Friedenswald Work Weekend

We went again this year, but this time Jeremy came, and the girls brought friends!  It is a haul to get to Camp Friedenswald – almost 5 hours when all said and done – and it is only for a short weekend.  It hardly feels worth it.  But it does feel like you have gotten away for a bit.  And the past two years, the weather hasn’t been bad – some rain, but not at the most important times. 

This year, we took Kya (Ellie’s friend) and Jaida (Madison’s friend) who happen to be sisters.  They were a lot of fun to have along.  We had a great van ride up, stopping once at Wal-mart to pick up a few snacks and once for dinner.

When we got there, we unloaded the van, and the girls took off exploring a bit before joining everyone at the campfire, and then retiring to giggle in the cabin for awhile.

The next day, we have a work day from about 9-3pm.  The work is always a bit different from year to year.  Last year, we scraped, cleaned and painted the drinking fountain well.  This year, the girls and I headed out to a newly acquired field to protect some saplings.  The camp had planted 9000 trees and were finding the deer liked to eat one kind in particular, so they were trying to protect them with a net tube.  Our job was to put these around as many little trees as we could.  It was a beautiful day to be out working.  Jeremy worked alongside others to weed and mulch the flower beds.  Then, moved to chopping wood.

    

After lunch, we got new jobs.  Madison and Jaida went off to work with some others on making picnic tables (and I have no pictures…).  I worked with Kya and Ellie on making snickerdoodles for the upcoming outdoor ed campers.  It was so much fun!  We doubled a batch that was already massive.  We added something like 18 eggs, 32 cups of flour, 24 cups of sugar.  Literally.  It was crazy.  We dug out the dry goods from rolling bins and measured them 8 cups at a time.  Then, we used the biggest mixer ever… and the amount of dough it mixed seemed to push its limits! 

         

Then, I scooped 1/4 cups out, which the girls rolled around in cinnamon sugar and placed on sheets for baking. 

The results not only looked perfect, they tasted like heaven! 

After that, the rain started and people took refuge inside playing carpet ball, ping-pong, chatting, etc.  My college roommate, Rachel, came up from Goshen to chat for a couple hours.  It was so good to see her again.  It is nice to have a friend that you can just pick up wherever you left off the last time. 

After supper, the skies cleared and we went for a tractor-trailer ride to learn about what they are doing at camp and see a few trails in the woods. 

A campfire later, my bed was calling. 

We left before the church service on Sunday.  It was my compromise with the girls.  I had been tapped to go to Camp Wanake in place of a teacher who had retired this year.  I was feeling more than a little overwhelmed by both the teaching I was going to have to do there and the fact I was going to be gone and camping in a cabin for another week.  So, I said I needed a little time to just be at home. 

We ended up going straight  to Camp Wanake on our way home, so I could walk the trail I was going to take the students on the next day.  I am so glad we did because I couldn't even find the trailhead when we got there that night!  Thankfully, the camp director was there and set us on the right path.  Then, we came home, unpacked, repacked (me), and collapsed in bed.

Columbus

This is always a good destination for a short trip.  There are so many different things to do – metroparks, shopping, food, entertainment options, etc.  This time, the girls put together a short presentation with options of things they found that they would like to do.  From there we choose a few things to fill our time and added a few more. 

We left on Friday around 5pm and stopped at Chipotle on the way down.  That way, their food was digested, and they were ready for the swimming pool.  So, once we dumped our stuff in our room, the girls (and us… but I usually am not too keen to get in) donned their swimsuits, and we headed to the pool.  There were a few other people in there.  One very outgoing girl who approached the girls right away about playing.  So, they enjoyed some fun games of Marco Polo with her.

  

We wrapped up the night with an insulin pump change and some NCAA basketball one TV.  This was one even we had really considered attending live since there were games going on in Columbus.  We decided to not do it, but it could have been fun.  Maybe when the girls are older. 

The next morning we had a pretty delicious hotel breakfast before taking off to our first destination – COSI.  We hadn’t ever taken the girls there which surprised me a little.  We had a great time even though it was pretty busy.  The one thing we didn’t get to do was ride the unicycle on the high wire; the line was too long.  Maybe another time we will have to visit again.

We spent quite a bit of time in the space section. 

    

Watched a movie in the round, sat on a toilet like one you would find in the space station… even have to strap yourself down so you don’t float away while peeing!

    

Then, we walked through old time village.  This had some things that made me feel really old because I had actually used them.  And other things that helped me feel better because they were from before my time.

