Our Halloween Mystery

October 22, 2015 By

We have had some paranormal activities Chez Johnson that are wreaking all sorts of havoc and sending a shiver down my spine.

Our ghost first put holes near the top of our blinds. Then, the florescent light cover in our kitchen not only crashed to the ground but these spirits somehow carried it all the way to the garbage can outside. And don’t get me started on the jar of peanut butter that floated to the basement, the most minor of the trespasses but still a head-scratcher.

All of these situations have been met with the  doe-eyed innocence of our kids. “Mom, I have no idea how that happened” or “maybe it was Fat Kitty,” which makes me seriously worry about their power of persuasion if they’re trying to convince me that our obese, declawed cat could become airborne (though peanut butter might be a good motivator).

To their credit, they haven’t turned each other in but when you’re only one of two siblings, the odds are not ever in your favor. We’ve repeatedly trying to instill within them that lying is worse than the actual crime but to no avail.

I have yet to catch them red-handed but got a kick out of toddler Jack’s blue-faced lie about the free cupcake he’d swiped in a celebration for the New York Giants.

The good news is that we are making some progress. I’m not sure about the topic in my daughter’s Sunday School class last week but she finally confessed to her teacher, “YES, IT WAS I WHO TOOK THE PEANUT BUTTER TO THE BASEMENT AND ATE DIRECTLY OUT OF IT WITHOUT A SPOON.”

If only the trespasses of my little spirits could always remain so innocent.

Filed Under: Bode, Hadley, Humor

Sixth grade’s archer-killing zombies

October 21, 2015 By

Ahhh, sixth grade. It truly was the highlight of my scholastic career. We were rulers of the school, I dominated both sports and academics and I looked like a complete dork but nobody cared.

Kindergarten: Still cute (though our 1970s couch and wallpaper were hideous).

How I LOVED The Rescuers

Sixth grade: Not Cute.

 

Luckily for Hadley, she’s not going through my awkward stage and her transition back to our elementary school has gone smoothly. The good: Her bestie Alex is in her class and they’ve been inseparable since school began.  The bad: some of Alex’s longtime school chums aren’t always the nicest.

I’ve tried to shield Hadley but fortunately she’s either clueless or just doesn’t care to get wrapped up in the drama. When our girls were invited to their Halloween Party, my friend Lisa (Alex’s mom) and I put a kibosh to that by throwing a soiree of our own and inviting some friends from church.

Something tells me I have a lot of avoid-drama-by-throwing-parties in my future.

Lisa and her husband went out of town a couple of weekends ago so I offered to let Alex stay stay with us, which was pretty delightful until they begged me to go Halloween costume shopping. Originally, Hadley and Alex wanted to be Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Dr. Seuss until their little clique convinced everyone they needed to be Archers.

And then I convinced them back that they could be any darn thing they wanted.

In the end, Hadley still wanted to be an archer because she really does like archery and Alex was undecided when we entered the Halloween shop. I’ve complained about shopping with Hadley because she hates 99% of what she sees but when she finally finds something she likes, there’s no going back. Almost immediately she latched onto a costume she loved.

Alex is quite the opposite and likes everything and could decide on nothing. Finally, I convinced her that she simply could not live another day unless she was a Zombie Bride.

 

I texted my predicament with the polar-opposite shoppers to Lisa and she responded, “And both will drive you nuts.”

Amen.

 

Filed Under: Hadley

Oh Canada: The edition not in Canada

October 20, 2015 By

When you drive 3,000+ miles alone with the kids, there are certain stretches of road that you dread. Mine is the 11-hour drive from Vernon, B.C. through the wastelands of Washington and Oregon before landing in Boise.

The bad: Waking up at 4 a.m. to drop Jamie at the Kelowna airport for his 6 a.m. flight.

The good: There were no suicidal, cliff-jumping cows like last year.

The debatable: Whenever we’ve passed Dry Falls in years past, there’s always been a lot of cars so we pulled over at this pitstop in Central Washington. We learned Dry Falls was once five times the size of Niagara Falls.  During the Ice Age. I’m not sure if this was a letdown or fascinating marketing about an enormous waterfall that is no longer there.

