As told by Kat

Day 10 – Royal Gorge

// August 11th, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Batten, Bucket List, Colorado, Memories, Vacation

The Drive: Today I drove the kids and I from the northern part of Colorado Springs to Cañon City (and back). We had free tickets through our Make-A-Wish trip and Give Kids the World and I thought it would be a great time for the kids. Yet another Bucket List item got crossed off today!

The Royal Gorge is the proud home of America’s highest suspension bridge and is sure to scare the crap out of you if you, like me, are afraid of falling from heights. We didn’t make it all the way across the bridge because the “swaying” made me really uncomfortable and I didn’t want to scare the kids. I really enjoyed the incline railway (click here to see it) and I took a bunch of pictures of the kids at the bottom, next to the beautiful Arkansas river. There were a lot of stairs all over this place and it became quite difficult to manage for Rachel. I carried her (all 110 pounds) down 2.5 flights of extremely steep stairs to the bottom of the gorge, piggyback style. Worth. Every. Last. Step.

Total Miles: About 100

And tonight I went out to coffee with some great friends. I’m waiting on my girls to email me some of their pictures but I did have one I felt was good enough to post. Here is JJ and Mel (Marie and Susan came too!)!!!!!

Day 9 – Pikes Peak SUMMIT!

// August 9th, 2010 // 6 Comments » // Bucket List, Life, Vacation

The drive: Not much of a drive today because we puttered around Colorado Springs. Checked out the camp grounds that I had found online and booked a couple of days in there for later this week. If you haven’t noticed yet I’m planning things out without really planning things. I find more flexibility for the children leads to more fun.

Total miles: Maybe 25?

Today we did two things on our Bucket List! First, we got to ride the Cog Railway and eat dinner during the trip. Second, we climbed at 14,110 feet in our cog rail car to the top of PIKES PEAK! Climbing Pikes Peak in a cog car is one of my most favorite experiences of my entire life. I am so glad we went and we had a great time.

The summit of the mountain was very cold, about 30 degrees with who knows how much more taken off for wind chill. It was windy, it was in a driving rain with 4 scared and borderline soggy little cherubs. If I can put this trip in my top 3 list of favorite things ever you can guess how beautiful and amazing it was.

We better add some things to our bucket list because we are crossing them off left and right this week. Kids had a great day and we even swam in the hotel pool for a few minutes before (yet another) storm rolled through and the lightning kicked us out.

A special mention goes to my great friend Melissa who printed out the cog railway coupon for us. We love you!

Day 8 – Colorado or Bust

// August 9th, 2010 // 5 Comments » // Batten, Bucket List, Memories, Vacation

The Drive: Hays, KS to Colorado Springs, CO to Pueblo, CO to Colorado Springs, CO.

We drove down to Pueblo to have a BBQ with great friends then headed to our hotel in Colorado Springs late last night. London freaked out at night when a regular lightning storm rolled through, he was so upset! Our hotel is pretty nice and we’re staying here until Wednesday then will head to the campgrounds for a couple of nights.

We had a little time in between getting to Colorado Springs (where we used to live) and having to leave for the bbq in Pueblo so I drove down memory lane. I was taken back at how emotional the ride was… driving past restaurants, parks and other places we used to go when Rachel was much more healthy/normal/sighted than she is now. Thinking back to then makes the losses more obvious and as you can imagine I was pretty upset for a short while.

We also stopped at our old house and dropped in on our neighbor, Jacquie! We haven’t seen her in a few years when she came out to visit us!!! It has definitely been too long since I’ve seen my friends out here.

Total Miles: 399

Day 7 – Our last day in Missouri

// August 9th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Batten, Vacation

The Drive: We laid low today because it was pretty hot but we did manage to cook up 2 fresh chickens that we bought yesterday @ Skyview Farms. The birds were fresh and we cooked them “beer can” style. Actually, my brother did all of the hard work…. The rest of us were great at taste testing. I gave them baths, did some laundry and packed. After dinner I drove the kids from Lee’s Summit, MO to Hays, KS so we could get a head start on our drive to Colorado.

Total Miles: 300

Day 6 – Cows and Goats!

// August 9th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Bucket List, Vacation

The drive: Today we drove from Lee’s Summit, MO to Pleasanton, KS and back to visit Skyview Farms. They generously invited us to come and milk cows with them. We spent a few hours on their farm and they were absolutely wonderful with Rachel and all of the kids. We got to meet cows, kitties and goats. We all had a great time and crossed “Milk a Cow” off of our Bucket List!

