Utah Day 8 - Moab

The tent was pretty comfortable- even with the three cots jammed in with us. We foolishly set an alarm for 8AM, because we had to be in Moab for our Hummer Safari at 945 and wanted to get breakfast first. This was foolish because we had forgotten that at the end of the day, canvas castle or not, we were still camping and the sun comes up EARLY. Brian and I were awake by 615. Once the kids were up, dressed, and sunscreened we headed into town for breakfast at the Moab Diner. For Brian and Jake it was the best breakfast of the trip: bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, biscuits and gravy. I got to stop at Moab Roasting Company for an iced espresso, and we set off to the Moab Adventure Center with full, happy stomachs ready for an adventure.

The Hummer Safari was great. I’ve never been off roading before and it was so much fun. Our guide, Molly, was friendly and kind (Faith started the tour sobbing that she didn’t want to go too fast…) and full of good stories about the area and information about the ecology. We even saw dinosaur footprints! We drove straight up the sides of boulders all the way to the top of the famous Slick Rock bike trail. It was a really cool way to experience the scenery.

After the tour we headed straight to Milt’s for milkshakes and French fries.  I know I have been to Milts as a child but had no recollection of it. Even when I walked inside and looked through their old memorabilia none of it rang a bell.  Still, I was glad we went. The French fries were delicious and it was fun to see the place that my mom talks about with such fondness. Tanner was pretty tired at that point and not feeling great (he wouldn’t even drink his milkshake so we knew he wasn’t anywhere near normal!) so after lunch we went back to the tent for an afternoon nap.

Later that afternoon we headed into Arches National Park and walked a few easy trails. The kids loved climbing on the rocks and tried to climb as high as they could as we viewed The Windows area and the Turret Arch.  Next we drove to the viewing point of the Delicate Arch. I know I saw it as a child and I think I was equally disappointed when I saw it then that it was so far away!!  I guess you get so used to seeing pictures of it that when you see it in person, from way far off, it is way less majestic than all the postcards you’ve seen. We could have taken a hike into see it, but at that point it was 98 degrees and the hike was listed as “strenuous” so we didn’t even discuss it as an option. On the way back down we stopped to view Balanced Rock and had some “fun with perspective” with the iphone camera.

 

We headed back in to down town for some final souvenir shopping, dinner (where our waiter sounded EXACTLY like Lemony Snickett playing Count Olaf in Book 3 of the Series of Unfortunate Events. We had endless fun imagining that every phrase he uttered ended with "ORPHANS" in his scary voice!) and a shave ice for the kids then home to our canvas castle for our second night. We slept with the windows and door open (except for the screen) and listened to the high wind shake our tent and blow cool air into the rather warm campsite. It was a great night, but not a great night’s sleep for Brian and I.  The kids slept like rocks but the wind kept Brian and I awake – but it was really pleasant and I didn’t mind not sleeping. Brian was up with the sunrise and had started loading the car by the time the kids and I were stirring.

We woke up, had homemade granola and cinnamon rolls at the local coffee place and set out our way back to Boise -with a planned stop in Park City to break up the 10 hour drive. 

Spontaneity Pays Off - Day 6.5

We got back to our tent camp after dinner, planning on relaxing outside for the rest of the evening until bedtime, but at about 745 I realized that we were really close to Dead Horse Point. I remembered going there as a child- probably Faith’s age- with my Grampy and Grammy and on one particular picnic my Grampy carved Kim’s and my initials into a tree there. I didn’t think we’d actually find that tree, but it was so close to sunset and we were just hanging out so…. Yep, we jumped back in the car (my wonderful husband barely complained) and we headed up to Dead Horse Point just in time to watch the sun going down on one side of the canyon and the full moon rise on the other side. The kids scrambled over boulders, chased lizards,  and tried to throw rocks into the Colorado River below. It was pretty close to perfect.

