Playing catch-up

October 16, 2014 By

Hadley is finally on the mend following her enterovirus-turned-pneumonia. When I say she was sick, I mean it–she barely got out of bed or ate for days on end.

I can’t complain, though. Until recently she has been blessed with great health, with the exception of a bout of RSV when she was a baby. My heart truly goes out to kids with serious, non-curable illnesses.

We met with her teacher this week and her two-week absence is more serious than I thought:

SHE MISSED THE ENTIRETY OF THEIR UNIT ON CANADA.

 

Filed Under: Canada, Hadley, Humor

When the Fun Run–and life–aren’t so fun

October 8, 2014 By

Last year, Hadley dominated her school’s Fun Run by running 5 miles, the most of any girls in her grade.(Relive the glory along with Stanley the Pumpkin).

This year, several of the boys were conspiring to beat her, likely because she blew 99% of them away when she climbed the tallest sand dune in North America and rubbed it in their faces when she raced past them in last year’s Fun Run.

She was planning for a repeat performance but then she sprained her ankle in P.E. Just when she was starting to recover, she got sick the day before the Fun Run. Stalwart that she is, she insisted she needed to at least try but could barely run even one lap. I had a meeting but promised I’d jog beside her when I arrived late.

So I waited..and waited some more for her to loop around the track. When I finally saw her she looked sick and dejected.

“I just can’t do it, Mom.”

“That’s OK. At least you tried.”

“I want to walk six laps.” (About 1.5 miles.)

“Sounds good. I’ll walk with you.”

That’s exactly what she did. I was proud of my competitive girl. As her classmates lapped her, she held her head high, smiled when they blazed past and finished her personal goal.

“Sometimes life is just sad, Mom.”

Don’t I know it.

She spent most of the week in bed. When her symptoms only worsened last weekend, Jamie took her to urgent care. Pneumonia. Despite a cocktail of antibiotics, she wasn’t showing signs of improvement so the hospital recommended I take her to our pediatrician yesterday and they advised us to stay the course. She is currently passed out on the couch, coughing.

For the last few weeks, I been reading Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM to the kids. If you’re not familiar with the story, Mrs. Frisby (a widowed mouse) has an urgent matter: her son Timothy is very ill and they need to move their winter home in the garden before the farmer begins preparation for spring plow. The journey would likely kill him so she enlists the aid of former laboratory rats to rescue them.

And just what was Timothy’s illness? Pneumonia.

Jamie recognized the story’s synergies and wryly commented,

“Let’s just hope the plow doesn’t get you, Hadley.”

Obviously empathy runs deep in our family.

 

Filed Under: Hadley

Why we need garlic-scented deodorant

October 3, 2014 By

Hadley is a rock star when it comes to interior design and crafts. She was recently helping me finish decorating my den, wherein, I let out a roar of frustration after pounding the gazillionth nail in the wrong place on the wall. She kindly observed, “This isn’t really your thing. You don’t have the patience for this.”

Gee, you think?

But thanks to her, I think my office/guest room turned out pretty darn cute.

What wasn’t so cute was how we smelled after. I’ve had many years to become accustomed to my own stench but her early-onset puberty is a new thing. In fact, her entire fifth grade class needs a lesson on personal hygiene.

It was the night before school started and I figured it would be splendid time to teach her about the joys of deodorant.

“I want you to lean over and sniff your armpit, long and hard.”

“Huh?” she asked, confused. (Chalk that up as something Mom has never asked me to do).

“Just smell your armpit for me. What do you smell?”

“It smells good. Kind of like garlic.”

Next lesson: how garlic smells like B.O.

 

 

Filed Under: Hadley, Humor

Kenosha Pass: Colorado’s best place for fall colors?

September 23, 2014 By

Shortly after we moved into our house 10 years ago, our neighbors Lisa and Mike had just returned from mountain biking Kenosha Pass a.k.a. what they deemed “the most beautiful place in Colorado to see fall colors.”

It has taken us a decade but on Sunday, we finally made it!

Kenosha Pass wasn’t an easy victory. Church had just ended at noon, Jamie wanted to watch the Broncos vs. Seahawks showdown at 2:30 p.m., the kids begged to chill out for a couple of hours and the sky was threatening.