Boise

Once we finally arrived in Boise, we overnighted with my former mission companion Katie’s family. The kids pressured me to play BeanBoozled (the worst game ever) where we ate such memorable jelly bellies like booger. Grass. Vomit. And those were the good ones.

Fortunately, the rest of our visit wasn’t nearly as traumatic.

Twin Falls

From there, we did a slight detour to play in the Snake River  with my friend Jenny near Twin Falls. Driving along I-84, I thought this area was an arid wasteland but how very, very wrong I was. Unlike Dry Falls (read: NO FALLS), Shoshone Falls is 212 feet high–45 feet higher than Niagara Falls and at its peak, it flows over the rim 1,000 feet wide.

My outdoorsy kids met their match (and were exceeded) with Jenny’s wonderfully wild Idaho kids.

Here, Bode is playing with one of her twins in the Snake River in a stirring portrait I call “Synchronized Mud Flinging.” His sister (on the receiving end) had another name for it.

Salt Lake City

I wish we could have stayed longer but it was onto Utah for a quick two days with Jamie’s wonderful family where the kiddos snuggled with their cousin Darby for the first time.

And I sneaked in a quick hike to the Living Room in my former home.

Normally we’ll stay in Salt Lake City for several days but we were crunched on time. Bode was staying an extra week with Grandma and flying home by himself while Hadley and I were racing back so she could climb her first 14er.

I’m so grateful for our many friends, family and adventures we had–it truly was the summer both my kids learned to fly.

===

In case you missed our other Canadian adventures this summer:

Oh Canada: The Lethbridge Edition

Oh Canada: The Canada Day in Raymond and Waterton Edition

Oh Canada: The Calgary Edition

Oh Canada: The Banff/Canmore Edition

Oh Canada: The Lakehouse Edition

Oh Canada: The Kettle Valley Railway Trail Edition

 Oh Canada: The Edition Not in Canada

 

Filed Under: Bode, Family travel, Hadley

Oh Canada: The Kettle Valley Railway Trail Edition

October 19, 2015 By

Summer 2014 after we returned home from our Vernon, B.C. vacation, my friend posted about her family’s experience biking the Kettle Valley Railway (KVR). As they passed over soaring trestle bridges and tunnels that looked like something from a Grimm fairy tale, I mused “where is this place?”I couldn’t believe it was in Kelowna, merely 30 miles away from  our lakehouse. I became obsessed!

On one of our cooler days last summer, my dad, brother Jade and his two boys Jaxson and Connor joined my family for what was truly the most unique experiences I’ve ever had on two wheels. Originally built at the turn of the last century, the economic importance of the railway line decreased in later  years and by 1990 the last of the railway line was abandoned. Fortunately it was converted from rail to trail between 2003 and 2008, and re-salvaged after the Okanagan Mountain Park Fire claimed 12 of the trestle bridges. 

We biked one of the most famous and scenic sections–the 12 mile (24 km) round-trip portion of Myra Canyon to Ruth Station section that passed over 18 trestle bridges and through two tunnels. Thanks to the 2 percent rail grade to accommodate the steam train technology of the day, this section is an easy hike or an awesome bike ride for families with kids. But not too young because I was admittedly gripping my handlebars a bit tighter every time we crossed a steep trestle hanging preciously on the sides of Myra Canyon.

At every turn, my mouth stood agape at the views of Kelowna and Okanagan Lake as the forest cast a pale-green lambent light.


I’d spent more than a year building up this ride in my mind and it exceeded every expectation. However I felt a letdown when it was over, musing “now what?”Until I learned that this small portion of the Kettle Valley Railway Trail is part of  a 600 kilometer (360 mile) trail system that passes through vineyards, orchards, forests, lakes, deserts and mountains.

Guess what I’ll be doing next summer.

======

In case you missed our other Canadian adventures this summer:

Oh Canada: The Lethbridge Edition

Oh Canada: The Canada Day in Raymond and Waterton Edition

Oh Canada: The Calgary Edition

Oh Canada: The Banff/Canmore Edition

Oh Canada: The Lakehouse Edition

Oh Canada: The Kettle Valley Railway Trail Edition

 Oh Canada: The Edition Not in Canada

Filed Under: Canada, Family travel, travel

The Real Scariness of my Goosebumps Pre-screening Party

October 14, 2015 By

Last March, I was invited to host a pre-screening for “Cinderella,” which was a rather magical experience to see this classic with so many close friends.

