Bullied

Grace was not going to join any sports teams this fall, despite my best efforts. Then half-way through the cross country season, she came home to tell me that she had joined and would need rides home after practice. After a little prodding she told me, "My friends bullied me in to it." It appears they did not have enough girls to compete, so they went recruiting. They found Grace and used peer pressure for the most wholesome result of getting her to join cross country.

Despite joining late, and never being into running, by the end of the season she was able to jog the entire 3k course and even set a personal record at the end. She was only beat by one other girl on her team! We don't need to mention there were only four girls on her team and she beat the other two by mere seconds. The important part was she beat them and her own personal time. Thank goodness for her pushy friends.

I Don't Need Another Dog

 We have this old lady dog.

We have this old lady cat.

We have a fish and a frog.

We have four kids.

We don't need another dog.

On that note, meet Daisy. She is a sweet, energetic, youngish dog and has no manners. She thinks she needs to protect the house from all invaders, even a few who actually live here. She growls and barks at everyone who comes to the door (usually neighborhood kids). Thankfully she's all bark and no bite (and only partly because her teeth are worn to nubs due to her previous living situation). She keeps trying to tell the current dog and cat she is in charge, without much success. Le sigh. It has been a process, but she is getting better. And Grace is head over heels in love. We don't need another dog, but we have another dog. She's pretty cute, even if she is a menace.

New Hobby

Lately I've been playing with brush lettering, which is like calligraphy, but much easier. Ethan came home and saw me writing away. 

He simply stated, "Mom, it's nice to have a hobby. But maybe leave some for the other people?"

He's not wrong, but that's okay. I find it calming to write down my quotes of the day. I've always had horrible handwriting and no artistic talent, so I find it satisfying to improve the lacking skills. I'll never create anything perfect but I can still enjoy the process. 

A few of my favorite quotes:

said by one teenager to another teenager, about a separate teenager.

quote attributed to a three year old and addressed to Uncle Mike.

comment to me from a patron, in regard to Jeff Bezos.

One Last First

This year Libby is a senior, Grace is in 8th grade, and Sam is in 7th. I, of course, did not manage to get any photos of their first day of school, but it still happened.

I did manage to get a picture of Ethan heading out for his first day at BSU, his first class starting at 7:30am. He was barely awake, but still posed for a picture. And with such joy on his face.

I really cannot believe that we are here already. I'm proud of him, even though he is difficult to photograph. He is majoring in mechanical engineering and minoring in ASL. He's hoping to only spend a year at BSU and then transfer to a school in California.

Yet Another Birthday

This girl is now 17 and a senior in high school. She has a shoe shopping addiction, a Trader Joes addiction, works at a local ice cream shop, and still manages to bring home great grades. I am floored at how fast she has grown and impressed with the person she is.

We had a few friends and family over for her birthday, and even a visiting frog. He was a pretty polite guest before he went hopping off.

I hope this year is amazing. I can't even fathom she is less than a year away from graduating high school and then is headed for college.

Vacation Plans

August 10 we were all set to leave for Wallowa Lake. We had a campsite reservation made 6 months in advance, we had the food purchased, and planned on waking up in the morning, loading the car, and heading out for a week of fun and relaxation. 

At 3 a.m. Grace crawled into my bed, saying she felt ill. Her throat hurt, she couldn't swallow, and she was burning up with fever. I gave her some Advil, sent her back to bed, and waited for morning. 9 a.m. found us at urgent care seeking a diagnosis. I was really hoping for strep throat. We could treat her and still leave 24 hours later. Alas, it was not strep throat, despite the rapid onset and inflamed throat. All of her tests came back negative, so we tucked her back into bed, and canceled our camping trip. 

That evening Michael and I went for a bike ride. We needed a little reset and a chance to come up with a new plan. We happened to find a kayak someone had thrown away, and Michael was pleased to strap it to his bike and haul it home.

Meanwhile, Grace was still sick. She pretty much spent the next four days in bed. Her fever would go away for a few hours, but then come raging back. She was a miserable little girl.

This was what we did instead of camping. A whole lot of nothing. But we did it together, because we all managed to get the time off of work.

