Fall Break 2019

Hi, Everyone! I hope you're enjoying our {rapidly fleeting} October. We wrapped up our Fall Break earlier this week, so I thought I'd talk about it a bit. 

Our kids generally get two or three days off from school for Fall Break. Last year and this year, it has been Thursday, Friday, and Monday. There are definitely some varying opinions about this, but I personally like the break being split over a weekend! 

The past several years, we have taken a trip to Missouri to spend Fall Break with my parents, but now they live in the same town we do. Chris and I discussed several different options for a Fall Break trip, but we finally settled on renting a cabin and having a chill break. The kids kept saying they just wanted to play games and watch movies, so we thought a cabin getaway would be a great option. 

Our cabin was in Gore, Oklahoma, right off of Lake Tenkiller. It was only about an hour and a half from our home, so our plan was to leave late morning on Thursday, get to our cabin around noon, and spend the weekend. As it happens so often when you have a family of six including four littles, things didn't go according to plan!

The main issue was that Brooke had developed a severe cough the few days prior to Thursday when we planned to leave. The big kids had school on Wednesday, but the twins did not (they got one extra day of Fall Break). It's a good thing they didn't because Brooke's cough was bad enough that I would have kept her home anyway. We've canceled trips in the past due to one or more of the kids being sick, and we've also traveled with sick kids. Chris and I decided that since it was only a cough (no fever or other symptoms), we'd move forward with our trip like we had planned. 

After leaving our house around 10:15am on Thursday, Chris called our pediatrician to see if he could see Brooke before we headed to the cabin. His office couldn't get her in. We briefly discussed taking her to an Urgent Care, but decided we'd just head on to the cabin and hope her cough improved. Then, my friend Anna called me. Anna's son, G, and Bri are good friends and in class together. G had been admitted to the hospital a few days prior with bacterial pneumonia, which is contagious. Anna called to let me know if any of my kids started coughing, I should have them seen immediately. 

We decided that it wasn't worth taking a chance that Brooke had something serious, so we stopped in Muskogee to decide what to do. There are several Urgent Care type facilities in Muskogee, so I dropped Chris and Brooke off at what looked like a decent one and took the other three kids to El Chico for lunch. After lunch, we did just a little bit of shopping while we waited for Brooke and Chris to be finished. They were at Urgent Care for about an hour and a half. 

Thankfully, Brooke's lungs sounded clear. The Urgent Care doctor did prescribe Brooke an antibiotic in case she had something bacterial, so we had to wait about an hour for that script to be filled. In the meantime, Chris dropped me off at Wal-mart to get groceries for the days we planned to be at the cabin. I had a menu and list all made out, but Wal-mart was swamped and of course I couldn't seem to find anything. By the time I finished at Wal-mart, we picked up Brooke's script, and drove the rest of the way to the cabin, it was 4:00pm! Not a great way to start a trip!

However, once we drove up to our cabin, everyone got really excited. It was a super cute little place with a great outdoor space. I didn't take any photos of the inside, but it had one bedroom, a good sized living room, a tiny little bathroom, and a full {albeit small} kitchen. It also had a small sitting room at the front with a futon and two chairs. Everything was clean and decorated nicely, even though the cabin itself was fairly old. As soon as we got the van unloaded, Chris began working on a fire to roast hot dogs while I made a pot of chili.

The setting was so quiet and serene, and all the kids loved running around in the trees, exploring, and playing outside! You can see in the photo below that Chris even hung a hammock to relax in. 

I loved that there was a table and chairs outside so we could eat out there.

We were excited to get to the "relaxing" part of our trip!

Chili dogs for dinner hit the spot!

After dinner, we roasted marshmallows for s'mores. Because of course!

The weather was just perfect . . . clear skies and about 65 degrees.

These two enjoyed their s'mores!

And Bri, too!

We were all just happy to be there. The kids said several times, "Thank you for getting us a cabin!", and like I said above, they all just loved running around and playing outside.

