The big van pays off!

Somewhere recently I read that we all need to do a bit better at getting to know the city that we live in. The article I read said that people come from all over to visit YOUR city, to do things that your great city provides yet, a lot of time, the people who live there haven't even done these things! So true for us for sure! So I decided that we were going to be come a tourist in our own city and do some of the fun things available to us, right in our back yard... so to speak. Hopefully we will have a fun summer full of new things! 

First on the agenda? Shannon's idea... visit the Dugway Geode Beds and collect geodes with the kids. Shane and Traci took Greg out there several years ago and said it was really fun and, ever the interesting rock collector in my youth, I have always been intrigued. It was something Shannon had always wanted to do and this was the day... it was going to happen. (In our entire history, most of the fun adventurous things we have done have been Shannon's ideas!)

This is my blind-siding Matthew - He had no idea where we were going, how long it would take, how many times we would have to here "are we there yet?" All he knew is that Shannon and I had this hair-brained idea to go driving somewhere to look at rocks. Me thinks he wasn't very excited. He also expressed concerns about how good of a time Dylan was going to have while the rest of us were digging in the dirt. Time to get over it though... there are somethings we CAN'T do with Dylan... this is not one of them. We were going to go on an adventure! 

Matthew wanted to load Asa and Charlotte's car seats in the big van and have a big van party driving out. I am SO glad we did this! I was going to have the boys sit in the front and Shannon and I ride in the back but Tracy is nice, like... so nice... and the kids talked him into squeezing himself in the back row with Ian, Duncan and Charlotte. His bum wedged in there but his shoulders did not. I offered to go back there but he wanted to, they wanted him to, whatever... he is a trooper. Especially considering this trip consisted of about 45 street miles followed by 50 miles on a dirt road. 50 miles! Lucky Shannon was between Dylan and Asher! 

It was memorial weekend and there were a lot of campers out there in the wilderness! A lot of people with four-wheelers. I think I would prefer to camp where there were a few more trees, maybe some water? Shade? A fire? The idea of camping in the Great American West Dessert does not excite me... 

Little did we know, geode digging is serious business. When we came in on the side road there was a truck with a geode in the bed that was larger than a basketball. He said they has been digging it out for two days! While we stopped, one of the guys brought over a horny toad for the kids to see. Oh how I wanted to get my hands on that toad! I LOVE them and haven't held one in ages!

After a short drive we saw huge piles of dirt that had been turned up with a back hoe. Tracy dislodged himself, stepped out and said "this is the place!" looked down, grabbed a rock, held it up and said "look a geode!" Yes ladies and gentleman, it was that easy. Your job, dig dig dig, find a lumpy round rock, and bring it back to home base. Open, walah! Mission accepted!  The kids were off. Little kids, big shovels. 

Dylan was in the jogging stroller... and not too happy. I think she is coming down with something because she hasn't been herself all week since and the wind out there was not her bag. She was not happy unless we were moving which was convenient at the moment because I had to go to the bathroom something fierce so off we went to find an appropriate locale. I walked and walked on the road and saw a lizard sunning himself on the rock... briefly I thought about trying to catch it but having let go of the stroller for a minute I was reminded that Dylan was not on board for a quest of that sort. Perhaps a slower horny toad would reveal itself to me later.

Since I know Dylan wasn't all into the digging we took our time coming back to the car and what do you know? A toad. For real. I caught it, oh yea, no biggie. (They are slow, they rely on camouflage and that is no match for these well-trained Wyoming, lizard hunting eyes!) I then put a little gas on it so I could bring it to the kids to have them see it, rub it's little head and maybe even hold it. They all did, they took turns, it was so cute, and probably a little stressful for that toad so we walked away from the dirt piles to let it go. He sat there for a minute and let Charlotte and Duncan rub it's back and then, when he was sure he was free, he ran off. So so cute. Duncan spotted another running away from him that I picked up and said hi to too, he was adorbs, slightly bigger than the other one and a much cute face! 

After we had sufficient piles of rocks, we cracked them open to look at our treasures. Matthew told each boy they could pick their favorite three... but some might have, fallen off the truck per se. I have no idea what we are going to do with them... 

