Don't go chasing waterfalls

           Our latest stop was for one whole week at the Jellystone campground in Niagara Falls Ontario.   It was quite the memorable week for several reasons.   First, the falls of course.   Wow.   Just wow.   We were able to see pretty much all the highlights of the falls.   The class horseshoe falls, the American falls, the class six rapids, the whirlpool, and even went behind the falls.    The power and beauty are truly beyond words.  I must have said a dozen times that it all seemed fake because it was so beautiful.  If you have never been please trust us and go.   The highlight of the trip so far was riding the Hornblower up the base of the falls and feeling like you are in the middle of cloud, but it is a cloud of a mist.   10 enthusiastic thumbs up from the Keyes crew. 

                The second most important memory was all the time spent with friends.    Our dear friends from St. Augustine met us at Jellystone the same day we arrived.   They had been on their own summer trip and we coordinated a stop in Niagara.  They have a 10 year old boy and a six year old girl that both of our kids consider their best friends.   It made for a happy few days.   As great as it was to have them I also got to reunite with a very good friend of about 25 years.   Jill married a boy from Grimsby, Ontario so we also coordinated with them so that they would visit his family while we were in Niagara.   We were able to meet up with them several times and meet their newest edition, Evi, who is sadly already two years old.   Finally, Dan and his family made the trek from Detroit and we got two more nights with them.   Overall, we didn’t have a single day at this stop without friends.   Just as the Freemans pulled out Dan and his crew pulled in.   Dan, Jill, and I have been friends since the early to mid 90’s and it was great to have us all together.   We were missing several from the crew but good times were had none the less.

                The third and final most vivid memory will be the town of Niagara.   It was so much bigger than I expected.   The downtown had many tall buildings and one of the best tourist trap areas I have ever seen.  Our kids gleefully referred to Clifton Hill as Vegas for kids.    We spent time with friends and the bird museum and arcade.   On our final day we let our kids picks a couple last tourist things to do.   We rode the Ferris wheel (great deal) and went to the Guinness world record museum (horrible deal).   This was an amazing family friendly stop.   On top of all the great things I already talked about our kids spent 6 or more hours on the inflatable waterslide at our campground one day.   It was easily the most peace and quiet the adults could hope for and we made a quick trip to Niagara on the Lake, one of the most picturesque towns I have laid eyes on.  

Oh Canada!

                Stop number two included an epic border crossing, longtime friends, and much more campground time.   We crossed the border to Canada via the bridge from Detroit to Windsor.   Here I am pulling my 36 foot trailer across a bridge that seems so high you might touch the sky all along being worried about our first trip through border control.   As we pull up to the bridge we realize there is a toll.   We are trying to quickly navigate which line accepted plastic as we don’t have much cash.   We identify the correct lane ease in with the trailer and swipe our card.   Nothing happens.   I try two other cards.   Nada.   So, Keli, exits the car and sprints across several booths to the first one that actually had a person.   He was completely unhelpful and said he couldn’t leave his booth   At this point we decide we have to back out of the lane and try another one.   Somehow, no one had pulled in our lane but there were still cars coming fast and furious to the other lanes.   Keli then proceeds to stop traffic as I am trying to back up far enough to pull over to another lane.   To this point in the trip the trailer towing had been pretty darn easy.   But at that moment my heart rate was probably 150 and the sweat was pouring.  Somehow, someway, we made it through.   Luckily our campground was only about 30 more minutes away and I got to pull over for the night.  

                Most of this stop has been spent at our campground with one of my oldest friends.   Dan grew up with me in Florissant, was in our wedding, and we have always stayed in touch.   We last saw them two years ago at Disney.   Their girls are 9 and 12 and are both great at playing with and doting on our younger kiddos.  The campground offered a pool, waterslide, peddle bikes, wagon rides, crafts, chocolate bar bingo, and so much more.  We were also able to take one day and visit Dan and his family at their home in Detroit.   It required crossing the border two more times, much easier this time, and getting to do one of those crossing through a tunnel under the Detroit River.   It was great to see and be seen by such good friends.   The most pleasant surprise of this stop was downtown Amherstburg Ontario.   We are about 10 minutes outside of town so we were able to drive in very easily.   It is small but had several outdoor restaurants and beautiful views of the Detroit River.    Keli commented that seeing these towns we would normally never stop at has been the best part of the trip so far.   Tomorrow we continue around Lake Erie and stop in Niagara Falls.   We will be joined by three groups of friends!   Dan and his family will be joining us next weekend, another dear old friend Jill and her family will be there all week to visit us and her in-laws that live nearby, and our dear friends the Freemans from St. Augustine will be camping directly next to us most of the week.   It should be a great stop with lots of great pictures to come! 