I knew Jamie wanted to go least of all but to his credit, he knew how much it meant to me so he rounded up the troops for the hour-long drive on U.S. Route 285.

When we got out of the car, Bode was emotionless, Jamie was counting down the minutes to the game and Hadley whined she was cold. “Let’s just stay for a little bit and then leave,” she suggested to Jamie.

Until we really arrived at Kenosha Pass. (I just wish my iPhone pictures did it justice).

Located atop a large granite batholith that forms the spine of the Front Range along the eastern side of South Park, Kenosha Pass is a part of the Colorado Trail. Colorado’s premier long-distance trail extends 500+ miles from Denver to Durango (read my adventures where the trail starts in Waterton Canyon) and this particular portion of the route is a cut of autumn heaven with swaths of endless aspen groves that look like golden pipe cleaners and staggering views of the Rocky Mountains and South Park valley.

Within moments, the kids were racing, climbing, exploring and laughing. I was initially disappointed by the brooding sky but Jamie observed, “If anything, the contrast illuminates the color of the trees and they look neon.”

He would know. He wore a jacket that made him an instant winner in our Camouflage game.

Accidental shot of a butt scratch

This South Park valley shot atop the boulder was much better

In typical Hadley fashion, she was ignited the moment she started exploring, begging us to go to the summit.

Jamie: “Do you realize that whenever you don’t want to do something and we make you do it anyway that you end up loving it?”

Hadley (sheepishly): “Yes.”

We still didn’t let her climb to the top.

This was one of my favorite photos I took as we were wandering back to the car. This shot of Kenosha Pass should be an album cover. The title would be “they whined about going and we couldn’t drag them away.”

 

Filed Under: Bode, Colorado, Family travel, Hadley, hiking, Humor, Jamie, travel

Colorado’s breath of fresh air at Alderfer/Three Sisters

September 20, 2014 By

Today was like a breath of fresh air. After our month-long road-trip to Canada in July, I needed a break from traveling and we have become relative homebodies as we’ve fallen into our back-to-school routine with Bode’s soccer, Hadley’s volleyball, me coaching another volleyball team, church activities and poor Jamie working all the time.

Even though we had a busy morning with games, the fall weather was 70-degree perfection and I bribed the kids that they could skip chores if they came to play with me in the mountains that afternoon.

This is also known as being a bigger kid than your kids.

So, while Jamie watched the BYU football game and worked, we headed to the hills. One of our favorite areas to explore is Alderfer/Three Sisters Park in Evergreen, Colo., which is a gorgeous 30-minute drive from our house. Fall colors are beginning to emerge and my gosh if our explorations didn’t make the three of us exuberantly happy. I don’t think we realized how much we needed that adventure until we started doing it.

Though we enjoy hiking the extensive network of trails, what we love most at Alderfer/Three Sisters is bouldering on the steep granite quartz blocks that are piled all around the park.  I’d be lying if it doesn’t make me a bit nervous for safety reasons but today, we achieved summit firsts on various formations and had a blast!! Hadley, as always, was our mountain goat while Bode was initially cautiously adventurous, weighing various drops as “Hmmm, it seems a bit risky.”

And me? I rested from climbing at one point and was just content to watch the kids explore. Until, that is, Hadley accused me of “needing to be more like J.D.’s Grandma.”

Now, normally when someone accuses you of being a grandma, they’re insulting you but she was goading me on to become like J.D.’s hardcore grandma who was a butt-kicker as we climbed the Great Sand Dunes National Parks’ highest peak.

I wanna be just like her in my 70s.

Hadley’s fuzzy picture of one of many mountain bluebirds

We discovered hidden pools in the rocks.  Bode bravely role-played he was on American Ninja Warrior’s Mount Midoriyama as he leaped over crevasses. Hadley squealed at the influx of mountain bluebirds on their namesake trail. We acted out Y-M-C-A as our shadows projected onto our craggy movie screen. The afternoon sky burned blue and gold leaves whispered in the wind as we climbed our granite islands amidst a sea of Ponderosa pine and meadows.

After a couple of hours, Hadley was just getting warmed up and could have explored all day but I tempted them with ice cream and she took the bait for the second time that day (no chores and ice cream?)

