Summer Vay-Cay part 3

The post-getting home from a trip week is usually a downer. The kids are so used to having giant and repeating feasts of entertaining activities and lots of different people to do the entertaining. When the dust settles and the suitcases get put away and the laundry finally makes its way back to the bedrooms, things seem pretty darn boring and ordinary. Mom as the ONLY form and source of entertainment is just a plain let down.

Our first week back was filled with constant sibling fights and little patience from me as I wistfully and more faintly remembered those few days of sitting on a balmy beach with a tropical drink in one hand and a book in the other.

Still, on with summer since we have precious few weeks left before the dreaded school year.

Task#1 - teach those kids how to swim!!!

Last summer, we had the kids in a total of 3 sets of regular swimming lessons. At the end, neither one could come close to being safe in the water. We pulled out wads of cash and paid for private swim lessons for the rest of the summer hoping to pay for that miracle. Still, when school started, they were both non-swimmers (although improving from the private lessons.) I would still have to be in the pool with both of them hoping that one wouldn't drown while I grabbed or watched the other.

Somehow this month, good fortune brought us to Kami and her parents' back-yard pool for a 2 week session of swimming. They had lessons every single day for a whole hour. Unlike community lessons, the kids were in the pool for that ENTIRE time every day (not sitting on the side of the pool waiting for their 45 second turn with the instructor.)

At first, I couldn't see much structure to the lessons and was doubting that they were learning anything specific, although they were getting much braver in the pool. The structure got more solid each day within a fairly relaxed environment. But by golly, those kids could swim across the pool on the last day! Granted - Hattie is still wearing floaties to do it, but we are talking MAJOR improvements here. She wouldn't even get IN the water at the beginning of last summer, let alone put her face in. She would cling like a barnacle to her swim instructor and refuse to try any strokes. Grace could NOT figure out how to take a breath while swimming.

(About 1/2 way through these lessons, I forked out for snorkel masks for both kids so that they could swim "hands free" without trying to hold their noses all the time. Worked like a charm.

They have turned into fish!)

(all the kids from all the morning classes)

Now, both kids can get in the pool without me and I can rest more at ease knowing that they are much less likely to drown. It is such a relief. Check that off the list.

Task #2 - squeeze in as many activities as possible before that glorious sunshine starts dipping too far south again. Here are a couple so far:

our first Albuquerque Isotopes game:

SO MUCH FUN! For me, a non-baseball fan, this was just as much fun as seeing the Red-Sox at Fenway park. Actually, it was way more fun because I didn't have to drive an hour (or take the subway) into Boston, spend $30 to park, a couple hundred on tickets, and another hundred for 4 hot dogs, walk 20 minutes, sit in a hot/humid over-crowded stadium, and get home at midnight with kids who were way too tired, hours ago. Instead we parked for free in the lot right in front of the stadium, got there AT game time, didn't miss opening pitch, sat in great seats in the cool shade that were $8.50 face value (a friend actually gave us the tickets), watched the whole game, and were home by 10:30. I'll go again babe.

an impromptu trip to the aquarium and botanical gardens: when our session at Galloping Grace Youth Ranch was canceled due to rain (yep, these desert folk don't have proper wellies for ridin' in the mud), we made a quick decision to head down to the aquarium.

Grace came prepared with pencil and notebook to make some biological drawings (her two favorite things- art and science mixed into one.)

We spent a couple more hours walking in the botanical gardens. This is truly an oasis in the desert. It's one of the few places I've been in ABQ where you can feel lush and green and blooming all around you. The gardens are meticulously done and there are absolutely hundreds, maybe thousands of different kinds of plants, gorgeous sculptures, interesting fountains, and even a working farm that we had never found before. It reminded us a lot of Drumlin Farm back in MA.

this part of the garden was still set up for a wedding - what a gorgeous place to walk down the aisle under a canopy of trees (picture doesn't do it justice):

super cool fountain totally concealed by plants:

kids making a wish on their tossed coins:

very pretty little duck who volunteered to let us feed him for a while:

we'll see how much more we can squeeze in before August 18th - first day of SECOND grade!!!

the second side of "2 sides to every story"

