The Platt Family Corps of Discovery: Grand Canyon (Day One)

We arrived in Grand Canyon in the evening and set up camp in the dark.  The most beautiful campsite (227) we have ever stayed at, we were taken back by how perfect it was.  After our first night we woke up to find an Elk in our campsite, a little ways away and enjoyed seeing our first wildlife. 

 We took it easy that morning with a pancake breakfast and then ventured out to the Visitor Center to find out all that Grand Canyon offers. 

 We checked in and got the Jr. Ranger assignments, saw the visitor center movie about the Grand Canyon (which dad fell asleep in) and then headed out to the Rim.  

We walked along the rim and even made it out (by bus) to the Hermit’s Rest (the tip of the hiking trails).  We stayed out that way and enjoyed the beautiful sunset of the Canyon at Hobi Point. 

 We headed out to Powell Point to see the stars after the sunset.  There were no lights out there and we were the last ones to leave the point.  It was dark and scary, but thankfully we caught the last bus back to the main route and weren’t left to hike back as some of us thought was going to happen. John and Jason saw a shooting star. 8)  It was a surreal feeling being the last ones off the Grand Canyon and the singing of the girls in the dark was amazing.  We were singing “Rejoice in the Lord always” and “This is the Day the Lord has made” and “Trust and Obey, hearing them pray and tell God they trusted Him to help them was memorable. 

Here are some other fun shots from day one:

The Platt Family Corps of Discovery: Drive on Route 66, Painted Desert and Petrified Forest

We packed up, on the fifth, and left to see the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest National Park.  Due to the long drive we had to stop off in Chambers, NM.  

We stopped at various places along Route 66, including the car statues that you can paint graffiti on.

Along the way we took a detour to see the Petrogyphs, but it was too dark when we got there.  We enjoyed a lightening storm over the Morro Petrogyphs.  It was beautiful.  Then we headed to Chambers to stay at a wonderful Days Inn there.  The next morning we woke up, enjoyed a wonderful continental breakfast and headed out to the Petrified Forest.  

We enjoyed about four hours in the park, the kids worked hard to earn their Jr. Ranger badges, and then headed onto the Grand Canyon.  

The Platt Corps of Discovery: How it came about

A few years ago my husband kept talking about his childhood trip to Alaska that he went on when he was six.  He and his family traveled with both sets of Grandparents and headed out to Alaska.  It was the best trip of his lifetime and he wanted our family to do something like that, but not the same trip.  So, we kept a list of different places both of us had not been to but wanted to go.  Then our son started learning about Yosemite and kept talking about wanting to go see the big Sequoia trees.  Combine the ideas and bingo...our trip was formed.

So, the past January we sat down researched and confirmed spots in all the campgrounds we would be staying in.  Yes, we were going to be camping for an entire month.  This would be a hardcore vacation with lots of work.

I have kept a journal of how our trip went and am slowly adding it to this blog.  I have labeled them all The Platt Family Corps of Discovery.  I have put our campsite numbers in case you are looking for a place to camp and really like our photos and comments.  I will say, God was good to us in helping get FANTASTIC sites and they were blessings.  So, I hope you enjoy our journey as much as we enjoyed experiencing it.

Our family would like to encourage anyone out there looking to do a trip like this...just do it or it will never happen.  We didn't think we would have the funds, but our whole family drank water the entire trip; ate peanut butter and honey sandwiches and chips for lunch almost every day we were out there and we stretched the hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, bake beans and spaghetti as far as we could.  Our main cost was the gas, which thankfully (Praise God) took a downward spiral during our trip (for the most part) and when we did have eat out we all ate off the dollar menu at McDonald's/Jack-in-the-box.  It doesn't sound like fun if you look at it that way, but it enabled us to afford to go.  We also saved any gift cards we recieved over the year and those came in handy!  We didn't have to really pay for groceries for the first part of our trip because I used the Visa Gift Cards people had given us, as well as fast food ones too.