And we were off - home bound. After we got home it was all hands on deck to clean out the van that looked like we had been camping in it for three days. it was dusty, dirty, there were wrappers and stashed gold fish and licorice everywhere. But we were so happy to have it. It was an entirely different trip than it would have been than if we were to have driven separately. We were glad to have been able to spend all of that extra driving time with our friends, even though we crammed one of them in the back! 

Even the Greybie has fun digging! 

The first victim... 

You can see the thin layer of dust coating him... 

Victim #2, I think he was cuter... and not just because he is smiling for the camera. 

Two of Charlotte's favorites! 

Did we have fun? Yes we did! 

Farewell West Dessert - it will be a while before I see you again. 

On with the good stuff!

It was teacher appreciation week and the kids were told to write a note or draw a picture for their teacher if they want to and Duncan LOVES his teacher so I knew he would like the opportunity. I told him to make it like a card and I kind of showed him how cards work but I don't think he trusted the concept so he made sure to draw a nice big arrow on the front to let her know that there was more. 

On the inside he drew her playing soccer and what he wanted to say was "Mrs. Kubinak, you are the best teacher you help me with all my work" and was resigned to "you help me" when it came down to actually writing it. My favorite part is "Misiz".

Ian had his school program while Matthew was out of town. I think they sang three songs, you know those programs are sooooo short! The little girl next to him sitting (I don't want to put her all out there on the nets) is Emma and she and he are buddies. He loves her. He follows Shelley's sign language all the time and kind of mimics it with his hands. He is really sweet with Emma. During about the second song Emma finally realized that there was a room full of people watching them and she covered her eyes with her hands and her little bottom lip started slowly poking out. Then she would peek, and a little more... and then these tears came rolling down her cheeks. It was a heart breaker! I told her mom it was no fair because she stole the show! 

Duncan's program happened too and Matthew had to work. He was so bummed to miss it! It was significantly longer than Ian's program and the other kids had a hard time holding it together the whole time! Thankfully mom was there to help wrangle the yahoos. Duncan was cute but at the very bottom of the stage/steps and very hard to see. He was about as into singing the program as he was in to soccer.

As in not at all.

But he hung in there, at one point her and Ian were making silly faces to each other. He was messing with his hat... not singing... but present. He was definitely present.

Dylan also had a part in the program but it was totally screwed up by the special needs teacher. Like... ruined. I was so bummed.

About ten minutes before the program started (and you know it started late...) I looked in the back and saw Dylan in the wheelchair looking totally adorable. Little did I know, she was left in the wheelchair for the whole program so 40 minutes later when it was time for them to sing the Yellow Rose of Texas to her she was passed out in the chair so her *ahem* lame teacher wheeled her down the isle passed out, looking totally dumb and then turned around and stood there looking at the audience. It was so stupid.

Really, so stupid. Just don't have her do it! I was totally bummed because she would have walked had she been awake and it's a little known fact that she hates wheelchairs and being strapped down so when they strap her down she just goes to sleep. Oh wait, that's not a little known fact, it's WIDELY known, everyone knows that. Why in the world was my kid in a wheelchair for forty minutes when she was awake anyway??

When I went in to pick her up I walked in and said "Where's my lazy yellow rose?" and the aide laughed and I told her that of course she fell asleep, she was in the chair! And the aide said, quietly, "that's what we tried to... say..." and glanced at the teacher. Ugh! Whatever. The teacher's like "I know, she was fine for a while and we were laughing and playing and I was tickling her (right) and wouldn't you know? As soon as they started that song she fell asleep!" Oh sure sure.

So I walked out and ran into the Kindy teacher and I told her I was totally bummed that she was asleep and she was livid. She said the teacher wasn't supposed to have anything to do with the program. The aides were supposed to bring her in close to the time and walk her down the isle while they were singing. It was like, going to be a moment. Ruined. Completely ruined. Dylan didn't even need to be there but I think the teacher wanted to get out of work by having to be at the program! I am pretty sure the principal heard about this incident... but since she isn't coming back next year so it doesn't really matter, the moment is over. Llllllammmme.

