The Travel Bug

March 28, 2012 By

It would seem between driving to Canada, skiing Loveland, SolVista, Eldora and soon-to-be Park City Mountain Resort, we’ve had a busy winter travel-wise. But honestly, it feels like just the opposite and I have the travel bug. Big time.

I’ve been begging Jamie to go camping in Moab next month. Despite our many backcountry adventures (see a sampling here, here and here), I was mortified when I realized we’ve never taken the kids there.

When I lived in Utah, Southern Utah’s desert was like my second home. Every spring and fall, I yearn to go back back there.

You will note I did not mention summer. During my one and only visit to Moab in July, I dubbed it “The Devil’s Summer Home.”

The heat was no joke.

Speaking of summer, much of ours is already filled between family coming into town for Haddie’s baptism in June (hurray!), adventure camp for the kids at Avid4 Adventure, swim lessons and then Canada. Though I have zero desire to drive to Calgary anytime soon in the winter (see The Day I Thought I Was Going to Die), I’m planning to make the two-day drive alone with the kids in July.

So many people think I’m crazy for doing it and it wouldn’t be possible if my kids weren’t such intrepid travelers. Of course, they’ve had no choice because I’ve dragged them all over tarnation since they were babies. It helps that they are both imaginative and don’t require I entertain them 24/7.

Case in point: When we drove to Calgary at Christmas, they set up tents all around their carseats. At one point, I suspected Hadley was up to something and I noticed she had swiped my eyeliner. Bracing myself for a clown-like makeover, I was amused to discover something quite different.

“What is that on your face?” I queried.
“Whiskers,” she confessed.

I’ll take cat-obsessed over a boy-crazy tween ANY DAY.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Family travel, Hadley, Humor

Postcards from the Edge (of the potty training seat)

March 26, 2012 By

“Potty training.” The mere words still make me shudder.

For some parents, it is a simple process. For others, there are months of nail-biting frustrations. And for a select few (like me), sometimes it felt like our child was never going to get trained.

The first time my daughter Hadley was officially trained was after 3 years and 9 months. I say the first time because we continued to have problems after that and even had to meet with a specialist who diagnosed her with a condition, Encopresis.

Though it was a trying time, I was surprised to learn there are a large number of children who, even beyond the preschool years, continue to have issues. Thankfully, I can finally say we’re in the clear after many difficult years.

I have a few friends who are currently potty training their kids and so I thought I would revisit those harrowing 3 years and 9 months it took to get her potty trained. You know. The first time.

CLICK TO READ THE HARROWING HILARITY AT MILEHIGHMAMAS.COM

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Hadley

Dad in Charge

March 14, 2012 By

Every Tuesday night, the youth meet at our church for a group activity. Usually Jamie goes because he is in the Bishopric but since I work with the Young Women, I try to get there as often as possible. If one of us remains behind, we’re on bedtime duty for the kids.

Or at least we’re supposed to be.

Tuesday night, Jamie had to work (surprise, surprise) so he stayed home with the kids while I played wallyball. When I arrived home about a half-hour after their bedtime, I was surprised to see them sitting on the couch, TV blasting, unshowered and obviously unchaperoned.

“Why are you still awake?!!!”
“Daddy didn’t say it was bedtime!”
“What have you been doing this whole time?”
“Eating cookies and watching TV.”

Sometimes honesty is not always the best policy.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Bode, Hadley, Jamie

Hadley’s new charter school (hold me!)

February 27, 2012 By

Part of the reason why life has been so busy, non-stop and stressful is became I have been investigating and ultimately enrolled Hadley in another school next year.

Now, to put this in perspective, I went to public school and I have always believed my kids would go to public school. That is what I did and that is just what people do.

Errr, right?

Wrong.

Find out what’s been going on with Hadley and why I’m going waaaaay out of my comfort zone to put her in an unconventional, creative school.

And why I think she’ll finally flourish.

Read more at MileHighMamas.com.

P.S. And no, Mr. Popularity Bode isn’t switching over. Basically it would be his worst nightmare. :-)

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Hadley

Valentine’s Day Loves

February 22, 2012 By

I’ll admit it: when I was single, I was one of those types who dubbed Valentine’s Day, “Single Awareness Day.”

Now, I realize I missed out on some great opportunities. It doesn’t have to be an over-the-top, romantic day but rather, just an expression of gratitude for those you love.

In addition to all the Pinterest-inspired activities I already wrote about here, one night we had a “heart attack love fest” for Family Home Evening. After sharing a scripture from John (a new commandment I give unto you…love one another), we each took several hearts and wrote what we loved about each other.


