kiddodiddo

things to hold on to

2012-01-25T09:27:00.000-05:00

Kids grow fast and I can't freeze time no matter how hard I try. Here are a few moments I'd like to hang on to, before they slip from memory:
One Sunday a few weeks ago, I was getting ready for church. As I came out of my room to check on things, I found James in the bathroom where he had lined up his brothers and was carefully combing their hair WITHOUT being asked. Now that's a treasure!

One day, I fell asleep on the couch while I was reading Simon stories. I woke up 20 minutes later covered with a blanket and 4 pillow pets. So nice to look out for me:)

Rachel is at an age where she likes to sing, but doesn't really remember the words to songs. The other day we asked for a song and she was pleased to combine a few and come up with this: Jesus, Jesus ashes ashes we all fall down. James said it sounded like the second coming. I was thinking the same thing.

Amelia spent one after noon decorating hearts (lots of them) for our entry way. We look so festive now, thanks to her talents.

Simon is finally using the potty like a pro, thanks to an off comment by the doctor. (he mentioned that kids poop with in a half hour after eatting- why didn't the 6 potty training books I read say that??!) So now he does his constitutional after every meal and is clean as a whistle. It crackes me up when he says he going off to "constaTOOT."

I read in a book a fun game called Memory Lane where you get a large bag of candy and give your kids a piece for every scripture they can recite. It's so sweet to hear their voices proudly proclaim what they know. I thought this would be fun for Sunday but the kids are clamoring for it other days too. I try not to give in too much, I don't want the novelty to wear off.

I need to hold on to the sweet times because I know these kiddo diddos will be grown and gone before I know it. I try not to dwell on that though- it makes me a weepy mess.

the butter phase

2012-01-01T14:50:00.000-05:00

I like to include the kids in the kitchen. I like to cook and I like it when they join in. I have a difficult time coming up with jobs for them sometimes though.
Last week, preparing for Christmas dinner I had plenty of helpers in the kitchen. I like the bustle. Anyway, I was mixing something up (i forget what) and Rachel came up to ask for some of what I was making- or so I thought. I offered her some and she said no. She pointed behind me, to Gary who had unwrapped a stick of butter. "THAT" she said pointing to the butter. Funny thing about kids- they aren't embarrassed to tell you they would like to eat a stick of butter.

I think it was last year, we were on a road trip and stopped at Cracker Barrel. We ordered food and it was delivered. I thought everyone had enjoyed their food but as we cleanned up, I realized that Simon had not eatten a bite from his plate. Instead, he had managed to eat all of the butter packets on the table.

And several years ago, after a stop at Bob Evans I found a bunch of empty butter cups in someone's bed. Apparently he or she had taken them home as a doggy bag and enjoyed as a bed time snack.

Once or twice I have had to throw out whole sticks of butter that showed signs of gnawing.

I guess it's just one of those phases kids go through. Then they figure out that butter is not a main course.

About Whales

2012-01-01T14:33:00.000-05:00

Last week, I took the kids to the library. It's one place all the kids love. We were there at story time and Rachel insisted we attend. I was glad she did. I like it when she gets to do little kids things. Most of the other kids are too big and so they hang out reading or looking for books. Simon came in at the start of story time, themed about arctic animals. Jonny came in half way through, with a stack of books. He listened and read as the Rachel, Simon and I participated in songs and rhymes. Then the librariam asked the group "What is blubber?" The children were mystified until Jonny eagerly raised his hand and blurted out this wise knowledge "it is what you use to tell if a whale is pregnant or not." Wow. I had no idea blubber could do that:)

Merry Christmas

2011-12-27T17:16:00.000-05:00

The kiddodiddos were cooperative participants in a family nativity show this year. They were acting their parts well: Amelia was Mary, Simon was Joseph, Jonny was the innkeeper AND the wiseman, James was the shepherd and Rachel was the angel. Then as all gathered reverently kneeling around "baby Jesus" Rachel decided it looked like the perfect set up for a game of duck, duck, goose. So she went around the circle ducking and goosing everyone. The kids were real troopers and did not break character until the end. Me not so much. It was funny:)

The Latest Buzz

2011-12-18T10:40:00.000-05:00

James has been selected to participate in the school spelling bee. Wish him luck as he studies over the Christmas break!
Amelia won the school wide PTA Reflections contest (this years theme: diversity means...) with the following poem:
Peace
Peace has many meanings
Peace will put you to sleep
Peace will give you good feelings
Peace will make you weep
Happy tears of joy is what peace means to me
Peace has many meanings
Look and you will see
Peace is diversity settling together
Peace is calmness no matter the weather
Peace is the soft, crisp snow falling
Peace is the sound of soft whispers calling
Peace is a home silent and still
on top of a dark, pitch black hill
Peace is wonderful.

I am so proud of my Amelia Rose. Great job!

I Can Follow God's Plan for Me

2011-12-09T23:52:00.000-05:00

I think that's the way the Primary song goes. Simon was singing it to himself as he drove matchbox cars around. The chorus went like this:
I will work and I will play. I will walk in ev'ry one's way. And I will be happy on earth and in my home above.

I laughed and asked him to repeat, just to be sure I heard right. The first time around, he thought those were the words. The second time around, he wasn't so sure.

Say what?!

2011-11-28T20:49:00.000-05:00

Simon and I were playing soccer in the front yard when he yelled out and pointed at the sky:
Hey MOM! I see Jesus coming!
I froze. What can I do but turn around and look?
The sun was behind the branches of the tall tree across the street shining brightly through the branches. There were streams of light pouring through. It was not Jesus (did I need to say that?) But it sure was pretty.

A Problem at School

2011-11-21T23:42:00.002-05:00

Jonny came to me today to talk about school. Here's how the conversation went
Jonny: Mom I have a problem at school.
me:(very concerned) Oh, what's going on.
Jonny: Well, they are always playing music (aside: the teachers play a lot of background music in the classroom, mostly popular music, not sure why but they all do.)
and well... when I hear the music I can't sit still. I just want to get up and dance.
Me:Oh man. Jonny, I would have that problem too. When I hear good music it's hard to hold still.
Jonny: Yeah- I just want to get up and disco dance in the front of the class!

Not sure how to fix his problem, but I wish all school problems were that fun.

Totally Awesome Time

2011-11-18T12:29:00.000-05:00

Amelia's school class just earned a reward for good behavior (over an exteneded period of time) and you'll never guess what the reward is. A pajama party, but not just a wear your jammies to school party: it's way better then that. It's a bring your pj's, blankets and flashlights party. The kids are going to make blanket forts in the class room and then they get to have an hour of quiet reading (with flashlights) inside the forts. Mia is our resident expert in blanket forts. This should be something to behold. I can't wait to hear how it goes.

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T13:46:00.000-05:00

Here's to a spooktacular Halloween!

Rachel's favortite thing is Minnie Mouse, so it was easy to pick out her costume.

Jonny thought it would be fun to be a bottle of ketchup. If he were to choose his favorite condiment, he would have been a bottle of soy sauce.

James is death, the one with his hands extended. He was not able to bring his reaping tool to school, but it completed the look.

Amelia wanted to match Rachel, so she is Minnie Mouse too. She is holding a book because the kids are required to choose a book character costume (and bring the book) on Halloween. (Jonny used a science experiment book, in case you wondered.)

Here's Simon and I love him so much for being patient while I post this. He was Harry Potter because Simon wanted to wear regular clothes on Halloween, but still participate. He is wearing a medal he got for showing up for a fun run.

The kids trick or treated at the mall until the treat bucket handles fell off from the weight of the candy. Then they came home for homework and dinner before hitting the streets for more "loot." The big question is: Will the dentist be sending us a thank you after the next check ups? (I think I saw a cha-ching! in her eyes after finding 6 cavities among them last time. Sigh.)

Here's Jonny with his birthday cake. He was very specific about how he wanted it to be: a layer of chocolate cake and a layer of mint chocolate chip ice cream with an edible nerf gun on top. NO FROSTING. He consented to chocolate mousse for holding the layers together.

Knock Knock Jokes

2011-10-30T10:28:00.001-05:00

The most recent round of knock knock jokes started like this:
Knock knock!
Who's there?
Chicken butt!!! Ha ha ha ha.
Now I don't like the word "butt." I ask the kids not to use that word, hence the "hilarity" of this punch line. After the first time, I had a little talk with the kids about appropriate references for one's gluteous maximus. I won't equate the word "butt" with swearing, but I will say that I have always believed that prolific swearing is due to one of two things: small vocabulary or lack of creativity. So I decided to build the children's vocabulary, discussing with them the plethora of more appropriate names for that part of the body: bottom, rump, posterior, "nether quarters," behind, gluteous maximus, patootie, the list went on and on.
Now the knock knock jokes go like this:
Knock Knock
Who's there?
Chicken bu-TOX! (Jonny's pronunciation of buttocks)
Not really sure that's an improvement, but it makes me laugh anyway.

Disneyland!

2011-10-30T10:12:00.001-05:00

Here are the kiddodiddos all ready for fun. We departed Stansbury Park for Anaheim early Sunday morning, stopping for church in Arizona. (Not one of our finer moments, but at least we tried.) The kids packed "the essentials" and I was surprised that the jester hat was essential. It made this 15 hour ride much more festive.

