High Altitude Adventures

I realize I owe my few faithful readers some pictures, but in the spirit of motivation, I'm offering a deal: updates first, pictures later.

We spent much of the week in Park City with my family, part of our annual retreat. This year--ah, bliss--I had my own set of rooms with the kids, so we didn't have to worry about upsetting anyone with our sleep routines (early-ish bedtimes for Oliver, early wake-ups for all).

Dan spent Sunday-Tuesday in Missoula, Montana, at a regional ACS (American Chemical Society conference). He left Saturday afternoon, so I was particularly grateful to Bubby and Poppy for having us over for dinner on Sunday even without their favorite (well, one of two) son.

We drove up to Provo on Monday, tried (unsuccessfully) to get Oliver to nap, and then proceeded to the resort where we checked in. The kids, of course, wanted to go swimming immediately--which happened about an hour later when we finally succeeded in rounding up enough cousins to go. Oliver loved the water--but the water didn't love him. He lasted about 15 minutes before his lips turned blue and his teeth started chattering and had to get out of the pool. (Which was okay by me! The pool is heated to about 84 degrees, but when it's not much warmer than that outside, 84 degrees feels pretty dang cold). The older kids stayed in the pool with their excessively kind uncle Jared.

Dinner was pizza and general chaos (this is what happens when you put two parents, their four kids, assorted spouses, and combined 12 grandchildren in one room). The kids loved it, though. Since I was solo-parenting, my dad graciously offered to lay down by Oliver to put him to bed several times. And the first night, he sat in the hotel room while the kids slept and my mom and I spent 40 minutes at the outlet (believe it or not, the only time I spent at the outlet this trip) trying to find clothes for me to wear for upcoming family pictures. I had to laugh, though--how many other people struggle to find something red, white, or navy to wear? Me, apparently.

On Tuesday, we spent most of the day at the Utah Olympic park, where Andrew proved yet again that he's not afraid of anything and I was reminded that I'm actually pretty wimpy. After an initial run on the alpine slide, the kids decided to tackle the beginner obstacle course. Evelyn met the height and weight requirements, so we got her suited up and started climbing. We weren't very far through the course when she started getting scared--despite the harness, I think she was still afraid she would fall if she slipped off the course. She bravely soldiered through several of the obstacles and then hit a wall. Justin was just in front of her and I was right behind her, but she refused to go further. We had to wait for the workers to come rescue her (and hold up everyone behind us for about fifteen minutes). Still, I was really proud of her for trying--and also for being brave enough to quit. Sometimes I think we let other people pressure her into doing things we don't want to do, especially when quitting would be an inconvenience.

 Yes. Evelyn and I wore matching t-shirts (Princesses Can Pew! Pew!) courtesy of Dan and the Woot!

After that, Evelyn didn't want to do anything remotely scary. She said no to the zip line, and instead we went down the Alpine slide about eight times--enough that the workers recognized us on sight. Andrew went with my brothers and their kids down the zip line, on the Tower Fall (a zip line that ends in a sixty foot tower and controlled free fall--not for me, thank you very much!), and on the intermediate obstacle course.

(This is Andrew, at the bottom of his drop).

 My niece, Eli, on the intermediate obstacle course:

Andrew and Jacob on the zipline, coming in neck and neck.

 Jared, losing to his daughter Brielle.

And then, of course, we went swimming again. Oliver repeated his blue popsicle performance of the day before and then got his very own swim in the jetted bathtub in our room.

My personal highlight was Tuesday night: Dan arrived from Montana just before nine (and left less than twelve hours later so he could be home for pack meeting).

Wednesday was a little more low key. The kids played at the park for a couple of hours, did crafts, watched a movie, and then had a massive birthday party (massive only in the sense that we celebrated all four of the June birthdays. Fully 1/3 of my parents' grandkids were born in June), followed by dinner (quesadillas and burritos) and cake and ice cream.

Engrossed by the Lego movie:

This was essentially the end of the trip, since my brothers both had to head back that night. The next morning was just packing, loading the car, and making the long drive back home.

Friday we spent the day recuperating (i.e., starting laundry, cleaning the kid's room, etc.). Dan took Andrew and Evelyn to How to Train Your Dragon 2, which they liked, despite potentially traumatic death scenes. Evelyn sat on Dan's lap for much of that, I hear.