Well, apparently, if you want the WHOLE truth about what the kids and dogs did while we were gone to Hawaii, you'll have to read Melissa's blog. She doesn't candy coat it. But, she did send me a nice CD full of stinkin' cute pics (everything on this post came from her camera.) Come on, Lissie, this doesn't look that bad! (ok, maybe she didn't have the camera handy when she was cleaning up doggie barf, getting up at 5:50, or driving to instacare.) Either way, this is how our kids spent most of their vacation time while mommy and daddy were basking in Hawaii bliss:

coloring at Grandma Curly's (Grandma Pearlie):

painting at Aunt Lissie's

hot-tubbin'

slip and slidin'

jumping on the tramp in matching Costco robes

checkin' out the animals at Wheeler Farm

cute cousins all sitting down at the same time!

alright, I'll have to give Melissa a medal for getting 4 kids ready for church and taking them all (note cute matching dresses on Hattie and Kate - they used to belong to Grace and Hattie. Now we have to pretend that Kate is the little sister. Hattie wishes she was.)

trip to the zoo: what is Grace looking at through her tiger binoculars while wearing her tiger shirt?

oh, it must be her bff, the Tiger.

Poor Hattie - sick at the zoo with what they would soon find out was hand-foot-and-mouth disease... still can't believe she came down with something that random while I was away.

I know - yet another Aunt who must be so happy that we brought face paint on the trip...more painted cousins... looks like Grace is the sole artist here.

cousin train:

fun at the park:

this is where our paths crossed again, but Melissa did get a few shots I was lacking... nice one of the kids running for candy at the 4th of July parade:

for a guy who went very unwillingly to the parade, he doesn't look like he's having too bad of a time, right? who says David isn't patriotic?

yep, doesn't look like anyone complained about a thing. oh, if only we had the time to write EVERYTHING down. let's just take the camera's version and forget the rest!

summer vacation vacation...vacation

It's no secret that we just got home from a major trip. Where to start? If you plan to read the whole thing, you better use the facilities and get a snack first. This is an epic-long post.

Stop #1 - girls and dogs to Denver, CO to visit Jane and family (465 miles, 9.5 hours in the car, kids watched 1/2 of a movie, sang Taylor Swift and Michael Jackson songs for the rest of the time), Friday, June 18th:

We haven't seen Jane's family for a couple of years now, not since the Chapman family round-up of 2008. It was totally our turn to get to her house too since we haven't been there since Grace was a baby! I took off out the door with both kids and both dogs all by myself. again. I don't know what has gotten into me that I think this is a good idea, but I seem to think that visiting family is more important than avoiding the road trip and I don't seem to have a good enough excuse yet to force David into buying the plane tickets. It's awesome that my 2200 mile distance to most family just shrunk to 600 or less, but it kind of forces the road trip. Still, I love the freedom of knowing I can take off and go see anyone anytime I choose and I'm not confined to the East Coast at the mercy of the airline prices.

The girls LOVE LOVE LOVE their cousins. Janie and Evan are both a little older, but they all still play really well together. We had a grand time going out to dinner with Aunt Jane, seeing Toy Story 3 with the cousins, and ice cream with Uncle Richard. We had to borrow him for Father's Day since our daddy was already in Hawaii. We also got to meet our latest doggie cousin, Sneakers. She didn't totally appreciate us on her turf, but the dogs got along well enough to tolerate the 3 days with each other.

(swingin' girls - turns out David actually built this swingset for Aunt Jane. That's 3 he's built so far. No wonder he wrinkled his nose when I suggested a swingset this spring.)

(parking lot of the Baskin Robbins - yum!)

(nothing like having permission to paint your cousin)

(painted cousins - a white tiger, flower girl, horsey girl, and zombie)

(doggie cousins: Sneakers, Shadow, and Velvet. giving each other appropriate personal space)

Stop #2: Salt Lake City, UT to drop off dogs and kids with Melissa (534 miles, 9.5 hours in the car, 0 movies watched, more Taylor Swift and MJ) Monday, June 21st:

The drive from Denver to Wyoming was a bit nail-biting. I hate I-80 across southern Wyoming with the endless trucks, road construction, and wind. I am always amazed at the little ranch houses out there in the middle of nowhere with seriously nothing but themselves for many miles. Who LIVES there? Not me, that's for darn sure. As I encountered some local folk in a gas station in Laramie, I couldn't help but thinking "thanks Mom and Dad for getting us the heck out of Wyoming before we were doomed to work at a tast-e-freeze in a faded screen printed t-shirt for the rest of our lives." If you've ever lived in Wyoming, you know that's more true than anyone wants to admit.

