creating neat mossy areas--but best of all were the fossil layers we found towards the bottom. Brachiopods and crinoids were exposed in an entire layer of rock. The girls also found some crystal patches, so the whole experience was one exclamation after another. "I found some more crystal! Fossils over here! Take a picture!"

As hard as it was to tear ourselves away, supper beckoned. We let the girls watch Finding Nemo for (mostly) the first time, forgoing even the sunset as we were all kind of bushed. But we wanted one last campfire, and then when Naomi brought up "I want to go stargazing!" and everyone else agreed, we ventured out yet again.

This time, we headed to an open hill we'd found when we were exploring the neighborhood. It was located behind some condos, but definitely in a public place. This time, both older girls expertly found the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia, and soon managed to map out the Little Dipper and Draco as well. We located Chef Pig, the Milky Way, and the planets we'd been keeping our eyes on. A neighbor pulled into the driveway next to the hill, and we meandered back to the van. As we were starting to drive away, a friendly security guard stopped us and asked if we needed any help. Apparently, the only other people in the whole place had been worried that people near their front yard. Fortunately, we were sent directly on our way when we explained we'd been stargazing. Does no one stargaze anymore?

The next morning we managed a last boat ride, and a last hike, in addition to packing up. The hike, which we'd mapped out ahead of time, turned out to be one of the most interesting with giant spiders, all manner of mushrooms and fungi, some lovely views and a slightly harrowing stream crossing, not to mention a wiped out three-year-old. It also turned out to be one of our longest. But just as we were about to double-check and make sure we hadn't accidentally taken the long loop instead of the short one, we made the turn into familiar territory, and finished the hike. The girls held up well until (almost) the end, and Matt held up well holding Naomi for much of it.

We packed up in a hurry while the girls finished Nemo, and said tearful (Kalina) goodbyes to our home away from home. Naomi fell asleep 50 minutes into the 60-minute drive home, and I couldn't blame her.

We really need to do this more often!