I knew it would be a great practice in recognizing each other’s strengths but I didn’t realize how much it would touch the kids. Though Haddie and Bode get along pretty well, they’re siblings so aren’t always BFFs (understatement). I will never forget the looks on their faces as they shared what they love about each other…one of those priceless parenting moments. We then taped the hearts all over the house for decoration.

This will be a favorite new Johnson family tradition for Valentine’s Day.

Because I’m all about forcing the love.

We invited Aunt Lisa and Uncle Chris over that night for a tasty fondue dinner.

And yes, that is a strobe light you see reflected in the left-hand corner.

Nothing says Happy Valentine’s Day like a cool disco.

The next day, Jamie and I celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary. I bought nine balloons and taped favorite memories from each year we’ve been married.


There were plenty.

But thank heavens for my blog’s archives to help me remember them all. :)

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Bode, Family, Hadley, holidays

My Valentine’s Day, according to Pinterest

February 13, 2012 By

Pinterest.com has turned me into a domestic goddess.

Or at least someone who is disillusioned enough to believe she is one.

Some of my inspirations have included:

An Angry Bird Valentine’s box for Bode.
Because nothing says “Happy Valentine’s Day” like an irate fowl.

On Sunday, we made cinnamon bun caramel popcorn (seriously the BEST POPCORN ever). We made six batches of it.


Don’t bother asking me how long I spent in the kitchen.

Hadley was invited to her friend Casey’s Valentine’s Day party on Saturday and what could be more apropos than hearts in her hair?

Oh yeah, and Valentine’s Day morning? I’m surprising my family with these:

Excuse me while I take the rest of the year off.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Bode, Hadley, holidays

The Land of the Lost

February 4, 2012 By

Alright, alright. As soon as people start querying if you’re still alive, you realize you need to post to your neglected blog.

It’s just I’m really, really busy and the 2.5 hours Bode is in kindergarten is not nearly enough time to tackle everything.

And so this here blog often falls victim.

In addition to working our butts off, here is a small sample of our playtime.

Ice skating Evergreen Lake in the mountains.
And lunching at Country Road Cafe.
These are only two of my favorite winter activities in Colorado. Ever.

We also went on a killer-awesome hike at Matthews Winters.


The awesome part was playing hide-and-go-seek.
The killer part was letting Adventure Girl drag us up a suicidal slopes.I find it rather ironic that Hadley freaks out at climbing walls but has no problem free climbing up rock croppings without the security of ropes.

She’s my daughter.

And then yesterday, it was snow day fun when school was canceled. While I shoveled, the kids played.
And played.


And played some more.
It’s our tradition to build a fort when it snows.
Check-out my little snowbunny a few years ago.
What a difference a few years makes!

Hadley was an overachiever and cranked out her first solo snowman.

And she stayed out much longer than Bode and me to build a snowfort with not one but three tunnel entrances.
Showoff.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Bode, Colorado, Family, Family travel, Hadley, Humor

On Raising Ying and Yang

January 20, 2012 By

I couldn’t have had two more different kids if I tried. Where Bode is easy-going, Hadley is bossy. Where Bode can’t draw a picture to save his soul, Hadley is already a gifted little artist. Where Hadley can barely count to 100, Bode is doing equations in his head.

Opposites.

Over the past couple of months their differences have come into play, starting with their report cards. Bode excelled in math and reading and squeaked by in the arts. Hadley was just the opposite. Bode loves any sport with a ball. Hadley’s affinity is toward solo activities like skiing, hiking and mountain biking.

And then there is swimming.

Haddie is a fish in the water. Dear Bode is a beached whale. In November, we took swim lessons and their progress reports were very telling. Hadley skipped an entire level and will now be among the youngest kids in the very highest class. She even asked me if she could go swim laps.

After asking her what the heck that meant, I had an all-important question:

WHY?!

Then there is Bode. He flunked his Trout class but I’m comforted that this is his first time flunking that particular level and he only fell short on two skills: doing the front stroke and chicken-airplane-soldier unassisted.

I can’t do ‘em either.

We had a sordid history with Minnows, the previous class. The entire premise of Minnows is to dunk your head, something Bode refused to do for the first four years of his life. He failed that class two years in a row and I had lost hope until I bought a private swim lesson for him at a silent auction. The wonderful instructor gave him the confidence he needed and I excitedly enrolled him in Minnows for the third time.

He tried his best, he really did, but that teen-aged instructor ended up flunking him again for a really silly reason.

I’m not proud of what unfolded after that but he was so proud of his efforts and I just couldn’t damage the kid’s ego even more so I told him he passed the class.