Grey was not all that into it. He was nauuuughty. 

Anyway, now that that rant is over. We planted a garden finally this last weekend and Matthew bought lots of peppers. Lots and lots. I tend to want to over plant zucchini over peppers. Why one needs 6 different kinds of peppers is beyond me... and multiple plants of each too. He is nuts. He says he wants salsa. Ohhhh, wait... now that I type it out it occurs to me that he got a new blender recently and he wants to play! I bet that's it. Anyway... need peppers? Come over in a couple months... we will have peppers coming out of our ears! 

And for a running update - I ran a half this weekend. One of my running friends Alison was pacing a race that was a little bit of a drive (as in, leave the house at 3:20 drive...) at a pace of 2:30 (which is about a 11:20 min mile). This is a very easy pace for me and a great pace for a stamina training run... especially since I wasn't training for a half and hadn't had a double digit run in almost 2 months. I told her I wanted to do it with her and I registered with less than a weeks notice. My BRF Sara reminded me that when I started running one of my goals was to hear of a last minute opportunity for a race and just be able to do it. I forgot! Mission accomplished! 

It was probably my favorite run to date, it was gorgeous! The elevation was about 4600 ft, we were in these lush green mountains and it was a little rainy so it was misty. The clouds were settling below the tops of the mountains... some of which still had snow on them. I just am amazed by how pretty everything was! The race was about a mile up, then rolling hills down for the next 8 miles and then little rollers for a slight up on the last four miles. The down and then up usually proves a challenge for people but at this pace it was fine. I had great company, the pace was awesome, the scenery couldn't be beat. There were only 91 runners maybe? Super small because that area had a large half and full marathon the previous weekend. Loved. This. Race. 

Event though it was an early morning I will watch for this one next year. I really enjoyed it. 

 My pacing friends, Alison did the 2:30 and Michelle the 2. I couldn't have kept up with Michelle on a well-trained day! 

Ian's preschool picture we didn't buy...

Greyson thinks he is soooo big playing outside with the boys. He loves it! 

A girl and a dog

This post has been a couple weeks coming, not only because I am over due on the blogging but also because this happened a couple weeks ago and I have been avoiding it. While Matthew was out of town I had to put our dog down. Whomp whomp. I haz the sadz.

I got Mushi as a graduation present when I got that little piece of paper that meant "yay! I am worth what you pay me!" My mom got him for me. I was single and I had decided I really wanted to do therapy work with a dog for fun volunteer opportunities. I did all sorts of training with him, working with him four times a day before work, after work and I would drive home twice a day. We got his Canine Good Citizenship but he was far to skittish and shy for therapy work so it didn't work out. But he was so obedient! Which was a fine trade off, I settled for the idea of trying again to do therapy work with the next dog.

Over the previous couple of weeks we had noticed that the dog was eating less and less and now when I look back, the last time we had him shaved I had commented to the groomer that he was so skinny! Right before Matthew left I told him I guess I would take the dog the vet, he asked why and I said "oh you know, dying."After Matthew left I noticed he wasn't eating at all. No food. (We were both filling the dish, or not, so I think each of us thought the other was picking up the slack.) The kids gave him a milk bone and he took it, walked over, dropped it, and walked away. Not a good sign!

Tracy and Shannon came over and commented on how bad he looked all of a sudden, we see them all the time, and they even noticed a drastic change. That sealed the deal, I would be taking him to the vet on Monday.

I was able to get him to eat some of the chicken that we had for dinner on Sunday which was good. I was hopping that his teeth were the problem. My mom watched the kids so I could take him in. The vet wanted to do blood work and I did it. (And paid the $130... ouch!) Knowing that the dog was old anyway... I am not sure why I did it, I knew that we wouldn't do anything if they found anything but when it came back clean and the vet started talking about xrays she pointed out that even if we didn't do anything drastic, we could still make him comfortable. Okay, okay... I told her if things changed I would call back for an xray.