Saturday, we decided to have a little local adventure. We're trying to do some of the City Unplugged stuff, so we checked out some nearby petroglyphs and then drove through a scenic byway to Panguitch.

Quite possibly cooler than the petroglyphs was the peregrine falcon nest in the cliffs across the way. I'm pretty sure it was an adult (below, you can see the wing raised) and two juveniles (you can see one peeking over the nest below). I've never seen a peregrine in the wild before--and needless to say, neither had my kids. Since Andrew is fascinated by these birds, he was thrilled. (Me, too. I'm not a very good birder, but I harbor a deep fondness for birding).

 Oliver crashed coming into Panguitch.

 We had lunch at Henrie's and then sampled some of their ice cream just for Bubby.

And now for the promised make-up pictures.

Oliver's Birthday

We took the kids bowling for Oliver's birthday, figuring that with his love for balls he'd love it. And that was definitely true--but he didn't love having to wait his turn, so Dan and I alternately spent our time trying to keep him contained. (You can tell from Dan's face below how excited he was).

 

You can get a feel for Oliver's enthusiasm here.

Afterwards, the kids "helped" Oliver unwrap his presents. 

 He was particularly interested in "Jake." Thanks to Disney Junior, he can sing part of the theme song (Jake and the Neverland pirates, and me) and he knows Jake, Hook, and Tick-Tock Croc.

He's picking up new words at a tremendous pace and it's so fun to watch. Today's new word was "couscous," which he loved.

From a couple weeks back: At the zoo, with Sarah's kids. Look how excited Lydia is. :)

 I'm not sure if you can see it here, but Evelyn was drenched. She'd been climbing in the geysers in the splash pad area.

 Oliver has finally decided he likes the carousel.

Biking and swimming and friends, oh my!

I had every intention to update this post with pictures--and forgot to recharge the camera so it's effectively dead.

So you'll just have to imagine I've posted something pretty here.

This week has been busy, getting settled after a week away, prepping for another trip coming up soon. I've been a little bemused watching Andrew and Evelyn. I was never terribly social as a kid. I was happy to play with the neighborhood kids, but I was also happy to entertain myself (sometimes I preferred it). So it's been hard to know what to do with Andrew, who's never happiest than when he's with people, and he seems to have a pathological fear of being by himself.

Although we've been here almost five (!) years, this is the first year that my two oldest children have integrated themselves into a loose neighborhood gang (not, obviously, gang in the dangerous, pejorative sense). Andrew has free range of our street on his bike, and most days find him and one or more neighbor kids patrolling the streets or playing games at someone's house. I'm happy for him, as it gives him something to spend his energy on. But it has been fascinating to watch this evolution.

Evelyn doesn't have quite the same range, but she does get to ride her bike out in front of the house and often this translates into riding down to the neighbors, who have three triplet girls just a year older than she is. There, a couple of other seven-year-old girls also congregate and they seem to get along just fine.

Oliver would like to roam outside, but his range is severely limited (by his mother, not his own inclination).

Saturday was Andrew's first swim meet, which was an enlightening experience all around. First lesson learned: don't bring Oliver to any more of Andrew's meets. Keeping Oliver occupied and away from the water turned out to be a full-time occupation, and I could generally only keep him contented enough to let me watch Andrew swim by giving him something to eat. Evelyn was also pretty bored, so we might divide and conquer for future meets. Dan was one of the timers for this meet (since the meets are staffed by volunteers, they ask that parents contribute about 8 hours of volunteer time during the summer). In retrospect, I would have much rather had his job.

Second lesson: I love watching my kid swim. Even though Andrew was far from the fastest swimmer, he was able to swim the full 25 meters of the pool, using the appropriate stroke. That, to me, is pretty impressive. His biggest problem is that he keeps wanting to pop his head up to see where the other swimmers are, which, not surprisingly, slows him down even more. Bubby and Poppy were able to come watch his first two races, which was fun. (And related to lesson #1: Poppy saved the day with a judicious application of otter pops. Oliver squealed--loudly--when he saw his.)

Third lesson: it's crucial to put cornstarch on the swim cap before they wear them the first time otherwise it's intensely painful (we learned this the hard way. Luckily another mom was there and showed us what to do). Also, you need to put them on over the forehead first, and then pull back, not the other way around. (Also learned the hard way. Poor Andrew).