Crowded into Roger Rabbit's car. What a ride!

Meeting the Mouse: this is one of the nicest pictures we have of our family with Mickey. And this was one of the best trips to Disneyland.

This is in Mickey's house, when you are waiting to meet him. Fun times!

Here's Jonny in Dumbo. He rode with Gary.

Simon, Rachel and I rode Dumbo together. Rachel cried when it was time to get off. She cried when she had to get off every ride.

The workers had to pair our kids up just right to meet their age requirements. Kids under 8 can't ride without an adult. Consequently, James and Amelia were frequently paired up. You couldn't tell that here. He's hiding because he does not want to be seen with Amelia (front Dumbo.)

We stopped by the Big Thunder Ranch to check out the animals. This is the best smelling petting zoo, hands down. Rachel liked the goat, but she thought it was a dog.

James, Simon, Mia, Jonny and Rachel line up in front of the Small World ride. I was so looking forward to taking Rachel on this ride. Babies love the colors, movement and music. She cried in line and promptly fell asleep, missing the whole thing. She also snoozed on Buzz Light Year's Space Ranger Spin.

Mia on Small World. pretty girl! One addition I enjoyed on the ride was cartoon Disney characters. They are done in the style of Small World's other characters and are pretty subtle, but if you are looking you can find Jasmine and Aladdin, Ariel, Woody and Jesse, Pinocchio, and other friends.

Jonny driving on Autopia. Because of fast passes and baby swapping, I think Jonny ended up riding this a lot. (5 times)

Disneyland was great time. We used a touring plan from a Disneyland guide book and made full use of our time there. I love having a plan when we go. It means that no time is wasted on figuring out what to do next and everyone is happy because they know that the rides they want are on the list.
Fast passes and baby swapping let the kids ride the ride multiple times in a row. For example here are a few ride totals from our more popular choices:
Splash Mountain:
Jonny and Amelia 4 or 5 (depending on who you ask)
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh:
James and Rachel 6+ times (James did Splash Mountain, but did not want to get more than once. Consequently, he hung out on Winnie the Pooh with Rachel)
Indiana Jones:
Amelia and James 4
Autopia:
Jonny and Simon: at least 4 times
Space Mountain:
Jonny and Amelia 2, Simon and James 1
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad:
Everyone but Rachel rode this once.
Pirates of the Caribbean:
Everyone but Mom and Simon rode this. It was "too scary."
Buzz Light Year
Everyone rode this twice. Rachel was awake for one of those times
Star Tours:
Totally redone, Jonny and Amelia rode this twice. Simon and Rachel were asleep in the stroller so they missed this one.
Good time had by all. Wish you could have joined in the fun!

Snowy 5K

2011-10-30T09:16:00.000-05:00

Yesterday it snowed. It never snows here before Halloween. It happened to be the race day for James' Spooktacular 5K. He joined a running club at the beginning of the year and has been running twice a week to prepare for his first race. So, with snow on the ground he and about 300 other runners took off. 29 minutes later, with blue lips and a red nose he crossed the finish line! He was tired but very happy to have made it the whole way. I am so proud of James for finishing such a big race. He can't wait to do it again.

What moms like

2011-10-30T09:12:00.001-05:00

Last week, I attended a brief puppet show put on by Amelia's brownie troop. The girls sang "The 13 days of Girls Scouts" (like the 12 days of Christmas, but they sang about all the things their troop has done.) Amelia was day 2: painting on the wall. Other girls sang about the girl scout promise, going to camp, etc. When it was over I told Amelia how cute it was and how proud I was of her for singing so nicely and she went into this harangue about how moms like EVERYTHING because they are SUPPOSED to like everything, and didn't I realize no one was singing on key and wasn't I stupid not to know how dumb it was on my own. So I was trying to hustle her out before she hurt someone's feelings when one of her troop mates (who was listening intently to our exchange) said "Mia, moms DON'T like everything. They don't like clothes on your bedroom floor. They don't like toys all over the house. They don't like fighting..." and a few other things that I forgot. I gave her a major Woot! Woot! and congratulated her for her words of wisdom.

Mowgli

2011-10-25T08:33:00.000-05:00

Last night I was reading to Rachel before bed. It was a Jungle Book themed story. When we got to a page with Mowgli, she pointed to his legs and asked "pants?" I said "No, Mowgli doesn't wear pants." We turned the page. There was another Mowgli picture and Rachel repeated "no pants" then she suggested "skirt? shirt? YEAH" I think she was trying to tell me he's got to wear something.

What would you choose?

2011-10-18T19:45:00.003-05:00

Tonight when I was leaving for a rehearsal (by the way, I'm in a show), 17-month-old cute-as-a-button Rachel approached me and said, "Hold me! Hold me!" I was happy she wanted to spend a moment with me. But just as I started to lean over to pick her up, she became very excited and detoured to her left to go around me, saying "Brush! Brush!" and then picked up a toy hairbrush on the floor behind me.

What would you choose? Your dad, or a hairbrush?

That's Entertainment!

2011-10-04T21:18:00.000-05:00

This morning I got a nice quiet hour to fold the laundry. As I was putting it away I found out why: Rachel had amused herself by dumping a bowl of oatmeal on Simon's floor to drive race cars through. Now a different child might not find anything amusing about oatmeal and cars. They might say it was "boring:" But not Rachel. She spent that hour having a great time. Was it a mess? Well, yes, but I was glad to have a kid who was willing to entertain herself. Now I'll just have to work on providing appropriate substances:)

The Relatives Came (it was us)

