Quote of the Day

Kaila- Outside crying in what sounds like pain. She's obviously been hit/bit or had something unjustly stolen from her.  .."AAAAAHHHHHH, AAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHH, AAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

Josiah-Ignores her, a sure sign of guilt. He is holding a toy and rides a small bike past the back door where I am sitting,  pretending like nothing's happening. There's no screaming 3 1/2 year old in the backyard.  Sideways glance at me, eyes downcast..."uuuuu, Kaila?..."

Kaila- "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH, uuuuuuuuggggghhhhhhh, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH" Still sobbing uncontrollably with a hint of defiant anger against her brother.

Josiah- Glances nervously at me..."UUUm Kaila, Kaila, pretend you are crying because you love me so much..."

Kaila- "NO!!! AAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH....." begins to near the door where I am sitting.

Josiah- "Kaila! You want this toy now!?"

Kaila- Tears miraculously stop flowing immediately. She stops in her tracks. "Yes."

Life goes on.

Little Eyes, Big Wonders; Part 2

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Favorite Moment: 
The art galleries and the lively plaza were unforgettable, as was seeing the countries oldest building and church. I don't now though, all those things were right up there with an awesome chillie-powder infused Mexican Mocha I ordered from a little local coffee shop. I'm telling you, it was unforgettable...I'm drooling now.

Least Favorite Moment: 
Driving from Sedona to Santa Fe,  the world ended, I mean a semi overturned on the freeway and everything came to a halt. (We were just 30 minutes away from Albuquerque, with about 4 hours behind us!!)The only way around was a 6 hour+ detour through the mountains (glad we asked about that before we headed out for the "short cut" on the map). Semis and cars were pulled over on the side of the freeway, blatently ignoring the livid police who were driving by and yelling at them to "Turn around and drive 50 miles back to the nearest Indian casino and spend the night"  or go backwards to get in the equally long line on the frontage road.  

Not a favorite moment. However, the kids and I unbuckled, stretched and played games in the van, Ryan almost started making Brinner (Breakfast for Dinner) on the side of the road, and the rain made for a fun change of scene and cooled everyone off. All and all, we chalked it up to the stuff Adventures are made of.

 The Plaza

 The Country's Oldest church.

One more Favorite Moment: 

When we were out to dinner Josiah discovered that he LOVES drinking both rootbeer and water at the same time. He likes putting a straw from each cup in his mouth at the same time then drinking them together. With homemade rootbeer, how could you go wrong?! 

One more Least Favorite Moment: 

I'll tell you how you could go wrong. We discovered that we were really, really glad we had put a precautionary towel down on the kid's beds at the rental house we were staying in. Then we got to spend some quality time at the laundry mat the next morning.

Arches National Park

Favorite Moment: 

No need to explain, the arches were awesome! I particularly loved the double arch and the entire drive through the park was beautiful. Moab itself was also a really cool town.

Least Favorite Moment: 

 This was our first unreserved night. I wish we would have had a campspot in Arches. Instead we went to a private camping spot. It was pretty nice, and it had free, unlimited-time hot showers so I'm not complaining. 

My kids however complained/screamed/cried/sobbed loudly the entire time when I tried to take all three of them in the shower at once. Donovan was cranky, poopy and slippery as a greased pig when he was wet. Kaila took one step in the shower, slipped and fell hard flat on her back, whacking her head on the ground.  Josiah couldn't seem to take a step without tracking every ounce of clothing he had in the puddles of nasty-public-shower-water that were rapidly accumulating all over the floor. 

Not to mention that no-one had flip flops so I was grimacing at the athlete's foot we were sure to bring home (none so far, glad to report). But with about a full week of camping to come and no showers in sight, it had to be done.

We were all getting soaped up, scrubbed down, hair washed, 

...and I was going to shave,  dammit!!!

So there it is. Dont judge me for swearing. Sometimes that's the type of gumption that'll get you through to the cozy pjs and book by the fire at the end without breaking into tears. 

  

Mesa Verde National Park

Favorite Moment: 
We did the Cliff House tour. We had to walk along ledges, climb ladders and carry the two little kids in backpacks, but we did it! They did great! 

