Tonight at dinner I spelled something to Rock to avoid the boys understanding. Mr. President asked what I’d said and Rock led him astray by saying that I’d probably said something about aliens in the attic and that he wouldn’t want to know anyway. Go Go, clueing in to the most interesting aspect of that thought then asked in suprise, “We have an ATTIC??!!!”
For Launna and David, who I know will find this especially amusing.
I am not a camper. I really really want to be a camper, mind you. My whole life I had glorious plans of being a camper for my kids. I wanted to create beautiful memories camping in nature, roasting marshmallows, and sleeping under the stars. However, the older I have gotten and the more children I have had, the more I am finding that alas, I am not a camper after all. Sleeping on the hard cold ground, eating dirt and fending off the bugs is just not my idea of fun, especially with small children. And I will freely admit right here that I am a wimp. That being declared, let me share the conditions under which I will go camping:
1. Sunny
2. No Rain
3. Warm
4. No toddlers (if at all possible)
5. Few bugs
6. No Rain
7. Flush toilets
On our campout this weekend the only one of those conditions that was met was#5- Bugs don’t like the rain either.
We headed up to Mt. Rainier so that the boys could see the big mountain up close and do something I have great memories doing as a kid. It wasn’t going to be a scorcher of a weekend, but the forecast showed decent weather so up we went. I should have known that it would not work out the way I planned when we drove towards the mountain and because it was so cloudy Go Go said, “Where’s the mountain? I can’t see it?” We had to explain to him that it was hidden behind the clouds. “But we might run into it!” he worried.
The clouds did not disperse the closer we got to the mountain. But it was not raining, so even though I was frustrated that they wouldn’t even get to SEE the mountain, I tried to stay positive. (Rock would disagree with that statement, but it’s all relative, right?) There was no rain whatsoever until we passed the Mt. Rainier National Park entrance and paid our 15 bucks. As we drove in the rain to our campsite I continued my efforts to stay positive. I can do this, I told myself. I want my kids to have a good experience, so I can be tough. I can camp in the rain, I told myself.
We got to the site and set up camp. It became dismally clear very fast that we were not prepared for rain. It was 50 degrees and we had no warm jackets and nothing to cover anything from the rain. Within an hour I was freezing, wet and miserable. Blue Jeans was freezing, wet and muddy from head to toe. Note: wipes do not work on wet muddy pine needle covered fingers. Our little runner went back and forth between dangling his toes over the cliff on one side of the campsite, to running into the road on the other side. Within two hours our camping chairs were filled with water, our picnic table and its leaning tower of camping equipment put up high to avoid wandering toddler fingers was soaking wet and there was a mud puddle in front of the tent.
To say I was grouchy by this point was an understatement. And then I felt bad for being grouchy and having a bad attitude. I was so cold and miserable, I just started to cry. I know what you are thinking. You’re thinking, “Wow, what a wimp.” And you would be right.
Finally after one too many near misses with the fire and Blue Jeans, I took my overly emotional self and our squirrely toddler and locked us both in the tent and just sat there. Blue Jeans climbed on the cooler, played with the flashlight and tried to pull the tent down on top of us. At least someone was having a good time.
At this point you’re thinking that I had already lost it, but no. The straw that broke this campers back was when I opened up the cooler to get out the ketchup and mustard for the hotdogs. I went to lift the egg carton which was soaking wet from the melted ice and it dissolved in my hands dropping all 12 eggs into the cooler and onto all the rest of our food. THAT was when I lost it. I grabbed the bag of ice and chucked it out the tent door nearly decapitating my husband in the process. And then I broke down and cried some more.
It was then that I decided to go home. I was fully planning on going by myself, but eventually everyone else with the exception of Grandpa was miserable too and so we gave up and broke camp after dinner. We did stay long enough for the boys to roast marshmallows. I am not heartless, you know. As we took down the tent we found a huge puddle underneath it that we all would have been sleeping in. And at that moment I was reminded of a book I recently read where the woman was describing her idea of joy.
