Teens traveling

Elli left for her trip to Costa Rica this morning.

Sigh........

Don and I didn't say much on the car ride back to Mill Valley. It will take a day or so to get used to her not being here.

It's not like she's ever home that much any way. But she's in our town. Or close by.

Not 3,919 miles away.

Eeks!

I am really proud of her for wanting to go on this adventure with Cross-Cultural Solutions. She worked hard for months to raise the money needed for the trip with her GoFundMe campaign. Now she's on her way with one of her best friends.

They will be with a group of teens from all over the United States. Their purpose is to lend a hand to under-resourced organizations. It will be an eye opening experience being in a country where 1 in 5 people live in extreme poverty. Their home base is in Cartago, an historic, bustling city located within a more rural region of the country.

The volunteer assignments will be in Orosi, one of the oldest communities in Costa Rica. Orosi is situated on the Reventazón River in the Orosi Valley a deep valley and humid climate, surrounded by hills and lush vegetation. (I hope Elli doesn't get eaten alive by bugs! They do love to bite her.) Their work assignments will focus on Education/Literacy and Global Health.

The itinerary for the two weeks sounds amazing.

Week 1: Volunteer at the Loaiza Elementary School every day. Every afternoon they will be going on adventures in Cartago, taking cooking classes, latin dance lessons, going to the Irazu Volcano National Park, the National Museum, visiting the arts and crafts market and going on a canopy tour in La Carpintera Mountain.

Week 2: Volunteer work at the Manos de Jesús Nursing home every day. Then lots of fun adventures including visiting the La Paz Waterfall Garden, an excursion to Charrarra Pura Vida Park, Ujarras Look Out Point, and a trip to Fia in San José.

So that's it! It's going to be a long two weeks waiting to hear about everything. I'm not loving being an empty nester. Don and I better figure this out because in 2 years we really will be empty nesters.

waaaaaahhhhhh

Hello there! I've missed you.

Yesterday I decided I would make breakfast casserole for Father's Day. It's tasty. Easy. And can be made ahead. What's not to love, right?

So I went to the trusty blog to get the recipe.

I then realized I hadn't posted anything since January. It made me a little sad. I used to love writing posts. I would get up every morning with tons of ideas bursting in my head. And then slowly life, and work, got in the way and I started writing less frequently. Then barely at all.

So I started reading some old posts. I love all the random incidents I wrote about because those are always the stories we remember, right? The tales we love telling over and over. They're what make us smile and laugh. And you all know how much I like to laugh.

Like the time Elli gave me a Performance Review at home. It still cracks me up. And I got nervous reading it again- just like the first time!

And then there's the time the police thought Elli had been kidnapped. Ok. I realize that is not funny. But she obviously wasn't kidnapped. It was a giant misunderstanding. She was actually just singing in a van with Don. You can read the whole crazy story here.

Or the time Anderson Cooper invited me to come on his talk show. Seriously. He did. With my sister-in-law. I can't believe I actually considered doing this.

I'm going to try to write some posts every once in a while. Can't promise it will be all the time. But as the memory bank in my brain has lost all capacity to remember things I think I need to start documenting my life. Because I seriously have a case of the "why did I come upstairs?" on a daily basis.

Valentine gifts that give back

Elli is halfway to her fundraising goal on GoFundMe. Half way! 

I can't tell you how excited and relieved I am. Now I'm hoping she'll actually raise more than her half so Don I don't have to have our own fundraising campaign for the other half.

We've come up with a cute idea for Valentine's Day. Ok, I came up with the idea. Don doesn't understand why I won't let her run this "campaign." I just want to make sure she raises the money. Because I really (really) don't want to foot the bill for it.

She doesn't seem to mind that I've turned her into a jewelry making machine. 

VALENTINES DAY 2017

We have two really cute necklaces available when you make a $30 donation to Elli's campaign. Each necklace comes with a handmade felt pouch. It's not Tiffany blue, but it was made with a lot of heart and hope - and it's really cute.

ITEM #1 XO necklace and hand-made felt pouch, $30

ITEM #2 Heart necklace and hand-made felt pouch, $30

We have a limited supply of the necklaces. Place your order before February 7th and we'll have it delivered to you before Valentine's Day.

Thank you for your donation. Order here > GoFundMe

XOXO

Kris and Elli

Teaching Teenagers to Fundraise

Remember the post I did last February with the theme "Mom, you don't think like me." No? You can read it here.

I almost made the same mistake again when helping Elli set up her fundraising campaign. Only this time I didn't. I remembered that conversation and pitched my idea to Elli a little differently. In other words, I listened to her and didn't push my agenda quite as hard and wouldn't you know it - we have success!!

Last year I tried to break down the fundraising goal into logical increments which she could achieve by babysitting, fundraising, pet sitting, etc. I even had a spreadsheet. Horrors!

It was way too structured for her.

So even though I would prefer to know how many babysitting jobs I need to make the money her brain is not processing the project that way. It's much more fluid for her.

This year she is raising money to go on a 2-week trip to Costa Rica with a group called Cross Cultural Solutions. We've told her she has to raise half of the $4,000 she needs! Hopefully more. 'Cuz we're footing the bill for the rest and money doesn't grow on trees ya know. I'm kidding. I did not say that to her. We did have a long talk about why we're making her pay half though. I think it's important for her to be invested in this trip financially. It will make it even more special if she has raised most of the funds to pay for the trip.

Here are the 5 things I learned:

1. Brainstorm Ideas Together - I know, I know. Duh, right? Well, I didn't do that last year and it killed the project. So start by working together.

2. Select One or Two Ideas to Try - any more than that and it's overwhelming

3. Fundraise in Stages - set goals along the way so it feels doable

4. Help them Promote their Fundraising Campaign - your friends and contacts have more discretionary income than their friends do.

5. Celebrate the Victories - Elli created her own tracking chart so we can celebrate when she reaches milestones.

So far so good! She's at 32% of her goal and we still have many more months to finish.

If you would like to donate to her campaign click here> DONATE HERE

Thank you!!