Making the Best of a Bad Situation (Day 6)

The kids were sad to leave Zion Ponderosa. Jake had a great time hanging out on his own last night (he even met a girl... haha.... of course he met a girl...) and had made new friends there. Tanner and Faith had been loving the time with Brian learning how to play pool and pingpong and also having the freedom to be in the resort on their own. Brian and I were ready to move on, though, to second to last stop on the trip: Moab. Moab is where my mom grew up so I had some ghosts to chase (as my mom would say) and wanted to see the house where my Grammy and Grampy had lived- which I had last seen when I was 11 years old. I wanted to go to Milts- the diner my mom worked at in high school and where we used to go get milkshakes when we visited Moab as children. We also wanted to get to the last two national parks on our agenda: Canyonlands and Arches. The kids had a day and a half to recoup and prepare for some more hiking and we were all looking forward to the Hummer tour the next morning.

If you read the last post you know that Brian already had concerns about the place I booked. But when we got there it was beautiful with amazing views and the tents were very upscale. However...

As mentioned earlier in this blog, Faith seems to be going though some anxiety lately. She is afraid to do things (really almost anything that is slightly scary or something she hasn't done before) and she is also become deathly afraid of storms. She freaks out if there is high wind or thunder, or (god forbid) lightening. It has become worrisome in the last few months and is fairly reminiscent of our eldest child's foray into anxiety (which started right around age 7.5).  So, given this recent weather anxiety, it may not have been the best idea to book a canvas tent "glamping" site that had Brian and I in one large canvas tent with a king size bed and bathroom and the kids in a canvas teepee right next to us. To be honest, I'm not sure what I was thinking because, of course, as we drove into the Moab Under Canvas site it began to rain and then the thunder began and within second Faith was completely freaking out and crying and screaming and begging to go home and saying that she wished we had never come to Utah. Right away we realized that the idea of them sleeping in a tent that was not connected to ours, with the threat of the storm continuing through the night, was not going to happen. So much for Plan A. Time to think of a Plan B. Plan B either had to be completely forgoing the reserved tents and trying to get a motel in town or moving the kids bunks into our tent, completely forgoing any idea of romantic vacation or even comfortable sleeping arrangements.

After 30 minutes of tense decision making negotiations (while Faith continued to freak out) and a quick look on the internet for other Moab motels nearby with vacancies (0) we decided to move the furniture around inside our tent to make room for the three kids cots. It was probably really, really silly (and an unrealistic expectation) that we could have any sort of romantic moment while traveling with three children. So now we are full to the brim and ready for a good nights sleep in our safari tent. 

Once that was settled we head into Moab to check it out, get a good dinner, and try to see some of the old places mentioned above. We were successful on all three counts (and even got some homemade tiramisu to take back to the tent for later). Oh, yeah... and a bottle opener. We've been traveling with four beers on ice for days but don't have a bottle opener to actually make them drinkable. In half an hour or so I fully intend to be relaxing on the front porch of our tent sipping a nice cool beer, admiring the 360 degree view of the redrocks, and putting the weather freak out behind me. It's early to bed tonight for all (for one thing, we have no electricity...) since we have to be up early for our Hummer tour of Canyonlands. 

A Paralyzing Case of Cabin Fever (or Utah Day 5)

So after the 'Peterson Death March" -y-ness of yesterday, Marisa had declared today to be a catch up day and said that we weren't going to leave the resort and the kids could just hang out and take part in the activities, which was necessary. It was also false. 

Anyone who knows my lovely wife knows that she can't stay in one place for a full day. Be it this resort, or a five star resort in Mexico. An excuse must be made to leave or she gets at loose ends about mid way thru the day. Even at home, if there is a full day where she doesn't leave the house, she'll make a drive down the hill just to "get a coffee" to get out of the house. I don't know why she gets that way, I just know she does. So it was no surprise that midway thru the morning she was on the internet in the lodge trying to find something, anything remotely interesting in the vicinity to go and do. 