Despite the things we had to cut back on, it was an amazing trip.  Our kids learned the value of a dollar as they too had to save up their money to purchase any souvenirs that they wanted.  This was a bonding and building month for our family and I am thankful for the privilege to spend 24/7 with my whole family for a month.

Enjoy!

New Heart News

So, Kiley had another cardiology appointment this morning. Jason and I knew she had been getting more and more tired lately, which the echo confirmed. Since her mitral valve is not working properly the blood has been backing up into her Left Atrium. This has caused it to grow over time. 

Each echo the cardiologist has seen it getting slowly bigger and bigger. Thankfully we can wait until after our trip but she is planning on doing a procedure called Cardiac Catheterization. 

She also is bringing Kiley's case to her team of cardiologists to do a team approach and get other expert opinions on how to proceed with her case. It is not a cut and dry situation. Her desire is to wait until Kiley's heart is at adult size to fix her mitral valve, but that is what is causing the pressure change in the atrium. 

Please pray for wisdom as the doctors work together to do the right thing. When they do the procedure above, should her coarctation need to be expanded they can balloon it as they couldn't fix it completely. When they did the surgery before they couldn't fix it 100% because the section was too long. 

If her left atrium gets too big then it will start pushing blood back into the pulmonary veins and arteries and that would lead the blood into the lungs. This would cause her body to think she has pneumonia or asthma. 

Thank you for your prayers of wisdom. Also, pray for her because she didn't like this news. Thankful for God's plans and that He is in control. I love her doctor and appreciate her working to find the best plan for Kiley.

Blessings of the Heart

So each night we bless our children, each one by one.  We have since this summer and being challenged by our devotional at family camp (Camp Grow).  Last week while I was blessing our daughter Kiley, God laid it on my heart to start praying every night for healing of her heart.  Why not, our God is an amazing God and can do ANYTHING!  And when I mean ANYTHING, He could say tomorrow that her heart is healed.  I believe it with everything in me.  I also believe he can say no.  But, He has challenged me to just ask.  I think part of the challenge is from studying Revelation and the magnitude of importance the prayers of the saints are to Him.
So, each night I hold my hand over her heart and pray.  Pray for healing. Pray that every single problem with her heart will go away and that it will be fully healed.

Tonight, as I prayed over her heart, she looked up at me and said, "Mom, could you add in there that He would allow me to have kids.  I really want to have kids."  She knows, that as of now, the next surgery for her will be when she is an adult.  She also has been informed that as of now the medicine she would have to go on will not allow her to have kids.  As of now.  We know that medical advances came happen at anytime, but she knows.  She also knows that we have a God who cares about our wants and wants us to depend on Him to have them.

Felt like sharing this tonight.  May He be your comfort with whatever you are going through today.  Remember that we have a God who is in control of EVERYTHING.  He cares.  He knows. And He wants us to trust and depend on Him.

Life is like...

Life is like tangled hair...

if you don't deal with the little tangles of life then they get even bigger and A LOT harder to deal with!

Sundowner 1m and 5k

So our annual run with my nephew, Lukus, was a ton of fun this year.  Due to Kiley's surgery she had to watch, but we signed her up anyway so she could at least wear the shirt.  Although I am praising God that nothing bad happened to her last year.  She had such a hard time, little did we know that it was due to her heart problems.  She completed the mile though, she is a tough cookie!  Here the runners are getting ready for the race.  It was so hot out in the 90s. 

Dad and son enjoying getting ready together.

As you can tell the girls were very excited...really they were! 

John and Lukus ready to hit the trail.

Kiley watching for her siblings.

The cousins watching for Jason to run across the finish line for the 5K.

There is my handsome man...in the blue shirt.  (Sorry, the other pictures he was behind this guy)

We are so excited and can't wait for next year!  Kiley is hoping to run this one and beat her sisters. Stay tuned...

My Organized Homeschool Schedule...yeah, right!