2011-10-02T22:37:00.000-05:00

Have you ever been tired? I mean so tired that you can't function? Let me give you an example that a few of you commenting readers can relate to (I hope.) Giving birth is a tiring experience. But even more exhausting is about day 3, when you are still physically exhausted from the process AND also being up 48 hours straight with a newborn who doesn't really sleep. Then add to that the hormonal shift from being pregnant to NOT being pregnant. For me, that's about as tired as I ever get. And I usually respond by crying for several hours straight because I don't have anything left to hold it in. Well, on the way home from our vacation, that's pretty much sums up how tired I was. The second leg of the flight home, I was a wreck.
So it's a really good thing that Gary was functional. Actually, he was my real hero, taking care of drinks and bathroom and stories and everything else the kids needed so that I could rest and recover.
And so I think that's why I am having such a hard time blogging about the trip. It's hard to remember exactly what was going on through the fog of fatigue.
So here it goes
Day One: After wrangling for a rental car that fit our family, we met up with extended family at the Jelly Belly factory. Now I have been on this tour a few times, both in Wisconsin and CA. All things considered, this was perhaps the most comprehensive tour I have ever been on, due to the fact that I was trying to keep a tantruming child away from the tour group (if you were at the zoo with us, multiple that intensity and duration by 10.) So I didn't see any of the videos or hear the guide telling his cute stories. I was just able to look out over the factory and just watch the machines. The robots were fascinating. Watching the candy evolve though the different processes was beautiful. And seeing Rachel try to interact with the robots and to get their attention was pretty precious: Hi! HI!
That being said, I don't really think it's a great place for meeting up with anybody. There's no place for all the hugging and kissing and squealing that should go on when family meets up.   It's a mad house of lines, people and echoing noise. So trying to keep tabs on all of the kiddodiddos who wanted to explore and trying to keep their tantrums to a minimum (that would be epic FAIL) was really all I could do there.
Day Two:
This day began with a tour of Pittsburg, my home town. It was kind of a drive by deal. I was impressed with the buildings new and old which seemed so brightly painted and vibrant. The new high school was impressive. The old one was a lot of separate buildings in widely varying states of repair. The new one seems to be contained in one building, which threw me, as every school I attended in Pittsburg had many buildings connected with outdoor walk ways (even elementary school.) I think it was a wonderful improvement which will bless the community.
Then we had lunch at the New Mecca Cafe.  YUM It's been around for decades, and the owner is a man who has given everything to the community. In return the community adores him. He is a town treasure. The food is good and brought back memories of all the occasions we ate there as a family and when we would go to events with free burritioes (fun runs, honor roll lunches, and even my brother's eagle project!) I don't think I am the only one who thinks the food is good- they actually cater for major league baseball teams in the bay area, as well as the Boston Red Sox (when they are in town.)
After that it was a mad dash to Alameda where we went to Crown Beach. This was really wistful for me. I dressed the kids in swim suits and jackets. But I have been to enough cold beaches in San Francisco (put your feet in until you can't take the cold anymore- run out to warm up, repeat) that I did not bring my suit. I also did not know if this beach was safe for more than feet, so I was mildly panicked to be there. I'll just say it: I am a beach wimp, especially when it involves my kids. The ocean is so big and deep and wide that the idea of one of the kids getting lost at sea just sets me on edge. This actually turned out to be a beach with warmish water, gentle waves and no under tow. The children enjoyed swimming- especially James who freaked me out beacause he was fearless in the water. He swam out with Uncle Ben (smartie who brought his suit, yes I was jealous) until we could barely see them. I played in the sand with Simon and Rachel and made castles for the dead crabs we found. I was thrilled by the quality of the specimens, but I think I annoyed my sister there by showing her dead things.
Amelia went to attend one of Aunt Vivian's girl scout troop meetings. She was proud to bring her uniform. They did a Try It about water- Amelia's troop will be doing it later this year locally. Then we went to the yacht club for a dinner/fundraiser for my neices and nephew's sailing club.   Ruth and Charles got certificates for completing summer racing lessons.   It was chilly, but a nice time to be with others. Thanks, Vivian!
Day Three, a Friday, Uncle John hosted his own birthday party. It was a cook out at a lovely park called Coyote Hills. Thanks, John! There was this butterfly garden there and also an incredible walk though the reeds. That was on a boardwalk built over the wetlands. I could have spent a while out there. I think all the kids enjoyed wandering among the reeds too. My sister in law's parents drove out from Utah to see her and Ben and Liz.   The contentment was real and it just gave me warm fuzzies to see them so happy. Gary took some of the kids on a hike to the top of a hill and I wish I had done that (I forget what I was doing instead): Amelia told me that was her favorite part of this section of the trip. All of the kids spent time running races with Cami's dad. All the teenagers and grownups spent some time relaxing in the grass. and I ran around trying to take pictures- they are really fuzzy though. Maybe I should have sat more too. Although when I did, Charles kept asking me if he could have my cheese amulet and all about it's mystical properites.  (sorry the answer is still NO)
Day Four was baptism day. Joshua and Esther turned 8 in the spring and wanted to be baptized when we were all together. I was so grateful to be there for that. It was a special time. Especially when Joshua got baptized and his brother Daniel cried out "that looked fun!" and Joshua said "It was!" I really wanted to hold Leslie's baby, Caden (he was so cute!) so that she could more easily conduct the meeting, but Rachel was too jealous to let that last long. Indeed, behavior was an issue and so I saw the baptism and Gary participated in the confirmation and we told eachother about what we missed later.
We took a huge group shot of everyone in front of the Oakland Temple (sorry we didn't turn our camera in for that, so you'll have to imagine) then we went to Fenton's Ice Cream Parlor for lunch.   Delicious salad, ICE CREAM and good laughs.  (for Utah folks, Fenton's is the same as Leatherby's) We had the kids change at the restaurant before they ate as we only brought one change of church clothes. That was a small adventure, but well worth the trouble. (So if I post pictures, we would all be wearing two outfits at the single event.)   Thanks Jake and Leslie!
Day Five we went to church in the ward I grew up in. The biggest surprise was the chorister turned out to be Michele, who was about 3 when I moved out. She only ever wore a green lion king shirt (at first it was like a dress, then she grew and grew until it was too short) I asked her where her lion king shirt was and she got a very nostalgic look on her face. I was also able to visit with an old Laurel class teacher. She was brand new in the church when I met her. She was surprised that I remembered her lessons. My favorite person to catch up with at church was Mary.   She is the same age as me and we had a lot of fun together as kids- playing leap frog and feeding the ducks. We also loved to call her dad "monkey face" because of his mustache and beard. She has down's syndrome and the ward has found the perfect calling for her: librarian. My dad said that if you don't turn in your things, she'll hunt you down. Anyway, she told me her calling is great because she can hang out in the library talking on the phone and eatting cheez-its so when Rachel did not want to sit through Sunday School you can guess where we went (the library.) Mary is getting married in a year or two and she showed me pictures of her fiance and told me about her work at Taco Bell and her hopes for a career in day care. She called her mom on the phone to tell her I was there and passed the phone to me. Her mom's voice sounded exactly like I remembered.   We colored a picture together (gee- why won't my kids do that with me?!) and then I took Rachel for a visit to the nursery. Some of her cousins were in there and they were so cute playing. Too bad Rachel wasn't old enough for full time nursery fun. I know my parents would have loved to see me in class- my dad did come out a few times to tell me to come in. Rachel was distractingly loud in class so that didn't last long.
After church, we went to my parent's house and chatted for several hours. I took a lot of pictures, especially of all the cousins picnicing on the lawn. Maybe the photos will go in a post of their own. I think every shot has someone chewing, but that's okay. They still look cute. My favorite part was when Bruce surprised us all by showing up part way through the day. He was working on a tug boat on the river and got an hour off to come and see everyone. He has to be on the boat 2 weeks at a time and we hadn't seen him yet on the trip. I asked him how things are going and he told me about watching the birds grow up on the bay.  Delightful conversation.
All too soon it was time to head back to Freemont, where we were staying. (We had to pack up to drive to Utah the next day)  It was hard to say good bye- in more ways than one. We weren't the only ones heading out at that time and so it was hard to track everyone down for goodbyes.  Goodbyes are also difficult, especially when we only get out every few years and everyone grows and changes so much between visits. Thanks Mom and Dad for hosting the crowd!
It was a really nice too see everyone, how the children have grown and what new interests everyone has. Between events, Amelia and James had fun chasing around with Charles, Ruth, Sara and Emily. They mostly played "roary monster" with Rachel and Anna (the toddlers) and also giving bucket and wagon rides to Simon and Jonny.  The jumpoline was a big hit too. We always stayed up way too late talking and telling stories, with people nodding off at times because we were all too tired to go to bed. It was a nice visit and I wish there had been more time for relaxing together and getting reaquainted with each family member. I am grateful for the time we had together.
Day Six: Driving to Utah. This was actually an easy drive. No traffic, no snow, and almost no stops. Well, we did do a drive through for lunch and maybe 3 bathroom breaks. We made really good time and were there before it got dark.
Day Sevem: This is where I get really fuzzy on what was happening when.  We even sat down with Mom and Dad to get the schedule of events (written down in detail) so we knew where to be and when but I don't have the list anymore to refer to. I think the kids did slip and slide for a couple of hours while the grown ups did laundry. Then it was time to get ready for family photos.  My sister in law Tirah had a friend take lovely shots of the family group. She was so patient as there were a lot of people to work with. The setting, the Benson Grist Mill was great and I really liked the resulting shots.  We were all supposed to wear jewel tone colors and that would have looked really cool. I was excited about that. I couldn't find jewel tone colors for children. I think it was the exact wrong season to find them. Summer pastels were all I could find. I shopped everywhere, especially online trying to find colors that would work. Then I decided to try shades of blue (rise all loyal cougars!) but all I could find was baby blue and I don't think that flatters my coloring (vanity!) In desperation, I headed to my favorite Goodwill, where I was able to find the birght blues I wanted, though they were mostly long sleeved. Sorry to ramble about buying shirts. It just consumed me before the trip so I thought I'd share the story.    (The week after we got back jewel tones were in- fall clothes had hit the stores)
After the photo shoot, we headed over to Nana and Pops for a wedding shower for Dave and Lindsey. All of the local relatives brought yummy food (thanks!) and Angie brought the most darling decorations. Tirah brought a large homemade cake. She said it was her first from scratch. Yum! I was so excited to meet Lindsey and Ace (her son.) They really are darling and I am so glad that they are a part of the family now. We all tied a quilt in the basement. It looked fabulous! The colors were vibrant and fun.
Day Eight: I think this day we did crafts with all the cousins. Fun decorated journals and puff painted hats. The kids really were proud of their results and wore them as much as possible the rest of the trip. That night we were able to attend the Salt Lake temple with Lindsey for her first time. It was a sweet occasion.   She looked so radiant and virtuous. Chris and Tirah babysat for us that night and I am so grateful for their support. Tirah also had relatives in town for her side of the family and she took time away from them to help us. Thank you!
Day Nine: This was day 3 of the cousin slumber party and the kiddodiddos were loving it.  Cousin time was the best memory from this part of the trip for them. (Yes we were there for the wedding, but the kids didn't get to see the wedding, so that didn't rank up too high on the list for them.)  Gary and I took the kids as well as Pop and Cousin Cameron for a trip to BYU. It was great to see the campus. We took a free tour, courtesy of the alumni association and it was great.  They had a large golf cart to drive our group around in and the guide pointed out various points of interest. It would have taken all day on foot. In the cart it took 45 minutes and the kids were thrilled to feel the wind on their faces. As we rode past the library, we saw grounds crew workers having a contest to see who could jump up and click their heels the highest. That was funny.  After the tour, we went to the museum of art, where I often wandered as a student. It was a great place to reflect and destress.  One fascinating exhibit was someone's video of putting books in a front loading washer and washing the books.  I could have sat through the half hour video because I wanted to see how they turned out. The kids thought it was great for like 30 seconds. In the basement of the MOA there was a quilt exhibit. I saw there a quilt I had always dreamed of making- a representation of the 10 commandments. I never have made it because I my abilities are not that great and I would be embarrassed to display the result. The quilt on the wall was exactly what I have feared my quilt would look like. The people were boxy stick figures and while the colors were good, the whole thing looked very amateur. It gave me courage to realize that things do not have to be perfect or professional to add beauty.
After that we ate lunch and ice cream (YUM) at the Creamery on Ninth East. This was brand new when Gary and I were there.
That night all of the guys went out go carting and bowling for David's bachelor party. I think they had fun even though Dad hurt his back.   Tirah brough over Jake and Abby and all the cousins were together again. They played Scene It and loved it (even though there was some squabbling.)  I took Rachel in the yard and painted our toenails with some yellow polish that Tirah brought. I didn't want to paint Rachel in the house as that would have got paint all over. I was glad to match Tirah and Rachel.  I had wanted to do something girly like that in CA too but forgot when the time came. The other girls were too busy playing games to paint up.
Day Ten: This was the wedding day for David and Lindsey. It was a beautiful day. Sunny and clear. Peaceful. Chris and Tirah watched the kids while we attended the ceremony. All through the ceremony I kept remembering Dave as the little boy he was when I met him and it made me more than a little misty eyed. Take a picture of me on the trampoline! See my cool tricks on the finger bike! See my disney pictures I drew. Here's the floor plan for my dream house (it had a courtyard.) He was 9 when I met him for the first time, younger than James is now. He was almost 14 when we moved to the East. And here he was a grown man, making and keeping sacred covenants.  I could not be more proud of him and the choices he made.
After the ceremony and pictures, we headed over to the Lion House for a celebration lunch. It was delicious. We sat at a table with Gary's Uncle Mike and Aunt Martha. I was so grateful to have some one to sit with and make it feel more festive. Our family fills up a table all by itself practically and so at social occasions where you sit at tables (church parties) we don't get to socialize as much as smaller families who share tables. When the kids are bigger, I think we'll be able to disperse through out the crowd better. But that is a tangent. Mike and Martha were lovely company for the meal. Lindsey's mom, Karma put on this lovely program with singing all about the love story of the happy couple. She is a treat. I feel lucky because all of my in-laws (on all sides) have such awesome parents and I am glad to know them.
After the wedding lunch came a really funny moment. Dave and Lindsey cut the cake at the end of the lunch after most people left, so not many people to admire or eat the cake. As Dave was leaving to change, he told us "be sure to take care of the cake." So we did.  We boxed it up into bakery boxes- 6 large ones. Then we looked around and realized that our group was the only one left.  So Chris, Tirah, Gary and I loaded up the double stroller with the wedding cake and stand and (with other misc. items in hand) herded the kiddodiddos through downtown Salt Lake back to the parking garage. On the way we ran into the groom, who traded us tuxedos for a diaper bag. I am sure our group looked pretty silly with a double stroller full of cake, arms full of kids and tuxedos, etc . Or maybe it's normal and I just think it's funny.
When we got home, Nana said What am I going to do with all that cake?! we told her Dave said to save it.   Seveal times that night, I heard her answer the phone with "Hello, do you want cake?" So hopefully he got some when he got back from his honeymoon:)
Day Eleven (were we really gone that long?): We went to the Salt Lake zoo. I think it's nicer than the National Zoo. James and Jonny were convinced they trainned the tiger to wink whenever they clapped.   One of the kiddodiddos didn't like the zoo much and when the whining turned on, I was not this smooth mom who turned it into laughter or anything cool. Fortunately, lots of Gary's relatives are cool like that, so a crisis on the level of the Jelly Belly factory was avoided. After that it was a picnic in Liberty Park with Nana, Pop, Cameron, Chris, Tirah, and several of Tirah's relatives. Her cousins visiting from Oklahoma were sweet enough to have their kids babysit my kids at the park so I could break with the grown ups. I would have loved to sit with the grown ups but I was too sleep deprived to completely process the offer and and take them up on it. I do have fun memories of chasing Simon and Rachel around there so it's not a big loss, I guess. We headed over to this awesome water sculpture of the canyons and rivers. I think that was one of my favorite parts, wading around in the cool water. Then there was a ferris wheel for the kids, I was proud of James for being brave enough to ride it.
After that, we had to hurry and pack up because we were leaving for Disneyland early the following day. We did manage to sit down to a family dinner. Things had been so busy that we mostly ate in shifts, as people had time. It was nice to have the experience of sitting together for a meal for the last night.  Uncle Adam had made and frozen this amazing lasagna for us. That was so kind. It was meatless, because Jonny refuses to eat meat.
I think the only thing I forgot to mention was that I had fun pushing the kiddodiddos and cousins around on Uncle Dave's old unicycle. I tried it myself a few times but could never get it going.
We packed up the van and in the morning we left for Disneyland. That's an adventure of it's own though. So I think it will get it's own post.

