1 Family x 12 (June)

 

I'll be back with more about our big summer camping trip/family reunion - but for now our June family photo!

Dear Hazel - Age 11

Haze - 

I can’t believe you are officially 11 now.  ELEVEN!  Eleven years of your silly, crazy, fun self…you make our family complete.    You’re past double digits, you’re almost into the teen years and you are about to start middle school.  You move into the Jr. High building this fall where you’ll stay for 6th, 7th and 8th grade.  You’ll start moving from classroom to classroom and you won’t have just a single teacher anymore.  I’m expecting the middle school drama to start (it already has a little bit) and for the middle school awareness of what’s “cool” to start.  Being the second kid means I know a little bit more about what to expect, but it also means I know better than to think you’re experience and Abby’s will be the same.  You’ve proven that wrong time and time again and I’m sure age 11 will be no different.

My biggest hope for you is that you don’t let all those middle school things change you.  You’ve always been pretty good about going to the beat of your own drum and I hope that sticks with you.  You are so cool…so unique and I never want anyone to change that.  

I’m excited to see where age 11 takes you (and us!).  This is going to be a great year peanut butter!!

Favorite Toy: “Hazel Village dolls”

You really have loved these since day 1.  We got the very first one from Erin for Abby’s first birthday or Christmas, but she didn’t take to them the way you did.  You have been collecting them for years now and I keep wondering when you’ll outgrown them but you asked for the again for your Birthday (thanks Grandma!!) so I guess there here to stay for awhile.  I think the fact that the company’s name is also your name might have something to do with it.  But maybe more important to you is the fact that they have a troop of bunnies as part of the collection.  After your Birthday gift you’ll officially have all of the bunnies (I think).

Some firsts this year:

• Painted a mural - it’s taken some time, but awhile back we added a wall in the loft to create two rooms out of the space that was originally just your bedroom.  You now have a closet and a real door and we were able to add a cool hangout area to the loft.  All of that work meant we got to pick new paint colors and decorations for your room.  You asked if you could paint a mural on the wall and Daddy said yes, and boy did you deliver!!  The mural is SO COOL!  I’m glad he said yes…!

• Stopped taking the “Snuggling group” to bed with you.  A true sign that you are getting older and the things you did as a “baby” or a “little kid” are falling by the wayside.  It made me both a little happy and a lot sad the day you said you’d dismantled the Snuggling Group.  To be clear though, the Snuggling group is tier 2 in a very complicated pyramid structure of stuffed animal values.  The Snuggle Group (no “ing” in case you didn’t catch the difference) is tier 1 - meaning they are still very much in your bed each night and the collection of animals that still travel with us wherever we go.  There are about 6 in that group, made up mostly of Hazel Village dolls.  But snugglING group - you are out.  Not out-out (like headed to Goodwill), just moved to animal jail (the elastic rope container system for stuffies in your bedroom).  

• Gymnastics first: Back Handspring, Ariel, Front Handspring: You started gymnastics awhile back and you’ve slowly been making your way through the levels and you are starting to get really good at it.  Just before summer they moved you up to Level 4 and your class is now two full hours long.  I don’t think it’ll be long before we’re talking about if we want to enroll you in competition gymnastics.  I’m really glad I finally enrolled you, you’d been asking for it for quite some time and I was reluctant that you’d do it for a little bit and want to give it up but you’ve stuck with it and you seem to love it.  You get excited for class every week and you have the best attitude about it.

• Drank from a coconut - that’s right!  This was your one “when I’m in Hawaii I want to do…” thing and you were so excited to try it.  As Auntie predicted, you didn’t love it.  But, she and I finished it and we both loved it!!  Someday you’ll grow into loving it (or at least liking it).  

• Went camping without us - you camped for the first time without Daddy and I earlier this summer.  Now, it wasn’t a huge stretch, the trip was with Stella and Lucy so it wasn’t like you had to go out on a limb.  But, it WAS a first so we included it.

Bears or Packers? “Packers -hehehe” (You said it exactly the same way last year!)

What can I say?  I’ll take it!  I think I’ve lost Abby in this battle…but I’m still holding on to you.  Go Pack, Go!

