A little of this...A little of that...and Mitchell's birthday, too

I was really worried about Mitchell because he wasn't handling the move very well and then he was getting a little uptight about his impending birthday and I was getting REALLY uptight about the birthday because of the problem of a party, his lack of acquaintances in our new locale, the fact that I'm often neurotic and the potential problem that we were going to be out of town for his birthday. Of course, I seemed to be forgetting that we were going to be in Vancouver, WA with his gramma Sarah who has hosted probably somewhere in the range of a hundred children's birthday parties and knows just what to do: have cake, open presents and play. So we did just that. With lots of cousins. And I think it may have been his best birthday yet. Why do I usually work so hard?



So after Thanksgiving and birthdays and whatnot we had some time to play and being the mother that always promotes learning we needed a visit to Fort Vancouver which is a really fantastic historic site. Fort Vancouver, the original Vancouver, served as a major headquarters and fur trading post for the Hudson's Bay Company during the early/mid nineteenth century. Jane, of course, is working on a report for a homeschooling project. Somehow, its not done just yet....... So I thought I would post a few pictures mostly as a reminder to her.

Grandpa Ron and the blacksmith

Gramma Sarah in the gardens

Justin, Jessica, James and the non J's, Kate and Clara, hidden from view,
snuggled in the stroller.

And possibly the favorite spot at the fort: cannons and cannonballs. Anything that shoots and has ammunition goes over really well with all THREE of my children. Isn't Jane supposed to be very ladylike and enjoy dolls and quiet activities such as reading, sewing and needlepoint?

Of course, we couldn't leave the trip at only one museum. Not with this mom! So we ventured out to Astoria for a look at the Maritime Museum and a rocking and rolling look at the light ship...literally rocking and rolling; Jessica and I felt a little seasick by the time we disembarked.



It was a good thing we decided that we should see everything out of doors at the start of our visit...minutes after we went back inside the museum, the light ship was closed due to really terrible weather. So went inside the museum where we were the only partons for most of the afternoon. Who can resist hanging out in a museum for three hours after you've just driven almost three hours to get there?

Ah, time with cousins: Nathan, Mitchell, Nina, Jane and Ben...minutes before we were sort of asked to leave the museum because the kids were running amok and we had apparently overstayed our welcome.

So our trip was wonderful: Mitchell had a great birthday, Luke relearned how not to sleep from his cousin James, and Jane learned about (in a very literal, trying on sort of way) heirlooms from Gramma. Here she is in her Gramma's graduation dress.

And then I got to fly back, by myself with three children (because William had left a couple days earlier) having just come down with strep throat. Needless to say, there are no pictures from that rather long, difficult day.

The Potato Museum

As I sat down readying myself to write a new post all about our adventures in Washington at Thanksgiving I realized that I had inadvertently forgotten to write about one of our greatest excursions to date in our Idaho experience: The Potato Museum. Yes indeed, the "world famous" Potato Museum. Days before we left for Gramma Sarah's house we decided we had already waited too long to visit this Idaho hot spot. So on a somewhat chilly day we drove down the road about twenty minutes to Blackfoot to learn about potatoes, their history, how they are grown, why Idaho makes such a great place to grow them and how to spell the word "potato" so we never make a nationally known blunder.


No, you are not mistaken. This is a potato signed by former Vice President Dan Quayle. Interestingly, potatoes can last quite a long time if they are properly dehydrated and this was discovered by the Inca, who were the first known culture to cultivate the potato.


Generally speaking, Idaho potato farming has evolved somewhat from the above example, but from Luke's enthusiasm you might think he had won the Idaho lottery by discovering the proper plowing technique.

Thanks to Vanna 1, 2 and 3 you can see that this is the world's largest fake potato. You, too, could win this if the "Price is Right" (Ok, I know I'm mixing up the game shows!).

And here is yet another example of fake potatoes, although this was actually created from potato product: the world's largest potato chip.

I really could go on and on about what we learned because we actually stayed for over an hour in a place where the average museum goer would have experienced museum fatigue within about 10 minutes. But not this group! No, we did not tire for quite some time. But in the end, we did need to have a more hands on approach to potatoes...

...McDonald's and its truly modern, highly developed, greatly processed potato known as: the french fry.

Date Night

I'm not really sure when it happened, but somewhere along the road over these last eleven years date night went from flowers and plays and dinners and museums to.......










....photo booth on the computer after the kids are in bed. Wow, talk about keeping the love alive!

Zzzzzzzzz

So I'm lying in bed wondering why on earth my heart seems to be racing and I cannot, I repeat cannot, no matter what I try, fall asleep. (And I didn't even drink Diet Coke this afternoon.) I realize I have one or two things on my mind. I'm worried about the adequacy of my children's education due to my inadequacies in homeschooling, I'm worried about my house selling, I'm worried about finding "the right" house in my new area, I'm worried about having moved away from my recently widowed mom, I'm worried about my friend who writes the "Blog of an Imperfect Mother," I'm worried about my niece who has whooping cough and my list goes on and on. But really, me, not being able to sleep? That's a bit strange.

Until I remembered that I had a headache earlier tonight...and I took two Excedrin. That about sums up how I'll be spending the rest of night: adrenaline pumping, eyes tired and bloodshot, but headache free!