We put the kids into the kids camp here for the morning (9-1) while we relaxed and got some laundry done. I got a workout in, Marisa surfed the internet for an excuse, we went to the pool and read and relaxed. The kids had a blast at kids camp, going on the bungie trampoline, making clay sculptures, building a fort, playing four square and having lunch. After we picked them up we finished up our activites, Tanner and Faith going for a trail ride, Jake riding the ATV's and everyone jumping on the bungie trampoline again. After a quick folding of the laundry and clean up, we were back in the car and out to dinner/the store. 

To be fair, the food here is awful. We have been at highs and lows for food on this trip, but this resort has been the low at every meal we have had to eat here. So Marisa kind of seized on that to get a trip into town for an early dinner (combined with a side trip to a town of movie settings advertised online and in the Kanab Times newspaper). Again, to be fair, it might have been the best Mexican food I have ever eaten. It was easily the best refried beans that I have ever had and it was all uphill from there. We hit the grocery store for some supplies as things are looking like they might get dicey in our next stop (side note - the details of this next stop have been leaked out to me little-by-little for the last few months, things like; "we have to share a bathroom", I was told last month. "There might not be wi-fi" came a little bit later. Today over a lovely Mexican dinner I was told, "there's not any electricity"). 

Plus the excuse for a drive got us further into "A Series of Unfortunate Events" Book 2. I have forgotten how much I enjoyed reading these books a few years ago and I am REALLY enjoying listening to Tim Curry read them as the desert landscape rolls by out the window. We are trying to get the next two books in some audible format as we have gone thru the first two WAY faster than we had intended. We tried Audible (too expensive), tried the library free loan of audio books (they have it but Marisa's library card isn't set up to check them out), and even looked into getting it on kindle and having it read in the monotone compu-voice (but quickly decided against that idea). Marisa is going to try to sign up for a free trial on Audible.com using Jake's name after I type this. 

We were all full and happy after dinner and, her need to escape satiated, we didn't even try to find the "movie town", we just headed back to the lodge. We went back to the pool with the little kids while Jake was off to the rec barn again to pretend to be an orphan and hang out with anyone but his own family. He has been going there every spare minute that we let him, to hang out with teenagers. Anytime we walk in he pretends he doesn't know us. He won't play anything in there with his brother or sister in case anyone were to see him, so I have played both pool and ping-pong with Tanner and Faith. It's like he's 15 already and it's driving me crazy.  Is this what our future holds???

Reality Bites (Day 4)

Today we woke up, ate breakfast and left the camp to drive into Zion National Park. It started off a little rocky. The kids were obviously tired, Faith was already complaining about EVERYTHING and the drive took a lot longer than we had expected. Plus  it was really hot and my unrealistic expectations (that three tired kids ages 7, 8, and 11 would be wowed and excited to view more red rocks and red mountains and would be excited to take 3 hikes in 100 degree weather) didn't meet the reality (three tired kids asking, "do we have to hike" and "why can't we just stay at the resort and go to the pool" and "we better be at this waterfall soon!" and "it's hot and my legs hurt and I'm hungry and I'm thirsty and can't we do something else????).  

Zion is huge and, as it turns out, is only accessible by shuttle. By the time we got to the park all parking at the visitor center was full so we had to go into Springdale and park and then take a shuttle into Zion and then take the actual Zion shuttle to anywhere we wanted to go in the park. By that time it was already noon and everyone was hungry but the lodge was busy and expensive and my high expectations had us doing several hikes today and not stopping for lunch until we got back to Springdale. (I already admitted these were unrealistic expectations, right?) and I wasn't ready yet to give up on those expectations.