By the end of the week, Grace was feeling a little better, so we decided to head up to McCall for the weekend.

 

We even had a couple cousins come with us. Grace was still not 100%, but she was feeling well enough to join us for most activities.

We had a picnic lunch in Charlie's Garden, outside of McCall. The greenery was stunning, the flowers were blooming and there were even a few ripe huckleberries.

After Charlie's Garden we headed for the lake, with our paddle boards, our trash kayak, and my niece's two-person kayak. Parking was a nightmare, and the beach was packed. I was ready to turn back, but my nieces pointed out we had come a long way and they wanted to play. It was crazy when we first got there, but soon a couple of huge groups left, and the lake became much more pleasant. We spent hours paddling, swimming, and lounging around.

After we got everyone and everything back to the cabin and ate dinner, we took everyone down to the nearer beach to see the sunset.

We were only able to spend one night in McCall, but we got plenty of lake time, plenty of ice cream, and plenty of family time. It wasn't the vacation we planned, but it was still nice.

Ode to the 90's

Grace wanted to make a friendship bracelet, but was struggling with the directions. She asked if I knew any patterns. The only method I remembered is from the 90s and the one we used to put wraps in our hair.

Grace took to it easily and started churning out bracelets. 

Libby questioned how it would work in hair. I started a wrap in her hair and she was off. By the end of the day she had three wraps and by the next day all of her friends were sporting them as well. 

The 90's are back and taking over my house.

Summertime

Summer feels like a time to slow down and appreciate the little moments. So here you go. Here are some of the little moments of joy. 

Libby's perfect peanut butter and jelly sandwich, while camping.

The fireworks at the park.

Perfect sunsets along the river,

where just a little shift in the light changes the whole scene.

Proud birds posing for photos.

The lily pads in the park finally blooming.

Little kids saying, "Pwease, Aunt Katie".

And enough fresh raspberries for everyone to enjoy (although there are never any left over for jam).

Not Quite a Teen

Despite my protestations, Sam decided to have another birthday. He turned 12 and is ready for junior high. He loves computer games, books, and gloating he is now taller than me. 

This year he wanted a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting, topped with wafer cookies and chocolate dipped strawberries. That I can do! I can't make sugar icing roses or fondant animals, but I can pile things on a cake with the best of them. He was happy.

My co-worker brought in zucchini to work and suggested I take one home to give Sam for his birthday. Just what every 12 year old wants in his life!!

We are all getting a little older.

Lock picking set,

Harry Potter Legos, and a Banksy print. He was a well satisfied pre-teen. Currently all of my locks are still in working order, but only time will tell.
 

Heading Home

Alternate title: A Journey in Forceful Expulsions from the Human Body

Sunday afternoon we packed up and headed home. Sam rode with Krys and Mom for the first few hours, to give us a little more elbow room in the van. We drove to Salt Lake with minimal stops and delays. Once near Salt Lake City, though, we did make a pit stop at IKEA. We decided to do a little bit of shopping, and pick up food from the food court on our way out. 

The kids weren't feeling the adventure of IKEA. Then the food court was entirely out of pizza and almost out of hotdogs. It was a rough stop. Ethan also started feeling sick to his stomach. Everyone was turning grumpy and tired, which I assumed was from a lot of travel in a short time span.

Sam wanted to travel in the van the rest of the way home. Krys was looking for a second driver, so Michael took off with all the kids, and I drove off with Mom and Krys. Then things in the van got real, real fast. Michael was pulling off at every freeway exit for the teenagers to make mad bathroom dashes. The trash can in the van caught more than just an occasional dirty napkin. It was a symphony of stomach and bowel rebellion.

Meanwhile, Krys, mom, and I were traveling in blissful ignorance. By the time I learned the van passengers had a stomach bug, food poisoning, or possibly the plague, there was nothing I could do. I just kept driving my plague-free vehicle down the freeway. Michael kept visiting all the bathrooms of Utah and Idaho. I think I got the better end of the deal. 

I made it to Boise shortly after midnight, and found myself locked out of the house. I rested in the hammock until the rest of the family limped into town, almost an hour later. There was a mad rush to the bathroom and shower and then everyone collapsed for the night. Vacation was well and truly over.

