College tours, Lost and Found & International Love

 If you've been following the blog since its inception, then you realize Mird and I lack planning skills, have absolutely no sense of direction, and we have commitment issues. This means our spouses, friends and family typically spew off a long laundry list of concerns whenever we announce our next racing trip. New York was no exception. I'm sure people were concerned we would get lost and never found, or that we would never actually go, or worst of all, that we would lose a child since we decided to drag a vanload of teenagers with us for the first time ever and make a dual purpose of the trip--visit colleges and run a trail race.  For the record, nobody died, we got lost the perfect amount of times, and we had an awesomesauce adventure.  In general our lack of planning and navigational skills seems to work well for us because we are adaptive, have a sense of humor, and we are committed to finishing our 50 states challenge if it's the last thing we do.  It always proves to be an adventure and there are countless obstacles that try to get in our way, yet somehow we always manage to pull it off with smiles on our faces.  Best of all, along the way we create some of our most wonderful memories together.  

Road trippin'

Sunday morning at 5 am my mission was to get 3 teenagers into my van so they could return to a state of unconsciousness while I drove us to Lansing to meet Mird and Kenny. It seemed pretty straight forward so I took the dog out for a early run and thought the kids could handle getting up on their own and would be sitting anxiously waiting for me upon my return. Boy was I wrong.  After several wake-up calls, I finally got the 3 of them into the van (think herding cats and you'll get an idea of what I was up against).  We were off!  We made it to Lansing in record time and got the Daniels loaded into our van lickety split!  At each stop along the way, I made a deal with the kids that they had to do ten of one exercise and five of another in order to earn a draw from my money bag (a bag my grandma sewed that is full of different denominations of dollar bills. Someone could get a dollar all the way up to a $20).  It kept people active and made it fun for the kids so the money bag is here to stay!

calf raises, squats, jumping jacks and push-ups

workout number 1.

first pit stop

We drove all day and made great time and arrived at our first destination Katonah NY at about 5 pm just in time for happy hour. The drive was fairly uneventful Mird and I chatted in the front seat.  I must say I am amazed at the sleeping skills of teenagers.  I can not sleep like they do! The best part was crossing into New York Hazel the DJ blasted welcome to New York by T Swift and we had a mini dance party! Check it 

Ran and Skip LaPolla were our hosts in NY and they were AMAZING!  They had supper waiting for us and had their 3rd floor luxury suite all ready for us!  We had a delicious cookout with burgers, hotdogs and lots of delicious salads and everyone visited and we rotated through the showers. Kara talked to them about the Netherlands because Ran and her mother Willy both immigrated from there and still speak Dutch!  We got to bed fairly early because the next day was our day in the city.  

Cheers to our gracious hosts-Ran and Skip!

A toast to Ran--a kind, funny and generous hostess with the most"est"!

We parked by the park with the small stairs...

To say we stuck out like a sore thumb in NYC would be a vast understatement.  However, we had a ton of fun so we don't really care.  We didn't do half of the tourist things so we already decided we have to go back to the city possibly on our way to Connecticut or New Hampshire.  We did make it to Times Square, Central Park, the M&M store, The Empire State Building and we rode the subway.  The kids were so enamored with Macy's that I fear we entered some sort of time warp and ended up spending a majority of our time there looking at items we could not afford unless I refinanced our house, maxed out our credit cards, or took out a loan.  We did have a few small purchases and ate lunch at which time we noticed Hazel's phone was gone.   We also did self guided tours of Columbia and Barnard College which was the actual purpose of the trip so that was good.   We returned home after losing two cell phones, our car, my fancy gluten free dessert, a bottle of water and our minds.  Don't worry we found the two cell phones and the van, but my mind is still wandering at large in NYC so if you run into it please send it on home!

Columbia University Upper Manhattan

Goofy college pics

Posing like Greek Gods

Barnard College Upper Manhattan

North Central Park

The coolest part of the M&M store. The prices were absurd, but Mird was the cool aunt and bought a bunch anyways! It ended up being a great snack as we walked through the city and since I lost my gluten free fancy cake, it was good that we had the sweet treat!

The Empire State Building.

We slept another night in NY and woke early for our final two college tours Cornell and Syracuse.  Somehow during the night Kara managed to lose her cell phone so we left about a half hour late after unsuccessfully searching for her phone all morning. As a result, nobody ate breakfast so by the time our Cornell tour was finished we were all on the verge of hangry.  Once we completed the Cornell tour we decided to skip Syracuse since Kara really wasn't considering school there, it was going to add 2+ hours in the car and we were so hungry.  I took action and found an Italian restaurant that sounded wonderful. I hit the directions button on my phone and presumably we were on our way!  After attempting to find the restaurant twice, and getting derailed by construction as many times, we finally stumbled upon it.  Turns out the restaurant was actually on campus and part of the Cornell Hospitality and Tourism program.  

Cornell Red Group Tour 

My peach, goat cheese and tomato salad!

                                                    Hazel is so happy we're eating Italian!

Kara and Eli opted for the buffet!

The buffet was amazing!

The menu: If you ever go to Cornell, please eat at Taverna Banfi. 

It is so delicious.

and you can play a game of chess while you wait.

After our feast we headed to Henrietta, NY-- the hometown of our Run Our Trail race.  We knew we would be early so the kids talked us into a quick round of mini golf.  It was a blast so I am glad we said yes.  We were technically asked to leave because some lightning was spotted, but we decided the rules didn't apply to us since we were from MI and had 3 youngest kids in our group so we finished our game, returned our clubs and changed for the race in their bathroom. It was kinda like Clark Kent going into the phone booth and coming out Superman, only we just came out looking like a bunch of runners.  However, in my opinion, runners are heroes so it's pretty much the same thing!!  It was the perfect way to prepare for our race.  