Anyway, we got off shuttle number 2 and started a very short hike to Emerald Falls. By very short I mean VERY short. Hardly can call it a hike. It was 1.2 miles round trip. The park was busy and the trail was crowded and I remembered why national parks are so challenging- oh yeah... the crowds. And although I appreciate that the parks are made accessible to everyone, it is annoying to be stuck behind a slow moving group of very old people or very out of shape people or a 30 person tour group from China or a big family holding up everyone else on the beautiful bridge because they wanted to get a photo shot without others in the frame.  Remember, I already said I was cranky. I know this feeling I was having wasn't nice and wasn't PC and wasn't pleasant but I wasn't feeling pleasant or pc or nice during this short walk. The kids didn't really want to be there and although it was absolutely stunning to look at, the crowd and heat were kind of unappealing to me, too, but being stubborn I was determined to get to the damn waterfall. We got there. We stopped for about 5 minutes, debated going further, and then turned around and walked back down. 


This is where I got even crankier and stalked ahead of everyone else, wondering quietly and angrily to myself why my children weren't more excited to be there (while, in reality even I wasn't really excited to be there...) and Brian walked behind with the kids, holding Faith's hand and quietly singing old favorites like "The Alligator King", "Stewball", and "Puff the Magic Dragon". He knew I needed my space and knew I needed to work out the discrepancy between my unrealistic expectations and my current reality. Listening to them sing and turning around occasionally to watch as he and Faith walked hand in hand down the trail, my mind calmed and my heart got lighter and I made an important decision: As soon as we reached the lodge there would be ice cream for everyone. As the saying goes, "money can't buy happiness, but it can buy ice cream, and that's pretty close".  

Seriously, even though I did decide the ice cream thing in this moment, I also decided that if what we all really wanted to do was go hang at the resort and be at the pool and do the resort activities, then that was what we were going to do. I wasn't going to force "The Peterson Death March" to all points in Zion. We got that ice cream, took the 2 shuttle trips backs to where our car was parked in Springdale, got a quick lunch, and headed back out of the park. 

The best thing about our trip in to Zion was probably the car ride. The views were beautiful and awe inspiring and the 1.1 mile tunnel through a red rock mountain was pretty unbelievable. There were even huge lookout windows carved into it.  And we got to drive through it twice. The kids loved that. We listened to more of the poor Baudelaire orphans' fate and arrived back at our camp in time for a late afternoon nap, a turn on the mini ATV's,  a brief billiards lesson from Brian for Tanner and Faith, a walk to see the horses, and some time at the pool. 

Tonight the boys are back in the Rec Barn playing ping pong and making new friends. Brian and I are reading our books and Faith is watching a movie on the iPad. Nope. It's not what I envisioned for my time at Zion National Park.... but I got to see what I wanted (even if most of it was out of the car or shuttle windows) and everyone ended up happier and better rested. 

Day 3- Pretty Close to Perfection

Our room was situated right above the Sweetwater Kitchen at the Boulder Mountain Guest Ranch and we literally were awakened by the smell of bacon cooking. We had gone out to dinner (downstairs to dinner?) there the night before while we sequestered the 3 orphans in their beds (literally 15 feet from the restaurant door) with a movie on the iPad and strict instructions on what constituted an emergency (someone hurt=emergency, iPad dies= NON emergency).  We had one of the best meals either of us has ever had. Anywhere. In the middle of nowhere Utah. Cooked by a chef looking much more like a biker than a high end chef. He cooked and waited tables and was the host. Best. Meal. Ever. I am salivating thinking about it (editors note: it really WAS amazing, if you are EVER near....EAT!).  Anyway, back to being awakened by the smell of bacon...

The kids slept in until almost 830, except Tanner who joined us in our bed at 730 and hung out with us while Brian played Two Dots and I had my morning coffee. As soon as Faith and Jake decided to join us, we all packed up the car and headed out toward our next destination: Bryce Canyon. About 15 miles down the road, again, in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, was a beautiful building built into the side of  red rock hill and... guess what... it was a COFFEE HOUSE. What? A latte in the middle of red rock country on a two lane highway surrounded by 360 degrees of red rocks?? You have to be kidding me. Yes, we stopped. Brian and I shared a "green omelette" which was eggs and feta and asparagus and spinach and I don't know what else. It was delicious. 

