A Totus Tuus Recap

Last week was Totus Tuus. 

And that's all I care to say about that. 😂

No, I will tell you a little bit more. 

The night program was delightfully easier than I anticipated. We averaged 50ish kids a night. 

The day program was exponentially more difficult than I anticipated. We were about 60ish kids every day. 

I had never experienced a Totus Tuus before. Sure, I've heard the name of the program plenty. And I can see the merits of the program to be sure. 

But... are they allergic to fun in Wichita? Have they met children? Because the material is great! Who wouldn't want their kids to learn about the Joyful Mysteries of the rosary and the sacraments? (The themes of this year. They rotate annually. But they're all good.) 

But there were zero elements of fun or hands-on activities in the "Power Learning Sessions." And so many of them could have really greatly benefited from something or anything. Also, I am pretty salty that I printed Sacrament books and brought supplies for all the kids, and the missionaries never used them! 

Don't these kids look bored? Faith learning doesn't need to be boring! (It's not the deep dive into theology I disagree with, it's the 40-minute lectures for 10-year-olds I disagree with.)

Yet, overwhelmingly, we got positive feedback. Parents and kids loved it! I think it was more the skits and the other stuff they loved though.

But I worked a 53-hour week, and I do not think the juice was worth the squeeze. I would be hard pressed to run a Totus Tuus ever again. 

Also, to be fair, this was a diocesan initiative, and we were meant to work together with many other parishes in the area. And it basically tuned into me and one other person doing it all. That added an element of stress that I couldn't have foreseen. 

If it had been just at my own parish with just some of my parish kiddos, it would have been entirely different, I am sure. I am not far enough away from the week to think back fondly yet. But I am relieved it's over and that we tried it. 

The Real VBS Recap

I'm not going to sugarcoat it for you here. VBS was hard. The hardest one I've ever had. This was not my first rodeo. For my own sake, here are all my previous rodeos:

• 2017 Maker Fun Factory: Crew Leader
• 2018 Shipwrecked: Sing and Play
• 2019 Roar: Sing and Play
• 2021 Rocky Railway: Sing and Play
• 2022 Monumental: Director
• 2023 Stellar: Director
• 2024 Scuba: Director

Bringing me to 2025 True North: Director. 

So it could have been a "been there, done that" sort of thing. And it was not. 

I have never struggled so hard to get volunteers. And then once I got volunteers, it was a problem to get them there every day. There was a huge volunteer puzzle to solve. For example: Susan can be there M, T, and F, and Erica can be there T, W, Th. So together they were one person doing one job. 

But not isolated. There was so so much of it. 

To top that, we were at full capacity of 150 kids. 100 elementary students going into 1st- 5th grades and 50 preschool participants going into 4-year-old PK to Kindergarten. And I had a massive waitlist of over 40 kids. 

But we persevered. And the theme of True North is Trust Jesus, so I did, and it all worked out. Did it work out as I planned? (No. Though I gotta tell you my plan was pretty good and involved volunteers who showed up on time and every day so while that makes God laugh, I still think it might've been nice.) 

The week felt long. With Husband gone and unable to talk it was very much like being on my own VBS island. It was weird. I was surrounded by people. Nice people, some of them I even love, and I felt very alone. 

Here's what I can say: I have for sure perfected the car line drop-off and pick-up. The week truly, overall went well. Trusting in Jesus really worked out. It always does. But it doesn't change the fact that this was a really stressful year. 

That One Time When Husband Dug Up A Dinosaur

So while the kids and I were off at VBS. (More on that soon.) Husband went to the actual middle of nowhere Wyoming to dig up a triceratops. 

Yes. You read that correctly. He went to dig up a triceratops. A real one. 

Like Cera. But a lot deader than this. 

Cliff Notes version: His museum is going to have a triceratops skeleton. But in order to get that skeleton they have to first dig it out of the ground over a series of trips. He got to go with to document and do some digging. 

It was the worst possible week for this to happen but seriously. How could we NOT send him to a dinosaur dig? Who does that?!

So on Sunday we dropped him off at work. And the rest of the crew. 

Then we watched them drive away to Wyoming. 

The town closest to where they were was Lusk, Wy. Then they camped 50 minutes from there. And the dig site was 15 minutes from the camp. There was no cell service so we went days and days without hearing from him. Which was not my favorite. 

This is where he slept. 

This is the rib bone he uncovered. He's very proud of this rib bone!

Please note his VBS shirt because even being far away he supports me on VBS shirt day! And somehow I got a message from him that morning and I really needed it. Turns out, I am really into talking to him every day! 

This was the picture he sent me. He was excited. 

He flew to Indianapolis to meet us and came bearing gifts. 

I am not entirely sure what we will do with a bag of dinosaur bone fragments (these are not from the triceratops) but they live at our house now. 

