"Hello, Daddy!" she said

The kids helped pull the grass away from the family headstones.  Nice to see the flag for their great, great grandpa. 

John asked if her dad was bawdy, like Billie.  She told us she got her humor from him, that he was funny, witty, danced and could cut up a stage.  He died younger than I realized.  Her mom was a widow for a long time, even marrying again, 2nd husband died 12 years after her first.

It was good to see the names, the dates, hear a little more about my children's ancestors.  Good tradition.  (Need to research how to clean the stone without damaging it.  Hydrogen peroxide to get rid of mildew stains?)

Not a Fan on Purpose & Early Valentine

I wore purple on accident to Church.

I like what purple does to orange and turquoise color schemes. I wore a black & white jumper, and the purple long sleeve shirt was on top of my clean clothes. The accident part, was not knowing there was a Raven's game Sunday (Baltimore football team, for those of you who don't know--it's okay), so I looked like I was supportive, when I really don't pay attention to the sport. I even had on purple earrings.

There were babies dressed in purple, lots of ties and purple sweaters, bows. I just blended right in.

Christmas decorations and wreaths are all down, but I can't bring myself to put up hearts yet for Valentine's Day, in spite of the commercial push in the stores already.

Although, I did put a heart pillowcase on Max's pillow, one I was planning on mailing to him at school. If you missed the announcement, he is home, not back at BYU to finish up his freshman year.

I love him, no matter what, even when I don't agree with his choices. I feel a lot of pain & sadness when my adult child tells me he wants to be free from my influence, my rules, my goals, my definitions of happiness and appropriate recreational activities. I am trying to swallow the mom-me pride, anger, disappointment, grief, dreams and hopes. Talking lots, trying to understand and accept and listen.

Pray for him. Be his friend. Talk to him normally. Tell him what makes you happy and why.

(I wrote this in the sand last time we were at the beach 2011 summer)

Wimped Out

I let them go alone, with their dad. I crawled in bed with a book, and was nearly asleep when they came home from seeing the big fireworks at great grandma's parking lot (that faces the big baseball stadium). I heard them. Distantly. Hazily.

I bought the sparklers for them. The boys are at scout camp all week long. Our big family table is reduced to a tiny thing with all but one leaf taken out. We can nearly touch each other's noses when the four of us are sitting down for a meal together.

When I asked a young mom raised in the Church what helped her stay active (in context of "Did you guys do family home evening and scripture reading as a family growing up?") and she credited family dinners as the biggest influence on her spirituality. She said they always gathered, with rare exceptions, and her dad would go around the table, asking how every one's day had gone, what they had done. She remembers chattering non-stop, with patient parents listening.

So if I whimped out on the holiday celebrations but showed up for family dinner, will it matter in the long run? Will Dad just be the fun memory parent?

And no matter how closely we build our home next to the bonfire, where will our children end up, spiritually?

Reprise

Can you see the sweat dripping off of us? The lookout had stairs, lots of stairs.

It is a lot of work to go on vacation as a family. We had wanted to do something adventurous before Emma and Stewart left for school/missions. This was the last trip for a long time when everyone will be home. Next opportunity will be 4 years (when Stewart/Maxwell home from missions) and we could be grandparents by then, maybe, so the rough white water rafting trip would have to wait.

This was the year for this adventure!

I hope the kids remember the fun we had! They were good sports and kind to each other.

My favorite parts: squished around the picnic table in the cabin singing "Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow" in harmony (yeah, Emma and Max!) and passing around the Book of Mormon that all of us forgot but Ross had in his backpack and taking turns reading a verse. And stopping for gas, giving everyone a $2 budget for a treat in Kroger's grocery store and finding Em and Stewart pooling their $4 by the ice cream choosing Klondike bars--thinking they were only getting 3 to share, and then discovering it was a 6 pack and them bargaining for other treats with "What would you do for a Klondike bar?" Watching Roxie in the Princess Seat at the front of of the boat imitating Suzu's dramatic arm spread. Paddle pops and echoes. The spontaneous back flip show. Our guide Healy telling us what amazing kids we have and how impressed he was with their behavior and cooperation working together. John smiling at finally going to Biscuit World. Our anti-fight and listening/discussion/solution about going to Pints and Pizza next time we are in town. John pontificating for Maxwell, and Maxwell getting it, and learning. Ross's kindness running up all those look-out stairs to find missing Roxie!

