Road Trip 2017!

We arrived home from Israel around 2am Saturday night/Sunday morning and would hit the road north for our final summer adventure on Tuesday.  Ellen came over Sunday and we were reunited with Hudson the Wonderdog!  Huge thanks to Nana and Papa and Ellen and Ryan for taking such awesome care of him while we were traveling.  It was good to have the whole family back together.

We decided it would be best to ease into the road trip, so on day 1 we had an afternoon departure and drove to Dallas to stay with Adam, one of the co-coaches of Tango, and his family.  They have a little girl around Sybil's age, but unfortunately they didn't get to play because Sybil went to sleep at her normal early bedtime.  It was an awesome and comfortable stay and we hit the road early (4:00ish) the next morning when Sybil woke up.  We are all still getting over the jet lag so we thought we might as well use it for the big Day 2 drive all the way to Kansas City.  Gracias Adam and family!

You know it's a summer road trip when you stop in Kansas City with Joann and Greg!  For the second summer in a row Tom's parents and Erica welcomed us into their home with open arms, smiling faces, board games, dinner, and drinks.  It's our second home away from home along the I-35 corridor.  Even Hudson settles in immediately after a friendly hello to their two awesome dogs.  After a great night, we decided to linger and enjoy the morning leaving on Day 3 of the road trip around 9:30am to reach our final destination, Holly and Caleb's new place in Minneapolis.

SNIT!!!
Cara summed up the weekend nicely, "Relax, compete, eat, repeat."  I'll let the photos add more detail, but what an amazing weekend with friends.  Huge thanks to Fran, Leslie, and Patsy for inviting us in once again to the lake house.

After an amazing weekend on the lake we drove back to Minneapolis and stayed with Fran and Leslie in their new home for the week leading up to YCC (youth club championship).  This was awesome bonus time that we got to spend with Fran and Leslie and Hudson with his best friend Patsy Pizza Pocket.  Highlights of the week: bike riding dinner/dessert date, outside sculpture garden, walking to the neighborhood park, Mississippi River park with Holly, Maria, and Fly, great stay and Jenny and Marks, and the Birchwood Cafe.

On Friday we drove north to Blaine to check into our hotel.  I helped coach at the USAU TalentID Camp on Friday and also helped coach Mexico's co-ed team competing at the US Open.  Cara's tournament with Tango was from Saturday to Monday.  The girls were awesome, finishing 6th and winning two games on ultimate point.

After the tournament, our final stop was in Pocahontas, Arkansas to visit Granny Bea and Aunt Faye.  After games on Monday we fit in about 5 hours of driving and stopped for the night in a hotel in Iowa.  On day 2 we stopped in St. Louis and had lunch with Jamie, an old college friend and past Melee teammate of Cara's and arrived into Pocahontas around 6pm.

It was amazing watching Sybil interact and spend time with Bea and Faye.  So much love.

We decided to drive through the night on Friday in the hopes that Sybil would stay asleep and we could make it home with enough time to get situated before school started back up on Monday.  The plan worked and we pulled into Austin around 10am.  After 3,000 miles driving we are home safely and ready to take on another school year.  Here we go!

Ultimate Peace Reflection

One of my favorite things about traveling and experiencing other cultures is the opportunity to see and witness the humanity in those that may outwardly look or behave or think differently than I do.  I have learned through traveling and teaching that there is more that connects us than divides us, that we are all humans with the same basic needs and desires.  Camp Ultimate Peace excels at creating an environment where Arab Israeli, Jewish Israeli, and Palestinian kids can see each others humanity.

Ultimate Peace accomplishes this through the 5 values of friendship, mutual respect, integrity, non-violence, and fun.  After our two and a half days of orientation it became clear to me that teaching ultimate skills and tactics was not going to be the main challenge over the next week.  Instead our focus would be on creating an environment where kids were constantly engaged in having fun, playing ultimate, cheering, sharing details about their lives at home, actively listening to each other, and giving and getting LOTS of high fives and eye contact.  Everyone is seen at Camp UP because everyone is valued and part of the UP family, and it does feel like a family.

