Spring Break '26

       

Spring Break in Utah, of course. This was a very memorable trip. I think they all are in their own special ways. Personally, things had been feeling very good at home with Sam. That was memorable. As aways, my family has always shown up to be the definition of a "support system." 

We came into town, and missed Meg's family right away, because we usually stop in to see her family first.

We started out of the time there quickly by watching cousin soccer games. Seeing the kids with their cousins is such a delight. They love each other so much. 

We had a couple days there before Lily encountered her Ebike injury. We are still dealing with that today actually (see pictures below) We were enjoying the Sunday dinner with everyone. The cousins were playing together, it was beautiful weather. We had taken the E bikes out on a ride, and then some time later Whitney took Lily out again, I stayed back having a Titanic conversation with Caitlin and Brother Sam. Suddenly Elsa appears, and. she says " Neen, Lily's hurt." I did know immediately it was something serious. Elsa had been on the second E bike, so I jumped on it, and drove a little aimlessly. I knew the usual route we would take and yelled to Elsa, "Where are they?!" I turned and then I saw Lily rolling around in the grass crying out in pain. What happened: Whitney suddenly heard Lily screaming, and she hurried a stopped. Lily ankle had been de shoed, and through her sock and gotten caught in the spokes of the bike. She had two spots. One the was fairly small, but the other...I really wasn't sure how deep it was. It was very deep, and white. I thought, "Am I seeing bone?" It wasn't bone, because with the speed of an E bike it had cauterized her skin so she really wasn't bleeding much at all, because it was essentially a deep burn. It was awful. I picked her up, and ran down the street with her in my arms wearing my bike helmet still, Elsa and Whit riding next to me, and Elsa asked if she should speed ahead and tell my mom what had happened. She did. We were able to get her in and get her comfortable pretty soon. She was still crying, but also so brave. I called Sam and FaceTimed him to ask what he thinks, and he said it was going to be ok. My mom, Whit, and Elsa went to the store with some supplies. I just laid there with Lily. Worried and wishing it wouldn't have happened on one hand, but on the other feeling extremely grateful it hadn't been worse. Because it could have been worse. I don't like to think of that now. We kept in clean, and her on pain meds the first couple days, and I slept beside her that night thinking if she wakes up in pain, I would want to be right there. So, she was on crutches the rest of the trip.

As I mentioned before, discussing Titanic, and that is because we went to the Titanic Exhibit while we were in town. I had shown the kids Titanic perhaps 6 months prior. They really liked it, and I remembered how much I loved it. I mean...the young me loved Leonardo DiCaprio very much, but I also really ended up loving the history of the Titanic, and it was fun to go back through the history of that after watching the movie. So, with that resurrected love ignited I was thrilled to find out that this would be still be in town when we were visiting for Spring Break. I went with my sister Whitney's family and my mom. Everyone is assigned a real person on the Titanic and given a boarding pass with that person's information before they walk through the exhibit. So, it had their class, how they came to be on the Titanic, who they were traveling with, and perhaps the why they were heading to America. Whitney had a rick 1st class man traveling with a manservant and a family. I was a 3 class woman with 3 kids. Rowan began reading his. A second class man, traveling alone, with a job as a chauffeur.. Rowan then came up to me holding his card, "This isn't sounding good for me." 😂 And he said it in a way the only Rowan can say it. We walked through the exhibit, and Lily rolled through-because we had to get her a wheelchair. But we were able to see different artifacts from the Titanic. You walk through 1st class down to what the 3 rd class would be. It walked through the last hours of the Titanic, and the many distress signals that tried to warn them of the icebergs, and how many were ignored. It really is a fascinating story. And you know the end..it sinks. At the end they had an iceberg that you could touch, and the water that night was 10 degrees colder than that iceberg. In the end, Rowan was the only one in our group who died. 

Iceberg ahead! 

 We really did have an amazing time. We really always do. The kids never want to leave. Whit took off extra days of work, we got an extra day with just Caitlin's family at the end. We went to a lot of parks together. Lily was the bravest, sweetest trooper the whole time. She really didn't complain. She had sweet cousins that helped her and would carry her around. 

One thing that never fails to impress me is my kids. I have been doing this Utah trip by myself at least 10 years. Rowan was probably a year old when I started. It was so hard back then. I remember taking them into all the bathroom stops, I remember the diaper changes at the stops, there has been car sickness, there has been toppers not closed all the way- it's been a lot, and it's been me on my own. But, I am not on my own. My kids have always always stepped it up on this trip. They see me, they see me trying to make this trip happen, they know it isn't easy, and they do what they can to help. They really step it up. They switch into this gear that comes through in every way. They are grateful, they are helpful, and I guess I will say it again-they are grateful. There is no shortage of "thank you's" that I hear throughout the trip. Every place we go, every place we stop, at the end of each day, and at the end up the trip. They really are the people that keep me going. They are the people who make me feel like I am not doing anything alone. 

Wheeler Farm

Slick City carried the whole time

Lily's foot the day after