My favorite part about vacation: coming home and sleeping in our own bed.

Holiday Post #4

Somehow we managed to both be wearing orange shirts. Photo credit: Emmalyn
This is a picture of the amazing bridge spanning the New River.Suzu likes orange, too! You can see the New River to her right, way down below!


We were all able to ride in one boat with our super-tanned guide, Healy (who will be working out at Alta teaching skiing this winter, if his plans go well). He would warn us which direction to swim if we fell out on each approaching fall, and would tell us when and how to paddle, which side, which direction, and kept us from crashing into the rocks, led us down backwards over a few drops...Wishing I had pictures of the adventure: imagine rocks, lots of BIG ROCKS and fast moving water, waves, falls, better than any roller coaster ride...Nobody fell out of the boat. We did jump overboard to swim in a few places, and everyone jumped off a 30 foot rock (except me. Even Roxie jumped!) I had one early over-my-head dunking at Swimmer's Falls that left me breathless and ragged breathing and more cautious. We all paddled. We toured with "ACE" and I would highly recommend them if you are even thinking about doing this kind of family adventure. Very professional, very organized, great food. They fed us pita bread, broccoli/carrots and dips pb & j sandwiches if people wanted (this was all a snack while they set up lunch for us) and amazing grilled chix or hamburgers on buns with our choice of toppings onions, lettuce, condiments; 2 pasta salads including tortellini and a orzo salad, seafood salad, oreo dirt pudding, chocolate chip cookies, water and lemonade. It was a feast! All on the side of the river on top of one of the rafts turned upside down to be the buffet table spread with plastic tablecloth and guides turned servers wearing plastic gloves. Each raft had a cooler in the center with parts of the lunch. We did stay together as a 3 raft tour, and there were other companies on the river and an earlier ACE tour that we saw. But not amusement park crowded. When I was floating/drowning at one point another guide helped me get to her boat and hold on to a paddle until I could breathe again. It was reassuring in company, but still so wild and natural and breath-taking (haha, for asthmatic me). We were in coal-mining country, and learned a lot from our guide about how it was done.

Serious picture and silly one, after a long, exhausting day and an interesting dinner at "Biscuit World."

We stopped at the overlook on the way out and got home by 1 am. I helped John watch for crossing deer and bears, keeping him company with my silly-half-asleep dreaming memories (I told him I had gone paint balling on a date, before I dated him, then asked if Emma was born then, and then paused and realized I was remembering "10 Things I Hate About You" and no, I didn't date the Joker.)

Driving down hill home felt a lot like floating down the rapids in a half-awake state. I am glad John is a good driver.

Holiday Post #3

We were surrounded by children! Bunk bed sleeping arrangements, with a girls' side and a guys' side. This was camping MOM STYLE! A hot shower, flushing toilet cabin with elecricity! Big picnic table in the center of the concrete floor, doors and screens that kept out bugs.

Suzanna brought a friend and Emma did, too.



Swinging monkey bridge over a steep drop. Scarier than it looks. I was glad for the tethered safety harness.

After zipping we swam in the lake, with many inflatable toys and towers and jungle gyms, and seaweed, and ducks.

ZIPPING! (Holiday Post #2)

First the guides teach you how to put on the harness, the clips...
Then we were taught safety rules. Got on a bus and drove to the zip-line canopy tour...

Roxie was fearless! The guides clip you onto the zipline. You cannot go until you get the all clear signal and then the guide unhooks your last safety link and gives you permission to go. You can scream (me) or yell "ZIPPING" or "COWABUNGA"



This picture does not do the ravine and cliffs justice. LONG fall to the bottom. Beautiful rock cliffs. Beautiful views from the very edge...

This is John coming in "hot" and fast. The guides would tell us to starfish to slow down or nugget (curl into a ball) if we needed to go faster to reach the next platform. I got lots of starfish commands, and nearly fell twice off the catching platforms.

Some of the guides are itty-bitty but powerfully strong. I was impressed with their professionalism. They kept us safe, and we had fun!

Our Holiday: Rest Stop #1

On the way to West Virginia we stopped for lunch at a rest stop. Filled up a whole picnic table. John packed all the food and made all the plans.
There were 10 of us! Glad we all fit in the big green monster van!