“I think of being in a tent, snuggled up in a sleeping bag, listening to the rain. Contentment. Joy.”
If I had been able to, I would have laughed at that moment.
Maybe next time my boys want to go camping, I’ll send them over to HER house.
Blue Jeans during the 2 seconds we got him to sit still and before he was totally covered in mud.
Dedicated to my mother
When it’s 100 degrees and humid with no air conditioning- it’s too hot.
When your baby boy has a wet (sweaty) head all day long even in just his diaper- it’s too hot.
When 5 year olds at a birthday party would rather sit in front of the fan than play games in the water- it’s too hot.
When a bowl of ice cream at every meal is just not enough -it’s too hot.
When my arm sticks to this desk table as I write even at 9:00 at night with 8 FANS running in my house it’s too hot.
When I am willing to leave my screenless doors open wide for all the Crane flies on the west coast to get in through, just to cool my house down, it’s TOO HOT.
We’ve been spending extra time down at Grandma and Grandpa Wesel’s house this summer. 
Ice cream x 3.
Blue Jeans in his favorite chair. Grandma thinks it’s her chair. 
Boy is she wrong.
The older boys and I went to the the state capitol one day.
My what a big head you have, George!
1. On the way to church Dad was teaching the boys about the Liahona and Go Go said, “It’s just like a GPS!”
3. Our Peeping Tom
For the past several weeks we’ve been working on this tooth. Dad tried the pliers, an old family tradition, I’m told, and one that I think is horrible to the extreme. But who am I to stand in the way of tradition.
Sorry for the close-up, but this was the best we could get. Later when we were talking to Grandma and Grandpa on the phone, Grandpa tried to explain the concept of inflation and the tooth fairy to Mr. Pres and I was hearing amounts of $5.oo thrown around! What Grandpa doesn’t know is that the Tooth Fairy already used up her part of the stimulus package, it didn’t help at all, and she is now asking grandparents to chip in to offset inflation.
Go Go’s commentary on the event:
“Wow! He’s almost an adult now!”
When we were discussing the gaping hole in Mr. President’s mouth he said, “Gaping holes are good.”
Mr. President’s commentary on the event:
“Now my toothbrush will get stuck 2059 times!”
If Dad is sleeping on the couch Blue Jeans will sit and watch him and wait for him to wake up. Our little Blue Jeans is a chip of the old Rock.
Go Go decided tonight to jump off the ladder of the bunk bed and managed to really hurt his foot in the process. In his hysterical crying all we could get out of him was that “Mr. President told me to do it!” So, in an effort to teach him an important principle, I asked him what he would do if Mr. Pres told him to take a knife and stick it in his eye. He of course said he wouldn’t do that and so I tried to explain that just because someone tells you to do something stupid, does not mean you should do it and it is not their fault if you get hurt! Go Go was still basically hysterical while I was trying to impart this wisdom to him and I guess I should have taken that as my sign to teach the principle at another time when he was a bit more receptive. He walked away from me, went down the hall where he yelled at Mr. Pres, “Don’t tell me to to poke my eye out with a knife!” and then clocked Mr. Pres on the head.
Maybe we’ll try to teach that important principle again another day… but we’ll at least wait until Go Go comes out of Time Out.
That’s what most people are saying when we tell them our crazy news that we are moving to of all places New York City! Ok, so we’re not actually going to LIVE in New York City, but Rock will be working there. He has accepted a job to work for Fog Creek Software right in the heart of downtown Manhattan-3 blocks from Ground zero and the New York Stock Exchange. We will most likely live in Northern New Jersey and Rock will ride the train into work. New Jersey is cheaper and actually very very beautiful I was pleased to find on our trip there. I was very glad that suburbia can in fact be found there, for as much as I loved New York City, I would NOT want to live there. And that’s why when Rock first told me he’d applied for a job in New York City I told him he was insane and that I was never moving there. “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.” Obviously, God definitely had other plans for me then I had for myself.