Cara introduced me to a parenting podcast called The Longest Shortest Time.  I love this statement about parenting children and think it fits the Camp UP experience perfectly.  The days start at 7:30 am and don't finish until 10:00 pm with the campers.  After the campers are tucked in there is still practice planning to be done and finally some time to check in with the other coaches before going to bed.  There's hardly enough time to reflect on the amazing little things that happened in a day before the next one begins.  Now that it's been a week since the campers returned home I've had time to reflect and here are some of those amazing little things that happened: a camper starting a chant and everyone joyfully joining in, a teammate publicly appreciating another for a great play or kind words during a practice, all the smiles and high fives and hugs between campers, campers bussing each others trays after a meal just to be kind.  These acts of kindness and love happen so naturally that it's easy to forget they are happening between kids that have been taught to avoid, distrust, and even hate each other.  This is the power of the five values and the UP family.

I'm so thankful for the time we were able to spend with Ultimate Peace.  Huge thanks, mil gracias, toda raba, and deslam to everyone that contributed towards our fundraising.

These are the amazing players and coaches we spent the majority of our week with.  I proudly introduce Team Charizard!

Family Steph

  


Family Nancy

 
   

Jerusalem - the Hilly and Holy City

Cara found us an amazing upstairs apartment just a few minutes walk from the Shouk, main market.  We quickly headed out after settling in because evening was approaching quickly and it was Friday, Shabbat.  The market was especially lively because tourists and locals were buying all their groceries before the city essentially shuts down during Shabbat (Friday evening to Saturday evening).  No public transportation and most of the restaurants and stores are closed, especially in the Jewish areas of town. 

One of Sybil's new favorite snacks is mango.  There were a several stalls selling nuts and dried fruit.

Walking through the labyrinthine Muslim quarter in the Old City. 

Western Wall

A larger shot of the Western Wall during Friday Shabbat services. It was a lively scene, with many groups gathered singing, dancing, and worshipping. The Dome of the Rock can be seen in the middle background.  

We didn't realize Jerusalem was so hilly.  It's a really pretty city.

Walking through the park on Shabbat with some Orthodox Jews.  It's probably around 95ºF.  

The Western Wall is a happening place on Shabbat.  The crowds were huge.  What you can't really tell from the photo is that they have a bunch of tables and chairs so that groups of men would meet to hold their own Shabbat services.  I'm going to do my best Cara impression and relay some info: The Western Wall is considered a holy place by the Jews because it's believed the wall was part of the second temple that was destroyed in 70 CE by the Romans.  The golden dome on top of Temple Mount is special because there is a rock that is believed to be the location that Abraham took his son Isaac to be sacrificed.  Now the Dome of the Rock is built over that rock, and is generally only open to Muslim visitors. 

More park walking in search of a swing for Sybil.

Our host was a gardener and had an amazing front patio.  It's hard to believe this is in the heart of the city.

They let us borrow a baby bath which we set up for some afternoon pool time for some Saturday Shabbat lounging. 

Sunday we visited the Temple Mount to see the mosque and the Dome of the Rock.  The Dome of the Rock is pictured above and is a monument, not a mosque, built over the above mentioned Abraham/Isaac rock which also happens to be the same spot that Mohammed started his journey to heaven, according to the Quran.  We were there pretty early and it was very calm on the Temple Mount.

Ablutions fountain outside the mosque

More Dome

More pool time on our own private deck.

Cara and Sybil enjoyed a nearby playground while I went to visit Yad Vashem the Holocaust Memorial.  Needless to say we had very different experiences this afternoon.  

After our three days in Jerusalem it was time to head to camp.  This was our traveling mode.  We both have our big bags on back and Cara wore our day bag on her front while I had the travel crib.  Sybil was in charge of her thumb and didn't leave it behind once!

It was only an hour bus ride to Kfar Silver outside Ashkolon.  Camp UP was about to begin!