I mentioned David was already in Hawaii on "business." (ok, a couple of professional conferences) I wanted to join - all that we had to buy was my plane ticket. So, my awesome sister, Melissa, volunteered to take in girls and dogs for 8 days at her house. Both sets of Grandparents are nearby, so she had lots of people to help her. Sounds like she needed all the help she could get. I'll have to post some pictures she took sometime. By all accounts, the kids were pretty well behaved and had a blast with their cousins, Sean and Kate. They got to see ALL of their grandparents too - the Chapmans, the Mitchells, and even both great-grandmothers, Grandma Pearlie and Grandma Primmer.

I hate leaving my kids, I really do. David will tell you all about it. He offered multiple times to take me on a tropical vacation to Bermuda when we lived in Boston and I turned it down every time. I've never left them unless I absolutely had to - twice for house hunting trips - left them with grandparents, and twice for funerals - left them with daddy. I've never felt selfish enough to go on a trip for fun without them. But, this time, I don't know. It's been a long year with moving and everything else. Melissa had been offering to have them come to her house for a while, and with the option to only have to buy one plane ticket for a week of bliss, it just seemed like a good time to take a break. Both kids are definitely old enough to understand where I went and that I was coming back and they were super excited to stay in Salt Lake.

(the 4 year olds up in the air - I think this is where they stayed for the whole time)

(everybody on Mo-Deb's swing)

Still, I felt so bad when poor Hattie had her ear busted open by Grace's missed ping-pong paddle swat. Then, to really make things bad for the poor gal, she got hand-foot-and-mouth disease of all things, half way into the trip! Between that and a couple of doggie mis-haps, including Velvet eating all of Melissa's garden strawberries, I know my sister was counting the hours until my plane landed. It was so nice to know though, that everyone was being well cared for while I was gone and I really didn't have to worry much at all.

Stop #3: mommy to Waikiki, O'ahu - Hawaii!!! (about 2990 miles, 7 hours on the plane, one Twilight book read) Wednesday, June 23rd:

Ok, I'm just going to lay it out. We had a FANTASTIC time. This was a much needed vacation from life. I know people say that vacation is no good because life is just waiting for you when you get back, but taking a break from everything is really awesome - especially when you can take your break in a place like Hawaii.

I always wondered what the big deal was - why is everyone so gung-ho on visiting Hawaii? I found out. It's just a really unique, very cool place with tons of amazing culture, weather, biology, and beauty. I have studied island biology in the past - more along the lines of what happens to plant and animal life in places like the Galapagos, or Madagascar, but I never gave a second thought that something similar would happen in a "less exotic" place, namely one of our 50 states.

While on O'ahu, we stayed at the Hawaiian Hilton Village, which was a pretty swank set-up on Waikiki beach in a definitely urban setting. Although if you stayed right in the resort you could sometimes convince yourself you weren't in the middle of a major city (minus the thousands of people staying there too.) The resort had tons of gorgeous flowers and animals all over.

(view from our room - yes that's the Hawaii 5-0 building straight ahead, I recognized it right away.)

(hotel beach)

(peaceful view from breakfast room at our hotel)

(Waikiki was a rainbow every 20 minutes, I swear. Can you ever get used to so many rainbows? I'm surprised people don't wreck cars looking at them.)

A few more favorite things on O'ahu...

banquet dinner at the Iolani Palace: I had no idea that there was a real palace with real royalty history in the United States. The royal line seemed to be pretty short-lived, but the palace was utterly amazing, the dinner very posh, and the entertainment, well, they hired Makana, a very famous Hawaiian guitarist. He and his band put on an extremely good show, complete with a few hula numbers. Quite the party, considering it was thrown by a bunch of geeky science nerds!

sitting by the pool with Sara: I did a lot of this. Our friends, Alex and Sara, were also on the trip. Sara was there for the first island, so she and I did some reading at the pool when we had down time. I was trying to read Eclipse again before seeing the movie when we got back. Nothin' better than reading a Twilight book next to a pool in Hawaii getting an amazing tan!