Total miles: 144

Day 5b – Haley is in highschool!

// August 9th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Vacation

The Drive: No Drive Today. We stayed local, went out to lunch, to highschool and ran some errands

Total Miles: 10 or so

My middle niece, Haley Rose, is starting High School in a matter of days and we went with her to check out her new school and locker. You are going to own that school (co-own with your big sister)! Out of all of my nieces and nephews, Haley is definitely my mini-me (for better or for worse). Ha!

Day 5

// August 6th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Bucket List, Vacation

The Drive: We’re staying in “Kansas City” for the next few days so we’re not really driving.

We hung out at my brother’s house, went to Target in the morning and swimming in the afternoon. At night we went to the nearby ice cream shop called “Here’s Your Scoop” with my family, Adrian’s family and Sarah’s BFF (who I really like).

PICTURES!

Day 4

// August 6th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Bucket List, Life, Memories, Vacation

The Drive: Today we drove from Terre Haute, IN to Lee’s Summit, MO

Total Miles: 405

Today was a bit easier on me to convince the kids that another day in the car was a “good thing.” (Thank you Martha Stewart). At the end of this leg we got to see Adrian, Linda, Sarah, Haley and Abby. (My brother, his wife and daughters).

Day 3

// August 6th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Bucket List, Memories, Vacation

The Drive: Today we drove from Somerset, PA to Terre Haute, IN.

Total Miles: 485

The hotel in Terre Haute was the worst I have EVER stayed in. It was 90 something degrees and too hot to even consider using the outside pool. The IHOP, however, was splendid!

Day 2

// August 6th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Bucket List, Life, Memories, Vacation

The drive: Today we drove from Danbury, CT to Hershey PA and then to Somerset, PA

Total miles: 382

We got up fairly early and bought gas before heading on the road down I-84 and went straight to Hershey Park. After spending about 3.5 hours in the park and having lunch we headed another 2.5 hours to Somerset, PA where we stayed in a hotel for the night.

Day 1 – Hanging out with Uncle Chris

// August 1st, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Life, Summer, Vacation

We’ve completed the first day of our trip, driving from Hull (MA) to Danbury (CT). The kids and I spent the entire day with my brother and his family. We went to Dunkies for breakfast, went to Stew Leonards (yay) and had the most delicious pizza for dinner. We even got to pet cows! We’re off to Hershey, PA tomorrow.

What have YOU done to make today memorable?

We went Lobstering!!!!

// July 26th, 2010 // 16 Comments » // Batten, Summer, Vacation

With the help of the Duran Family and Captain Pete, we were able to take our four children on a real lobster boat and go lobstering! It was perfect. The weather was great, we didn’t stay out too long and Rachel got to bring some Lobsters home to eat! Here are 30 of the BEST pictures to say farewell to one more item on our bucket list:

We definitely flipped Batten Disease the bird today! Thank you so much to Jen, Dan and Pete!

A year

// July 21st, 2010 // 11 Comments » // Batten, Life, Rachel, Vacation

It has been a year since Rachel was diagnosed with Juvenile Batten Disease. It has been a tough year for me and for John, but about the same as the year before we were diagnosed for Rachel and the kids. She has definitely lost most of her vision in the last 2 years and has been adjusting to that. Its interesting that her brain is slowing down, her gait is affected, she is nearing complete blindness but she never complains and rarely mentions difficulties.

Although I am sad and pretty much want to drink myself into absolute oblivion, I have a stronger resolve to make sure that our road trip is LITERALLY the trip of her lifetime. I want to have extra patience, be extra excited, plan extra harder and do everything twice as good. I don’t want to waste too much time being depressed about her disease because that is futile.

With any luck, I will live through this.

With any luck, I will have three children grow up and be healthy / generally happy adults. I need to make sure their memories are extra good and that Batten Disease isn’t what they think of first when they look back.

With all of that said, here is a map of our approximate travel route. The purple line on the bottom is how we are getting to KC / CO… and the line at the top is the route we are taking to get home. Click on the map and you’ll see a bigger version.

If you have any suggestions with good stopping places or “MUST SEE” places, please let me know. This trips means the world to me.

Please repost this on your blog or facebook page. I’d love more input!!

Let the games begin!

// July 20th, 2010 // 5 Comments » // Summer, Vacation

I’ve booked 3 hotels that will get me out to Kansas City with a few stops on the way. My brother and his family live in a KC suburb and we’ll be staying with them for a few days or so (depending how my kids do). Then we are headed out to Colorado and will probably stay in the Springs and hopefully people will come down to visit us, or invite us over. I think my kids will be tired of “meeting places” by then.