Brecklyn and Daddy

Mommy and Brooke

We even brought glow sticks for the kids to enjoy after the sun went down, so they played outside for a bit after it got dark. Once we went inside, we watched a movie before bed (Smurfs). Then, we settled in for the night. There were two sectionals in the living room . . . one large and one a bit smaller. They were just right for the kids to sleep on. Brianna and Brenson slept feet to feet on the big one, while the twins had the smaller one. Chris and I slept in the bedroom.

On Friday morning, we took our time getting around, then cooked pancakes, eggs, and bacon for breakfast. Once we finished up breakfast and got ready for the day, we sat down to play some games as a family. Uno was first, and I wasn't sure how it would go because none of the kids have ever played it before. Well, I had no reason to worry! They all loved it and could play it with no problems. We ended up playing three games that morning!

Once we finished up Uno, we decided to pack a picnic lunch and go to Lake Tenkiller. Brooke's cough was already a ton better. Of course, we had to take some pics by the beautiful lake!

Brecklyn, Brianna, Brooke, and Brenson

Brianna and Daddy

As you can see in the photos, it was a windy day. The air was just chilly enough that it made the wind uncomfortable, and we couldn't find a place to picnic that was protected from the wind. Instead of eating at Lake Tenkiller, we decided to head a few miles down the road to Greenleaf State Park. Chris had camped here a few times as a child and knew there were some spots that would be better sheltered from the wind.

Lunch in Greenleaf State Park

In interest of full disclosure, I should say that lunch was a fiasco. As soon as we got food out, we were swarmed by bees wanting to share our picnic. They weren't being aggressive toward us at all, but the kids were being crazy about them. Three of the children ate pretty quickly so they could get away from the bees and go play. The fourth child sat and refused to eat and cried and just kind irritated her parents. Sigh.

Brianna and Brenson enjoying the tire swing at the park

Brooke enjoyed the traditional swing,

then also took a turn on the tire swing!

Have you figured out which child wouldn't eat yet :-)?

However, she finally ate enough to satisfy her parents and join the rest of the crew :-). 

This park had some pretty old equipment, including a really old school merry-go-round. When we first sat down, there were a bunch of big kids on the merry-go-round being kind of crazy. Chris said, "I can't believe they have that thing here . . . they're so dangerous." Not long after he said that, we watched a preteen girl fly off of it and limp back to her campsite with the help of her friends. After enjoying the other play equipment for a while, I hear Chris yell, "C'mon kids, the merry-go-round is open!" I look over to see him spinning our kids as fast as he can. You can probably guess what happened next . . . Brooke went flying off! She actually cried quite a bit - which is not like her - and that's when we decided to leave.

Before exiting the park, we did stop to take a photo with the sign.

We got back to the cabin around 2:00pm, and everyone laid down for a rest. While everyone was resting, Tia texted me to tell me they were just a few miles down the road visiting Ross's parents. I told her they should join us for dinner at Soda Steve's (the locally famous diner). After everyone got up from resting, the kids all played outside before we headed to Soda Steve's for dinner.

We shared the fried zucchini, nachos, and famous cheese fries. It did not disappoint!

It was so fun to be there with our friends!

After dinner, we walked around outside and visited a bit. The little girls were so cute watching some ducks and a cat at the pond.

Sadie, Caroline, Brecklyn, and Brooke

I should also mention here that while at dinner, Brenson did not eat much of anything. He kept lying his head on the table saying he was tired. When I reached over to hug him, I noticed he felt warm :-(.

We finished the day with a game of Monopoly . . . another first for the kids! Brooke and Brecklyn didn't last too long on this one, so we turned on Paw Patrol for them to watch while the others of us played for well over an hour. During the game, I noticed Bren coughing a lot. He also complained of a headache.