drive up Tantalus drive - to the top of the hills above Waikiki to see the views: Ok, this really wasn't totally my favorite because my car-sickness and fear of heights started to kick in. I had no idea what kind of omen this was presenting for the rest of the trip. But, the island was beautiful from above and we drove through some pretty cool, dense rainforest areas.

drive up to the North shore: we drove along the coast from Waikiki to Laie where you can find one of the two Hawaiian LDS temples - right next to BYU Hawaii and the Polynesian Cultural Center. Everyone keeps asking if we went to the PCC. Nope, unfortunately, David's work group went on a tour the Saturday he flew in, so we both missed it and then didn't have time to go by ourselves. It was really interesting driving up the East coast - lots of pretty bays as well as lots of poor little towns and homeless camps along the beach.

Stop #4: Lihue, Kaua'i (102 miles, 3.5 hours in airport waiting for someone to please let us on a plane, 37 minutes on the plane, 8 more hours coming back and forth to the airport waiting for someone to please send our luggage on another plane.) Saturday, June 26th:

(while waiting for our luggage, we ate at a little diner where a Brazilian cardinal was sampling all the fresh syrups, coconut, strawberry, etc. I don't blame him. They were very yummy.)

We only visited 2 islands, but they were definitely very different from each other, partly due to the number of people on each island, but I think also partly due to their own unique ecosystems. No wonder they have you fill out agricultural declarations as your plane lands and again before you leave. It's already a shame what has happened with some foreign species that have been introduced. David asked me if it reminded me at all of my visit to Kenya. I said "no, not really, except, those trees feel like Africa." A few days later, I found out that "those trees" were a native African species that had been accidentally brought to the island and were now taking over the native forests of Kaua'i in quite a startling effect - totally choking out the native trees.

We saw so many kinds of birds. I wished Grace was with us. She is such a bird-watcher and she would have been completely occupied and mesmerized watching and identifying all the different birds. The Brazilian cardinal was probably one of my favorites (also a transplant) and I was shocked at the number of wild chickens on Kaua'i. Roosters, hens, and baby chicks EVERYWHERE.

more favorite things in Kaua'i...

We stayed at the Kaua'i Beach Resort in Lihue. The beach there wasn't very good for hanging out or swimming, but it was full of fun little crabs and pretty things washing up from the ocean.

Kilauea Point Lighthouse

horseback riding through a 500 acre Silver Falls palm tree ranch (86 different kinds of palms and all sorts of other island gardens)

stopping on the horseback ride to eat lunch and go swimming at a small waterfall

Hanalei Bay - definitely the BEST beach we visited in Hawaii. Gorgeous half-moon bay, with huge volcanic peaks behind it...giant waterfall views...soft sand everywhere (no rocks or coral reef), wide shallow water, easy to play in the waves, go surfing, etc. I never got around to trying the surfing. I was actually getting seasick just playing in the waves. Again, not a good sign. David went a couple of times on our last day. It's a reason to go back (as if one needed a reason!)

Ha'Ena Bay - very rocky with coral reef, lots of caves nearby... seemed to be good for snorkeling, although we were sad to find out that no one rents snorkeling equipment up there. Luckily our friends, Dave and Julie, had a few masks, so we took turns with the masks and held our breath to watch the fish. I don't know what is up with me, but all my issues were magnified many times on this trip. My claustrophobia took over. Between the mask over my nose and wearing my Keens to swim, I started to panic and I could only stand on the coral where I could touch the bottom and take a few looks under the water. Unfortunately, no sea turtles or monk seals showed up while we were there.

Poipu beach - total tourist trap, but gorgeous little shallow bay with plenty of sea turtles and some life-guard eye-candy for Julie and me.

Salt Pond Beach - salt harvesting areas all owned by local families where they still harvest salt exactly like has been done for thousands of years. A kind little man showed us his plot and shared some of his salt. He said no one sells the salt, it is only traded for things the families need. We felt honored he would share it with us.

the grand finale - catamaran boat ride up the Napali coast - sounds divine, right?

It started out that way... but...