Our Maiden Voyage

     Our maiden voyage has went smoother than I expected so far.  As I type this we are wrapping up our first extended stay.   We have been in Streetsboro Ohio, just outside Cleveland, for the last week.    Our trip to Cleveland took two days with a very quick drop in at a campground in the mountains of Fancy Gap, VA.   Our only major adventure was that our bike rack broke about 1 mile from our campground.   We will be putting the bikes in the trailer for the rest of the trip.  

The entire route of trip began with the idea of seeing some of the All-Star activities in Cleveland.   We were able to see the celebrity softball game, the futures game, and the red carpet parade.   In addition, we were able to spend a few hours at the All Star experience.   Overall, I am just so happy that all the kids practiced patience and found portions of the baseball activities they enjoyed.   Charlee and Cooper don’t quite care about the actual games like MJ but were very well behaved and seemed to enjoy the family time.   The ironic part of the whole thing is we were really looking forward to the fireworks at the Futures Game.  Keli and I both thought they were amazing but the little kids thought they were too loud and both shed some tears.   The show was nearly 30 minutes long and set to some of the most famous rock songs of all time as the rock and roll hall of fame is also in Cleveland.  

As for the sightseeing portion of this leg we really saw a lot.   There is a national park, Cuyahoga, just minutes from our campground.   It has an old style train that runs the roughly 25 mile length of the park multiple times a day.    It was one of the outings I was most looking forward to.  It was fun, but I think the last minute addition of a small hike to Brandywine Falls was a bigger hit.    As we started posting pictures of our trip several friends who were from this area originally recommended some spots like Brandywine and Shagrin Falls.   Both were such great stops and the kids enjoyed them.  I was a little too excited to see the house where “A Christmas Story” was filmed.   I liked the movie as a kid but Jeff, Steve, and I have quite the family tradition of watching it each Christmas season and quoting all our favorite parts.     It did not disappoint.   The gift shop and museum added all kinds of unexpected surprises.  

Tomorrow, we head out to Amherstburg Ontario.  The family time has been wonderful.   Is it perfect, of course note, but the kids are doing well.   Due to all the late nights they have all been told they are not allowed out of bed until 8 each morning and they have been good about following that rule.   So, week 1, we are moving on happy and fairly well rested.   Lets hope week 2 is just as good!  

The latest curve in the road, 3 years later.

2016?   Wow.   Life goes fast.  That was the last post from Keli about our journey to parenthood and the growth of our family.  For those who didn't know us or did not read the blog way back in 2008 you are welcome to catch up.  As you can see though, sadly, as the kids grew our amount of free time shrank and the blog had been abandoned. 

Fast forward three years to 2019.  Our kids are all healthy, happy, and active so family time can be elusive.  I am nothing if not a family man and want to spend as much time with Keli and the kids as we can, especially at this age.   My Grandma and Grandpa Keyes owned multiple campers over their lives and I was always fascinated by them.   My lovely bride on the other hand was much more a resort or condo girl.   That was until she had to do some tent camping with Cub Scouts. It only took two or three campouts until she was on board with the camper.   :)

Last month we purchased our first travel trailer and we both want to document the amazing adventures we plan to have with our now 10, 7, and 5 year old children!  As I am writing this Keli doesn't even know I am going back to our old blog, but if KeyesWindingRoad isn't still the perfect blog title, I don't know what would be!

In all seriousness, I have a burning desire to see our country and to take my family with me.   Here I sit, 42 years old, and have never seen the Grand Canyon, Niagra Falls, Yosemite, New York, most of the great lakes, the Redwoods, Mt. Rushmore, and so so much more.  I plan to change that and share it all with my family.  Being two teachers has some benefits and some drawbacks.   Our chosen profession provides a good amount of time each summer to travel but also a limited budget.  The irony.   That is where the trailer will be so wonderful.  The itinerary for year 1 is set but I am already thinking ahead to years 2, 3, 4, and more!  

Our first big trip will wind all around Lake Eerie, include some baseball (duh), some dear old friends, some great newer friends, a national park or two, american history, natural wonders, and most importantly memories to last a life time.   Please join us if you wish, even if only through the blog.  

Making Memories Post 1

Hello from the other side....

