Vacation Time

You may have noticed a lack of blogs and Facebook posts. That's because we were on VACATION. And when I say vacation, it's not really a vacation when you have kids. It's just another location to tire kids out.


I get a lot of flack from people about "going on vacation". Umm,, I have kids. And because I have young kids who are impressionable, I want to make sure they see the world and they see the things I saw when I was a kid. It may look like we are only ever goofing around but there's a lot of work to do to go anywhere when running the Sanctuary.


And I may take time off from the Sanctuary because, well, I do get burned out. I'm the one person single handedly running the place and with all the other requirements and expectations, I need a break. And going on "vacation" with my kids is the one get away I can do and not feel guilty about it.


It was our annual trip to the Black Hills. It's something we've done for over 30 years. We ALWAYS go to the Black Hills around now. It used to be over Labor Day but things got messed up so now it's the end of July (it used to be during the Rally week but got bumped thankfully).


I got criticized once for going when I should have "had my priorities" somewhere else. Umm, no. I'm a stickler for tradition and this is one tradition I will not let go no matter WHO says WHAT to me. I know I need to let the comment go but it still stings even all these years later. But water off a ducks back.


The weather turned while we were gone. When we left, it was in the upper 80s and we'd been dealing with a month of 90s and humidity. Today as I sit at home trying to work for the paying job, it's in the 60s. Even when we were in the Black Hills, the temps were in the 80s, which meant down out of the mountains it was in the 90s. How crazy is it to have a 30 degree shift in temperature.  It now feels like fall rather than true summer. It almost feels like we are a month ahead of schedule for temperatures. This is truly September weather and not August weather. What we experienced last month was some of July and August weather.


So that sets of my spidey sense. Are we going to move into fall and winter a month early? This whole climate change has really changed everything rather drastically in the last five years or so. Everything is shifting more now than it has in the past 10 years. I think everything is a month early so that means I need to be a month early too. The problem is, I'm about a month behind. With the weather changing, that means I'm two months behind. Oh to have more time on my hands to actually get things done.


So I guess I better get to it and get some stuff done!


I'll leave you with a picture I took while in the Black Hills. My camera card was full so I can't even share any pictures. They are all on the old camera and I have to find the cord and everything to get the pictures downloaded. Oh technology, you have bested me again.

Stop over to our Facebook page at noon for a live video about what we do to prepare for a vacation. It's not all fun and games. I'll try to post more about what we do later today if the weather holds.