Evergreen was bustling with activity and prior to getting our ice cream, we opted to stop into Seasonally Yours Evergreen Taffy Co. and Fresh Fudge for the first time. We spent an hour exploring this colorful, funky and fun shop that had everything from toys to novelty items to candy to the most gorgeous decorations.

After Hadley and Bode devoured birthday cake fudge and pumpkin ice cream, we raced down the serpentine Bear Creek Canyon with windows down, music blasting and the kids’ feet out the window.

Dare I say it was the perfect afternoon?

As we drove into Denver, we passed one of the few places we have yet to explore in Green Mountain. Hadley queried, “Mom, why haven’t we hiked there?”

My heart sang a little more because of her love for the outdoors. It doesn’t matter where I am in the world, if I see a trail all I want to do is climb it.

And today we achieved some incredible summits.

 

Filed Under: Bode, Colorado, Family travel, Hadley, hiking, Humor, outdoors Tagged With: ,

On raising the class flirt

September 17, 2014 By

Last spring during Hadley’s class camping trip to the Sand Dunes, I learned a little somethin’: Hadley is that girl who likes to tease the boys.

I was never that girl. In fact if there was a boy I liked, I was so nervous around them that I’d usually resort to corporal punishment. As you can imagine, that made me realllly popular with the boys.

It’s no wonder I didn’t get married until my 30s.

But much to our mortification, Hadley has that teasing and flirting thing down in fifth grade.

The other day, I saw her swipe J.D.’s (the cutest boy in class) backpack and dump it on a pile of manure.

Her defense? “He did it to my skirt!”

Then, her new teacher actually had to issue a ban on her putting grasshoppers down the boys’ shirts. We had a good talking to about appropriate behavior and I thought we had gotten through to her.

But then came the kicker the other day. “Hadley was pinching my butt today,” tattled a boy in our carpool.

I couldn’t believe it but later that night, we had another chat.

“Is it true you’re pinching boys’ butts?”

“You told me to stop putting grasshoppers down people’s shirts. But you didn’t tell me to stop pinching their butts.”

Her teenage years might just do me in.

Filed Under: Hadley, Humor

When your daughter conspires with the enemy

September 15, 2014 By

I went through two horrendously awkward years. The unfortunate thing about it was I had no idea just how goofy I looked. In fact, I thought I was Queen Bee and gosh darn it if I wasn’t at the top of my class in academics and sports in fifth and sixth grade.

It’s just my appearance that was severely lacking.

Frizzy hair? Check.

Geek glasses? Check.

Tacky ’80s clothes? Check.

I have justifiably burned most pictures from those years but my brothers have held onto a few gems for blackmail purposes (my brother Jade posted the above picture on Facebook a couple of years ago).

During my courtship with Jamie, I lived in Salt Lake City while he was in Denver.  When we got engaged, Jade dug into his secret stash and sent one of said Horrendous Pictures to Jamie. And being the horrid person that he is, he enlarged one of them, attached a “Welcome Home” sign and taped it to the front door the first time I ever came to his condo.

Jamie claims he could hear my blood-gurgling scream from the hallway.

When I was in Calgary over the summer, I went through some old boxes containing church manuals and magazines. I was thrilled when I discovered this treasure that was given to my mom by her beloved mother.

I love the inscription; Grandma always had such beautiful handwriting.

“Dear Chris, I hope you enjoy the book for your family home evening lessons. Love, Mother.”

My family loves snuggling up and reading the scriptures every night so I asked my mom if I can could carry on this tradition. What I love about this book is it is beautifully illustrated but also contains real scriptural passages (versus being summarized/paraphrased). I think it’s so important for kids to learn to understand scriptural language vs. just the stories because there is power and a strong spirit behind it.

So, what does this have to do with Hadley? As we were settling down to read the scriptures, I discovered something inserted into the book lo-and-behold, it was my seventh grade class picture. I was at the tail end of the geek years–I’d chopped my hair and the following year I got contact lenses so I was almost quasi-cool.

I won’t mention the trauma of how my mom liked my asymmetrical cut so much she got the identical style.

Hadley squealed, grabbed the picture and said, “I MUST DO SOMETHING WITH THIS!”