Our tour guide ranger took his job seriously. He gave the tour in a David Attenborough-inspired voice. He told us the history of the pueblo people and the cliff house in the form of a traditional Native American Story, complete with the "Spirit of the Wind" talking to us and everything.

Least Favorite Moment:  
Well, this was the coldest part of our trip. The nights were in the 30's and it drizzled and rained off and on almost the entire time. We switched campspots about three times trying to find a sheltered spot. The van worked out great though. Turns out merely reparking your car  to "move campspots" isn't that bad. Plus we cranked the car heater before bed and we were all cozy as can be.

Adventures To Be Continued...

Coffee Anyone?

Too much coffee, two spontaneous dreamers, and a sledge hammer make for a bad combination...

or maybe good one, we'll see.

(Love you Ryan!)

Little Eyes, Big Wonders; Part 1

For those of you who are new to our blog, Ryan and I have always loved our adventures (see our super old posts). We have backpacked in the backcountry, and did urban backpacking around europe, mexico, central America, the US...

Since then, we've upscaled a bit. Our two bodies have multiplied into 5. Our little backpacks have been exchanged for a van. This was the first year we have been able to pull off a legit adventure since the kiddos have come into this world. We spent 2 weeks camping and living out of our converted van (with the exception of a few VRBO nights for the cities etc) as we traveled around and experienced some of the most amazing National Parks and cities our country has to offer. 

I began by cautiously, prepping myself mentally to be happy going however slow we needed to, trying not to get my expectations too high for what we would "accomplish" on the trip. After all, our little ones are 4 1/2, 3 1/2, our baby is only 7 months old. We would all be sleeping in the van with predicted temperatures in the 30s and rain...We would be keeping track of kiddos in cities, there would be long traveling days and unpredictable travel "road bumps," the second week of our trip was completely unreserved...etc, etc. the list of doubts goes on and on.

But after spending months in advance creating our little van-home, we were off! First stop? The Grand Canyon.

To keep it short, I'm putting my "favorite" and "least favorite" moments under each area. Some of the least favorite moments actually were miserable, and some were just "bad" things that are really kinda funny, especially in retrospect.

After a quick night in Tehapeau (thanks Rhiannon), we got on the road early, drove and then pulled off somewhere in the middle of the desert for a pit stop and some breakfast. As we hunkerd down on the side of the road eating our hard boiled eggs, yogurt and granola, I couldn't help but admire how our kiddos don't even question the wierdness of all this. Yesterday you ate breakfast at the breakfast table like a normal person, today you're squatting on the side of Interstate 40 in the middle of the Mojave Desert. Obviously. Cuz that's life, right?

 First Stop:

Grand Canyon

 

Favorite Moments: 

For myself, I went on a run along the canyon rim early each morning, by myself. It was so, so beautiful, I practically cried in awe of the hugeness of it all. 

For the fam, the kids really did love it. We were following a "fossil walk" ranger-led tour when it started to rain pretty hard. I stacked Josiah and Kaila on top of eachother in the stroller for warmth and sprinted to our waiting, warm van.  Our family huddled in the van, turned the heater on, listened to music, ate a sweet little lunch and watched the storm roll in over the canyon from our front row parking spot. It was a sweet time together.

Least Favorite Moment:

As we sprinted back after the fossil walk with the stroller in the rain, (kicking myself for not bringing their big jackets), the big kids started saying "my hands are blooded" (now repeat... 500 times). Apparently blooded means "freezing cold and turning numb" pretty accurate right? Dont worry, Donovan was cozy warm taking a nap back with Ryan.

 

Tuba City-Dinosaur Footprints

Favorite Moments:

We got to put our hands and feet in real dinosaur foot prints and see where the dinosaurs actually walked. It stirred the awe I had for dinosaurs since I was a kid and reminded me of how my dad shared his love of science, geology and the earth, with me, when I was a little girl. 

Least Favorite Moment:

I hate to say this, but there's a good chance our Native American "guide" was a bit stoned. Don't get me wrong, there were other guides that were super knowledgable and had awesome information and experience. If you go, just try and get one of those ones. : )

Bell Rock-Sedona, AZ

Favorite Moments: 

This hike may be one of my hands down favorite hikes we did the whole trip. Thie kids, Ryan and I had to scramble up and then back down huge rocks to hike up this rock. We were traversing ledges, sliding on our bellies and bums, and using cracks and crevaces to ascend the rock. 