Stomachs full we headed out again on the road to Bryce. We stopped at about 11AM to get provisions just outside the national park and they had homemade ice cream there! Seriously. The smell of bacon, an amazingly gorgeous coffeehouse in the middle of nowhere, and now homemade ice cream? Yep. We had to have it. Ice cream before lunch = Vacation. We took our picnic lunch into the park and viewed the canyons from a few different spots before getting changed into our "riding clothes" and heading to the big event of the day: A horseback ride to the bottom of Bryce Canyon. 


Faith has started to be a little anxious lately and seems to cry before anything that she perceives to be even slightly scary, so even though she was so excited about this horseback ride and had been counting down the days, Brian and I both suspected that there would be tears before the actual event. Yep. The big cowboy in charge leaned down to talk to her, just to say hello and introduce himself, and the waterworks started. And we weren't even on the horses yet! Uh-oh. The big cowboy was so kind and helped her on a very old, very fat mule- the tamest of all of the tame horses/mules- named Crazy Alice. This mule was so fat- she looked like Gloria from Madagascar from behind. Honestly. Still, she sobbed. She refused to let go of my hand. As Brian and Tanner and Jake were getting on their horses I continued to hold her hand and try to convince her how much fun the ride would be and how mellow her mule was. She continued to sob. The other cowboys came and tried to comfort her (bless their hearts they were wonderful!) and one told her that this mule was a grandma and then I told her that if she got scared she should just think about riding Nana to the bottom of the canyon...and this got the first giggle of the afternoon, but the tears continued. I was afraid that they wouldn't let her go ,but our guide, a big hulking rodeo cowboy named Dillon, took ahold of the tether and just led her out of the corral with me right behind her. After that she was fine. She loved it. The descent was steep and a little scary to be honest, but she was talking with Cowboy Dillon and had become a cowgirl. He even showed her pictures on his phone of him bronc riding in the rodeo. They were best buddies.


The ride was 2 hours long and Tanner, although he was frightened at first, too, and on a real horse, not an ancient mule, loved it. His horse (CootBerry) was ornery and kept trying to eat and he learned quickly how to yank it back up and kick it to make it go forward. He was a champ. Jake and Brian brought up the rear. Brian's mule (Gates) was very stubborn but Jake's (Raspberry) seemed content to just do its job. By the end of the ride Faith was an old pro and smiling from ear to ear. We had to buy the pictures offered at the end because I plan to frame hers and put it by her bed as a reminder as to what she can do when she gets over her fear. 

Before leaving Bryce we stopped for more provisions at a grocery store and headed to Zion. The drive went quickly as we learned more about the poor Baudalaire Orphans from the second book of Series of Unfortunate Events.  Arriving at our next destination, Zion Ponderosa, the kidsimmediately set out to explore. 

There's a big pool, a recreation barn with ping pong, pool tables, and foosball , evening events, and losts of activities onsite like ATVs, climbing walls, a zip line, and more. I think they could happily hang out here for the next three days and forego our trips into Zion National Park, but we plan to do the park both mornings/early afternoons and enjoy the resort in the late afternoons and evenings. Right now Tanner and Faith are watching a movie on the lawn and Jake is playing ping pong in the rec barn with what I am sure will be some new friends. 

Yep, the smell of bacon waking me up was definitely just the first in a list of really cool things that happened and that we saw and ate and did today. Loving our Utah National Park Tour a'la The Alan Family. 

Stacked Rocks! (Utah Trip - Day 2)

After a great nights sleep, we woke up late this morning (for us anyway). We had an amazing breakfast in the Sweetwater Kitchen in the lodge. At least I imagined the kids pancakes were as good as the poblano chili and cheese grits and fresh garden vegetable omelette that Marisa and I split. We lounged around for a bit after breakfast, then loaded up to hit a couple of hikes that were pretty close to the guest house.