Even my sweet Bode turned against me. “Did you really look like that?”

I only wish I was dressed up for Halloween, Dude.

All was forgotten until I returned to my bedroom and discovered Hadley’s creation.

Now I’m just waiting for Fat Kitty to turn against me.

Filed Under: Bode, Hadley, Humor, Jamie

When you’re begging to be sent to timeout

September 10, 2014 By

We’ve had a roller-coaster history with timeout.

During Hadley’s obstinate stage (ages 18 months-4 years) it was her second home. What a lovely dwelling that corner by the laundry room has become since we added Fat Kitty’s kitty littler box to the mix four years ago.

Talk about the ultimate punishment.

Since Bode is Mr. “Do What Is Right,” he didn’t have any marathon sessions in timeout but on the rare occasion he landed in the Corner of Shame, he was so broken about disobeying us that he would just sob.  Have you ever tried to discipline a sensitive kid? Trust me, you come out feeling like you’re the bad guy.

We really haven’t used timeout as punishment in a really long while because, for the most part, both kids are pretty well-behaved and there are certainly more effective ways of disciplining them as they grow older.

The other day, Hadley did something mean to Bode and instinctively, I ordered her to timeout. You know, for old time’s sake.

Timeout?” she scoffed. “Aren’t I a little bit old for timeout?”

“You’re right, you just lost technology time.”

“I take it back. Timeout sounds just fine.”

Filed Under: Bode, Hadley, Humor

Happy Back-to-School!

September 2, 2014 By

We had such a fabulous summer that I was dreading school’s schedules and homework. Then I hit the kids-constantly-being-home wall a few days before they went back so the timing was perfect.

Hadley’s school started a few days before Bode. It’s tough to believe that she is in fifth grade.

And that she had a growth spurt and is now a few inches taller than her friends who are all fashionistas. Her friend Fiona even had hashtag-shaped earrings.

Welcome to the tween years.

As for Bode, he is now in third grade.  The nice thing about starting on different days is they each get their own special breakfast and celebration. Hadley asked me to make gingerbread pancakes and Bode wanted doughnuts. Lots of doughnuts.

The best news? He was in school when the sugar crash inevitably came.

Good luck to both of their teachers this year.

Filed Under: Bode, Hadley

St. Mary’s Glacier: On top of the world!

August 29, 2014 By

Hiking St. Mary’s Glacier has been a tradition in our family since I moved to Colorado almost 12 years ago. But this year was my favorite yet because we pushed the boundaries and went higher than ever before.

And because we didn’t run over Hadley’s foot with the car. Or have our friend’s daughter get sick and then their car wouldn’t start.

In June, we went on weekly hikes with our hiking group but July was a lot of boating and hanging out with grandparents, which means both my kids are out of shape. Though St. Mary’s Glacier is only about 1 mile to the base of the glacier, it is a steepish, rocky mile through a high subalpine forest and the 10,000+-feet elevation can sometimes be problematic. Bode got an altitude headache early on but recovered fairly quickly. His whining about his tired legs was another matter.

Hadley started out slower than usual, “wow, I really am out of shape!” but quickly regained her strength and was blazing up the trail as usual. She has been begging to climb to the top of the glacier for years (a slippery, steep, arduous climb) and we’ve been putting her off because we knew Bode wouldn’t make it. I figured this year would be no different so we took our usual pictures at the base of the glacier.

But then something amazing happened. Hadley and I started climbing on the glacier, followed by Jamie and a reluctant Bode. And they didn’t stop!

The base of the glacier is bottle-necked with crowds but as we hiked the masses cleared and we had that entire river of ice to ourselves.

Looking down.

It was awe-inspiring as we snaked our way up one of the largest moving objects on earth. Bode and I had a blast holding each other as we slid down, shouting “1, 2, SLIIIIDE!”

Hadley reached the top of the glacier first and upon finding a trail announced she was going to keep going. Climbing the glacier was one thing; continuing higher to the Continental Divide Trail was another. I instructed her to only go as far as the next ridge because there was no way we would convince Bode to go higher.

But that day, we went just high enough. How proud I am of my little clan.

Filed Under: Bode, Colorado, Family, Family travel, Hadley, hiking, outdoors, travel Tagged With:
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