I don’t regret doing it. He was en par skill-wise with his classmates in the next level and he’s doing much better in the water, His problem is he is my offspring and though he’ll dunk and is learning to do the front crawl without assistance, when he comes up for air, he looks like Fat Kitty clawing to get out of the bathtub.

It ain’t pretty. But we’ll keep trying.

And just thank our lucky stars he’s got other sports to fall back on.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Bode, Hadley, Humor

In life, there are winners and there are losers

January 19, 2012 By

Hadley is getting cocky about her artistic prowess and who can blame her? She can out-draw me anyday.

So, when she started taunting she could draw a better peacock, I challenged her to a peacock dual. Mine:
And I’m pretty darn proud of it because I was sorely tempted to do a Google image search. I mean, what colors are peacocks really? How many feet do they have?

Then Hadley’s:
Actually, this isn’t her best one. As an overachiever, she made two drawings and gave the better one to her teacher. Basically, she blew me out of the water.

Of course, I wanted to cover my bases in our little dual.

Me: “If I win, you owe me a back massage.”
Her: “OK, what if I win?”
Me: “You still owe me a back massage.”
Her: “MOMMMMMY!”
Me: “Look at it this way: It’s a win-win situation.”

For me, at least.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Hadley, Humor

The Day I Thought We Were Going to Die–Part II

January 13, 2012 By

If you’re just tuning in, be sure to first read The Day I Thought We Were Going to Die, Part I.

So, where were we? Right. The Wyoming freeway was closed due to snow, wind and suicidal conditions and my dear husband came up with an alternate route.

I will never again trust his “alternate routes” without thorough research.

“Look here!” he pointed to his iPhone’s GPS. Let’s just take Route 14, which runs kind of parallel to I-90, connect with Route 16 and then cut back down to Buffalo. Then, we’ll be able to get back on the freeway.”

Several cars were heading in that direction so I figured it would be fine.

What was not fine was Plan B.

“Let’s keep calling the WY road conditions. If I-90 opens up, we’ll take North Piney Road back to the freeway.”

Can’t see North Piney Road on this map? That is because it is too small and sketchy to even be included. (It’s located north of Lake de Smet).

As we followed the caravan of cars along Highway 14, conditions were blustery but plowed and drivable. When we reached the turnoff for North Piney Road, I learned via WY’s road hotline that the freeway had reopened. “Let’s do it!” Jamie announced.

But then I spotted North Piney, which was the very definition of remote. Dread enveloped my body. As Jamie tried to turn off, we started sliding, almost causing an accident and augmenting my alarm.

“Let’s just keep going on Highway 14.” I begged. “This just feels wrong.” But Jamie was already en route. Within a couple of minutes, North Piney’s conditions worsened. Only one truck had dared to traverse the deep snow earlier that morning and Jamie attempted to follow its tracks on the unplowed road.

Yes, I did say attempted.

My coping skills were nonexistent as I replayed a television special where a young family got lost and then stuck in the snowy Oregon mountains after accidentally taking an abandoned service road. After several days, the father James Kim left his stranded family to seek help..and was found dead in a canyon.

I played it out in my mind. I would go for help. I was the Canuck. I was strong. I liked snow. I took a mental note of the few farmhouses we passed, determining they would be our lifeline.

And then we got stuck and all plans went out the window. I freaked. And cried. We didn’t have anything to dig us out and the road was A-B-A-N-D-O-N-E-D. To Jamie’s credit, he was calm as we rocked back and forth, eventually surging forward.

For the first time, Hadley looked up from watching a movie and clued into her surroundings. “THEY NEED TO PLOW THIS ROAD!!!!!”

Gee, you think?

We miraculously made it to I-90. “I didn’t think we were going to get out of there,” Jamie later confessed. And then I thanked him for waiting to tell me. Someone needed to keep it together.

That wasn’t the end of our troubles. We heard more reports the freeway was closed again in Casper, WY and Denver had its own problems with closures due to high winds. Casper was still two hours away so I prayed we wouldn’t have to spend New Year’s Eve stuck in Wyoming.

I started to make calls to local hotels just in case. When we arrived in Casper, freeway closure signs abounded. As we started surrendering to the inevitable, a miracle happened: in a decidedly Parting of the Red Sea-esque moment, the freeway reopened at the exact moment we arrived.

Just call us Moses. Or Aaron. Heck, Children of Israel works, too.

We squeaked into Denver that night several hours later than anticipated. I grabbed a bucket of KFC, toasted the New Year via last year’s Ball Drop on YouTube and was contentedly passed out by 9:30 p.m.

And there’s no way I would have rather ended a decidedly crummy 2011 than snuggled up in my own bed.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Family travel, Hadley, Jamie
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