So here's a brief recap of our life and times since I returned from Chicago:

I returned with a renewed sense of self and a total commitment to making this move a wonderful experience for our family. How about that for positive thinking and self delusion? No really, I decided that yes, I can find fascinating things in Idaho, I can teach Jane multiplication, I can help Mitchell to be happy and I can keep Luke from jumping off of every very surface and seriously maiming himself. Okay, really that one's not working so well, but at least he hasn't broken any bones yet. But here is a snapshot of the peace and harmony that has, for a moment, existed in our home:

Yes, it's true, they are doing schoolwork and Jane is not yelling that it's too hard and Mitchell does have a smile on his face. Can it continue? Stay tuned in the days to come! What I imagine might continue is Luke's obsession with puzzles.



And I'll just take this one quick moment to brag that my little two-year old doesn't need any help putting those puzzles together.

So, all in all it is peace and bliss in our household because the mama had a girls getaway....and it will most likely last one or two more days and then I'll need another.

OPRAH!

Well, this last week held HUGE excitement...and to think that I was so worried about my boys not adjusting to our move that I almost missed it! Yes, the YaYas, as we refer to ourselves, got together for the second annual girls getaway and really I don't know how we can top this in the future, but we found ourselves in Chicago for none other than a chance to go to a taping of OPRAH!!!! And what a show we got! But it was rated TV14 so I don't think we'll actually go into a discussion of the topic, just suffice it to say that there were 4 Mormon girls sitting on the third row, front and center, and when we found out what the topic was going to be we laughed (and maybe blushed) so hard I wasn't really sure we could keep "radio silence" during the taping. But we did. And we are certain to be empowered women now.

The Ballad of the Little Gunslingers

On the dark dark day that they first appeared,
the prairie felt so treacherous and venomous,
that all who saw them greatly feared
life had suddenly become very very dangerous

They were cowboys (and girl) of the oldest kind
They rode that lonely range
And shot a shot as straight as you could find
Yet something about them seemed a little abnormal, a little strange

Perhaps it was the matching cowboy boots
Or maybe the sibling bond that always seemed to thicken
Apparently it was not the fact that the Sheriff and they were in cahoots
I'm guessin' that it was probably the little yellow chicken

Yes indeed, the little one, he chose to ride a chicken
Although folks round here thought he was a bit unconventional
His pace never slacked, but always seemed to quicken
When matching the speed of his siblings who were a bit more...traditional

So into town they came that pleasantly warm dark autumn night
Knocking doors and gathering their huge plunder
Those who saw them willingly gave them what they felt was right
As the trio galloped off whooping up a mighty thunder

The gunslingers were gone almost as quickly as they had arrived
But the townsfolk will never forget the clucking and pecking
Of the little yellow chicken who simply thrived
Because he was being ridden by a little cowboy off trekking

The rebel rousers run amok

My New Community

I've made a new resolution: I must always, I repeat, ALWAYS have a camera with me in my new home town. This is simply because I have now seen some things that I think may possibly be the core essence of my community. So try to imagine..........

I'm driving along through a nice, new development looking at lovely brand new custom homes when I pull up behind a man on his motorcycle...well, his dirt bike. He has on his very safe helmet which my children of course commented on because they notice every person riding a motorcycle and whether that person is wearing the appropriate "safe" gear. This particular man also had on his bomber type jacket, but it wasn't leather and it might have indeed been a Members Only jacket except it wasn't worn in a retro sort of way. And then he was wearing his church shoes. I'm serious. And he was probably 80.

We were on our way to Yellowstone the other day when I turned around in the car and realized that Luke had put himself into the car before we left and no one had noticed that he had done this without putting any shoes on. So we exited at the nearest town that would have a place to purchase shoes and set about trying find such a place. Which meant that William didn't drive particularly fast through the town. He went the speed limit. Which really we've found that in our town most people actually drive right at that set limit. Well, in this other town someone in a jacked up, beat up, crummy old hunting truck didn't like our speed or our out-of-state license plate or the fact that we didn't proceed through a light before it turned green. So we got honked at and glared at and scowled at as he sped around us only to be caught behind a stream of traffic going even slower than us. So we slowly pulled ahead again, only in the other lane. Well, at that moment we happened upon...Walmart! So we changed lanes and it just so happens that as William put on his turn indicator he happened to pull right in front of our friend in the truck who sped up and almost rammed into us as he again honked. Lucky for him he was able to speed around us and cut right in front of us, glaring and scowling, to turn into Walmart. We took the next Walmart entrance and decided on the Payless shoes instead of Walmart just to avoid any further encounters. And we did...except I swear to you when we pulled into West Yellowstone the guy was on the road right behind us. Maybe he was tired of us by then because did not pull into the gas station when we did or maybe he had spotted a deer he couldn't pass up.

But my favorite thing happened this morning, wouldn't you guess, at Walmart. Well, just outside again, actually. I haven't seen a panhandler in this city until today and I'm not really sure you could actually call him a panhandler because of what I'm about to tell you but for the sake of calling him something we'll call him a panhandler. At any rate, as I drove out of Walmart there was a man holding a sign begging for something. I noticed that he was actually quite a well groomed, nicely bearded, probably mid-fifties panhandler. My first thought was "I guess they take good care of themselves here or people are really quite generous to those in need" then I read his sign: Need a (good) wife. I guess he needed to impress. So I immediately got on the phone and called my favorite single sister-in-law and told her she needed to move up here right away. Unfortunately when I returned with my camera and certain questions the man was gone. I guess he found what he was looking for.

All in all, its been an exciting week learning about our new community. Maybe I'll try to fit in a little more. So if you see me next driving up behind you in a beat up, jacked up old truck you'll know I've found the new me!