So after initially deciding no on the xrays because I was getting him to eat chicken, he again stopped eating and bonus, got sick in the house. (Which I am sure was absolute torture because he is such an obedient dog!) Ugh. I called back and scheduled xrays for the following afternoon which was a Thursday.

Knowing that not eating was one of the final signs for an older dog...

Over night he was sick again and I knew it was just time. I had been telling the kids for a few days that he was sick and to not chase him and stuff because that wasn't fun for him any more. They would pet him gently and tell him they were sorry he was sick. He had just started being a fan of the kids maybe a year ago, Duncan and he were super cute together, before that he would just run away from these little unpredictable creatures.

So I had made the decision and I was a mess. I called Matthew to let him know that it was time and he was so sad he wasn't here to support me, he asked if it could wait a day and I told him "when you know, you know." It could not wait. He wasn't healthy, he was sad, he was probably in pain, let's just muscle up and do this. Cue bawling, because that's what I did for a day straight I think. At one point, Duncan hugged me and said "mom, I am sorry you are so sad..." It was so sweet.

It was worse than I thought it would be. I mean, for a long time the dog was all I had and he was great... but once I had kids he got significantly bumped down on the totem pole and he was more of an annoyance. So given that, it was much harder than I even expected. I can't imagine if I would have lost him before the kids came along! The vet told me "It's hard to feel bad when you know you are doing the right thing and we know he is sick." Which is true, but I think having him die more naturally would be a bit less traumatic.

I was going to leave Matthew to tell the kids because I knew Duncan would have a hard time with it. So I told them he was so sick he had to stay at the dog doctor to see if he can get better. I thought, it's the least he could do since I did the other part! So when he got home he sat Ian and Duncan up at the counter and was not delicate at all! I was like "I could have done that!" Duncan burst into tears and Ian said "Now we can get a CAT!"

So I took Duncan into my room by himself and we had a talk about how dogs don't live as long as people and it's really hard but I have had three dogs that were important to me now and I told them about the other dogs and told him that he will have other dogs that he loves and that he gets close to. I told him dogs go to heaven which Matthew isn't 100% bought into (because he is crazy!) and he said "So when my grandpa comes back Mushi will too?" So adorable.

Every once and a while he makes comments that he misses Mushi but everyone will be okay. It's definitely lonely at night, especially if Matthew isn't here. It wasn't as quiet as it is now! Good thing he is not gone a whole lot but when he is... I might need to borrow a dog.

As for another dog... that day I was telling myself how I could not go through this again, it was horrible! Why would anyone want to go through this?! But I am warming to the idea and the potential to do the therapy work I was unable to do with Mushi. I am not convinced we will be able to decide on a breed though... so we will revisit this in a few months when I am on board all the way.

After all, every boy needs a dog...

The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train trip (part 3)

Our last day! Epcot's country stroll, caught in a down pour and Hollywood Studios. And whatever else I am throwing in because my timeline is a little wonky...

And the last full day, it's almost over! It was the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot which is where they have all of these gorgeous topiaries of all of the Disney characters (and more, Kermit and Miss Piggy!) all over the park. I didn't get pictures of a lot of them because it was so rainy that it was hard to dig the camera out but it was neat to see all those and all of the gorgeous flowers in bloom all over. My favorite topiary was Lotso the Huggin' Bear. He was all pink and white flowers! Amy loved Lady, of Lady and the Tramp because she had these great fuzzy plant ears! Peter pan was also on a roof in the UK. Cool.

Speaking of the UK, one of the things I totally regretted not doing last time was walking through Epcot to see all of the countries. I didn't even know this part of Epcot existed actually so of course I missed out on it! So Amy and I went for a stroll and I knew I had to hit the caramel store in Germany. I got a caramel pecan bar that was AMAZING. Unfortunately it was in the middle of a complete downpour so we didn't get to sit and enjoy it but rather Amy and I took small bites on the run. It was so good. I mean... so, so good.

We did the Living off the Land ride which is a boat ride that takes you through this timeline of living off the land and then goes through this amazing green house where they grow all kind of things. One of my favorite things to see was the brussel sprouts, they were handing from this belt and the roots were just hanging down from the plant. The belt was moving slowly around and at one section is dipped the roots through water. Unfortunately the 9 pound lemons were not in season but there was an incredible huge melon of some sort and a tomato tree! A tree! I loved the greenhouse portion of this ride but the inside the building part was a wee bit boring.