Well, this generous movie promotion company contacted me again last week, but this time to host a pre-screening for Goosebumps.

I wasn’t familiar with this series that has sold more than 400 million books worldwide until Bode requested them for his birthday last summer and he has been counting down the days until the movie came out. Well, imagine how popular I was when I told him I was hosting a VIP pre-screening of the movie. Not only could he invite all his friends but they’d get to see it before it was released to the public on Friday. Mother of the Year!

I had 162 seats to fill and the promotion company generously threw in popcorn and a drink to everyone in attendance, not to mention Goosebumps T-shirt and swag giveaways. I only had five days to pull this together so I sent an email to friends first, planning to promote it to the general public the next morning but within a few hours, most of the seats were filled, many of which with friends. I capped it at 148 so I’d have some wiggle room for cancellations and add-ons.

And then I spent five days stressing. What if I didn’t have enough seats to accommodate everyone? What if there weren’t very many people who showed up? I was tweaking the list until the very last minute but amazingly, there were only two families that were no-shows. And then I had several “yes” shows thanks to Bode who didn’t tell me he was inviting several friends from school, which I would have been fine with if I’d had their RSVPs but they just showed up at the theater. Thankfully, there was room–not much but just enough.

The Boys

As for my take on Goosebumps? Delightfully fun and with a PG-rating, it was just scary enough without being over-the-top. However, there were definitely a lot of scary elements because the entire premise of the movie  is about R.L. Stine’s (Jack Black) dangerous creatures coming to life from his books.  I spent the entire time fretting it was traumatizing the younger kiddos. Forget the clown–Slappy, the ventriloquist’s dummy, was creeeeeepy.

I need not have worried because most everyone seemed to have a great time but no one more than Bode’s buddies. If there is a demographic for this movie, it’s 9-year-old boys. His friend Noah raved, “That was the best movie I’ve seen in a looooooong time” and Bode endorsed, “It was so much better than ‘Cinderella.’”

Of course, the true indicator is if anyone had spooky dreams that night. I sure did. I feverishly dreamed I didn’t have enough seats to accommodate everyone.

We all have our nightmares.

Filed Under: Bode, Humor

Ford’s #ExploreMore Tour from Durango to Albuquerque

October 13, 2015 By

A few weeks ago, I participated in one of the final legs of Ford’s 22-day Platinum Tour that stretched for over 2,000 miles from Vancouver to New Mexico. Though there were certainly more beautiful stretches (particularly through the Canadian Rockies and Jackson Hole), I selected to drive their new high-end Platinum Explorer from Durango, Colo. to Albuquerque, NM for the simple reason I’d never done it before.

Or so I thought.

Though Colorado is neighbors with New Mexico we haven’t made a road-trip down south, for the primary reason of why would we go there instead of our beautiful state? Yes, I’m a wee bit biased.

I talked about how I’d never been to New Mexico to my fellow travelers when I started to share a story of backpacking the Gila Wilderness with some friends during my single days and then I realized the horrifying truth: The Gila Wilderness is in New Mexico and I’d been lying to myself and everyone. Apparently, I need a refresher course in geography.

However, I’ve never explored this cut of it and it was a tour like no other.

Head over to Mile High Mamas to follow our adventures in Ford’s new top-of-the-line Explorer–from their multi-contour massage seats to cooked frog…it was a trip to remember!

Filed Under: travel

Victory at the Scarecrow Festival!

October 12, 2015 By

Usually this time of year, we’re entrenched in all-things pumpkin but due to a dismal season, we’ve all been lukewarm about it. Jamie lost one of his plants early-on and and has had a myriad of problems with the other–from our irrigation system breaking for a week to the neighbor’s dog (literally) eating the pumpkin’s flower.

This stuff ain’t for the faint of heart.

Jamie has put all his normal pumpkin-growing energies into BYU football, and after listening to what feels like 100 hours of BYU Sports Nation’s commentary (he listens to it daily), it almost makes me miss the pumpkins.

Yes, you heard me correctly. Hell hath finally frozen over.

