On the Road Again

We loaded up the mini-van and headed off. Let's just start by saying that it was a rental. As a friend questioned my being a mini-van mom with less than 3 kids I feel the need to make that disclaimer. We rented it and it was wonderful to have enough space for all our camping stuff AND us! The next stop was Grand Teton National Park. Spoiler alert: (un)fortunately none of us got lost and were rescued by Harrison Ford in is private plane. Darn.

It was pretty windy when we stopped at the sign, windy enough that Ellie was trying to hold it still. The girls didn't care though, I think they were just thrilled to get out of the car. Taking the pictures at the sign is always the beginning of doing something fun so they are usually quite happy about it. Besides, we tend to encourage general silliness at this point and that goes over pretty well too.

This was another quick stop. We were in the park for only a few hours on our way to Yellowstone, but wanted to be certain to do a little hike at least. We picked a quick 3.0ish mile route to Taggart Lake. It was Ellie's first hike and she did a really great job!

Most of the hike looked something like this until Jim had the brilliant idea of the girls switching off who they hiked with for a while. He would hike with Ellie for a while and Aeryn would hike with me. Watching the distance on his Garmin he'd yell out "switch!" and the girls would swap places so Ellie was with me and Aeryn was with him. We were both surprised as to how well it worked. They both got one on one time with each of us and it made the hike go quite quickly. He's such a good dad. I know I've said it before and I know I'll say it again, but I totally won the lottery finding him. Hiking on Father's Day just proved it again.

Even though the hike went really smoothly, the little ladybugs did want a break now and again. They carried their own water in our Oregon Track Club bags so the break may have been more because they were excited about their water bottles than because they were tired. Why is it that a plastic bottle makes water something really special to a kid?

We reached the lake and amazingly no one fell in! The kids did test the laws of physics somewhat as they tempted fate on that front. Ellie did slip and get one foot in, but that is minimal compared to what was possible.

Check out that sexy mug. Grrrrr.

Aeryn seems so grown up to me now. Perhaps it's because I gave her my old sunglasses. Yes, I'm sure that's it. It can't be because she's actually growing up.

Don't the kids look thrilled?

We couldn't complete the loop around the lake because a bridge was out so we had a really nice out-and-back hike. The lake was beautiful and we found this pretty little spot with a view of the mountains.

And just because it's gorgeous, a picture of a rock. The contact is incredible. I'd say I'm sorry for being a nerd but Jim would just look at me and say "no, you're not" - sorry that is. I can't help being a geek.

Heading back down the trail was the easiest part. The kids knew the next stop had grandparents and were a little anxious for that. It's like they just knew they were about to be spoiled! It was a FANTASTIC beginning to our camping adventure. Everyone stayed happy, cooperative, and willing to keep going - not to mention the Teton's are gorgeous beyond description. It was a perfect day.

A Stop in Utah

After our jaunt in Great Basin and a night in Ely, NV we headed on to the great metropolis of Utah County to pick up Ellie. We were going to be in town just shy of 24 hours so there was no way to see everyone and do everything that we hoped. Even still, I was able to spend some time with a good friend (whom I dearly miss!), we did our grocery shopping for the coming week, went to our favorite restaurant for a date (oh, the engagement and wedding memories), and cooked dinner for the Davis family. Of course no visit to Utah is complete without spending time with my cute little almost 92 year-old Grandma.

She's my favorite.

Ever.

For the last couple years she's been living in New Mexico and I haven't seen her very often. Now however she is back in her home and loving it. She had a blast showing Aeryn how to use her organ and they spent a good amount of time pressing all the buttons to see what would happen.

 I'm sure it was more surprising to Aeryn than to Grandma, but she played along anyway.

After visiting at her house for a couple hours I drug her along to the Davis's so that we could feed her. It seems a lot of people worry about whether or not Grandma is eating (because sometimes she just doesn't) so I made sure she had at least one good meal that day. I think she liked it and getting out of the house a little, but I'm sure it was me who enjoyed it the most.

I made the girls stand with Grandma for a picture and Ellie said that she didn't remember my Grandma. They've only really met at our wedding last year so it isn't surprising, but it seems the title "grandma" won out and she decided to be ok with her.

For me this was the highlight of the stop, and picking up Ellie-girl, of course. My grandma has been there for me through some really tough moments, always making me feel unconditionally loved. Everyone needs someone who makes them feel like that. She is pretty much the best.

The First of a Few

Summer is here! Which means that we get our (only) real week off this year. In typical fashion we headed out for our family's brand of adventure. Jim was able to get off work a day earlier than expected so we headed to Utah to pick up Ellie-girl before our adventures really began. On the way we stopped at Great Basin National Park.