So, I saw this picture on Google and fell in love with it.  Why, because that is how I feel.  Especially at the end of our homeschool year.  At the beginning, yeah I had it all together (at least it looked that way!).  But, truly it is hard to be organized trying to teach four kids, in three different grades.  So, as I do EVERY YEAR at the end of school I search the blogs.  For what, you ask?  For more ideas on how to coordinate our schooling, to make it better.  I take what I learned from last year, and try and tweak it.  I ALWAYS get to March or April and start DYING!  Literally.  I drop all my good ideas, creative incentives and just push toward the goal we all have...to be done!  I have many different ideas I have done in the past: 
*Progress Report Night
*Revised Workbox Idea
*Summary of things learned a couple of years ago

This year I started out with a new idea and it was great, but hard to keep up.  So, I switched to another one during the year.  Here is what I learned this year.  Hopefully, it will help you, if not be entertained.

I started this year with a chart (thought I had a picture, but can not find it. Will have to post when I do.) that my kids could move over a subject tab (that had velco on the back) to the done section.  I did this so they could keep track of their progress and then they wouldn't keep asking me if they were almost done.  This worked great, but I only got two done in time for school to start and the other two never got one...yeah, remember I am only semi-organized. 8-)  So, since I didn't have ones for all the idea went by the wayside.  So, I also found that one of my students (I won't label which one) kept saying he was done with his work, but would not complete all said tasks.  I would not figure this out until I would grade everything at the end of the week.  So, then I had to come up with a new system.  They all had a notebook and I would write the assignments in the notebook and then as they accomplished the work I would grade it and check it off.  Then they could get a sticker at the top of the page, should this happen they would get their three school dollars for the day.  At the end of the week, the school store would open and they could buy items (priced differently) at the store.  This worked great and if they didn't listen then I would take a school dollar away.  This worked great until March...then I just wanted to plow through and didn't enforce it so much...I paid for it.  We will do this next year. 

These are some of my ideas, and I have been researching some more.  I am always open to hearing new ideas.  Please let me know yours.  I will be posting soon about how I scheduled things.  It wasn't perfect, but maybe it would help you out in your scheduling.  That is what makes us all better picking ideas from others to work.  Now, if I could just finish what I start I would be on the right track!  One day at a time!

Our Fall Harvest

This is our "farm" (as the neighbors like to call it).  We decided to do all corn this year.  There was a lot going on at our house when it was time to plant, so we decided to try our hand at corn again.  They said it couldn't be done.  But, look at this corn!

We had some with our meal the other night.  It was delicious!This corn is especially special.  It reminds us of my wonderful father-in-law who was the most amazing guy when it came to growing a crop.  This crop is in honor of him.  We happened to plant the corn the morning he past away (before we found out).  So, it was very memorable when we ate it.  We thought of him the whole time.  I think that must be why we did so well!  He taught us well!  Thanks Wes! 

Our NY vacation - Mohonk Mountain House

We headed to this place: This was a treat. This was a gift from Jason's dad to us, as we all mourned his loss. It was a great time to spend as a family (with Jason's mom, brother, sister-in-law and our family). We went to a place that he would have loved with fishing, hiking, swimming, fishing, fishing...8-). A time to build new memories, and remember old ones. A time for fun, but to relax too. It was a treat. Thank you Wes.

A paddle boat ride across the lake for the girls and I.
But, I am getting a little bit ahead of myself. Before anything, and what we started with was a Sunday brunch. It all begins with food.

All the meals were included. They had a great service staff that we at your beckon call. If you wanted OJ, it was there. Water too. There. As you can tell Karli is telling us all to back off from her delicious food!

Here is a picture of Jason's brunch...well part of it anyway. I think this was plate three...j/k.

One of the options they gave us was the choice between the buffet inside or lunch cookout buffet outside. We chose outside one of the days. It was great! This is all of us at one of our meals. Again, the food was wonderful!

At night you could choose the dinner buffet or the formal dinner. So, the first night our family at at the buffet while Jason's mom, brother and wife went to the formal dinner. The next night they took our kids and we got to go...just the two of us! It was wonderful!

