For the love of Spring Break

I am truly blessed to have parents who plan their own vacation around my once per year Spring Break excursion to North Myrtle Beach. They move into my house, and together, my mom and dad take over my parenting role, which involves everything from doing laundry, making meals, chauffeuring the kids to school and activities, helping with homework, playing games, and making sure no one burns the place down while I get the week off.

I am a lucky girl indeed. Here’s how I traditionally enjoy my six days:

Walking the wide expanse of white sand beach on gorgeous cool and sunny days interacting with very few humans.

Walking the wide expanse of white sand beach on gorgeous cool and sunny days interacting with very few humans.

Look at this day! Low 70s and a slight breeze. Perfect.

When I’m not at the beach, I do a little bit of this:

Jigsaw Puzzle Southern-Style

Jigsaw Puzzle Southern-Style

Stop and smell the flowers...

Stop and smell the flowers…

 

Writing, eating, visiting family, binge-watching HBO and Netflix, shopping, touring the gardens, working on puzzles, reading, visiting the aquarium, weaving, doing my nails, bike riding…

 

It’s not all fun of course. I usually bring about one hundred or more assignments/reports to grade. I just make sure I shake out the sand before I pack up to leave.

I would be a much nicer person if I could put my feet here once a day.

I would be a much nicer person if I could put my feet here once a day.

Photographs © Karin Blaski, 2016

Farm + Camp = Best Summer Ever

Farm Camp Summer 2015

Farm Camp Summer 2015

Every summer I sign up my kids for camp. They’ve done hockey camp, horse camp, art camp, clay camp, theater camp, cooking camp, and camping camp. This summer, I packed them off to farm camp at Angelic Organics. I signed up through the Rock Valley College Whiz Kids Program which made the camp more affordable for us. Only then did I realize I’d committed myself to a 50 minute drive there and back, twice a day, every day, for fifteen days. Since chauffeuring is not my favorite summer activity, I wasn’t sure I’d made the best choice. I’m taxi-mama during the school year after all!

Once camp started I completely changed my mind. My daughters started teaching me about sustainable, organic farming. Plus they learned new skills, like how to:

  • milk goats
  • make butter and ice-cream
  • hold a chicken
  • collect eggs
  • clean coops
  • bake zucchini bread
  • feed livestock
  • can pickles
  • groom a horse
  • water the cows
  • harvest vegetables

They came home smelling like they’d rolled in manure all day, their clothes covered in everything from chicken pee to horse slobber. In short: they had the time of their lives.

Goats love to eat burdock.

Goats love to eat burdock.

Kids love to hold chickens.

Kids love to hold chickens.

The best part? They went to bed early and exhausted.

The drive? Well that’s what audio books are for.

 

The Annual Road Trip

The open road. North Carolina. Photo © Nic Blaski June 2015

The open road. North Carolina. Photo © Nic Blaski June 2015

Summers are made for road trips. My family and I embarked on our annual road trip to South Carolina in early June. The northern Illinois deep freeze had ended and the ice had finally melted off the highways. Gas prices were at an all time low. Our van hadn’t entirely succumbed to the rust spreading along its once sleek exterior. Why not load up and head out?

Funny how six states seem smaller when looking at them on a map.

Observations (by state) along the way:

  1. Illinois has two road conditions: icy or construction.
  2. Indiana is a very tall state. Driving from the top to the bottom takes ALL DAY.
  3. Kentucky bluegrass is green in June (and not native to Kentucky or even North America BTW)
  4. Tennessee is pretty.
  5. North Carolina is pretty too. And a fun drive. Hills, turns, tunnels, and falling rock.
  6. South Carolinians drive fastest in the rain. Not kidding. Sunshine=fast driving; cloudy=faster driving; raining=fastest driving ever. 90 MPH and they can dodge the drops.

Three days later we arrived at our destination.

North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Photo © Karin Blaski June 2015

Thank you SIRI. Sand, surf, and smorgasboard awaited. We partook. A good time was had by all.

Oh and before I forget, while we were in Myrtle Beach we did this with the kids:

Aargh Ye Matey "Tis A Pirate Ship I See

“Aargh Ye Matey ‘Tis A Pirate Ship I See.” Pirates Voyage Dinner & Show, Myrtle Beach, SC, photo © Karin Blaski June 2015

Which was “incredible fun for the whole family” and highly recommended. If you have a ten year old daughter, be sure to splurge on the Pirate Makeover (there’s a Mermaid Makeover if she’d rather not get the five o’clock shadow).

Then, on the way back home, we went here:

The Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC; photo © Nic Blaski June 2015

The Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC; photo © Nic Blaski June 2015

Which was amazing enough for its own blog post for a later date.

So another successful road trip came to a close. Three cheers to the 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan which continues to carry us safely from point A to point B and every point between. The only thing that raised a few eyebrows on our trip was this:

SW stands for Sweltering, Photo © Nic Blaski June 2015

SW stands for Sweltering, Photo © Nic Blaski June 2015

It was worth it though when the view looked like this:

North Carolina mountains, Photo © Nic Blaski June 2015

North Carolina mountains, Photo © Nic Blaski June 2015