I am grateful for everyone who made the trip possible and comfortable and pleasant. For all the service and love shown to my family. I am grateful for my relatives (and there are many!) and wish that I could have spent time showing each one the love and admiration I feel. Thanks for the memories!

I'm getting over it

2011-09-23T09:33:00.000-05:00

I think I am over it. I have just been too overwhelmed by the prospect to do a thorough post about our trip to see family in July and August.  A nod to my telephone survey experience from years past: Was it terrible, poor, just okay, good or excellent?   Well, it was all of those things.
For example:
Our flight out was more than two hours late. That was terrible. It meant that we didn't arrive in San Francisco until after 1am. But the fun that the kids had playing at the airport with all the other stranded kids was excellent. Ask Simon: that was his favorite part of the trip, next to Disneyland. About a dozen kids joined together for good old fashioned fun (tag mostly.) We were lucky to be at the end of a terminal so there was room for it.
The loss of Simon's suitcase for a couple of days was poor. It meant that we didn't get to Uncle John and Aunt Molly's house until 3 am (because of the paper work, etc.)  Good thing we packed the pull ups in a separate bag.  Just okay he and Jonny are only a couple of inches apart and could share (that meant Jonny ran out of clothes sooner though.) But the excellent part was all of the jokes we got out of the "care kit" he received as compensation. Deoderant, shoe polish and a razor. I was sad we left the kit in CA. He would have loved wearing deoderant to Uncle Dave and Aunt Lindsey's wedding.

I think you are starting to see what I mean.   There's just a lot to say. And there's pictures to show. And now there's a baby who needs me. So maybe I'll get back to this later.

Rachel's Word List: 16 months

2011-09-22T21:31:00.003-05:00

Rachel is about 16 months now and has a pretty large vocabulary for her age. Here is a good sampling of what she says:shoe
flip flops
dress (means both getting dressed and a shirt or dress)
ba ba
hot
bath
Jonny
Simon
(James and Amelia are not recognizable by me yet)
Momma
Dada
dog
cat
car
bus
trash
bike
baby
story
tree
flower
ball
game
bird
outside
hi
hello (meaning the telephone)
bye bye
Nana
Pop
Jesus
num num (something to eat)
chips (gold fish crackers)
cheese
yogurt
swing
minnie (means mickey and minnie and cartoony animals with extra large eyes)
eye
hair
nose
ear
knee
tummy
pony
poop (her first two word combo:bye-bye poop, after flushing the toilet)
brush (meaning toothbrush)
sit
floor
stroller

a bit of parenting advice

2011-08-24T07:26:00.000-05:00

If your kids are sitting on each other's faces and annoyind the general public at large, do not ask them to draw pictures of each other to quiet them down. That was my genius idea last night. Descriptions follow because I made the kids throw them out.
Amelia of Jonny: one artsy drawing of a pile of poop
Jonny of Amelia: a girl lying down with x's for eyes and a frown, a tombstone over her head which reads "death by brothers"
James of Jonny: an overly large person with a little bitty head; next to the person is a tiny person holding a pin to pop the large person
They haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

delayed trip report

2011-08-24T07:21:00.000-05:00

Well I guess it's obvious that our recent trip has not made it on the blog. I would love to do it justice, so you'll have to wait a bit longer. I have high hopes that it will still happen. Many of our trips (and yours to see us) have never made it on the blog because I didn't want to do a rush job. SO, here's to hoping it'll happen once school is in session!

For MY Moms

2011-07-25T16:10:00.001-05:00

I often marvel at the beautiful flowers that spring up here at home. The previous owners of our house had an obvious love of flowers. My mother and mother in law also have a love of flowers and have lots of blooms at their respective homes. I love it when they share pictures and would like to share some of my own. Once school let out the weeds have taken over.
Here are some shots of what is blooming now, and a reverse chronology of what we saw earlier this year. We have a small geranium and a few small petunias hanging on right now, but sorry no pictures.

We have 4 of these trees, I think they are hibiscus, one is taller than the house and the blooms are large and purple.

These are tiny and yellow. I don't know what they are.

This crepe myrtle is looking washed out, it really is vibrant.

This is called sancresea and the leaves are dark purple and the buds are lavendar. You should plant it, you'll love it. It's perenial that can tolerate heat and drought. This concludes what is blooming now.

Lavendar, still smells great!

I got the clematis to climb a lamp post this year, it was pretty.

Yellow daisies- we had red as well.

This hosta gets hot easily and often looks sunburned. Here it's looking great. This concludes the early summer flowers.

Irises, which bloom for Rachel's birthday.

love this, but don't know what it is. It looks like forsythia to start, blooms later and PINK.

These peonies are gorgeous in the late spring. The following photos are the first bloomers of the year.