As soon as we got in the truck and started down the road, I heard a clanging sound every time we hit a bump in the road (of which there were a lot). As the fear of car trouble out  n the middle of the desert…..on vacation….in a brand new car, settled in, we drove into town to try to score a bag of ice for the cooler. We pulled over a couple of times so I could try to climb under the car and see if I could figure out what sounded like it was coming loose. I popped the hood and climbed up into the engine compartment….no luck there either. Every time we would start off again it would be silent and I would think, “Okay it’s fixed, whatever it was” then it would start up again.  If I put it into 4WD then it would stop also. So not knowing anything about cars, I started to worse case scenario it….”There’s something wrong with the transmission linkage” etc.. Anyway, we got ice and got to the first hiking spot and were getting ready to head up into the canyon when Jake stood up from by the front wheel, with a rock that he found inside the brake housing of the drivers side tire. He said, “Dad I bet the noise was this rock”. I, imagining the dollars flying out of my checking account and the loud and drawn out fight I was going to have to have with the Ford dealership, just kind of humored him about it. After our hike up to see the petroglyphs (which we NEVER found), we got back into the car and dammed if the noise was gone and never showed back up. The kid fixed the car! At least he did for me mentally anyway.

The second hike was much tougher, but more rewarding than the first. It was down into a pretty steep canyon. The elevation drop was over 600 feet according to the map. It was breezy and not too hot, but hiking down, both Marisa and I knew that hiking back OUT with the kids was going to be a challenge. The destination of the hike was a 88’ waterfall that dropped into the canyon. We were headed for the top of the waterfall where there were supposed to be a couple of pools to swim in. We had dressed in swimsuits and packed towels in. Once we reached the creek, there were a couple of pools right before the falls fell over the cliff, with a couple of deep pools cut into the rock by the river over time. Up a little bit, there was a smaller falls that dropped probably 12-15’ into a deep pool. People were jumping off the falls into the pools below, so of course I was going to. Everyone but Faith ended up making the jump into the COLD river. Tanner jumped with me a couple of times, Jake went by himself and even Marisa went. After jumping and swimming for awhile, we packed up and started the climb back out. The trail was marked by volcanic rock cairns and Tanner and Jake lead the way, yelling, “stacked rocks” every time they spotted a new marker.

Both Marisa and I are going to be sore tomorrow and we’re in pretty good shape, I don’t know how the kids made it. It was pretty straight up in a few spots and it was hot later in the afternoon. With some encouragement from us and the lure of PB & Nutella sandwiches and juice boxes in the truck they made it back out of the canyon and we headed back to the lodge.

One of the nice things about having the new truck along on this trip is that we’re still burning through the included Sirius Satellite Radio trial subscription. I have able to listen to the Super Regionals of NCAA baseball as the field for the College World Series gets set (along with the Sinatra station – which the rest of the car LOVES – sarcasm). We have also brought a couple of the Series of Unfortunate Events books on CD. We just finished Book 1 which all the kids thought was great. I’m looking forward to the drive tomorrow to get into book number 2.

The kids are having dinner in the room tonight and Marisa and I are heading back to the lodge restaurant tonight to have a good (and quiet) dinner. Wish us luck. 

Utah - Day 1

We left Boise yesterday around 1. It was a little later than we had planned, only because Jake had a weird allergic reaction to something at the creek and his eye was swollen shut, then we realized a phone had been lost at the creek, too, so this delayed us a bit. Brian and I finished up our half day of work and we hit the road as soon as we could. 

Nana had brought the kids each a huge bag full of candy and treats so we played the “can I have a treat yet?” game for most of the 6 hour drive to Sandy Utah. The drive was pretty interesting, though. Utah is a weird, weird place. And I can say that because both of my parents were raised there. We passed several pro-life billboards, followed by a munitions manufacturing plant, so there was that. Plus every small town we passed through had a huge mormon temple, even if the town itself appeared to only house 50 people. We rolled into Sandy about 630 and had time for dinner and a quick swim in the Hampton Inn pool before bed.