Here’s the story. We have felt for a while now that this summer was a good time for our family to make a change. Rock wanted to try something new at work and we both wanted a dryer climate. We both felt like it was time for us to move to a new place, have new experiences and grow in new ways. We were thinking somewhere in the WEST. As Rock started to job search he decided on a whim to apply for the job at Fog Creek just to get some good interview experience. As he got further and further in the interview process, we felt more and more like maybe this was something we should do. Three interviews later he was offered the job and we were faced with the major decision of whether to move our little family all the way across the country. New York City was virtually a foreign country to us. But after lots of prayers and a fabulous trip to New York and New Jersey, we took the offer. We are looking at it as a short term BIG adventure. I have always wanted to live out East for a time to explore all the church and history sights. And now we get the chance! It’s all very scary and exciting at the same time. We don’t know where we’re going to live, we don’t know if we can sell our house, we don’t know even the first thing about moving across the country, but we do know it’s where the Lord wants us to go… so New York City here we come.
I Really Meant to Blog About It
A five day trip to New York City deserves a daily blog post, but I was so busy walking up and down the streets of New York giving myself blisters, riding the subway for the first time with every nationality imaginable and walking down Wall Street next to the men in black Armani suits that I just didn’t have time. I was too busy crying at Ground Zero as I listened to the loved ones of those lost and heroes from that fateful day tell their story while we looked upon that massive hole in the ground, the sky and our hearts. I was too busy shopping literally shoulder to shoulder with millions of other people at Times Square in the world’s most amazing Toys R Us trying to find a gift for my boys that was Under $10.00. Too busy walking around not even a quarter of Central Park and it’s amazing beauty while buildings of spectacular history and architecture loomed just over the tops of the trees. I really meant to blog right after I fulfilled my life long dream of seeing the statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I meant to post on Memorial day when I visited the cemetery of Trinity church where Revolutionary War heroes were buried and George Washington prayed. I really wanted to blog it as I saw it. But there just wasn’t time. We filled every day to overflowing and as I think about all I saw I am still in awe of how little I really did see of this amazing city teeming with life and beauty. One minute you are looking at a massive pillared and ancient edifice and the next you are walking under a grove of the most beautiful trees and the next you are screaming along under the ground on the subway squished closer to humanity than you ever thought possible. It was a fantastic trip and I loved every minute. To see pictures of our trip you can go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kamadawn/sets/72157618845327007/
The two things I took away from this trip:
1. ALWAYS carry hand sanitizer when in New York because none of the bathrooms ever have any.
2. Every American needs to see Ground Zero with their own eyes so that they will never forget nor let our government forget what happened on 9/11.
But We Had to Come Back
The break from kids and every day life was wonderful while it lasted. Little did I know how quickly we would be hurled back into parenthood. We arrived home late Monday night physically and emotionally exhausted. Today is Wednesday and we have since returning home had two sleepless nights thanks to a fussy toddler, two trips to the Dr.’s office with the same two children for pink eye and one case of weird bruise-like red, blistery splotches. Not one Dr. out of 3 could clearly identify it and as his skin started to blister and ooze I started to worry about things like flesh eating disease. Rock was in charge of the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby and took Go Go who was just barely over the 24 hour no longer contagious stage, and I went to the t-ball game with Mr. Pres and watched from the car so as to quarantine the pink eyed toddler. I finished off my welcome back to motherhood with a mad dash to the pharmacy before it closed to get the 4th prescription in two days. I wanted to reassure the people staring at Blue Jeans while we waited in line, “Don’t worry, he’s not really rubbing his green goopy eyes and then touching the cart handle that someone else will touch within moments!!!!” Ahahahggha! How can people let their children DO THAT! But yet, there I was, doing just that. It is now 9:15 PM and 2 children are finally in bed but not asleep and the third is still helping put away the Pinewood derby track. He is in heaven as he knows it, though, so what’s a 10:00 bedtime? The house is a disaster and there is so much laundry in the laundry room we can barely open the door. Welcome home, Mom.