Tea Party

2011-07-24T07:35:00.000-05:00

Last week, Amelia had a friend over. They baked cookies together and we threw an impromptu tea party. As you well know, tea parties are fancy and attendees must dress the part. I require no less than neckties for the boys and gaudy jewerly for the girls. The table was set. The tea was poured and cookies divided. We discussed our favorite princesses as we sipped out tea with pinkies extended. Then the door bell rang. James' neighborhood friends had come to see if he could play, but instead they said "Dude, why are you wearing a tie?!" James, who was wearing the tie to get cookies, ripped off the tie as fast as he could and ran away for some quality time with the guys.

packing

2011-07-24T07:25:00.000-05:00

Our BIG summer trip is coming up in just a few days. Jonny and James took the initiative to pack their suitcases last night. Gary and I sorted through them after they were in bed. Gary opened Jonny's first: Pack only the essentials, he said and then pulled out Jonny's essentials- a jester hat!, books, and clothes. Then Gary moved on to James' case: Union soldier hat, pens and pencils, outer wear (only 1 underpants?!)

Brief Summer Update

2011-07-14T20:29:00.000-05:00

Well it's mid July and about a month since I posted last. I think a few days ago I was excited to do a write up, but I forgot what it is I wanted to say.Amelia went to girl scout day camp. She had a blast. The camp is run by high school age girl scouts at a park in a nearby town. The website about it said to be prepared for wet surprises. She caught "3 fish" (well, one fish bit her worm and left, one she reeled in, and the other one got a way before she could reel it in.) She made an awesome kite with 100 feet of real kite string. (that was cool until I spent an hour and a half untangling it.) She got bangs, hung out with her friends, and got everyone to call her "Mia." The funniest story was from yoga class.  One leader sat them all down and taught them the lotus position and how to meditate. While they were meditating, another leader came along and sprayed them all with a hose. Then they all jumped up and played in the water.

Then they all went to a local Vacation Bible Camp: Pandamania! Where God is Wild About You. The kids liked it and were always full of questions when they got home. (James: Did God really make us by blowing on a pile of dirt? Simon: Is God really INSIDE me?!) My friends who have sent their kids to VBS said there kids don't ever talk about what they learned, but my kids absorbed it all. Lots of fun gospel discussion that week. Throughout the camp, the kids were doing a contest, boys against girls to raise money for Convoy of Hope. The prize, a can of silly string to cover the losers with. Jonny asked to do money chores one day, because he was so excited about this contest. I thought Gee, he's kind of sweet to raise money for this charity. Then I found out he didn't think the boys would win and wanted to buy his own can of silly string for the last day.

This week, James had cub camp. It was a logistical nightmare, coordinating chaperones (Gary was over that) but the boys had a great time. Everyday I got to hear about basket ball or volley ball in the pool, as well as how many bull's eyes he got (or almost got) at sling shot, bb's, and archery.  Also what kind of sandwich he got: baloney 3 days in a row. He was always hoping for turkey.
Jonny also had camp this week. It's a free one here called McGruff Safety Camp and he was lucky to get a spot. He has been riding 4 wheelers there, as well as fighting plywood fires with real hoses.  Tomorrow is graduation and I think it should be pretty fun.

We have been swimming 8 times at a nearby indoor pool. The kids like it a lot. I like best the time Gary came, because I actually got to swim too. Usually I am holding Rachel and Simon (and who ever claims they forgot how to swim.) The shallow part is really fun. It has a playground. There is also a rock climbing wall at the same facility. James made it up the first time and made it look easy. Amelia made it about half way before getting spooked by the height.

We spent a day thrifting for bargains. James has a really good eye for that.

We have spent a few days at the library. The summer reading program this year encourages actually library usage (read a book with this call number, etc) so it has been fun to go there and let the older 3 loose to find the books they like.  (I introduced them to Tintin. The boys loved it, Amelia didn't get it.) Jonny likes Bionicle and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. James is into Goosebumps. Amelia likes fairy themed books.

This summer, the kids have goals: Jonny wants to cook, Amelia wants to babysit, and James wants to cook too.  Simon wants to cook too (according to Jonny.) So I need to spend more time cooking with the kids, I presume. I did it a lot in the past, but our last house had a kitchen that was hard to share so I got out of the habit. Really, I could stand in the center of the floor and touch the fridge, the sink, the stove, and the counter top just by rotating, so it felt crowded. Message to me: let us back in the kitchen. I have been giving Amelia more chances to "watch out" for Rachel and they seem to like that time together.

Rachel likes to grin with her nose scrunched up this summer. She also likes to touch bumble bees. There are plenty of them in the lavendar bush.  Also in the back yard where I just found a bunch (I mean a ton) of ground wasps ( Don't play out there for now okay? I am told Sevin dust will take care of them. Will report.)

Mornings are peaceful around here. The afternoons can be dicey. The older kids aren't used to so much free time and get irritable. But we are all learning to get along.

Me? What am I up to? Well, I am getting back in to an exercise routine. I told myself I could slack off until Rachel was sleeping through the night. (I had no idea it would be a year before she would do that, but am in heaven now!) After 5 years of aerobics in my living room, I got tired of stepping on kids. Last year, I tried running, but I didn't like to get up before Gary left to do it. That meant running with all the kids, at a track. Some on wheels, some in strollers.  After a year of trying to like running (I only made it out once or twice a week), I aquired a bike.  Love it. Will get up early for it.
Am trying to establish a strawberry patch on one side of the house. Kind of fun to watch over that. A deer came and ate off the leaves that were on top (as well as the sun flowers the kids planted.) The lower leaves are thriving. The rest of the yard needs attention, but that's too overwhelming this year.
Gary and I have also been trying to make a better habit of temple attendance. What with nursing babies, my attendance over the last 10 years has been spotty. I am so happy to be making a better pattern now.
Daddy-diddo has been on trips this summer- poor guy hasn't been able to relax much with work demands. We all look forward to spending time with him.
I think I am all talked out, so it's time to take care of laundry and one last coat of paint. It's the entry way this time. (I gave up on the mirrored ceiling removal project. Too tedious. I suppose I'll have to return to it eventually, once all the easier stuff has been done.)

Relish

2011-06-14T08:33:00.000-05:00

The kiddodiddos recently discovered some Jimmy Neutron dvds at the library and have been enjoying them. I guess on one episode, an evil genius cries out "I relish these days of power!"
It has been a long week of gastrointestinal distress of all kinds, made worse by a broken washing machine (to be fixed on Friday, maybe? We bought a contract with Sears for the repair, and apparently, our fix is not a priority to them.)
I was eatting breakfast one day, when I heard a shout from under the table "I relish these days of BABY!" I looked and there was Jonny, vigorously patting the baby cheeks of his little sister. It was a nice reminder of what's important. And that these days of baby are fleeting.

Adventure

2011-06-14T08:27:00.000-05:00

Last week, I took my younger kiddos to a local farm. We enjoyed seeing the "really big dogs" (goats) and pigs of every size. Jonny was thrilled to see the horses and I was amused to notice that one of them is the same age as the kid's Uncle Chris. Rachel loved the horses until they looked at her in the face. That was freaky. The kids posed for photos on the de-comissioned tractors. I think I could track the growth of the kids with photos on these tractors, we've been going there for the last 5 years. We did something they have never done: the hay ride around the farm. I have taken the older kids on a hay ride or two, when they were small.
We piled onto the trailer and found spots in the shade (very important since it was 100 degrees that day.) The driver told us a little about the farm/park. He mentioned they encourage the black snake population, as they control the rodent population in the barns. Sometimes, you can see them in the trees in the woods, he said.
With a rumble from the tractor we were on our way. As we rode past farm equipment, Rachel smiled, to feel the wind on her face. Simon was thrilled to have no seat belt, and Jonny got huge eyes. He pointed at some thing used for holding hay and said "I know what that is!" then in a hushed whisper he added "a guillotine." I was glad he did not say it out loud, lest he scare the others on board. We continued on past some things for horses to jump over and one of them was knocked over and propped back. "Catapult," I was wisely informed. Just as we entered the woods, he spottd a cannon out of the corner of his eye (painted log.) Then came the harrowing part of our journey: the woods. Remember we had been told to look out for snakes. Jonny obeyed and told me about each and every one he saw, including several that were right behind me about to bite! He wrote about it in school later: I saw 22 snakes!
If I had know the ride would be so exciting, I would have done it long ago!

Rachel's Word List

2011-06-06T15:54:00.000-05:00

Here it is:
Rachel's vocabulary at almost 13 months:mom: mom
dad: dad
hello: heyo
bye bye:bah bah
bottle:baa baa
smile (for the camera):smi-ya
Rachel: wayzo
She also growls a lot if she sees something that looks like a monster.

She's starting to walk now, for more than just applause.
Rachel is growing up too fast for my taste!

soccer night

2011-06-03T14:16:00.001-05:00

Jonny and Simon have been playing soccer this spring. Jonny's team is the Sharks. On the way home one night, he was recalling the events of the night and his team victory. Then he said in a kind of wistful way "You know what would make it even better? If there was half time and a half time show and one of the parents came dressed as a shark and danced around."
Yeah. That would make it even better.

hat trick

2011-06-03T14:12:00.000-05:00

Simon came to me with a magic hat on and a smug smile on his face. "I will do a trick for you. I will pull a rabbit from my hat." Then he realized that he pulled the rather small hat down too far and couldn't get it off! YIKES! memorable in more than one way!