Jamie’s other surviving pumpkin is small but due to a warm fall, he has kept it on the vine for three weeks longer than usual because it’s still slowly growing. He’ll take it to a weigh-off in Colorado Springs this weekend.

The kids’ pumpkins are about half the size as normal. Hadley’s pollinated later but she tended her patch waaaaaaaaay better than Bode and weeded it regularly; Bode’s weeds got to the point they were basically strangling the vines. I tried to help him weed one day but I think we did more harm than good so Hadley surpassed him.

Usually the kids enter their pumpkins in the same Giant Pumpkin Commonwealth-sanctioned events as Jamie but since he’s holding off, we haven’t done any of these festivals this year. The one we can’t miss is our town’s giant pumpkin weigh-off and I’m so glad we did because when we arrived, there were only two other pumpkins and then ours.

Those, my friends, are good odds.

The only other competition was a woman who grown had two beautifully round and orange pumpkins that weighed in around 40 pounds so they saved the kids’ for last. I had to chuckle as the crowd that gathered, marveling “those are big pumpkins” and we muttered back “these aren’t big pumpkins.”

See? We’re ruined for life.

Bode’s pumpkin weighed 170 pounds while Hadley’s was 189 pounds, which is a pretty small margin of victory considering hers felt a lot heavier. Oh, what could have been. 

When I later asked her how she felt about dominating the adult and kid’s division, she blithely replied, “I just cared about beating Bode.”

Game on, Weed Boy.

 

Filed Under: Bode, Hadley, Humor, pumpkins

Oh Canada: The Lakehouse Edition

October 9, 2015 By

How can you summarize a glorious week with family at a lakehouse tucked away in the breadbasket in Canada? You can’t, that’s why I prefer to document our family reunion on Okanogan Lake in pictures!

I chuckle when I see other family’s carefully regimented reunions, with every last detail planned. Their perfectly coiffed, matching family pictures. Ours is typical Borowski-style chaos. Wake up. Boat, kayak or SUP. Eat breakfast. Boat, play with cousins, eat. Boat. Eat. Cards. Games. Rinse, lather, repeat. Oh wait. Scratch that because the boys don’t shower.

What I particularly enjoyed about summer 2015 at the lake is the temperature–it wasn’t blazing hot 100+ degrees like last year. With temps in the upper 80s, I deemed it to be near perfect (for me, anyway; the hardcore boaters prefer scorchers). My brother Pat’s family is incredibly generous with their resources, time and patience bringing the rest of us up to their [trailblazing] speed.

A few of our favorite things:

Water play (duh)

Wakeboarding Hadley

Wakeboarding Bode

There’s never a dull moment with cousin Jaxson. Prior to tubing, we asked if he knew the hand signal for telling us he’s done (tapping the top of his head). “Sure!” And he proceeded to do the throat-slitting gesture. That works, too.

Driving to the West Side for our Annual Family Dive-off

Lakeside Movie Night at Todd and Kim’s

First Annual Stand-up Paddleboard (SUP) Competition

When you only have one paddleboard, you improvise and have timed races. Pat won. As always. But he’s almost 50 and we’ll soon dominate him.

Pat the soon-to-be dominated

Lots and lots of cards and games

Bode’s Birthday

DQ ice cream cake courtesy of Aunt Sue

My favorite moment: globe light + sparklers = a magical birthday eve

Davison Orchard Tours


And their best peach and apple pies. Ever.

A truly epic bike ride on the Kettle Valley Rail Trail

Everyone Flying into the Rooster Tail with Guns Blazing

Not pictured:

A lot of laughter, Jane’s delicious cooking, Emily’s addictive Greek bruschetta, bloodsport croquet (we broke Dad’s new mallets), Hadley’s first all-girl dance party on the boat, early-morning kayak runs, nighttime tales of the lake monster Ogopogo, Tim Horton’s Timbits, Rook tournaments, Screamers (half ice cream, half Slurpee) and the Borowski’s epic wakeboarding moves.

Jamie and I had a competition with my younger brother Jade in surfing (we called it The Worst of the Worst). I thought for sure I would win but after popping up my first try and successfully surfing the wake, I cracked and started regressing while Jamie and Jade got better, even dropping the rope and surfing on their own.