Least Favorite Moment: 

We had just finished telling the kids to watch out for rattle snakes and how they can be really dangerous and you'd have to go to the hospital. The words had literally just finished coming out of Ryan's mouth, when Josiah's eyes got huge, he screamed, literally lept backwards, and Kaila pretty much lept 4 verticle feet up into Ryan's arms, Josiah yells in terror "A RATTLE SNAKE!!!!"

He has a great eye, it was a mid-sized gopher snake about 3 1/2 feet away from him under the bushes. 

 (and...end of day 4, more to come!)

Mothers Day LOVE

 First of all, Happy Mothers Day to Janet (in Spain!), Grandma Lois, Granny, Val...all our moms! 

I can't express enough gratefullness to all you have done. Every time I feel overwhelmed, or overwhelmed by love, or confused or excited about my kids, missing them, celebrating in them, I think of you four, how you have felt this with Ryan and I,  and your own kids over the years, how we are  your kids, how we don't express our thankfullness and how much we love you enough. Thank you. We really do love you so so much.

This Mothers Day, we got all dressed to go to church and then were running around crazily to get out, little D. was asleep, and as we stared at him, we decided to let him sleep and just relax. We headed out to the back yard and watched the kids scream in happiness as they fell out of, swung around and climbed the  hammock, Ryan and I sat in some adorondack chairs wiht our cups of coffee, laughing at our crazy/rough n tumble/kiddos, listened to the birds and enjoyed a quiet morning outdoors, talking and dreaming together. Eventually the kids made their way down to us and decided to make some artwork on the cement.  

Kaila drew a picture of me, meticulously drawing my necklace, church shoes, hair, smile, then she wanted to write "mommy." She was so studious and serious, catching each detail. It was beautiful!

Josiah started asking Ryan about a few letters, "daddy, what comes after 'S' 'I'..." Thinking he wanted to write a single word, Ryan asked what he was trying to write....Can you read it?

 

...Josiah wanted to write "Sinceitsmothers     dayIwantedtogive youhundredsof    kisses" 

Kaila did this at her preschool, it is absolutely priceless!

                                                     

 ...and of course theres this little guy who I absolutely adore. He crawls like a champ, says "mama" (especially when he's mad, sad, or tired; ) and smiles All-The-Time.

Birthday whirl wind

I made mole! It takes forever but hey, any chance I get to sneak chocolate into food I take! 

 

Ryan and I both had birthdays, May 2nd and May 4th. Lest you think they passed unnoticed, think again. If there is an occasion to celebrate we/I cant let it pass by unnoticed. For Ryan's birthday we were camping in Plaskett Creek, he went on a great bike ride on the Big Sur coastline, I made him a good breakfast and we camped with a bunch of old-time friends! He lounged at the campsite, relaxed and got to talk with good friends and family all day. ;)

 For my birthday, Ryan made me a special breakfast and went to work late so I could sleep in and go on a run, then that evening my sweet friend Jaime watched my kiddos so I could go "re-connect" with myself. I went and got an iced latte, listened to Zumba fitness radio and cruised the northern-central coast in our camper van until I found a wild, deep, exciting new surf break. I wanted a spot that was reminescent of the wild big sur coast, without the sharks and equally aggressive hoards of shortboarders. I met some friendly surfers in the parking lot who showed me out to the new break and I caught a few great lefts. Afterwards I went to bible study where we had drinks, snacks and hot-tubbed together to celebrate. It was awesome.

This was a video of Ryan and Donovan, but I don;t think its going to work.

Daily Desk Calendar

For a few years now I've wanted to develop a daily desk calendar, along the lines of The New Yorker or the Jeff Foxworthy "You might be a redneck if..." type.  Since it's who we are and what we know, our version would be "You might be a yuppie redneck if..." 

I've got some ideas, such as:

1. ...you've ever had to turn down the volume on Waylon because the Starbucks barista couldn't hear your order.

2. ...You've ever had to turn down the volume on NPR because you just pulled into the gun range parking lot and you're just plain scared.

3. ...You've ever tracked chicken poo through all the way to your desk at your white-collar engineering job.

4. I believe the following qualifies: