Living the Dream

   Oh Man! What a week that was! You know when you think, you can totally handle something, then you try it and realize it is way more work than you thought? This happens to me all the time! I must have a lot of confidence, initially.  Anyway, we started to get the hang of homeschooling by the end of the week. After my last post, my fifth grader fell apart on me and told me he didn't want to be home schooled. So I drove him by the local school to show him other options, but when  we got home I took another approach. You see, I felt the day was successful because we managed to get our work done. He felt like a workhorse, who didn't have any fun. That is totally my style, feeling accomplished because everything on my checklist is checked off and my kids going "that was no fun at all."  So I talked to my aunt and she told me I need to make it more entertaining basically, which of course I want to, but do you know how much work that is? Sorry to whine. Anyway, that's what we did. I broke out the binoculars I brought and would send them on a treasure hunt through the RV park, looking for "natures treasures" The Park may not be too pleased with me, because the boys kept coming back with flowers from their flower beds. They also made little videos with their flip camera of their adventures. We went to the bakery one morning for a treat. This made our day considerably longer, taking all these breaks but the kids did have much more fun. So that's our new program, I need to google more fun random things to do with them. Houston likes playing with Lego's for his "recess" time. Wrex likes to snack, so I'll figure something out. It definitely felt like we bonded last week. Wrex completely caught up on his work and is really enjoying the computer games that are integrated with the school. I'm hoping our days will not be as long, now that we don't have any catch up work. I have seriously never been so exhausted at the end of a day...and then made dinner.
     Ian has had off every Friday that we've been here. Except for last week, of course. I was really looking forward to him somehow helping me, but he had to work and I honestly don't have a teachers assistant job open at htis time. (budget cuts you know! haha just kidding. Sorry I woke up too early) When he got back, I had closed school for the week because my brain was going to explode. He laid on the bed, and was grinning ear to ear telling me how tired he was. He looked a little crazy. So he started to tell me about his day. He got to work in the mountains, they got to off road their company trucks, up jeep trails to get to these power line poles that Bears had been using as scratching posts. So he got to climb up these poles (which he loves) and then with his feet attached to the pole, lean way back (look no hands) and work on some doo hickey over his head. He got to see an elk and he was outside all day and yes, he was physically challenged. Then I remembered all those discussion we had, the year prior about how neat it would be to work on some off beaten path, in the wilderness, doing line work. Then I realized that we  are doing what we came to do. This is what he has wanted to do for so long, and yes it is so hard, in so many ways, but he is doing it. Grabbing onto his dream, and his whole family is here to support him. I guess it really just had me reflecting on this past year and how many changes we've gone through. It has honestly been a tough year for me. But here we are, we're together and that's what I have been working towards.
    Ok enough, reflections. So as you can tell, I hardly got outside of the trailer last week. That made me a bit nutty. So Friday night we went to town and had an amazing dinner at Steamworks, a local brewery. I had some five cheese macaroni made with bacon and green chilies it was delicious. The next day, Ian attempted to take the kids fishing, so I could get caught up on my bookkeeping work. He was thwarted in this attempt when his truck wouldn't start at the gas station. So several hours later, we had new batteries and I somehow managed to get some work done. Still spending way too much time in the trailer.
    Sunday, we went out and had some family time. Houston and Ian had found a BMX park and Houston was dying to go. I didn't really know what that was so I didn't bring my camera. Dangit! So I took a few photos with my phone. It was so rad! I can't imagine the city allowing something like this back home. It was behind these store fronts and it was this dirt track with burms and jumps and all these little kids were biking around it. There weren't any dominating teenagers, just some parents and their kids riding the track. The boys were in heaven. After that we went to the skatepark, we we're definitely trying to make up for all the inside time, from the week before.
    We had a lovely weekend and now we start all over again. We're definitely doing what we came here to do. Living the dream! Except vacation is over and now we're doing the nitty gritty. Finding out how this life works during the school year. The important thing is we're together.

  

Im Alive and kicking!

   Still here! Today was much better. It certainly wasn't easy and my day is not done but I'm still here. I got phone calls from both teachers today and tech support. Guess I made quite a fuss yesterday...and maybe this morning. We still worked all day but our internet connection was reliable, no waiting five minutes for the page to load. I did make sure we all went for a walk and got some sunshine. We picked up some peaches and corn at the fruit stand. It was good to be outside. When I was younger my mom called me stubborn, I prefer persistent.  Today my persistence got me through. Lets hope it takes me a little further tonight, I just thoroughly burned dinner and I have to do billing for work tonight. Thanks for keeping my in your thoughts.

