Arrivederci

John and I are taking off on a long awaited trip to Italy today.  We'll be back in a couple weeks.

My fearless father has accepted the role of playing Mr. Mom while we are away.

So if my kids are looking a little more disheveled than usual, that's why.

But I have to say, I think I'm a little more worried about my dad.

I know the kids will be fine and safe.  They might be late to a music lesson or two, and eat frozen hotdogs (they never hurt me as a kid- in fact I remember thinking that those meat popcicles we only got to eat when mom wasn't home were pretty awesome) but I am sure they will have fun with Pa.

My dad however capable as he is of hiking miles through mountains for days with blistery feet by himself,  hasn't had the joy of taking care of four young'uns for quite some time.  Needless to say, he admits to feeling a little overwhelmed.  I eased into the job of mom one kid at a time, and I'm fairly used to it by now, but there are days when I think to myself - "If I were a drinker...", and then I go searching for my chocolate stash, and possibly a can of something cool and refreshing and caffeinated. 

With that in mind, the fridge is full of his favorite Pepsi, and I will be sure to disclose the location(s) of my chocolate.

Anyway- I'm not sure what, if any, blogging is going to be going on while I am away. I'm not taking my laptop with me.  I'll take pictures and notes and bore you all with an endless slide show of my travels when I return. 

I am over the moon excited though.  We'll be in Italy for 8 days, and we were supposed to return on the 9th, but John has work in Belgium for the whole next week, so I will spend a day with him there, then I will board a train BY MYSELF and head to Paris for a couple of days to take a couple cooking classes.  I'm pretty excited about that. Nervous.  But excited.  I'll head back to Belgium long enough to spend the evening with John on our 15th anniversary then head home to rescue my dad.

So, Ciao for now!

At the lake with Pa

It's become somewhat of a tradition that my dad and I take the kids and a couple boats- (usually a raft, a canoe, and a kayak) and let the kids paddle around a lake for an afternoon.   We've been doing it for years.  There's a lake we usually go to (I forget the name) up American Fork canyon.

But this year, we decided to try a new lake.  It was fairly close, and would only take a few minutes to get to.

At first glance, the lake seemed pleasant enough.  The location wasn't as lovely as the one we usually go to, but different can be good.  When we arrived we stood on the shore, and decided it might be a little too windy.  Kayaks and canoes are hard enough to handle for kids when the wind isn't blowing. 

As we were mulling over our options, I took a few pictures of the kids, and after awhile I noticed some debris in the water that the wind had blown our direction.  At first glance it just looked like sticks and stuff, but then I was like "Hey! Look!  That's a dead fish! Oh! And there's another one. And that looks like a dead raccoon floating belly up.  Ew, gross!  I think that is a dead raccoon!"  And just then a giant rat scurried along the rocks near where Madison was sitting, and we decided we had enough and left.

Sometime later, we found ourselves on the shore of the lake we usually go to.

The older three had fun paddling around. 

Christopher refused to put on a life jacket and had no desire to get in a boat anyway, so he and I hung out on shore and threw rocks into the lake.

 He ate most of the fruit by the foot snacks I brought, and even managed to convince Maddie to share hers with him.

The only incident came when my dad lost his balance trying to get into the canoe that Zach and Maddie were already in.  My dad managed to jump to dry ground, but dumped the whole canoe in the process, and thereby soaking the kids and giving the neighboring fishermen a good laugh.

sledding with Pa

According to my Utah friends and family on facebook, this spring has been pretty terrible.  I could almost count on somebody complaining each and every day about the weather up here in Utah.  Snow, rain, snow, and more snow. 

Of course I was cheering on the inside because their misery was my joy.  Because I could almost count on it coming south.  Their bad weather was my mild weather.  I think this last May was the best we ever had.  It was awesome. 

And then, as an added bonus, when we finally got to Utah, it wasn't that difficult to go and find snow to play in.  Score!

The kids and I drove with my dad up to Alta, my dad's favorite ski resort, to do a little sledding.  Snowbird, the neighboring ski resort was actually still open to skiers, but Alta was closed for the season, which means we had the place to ourselves.

We found a little hill that wasn't too hard for the kids to climb up, and had fun sledding down several times.