Happy Birthday, Rachel

2011-05-19T07:23:00.000-05:00

Dear Rachel,
I am sorry that I was not able to post this on your birthday. I tried and blogger was not working. It wasn't working the next time either. I know when you are older, the timeliness of your birthday post will be important to you, so today I apologize to you, sweet baby girl.
love,
Mom

Plenty of cuddles

Plenty of cake to eat

Plenty of cool presents

It was so fun to have a birthday girl who knew what was going on, very impressive for ONE. Rachel found her presents early and tried to open them, so I knew she got the idea of unwrapping gifts. She loved unwrapping and playing with gifts, although she didn't get so many turns with them. They were so cool, the big kids didn't let her while they were awake.
She (through her endearing baby ways) talked Gary out of his chocolate Easter bunny, so we knew she LOVED chocolate. If I had my thoughts together before hand, I would have made the cake look like a chocolate bunny. But I did not (in hind sight that's probably good because it would have looked vaguely Playboy). She was having a weepy day on her birthday, so I figured she would rather have cuddles than a fancy cake. She loved the attention, and she loved the plain chocolate cake.

Happy Birthday Amelia!

2011-04-19T21:23:00.000-05:00

To the girl who wanted COOL stuff for her birthday:

I just wanted to let you know you ARE cool stuff!

I loved spending time with you today doing girl stuff like shopping for a baptism dress and decorating your cake together. You are a beautiful and fun loving girl . I love the way you notice and take delight in the tiniest detail.

love,

Mom

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 23

2011-04-18T16:14:00.000-05:00

I made it home and all is well!

Details:

I checked out of my hotel Sunday afternoon and rode a taxi to the airport. One thing about Rio is that the taxi ride TO the airport is, or at least can be, a lot cheaper than the taxi ride FROM the airport. At the Rio airport, you get mobbed by drivers who insist that they are insulted that you would suggest they are trying to overcharge you. But returning to the airport, it's much easier to get a yellow taxi that charges a fair price. My taxi from the airport was R$90 (about $55), while my taxi back to the airport was R$52 (about $30). No traffic, despite yesterday's Niterói-Rio marathon.

I was very early to the airport. Rio actually has a decent amount of shops and food places in the international area, but you have to go upstairs and downstairs and all over to see it all. I bought some rapadura in the duty free shop. Rapadura is basically a block of brown sugar candy. Good stuff! I'll enjoy it with Tracy and the kiddodiddos one of these days.

I got a decent amount of sleep during my long flight from Rio de Janeiro to New York. It was probably the best night of sleep I have ever had on a plane.

Landing at JFK provided some interesting views of the pre-dawn city. New York is so huge that it's hard to get a sense of it until you actually visit. Even seeing it from the air doesn't give a fair picture. But the view was very nice. And as the plane touched down for a bumpy landing, I had a thrill as I thought, "I'm back." I don't have any connection to New York, but it's part of my country.

I am pleased to report that at JFK there were as many CBP officers helping Americans as there were officers helping foreigners. That was not true last time I returned to the U.S. This time, I flew through the line in five minutes. One of the highlights of my voyage home was what the CPB officer said to me sincerely when he returned my stamped passport:

"Welcome home."

Thank you, officer, for warmly welcoming a fellow American after a very long trip. You made my day.

By the way, simple math: CBP > TSA.

The flight was early, and I spent a couple of hours waiting for my final flight. Before boarding, they asked for volunteers to be bumped to a later flight, not because they were oversold, but because they were overweight. They offered a $250 voucher. I really wanted to get home to my family. Plus, if I had to get home late, I wanted cash, not vouchers. So I stood my ground. Fortunately, they got enough volunteers, and I boarded the regional jet that took me home.

We were early, and my luggage came right away. I tried calling Tracy, but no answer. I went to sit outside and look for Tracy, as well as breathe that American air. Mmm, freedom. I went back in to the baggage claim, and there were Tracy and all the kids! I went up next to them like I was watching the baggage claim with them, and after a few seconds one of them noticed me, and soon I was smothered in hugs and kisses from all my kiddodiddos and my darling wife!

After such a long trip, I thought the desire to travel would be completely gone. However, this was a very successful and in some ways enjoyable trip. The work in California stressed my limits, but my team and I came through and slew the beast at the Main Event. My visit in Manaus was delightful and I would love to go back someday with Tracy. Rio is Rio, which I have seen before but was just as nice the second time, and the work there was low-stress. I survived 23 days, 17,099 air miles, 14 South American taxi rides, 19 nights in hotels, three nights on planes, one corrupted operating system, two sunburns, two motorboat rides, and whatever else the Lord protected me from that I don't even know about. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. I'm glad I did it, and I'm glad it's now over.

Excitement

2011-04-18T05:33:00.000-05:00

We're off to pick up Daddy in just a few hours. Can't tell you how excited I am to see his sweet face again. The kids are dying to see him because "It's no fun with out him."
I just can't wait to see how Rachel reacts. She loved him on Skype 2 weeks ago. She pointed and flapped her arms and made all kinds of excited noise.

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 22

2011-04-17T16:12:00.002-05:00

If everything goes well, this will be my next to last blog post for this trip. I am now in the Rio de Janeiro Galeão airport, waiting for my flight home through JFK. Unfortunately, I can't tell whether the Internet access is free or not, and to find out I would have to provide my driver's license number and many other unnecessary and inappropriate pieces of personal information, so I'll pass. Therefore, you probably won't see this post until I actually return, though I'll adjust the date so you may not even notice.

Day 22 started very nicely, as I went to church this morning in the Ala Botafogo (Botafogo Ward) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The last time I was able to go to sacrament meeting was March 20, so it's about time. There is a meetinghouse very close to the Botafogo metro station, and the metro trip was very quick and I arrived quite early.

Capela da Ala Botafogo

The ward members were very welcoming and friendly. Attendance was low today, but they told me it was lower than normal because of the upcoming Holy Week culminating with Easter. A lot of people have gone on vacation. Sounds like Spring Break, and I'm glad the people in this part of Brazil have that luxury. Botafogo seems like a nice part of town.

After church, I wandered the building a little bit. This church building has three stories, as well as an additional flight of stairs with roof access. I snapped a couple of photos from the roof:

Part of Botafogo in Rio de Janeiro, taken from the roof of the Botafogo LDS chapel looking west

Part of Botafogo in Rio de Janeiro, taken from the roof of the Botafogo LDS chapel looking southwest

I returned to my hotel via metro. By the way, if you use the Rio metro "Pré-Pago" (prepaid) card, be aware that you can only recharge it with at least R$5. I made a mistake and ended up leaving a few reais on my card. I'll use it next time I'm here, but I'm sure the fare will be higher then.

This afternoon, I was tired and needed to pack, so I took it easy and made it a true day of rest in my hotel. That was nice. By the way, I can recommend the Premier Copacabana Hotel in Rio de Janeiro. My room was generous. It wasn't the newest and looked a little dingy, worn, and dim, but it was also clean, safe, and comfortable. There was an ashtray on the sitting room table, but the room didn't smell like smoke (or anything, for that matter). Breakfast was really nice every day, one of the best free hotel breakfasts I have had (not as good as Hampton Inn though). They allowed me to stay Sunday afternoon before my flight for a small fee that was well under the daily rate, and that was very helpful. There was a slight snafu at checkout, when they played the Famous Minibar Trick, in which they accused me of taking items from the minibar (which I never do). I have been through that before at other hotels, and today they took me at my word when I said I didn't take anything and did not charge me.

Good news from home: Tracy is on the mend, and the kids are healthy. Many thanks to Ott and Tera for helping with the kids a couple of days ago, and thanks also to Miguel and Ellen for taking the kids to church today. Tracy is usually so healthy, but it's just my luck that I'm not around to help when she needs it. But I'm grateful for good friends who are willing to help.

Tomorrow I will conclude this 23-part series, which hopefully will be the end of the longest business trip for the rest of my life.

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 21

2011-04-16T19:18:00.010-05:00

Greetings from Rio de Janeiro on my last full day in Brazil. Tomorrow morning, I will complete three weeks away from home. Tracy and I have never been apart this long since we met, and I do miss her. I'm glad I'll be home on Monday.

However, I had a great day today. This morning I slept in a little. After breakfast, I went to Copacabana Beach to swim and sit in the sun. It was very pleasant. There were some large waves that knocked me down three or four times. Swimming in the ocean is one of my favorite things. Spending time in the ocean reminds me of when Moses had a vision of the earth and said, "Now, for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed." (Moses 1:10) In my case, getting pulled under the water by one little wave near one little beach is powerful enough to make me humble. I had a talk with a colleague not too long ago in which he told me that surfing does the same thing, though he wasn't speaking religiously. Either way, no wonder the ocean is so captivating.

Copacabana Beach, taken near the Forte de Copacabana and looking northeast. I went to the beach a mile or two northeast of here.

After spending enough time at the beach to undo the farmer tan I got last weekend in Manaus, I showered and went to the Forte de Copacabana (Copacabana Fort) by subway. It's an old army fort on the point of land that sticks out in the ocean between Copacabana and Ipanema. The fort was somewhat interesting. There was also a military museum, which was also somewhat interesting.