First day of School Blues

     Howdy! Did you wonder what happened to me? We stayed a few extra days in California, to see our family and friends. We had such a good time. I kept those kids so busy, they didn't even know what hit them. We started the first week with VBS, which left me with only Waylon. It's easy as pie, when you go from three kids to just a baby. It was very relaxing. The wedding that we came out for was beautiful. It was so sweet and  personalized, I am so glad I was able to be apart of it. Grandma kept Waylon at home with her the day of and Aunt Shell took the boys hone early So I got to stay and hang out with friends, it was such a needed break!
    The next week we crammed everything in. We hit the beach,  we took family pics (without Ian :( gotta seize the day right?) went to the wave, had sleepovers, caught a movie. In fact the kids had so much fun, Houston threw up, promptly signaling me it was time to slow down...
      We made it home safely and started school yesterday. OH MY GOSH, what have I done! Yesterday was the worst day ever. I woke up early, determined to get a good start to the day. I made the boys get dressed like they were going to school, even had them put their shoes on, Houston didn' t like that. We started with small rough patches like running out of cereal and the bread tasting like bananas, clearly Ian had not gone grocery shopping in a while. Then we went onto big rough patches like not having log in id's for the web pages, pages not loading and printer drivers needing to be installed. When I told the teacher we didn't have sound for our "live class session" she told me helpful hints like "update your software." Tech support was laughable. The worst part was we literally we're in front of our computers for seven hours and most of the time we we're working on problems with software not doing out work. It is so hard to keep your kids on task when no tasks are actually being performed! I couldn't help but think that school would be more fun than this. At two thirty I called it and took a nap. I'm not going to lie, I shed a few tears, this is not how I pictured this. I just want my kids to have a good experience and if the year continues on like this, I'm not going to be hearing any thank you's any time soon.
    The day went on with fun things like running out of wet wipes. Did I mention that Waylon hates being stuck in the trailer all day. We finally went grocery shopping, which was as fun as it sounds with three antsy boys. We closed our horrible day with Waylon having an explosive diaper that I wasn't aware of until I looked down at my shirt, yuck. So yeah, pretty bad day.
   Ian had to work late...that lucky man. I picked him up at his foreman's ranch at about 8. The day was a little better from there. We got to see all the animals. The boys got to see a turkey up close and pet the horses and cow. They are very sweet people. He assured me that we should be here at least until Spring. How he knows this, I dunno but he seemed confident.  His wife held Waylon for me, which was a much needed break. So you know, school might not have been too successful yesterday but we did learn about farm animals. I'm good with that. Anyways, today can't be any worse. It could be the same. I'm not as gung ho as I was when I woke up yesterday. I should shower, but I had to give you an update. So I know this new background is a little bright, I love owls like everyone else, but I will have to tone it down when I get a moment. Houston barfed in California when I was fiddling with the backgrounds soooo... it is what it is. TMI, I know. it was TMI for me too. Wish me luck.
xoxo
Kristina

p.s. I had to type this out twice, becasu blogger ate it the first time, not a good start