Near the end of the week, I’d only been out a few times and was downright frustrated until my sister-in-law Jane shouted out at me, “Do you know what your problem is? You’re not having fun!” She was right. I was so focused on surpassing the boys that my failures were getting the best of me. That very next attempt, I fought my way out of the water and had my best surf of the entire week. Turns out having fun IS the key!

I loved seeing my kiddos progress on the water–Bode popped back up on his wakeboard and Hadley started carving. She tried surfing by herself on the very first day and with Jane’s assistance in the water, was able to get up and surf a bit. She showed no interest in trying again until the very last night. When you have avid boaters, you have to be bold with getting your own time on the water so I asked Pat if we could do one last run before dark, which he kindly acquiesced. I had a great run and wanted to go again until Hadley asked if she could try surfing again.

This time, she said she wanted to do it completely on her own without Jane in the water and my gosh, if that girl of mine didn’t pop up and surf the wake. It was one of my proudest moments at the lake…and then a reminder that she’ll probably surpass me in the Worst of the Worst surfing competition next year and I’ll still be at the bottom of the bucket.

It’ll be worth it.

======

In case you missed our other Canadian adventures this summer:

Oh Canada: The Lethbridge Edition

Oh Canada: The Canada Day in Raymond and Waterton Edition

Oh Canada: The Calgary Edition

Oh Canada: The Banff/Canmore Edition

Oh Canada: The Lakehouse Edition

Oh Canada: The Kettle Valley Railway Trail Edition

 Oh Canada: The Edition Not in Canada

Filed Under: Bode, Canada, Family, Family travel, Favorite Posts, Hadley, Humor, Jamie, travel

Oh Canada: The Banff/Canmore Edition

October 7, 2015 By

For three years, we’ve driven from Calgary to our family reunion in British Columbia through one of the most famously beautiful places on earth: Banff National Park. And for three years, I’ve said, “We HAVE to spend some time here” but when you have an eight-hour drive, time is not on your side.

Following my glorious ski trip to Banff in March, I vowed this year would be different and it was. My childhood friends Kristine and Paul have a cabin in nearby Canmore and they generously hosted our family for a couple of days. I haven’t seen either of them since high school and they have quite the random history. Paul: We’ve been in school together from the very beginning. Super smart, amazing runner and the two of us would always dominate our school’s Run For Your Life (though he’d always dominate me). Kristine: Became good friends with her in high school. Sweet. Funny. Was the envy of all of her friends with her cool white Jeep.

We lost track of each other after high school and though Paul and Kris were friends, they didn’t date until years later. She was in pharmaceutical  school and he was applying to med schools. Today, they’re a successful doctor-pharmacist team and as cool and down-to-earth as ever. As a bonus, they have two awesome kiddos, Andrew and Sarah, who got along splendidly with our rugrats.

Banff National Park

Hadley, Bode and I picked Jamie up from the Calgary airport and drove directly to Banff with the plan to meet Kris and Paul later that evening after work. Normally, Banff doesn’t disappoint but this time it did because it was completely overrun by tourists. We’d planned to canoe at Moraine Lake but the road was closed due to excess traffic. We kept going to Lake Louise and the nearest parking was a mile down the road (any excuse to hike, right?). Shortly after we arrived at this world-famous teal lake, it started raining. Hard. We hunkered down in the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, ate overpriced ice cream and then headed back to Banff where we hung out on Banff Avenue.

Hiking to Lake Louise

Lake Louise

Canmore

Banff National Park that day? Underwhelming.

Canmore, on the other hand? Completely overwhelming (in a good way) thanks to our awesome tour guides. I haven’t spent much time in this  expanse of provincial parks, wildland reserves, emerald green waterways and unspoiled wilderness near the southeast boundary of Banff National Park but I’m a convert.

Paul and Kristine’s cabin is tucked away in an idyllic neighborhood, a stone’s throw away from Quarry Lake (a haven for summer swims) and the Highline Trail’s extensive network of paths with crisp vistas as a backdrop.