In other news (only for the die-hards)

Dan and I had dentist appointments and the hygienist told me I have nice teeth. (I'm putting this here so my mother can see it: thanks for all the time and money you spent on my orthodontic care!) And told me horror stories about people who don't brush their teeth for weeks at a time. Excuse me. I think I need to go brush my teeth again . . .

I've been working on slowly decluttering the house. This week's project was the computer room.

When Dad's away . . .

I take the kids to my parents'.

Dan spent the week in Chicago learning all kinds of interesting ways to revamp the department's chemistry labs, so the kids and I spent the week playing up north.

I think we had fun--mostly. We saw all the local cousins except for two (sorry Jared!), went to the splash pad, the swimming pool, Winco, Target (all the stores we don't have here), the newly opened Bean Museum (which was fantastic), and more. Evelyn especially loved the apex predator exhibit, which featured a pack of wolves attacking some bison, because, well, wolves. One of her two new obsessions.

The swimming pool was . . . interesting. The kids love to swim, including Oliver, but it's hard for me to take them on my own because they're at such different stages. Andrew can pretty much do his own thing, but Evelyn has to stay close by. And Oliver is fearless. It terrifies me, honestly. I thought since we were at a swimming pool with a splash pad for little kids (the water is only about a foot and a half at the deepest), it would be fine. I'd forgotten Oliver's habit (and Dan reminds me, the habit of both our older kids) to walk into chest deep water and then sit down, where, of course, the water comes up to his eyeballs and he can't stand up because he's in water and can't get leverage. So, yeah, keeping him from drowning was a full time occupation at the pool. Luckily for me, he gets cold easily--so 45 minutes later we were out of there, since his lips were nearly purple.

Not so luckily, I was supposed to meet a friend there. I never saw her, so I assumed she'd changed her mind (she wasn't definite), only to find the next day that she *had* been there, just in another part of the pool complex (it has an outdoor and indoor pool).

My personal favorite thing (besides shopping with my  mom) was getting to see some new and old friends while I was in town. Usually we're just in for a weekend and barely have time to see family, so with a longer visit I was able to have decadent desserts with some high school friends at the aptly named Chocolate, and meet up with a couple of my friends from Segullah. I'm not always the world's best friend--I don't keep in touch with people as well as I should be and sometimes I get sucked into my own little world--so I'm incredibly grateful for the ones who do put up with me!

On Friday, we went to the zoo with Sarah. It was crazy--I don't think I've ever been there when it was so crowded. But the kids seemed to enjoy it. Evelyn got drenched at the splash pad part, Oliver crowed at the animals and practiced growling at the bears, and Andrew . . . well, Andrew got lost, which was actually terrifying. Apparently, when we went to view the sea lions and polar bear, Andrew went one direction and the rest of us went the other. I assumed he was ahead of us, as he had been most of the visit, and it wasn't until I went ahead to look for him that I realized he wasn't ahead of us: he was missing. And he'd forgotten one of the rules we discussed about being lost--stay in one place. But he did remember the second part, about finding an authority figure to help you, because when I finally did find him he was talking to one of the zoo workers and he was on the verge of tears. When he saw me, he started crying, and any residual anger I had melted away. Sometimes he talks so grown up that I forget he's really still a little boy.

I have some pictures, but the camera cord has been misplaced so I'll have to post those later.

And of course, since it is Father's Day, I have to say how grateful I am for my own father, who always believed in me, and for Dan, who is the best father I could have hoped for. And for Robert, who's teaching my kids to love fishing.

After missing Dan for a week, I appreciate him even more.

The kids filled out interviews in Primary today about their dad. Here are their answers.

Evelyn

My dad's name is Dan. He is 34 years old, 32 feet tall, and he weighs 391 pounds (all of the 3s are backwards). His favorite food is fish. My dad is really good at Lagoo progats (lego projects?). He loves to golf. My favorite thing to do with my dad is kamp. I'm just like my dad because I have same hair. What I love most about my dad is he loves to play with lagos with me. It makes dad happy when I  (left blank).

Andrew

My dad's name is Daniel. He is  37 years old, 6.2 ft tall, and he weighs 215 pounds. His favorite food is jalapeno filled with cheese. My dad is really good at play the video games . He loves to golf. My favorite thing to do with my dad is play games. I'm just like my dad because I have boy genes. What I love most about my dad is he is nice. It makes dad happy when I don't scream.