Favorite TV show:  “Youtube shorts”

I hate YouTube shorts.  It’s the worst…I just haven’t figure out how to turn it off yet.  I miss the days of Bluey and Disney Junior.  Abby never really took to the stupid shorts…at least she still prefer a show with a plot line!

Favorite Color: “Purple”

 

Favorite Food: “My favorite meal is chili, but my favorite snack is pickles. Or blue Doritos” (you said the same thing last year!!)

This really made me laugh - or rather, the number of answers that you answered exactly the same as last year.  I guess that means you know what you like!  

Fears: “Thunderstorms and the dark”

Favorite Outfit: “Black shorts with my purple blouse” (nearly the same outfit as last year!)

Purple has always been your favorite color and I have to say, the purple clothes you have clear are the first things to come out of your drawer for the week.  Once those are gone, it’s a free for all (and maybe you’d rewear something 2 or 3 times if I didn’t make a rule that you couldn’t wear an outfit more than 2 times before it needed to be washed).  I do have to say though, while this is partly driven by your love of purple, it’s equally driven by the fact that you don’t want more laundry to fold and put away.  Someday it’ll change, but when?  I’m not sure….

Nicknames: (We’ve added some new ones from last year, but there are a few that are here to stay)  The first ones are really just whatever comes out of my mouth when I call you…and you always answer.  LOL!  

• Shabooboo

• Shaboozy

• McGregor

• Boopy

• Hazey

• Magoo – This is 100% the nickname I call you most often.  Magoo – Magoo-goo…some variation of this has really stuck.  You even correct me if I randomly use it in reference to Abby.  It’s your nickname and I think this one might stand the test of time.

• HayHay – Abby and maybe Stella and Lucy are pretty much the only ones that call you this…but it’s another long-term nick name that has been on these birthday posts for quite some time now – since Moana really.  

A sweet story about you:  

Back on the last day of school (the last half day that Abby didn’t have to go to because she is OLD now and graduated!!) you came home so excited to talk to me.  You knew I was on a work call but you just couldn’t contain yourself.  When I finally got off the call, I came upstairs and you said “Mommy!! I got a nomination!!”  I was pretty confused, because, being the last day, there isn’t much point in a nomination.  A nomination for what?  When would the awards come out?

I asked you for more details and you brought me the certificate.  You hadn’t just been nominated, you’d been given an award for being a good student.   When I explained that you to you you said “An AWARD?!  I have TWO awards now! I have to tell Abby…I only need 3 more to be just like her”.  My heart was both full and a tiny little bit broken.  It was clear that you’d been listening to me brag about Abby and talk about how proud we were of her and you saw everyone’s reactions when she won award after award after award…that had made an impact on you and you wanted to be recognized too.  

You are such a sweet girl and a hard worker.  You are going to go far!  I know it.

Favorite Movie: “T don’t have one, I like a bunch of movies…hum, The Middle” (This is a show, not a movie, but close enough)

I miss the days of movies and tv shows.  Really, I do.  But I”m also thankful for the moment we are in now.  You guys want to stay up later than you used to and I just don’t want to stay up a moment more than I used to….so having a space for you two to hang out and do your thing later in the evenings, so that us adults can do ours has really be nice.  That being said, I don’t know what you watch as much…it’s less front and center like it was when we mainly used the living room tv for all tv watching.  

Height:  4 feet 3 inches

Dr. Darmon (the orthodontist) recently ran your growth plates and growth chart (no, I can’t explain why the ortho does that for us…) and he predicts you’ll be a little shorter than you sister at your full height.  He says you’ll be about 5 feet 3 inches.  We’ll have to remember that and see if he’s right!

Ritterbusch Family Reunion Part 2 - Red River Gorge (Hazel's Birthday)

We've got two summer birthdays in our house, but Hazel is my little 4th of July girl.  Her due date was July 5th (if I remember right) and since the 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays (maybe my actually top 1 favorite holiday in fact) I had a thought that maybe she'd be born on the actual 4th.  But, since I was having a c-section and could schedule it, I was pretty sure the 4th (which was also a Saturday the year she was born) wasn't going to be an option.  So, June 29th was the first day I was 39 weeks and so that was the day we planned it.  If I couldn't have the 4th, then I didn't want to wait any longer to meet her!   All that is to say that Hazel's birthday falls very close to the holiday and that means we are often traveling for her birthday.  