Playing in Quarry Lake at dusk. Fully clothed, of course

Our gracious hosts decided a great way to acclimate us to The Canadian Way would be to kill us by hiking Ha Ling, a crazy-steep 8 km trek straight up to heaven. To put this beast into perspective, Hadley hiked her first 14er (14,000-foot peak) a month later and the pitch wasn’t remotely as challenging as Ha Ling (though the altitude was).

Bode is not known for his hiking chops but nobly pulled through. As my calves whimpered, I looked ahead to jackrabbit Paul who hadn’t broken a sweat despite already going on an early-morning run. As he left me in his dust, it was like our elementary school’s Run for Your Life all over again.

Side note: The next weekend, he participated in a 24-hour-long mountain biking relay (for fun?) while Kris had just completed her first marathon (not fun).

And then there was us.

The summit was a relief and a reward, all limestone, pine, restless aspens and the glacier-scoured mountaintops of Mount Rundle, Grotto Mountain, Lady McDonald and Mount Lawrence Grassi. Canmore loomed below, thickly upholstered in a deep green chenille.

But the adventure wasn’t over! We bulked back up that evening at Rocky Mountain Flatbread and the next morning, Paul took us mountain biking on the Highline Trail adjacent to the cabin. With Ha Ling’s rocky incline stretching skyward (the peak to the right in the picture below), we raced along single and doubletrack, crossed rivers, banked corners and had a blast attempting the terrain park. This moderate ride was one of my all-time favorites!

We could not have had a better time with our ageless, gracious hosts. They were the perfect travel companions and I only wish they lived closer so I extended an open invitation for them to visit us in Colorado.

We’ll have to make sure we’re in better shape in order to keep up with them.

===

In case you missed our other Canadian adventures this summer:

Oh Canada: The Lethbridge Edition

Oh Canada: The Canada Day in Raymond and Waterton Edition

Oh Canada: The Calgary Edition

Oh Canada: The Banff/Canmore Edition

Oh Canada: The Lakehouse Edition

Oh Canada: The Kettle Valley Railway Trail Edition

 Oh Canada: The Edition Not in Canada

 

Filed Under: Canada, Family travel

Oh Canada: The Calgary Edition

October 5, 2015 By

The kids and I generally spend a couple of weeks in Calgary before our family reunion in Vernon, B.C. With the 2015 calendar, our lakehouse dates were moved up by a week, which prompted me to skip our fun 4th of July celebrations in Denver and enjoy Canada Day in the Motherland (read about that here).

Calgary is truly one of the great cities in the world and I’d move back there in an instant. We had a glorious couple of weeks spending time with my family at our favorites haunts that included biking with dad.

My own 30-mile ride along Calgary’s extensive network of bikepaths where I was thrilled to see many of the flood-damaged trails were repaired.

The charming Millarville Farmer’s Market, followed by a drive through the Canadian countryside to Elbow falls in Kananaskis Country.

The not-so charming mudpits.

And then cleaning ourselves off after in Fish Creek.

Followed by ice cream at Annie’s Bakery & Cafe at adjacent Bow Valley Ranche.

Pedicures with Grandma.

And, of course, the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth: The Calgary Stampede!

Their unique fair food makes headlines and some of our favorites were these Gourmet Ice Pops with delicious frozen dulce caramel cream combined with a mini donut. My brother-in-law Fred had the artery-clogging Deep Fried Donut Bacon Cheeseburger.

Good thing we were on the grounds playing for 12 loooong hours and worked (some of it) off.

But the real highlight of Stampede was that crazy girl of mine. We laughed until we cried at the hypnotist show last year so imagine my surprise when that brazen girl of mine volunteered! I’ll admit I’ve always been tempted but I embarrass myself when I’m fully conscious…why tempt fate?

Closer view:

In the end, she (and a few others) ended up getting sent back to their seat because she was only partially put under, which has given her a new goal for next year.

Heaven help us all!

=====

In case you missed our other Canadian adventures this summer:

Oh Canada: The Lethbridge Edition

Oh Canada: The Canada Day in Raymond and Waterton Edition

Oh Canada: The Calgary Edition

Oh Canada: The Banff/Canmore Edition

Oh Canada: The Lakehouse Edition

Oh Canada: The Kettle Valley Railway Trail Edition

 Oh Canada: The Edition Not in Canada

 

Filed Under: Canada, Family, Family travel, travel
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