The Train Trip Pre-face

Having worked it all out to make the Epic Train Trip happen, I have decided that I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT have it happen, and allow it to go undocumented. Although I had played with the idea of having each kid bring a journal and making them write about the adventures of the trip each night before bed, I realized that, ultimately, that was folly, and would serve only to make me an annoyed taskmaster, and the kids grouchy and reluctant participants in the documenting.
SO, I have resolved to write about the trip here, on my often written, rarely published blog. That is, after all, the reason I began this blog in the first place, no?
We leave on Friday, and I can't wait! The kids are nearly beside themselves with excitement, and we are packing and planning and preparing like mad! I WILL write about the trip, everyday if I can, as we go, and I will post it when I have Internet access.
The entries will, unfortunately, be 'fast and loose,' i.e. unedited (not even for typos *cringe*) and unpolished, because that is the only way I will be able to do it and actually have it happen. I will be applying the lesson I have been learning from my good friend Fawndear, and keeping the important things first (having a good time on the trip, enjoying it with my kids, being present in the current activity), and letting the not-as-important things go (editing for hours, polishing and publishing to my personal standard of 'perfect'). I am cringing even as I am writing this, but I HAVE to do it, not just for the kids, but for me. *Sigh* I don't always enjoy working on self improvement!

Anyway, here we go...

Wild and Crazy

Okay, so, here we go again, experimenting!

I had this wild idea a while back, of taking a train trip up the California Coast with my kids. I was thinking about the fact that the train is wonderful, and riding it is relaxing, and no where near as stressful as a car trip, or, worse, flying now-a-days. We have family and friends all up and down the coast, who we are certainly overdue to visit, and there are places we want to visit just, Because.
I had this vision of the five of us traveling together over about three weeks, everyone carrying their own belongings in a backpack, and using all public transportation the whole way.
I put the idea out to Amazing Husband, and he agreed that it sounded like a wonderful plan, and was bothered only by the fact that he wouldn't be able to go (we don't have that kind of vacation time for him to spare, unfortunately).
Next, then, we needed to overcome the ever present obstacle of funds. This would not be an extravagant trip by any stretch of the imagination, however, neither would it be cheap to stay in reasonably priced hotels (reasonably priced hotels equaling reasonably clean and safe hotels) and to use all public transportation the entire way. And, of course, we would never want to plan a trip this epic in nature without allotting at least some meager portion of funds to collecting a few mementos along the way.
I won't go into all the wrenchingly dull details of how we are going to make it happen, however, we ARE going to make it happen!

Today we are celebrating a man whose birth, 81 years ago, eventually lead to a paradigm shift in the culture of this country. No one will deny that we still have work to do, but when looking at how far we’ve come, I can’t help but feel hopeful.

The 12 Days of... Kids

Things I found on the table when the Notary came over and needed to use it:

12 pages of sketches
11 half-finished thank you cards
10 pens & markers
9 magazines
8 used drinking glasses
7 new books
6 assorted coasters
5 parts of a dismantled flashlight
4 candy wrappers
3 sewing projects
2 empty chocolate boxes

And an iPod and a pair of ear buds!

And the beat goes...off

According to most research I've read, creating a habit takes 21 consecutive days.
21 consecutive days of me getting up and exercising, for example (and let us keep in mind that THAT is a purely hypothetical example), would mean that I am now in the habit of exercising daily.

It should follow then, that getting kids in the habit of waking up at a particular time, would take 21 consecutive days of waking them up at that time. After which they will be in the habit of waking up at said time, and will then consistently do so.

Anecdotally, however, my experience differs from the research; anecdotally my experience shows that it takes around 15 weeks (105 days) before the waking-up-on-time habit kicks in for school age children. In other words, just about the time that winter break rolls around, we've gotten in the habit of waking up on time.

This leads me to believe that circadian rhythms are not subject to the rules which govern habits.

The proof of this is weighed out when looking at the reverse: although the majority of research I've read on the subject agrees that it takes at least as long to BREAK a habit as it does to create one, it does not take 15 weeks for the kids to get out of the habit of waking up on time. It only takes one...day.