Rules about the rules.  The oldest follows the rules, the middle is the reason the rules exist and the rules don't apply to the youngest...Our group consisted of two oldest (Kara and Kenny), one middle (me) and three youngest (Mird, Hazel and Eli).  We decided this meant we didn't need to follow the rules because a majority of us were youngest. Possibly a lapse in parenting judgement, but we had a great time and nobody died so I count is as a success. Eli was the winner and he took the momentum from his victory into our race experience leading the pack through the trail adventure!

The race was epic as usual. I am starting to think that Mird and I turn average races into EPIC races because every race we go to turns out so memorable, but who knows it could just be a coincidence.  Anyhow by the time we arrived at the race we had also booked a hotel room in Canada by the Niagara Falls for the night so we knew we wanted to run and then head to the hotel.  It had a pool and hot tub and a view of the falls so we didn't want to waste any time. We quickly talked the race director into letting us start early with a slow lady who needed extra time and we were off like a prom dress as the old saying goes (not that I am suggesting prom dresses should come off. It's just an old saying from the olden days)!  Eli must have really been excited about the pool because he laid down a punishing pace that literally ran me into the ground and I run a lot.  The K team (Kara and Kenny) rose to the challenge and kept up pretty well;  I thirty years their senior, struggled breathlessly to keep up with the lead pack and oftentimes swore although I told the kids swearing doesn't count during races and for the record I did finish pretty much with them and then returned to the trail to run Mird and Hazel in.

Starting line

Mile One: Team Awesome!

Mird and Hazel bonding time

It was a bit of a muddy mess, but we finished!

Mird and Kenny at the finish

Constantine gals

So we've learned hot tub post race celebrations are the best!

We ate pizza and snacks at the finish line and then headed to our boujee hotel in Niagara Falls Canada. The kids were so excited. As I started going through my envelope full of very important papers while Eli drove us ever so closer to the border, I realized I brought Hazel's social security card instead of her birth certificate.  I swore a few times which actually counted because we were done running and then we all decided we just had to go for it and try to get into Canada. If we couldn't get in, Hazel and I planned to sleep in our van and the others were walking to the hotel.  Luck was on our side, the border patrol officer didn't say anything at all about her school id and social security card combo that I passed him and he told us to have a nice visit. We decided we would worry about returning to the US tomorrow, but for tonight---hot tubs, drinks and Niagara Falls!  We checked into the hotel and everyone was in dire need of a shower so we started the process of shower rotations, and everyone snacked and relaxed when it wasn't their turn.  By the time we finished showering, everyone was starving again because we made the mistake of bringing teenagers with us and they are kind of like babies--it seems like they just eat, sleep and poop--so we sent them with my credit card to TGIFs and we headed to get our free drinks from the bar.  At some point during this midnight snack extravaganza, Hazel found Kara's phone and other personal items in her backpack. Eureka, it felt like we won the lottery!!! I know sending the kids to a restaurant unsupervised was not my best parenting decision of recent, but it worked out okay and eventually we found ourselves at the bottom of the hill overlooking Niagara Falls.  The kids LOVED this!

Our crew all smiles

everyone say "Niagara Falls"

Now about that whole return to the US thing, it didn't go nearly as smoothly as our entry into Canada.  First of all, there was a long line so we had to wait about 20 minutes. When we finally arrived at the border patrol station, I handed him the same documents we had used less than 24 hours prior to enter Canada. He went through the passports quickly and then asked about Kenneth and Hazel's proof of citizenship.  I let him know I had a picture of Hazel's birth certificate on my phone. He looked it over and after a short inspection of the picture said that would work.  Then, just in the nick of time, uncle Mark sent a picture of Kenny's birth certificate.  The officer checked that out and said "ok ladies, this will work for today, but next time you decide to take your kids out of the country make sure you have the proper documentation".  We thanked him and immediately drove off before he could change his mind or arrest us.  Hazel cued the welcome to America playlist that I had requested:  Miley Cyrus Party in the USA, Neil Diamond Coming to America, Bruce Springsteen Born in the USA and finally we all sang the Star Spangled Banner.  It was quite a lovely way to return home. 

My debut album...

 This is just a short clip of the celebration, but rest assured it was a BIG party much larger than the one when we got into Canada because we were quite concerned that they were not going to let us in and our husbands were going to have to drive to get us with the birth certificates. That would have been a real buzz kill and would have really fueled the flame of those who questioned our ability to pull this whole trip off.  

Mird and Vern 

Niagara Falls July 2023

 International Love kept running through my head when we were in Canada so here you go!  Now it's running through yours...

                                           

                                                      HaZel, KeNny, KaRa, ELi, VeRn and MiRd

                                                               Run Our Trail Henrietta, New York 

                                                                    July 25, 2023 State Number 19

PS I am trying not to get emotional about this race, but it's hard.  There's already been a few tears.  We've never brought our kids on these trips.  Honestly, until recently, I never wanted to because it was our special sister time together.  Lately I've been realizing I have a senior which seems surreal.  Kara is a senior and in a year she will be off on her own making her way in this big world.  I know she's well prepared. She is smart, independent, tough, determined, kind and just overall awesome, but it's hard.  A part of me wants her to stay with us forever.  These moments together are slipping away and I am trying to make the most of them and make the most moments together for us in this last year if that makes sense.  We're already planning another adventure and hopefully another after that.  SL Class of 2024 is such a great group of kids and Kara is so amazing!  I am so excited for the upcoming year.