We left Sandy with the intention of driving to our next lodging location in Boulder, UT- halfway between Capitol Reef National Park and Bryce Canyon. We drove through some beautiful country and the kids were amazed by the red rocks and sheer red rock walls. We ended up having a picnic in Capitol Reef (I thought ahead and packed PB and Nutella and bread and had “borrowed” a plastic knife from the Hampton Inn at breakfast) then we took about a 3 mile round trip hike through some slot canyons.  It was really cool and the kids, although they got tired and worn out about 3/4 of the way through, loved climbing the rocks and had tons of questions about the geology which Brian answered much better than I was able. My scientific mind is not particularly in shape! 

The drive to our lodging took about an hour and having booked it online with very little information we were really happy to see that it was a unique lodge/ranch with several rooms (ours had two bedrooms and a bathroom with a deck which I am currently sitting on typing this), a teepee, and several private cabins. The kids have tons of places to roam and have already caught one large lizard using an empty 12 pack of Diet Coke. They named him Billy Bob. 

Brian and I got a beer and sat outside the common area while the boys played some catch on the big lawn and Faith made a puppy with blocks. Dinner at their organic restaurant was amazing. I had the best trout I’ve ever had and the kids had pancakes and root beer (protein? What’s that again?). We explored more after dinner, finding a couple beaver damns, lots of horses, and even more horse poop. Now the boys are playing a rousing game of Duck on a Rock while Faith is making an animal habitat out of an empty Capri Sun box. Love it. 

Headed to bed soon. Planning on a good hearty breakfast at the restaurant here before heading out to find some petroglyphs and view Escalante Grand Staircase. One more night here before we head to Bryce Canyon where we will hike and take a mule/horse ride down to the bottom. 

Chores

The kids graduated up in chores a few weeks ago. They all are responsible for "Hour of Power" on Sundays- an hour where they have to clean their room, clean the bathroom, and vacuum the upstairs and get their work approved by Brian (the harder to judge of the two of us). They have to do basic pick up in their rooms each morning (no dirty laundry on floor, blinds opened, lights off, toilet flushed). I'm in charge of checking this each day. They also have to put their laundry away weekly. For a long time Jake was on dog poop and recycling, Tanner fed the dog, and Faith wiped up his muddy footprints and fed the fish. Starting a few weeks ago Tanner graduated to dog poop because Jake graduated to lawn mowing. That means that Faith gets to feed the dog.

Tanner takes his new duty very seriously and spends a good amount of time searching for, picking up, and disposing of the poop. It's pretty cool to see him do his best at a job that could be considered by many to be pretty gross. Jake insists he likes mowing the lawn better than poop duty even though it takes him approximately 4x as long as picking up the poop ever did and the fact that the lawnmower is approximately twice his size. Faith feels important being in charge of feeding Jackson- and was very upset the two times she forgot to do so and found out the next day that Jackson was hungrily whining at the back door the evening before. She tends to complain more about wiping up the footprints and we jokingly call her "Cinderella" as she throws herself on the floor to spray the prints and wipe them up

Brian and I had two main goals this spring: get the yard done and the windows cleaned. Well, the yard is about 3/4 of the way finished but I don't see how we will get it done before summer arrives as we leave for Utah on Friday and then I leave for Chicago for 8 days the day after we get back from Utah, returning after the official beginning of summer. Oh well. As for the windows... we snuck those in today. OK, so we only got the back side of the house done. But they look so much better that I am now inspired to get the front windows done before we leave! It was actually pretty fun to do together and we followed it up with a trip to the pool so I can't complain too much.

I hope the kids are learning how to be part of a family and how to take care of basic home maintenance. Plus, I hope that they are learning that by working together things get done faster, leaving more time for the fun stuff. Maybe they even saw Brian spray me with the hose and us laughing together outside today and noticed that chores done have to be boring- like most of life, it's all in the attitude.