He had the experience of a lifetime, and it sounded... horrible to me. I am glad he went alone! 

But I am also glad that he went and that they were safe. At some point in the next few years, I can't wait to show you the whole Triceratops! It will be the only complete dinosaur in Iowa! 

A Little Getaway (With some BIG happenings)

So VBS wrapped up Friday. (More on that later in a different post.) 

The next day M had her final swim lesson in the morning.

Yay for progress! I love watching her swim! 

Then we went home, she changed clothes, and we hopped in the car because we were going to Indianapolis! This was C's belated birthday trip as you'll soon see, he called a lot of the shots. 

We had a pit stop along the way, making both of their dreams come true with Krispy Kreme Donuts. We don't have them nearby, so it's really a treat. 

I don't really know about this employee, but he pretty much insisted on taking a picture with them too so... there he was. 

We got to our hotel and beat Husband there by about 10 minutes. He was taking the shuttle from the airport. He flew from Denver to join us. (More on that later in a different post.)

After we relaxed a while, we decided to go find some dinner since we just had donuts for "lunch." 

To no one's shock... we ended up at Outback.  He was thrilled. 

And I'm not going to lie... I was too. 

After dinner, we went back to the hotel. Three went out to swim. One stayed in and cleaned out her email inbox which sounds dumb but was rather satisfying. 

Then we were early to bed. 

Sunday morning, we woke up and headed out for Mass at the Cathedral. 

It's the Cathedral of Ss. Peter and Paul and we were there on the Solemnity of Ss. Peter and Paul. 

It was a nice Mass. 

Then we ate croissants in the car because we were heading into the matinee showing of Wicked! You might be saying to yourself... Madeline, didn't you go see Wicked last year out of town? For C's birthday? Yes. Yes we did. And we had Outback on that trip too. 

Well, we saw the show. And then in November, we saw the movie. And the kids wanted to see it again "With better seats," So I delivered. 

M has been talking about this $$$weat$shirt for the last year and I made her earn enough money to pay for "half" of it. **It was a little less than half but she's cute. I also bought it big so she can wear it for a long while is the hope. 

We really enjoyed the show, as we knew we would. We did NOT enjoy the many small girls who had only seen the movie and then proceeded to try and sing along in the first act. WOW. The audience's behavior was something else. 

Then we went back to change into more casual clothes and went out for local pizza. 

And then we came back, and 3 went swimming and one sat on a lounge chair. 

Later, after showers and some time to relax, we went out to Waffle House. This is another thing that is not by us at all. But the kids like the Jonas Brothers song (as do I), so we had planned to go for months on this trip. Seriously. 

And... apparently, Waffle House is carry-out only from 8:30 pm-6:00 am. For context: it was 8:41. And clearly light out. 

But what could we do? So we took some waffles to go and went back to the hotel to eat. 

Monday (yesterday) morning we were up bright and early and we headed out to the Indianapolis Zoo. 

We were the first ones there. And truly, the first family in the gate.

Why Indianapolis? Because of the Walruses!! Of course. Last year, it was the Penguins and Wicked. This year... it was a Wicked Walrus trip! 

We stopped to see the Chimpanzees. They were just walking onto the exhibit so it was really neat! 

We then cruised through Oceans quick to say hello to the penguins of course. 

But then we headed straight to the walrus exhibit to say hello to Ginger and Aku. The exhibit was closed for a while as the zoo fixed it up. It looked exactly the same to me as the last time we were in Indy but whatever.  I was glad that this wall sculpture thing was still there, though! 

Good morning Ginger! It's nice to see you! 

Aku was really loving his red enrichment ball. And we really enjoyed watching him play with it. 

After a good long while, we ventured off to other parts of the zoo. 

It was a real nice time. But then after lunch... came the main main event. The very special, behind-the-scenes tour with the Walrus. This took months of planning, knowing people and emails. It also helps that one Mr. C wrote a letter to Erika the walrus trainer and Pakak (may he rest in peace) in 2019. 

C was so excited/nervous he was almost crying. I don't honestly have the words to describe the experience so I am just going to let the pictures talk. 

Erika was there and so was Aku. Who was rescued from the Alaska Sea Life Center where Pakak and Mitik and Uki were rescued too. 

We got to feed Aku. And meet Erika. And Aku gave us kisses on our hands. And it was THE MOST amazing experience. 

After, we still had more zoo to cover. And we were riding the "I met a walrus" high. 

We went back to the dolphin show because I wouldn't let M sit in the splash zone pre-walrus. 

And then before we left, we said goodbye to our friends. 

And C got a little teary saying goodbye because Aku vocalized right when he said goodbye, and he is convinced that he said goodbye back. I mean, he probably did. 

It was a very special and fun weekend. 

And look out. Because Wicked is going to be in Omaha next summer, and they have a pretty great zoo, too. And Google tells me they also have an Outback. 😉