So there you have it. Everything about Dan. I'm glad to know that Andrew inherited his "boy genes."

summer redux

Things we did last week:

*got our first brag tags from the city's Unplugged program and signed up for summer reading at the library.

* rode bikes. Andrew especially has been roaming the neighborhood with a couple of neighbor boys.

*ate snowcones at the Tiki Shack.

*Andrew started summer swim team.

*Evelyn cried because she wanted to go play at a friend's house--and managed to make it over the next morning.

*Oliver learned that apes say "ooh ooh ah ah" and wolf pups say "awooh"--and demonstrated both while the sacrament was being passed.

*Andrew and Dan went to scout day camp where Dan discovered he's failed as a redneck parent since Andrew didn't know how to shoot a bow and arrow or fire a b-b gun.

*I went to the ward youth conference, which entailed being at the church at 4:45 a.m. I was impressed at how many of the youth showed up. Later, we went for a hike down a slot canyon--pretty, but one of the girls got heat stroke so I and  couple other leaders stayed with her instead of finishing the hike.

Hiking across the Summer

For me, the biggest challenge of the summer is always the adjustment between the regimented days of school and the wide-open days of summer. If you've met Andrew, you'll understand this. This is the child who wants to know what the "plan" is every day--and I admit, I'm partly to blame for this, because when he was little I discovered he did better when he knew what to expect so I'd tell him what was going on that day . . . but still. It's exhausting to have something big planned every day.

So this year, we started off the summer with a family conclave where we talked about expectations (ours and the kids). It hasn't prevented all tantrums, but it seems to be helping.

It also helps that we've managed to pack some fun in along with the work (i.e., cleaning out the bathroom cupboards).

For Memorial Day we eschewed barbeques for the big outdoors--at Zion National park. As you can see, it was a gorgeous day. Our original idea was to walk down the Parus trail and then catch the shuttle back--but as we pulled into the park we realized we'd left Oliver's stroller at home. (Dan thought it was in the car; I thought he was planning to load it in the car). Turns out, Oliver is really horrible at walking in a straight line. He wants to touch everything, stop every five seconds, and then walk back the same direction he just came. We went about half our planned distance (carrying a protesting Oliver for part of the time) before ditching the trail at the History Museum and taking the shuttle.

Oliver did like the shuttle.

 Weeping Rock was beautiful: very green. And wet.

We had lunch in St. George at (where else?) Red Robin and then took the kids to see Dan's grandpa Rogers' grave, and then on to the splash pad. Our time there was cut short when Andrew decided to blindly leap through the central geyser and crashed into a little girl on the other side.

This is what his cheek looked like on Thursday, four days later.

We spent the middle part of the week hanging out, doing chores, playing with friends.

On Thursday, Evelyn and her Bubby went to the local princess festival. I'm not sure if it's because we signed up for the 9 a.m. slot or because not a lot of people knew about this, but Evelyn was one of only two little girls at her time slot, so she got lots of undivided attention.

She got to meet lots of fairy tale characters (mostly HS students in costume), learned dances, and got her face painted (pictures courtesy of Bubby).

Saturday, we went hiking again. This time, up at Cedar Breaks. (We really live in a gorgeous part of the country). This time, we remembered to bring a carrier for Oliver, which is why there aren't any pictures of him (or me).

I'd forgotten, though, that 70+ weather down in the valley isn't quite the same in the mountains, and I was surprised at how much snow still covered parts of the Alpine Pond trail. This is me, standing on top of a 3 foot snow drift (pictures behind me at Dan and Evelyn, Andrew in front of me).

Other news: we put our garden in a week ago and almost everything is still alive. Win!

I've discovered how to keep Oliver from climbing on me while I cook: let him do his own mixing. Only, he took the cup of milk I gave him to drink and added it to the water/sugar/cinnamon mess he was already working, so I'm not sure how that went down. He seemed to like it. The only downside: the floor was incredibly sticky when he was done.

We've begun to think he might have a future as a chemist or pharmacist. He loves to mix things. Especially his dinner. A sure sign he's done eating is that he will start dropping his food, etc. into whatever's in his cup.

And Evelyn's Star Wars fetish continues unabated. She saw Episode VI last week, so now Ewoks are her new favorite thing.