Nick had been sledding with the scouts before, but I think this was my other three kids' very first time.

Christopher was wary of the snow at first, it took some convincing for him to even step on it, but he got the hang of it pretty quick.

The kids even convinced me to go down once. 

So I sat myself on the round disk sled, made it about a third the way down the mountain, before the disk spun around backwards, then promptly tipped over, dumping me out of it, and sending my legs flying straight up in the air.  Apparently it was quite the sight, and everybody is just sorry they didn't get it on video.

I was the one and only casualty of the day.  Everyone else made it down the hill over and over without incident.

Go me.  At least I'm good for a little bit of entertainment.

New Years

My parents arrived the Wednesday before. They were making the rounds. Christmas they spent in Utah with my youngest brothers, then they headed to New Mexico to see my other brother and his family, and then we were the last stop on their agenda.

We spent our time shopping, cooking, eating, playing games, and watching movies. You know, the usual. My dad helped John with some storage racks in the garage, and sticking a basketball hoop in the ground.

Also at midnight on New Year's we lit off some fireworks in the street. This was the first time since we've lived in Arizona that fireworks have been legal. I think New Year's Eve in Arizona is perfect for fireworks. It was still pretty cold, but it's not like we had to clear away the snow or anything. And once the sun goes down in July it's not as miserable, but it's still 100 degrees out.

We wore my parents out.

They left bright and early this morning to get home.

We all got up to see them off. And by "got up", I mean made our way down the stairs in a semi- conscious state.

Maddie cried as usual. She's a sensitive little thing.

While we were away

Although the kids were slightly jealous at being left behind, they still seemed to have a good time in Utah without us.

They had kids down the street to play with, and new scooters to ride. And the weather is definitely less miserable up there, so they can play outside .

They saw Despicable Me and the new Sorcerers Apprentice. Both of which they totally loved.

My parents took them to New Mexico to spend some time with their cousins (my brother's kids) for several days. They went camping, rode bikes, had a lot of fun, and Nick even came home with a recipe for a pie he fell in love with. (I have taught him well)

I also heard stories of them going up to see the giant Kennecott Copper Mine. (It's so big you can see it from space.) They thought it was pretty cool.

There were a couple of rough patches (mostly for my parents) The Disney Channel was banned within a matter of hours. I'd ban it too, but somedays I really need my electronic babysitter. My parents tried to potty train Christopher the same way they potty trained my brothers. By hauling him in the back yard and hosing him off with the garden hose. (I totally had my fingers crossed it would work, but wasn't surprised in the least when it didn't) It worked like magic on my brothers, but while Christopher totally hated every minute of it, as my parents put it "He is the most stubborn kid!" To which I say, "Welcome to my world." On a side note, while we were at Target yesterday buying the kids socks and underwear, one of the older kids showed Christopher a package of Cars underpants. He totally flipped out. "No! No! Ow! Ow! Ow!"

Also my mom's favorite hanging plant died while they were in New Mexico. She was especially fond of it. My brothers gave it to her. I promised to post this picture on my blog as a little memorial for her baby.

Some day (soon hopefully) for those interested, Nick is working an a blog post or two about their time in Utah and you can read about it first hand.

How Zach learned to ride a bike

Dear parents of small children. You're gonna wanna pay attention to this.

This is seriously the most genius way to teach kids to ride a bike, ever.

I've mentioned before that Zach has anxiety issues. This has prevented him from learning to ride a bike before now. I'd go out and work with him, but when it came down to it, if he thought for one second someone was going to let go of the bike, he'd fall right over. No matter how well he was doing. Bike riding lessons always ended up in tears and frustration. (for both of us)

Until...

While John and I were in Utah, my dad pulled out one of my brother's old bikes and taught Zach to ride.

My dad got this idea from my little brother, and I don't know where he got it from, but he did just get his PhD, so it could have come from his own genius brain.

So what's the big, genius idea?

Take The Pedals Off.

That's it.

So simple, yet so genius.

Take the pedals off, hand them the bike, and let them play around with it. They are in control. Instead of pedaling, their feet are on the ground pushing them around. Pretty soon they are getting more and more confident, coasting farther and farther, and before you know it, they are ready for the pedals to be put back on.