I confess, Great Basin was not one of the destinations I was excited for. I'd like to imagine that anyone who has driven I-80 West and seen exits for Great Basin in the middle-of-nowhere Nevada has likely had the same feelings. Surprisingly, it turned out to be pretty neat. We stopped at the visitor's center to stamp our National Parks Passport and find out what we should do with our few available hours. In the parking lot I was more than a little surprised to see this on the car next to us.

Poor bird.

We tried to hike to see the Bristlecone pines but even though it was a fairly short hike (1.5 miles) it didn't go over well with the little one among us. All Aeryn wanted to do was get to Yellowstone to see Grandma, which wasn't going to be for another two days. She held back and waltzed to her own beat up the trail which meant we weren't going to get to the pines in time to make it back for our tour of Lehman Caves. At the last minute we intentionally turned the "wrong" way at a fork in the road so that we could be at a lake in 0.1 miles and make it seem like the little jaunt had an intended ending.

The hike was really quite pretty. Certainly not as green as Oregon (we've been spoiled!) or as spectacular as some of the things yet to come on our journey but nice in it's own way - and especially nice for the middle of Nevada.

The view from the top of the road through the park made the Great Basin look rather impressive.

By far the highlight was touring Lehman Caves. I love caves. They are just fascinating to the Geology nerd in me. Besides, for years the only way I could get Aeryn to hike a trail was to make sure there was a cave at the end because she likes them so much. As is usually the case with caves, pictures look far less spectacular than the actual thing.

It was a great (and surprising) first stop for our week of vacation!

The cake that wasn't

Aeryn has a super-cute friend who has super-fun ideas. On Mother's Day, the girls came up to me and proclaimed that they wanted to make an Angel Food cake for E's mother. It's her favorite treat and like a darling daughter E was determined to do something special for her mom. I didn't have the ingredients on hand and the timing wasn't the best so we endeavored to try it this past week.

It didn't turn out quite as planned. Try as they might they just couldn't keep the egg yolks out of the whites, which spells D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R when egg white-whipping is to occur. They were so very focused though, and were both really quite excited to be trying. They would switch off every egg or two, doing really well until once or twice the yolk would break in the separator or would fall into the measuring cup intact. They tried to dig out all the yolks creating a sort of swirly, eggy mess.

{Forgive the blur. Uncontrollable laughing of the subjects will do that to a photo.}

We decided to see if it would turn out and added the rest of the ingredients just in case it would be ok. It wasn't.

As I watched it all unfold all I could think of was Junior High School, when Mara and I loved to bake and would often dream up some treat or another. One afternoon after riding my bike to her house I was especially proud of my newly developed skill of cracking an egg into a bowl one-handed. Eager to show Mara but still wound up from riding up the insane hill to her house, I smashed the egg down on the bowl a little way too hard. It dripped half into the bowl, half onto the table, and started dripping through the table seam for the leaf onto the floor below. It was at that point her mother said "I can't watch this." and left us to our own devices. We baked a lot. We made messes a lot. We always cleaned up after ourselves so that we'd still be allowed to bake again.

In the end, I think it's part of what makes me like to bake to this day.

I guess what I get out of this is that a failed Angel Food cake is a small price to pay for kids having fun in the kitchen.

Another one bites the dust

Guess who's a 4th grader now??!!?

Yep. You guessed it.

This year has been incredible. Aeryn looks so much bigger to me than she did in the fall. She's learned multiplication tables, improved her reading, and made a ton of friends. She was able to do some fantastic art projects this year and really loves when we go somewhere and she recognizes one of Monet's paintings. She had the best teacher (Mrs. Mary) and actually told me she didn't want to go to 4th grade next year, but stay in 3rd. The year has been that awesome.

This year I chose to keep her out of speech therapy.  It was a nerve wracking decision because I wasn't sure she was ready to move on, but she is so social that I wanted to see if she would progress more quickly learning from her peers. Also, I didn't want her to be pulled out of class time and miss something else (like math) in the process. It seems to have been an OK decision. At the beginning of 2nd grade she was in the 3rd percentile (you read that right) for expressive language. She and her 2nd grade teacher did not fit each other well and she made little progress that entire year. Now, she's just barely behind her peers. It's such a huge improvement and I'm so grateful for it. Despite our efforts at home, there is something to be said for good teachers who really care about your kids! They make all the difference in the world.