I can't tell if it makes her sad to always be gone and away from her friends, or if she loves it because she ends up with multiple celebrations for her birthday.  We often do something for her with local friends, then if we're traveling, something for her actual birthday (like we did here - a cake riverside...lol!) and then sometimes she even gets a THIRD chance to celebrate if we're with a different group of people for the 4th.  Lots of cakes, lots of Happy Birthday songs and lots of presents.  Who could be sad about that?!?

We grabbed an ice-cream cake while we were in Bardstown (we knew the towns near Red River would be pretty sparce) and thankfully Mom's new camper has a huge fridge and freezer in it so she kept it in her camper for us for until Monday.

We pulled everyone out of the river (yes, we sat in the river for a LARGE chunk of this trip - see earlier post where I mentioned the 95+ degree temps during this trip) and sang Happy Birthday (no candles...my fault - someday I'll remember them!) and quickly sliced up ice cream cake for everyone.  It was the perfect treat for the hot day we had and I was thankful we made it mostly through the cake in one sitting!  We had a small bit of leftover cake that got gobbled up the next day during lunch.

We might not be home but we always make the day special.  Hazel got a handful of gifts to open, but I'm pretty sure her favorite was her Hazel Village doll from Mom.  

Man I love this kid and I can't believe she's 11 years old.  We are so lucky.

 

Ritterbusch Family Reunion Part 1- Bourbon Trail

Our big summer trip this year took us down to Kentucky for the Ritterbusch family reunion.  But before I share about that, I'll start at the beginning where we started the trip with a few days in the Bourbon Trail area. We started our trip on Thursday after work and spent one night in a new to us campground called Moraine View State Park located between Bloomington and Champaign.  It was the perfect amount of driving for our first night and the campground there was beautiful!  We'll be planning a trip back there next year for sure.  It's a great potential Cuzzies Camping location - if everyone is willing to camp again :)

We just had one night there with Mom and Dad and Friday morning we made our way down to Louisville where we spent the day, and then eventually on to Bardstown where we'd spend 2 nights and Liz/Bobby and cousin Jeff all met us there.

When we first started talking about going to Kentucky for the reunion the girls perked up - "We're going to Kentucky?  Can we go to Claw Zone? It's not a scam."  After a few additional questions we learned that there was a special arcade in Louisville, called Claw Zone, and it's not a scam!  The girls had seen a YouTube video talking about this place and the tag line of the video must have been "Its not a scam" because that's really all we ever heard about it.  So  much so that we have renamed it "Claw Zoneitsnotascam".  We joked we were going to make t-shirts we heard it so much!

So - we decided we'd work it into our itinerary and make their dreams come true!  Mostly Hazel's 11th birthday fell smack dab in the middle of this trip, so I wanted to do something special for her.  The girls were so excited about Claw Zone and I knew we'd be spending a good bit of time doing stuff they had ZERO interest in (Bourbon tasting), so we threw them a bone, and took them.  We started the day with a stop at Angels Envy (a favorite of both Mom and I).  We didn't have time to do a full tour but we had a drink at the bar and stopped in the gift shop to get some new bourbons we can't get near us.  

Since we didn't do a tour at Angels Envy we didn't learn much about the brand or their process - which I'm a little bit bummed about, but it means that we can do that the next time we are down there.  It was tough because we had the dogs with us at this point (since we were just driving through to our campground) and it was already pretty hot (more on that later) so we couldn't spend a bunch of time at Angels Envy.  That being said, the most notable thing I learned there was that I need an ice cube brand for my at home bar.  You can see it a few pictures down, the angel wings they imprint on the ice cube.  So - you can be sure that's on my Christmas list this year.

After Angel's Envy we made our way to Claw Zone and let the kids run wild there.  We gave them each $50 and Dad and Ryan hung out with them in Claw Zone while Mom and I got the dogs and went to the Mexican restaurant in the same parking lot.  The guys would say that they had the hard part - that we had the easy job, sit with the dogs and drink margaritas and eat chips and salsa but Mom and I contest that the dogs were stressful and getting a table big enough for our group was a challenge and well, I suppose each of us has a different perspective on this point of the story.  LOL!