The entrance to the Forte de Copacabana. There's a real soldier in period garb at the left side of the entrance. It's still officially an army fort and is run by Brazilian Army soldiers.

Forte de Copacabana. Just left of center is a helicopter that had just taken off from the fort. The Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf) is left of center in the background.

Part of the fort

On top of the fort, looking at one of the guns

Looking west from the top of the fort. The tall buildings are in Ipanema.

After visiting the fort, I got back on the subway to go to Glória, near the Centro, to visit the Museu da Arte Moderna (Museum of Modern Art). I'm not a big art fan, but I have seen a lot of Rio in two trips here and thought I would do something new. The museum was okay. I think I would have appreciated it more if I knew more about art. They do not allow patrons to take photos, but I took a few on the way there and back.

The Centro (downtown Rio). Taken from a pedestrian bridge over a highway, looking north.

Looking south from the same bridge. The tall hill in the background is the Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf).

The Museu da Arte Moderna building. Most of the museum is above the ground floor, and you can walk under it.

A rock garden and some modern art outside the museum.

Temporary facility for tomorrow's Corrida da Ponte (Bridge Race), a marathon from Niterói to Rio de Janeiro that crosses the Rio-Niterói bridge.

Look at the man in the center, and look at the airplane at the top. It's a motorized model airplane that is attached to a cable. The man is holding the other end of the cable and flying the plane. The sign at the right indicates that this area is for doing exactly what this guy is doing.

After I got back from the museum, I rested a little and had dinner. I ate pizza. Yes, of all the foods I could have eaten in Rio, all I wanted tonight was pizza. It's a good thing because there seems to be at least one pizza place on every block in Copacabana. After my pizza, I got on a bus to visit the Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf). I've been there before, but I thought I would see how it looks at night. The view was okay but nothing like the daytime view. The best thing is that the weather was cool and the sun was not in my eyes, so I just sat relaxing and looking at the lights for a while. A few photos turned out and here they are.

Model of the Pão de Açúcar and surrounding area

A cruise ship leaving Rio, taken from atop the Pão de Açúcar

Me with Copacabana Beach to my left, your right

A sculpture atop the Pão de Açúcar. The plaque indicates that the sculpture is supposed to represent the physical geography of Rio.

Santos Dumont airport, taken from atop the Pão de Açúcar. Santos Dumont was the Brazilian inventor of the airplane (not to be confused with the Wright Brothers, the real inventors of the airplane).

Flamengo Beach, taken from atop the Pão de Açúcar

Botafogo Beach, taken from atop the Pão de Açúcar

I'm glad I went at night, because it was very comfortable weather and easy on my eyes. But the spectacular views and photos are really only available in the day. It was definitely worth a try though.

I am very pleased that I head for home tomorrow. I know three weeks would be child's play for a lot of people, including our brave airmen, soldiers, and sailors. But I don't like to be away from my family for this long. It's time to get back to normal life.

Tomorrow's blog post will not likely show up tomorrow, because I probably won't have Internet access until I get home on Monday. I'm looking forward to a safe trip home and a wonderful reunion with my family.

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 20

2011-04-15T18:07:00.001-05:00

Happy Tax Day. This will be quick. Day 20 was a very slow day at the trade show. We decided to wrap up early. It was slow Friday traffic and it took us a couple of hours to get back to Copacabana. By the time I got here, I wasn't hungry for a meal, but I had some ice cream. I'm tired and already ready for bed.

If you're in Rio and you need a dependable taxi driver, I can put you in touch with Bernardo. He took me and my colleagues to and from the trade show every day. He was always on time to pick us up within 15 minutes of the scheduled time (traffic is bad here so that's remarkable), and he was quick and efficient yet polite and safe by Rio standards. He doesn't speak English, but otherwise he would be very helpful for your Rio travels.

Tracy is still sick. She saw a doctor, who said she (Tracy) has strep throat. At least that means it's treatable, but she sounds miserable. Please pray for her.

Twenty days down. Three to go. I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it's not a train. I'm going to survive this.

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 19

2011-04-14T20:38:00.004-05:00

Helicopter at the trade show. I don't know what type or whose.

It was a decent day at the trade show. It was a slow taxi ride to the show, and it was a much slower ride from the show back to town. It seems there were multiple accidents at key points, including the Rio-Niterói bridge, that crippled traffic throughout the city. Fortunately, we have a great taxi driver named Bernardo who used his phone to network with his colleagues and find out about all the problems, and he knew a back way.

Tonight we had dinner together at Churrascaria Carretão. What a great place! They had all-you-can-eat meat, like Brazilian restaurants in the U.S. have. It was much less expensive than some of the other top-rated churrasco places in Rio, but I can't imagine how it would be better.

I'm sad to hear that Tracy is sick tonight with flu-like symptoms. Please pray for her. She has a big job taking care of the kids and house alone while I'm gone.

Latest projects

2011-04-13T20:09:00.000-05:00

Yesterday and today we had new railings installed in our split foyer house. The old ones were seriously wobbly and had gaps between the posts, just perfect for tiny crawlers to fall through and/or curious toddlers to get their heads stuck in. We have wanted to replace them since we moved in. Here are the results.

Here's the final bathroom from my project. I am calling it done even though I did not get the mirrors off the ceiling. I don't think I really thought through what would happen when I attempted to pry them loose. Shattering was not what I had in mind.

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 18

2011-04-13T20:08:00.004-05:00

Today was a lot like yesterday, except that we did not have to set up. We simply arrived and started talking to people at the trade show. It was a busy enough day. We had a good amount of traffic.

I forgot to mention that yesterday, my water bottle was taken from my computer stand. We had set out some company luggage tags as swag, but the water bottle was mine from a conference I attended in 2007 (and marked as such). I guess someone thought my still-wet bottle from 2007 was swag too, because it disappeared. (To the extremely intelligent person who did this: enjoy the bottle, as well as the cold sores you might now have for the rest of your life.) This morning I bought a bottle of water at a market near my hotel so I wouldn't have to pay the convention center price (about $0.80 near my hotel, about $2.40 at the convention center). During the show, I set my water on my stand, and it disappeared too! Good thing I locked my computer with a cable lock or maybe someone would have thought that was a freebie too.

I returned to my hotel around 8:00 and had dinner. I ate at one of those comida á kilo places. If you see a restaurant that says "á kilo" or "á quilo," it means you choose your food from a buffet and they weigh it to determine how much you pay. It's an economical and fast way to get some decent food. It wasn't all that cheap tonight, but no restaurant in Rio is. Plus they had some authentic Brazilian food: beans, rice, and farofa. It was not nearly as good as my lunch in Manaus, but it was good enough.

I sure miss my family. I'm glad I'll be home in five days, because this trip has already been too long.

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 17

2011-04-12T22:30:00.000-05:00

Today I did have a better day, after a nice night of sleep. My hotel room looks dilapidated and dingy, but in reality it's clean, safe, quiet, and comfortable.

Today we went to the trade show site to finish setup and do Day 1 of 4 of the show. The trade show suppliers here don't concern themselves much with making sure we're ready for showtime. It doesn't help that every service and piece of equipment--Internet, electricity, cabinets, this kind of chair, that kind of chair, etc.--comes from a different supplier. Thankfully, I speak enough Portuguese to get people to do what we needed, but we weren't completely open for business by showtime. No big deal. There wasn't much traffic until the afternoon. I was pleased that I was able to help the booth next door, which had no Portuguese speakers.

I worked today with some people from my company as well as some interesting folks from our Brazilian distributor's office here in Rio. We had a good day overall. It was productive but long. The show went until 7 PM. Then we had a long taxi ride back to our hotels. When I arrived, I went for some dinner at a restaurant that I have visited before. It was good but not as great as I remembered, so I'll try somewhere new tomorrow.

These long days of trade show and taxi will make this a one-dimensional week for me, similar to preparing for the Main Event a couple of weeks ago. I don't like it much. But this is what I do to provide for my family, and that makes it much easier.

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 16

2011-04-11T21:30:00.001-05:00

Today started when yesterday ended, at midnight in the Manaus airport. The flight left a little before 1:00, and after takeoff it was a little less than four hours until landing in Rio de Janeiro.

Let me make something clear: TAM Airlines could not run a redeye flight properly if someone's life depended on it. For one thing, the seats are unusually hard and uncomfortable, which made it almost impossible to sleep. For another thing, they kept turning the cabin lights on and off. After about an hour of lights mostly off, they turned all the lights on and served a drink and snack. I thought they could have done that without every single light. What's more, the snack boxes were wrapped in NOISY FOIL GIFT WRAP! Yes! On a redeye flight! I have never seen that kind of wrapper on airline food. I just had to laugh. I can't believe TAM thinks that's okay, let alone beneficial, on a redeye flight.

(Lest anyone think Brazilian airlines are low quality in general, my flight from São Paulo to Manaus on GOL a few days ago was great.)

But I made it to Rio just fine. So far, I'm annoyed with pushy taxi drivers, which I encountered to a small extent last time I was here. I'm also annoyed because the company put two of us in one hotel and the other of us (me) in another one, in different neighborhoods miles apart. That makes it difficult and/or expensive to get to the work site. I tried Metro plus a bus today, at the end of which I still had to catch a taxi for a few miles. That wasn't bad but probably not as efficient as I need to be.

