Memorial Weekend Fun

Our ritual the last few years is to attend our Sunday School class retreat at Glorieta, NM over Memorial Day weekend. The kids always have a wonderful time, and it's nice to relax with our friends. This year, I was in charge of reserving the group, so it was a little more stressful than most years. However, things went off well, with the exception of the reservation desk messing up MY reservation. I'm only the one booking the whole thing....why on earth would I want to stay in an entirely different part of the conference center? But, after straightening out that "little" problem, we had a great weekend.
We arrived on Saturday and the kids promptly wanted to go for a hike. We started up the Glorieta Lookout trail with some friends, but Garrett started feeling sick, so we ended up heading back before we got to "lookout". After a campfire and several roasted marshmallows, he felt a little better, and we all collapsed into bed.
Sunday, Garrett woke up ready to go fishing! (Forget that there are only goldfish in the lake...he was convinced we could get something, cook it, and eat it. Yum...) Since apparently our children were the only ones in the group who felt the need to rise with the sun, Dave and I headed out to the lake before 7:00 am to let them play. Garrett casted to his heart's content with his trusty Scooby-Doo fishing pole, while Paige made mud pies on the shore. Garrett especially enjoyed fishing from the "deck" -we couldn't get him to call it a "dock" no matter how hard we tried!
After a worship service with the group, the kids headed back down to the lake again for another shot. The best we did was when Garrett used his hands to catch a minnow that had swum too far up into the shallows. After yelling "Hey Mom! I caught one!" he promptly dropped it into the sand, freaked out by its flailing fins. We rescued it and returned it to the water to live another day.
In the afternoon, I decided to brave the zipline along with some of my friends. We suited up in harnesses, helmets, and ropes and climbed the hill to the zipline tower. They cheerfully told us that it was a 120 foot vertical drop, but "not to worry because you're not more than 20 feet off the ground at any given time." Honestly, the scariest part was climbing the ladder onto the tower while holding a rope and the zipline contraption around my neck. After that, we got to fly down the hill at an amazing rate of speed. Poor Dave was given the task of attempting to take my picture as I zipped past him...he did a pretty good job, considering. It's a good thing the climb to the top was difficult, or I may have been in danger of becoming an adrenaline junkie.
After my bit of fun, the boys headed off and played paintball for the afternoon. We finished off the day with a game of volleyball, and round of miniature golf, and several more marshmallows around the fire.
Monday dawned and we headed back to reality, after one last trip around the lake on the paddleboat. All in all, it was a fabulous weekend, and we were a little sad to be headed home. God has given us some wonderful friends, and we love spending time with them! Now we are trying to settle into a summer schedule and figure out how to celebrate our 11th anniversary this weekend! Enjoy our pictures of our trip.

Glorieta 2008

Endings

May is always a time of endings. The end of school, the end of piano lessons, the end of soccer, the end of Mom's free time while Garrett's at school...oops, sorry! I lapsed into a daydream there! But really, these last few weeks have had many little "endings" in them.

Garrett had his last soccer game on Saturday. We have come a very long way from that first game where he stood there watching and then started crying. This last game, he was stealing the ball away from the other team, dribbling it down the field and scoring goals, all with a great big smile on his face! So, Dave and I are thinking of signing him up for another season next year and we'll see how it goes. I guess there are worse things than being a "soccer mom"! Of course, now Garrett wants to try karate, so we'll see what happens.

The karate desire was fueled by Garrett's end of the year school program. All the kids had to dress up as children from different countries, and his was Japan. So, off we went to the thrift store to find a karate uniform. (Because, really, the silk flowered kimono just did nothing for those long, lanky legs! :) So now he wants to learn karate. I, however, am a little skeptical, since the 3 hours that he wore the outfit were filled with "Yah!" "Hi-yah!" and lots of kicks, punches, and spins. I'm all for the discipline of karate, as long as the first rule is "NO PRACTICING ON YOUR FAMILY!" (or the dog!) I guess we'll wait until the fall to see what the flavor of the month is before we sign him up for anything!

Another thing that is ending is my piano lessons. I will have a few students continue until the end of July, but most of them are quitting next week when school is out. I meet this with a mixture of feelings. Relief is the first, since I often grow weary of asking 10 times a week "Don't you remember which one is Middle C?" Sometimes teaching piano to small children is about as rewarding as slamming your head into a wall! But then, I will miss the kids. Last week was my final piano recital, and they were all so sweet, all dressed up and nervous! They are great kids, and they try really hard. Yet another chapter closing this month.

The only thing that makes all our endings easier is that an ending naturally leads way into another beginning. It's the beginning of summer -YEAH! We can swim, play at the park, and hike, without having to worry too much about the weather. (Well, maybe -it snowed in our mountains yesterday--Sheesh!) Garrett will be starting kindergarten next year, and Paige will go to preschool. Instead of asking about Middle C, I will now be asking if they remember what sound a "C" makes! So overall, our life has been about changes, but what is new? At least we won't grow stale and old! Here's some pictures of our endings:

Endings

Perfect Days

There are days in my life where being a mom seems like the biggest chore ever. The incessant crying, tattling, and arguing just wear me out and make me want to lock myself in the bathroom until Dave gets home. (Which, by the way, doesn't work...they just bang on the door until you open up!)
But then, there are other days, like today, where I remember exactly why I am doing this. We just had a nice, lazy morning watching cartoons, taking the dog for a walk, eating eggs and muffins. Then we ran a couple of errands, and the kids didn't throw fits when I said we were only buying what was on my list. (a small miracle, in Target, if you ask me!) At lunchtime, Garrett wanted to have a picnic in the "fort" on our playset, so we all crawled up there and ate together. After that, we blew bubbles. Is there anything more fun than bubbles? Even I am totally entertained by them, which might say a lot about me! As I was taking pictures, I thought about how precious these children are to me, and how much I will miss this time with them as they grow. Thank God for the moments that make everything worthwhile! Here's some photo "evidence" of our great morning:



P.S. While typing this post, Garrett interrupted me no less than 15 times. Sigh. It was fun while it lasted! :)

"Swan" Lake

Paige is jumping fully into the little-girl world lately. Anything pink or purple automatically draws her attention, as does the mere mention of the words "princess" or "dancing". And don't even whisper the word "Dora" unless you want her to jump up, run over, and ask one hundred times to watch the "Dora Dancing Video". (Which by the way, we checked out from the library and kept 2 weeks past its return date just so she wouldn't freak out...Now it's gone :(

I mentioned before that at Christmas my mom bought Paige a little ballerina dancing set. The leotard is almost too small now, and shoes are definitely too small, but Paige asks to wear them almost daily. The funny thing about this story is what she does when she watches the ballet "instructional" video. She stands with her feet planted in place and just wiggles her backside back and forth while holding onto the barre! It cracks me up every time.

Then, about halfway through, the girl on the video begins dancing the Swan Lake dance. She is dressed in a white tutu, with her hair up in buns on either side of her head (a la Princess Leah) and with white "feathers" on each side of her head. EVERY SINGLE time Paige sees this, she makes me pause the video, run upstairs, and get her earmuffs. That's right, her earmuffs!(which she calls "muff-ears). Apparently she thinks the buns and feathers are actually meant to keep your tender ears warm while you dance. Hence, we do ballet looking like this:



We may have to break her of this habit before she enters Juliard, but for now, we just grin and take pictures!