I know you are dying to know - so, was it a scam?  The girls would say (and Ryan would back it up) that it was not in fact a scam.  That they were both able to win a lot of prizes and that the owner was really very sweet and helped Hazel more than once when he saw her struggling, even to the point that he'd open up the game and move the prize she wanted a little closer/easier so she could win at the game.  I'm glad we worked into the plan for the trip - and honestly, the margarita was exactly what I needed!

(This is one of my new favorite photos!)

After Claw Zone and Mexican food we finally made our way to our campground for the next two nights - White Acres Campground.  Here's what I'll say about the campground.  It wasn't our favorite, a little run down, definitely don't plan to use the bathrooms, but it was centrally located to so many distilleries that it worked for our purposes.  Not the campgrounds fault, but definitely impacting my overall rating of the campground is that by Friday night, an hour or so after we arrived, it poured rain.  And it continued to pour rain for the next two days.  They got over 6 inches of rain in 36 hours - roads were washed out, dams overflowed - it rained and rained and rained and the campground turned to mud.  I'm so bummed I didn't get a photo of the mat outside of Liz and Bobby's camper - it was a red muddy pool of muck.   Mud was the  main theme of the next two days.  Mud and rain.

We didn't let the rain get us down though!  Saturday we had two stopped planned.  I'd booked us a distillery tour at Bardstown Bourbon (very much worth it!) and we made a stop for a cocktail at Chicken Cock Distillery - because, how can you NOT go there with a name like that?  You can see that they fully leaned into the name with their branding - the napkin in the picture below says "With a name like Chicken Cock, you better be able to back it up".  

Somehow we managed to spend 3 or 4 hours at Bardstown Bourbon and got zero pictures of us there but Liz/Bobby, Mom/Dad and Ryan and I did a tour there and I'm so glad we were able to figure out way to do that because we learned SO MUCH from the one tour.  I have lots of bourbon facts I can share with anyone who cares next time we're together, but I'll save you from having to read them here :) Feel free to suck as much knowledge you want from me on this topic if you are interested.  

Abby was so sweet and she babysat Mason and Liam (and Hazel too I suppose) so that us adults could have a little date day for a few hours.  Most of the distilleries don't allow children on the tours (which, makes sense, it's not for kids...but it makes it hard for parents to enjoy this part of the world).  Because kids weren't allowed in most places it really limited the amount of places we could go.  Well, the kids were one reason and the fact the bourbon is 40%+ ABV makes it hard to do more than one or two tastings in a day.  It's not like beer or wine...it's too high powered!

Bardstown Bourbon was beautiful and the tour was great there.  We had linner (lunch dinner) and a lot of laughs with the 6 of us.  It stopped raining for a short window of time while we were there and as soon as we were done with linner we headed back to the campground to relieve babysitter Abby.  We were able to quickly grill up dinner for the kids before the rain set back in again and it continued to rain for the rest of the night.  Not ideal weather for camping, but thankfully none of us were in tents!  Camper life is the only way to camp :)

Sunday the rain started to clear and then the heat set in.  We spent the rest of the trip in a "heat dome" meaning the daily temperatures were in the high 90s with heat indexes in the 105-110 range.  But more on that later.  Sunday we packed up campers and caravanned our way over to Red River Gorge, but we had one more distillery to stop at - Buffalo Trace.  A year ago when we started planning this trip I tried to sell Liz on the idea that they should join us.  It's a few hour drive from their house and it seemed like they had to come for at least part of it.  When I told her were were going to the Bourbon Trail area her first response was "that doesn't sound kid friendly" - and then (thank you Instagram for always listening to us) within a few short days she was being served up videos of how kid friendly Buffalo Trace was.  I think it's the real reason she even considered coming - lol!

The videos weren't wrong - BT was great for kids and dogs!  We didn't know it when we planned it, but kids and dogs are allowed on all of their tours and tastings (with the exception of a bottling tour, which makes sense).  The grounds were beautiful and the whole operation was a well oiled, money printing machine!  We watched people carry boxes and boxes of merch out of that place and while we didn't have BOXES, I think we all spent a hundred bucks or more there.  Gotta say though, they nailed the price point for drinks.  $6 cocktails on a shaded patio...music to my ears and I was happy to hand over my money.  