Her class did the neatest end of year project. Each student read a different Magic Tree House book and then built a tree house that represented their story. Aeryn read "Mummies in the Morning."

She struggled a little with words like "sarcophagus" but read the whole book with minimal assistance. Her tree house was a blast to put together and took great self-control on my part to not make the whole thing for her. We had so much fun gathering sticks and building the tree house out of popsicle sticks. I was relegated to the role of hot-glue administrator.

She drew Jack and Annie, the Hieroglyphics from the Pyramid, cut out dozens of construction paper oak leaves, made a colorful rope ladder, and a popsicle stick mummy. When she came home from school today she'd forgotten to bring the project. We headed straight back to the school to get it because I love it so much I wasn't ready to part with it.

The year has not always been easy, but I'd say it's been well worth it. She is growing up before my very eyes and if I let myself admit it, I really do love it.

These are the days...

...that just seem absolutely perfect. Do you ever have one of those?

Oregon is bright, warm, and green right now which just begs for people to get outside and enjoy it. When Jim realized that there was a UO baseball game today we decided to make it a family affair and bike over. Did I tell you he gave me a bike for my birthday? No? Well, he's pretty much the most awesome ever and surprised me with a lovely purple cruiser complete with a basket and bell. Part of me feels like I'm 7 again when I ride it, and all of me is completely ecstatic.

Aeryn and I headed from our lovely little apartment over to the lab to meet Jim as he was leaving and we headed over to the stadium. I was so enamored with the perfection of the moment that I simply HAD to try and capture it with my phone.

I love that basket (and the cute family riding with me).

We had the most quintessentially Norman-Rockwellish ride over and then found that there were so many students taking a break from finals that the bleachers were standing room only. Squirt was not going to survive standing up for the game so we hopped back on our bikes and rode home leaving Jim behind to stand it out (and go back to work. Boo.). As we rode through a small puddle she squealed with delight thinking it was the coolest thing ever. Who'd have thought puddles in Oregon would seem so novel?

Just this weekend we learned that Ellie-girl can now ride a two wheeler as well! If I thought today was perfect, I can't wait to see how awesome it is when we are riding all together.

What's in YOUR wallet?

Lately I upgraded to a bigger purse. No, this is not noteworthy information likely to change the world, but since then I've been thinking about how a woman's purse represents a part of who she is and what stage of life she is in.

When Aeryn was born, I bought a small wallet on a strap that would be easily tossed into a diaper bag or carried alone if I went out without her (which almost never happened). When she was older and I no longer had to carry spare clothes/diapers/snacks on even the smallest excursions I kept the wallet but traded to a purse that was about 1/3 the size of the diaper bag. I loved how compact it felt even though it was still big enough to hold the DSLR and a granola bar or two. I carried this purse for years. Years. It was seriously my favorite. 

Last fall some friends and I did a clothing swap and someone brought a cute little red purse they didn't need any more. I snatched it up and gave it a whirl. I loved the bright pop of color and how little it was - but it couldn't hold much more than my wallet. It was adequate so I made it work (because it was cute!), but I tired of having to carry a separate bag if I needed anything other than that. 

Now I've upgraded to something bigger once again. It's huge compared to what I've been carrying. The other night when we were headed to a track meet I stuffed jackets for Aeryn & I into it and suddenly realized there was no more room. 

There's 5 separate pockets, and they are all full. 

1. The mom-is-a-medic pocket. Band-aids, Neosporin, cough drops, ibuprofen, dramamine (since Aeryn gets carsick), a tiny emergency flashlight, and a quarter. 
2. The you-never-know pocket. Tissues, a tape measure (which gets used more than you'd think), hair elastic, and a packet of chopped peanuts leftover from a McDonalds hot fudge sundae. 
3. The stuff-I-use-all-the-time pocket. An old grocery list, nail file, pens, hair elastics, lotion, ear phones (that work as a hands-free device while driving) and 5, yes 5, lip products. 
4. The I-forgot-that-was-a-pocket pocket. My carry everywhere notebook, and two more lip products. 
5. The cavern-in-the-middle pocket. Aeryn's camera, an umbrella, more lotion, glasses, baby wipes (because they are indispensable- baby or not), a talk from the previous conference, my wallet, and my very favorite lip gloss of all time (blushing from Sephora). 

It's crazy to see everything that I carry all the time. One thing is for sure, when Squirt was a baby I had nowhere near this much lip gloss. It seems like carrying a bigger purse just means I'll decide I need a lot more stuff. At that rate, I'm really grateful for our tiny apartment. Who knows how much I'd cram into it if it were bigger!