Soooo, it's been like six months since I have opened up this blog.  I'm somewhere in between "big ol mama guilt" and "who am I kidding, I don't have time for this!"  But here's the thing.  I love writing.  Seriously.  I'm pretty sure that my brain operates differently than other brains because much of the voices inside my head are like me writing a book.  Is anyone else like that? It's almost like I think of my day in terms of one long Facebook status update writing out the play by play inside my head.  I'm a pretty quiet person in general, so many of my thoughts never even leave the safe confines of my brain, but that certainly doesn't mean there is a shortage of deep thoughts and feelings.  So, honestly, I have no idea if I will stick with this.  It's a super busy season in my life, and although the desire to write is most definitely there, the desire to completely zone out the few and far between moments I get to myself is often much, much stronger.  But hey, it's a brand new year, and there's always hope for sticking with a goal and desire, right?!  I'm not setting my sights high.  There is no New Year's resolution to blog at least twice a week.  I'm not placing the pressure on myself any longer to document each outing with my kids.  Clearly, I couldn't keep it up.  Truly though, I miss it.  I miss the outlet, I miss sharing cute, sweet, and not so great things about my kids, and I miss having a place to write and share things I'm not often outgoing enough to say out loud.  So,it's not really about documenting things for my kids or my family anymore.  I'm being selfish, and it's just about me sharing what I want when I want and removing the pressure and expectations of myself.

I started this blog way back in 2008.  It began solely with the purpose of updating our family members and close friends on our journey through infertility as we finally began the IVF process.  I knew it would be hard for me talk about, so blogging about it seemed like the best way to share updates and ask for prayers.  Little did I know how it would continue from there. I never gave it any thought past that really.  If our IVF hadn't of been successful I'm not sure if I would have just stopped or what would have come from it, but thankfully from IVF, it followed me into documenting my pregnancy every little step of the way. Then, onto a huge move and documenting practically every breath of my first child.  It became a great place to document milestones, share pics with friends and family (before Facebook was big), then vent about life...surprise pregnancies, miscarriages, the road to pursue adoption through fostering, work,  more surprise pregnancies, two more beautiful children, another big move, and then it kind of just stopped!  As many times as I swore I was getting back on track with recording and documenting all the exciting things happening in my kid's lives, it just no longer seemed manageable.  I know plenty of other people do it, but I'm finally fessing up to the fact that I just can't.  Not at the rate that I was anyhow.  But as I said, I miss it, and I'm not really sure what direction I plan to continue on with blogging for now, but I know it will be a bit different one.  It may be less of a scrapbook for my kids from here on out and more of a scrapbook of my heart.  I debated on just starting fresh on a new blog, but "Our Winding Road" just seems so cozy.  That title came with very little thought back in 2008 and was most certainly a hint of things to come.  Had you told me that that "my road" would lead to me having three children, living in Saint Augustine and both Mat and I teaching, I would have never believed it!

Here I am though.  I'm beginning 2016.  I'm not one to set huge resolutions per say, but I love the idea of a fresh start, an inspired beginning, motivation to be a better me, and so on.  While on Facebook the other day, an article that a friend shared caught my eye.  Now let me be the first to admit that when I saw the source of the article, I scrolled on right past it.  Then, a few minutes later I found myself scrolling right back up trying to find the article again.  I'm not sure why, but something about  the title just peaked my curiosity.  "Sixteen Ways to Improve Your Life in 2016."  I mean, who doesn't want to improve their life?  But I knew nothing I was reading on FB, via Fox News was necessarily the key to my success.  However, as I just read through #1 and #2, I was intrigued.  These things spoke to me.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/12/31/sixteen-ways-to-improve-your-life-in-2016.html
Like really spoke to me....and I knew I wanted to write!  I'm on a mission this year to find more of myself again.  So cheesy and maybe even self centered as it may be, here I go....again!

Rev Up Your Engines!

In the spirit of birthday posts, it's only fitting I also catch up on MJ's latest birthday.  MJ turned 6 on March 9, 2015.  We celebrated with a birthday part for him on the day before, Sunday March 8th. We gave MJ different options of whether or not to have an actual party or more of an excursion with family, but he chose a party.  He even chose to have it at our home vs. the clubhouse/pool or any other venue.  I let him completely choose the guest list, too, and he chose to invite boys only from his classroom.  He also wanted to invite a couple friends from the neighborhood that aren't in his class.  It turned out to be quite an easy, laid back event, and so much fun for him!  Lucky for us the weather was absolutely beautiful.  It was in the 70's and sunny, so we were able to keep the entire party outside.  Yay for easy clean up!  :)  We cleaned out our garage and made it into a Cars themed haven.  I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking...

 MJ was so excited to help me set up the decorations in the garage.  One of them was this big picture backdrop.  I loved that MJ chose to wear his Lightning McQueen race car driver outfit for the party.  Way to get extra use out of that Halloween costume!  ;)

 He asked for a cookie cake for his birthday.  I wish I could take credit, but Publix to the rescue.  It was so cute and delish, too!

Friends had fun taking silly pics!  