I've been on boats dozens of times before, in both oceans and lakes. The only time I have ever felt seasick was when we went whale watching at Cape Cod last year, but I didn't actually get sick. Like I said - all my issues were blooming in Hawaii and I got SO SEASICK on this trip. It's little consolation that I wasn't alone. I pretty much missed seeing the entire Napali coastline. (here are the few pics I managed to take)

I had to look the other way out of the boat and focus on the horizon. I kept moving to different areas of the boat trying to find a good spot where I didn't feel so sick, but eventually it consumed me. I lost it over the railing. Awesome. After that, I felt a little better, but wasn't entirely convinced that it wouldn't happen again. I couldn't eat or drink anything - especially the yummy dinner that was being served below. I stood on the side of the boat with a death grip on the railing. We finally turned back for the 2 hour boat ride to the harbor. The boat was going fast so there was lots of spray and it was raining too. I was soaked and cold. So many people passed by asking if I was ok, did I want to come down for dinner, hadn't I been there a long time, didn't I want to get out of the wet? Nope. I was good. Just leave me here alone gripped to the boat. I'll be good eventually. One nice thing about standing at the side of the boat for 4 hours - I got to see A LOT of spinner dolphins. They were amazing. They swam with the boat quite often and did all kinds of flips and tricks. We were told that no one keeps them in captivity because they commit suicide (stay under water until they drown.) They won't be taken from their ocean home.

Between our drive up to He'Ena and our boatride up the Napali Coast, we saw the whole island, 360. The only thing we didn't do that we probably should have was go to Waimea Canyon - the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. It's apparently pretty spectacular. But, after all my car-sick, vertigo, sea-sick issues, I was a little relieved to not drive up a twisty single lane road to the top of a peak and look down a giant canyon.

I mentioned Julie before. She is the wife of another of David's co-workers. She and I spent lots of time together on Kaua'i. We became fast friends. I can't wait to spend some more time with her here in Albuquerque.

Our last day on Kaua'i was pretty simple as I wrapped up a little shopping and we got ready for our red-eye flight home. Since we didn't book tickets at the same time, David and I weren't on the same flight home. So we got on our separate planes and flew from Lihue to L.A. and finally back to SLC.

Stop #5- Salt Lake City (Lihue to L.A. to SLC. 2 short(er) flights, 3 hours sleeping) Thursday, July 1st

It was great to get "home" to the kiddos. We had a few short days to spend in Salt Lake. We bunked up with Melissa for one night and then David's parents for 3.

Thursday night, we celebrated my mom's birthday by going out to the Twilight Movie - Eclipse! My Mom, Grandma Primmer, Melissa, Emily, and her boyfriend were all there. It was SO much fun. I had just finished the book (again) and the movie was spot-on to the plot.

David spent Friday with Jared while I clocked some time with my mom, grandma, Lissie, and kids. Saturday was grandma Barbara's birthday. We started the day with a quick outing up to the Millcreek parade. Good times.

Then, we came back to hang with Grandma for her b-day. Family birthdays are always great when we get to be there for them. We got the most super yummy red-velvet birthday cake from Granite Bakery. I highly recommend it.

Sunday, the 4th, we went to church at the Southgate ward in our old Salt Lake neighborhood. It felt like we had never left. I knew I missed living there, but I didn't know quite how much until I walked into the building and saw the familiar faces. I burst out in tears for no good reason in Relief Society just at the thought of how simple and sweet life is in that neighborhood. I really do miss it. We've got to quit moving - I miss too many things and people now!

(off to church in our Hawaiian dresses)

We topped off our vacation with a 4th of July bash at Melissa's house. She graciously cooked us one more dinner and provided one more gleeful evening of fun for the kids. The Barnhisel family really does know how to have a great 4th of July BBQ, but I think this one was more of a going away celebration - Melissa doing most of the celebrating. :-)

July 5th - home again, home again, jiggity jog- everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY home (591 miles, 9 hours 50 minutes in car, 1/2 movie watched, daddy driving the whole way.) packed to the brim with dogs in back, luggage on top, underneath feet, shoved anywhere. couldn't fit a stick of gum in the car if you wanted to.

THANKS BUNCHES again to everyone who made our summer vacation so stinking fun! Aunt Lissie ROCKS especially!!!!