What I like about Durango

   We made it back to Durango! We rested up most of the week. Did the usual, floating down rivers in innertubes and swiming at the rec center. The boys also branched out and tried some indoor rock climbing. Now the boys and I are headed out of town again, going to California to see family and friends. Ian is hoping we'll stay put for awhile when we get back. I thought a lot about Durango, CO this week and what I like about it. I can't say that all of Colorado is like this, but our little area is.
    It is so beautiful here, I love being in the mountains. Most days the sky is bright blue with huge puffy, fluffy clouds. Back home, the clouds seem more whispy, I like the change. We have frequent thunderstorms in the evening (more than I've been acustomed to) but the rain smells fresh and it doesnt last long. It usually serves as a reminder that I should be starting dinner by then.
    I love seeing the cows and horses on the side of the road, I haven't noticed that stinky smell, that sometimes appears when you drive through areas with lots of cattle. I wonder if thats because there's so much space or if I'm just not close enough to the ranches. On my drive into town I pass a little cottage that has a sign that says "hogs are beautiful" it always makes me smile. I tried taking a picture of it for you. But taking a picture while driving is dangerous and difficult. . . Oh yeah I saw a wild turkey on the side of the road yesterday. They have these signs that light up next to the road to alert you when wildlife is near. I assume they have sensors that trigger the sign to light up. Ian actually saw a bear last week, freaky huh?
     I love seeing all the streams, rivers and lakes. The trees are beautiful as well, many evergreens but there are others too. Many people have flower gardens, that and the wildfllowers are rampid, brightening up the landscape just about everywhere.
   The houses are older in Durango. Most are craftsman style or cabins. I had the pleasure of going inside a friends house the other day, it was 100 years old and had the neatest electrical switches and a bathroom under the stairs (quirky, I loved it) the houses all seem to have mudrooms which I imagine they need for winter months. I always thought the furnishings for mudroom were so cool but in California we just toss our flip flops anywhere lol !
    The people are kind and enjoyable. Weird but even at Wal-Mart the cashiers are kind and smiley (not grumpy.) I think it's because they know who they're waiting on. Being a small town, they all seem to know each other, sometimes its funny to be an onloooker. Did you know, you can still fill up your gas tank before paying for it, out here? So weird.
    It definately has its quirks. When the wildfires were happening, there were signs telling people to smoke inside or in cars so there would be less risk of starting a fire, never seen anything that crazy at home!    Or the guys that sell fruit and veggies outside of our park. They have a strange sign about John the Baptist in front of their stand, and they give off a creepy cultish vibe, but its the best corn I've ever tasted..
Definately different from California, sometimes it seems like California is it's own little bubble. I enjoy where we are but I cant wait to see my family and friends. See you guys soon.