We are taking highway 70 on the way out and highway 80 on the way home. We’ll be stopping at Hershey Park on the way, milking a cow in Kansas City and going to Worlds of Fun. When we get out to Colorado we’ll go to Pikes Peak, Santa’s Workshop and the Royal Gorge. With any luck I’ll be able to go to Montagues with my ladies. And definitely some chipotle for lunch. Definitely.

Before we go and before I plan the trip home (with more stops to see more people – can’t wait), John and I have to purchase a flip down LCD screen for the minivan so we can play movies for them. I’ve always been anti-dvd player in my car, because they really do love music and books on tape, but I am absolutely caving for this journey.

Need to get the oil changed and my tires checked out.

Need to refill her meds.

Need to get my head checked. Stat.

So far, here is a list of places we are stopping:

Start: Hull, MA
Danbury, CT
Hershey, PA
Somerset, PA
Terre Haute, IN
Lee’s Summit, MO
Colorado Springs, CO
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
Stop: Hull, MA

We’re Home

// July 16th, 2010 // 5 Comments » // Summer, Vacation

We spent the day in Storyland and decided to head home a little earlier than expected after the rain started to fall. What a magical place Storyland is. Here are some pictures:

Thank you Storyland and Make-A-Wish for the Free, Passport Passes.

Still up in NH

// July 15th, 2010 // 7 Comments » // Batten, Rachel, Vacation

Having a good time. Kids were definitely worn out tonight and less able to keep it together. I am hoping for a late start tomorrow and a half day at Storyland.

Then grief comes and slaps me in the face. It creeps up with no warning. And with immeasurable force.

Most people, I think, use the term grief to describe the range of emotions after something has happened, after someone has died. It’s really f-ed up to grieve your child, years before they will die. I get years of pure joy stolen from my family while my child is robbed of all of her abilities and then I will lose my child.

Grief sucks.

And I don’t believe in the stages of grief.

I think my list of what I do believe in is a hell of a lot shorter than the huge list of the things I don’t believe in.

(If you’ve read this far, thank you. Here are a few pictures of my babies in Santa’s Village today)

Mini Road Trip

// July 14th, 2010 // 5 Comments » // Life, Summer, Vacation

This morning the kids and I left for a mini road trip to New Hampshire. I’m kind of hoping that this will be a good test run before our road trip “out west” in August. Right before we went for a week in “Disney” with Make-A-Wish we went up to a smaller amusement park called “Canobie Lake Park” to get our feet wet.

So far so good. The girls (Rachel, specifically) only asked me if we “were there yet” about 14 times on the way up. It probably would have been up 40 times if I hadn’t cracked open the vault of children’s audio books that I have been saving up.

We got to the hotel today at 2pm and headed up to explore (via McDonalds) and ended up spending 3 hours at Clark’s Trading Post < click here to see their website>

The Trip of a Lifetime (a request)

// July 9th, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Batten, Rachel, Summer, Vacation

We are headed out from here (Bostonish, Massachusetts) and driving down to spend a day with my brother in CT. From there we plan to take Highway 70 out to Kansas City (seeing another brother) and then out through Kansas City, bound for Colorado. I think we will take a different highway back, probably highway 80. We’re looking for family friendly places to go, maybe hole in the walls or well known places. I’d really like if you could share this blog entry with your friends/family so we could get some amazing suggestions.

This trip will take place in the first couple of weeks (ish) in August. This is a trip of a lifetime for Rachel (and my other three munchkins), I really want to make it count. Thank you.

Disturbing Dream

// July 8th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Summer, Vacation

I had the most disturbing dream of my life. One of my children was playing and wrapped a drape around his neck and that was the end of him. It was HORRIBLE. I guess it was my subconscious warning me to be extra careful with these kids when we go on our trips.

I’ve organized a dry run road trip for next week. We’ll be gone for 3 days in New Hampshire, stay in 2 hotels and go to Santa’s Village and Storyland.

Now we need to get cracking on our August plans. We are going down to Connecticut the last weekend in July and will head towards Missouri from there.

We’re back from the cruise

// May 7th, 2010 // 10 Comments » // Life, Vacation

Its been over a month since I’ve updated this blog, can’t believe it has been so long. We just spent 7 days on the Norwegian Spirit and went from Boston to Bermuda. John, myself, the children and my Mom all went and split two rooms.

Here is a link to the ship info

Here are a few of the pictures, most of you who read my blog know who the people are.