May 2014

As usual I was spoiled on Mother's Day. I slept late and read my book in the hammock and went out to coffee (twice) and went out for donuts and took the kids to the pool.  Brian had already given me my mothers day present the month before (a trip to Vegas for the BADASS Dash- more on that later). My favorite part of the day was opening the presents that the kids made in school and that I cherish every year. I know I don't have many more of these handmade and heartfelt gifts coming- they are getting so old that writing poems and painting pictures for me may get to be a thing of the past way too soon. I can't show the paintings easily, but here are the poems:

YOU (by Jake)
You are athletic and beautiful.
You wonder what I am doing when you're not looking.
You hear the dog barking at almost everything
You see the rambunctious children running.
You want a peaceful family.
You are athletic and beautiful.

You are athletic and beautiful.
You pretend you can't hear us when we don't say "please".
You feel happy when you see good report cards.
You touch the hearts of other people with your kind words.
You worry when I am out of the house.
You cry when you laugh too hard.
You are athletic and beautiful.

You are athletic and beautiful.
You understand when I am feeling sad.
You say "Say please".
You dream that tomorrow will be a better day.
You try to teach us three kids to be well behaved.
You  hope we will play our best.
You are athletic and beautiful.

- Jake

Marvelous
Artisitc
Respectful
Incredible
So nice
Athletic

-Tanner


Mom
Fun, Creative
I love you
Cooking, reading, hiking, shopping
You are an amazing mom
I love when you help me
I really enjoy when we bake cookies
Thank you for being the
Best mom ever

-Faith

Rare Peace and Quiet

No one is awake yet. It's Saturday morning and pouring rain outside and I'm going to do something I haven't done in awhile, write a blog. 

Life, mine especially, has been absorbed with baseball lately. Between running Jake to all his Majors practices and games, managing Tanners (FIRST PLACE!) AA Team through practices, games (we have four this week!) and clinics, and managing the Little League through our busiest months of the year, it's been a little nuts lately. 

We have taken some time to work in the yard, have a couple of family game and movie nights, have tried to get Faith to ride her bike and went and got them all weighed in and measured for Optimist Football/Cheerleading last night, but it's been baseball focused. 

There is Diamond Dust all over our house that get's dumped out from cleats and tennis shoes. A bottle of stain remover to get grass stains and french fry grease out of white baseball pants that lives on the counter. We've spent a small fortune on Eggo waffles as that is the choice for dinner on the way out the door to a game or practice and then as a pre-bedtime snack 4 hours later. We've gotten to be experts at keeping the cars packed with chairs/blankets/tarps/sweatshirts/water bottles/sunscreen. The door end of the garage has a huge pile of baseball gear that goes from garage to truck to field to truck back to garage several times a week. There are a couple of sweat-stained baseball hats that live on my desk that quickly get grabbed depending on which game or event I'm heading out to. 

Conversations revolve around schedule and logistics. Who needs to be where, when? Do we have a conflict? Are we home or away? Are you doing the field work before or after? Has X eaten? Are you guys stopping for food? Did you get any pictures? No? Me neither.

Sometimes, the baseball universe falls into place and we can all end up at the same place at the same time. We can watch a game together and spend some time with people who have become friends and our baseball family here. Faith can color and read while we watch the boys, struggle and compete. Win and lose. Succeed and fail. Where they learn how to be gracious winners and good losers. Where being a good team mate and keeping a positive attitude is the order of the night. Where Dad might take it a little bit too seriously. Where community explodes with a great hit or the catch of a line drive and groans when someone gets hit with a pitch or the ump misses a call. Where the best conversations happen in the parking lot on the way to the car. Where it's coordinating which dive you're going to for the post-game meal or whether it's home for Eggos and bedtime. Where we can talk and laugh with other parents who are living the same kind of life we are for awhile. 

It's baseball, and it's crazy, but it's the BEST.