Tania was going to meet us but it was raining so hard that we decided not to have her come and we would head back to the hotel to meet her before we went to dinner. We made early reservations at the 50's Prime Time Cafe in Hollywood Studios. This is a diner type sit down restaurant where they practically yell at you all the time. No phones (walkie talkies), no elbows on the table, no swearing and clean you plate. Our waiter was a comedian... he was pretty funny. At one point I dropped my straw and he said "I'll get that for you", picked it up, wiped it off and set it right back on the table. (Then got me a new one, don't worry). At one point Tania left to use the bathroom and he made a really big deal about how long she was gone (apparently there were several people in line). He loudly announced to the room that she didn't need to leave to find a bathroom, they had one right there!

After we were done eating, he looked at Amy's plate, he hemmed and hawed at it. Staring, not knowing what to do. So then he just carefully cut another piece off and did the airplane feeding thing to her. So funny! Then it was Tania's turn. To which he hemmed and hawed and then just piled everything on top of itself, stabbed a fork in it and acted like he was giving her a bite. This resulted in my favorite picture of the entire trip. Thank goodness I was done and he had taken my plate by that point.

After dinner we went on Toy Story Mania. We had a fast pass set up for the right time but then Tania and I went on it a few more times while Amy his Rocking Roller Coaster twice in a row. When we checked the time we were pushing it to make it back to Epcot for the cap to my trip... seeing Starship who was performing at the Flower and Garden Festival (Flower power!).

We ended up running through the countries of Epcot to catch them and I am pretty sure we got there near the end of the first song. We were drenched it was raining so hard! But... I was in love! You know the bands that girls make up dances to when they are kids? Starship was my jam! I loved them and this was almost the coolest thing ever... silly right? I loved seeing them in person and I loved that Mickey Thomas could still nail all the high notes (unlike Air Supply which was a big whomp whomp in real life concert...). It was awesome! Instead of 'Nothing's Gonna Stop Us' (bummer. :( ) they changed it up for the last set and sang "Set the Night to Music' which was still.... awesome. They only played a few songs and then 'We Built This City', of course, and closed it down. Yay.

That was it, it was over... We had plans to hit Animal Kingdom in the morning but it was pouring rain and rumor had it no Safari and Everest was questionable. So Tania and I took it easy, chilled at the hotel, packed slowly and had a super yummy breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel. I ate her extra bacon... and I would have kept it coming. I wish I would have noticed she got an endless platter... I would have enjoyed an endless amount of bacon. Our waitress there was awesome and funny too. Loved it.

I was so glad to be able to have gone on this trip! Not only was everything pretty darn cost effective... but I feel like I got to do a lot more in the parks because I did some research ahead of time and Tania and Amy helped to make sure I hit a lot of the highlights. I feel like I have DONE Disney World now. Yay! Thanks to all my friends who made it possible!

I have one more race planned at Disney World and I will probably spend a couple days at Universal to see the new Harry Potter World, Daigon Alley that is supposed to open next month. Having only spend five or so hours there last trip just left me needing to see more and I think it will be my last Florida hoorah until the kids are old enough to enjoy it all. I am so happy with this trip. It was awesome.

Raining selfie. Pouring in Epcot.

Karamell-Küche

And it kept getting worse...

50's Primetime Cafe. Everything in the place was retro, and awesome. Including this character actor who was mocking us because we set up an old fashioned photo of us. 

My dinner, nom nom. 

Best. Picture. ever.

Ahhhhh! We made it!!!

 Mickey Thomas! Hasn't aged a bit! Okay... a little... (Photo creds here to Amy!)

This chick has some pipes but she ain't no Grace Slick... 

The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Trip (Part 2!)

In which we visit our awesome second day at Magic Kingdom, seeing the new Festival of Fantasy Parade and... drum roll... the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train event! Lots and lot of pictures...