Bren's cough continued to get worse during the night, and by Saturday morning there was no question that he had a fever as well. It is frustrating to have sick kids on a trip, but we knew the junk spreading from one kid to another during our trip was a possibility. I should maybe say it was a probability. We started Saturday morning off slow . . . with a movie (Smurfs 2) and popcorn. Then, Brianna and I did some face treatments :-).

For lunch, we made homemade pizzas and ate outside. The weather was just beautiful. Sadly, Bren was not feeling well enough to join us :-(.

He did help me work on a puzzle we started inside, though! I thought that was a good sign until he went to lie down after only ten minutes. Ugh.

As we were cleaning up lunch, I mentioned to Chris that maybe we should take Bren to Urgent Care. Chris didn't agree, so we didn't take him. Instead, all the girls and Chris napped for several hours while Bren coughed and I finished the puzzle. Chris and I were both pretty frustrated with the situation, but didn't know what to do about it. That evening, we had leftover chili for supper, took turns taking showers, and watched another movie (this time it was Peter Pan).

We had planned to drive to Muskogee for church on Sunday, but Brenson was not doing well. Brecklyn had also started to act puny and run a low-grade fever. I stayed with them at the cabin while Chris, Brianna, and Brooke went to church. They stopped at Subway after church and brought subs home for lunch. Then, we put on Mary Poppins and had some rest time.

After rest time, we all went outside and decorated some cookies from a cookie decorating kit I had bought for our Harvest Party but didn't use.

Brooke

Brecklyn

Brianna and Momma

The cookie decorating club . . . Bren was feeling okish at this point.

Smiling even though he still had a fever!

This day was also our 18th wedding anniversary!

Daddy and Brecklyn

Daddy and Brianna

Bren and Daddy (clowns!)

Daddy and Brooke

After we finished the cookies, we decided to try a new game . . . Pie Face! The little girls, especially, had been looking forward to playing this!

It did not disappoint! We had a great time with it . . . lots of laughter!

Brecklyn

Brianna

Ack! I got it in the face!

Brooke was the only one who was disappointed if she DIDN'T get cream in the face!

The kids loved it when Daddy got it!

Brecklyn's little {big} laugh was so cute!

Bren didn't love this game so much . . . which is fitting, haha.

That evening, Chris built us a fire and we had fruit, veggies, crackers, summer sausage, and marshmallows to eat. Once again, Brenson was feeling too bad to join us for dinner outside :-(. I felt like we'd make one step forward and then take two steps back. The fire was so nice, though.

Once the fire died down, the big kids and Daddy played Life while I did some reading and the little girls finished Mary Poppins. It was nice to have so much down time!

Sadly, Sunday night ended up being a very rough night for Bren. I regretted not taking him to Urgent Care, and the problem was compounded by the fact that all the kids were sharing one space. No one slept well that night. When we got up Monday morning, I finished a book I had been reading to the kids (Frindle . . . so good!), then we got everything packed up to head home. As nice as it was to be out of town and relax, I was ready to be home! Having sick kids is not easy, but it's especially hard when you're not at home.

We arrived home just before noon on Monday, and I immediately started laundry and unpacking. We were able to get an appointment for Brenson and Brecklyn with our pediatrician that afternoon. Brenson was still having a very hard time with a fever, severe cough, dizziness, and no appetite, and Brecklyn was just starting to cough. Chris took them to those appointments while I continued doing all the things that have to be done after a trip. Unfortunately, we didn't really get any answers for why Bren had been sick . . . just that he has a virus. His ears, throat, and lungs all looked good, flu and strep tests were negative, and we were told we'd just have to ride it out.


*spoiler alert* - I ended up taking him back to see our pediatrician today (Thursday) because he still has a fever, severe cough, dizziness, etc. This is day seven of a fever, and it hasn't improved at all. He has pneumonia :-(.


While this was definitely a different kind of trip for us, it was great to relax, play games, and just be together. The kids all loved it, and the space was just what we needed! I can honestly say I hope we do something like this again in the future.