I told you, GENIUS.

Camping with Grandpa

Every summer that we are in Utah, we try and make a point of doing a little car camping with my dad. The Great Outdoors are his passion in life, and while "car camping" is a little tame for his tastes, he loves to share that kind of stuff with his grand kids. (and we love it too)My mom, John, and Christopher joined us for the oh-so-exciting roasting of the weenies and marshmallows over the fire for dinner, but then left us to go and sleep in their beds. (John wasn't feeling well, Christopher would have been a nightmare for the rest of us, and camping is not on the list of what grandma calls "fun".)We just went up the canyon and stayed in a campground at the Alta ski resort. The kids had a lot of fun. They played around, satisfied their inner pyros, found some snow to play in, went on hikes, and got the tar scared out of them when the storm hit. (it was all wind, and very little rain, but 2 out of 3 kids were in tears- the only near casualties were the tents we neglected to stake down)
Despite the fact that each year I understand more and more why people camp with motor homes instead of tents, (boy was that a miserable night for me) I look forward to our yearly camp out with my dad. I mentioned to my dad that maybe next year Nick might be big enough to go on one of my dad's big week long backpacking/river rafting/slot canyon trips. Those are way too much fun for me though.

Happy Birthday Dad!

I never have a hard time remembering how old my dad is, I just have to add 50 years to Nick's age. I remember when we broke the news to him- he was totally devastated that he was going to be 50 AND a grandpa within weeks of each other. I did however have a hard time finding a picture of him, because even though I have many of the pictures from my childhood, he was generally the one behind the camera.

Not to worry though- he didn't realize how much he'd love being a grandpa at the time. Now he's been heard from time to time saying "If I'd have known how great grand kids are, I would have had them first!"

Happy Birthday to my favorite chemistry/physics/math tutor, car lender, and furniture builder, the man who helped me to appreciate of the wonders of this world, who gave me a life long love of oldies music, and impressed upon me the importance of a good education. Happy Birthday Daddy, I love you.

hi grampa happy birthday its me maddie I hope your having a grate day.Bye grampa .

Heres zack. happy birthday grandpa.

Dear Grandpa i hope that your birthday has been a lot of fun so far and i can't wait to see you , happy birthday love Nicholas.

The mountains with Grandpa

Every year the kids and grandpa don't let me get out of going up to the mountains to spend a day or more. This year we only had a day. We went up to a lake that's become a favorite of ours and just let the kids paddle around in the canoe and kayak and raft. They love that. I admit, it's fun for me as well. That's always something I've enjoyed doing, and my dad would have been a forest ranger if he could have supported his family on it, so it's always fun to share this kind of stuff with my kids. Maybe some year the kids will be big enough to do some of the bigger trips my dad goes on. Maybe someday I'll talk about Orderville canyon. That was nearly 14 years ago, and I still have nightmares. This year the kids got an extra treat, this guy was up there with llamas. I'd never seen that before. He says they are great for packing stuff around. I'd heard about it, but never seen it. Maybe it's a new trend. Just kidding, I know that other civilizations have been using them for ages.

We actually only had a few hours to play because we left grandma to babysit Christopher, and I was still not quite forgiven for abandoning him when I went to Europe. I started referring to him as my "little satellite" because he was always somewhere near me. Keeping an eye on me I suppose. So we left him because he would probably drown, and generally spoil every one's fun, and grandma was a good sport about the whole deal, but still, we didn't want to totally take advantage of her. Everyone had a good time.

The first time we went up there, I saw this total transformation in my then youngest kid, Zach. This was back when I was worried about him. He hardly ever spoke at all, and never within earshot of anyone that he wasn't 100% comfortable with. But the first time we got him out on a canoe, it was like he took a big breath, and let all that stress and anxiety go, and he was happy. Like really and truly completely happy. Something I had never, even as his mother, seen before. I think that was the only time in the two or three weeks that we were there that grandpa heard him utter any words.

I know it sounds all mushy and cheesy and all, and most of the time, I am not all about being the mushy and cheesy type, but there was something almost healing and magical about it.