Tania had quite the line up of interviews so Amy and I took off to Magic Kingdom hoping to be able to catch her there during her free time.

We waited for Tania to go see Anna and Elsa - Amy had picked up a signature book for her son and wanted to make sure to get their signatures because the line to see them is often hours long! (Another can you imagine?) We got Fast Passes and felt terrible walking past the hour plus long line! But... Well... Here we met the second string Anna and Elsa. Sorry Disney, but Elsa was barely passable. She was too young! Still they were super cute and very nice of course. (She will forever be known as the long necked Elsa... We still love you Elsa!)

Second string... 

This girl was there too... 

We hopped on Big Thunder Railroad where Amy and Tania got to be in front. We rode this ride SEVERAL times this trip, Amy and I. Good times. Front row! (I was in the second row where I was supposed to be alone but some big foreigner with bad breath left his friends and hopped in with me. It was awkward...) 

The new Festival of Fantasy parade was a big draw on the trip and it was even on the media schedule for Tania to be there (though probably in a roped off exclusive area). Amy and I really wanted to see the new Steam Punk Melificent dragon we had seen so much buzz about. We parked ourselves in a decent spot and prepared to wait it out the twenty or so minutes until the parade started... if it started, the sky was rather ominous and they had cancelled the Animal Kingdom parade on me at the last minute the day before (which was wise, consider previously mentioned downpour!) But then there is came! Lots of great floats, this was a really fun parade. 

The first float had themed sections and had about six different shows and characters represented. These pictures are not in the proper order (except the first and last...) but you get the idea. 

Our crow! 

Our other scary guys! 

There she is!! There is a guy in there! 

She breaths fire at a certain point in the parade but it wasn't anywhere near us. 

 The costumes!

This guy was walking around before Rapunzel freaking people out. 

Rapunzel! There she is! The heroes were swinging back and forth on these hammers! You could tell they were having a great time! This was an awesome float. 

The end, wah wahhhh... 

The Mine train main event! Through this whole trip we were hoping we would be able to ride the new mine train. They were being rather vague on whether or not it was going to happen for the "plus ones" but it was definitely on Tania's schedule for Friday. Girl gets to go to the dedication ceremony! Buzz was happening though, we has seen on social media some people had gotten to ride it this day and Disney announced that there would be an opening day announced the next day (at the dedication). Yet... this is what the sign said:

We did see they were closing part of Fantasy Land for the evening event though... (The Mine Train, The Little Mermaid Ride, Ariels Grotto and Winnie the Pooh.) 

We went back to the hotel and got ready for the Mine Train event and all confusion was cleared up as we walked into the event and were handed these, our boarding passes! We were going to get to ride the ride!

But first... pictures! 

Grumpy cat was there too. Happy meet Grumpy. Grumpy, Happy. And so forth.

Then it was time, here we go! 

The queue for the ride has some interactive activities that are super cute and fun. We ended up going on the ride four times. The fourth time was the most fun, want to know why? We didn't sit in the front! The rolling hills and turns don't pick up speed for a second and it is more fun in the cars in the back cars. And the ride promotes this swaying action of the cars which we talked about not feeling the first three times... and then the last? being in the back you could see them swaying. I don't think the front one moves but I am not sure. Silly newbs, if we were better reviewers we would have tried four different seats every time but... we were just so darn excited to be there we couldn't even stand it.

Its a great ride. It's a family coaster so no crazy drops and thrills. Just a lot of fun ups and downs and turns. It's so smooth, like Everest is, not rough and jerky and the sight inside the mine is so super fun and cute!

The final scene as you come to a stop before going in to the loading and unloading part is a scene with Snow White dancing with her Dwarfs.

Oh no, wait. THIS was the final scene! So cute!

As you walked out you could see their house (this was in the day...) She is in there... dancing! 

 The party had the cutest little carrot cakes ever!

 We stopped to see my #2 favorite princess in her grotto. She was adorable with the peanut who was in line in front of us! I loved watching her interact with this little girl and could have watched all night. So adorable.

We closed the evening riding Big Thunder during the Wishes firework show. Super fun.