If you are ever looking to plan a trip to this area, add Bardstown Bourbon and Buffalo Trace to your itinerary.  We'll be planning a trip back to this area of the world for sure.  Likely adults only for a long weekend - add it to the vacation bucket list!

8th Grade Trip - FL with Abby

 About a year ago Erin and I started brainstorming how to make 8th grade graduation special for Abby and she suggested that we plan a trip, just the three of us, and let Abby pick where we'd go and what we'd do.  It would be a trip made by her, for her...a few days to just focus on being together us girls.  Around Christmas sometime we told Abby about the surprise and she said she wanted to go to the beach!

She didn't have more specifics beyond that so Erin suggested Sarasota and we were off to the races with a plan!  Erin lived in Sarasota for about 6 months when she was still doing shows and she'd been wanting to go back to visit for a long.  She'd talked about Owen's Fish Camp (the only "must do" item on the trip list from Erin) that I had also been dying to check it out.

We started making a plan, booking tickets and an AirBnB and planning the details.  It was fun to plan with Abby.  She loved looking at the houses and doing research about what to do in the area.  We flew out Wednesday - EARLY morning...we had a 7am flight.  I'm tired just typing it...lol!  And we returned home on Sunday afternoon.  It was the perfect amount of time and we had the perfect trip!  It was a little rainy when we arrived on Wednesday but we skirted it all with our plans and then it rained Thursday so we used that day to explore and shop.  

Friday we dedicated to "beaching" (I still have a pretty distinct sunburn line down my left arm - the only part of me that was outside of the umbrella)...and Saturday we did a combo of shopping, visiting a Big Cat Rescue and a little more time at the beach and then Sunday we packed up, headed back north to Tampa and back home.

It was very different to travel just us 3 girls.  We lived at a different pace than we do when we're a big family group (and a much slower pace then when Ryan is involved)!  We ate girl dinner (ie: whatever the heck we wanted) around 5:30 most night (you know I love a 5:30 dinner!) and we watched 90's romcoms to get Abby in the know about all the cinematic gems she's been missing out on (I mean...13 going on 30...how could we not?!?!)

While our AirBnB left more than a handful of things to be desired (I was less than pleased with it), it did have a great location, just a short walk to the public access.  We managed to catch the golden hour sunsets every night we were there (except Wednesday).  I feel like we successfully landed "beach" for Abby.

Oh gosh!  How could I forget the two wildlife things Abby picked to do on the trip!?  First, when we arrived on Wednesday, we drove north of Tampa about an hour to a wildlife rescue park, in Homosassa Springs, that also had manatees on site.  Manatees are my most favorite animal (as a child I even donated part of my allowance each year to adopting a manatee) and I've never seen one in real life.  Erin said that when she was living down there there were Manatees everywhere so I was excited to try and see them.  Turns out in the winter months they move closer inland to the warmer, shallower waters and in June they live much further out to sea.  We did get to see two of them in a rehab tank of sorts but it wasn't quite what I had envisioned.  That's ok!  I guess we'll just have to go back in the winter months some time...maybe as a whole family.  Aw shucks!

The second wildlife thing we did was the Big Cat Rescue Abby found about 40 minutes north of Sarasota.  Erin and I joked that it might have been owned by Carol Baskin's sister (of Tiger King fame) but we have no idea.  There were lots of big cats to see - we'll give them that!  I bet they had 40 big cats ranging from tigers to lions and even a Ligar (which admittedly was WILD to see so close in real life.  He was HUGE!).  They had other animals too.  Bears and monkeys and reptiles and all sorts of things.  It was cool, but we felt like cages and pens were pretty small and the animals were doing a lot of pacing making you think they were uncomfortable.  If someone is thinking of visiting I'd say it's good for little kids (not much older than Abby) and only good for 2-3 hours max.  The park itself is was pretty small and we were all ready to head out after about 2 hours.

My favorite part of the trip?  That moment right there.  Sitting side by side with Erin and Abby reading our books and just soaking it all in.  All that being said, I sure did miss Hazel and Ryan.  It just wasn't the same without them.  I think spending time apart making memories makes for fun stories to share, but more fun than that is actually sharing the memories together.  Franny - I know you felt a little left out when we went on this trip without you, but you're up in just 3 short years honey!  I can't wait to see where you pick to visit.