Maryland

    Anyone who knows Grandma Barb will understand that a day in Grandma's life is about a week worth of adventures in mine. She's a busy lady and brings sunshine to everyone around her. Sunshine and giggles. This week was no different. It was filled with special surprises, sweet treats and a whole lot of fun. I decided to write in list form because I can't possibly tell you all of our adventures, my fingers would get tired and this would be way too long, so here it goes
    Day one. Lucy arrives, She has anxiously been waiting to see her cousins and has bright eyes. The boys let out a big sigh....here comes Lucy. (I love her so much, she is adorable and gives the boys a run for their money) Houston got  a tick. They were helping Grandma set up croquet. Houston was whacking the trees with his stick and Lucy was using the stick as a hammer....I think the tick entered at some point during this time. I found it right away, we went straight to Grandpa Bob and he took it off. He said it hadn't really even nestled in good. Thank goodness for short hair.
    Day two. Uncles and Aunts arrived. I got to see my East coast family. I hadn't seen my cousins for about five years, they grew up! It was so good to see all the aunts, uncles , cousins and the new addition. Malia! the most beautiful, quiet , happy baby you've ever seen. (Waylon is handsome, Malia is beautiful!) Everyone hit the tiki bar, immediately after dinner...everyone except Courtney, myself and the kids. We went to Ritas (ice, custard, happiness) and got a gelati. It is the best frozen treat. We hit a little snag when Houston shut Lucy's fingers in the door. Luckily I had already gotten the ice cream and that calmed her down. Phew!
    Day three. Grandpa Bob's birthday party. I got to see all of my favorite Marylanders, eat delicious food. Cupcakes, Cake. It was such a great time. We partied hard. Waylon got plenty of cuddles and we finished off the night with the best crab balls, made by my momma. Also I think I ate 4 cupcakes that day they were so good. Before bed I tried the cake....oh the cake! It was amazing.
    Day four. Everyone had to go home. We went out on the boat and Grandpa Bob had the idea to take Lucy on a treasure hunt. She kept talking about it and she told us all the treasure we would find, if we only looked. So we hid a shiny bracelet on the shore. When Lucy found it she said, "now lets find my necklace." It was very matter of fact, like she expected nothing less. She is hillarious. Meanwhile her dad and mom had missed the boat, so they were rowing after us to see the hunt. When they finally made it, the treasure hunt was over (we never did find a necklace!) so I offered to help row them back. This is where we discovered that it is impossible to row a rowboat (at least for us) without exposing your teeth and gums. Seriously, we all tried rowing and when we would be concentrating, we would start to bear down on our teeth showing our gums. I don't know if it's because we're just a strange family or if this is some sort of weird phenomenon. I personally choose to think, it helped us in an aerodynamic way. I'm sure that's it.
    Day five. Kayaking with Houston. He loves to be outside. He is true outdoors man. Love that kid! We had a crab feast that night. We had soooo many crabs caught off the pier. It was delicious, but my skill at breaking them open is....well I need some improvement. I end up eating all the claws, because it's easier for me to open. I know all the Marylanders would be like "WHAT!" you're eating the claws....well like I said I need some more skills cracking those bad boys open. It's hard work!
     Day six. Hershey park. Where do I begin. We had so much fun. It was way hot and humid, but that didn't stop us. We drank slushies, rode the roller coasters, went down waterslides. I witnessed one of my children peeing in line and totally denying it. Do you remember being a kid, thinking you were sneaky. It turns out you weren't fooling anybody. I realized that on this day. As my kid told me to step over the yellow puddle, then told me he had no idea how it got there. He just shrugged his shoulders and said "weird." We had fun though. We went to the tour area after. I got a little history lesson on the Hershey family and then eneded the day by designing our own candy bar. We got to choose the chocolates, the add ins and then follow it through the assembly line. It was my highlite, so cool! Then we were able to design the carton and see how many people before us had made the same candy bar, thanks to Hershey and their marketing information. It was very interesteing. We were exhausted. Poor Grandma, sat out most of the day with Waylon, she didn't even go on one ride, I guess I hogged all the fun. She was such a good sport and she drove us 3 hours there and 3 hours back. I know, she's Superwoman! For souveniers, Wrex chose a Hersheys Cookbook and Houston chose a hat that looks like a hamburger.
    Day seven. I spent most of the day recovereing while mom had to go to work. I got all the kids haircuts, we went a little shorter because it was soo hot and with ticks around, the shorter the better. Their haircuts turned out a bit militant but they're still so darn cute. I started sorting some of moms old family photos to organize them. I made enchiladas with our still left over food from the party. Bob said my burritos were spot on, I must've missed the mark because I was going for enchiladas. They are so silly. Love my east coasters!
    Day eight . We took the boys to the pool on base. They had to pass the swim test which was swimming across the pool and treading water. Wrex is a fish, I knew he would pass. He gave up the treading water part 5 seconds shy of his mark and had to start over. He is so stubborn .Houston really impressed me though. He has come so far this summer. I was so proud of them both. They had a blast, riding the waterslide and cooling off.  Later that night more cousins came down with another boat. We made a Resse's pie with Wrex's cookbook. It was yummy! They are going fishing today.
   So as you can see, we've been busy. This is just glossing over our adventures. We have had such a good time. We head home tomorrow, Ian misses us, but we sure had fun! Thanks for having us Grandpa Bob and Grandma Barb! It was memorable, as always.

Scrapbooks

 
 Last week was so peaceful! That Day Camp was awesome, I loved it. The boys on the other hand...they had a great time although they might not admit it. The boys went to a fish hatchery, a roller rink ( which they totally got schooled by the local kids) they had a water slide that was doused with Dawn to make it more slick...yeah they had fun. More importantly, I had quiet. It was lovely, I read a whole book, I know, boring. It was so great.
  That weekend we had frequent thunderstorms. So the kids  and I started a new project. Scrap booking! I've never gotten into it before, it seems tedious. I prefer photo books on shutterfly. I make each boy one at the end of the year, they call them their year books. Anyway, I thought the boys might appreciate making their own scrap books. Not likely right? Well I bought them red and blue (their favorite colors) blank scrapbooks.  Then I got primary colored papers, cool boy stickers and printed out 90 pictures of our adventures so far. I told them they can basically do whatever they want, use the pictures, don't, I don't care, it's their book of memories.
Wrex made one page only, it emphasized our road trip from Salt Lake to Durango and has very few pictures (mostly stickers) on it but it's pretty creative and thoughtful.  Houston went scrap book crazy, he made 4 pages over the next few days, he cut out almost all the background of his pictures and put moustache stickers on his brothers. I helped him put things in chronological order and then we printed out the journals I've been letting them type and pasted them onto the pages. I'm pretty pleased with them, I think this will be a big part of our "art class"  this year. I love catching glimpses of how their little minds work. I hope they will treasure these books because it is their own creation, not something mom did, you know? Again, more memories in the making.
   Well, we are off to Grandma's today. We have an evening flight and have to change planes in Denver.  It will be just the boys and I spending the week in Maryland. They are so excited. I am excited to take a shower and shave my legs without going into a yoga pose. (Our shower is tiny) Here's hoping Waylon sleeps on the plane...