Talent Show

Chicken Fried

Saturday night we had a family talent show. Ethan, Libby, Colista (friend), Ellie (cousin), and Aria (cousins friend) joined in song to close the show. As they sang several other people joined them and everyone else started singing and dancing along. While the video is dark and the sound is abysmal, the experience was one of those rare sweet idyllic moments that life occasionally hands out. 

I can't seem to embed the video, so just click on the words Chicken Fried above and it will take you to the private YouTube video.

Reunion or Bust

The next day we roused the troops, loaded up, and headed to Bryce Canyon (and we only got a little lost). Ethan was driving, but Michael was navigating. Blame who you will. I was in the very back squished between Grace and Sam, so I bear no fault. 

Before climbing on the shuttle to explore Bryce. 

This was at our last lookout. The view was amazing and worth the slog up the mountain. 

We saw all the hoodoos (rock formations) and natural amphitheaters a person could hope for. 

We returned to camp, were fed a lovely dinner, and visited with relatives.

And that night we watched the stars come out with amazement. I have never seen so many stars in one night. It was hard to find constellations because with so many stars visible, it was hard to pick out just a handful.

On the Road Again

We haven't been camping for almost two years. This year we had nothing holding us back. We loaded up the van with our children, an extra child, and headed down to Panguitch Lake, Utah for a family reunion. 

Everybody awake and alert as we roll out of town at 7:30 a.m.

A couple hours later the early morning start and liberal doses of Dramamine caught up with them. We got a lot of driving done with only a stop or two for gas.

As the afternoon wore on everyone was a little more alert, so we stopped for lunch at a roadside park, emptied our bladders and started on our journey again. The new-to-us van was traveling well, the kids were squished but content, and we were flying down the freeway.

Unfortunately, our sleeping bags decided they wanted to fly as well. They were in the completely sealed cartop carrier that has traveled the northwest extensively with us. Nevertheless, as we were zooming down the freeway outside Fillmore, Utah, we noticed something fly off the top of the van. Michael pulled over and I jogged down the freeway, hoping the orange item we saw fly did not in fact belong to us. Half a mile back, I discovered it did in fact belong to us. It was Grace's sleeping bag. Michael, meanwhile, had opened the carrier (that was still locked) and discovered we were in fact missing two sleeping bags. We found the other in the median, mostly unscathed. We fought the brutal wind, and managed to reload the sleeping bags. Michael tried to put an extra strap around the shell, but the wind kept whipping the strap away. I also was not excited about still being stopped alongside the freeway.

We went another 10 miles down the road to the next exit and pulled over for gas. One of the orange slippery sleeping bags was again trying to snake out of the carrier. We were able to put an extra strap on and continue on our way with no further incident. We can only theorize that the strong wind was compressing the carrier, creating a small gap that allowed the sleeping bags to make a bid for their freedom.

We made it to our final destination at 5:30pm, with no further incidents.

Grace's sleeping bag has a significant amount of road rash but still was functional. Sam's was only a little dirty. They slept soundly in them, despite my aunt theorizing that the only way the sleeping bags could have escaped was if they were possessed. There was no further evidence of sleeping bag possession for the rest of the trip.

Family Fun Adventure

As a family, we won a raffle prize through Sam's library fundraiser. It included a ton of gift certificates for restaurants and events around Boise. So the day Ethan was at work, and the girls had taken a day trip to McCall, and Michael was at work, Sam and I dug out a couple gift certificates and went on an adventure.

We started by playing a round of mini golf. We had a lot of fun, just the two of us, hanging out together. 

After mini golf, we headed to the Warhawk Air Museum in Nampa, with some more gift certificates. 

It was interesting, but I was glad I didn't have to pay $16 per person for the visit. It wasn't that interesting. After about 45 minutes of wandering around we were ready to head out.

But we had to stop for photos first. 

He's the cutest little munchkin. He looks like he will start singing and dancing about the death of the wicked witch at any moment.

We stopped for some McDonalds (another gift certificate) and then headed home. I always forget how much fun my kids can be until I take the time to spend some one on one time with them. We had a great afternoon, and all for free. Couldn't ask for a better day.