             

There was this area you could be a news reporter that was pretty fun.  The girls had to practice reading a teleprompter! 

    

We grabbed lunch and then watched Rat Basketball!  The girls were asked if they could help keep score which was a neat honor.  They had trained rats to put balls in hoops for treats (pieces of Cheerios).  It was an exciting game between Tater and Tot.  Tot ended up winning because she was faster and didn’t spend so much time with her treat. 

     

Then there were other things – working with different pulleys (two, three or four system pulleys) to pull yourself up, biking vs running to get places, a life section with all kinds of neat biology things, a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach you could hold!! (Madison and I did it),

              

After COSI, we went to a much quieter spot the girls found online.  It was called Cover to Cover Bookstore.  It was a small bookstore that specialized in picture books, JA and YA books.  There were no adult books.  It was a great place.  The girls spent about an hour exploring and considering their choices before each making purchases. 

Then, we went to a super popular location – Budd’s Dairy Food Hall.  Picture an upscale mall food court mixed with a sports bar.  The place had a lot of open seating and with about 8-10 restaurants to choose from.  We sat and ate delicious food and watched the Jayhawks go down in the tournament play :(

From there, we hit Jeni’s ice cream.  No one should question our love of food adventures at this point! 

And finally, back to the hotel for the night.

Next morning…. breakfast at the hotel, track shoe shopping for Madison, Target for squishmellows, and then to lunch (Noodles for the girls, Poke Brothers for Jeremy and I) before heading home.

We wanted to get home for a fun JHY Easter Egg Hunt for Madison and Game Night at church.  What a great weekend!

Diabetes Boot Camp

One thing about Ellie’s diagnosis is that in some ways she is less independent.  Before on a Saturday morning, she and Madison would get up, play, eventually make breakfast, and eat.  That can pretty much be the same, but either Jeremy or I help with the carb counting and insulin shot.  So, she needs us again.  While that it okay and understandable, it has been a little bit of a transition I wasn’t ready for.  It also means that going overnight to her cousin’s or grandparent’s house becomes a little trickier. 

Enter “Diabetes Boot Camp”.  No, it wasn’t really called that, but I felt it needed a name. 

Jeremy suggested we take the grandparents away to a cabin for a weekend retreat and learning experience.  it would give us all some time to hang out, get away, and build memories while they practiced counting carbs and administering insulin.  It worked out to go the first weekend of spring break.  Jeremy found a nice Air BnB in Seneca Lake – only 1-1/2 hours from here.  It had a perfect number of bedrooms, good hang out spaces, and a kitchen for meal times.  Oh, and we could take Pepper!

We left around 4:30 on Friday, stopped for supper at Cracker Barrel, and got to the house around 7:30.  We quickly unloaded the vehicles, explored our new place, and prepped for bed.  Grandma Yoh had the first shot of the weekend.  And so the rest of the weekend went – grandparents were assigned meals and insulin shots so everyone knew who did what. 

What I hadn’t really thought about was how stressful this was going to be for Ellie.  That’s a lot of new, inexperienced people giving her shots.  It was also a new environment.  It ended up going okay, but her blood glucose numbers trended high all weekend, probably due to stress. 

Saturday was a beautiful day.  We had a big breakfast then hung around the house in the morning. 

After lunch, we decided to head out to the lake.  Jeremy had brought his kayak, so he took that out. 

    

The rest of us took the path up to the playground area to hang out. 

    

After about an hour, we headed back to meet Jeremy.

           

Then, we went to check out the beach (closed for swimming, but open to look at).  While there, my dad started talking to a couple having lunch at a picnic table.  The wife was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes too!  So, Ellie went and said hello with Grandpa helping her. 

Back at the house, the girls played a fun game that Grandma Yoh had brought along.  It was a paddle and koosh ball type thing.  They had fun. 

    

Jeremy grilled chicken for the Chipotle Chicken and Rice bowls – one of our favorite meals.  We dove into supper, ravenous from our day outside.  We ended with Ellie’s homemade brownies and ice cream. 

We tried to get to bed a little earlier Saturday, but I don’t think we managed.  We were all pretty tired – Pepper included!

    

On Sunday, it was raining as we ate breakfast and packed up.  We were definitely thankful the weather we had on Saturday to enjoy. 

We stopped at Freddy’s Burgers for a light lunch on the way home. 

It was a good weekend – both as a getaway and a training camp.  I think the grandparents are somewhat more confident in hosting Ellie at their house, but I think they will also want us nearby (not out of state) when we leave her the first time. 

Happiness is being with your grandparents….