Family Retreat Fun

 I was so excited to go on the Family Retreat by Dan’s school. It will be a time of prayer, fellowship and spiritual growth.

There are also practicalities to be considered, especially when you’re travelling and spending the night away from home with three small children. My favorite trick to keep those things straight is to make a list.

Lists are easy to make. All you need is a piece of paper and a writing utensil. I made my list on the back of a receipt from the Dollar Tree and I used a golf pencil I found in the alley behind the apartment complex.

On my list:

Diapers

It’s hard to do E.C. when travelling, so Thomas and Bobby will need diapers. I had asked about taking the Wonderwash but they assured us they’d have laundry facilities free of charge. I was still concerned about the waste of water and electricity, not to mention detergent that may have chemicals we don’t use. I had planned on taking one of the pillowcases off the bed to store dirty diapers until we could get home and wash them properly, but Dan put his foot down. Since I am a good, submissive wife, I acquiesced. So this week we will be using a conventional washer and dryer. I’m not happy about it because I believe the very violent agitator can damage clothing fibers and I don’t like unknown chemicals on our clothes, but it is only for a few days. I have placed some soap nut liquid diluted in a spray bottle of water to mist our clothes so that they smell more like home. I was going to bring my soap nut solution to wash the clothes in but Dan drank the last of it with some kefir water. He is now not allowed any kefir soda for a week.

Food

Though the school has assured us that they will provide food, after my experience with the RMH I am not looking forward to the consequences of the food we’ll have there. Many people make fun of my crockpot food and lacto-fermenting, but the benefits of better digestion and being regular have been priceless to our family. I can even tell a difference in the consistency and the smell of Bobby and Daniel’s waste. I know that their solid bowel movements are a result of our careful diet. So I am not looking forward to us eating foods with a high sugar content (very few in Dan’s school are savvy enough to have switched to Stevia), high carbs and low fat. That’s why I am bringing a small cooler with the following:

Tortillas, plain bread and carrot bread – all of which have soaked grains. I also have a jar of lacto-fermented salsa and some lacto-fermented grated coconut and carrots. I am going to try to make sure everyone in the family gets some salsa on a tortilla or plain bread each day and some carrot bread with the coconut and carrots as a treat. That way no matter what crap is served I know I’m doing my best to nourish my family with food I approve of. I figured out that after our trip to RMH Dan and I used over $0.80 in extra toilet paper due to constipation and diarrhea.

Toys

No matter how many children are there, at night the boys will want some of their own familiar toys with them. For Daniel, I’m going to bring a red sock because his favorite Cars character is red. For Bobby we will have some gloodle dough to play with. We don’t bring Thomas toys as he’s too young to play with any yet.

Other Things

There are other things we must have when we travel. First, is Brad. Brad is a valuable member of our family. He travels in the backseat between Bobby and Thomas. Daniel usually sleeps in the trunk because he sleeps a lot and it’s like his own little cave there. It’s so cute!

We also bring a collection of sheets and blankets and rugs. That way, as soon as we get to our family dorm room I can tack up rugs across the windows and blankets and sheets across all doorways and cover up any items in the room. We like our space in a certain way and that’s covered with random filthy sheets.

Dan brings his notebooks to color …I mean, write in. I bring my crockpot. That way, when the children are given fresh fruit in the mornings I can dehydrate it with the crockpot. I feel that dehydrated oranges and pineapple give more concentrated vitamins. Plus, I feel an uncontrollable urge to suck any flavor from food in any way I can. We also bring along a milk carton of whey so that I can lacto-ferment anything I can get my hands on.

I hope that all my faithful fans pray for us to find spiritual guidance and know that I will be back to blogging as soon as I can. I know that it will be very, very hard for you to not hear from me for a few days. Just remember to send your ideas for the redesign of the boys’ room to Emily@frugalfruitloop.com. Just know that we will not have mattresses, rugs, light, a door, move shelves, give away toys, paint the crib, move the tree or buy anything for the room. And no matter what you suggest I will remind you that it is not part of our plan. Have fun!