Parades, Ceramics, Alarms, Oh My!

I have a better picture but I think this one really captures the experience.

   I'm still here! Just checking in! I feel like my adventures this week were probably the same as most of my friends back home, I thought about skipping the writing about it but I really like having it all written down. This was when I'm old and gray and I boast how I breezed through motherhood gracefully someone will have proof to say "nut uh!" It'll probably be my mom.
    Fourth of July was beautiful in Bayfield. I read in the newspaper that they have a parade through town and thought, we never go to parades, that would be fun!    Yes, well I found out why we never go to parades. I packed waters for Waylon's bottles, sunscreen and all the necessary things a baby would require. All the menfolk in the family, brought themselves (how clever of them.) So we get there and with half an hour to spare, my family spots shade by a dumpster and snags it. Not I! I am here to see the parade, so I sit my toosh on the curb in the hot sun and wait for it to start. Now it has come to my attention that in California there are a lot more rules, for instance I'm pretty sure you have to stay out of the street during parades. We found out when it started (can you hear the whining already  coming from my family, it's hot, my legs hurt, I need water!, where's the bathroom!) that the kids are as close to if not in the middle of the street as the parade goes on. So yeah my perfect spot in the sweltering sun was overcrowded but, I should've seen that one coming. As long as everyone is  having fun. The highlight for me was Ian pointing out his foreman in the beginning of the parade riding the largest mule, I have ever seen. You just don't get to see your coworkers on mules very often in California. I also got a kick out of seeing the owner of the True Value sitting behind us, he was kind enough to offer me his chair. I finally broke down and scouted some food and drinks for the family.When I got back, Wrex was a light yellow color. It was clear he needed some shade and a cool drink. We ate pizza, drank our cold waters and soon everyone was ready to jump on the bounce houses. They had a really nice small town festival afterward, where firetrucks were hosing kids down and people were walking around with giant turkey legs. It seemed everyone knew each other and after a while we felt like we had  enjoyed enough festivities for one day. It was really great though, I don't think I'll go to many more parades now that I know that the menfolk don't really appreciate them, but hey, it was an adventure!
    That weekend Ian had to drive to Salt lake city after work on Friday to go to class. He has class once a month and the drive back to Salt Lake is about seven hours. We were suppose to have thunder storms so I planned on taking the kids to this paint your own ceramic place that I had heard about. My mom use to take us to kids and paint all the time as kids, I think I know now why we were always broke! My kids painted their first creations within 20 minutes. Wrex painted his mug mostly black and Houston painted a rainbow monster (one of his specialties) on a cereal bowl. I was in the process of painting a mug with Waylon's foot print on it when they informed me they were finished. I told them to pick out something small so I could finish....so when I checked out my bill was roughly $24 each. I almost had a heart attack. This little collection of mugs and bowl cost more than my dining set. Awesome. I felt sick to my stomach. We had yet another errand that day, we had to go to walmart. That errand ended with the boys somehow setting off Ian's truck alarm (Ian had my car to get better gas mileage.) The thing was I didn't know you could set off the alarm with out the key less entry. Or how you could stop it. I tried putting the keys in the ignition, the truck started and died immediately. I called Ian, he answered but we didn't have a clear connection....After several minutes of honking and Waylon waking up terrified, the truck stopped. When Ian finally got a hold of me, I didn't feel like talking. I was overwhelmed. We went home, it started to pour I fell asleep to the parent trap, and Wrex and Houston in my bed. At about midnight, Ian came in and jumped on all of us. I would have been scared senseless had I not been in a strees induced coma.  He wasn't suppose to come home till Sunday evening. Class had been canceled Sunday and he sensed I needed an extra hand. He's a good man.
     So you can see why, it took me a few extra days to write this. I had to re coop. I am happy to say that this week I found a day camp that I registered Wrex and Houston for. They are there right now, rollerskating!  I have had the most peaceful week. Waylon is really not so tough, when it's just you and him. It turns out, he really will nap if his brothers aren't here to poke at him. I've even been reading a book, it has been lovely. So I am off to pick up our ceramic creations. I was also waiting to post this so you could see them. They better last until my kids are in college.