From L to R:  Matthew, MJ, Charlotte, and Preston

 MJ loves watching YouTube videos of people racing their own cars on homemade ramps, so Mat had the idea to make his own homemade ramp.  He did a great job, and it was quite a hit! The kids still play with it regularly.  Each of the guests was asked to bring their favorite car to race, and we gave out little tiny cheapie trophies to the winners.

 More pictures!  From L to R:  Joseph, MJ, Charlotte, Nate, Mitchell, Matthew

 After lots of car racing and scooter races in the drive way (Mat drew lanes for the kids to ride in), we had all worked up a hunger!  We set up a few kid-sized table and chairs in the garage, and it was time for pizza!  Mat had even brought one of the TV's out and put on the Cars movie that the kids could watch for a bit while they ate.  

 River, Mitchell, Gabby, and Nate

 Of course, after pizza must come cake!  Blowing out 6 candles this year!

 After eating it was off to the bounce house in the front yard (good thing little ones can handle pizza, cake, and then bouncing), more car races, and then back to gather round and watch MJ open presents.  

 Needless to say, this gift was a huge hit!  This boy adores his cars.

 Our happy family after the party wrapped up.  Thanks to Uncle Jeff for being on hand to help with the party.  Between Mat, Jeff, and I, we were able to keep a good eye on the kids and avoid any kindergarten catastrophes.  Poor Gabby busted it on the scooter, but otherwise all was calm and and event-free!  It was definitely a memorable party for MJ, and a great family memory for Mat and I as well.  Celebrating his first birthday in Florida, wish friends from school seemed like a big milestone.  

Hard to believe our boy is 6!  He still has his same sweet spirit.  I constantly receive comments and compliments about what a sweet and gentle boy he is.  From teachers at church to friend's parents, etc. A mother never gets tired of hearing those things.  MJ's actual birthday was on Monday, so I was lucky enough to take him lunch to school and eat with him.  I left cupcakes for his teacher to share with the class later that day at snack time.  

Just yesterday, MJ had his first doctor appointment since moving back to Florida.  At his 6 year well child visit he was 42.5 pounds and 45 inches tall.  This puts him in the 25% for both height and weight.  He appears wonderfully healthy, and what a blessing that is!  

Playing with some of his new presents on his birthday, March 9th.

Turning 3 Like a Princess!

Some more birthday backtracking...

Little Charlotte turned 3 on December 23, 2014.  She will always be my favorite Christmas memory.  I know that she may not always love it, but celebrating her birth right before Christmas is really special to me.  It takes me back to wonderful memories, and I found having a baby at Christmas time such a beautiful experience.  Her birth was the smoothest of the three, and I am filled with memories of spending Christmas day in the hospital with her.

Charlotte was excited to open birthday presents the morning of her birthday, so we figured what the heck!  She climbed into our bed, along with MJ, while Cooper was still sleeping, and dug in!  I just love these pictures of her opening a present from MJ and her reaction.  May the always be so free with their affection for one another.  

During the afternoon, mama took the poor girl to the doctor for her birthday.  It was just her three year old well child check up, but with the way the timing worked out, it just happened to be on her actual birthday.  MJ came along and felt like such the big brother coaxing her along and reminding her every few minutes "no shots".  Charlee had a good check up and looked nice and healthy.  Her 3 year stats were:  Height:  38.0, 70%   Weight 29.5, 35%  She did fail her vision screening and we followed up shortly after with a pediatric ophthalmologist.  He felt like she was very borderline as to needing glasses, so we are giving her one more year to develop and will recheck her eyes around her 4th birthday.  

Being weighed at the doctor's office

This was Charlee's birthday interview.  It was her first year having one, and her answers cracked me up.  You can tell she's starting to really get into certain characters.  It was a fun birthday and Christmas now that she is showing specific interests.  

Lucky for Charlotte, her birthday being when it is also means that she will always probably be lucky enough to celebrate her birthday with family around!  December 23rd is the day that mom and dad arrived in FL.  They got here just in time, and met us at Adventure Landing, her birthday venue.  Along with our family and Uncle Jeff, we found the perfect celebration for our little princess.  Charlotte just LOVES Frozen and all things related to Elsa.  Adventure Landing just happened to be having a Frozen Meet and Greet, complete with pizza dinner, on the evening of her birthday.  Couldn't have been more perfect for her!  

 Big hugs for Elsa!  

 Blowing out those candles all by herself! 

After meeting all the Frozen characters, eating our pizza, and indulging in cake with her brothers, uncle, Gigi and PopPop, and Mommy and Daddy, it was off to play games.  Adventure Landing is like a big arcade, and we probably spent at least an hour playing lots of games.  There wasn't much time to take pics of that as Cooper was on the go and I felt busy just keeping tabs on everyone!  All in all, a wonderful birthday celebration which made for a very happy little girl.