There was a lot to do around there. At night they had activities like campfires, magicians, Broadway singers...other things we did included:

Relaxing in our room!

They had a Kid's Club that you could send your kids to if you wanted some alone time. We only made the kids go for one session on one of the days and they had a blast. So, the four of us snuck off and played some tennis. Yeah, it has been a while for me. It was obvious. I am glad they gave us the court furthest from everyone. It would have been quite embarrassing! We also got to play shuffleboard with Jason's mom.

We also took the kids on rides around the lake.

Our favorite thing by far was the water. We had some fun time at the beach.

There was even a time every morning when they opened up the whole lake and you could swim across it. So, we swam across it. When I had reached the other side we rest for a moment on a big rock that was there. A woman was talking to another gentleman about the snakes in the lake. You have to understand I did not grow up swimming in many lakes, so I knew they were there I had just forgotten about them. Until she mentioned the "S" word. But, then I realized there was no other way back. So, I took the plunge and headed back across...although I think I made better time than before! 8-)

This is kind of out of order, but one of the small gazebos around the lake was named "The Twins", so we had to get this shot:

But, we loved the beach.

They had a log attached in the water and you could try over and over to stand up on it.

And of course, the pool.

If you notice in this picture (and a few of ours that aren't on here) I am floating on my stomach. This is a common find at this pool. They have relaxing music playing UNDER the water.
Yes, under the water. So, as you were gliding through the pool you could hear this peaceful music playing under water. So, each of us adults would take turns just relaxing by the speakers. It was so peaceful and you were just floating.

There was actually a lady that brought this older blind gentleman into the pool. He was having a hard time adjusting to the water. Then my sister-in-law informed her of the music under the water, that it might relax him. We helped her find the speaker and the gentleman just wanted to lay on his back and feel the music. And that is what he did for the next half hour. You could tell he was so peaceful and relax. It was a beautiful sight to see.

The sign above is the directions for the the Labyrinth, this rocky terrain and climbing hill. We were all excited to climb it, we had heard so much about it. As I was reading the above sign I noticed at the bottom it mentioned that those 8 and up were probably the only ones that could do it. The girls, depending on the day, can be strong or wanting to drop at any second. Since, it mentioned that once you were in it there was not a way out I decided to walk with the girls up the side path and meet them at the top. The last thing I wanted for the relaxing afternoon was to be stuck in the middle of a rock climb and have to push the girls through. On our way to the other path I stopped by the Kid's Club to fill out some paperwork for the kids to enjoy an afternoon there. I asked them their thoughts about it. They said they wouldn't take my girls, but I know them better. They said they have only taken one 5 year old before. The girls were begging and so I told them there was no turning back. Jason, John, Eric and Elisabeth had already gone, so I started the adventure on my own with the three girls. Crazy, yes, impossible...no...didn't you know that ALL things are possible with God. He was there. It was fun.

I was amazed.

I was impressed.

I think the climb from Chimney Mountain a couple of days before helped them realize they could do more than they thought they could. John ended up climbing this a second time with dad and found an even harder part to finish at the end that went further up the mountain. He LOVED it! It was a great climb for them! Father-son bonding time.

In light of the previous note above, I have to say I was so impressed by the girls determination to complete this. It was difficult in some places and they pressed on...ahead of me. There were some scary parts, but they did it. I think I was most shocked and amazed at Kiley. She is our worrier. And she took the challenge and lead us on our exhibition. She crossed places by herself that had deep crevices. She lead the way. This was a HUGE thing for her. And the girls followed her. Usually Emily is the leader of the pack...but today was Kiley's day and she did GREAT!

This is tea time. I find this picture funny as the boys were the only ones of us that enjoyed tea time. They have it every afternoon on the veranda with cookies. This is the last thing we did before we left that day. Here are my boys having tea and crumpets. It was one of the highlights of our trip. I don't know that we will ever be able to go back, but are thankful for the time we had. This will definitely be on our family wish list when the kids get older.

From here we headed to New York City and Brooklyn...here we come.