I'm working on about 48 hours without sleep, so I'd better close it up. I wish I could say something good about Rio aside from the fact that I had a great time in Manaus. But I'm sure I'll feel better when I've had a decent night of sleep.

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 15

2011-04-10T18:07:00.004-05:00

Today is Sunday. If you read Day 1 and Day 8, you know that my last two Sundays were unusual for me. Today I was grateful to have a chance to go to church.

I could have gone to a ward closer to my hotel, so I decided to venture out into the "bairros" (neighborhoods) and attend the Tancredo Neves Ward. I decided to take the bus, so I headed to Terminal 1 (T1), the city center bus station. I asked how to get to Tancredo Neves. "You can't get there from here," the moneytaker said, "but you can get there from T2, so catch a bus to there." T2 looks out of the way on the map, but I trusted this advice and waited a long time for a bus to T2. Arriving there, I asked how to get to Tancredo Neves. "You can't get there from here," the moneytaker said, "but you can get there from T4 or T5, so catch a bus to one of those."

At that point I realized I was going to be late for the 8:30 church meetings, but it could have been much worse. I waited and along came a bus going to both T4 AND T5. "Either way, I can't lose," I thought. Besides, I had Google Maps on my bricked Android, which is not a brick when WiFi is available, and it caches maps! Yes! So before I left this morning, I cached up all the maps I would need. The GPS works without any signal or WiFi, so I could see where I was going. This bus went to T5, which was getting close to the church. I confirmed with the driver where he was going after T5, and sure enough, the bus went right through the neighborhood where the church is located.

I got off the bus and started walking up the side street where the church should be. When I was here, it was a rented warehouse, with temporary dividers and a portable baptismal font (we always went down to Coroado to do our baptisms though). But they don't meet in that warehouse anymore. Now they have a chapel next door.

Capela da Ala Tancredo Neves

Basketball/soccer court and satellite dish behind the chapel

The warehouse that used to be a rented chapel for the Tancredo Neves Ward

I was very happy to know there were enough members in the area to justify a meetinghouse. I went in and found two brothers in suits. I asked if there were meetings, and they said it would be stake conference. It's a stake center. I thought I was 15 minutes late for 8:30 meetings; it turns out I was 1 hour 15 minutes early for 10:00 conference. I chatted with a few people for a while, none of whom I knew or knew me. One is a bishop who has been in the Church for five years. Another is a stake presidency counselor who has been in the Church for four years. It's different here, where the Church grows by leaps and bounds in every demographic except adult males. If you're a man and active in the Church, they're going to put you to work.

I sat with some missionaries and an investigator of theirs who was going to be baptized that afternoon. They don't have a Portuguese-only rule anymore. And each companionship has a cell phone now. Other than that, it sounds like missionary life is very similar to how it was for me.

The conference was really nice, though when they turned on the fans it became too noisy for me to understand the last couple of speakers very well. I saw someone who I thought I recognized but turned out to be someone else. After the meeting, two or three people approached me to say they recognized me. I had to apologize for not recognizing them. But it's okay. When people get too attached to the missionaries, it can cause problems. If people become converted to the missionaries instead of converted to the gospel, they can lose their testimony when the missionaries leave (and they always leave!). I served, worked hard, helped a lot of people, and then faded away. I knew that with great members in Manaus, my converts were in good hands. (I did try to keep in touch with a few people, but that was before widespread email in Brazil, and when people stopped replying to letters that was pretty much it.)

I noticed more kids and youth at church than I remember. I also noticed that in general, everyone looked healthier and better dressed than in 1997. Also, the parking lot was full. Yes! Granted this was a stake conference, but when I was here usually only one or two families per ward had a car to drive to church. I noticed this outside my time at church too. It looks to me like the people of Manaus are turning a corner and making a better life for themselves.

After conference and chatting with several people, I took a walk to see the house where I lived in that neighborhood. I didn't take a photo because there were people in front and they probably would have thought it awkward. But I snapped a shot of a little market a few doors down:

This is typical of what you see in the neighborhoods. People sell stuff out of their house. Something I never realized about Manaus is how hard people work. Everyone is selling, working, going to work, etc. Like I said, they're turning the corner. This is a special place with special, hard-working, kind, generous people. I am overjoyed to see the improvement since I was here. Yes, there is still poverty, but there is a rising tide lifting all boats.

I caught a VERY full bus directly back to the city center. I don't blame the guys at T1 and T2 for not knowing about it. You can't know all the buses here. But any bus that says "T1" or "Centro" makes life a lot easier.

Late tonight, I go to the airport to fly to Rio de Janeiro, where I will work at a conference for the week. My time in Manaus is nearly done. I have had a great time, and I would be remiss if I did not thank a couple of those who helped make it that way:

Go Inn Manaus. It's a hotel with a funny name but has everything I needed (except shampoo). My room was small but clean and neat, with two comfortable twin beds, a safe, a mini-fridge, (drumroll please) hot shower, and (another drumroll please) American-style power outlets (220V but all my chargers work with 220V). The hotel was modern, and I felt very safe and comfortable. I have a view of the dome of the Teatro Amazonas and I'm convenient to lots of shops, supermarkets, and the T1 bus station. Note: Google Maps has the wrong location for Go Inn Manaus. It is on Rua Monsenhor Coutinho, but it's between Rua Ferreira Pena and Rua Eduardo Ribeiro.
Clive Maguire of Maguire's Guesthouse, whose Visit Manaus guide was invaluable. All or almost all the info in the book is available on his website, but having a printed copy is a good idea. Clive ended up shipping a second guide at no charge when the first was lost in the mail. I only regret that I did not have time to stop by and thank him for his help. I suspect a stay at his place would been even nicer than the Go Inn, but it's pretty far away from everything that I came to see and do.

What a wonderful visit I have had in Manaus, and I look forward to a good week of work and fun in Rio de Janeiro.

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 14

2011-04-09T18:43:00.026-05:00

Today I visited the temple I helped build.

A lot of people have worked very hard to put a temple in Manaus. Church members here are faithful to the Lord and to their families, and they share the gospel with everyone. They travel for days to get to the current temple and back. Missionaries here endure heat, humidity, rain, and disease, and their families have supported them and have had to wonder what kind of place this must be if it takes letters three weeks to get home (not that letters are written anymore now that everyone uses email). But the Lord is pouring his influence out on this city, and they are escaping physical and spiritual poverty one day at a time. The Manaus Temple will be a huge blessing for this region.

I arrived at the Manaus Temple on bus 120, which goes from the Centro to Ponta Negra. This is a small temple, and the bus went so fast that I almost missed it. Thankfully, I knew that the streets on the other side all had names of countries, and a street sign caught my eye, so I got off. By the way, the four streets closest to the temple (other than Avenida Ponta Negra itself) are named Itália (Italy), Inglaterra (England), Alemanha (Germany), and Pais de Gales (Wales)--the four countries from which most of my ancestors came. Coincidence? Probably, but I thought that was neat to have a reminder of my ancestors across the street from the temple in the city where I served.

I have a lot of photos, but the bandwidth is dreadful here so I'll upload what I can now and put the rest on Photobucket next week or the week after.

The temple and housing for traveling temple patrons are both under construction.

Constructions workers on the roof

Sign at the temple site

Artist's rendition of the completed temple. I reached as high as I could to avoid the wall enclosing the temple site, but I guess my billion-dollar arms were not long enough.

A view of the east side of the temple. The front faces north, i.e. toward Salt Lake. Coincidence? I guarantee it.

The only bad news:

For those of you who don't falam português, this is a sign for a visitor center. I didn't know there was one! The reason it's bad news is that it lists hours for Monday (Segunda-feira) through Thursday (Quinta-feira) and Friday (Sexta-feira), but not Saturday (Sábado), which is today. Que pena! I'm flying away early Monday morning and won't have time to see it. But that's okay. I saw what I came to see.

Plants with little velcro-like pieces stuck to my shoes in the median of Av. Ponta Negra while I was taking photos of the temple.

After the temple, I went to the same bus stop where I got off the bus. The bus shelter had an ad:

"Small Prices."

I beg to differ. R$8.00 is about $4.80, and R$5.00 is about $3.00. That makes your Big Mac, small fries, and small drink about $10.80. ("It's just a McDonald's ad. Who cares?," says you. "Be patient," says I.) But I am curious about where the McDonald's is located. There famously was not one in Manaus when I lived here.

Near the temple was also a Coca-Cola ad (which made it into my first temple photo by mistake; deleted), as well as a billboard for a "motel," which means something quite different here. Let's just say that temple patrons would not choose to stay at a "motel" in Brazil.

Back to the main subject. The reason I went to the same bus stop was to head further west through Ponta Negra in order to visit the Museu do Seringal. ("Museu" means "rubber," "do" means "plantation," and "seringal" means "museum.") I wasn't sure exactly how far out the bus went, but I found out after about two minutes when the bus did a U-turn and started heading back toward the city. I got off the bus immediately. I was then at the Praia (beach) da Ponta Negra. Interesting place. I didn't go all the way down onto the beach since I wasn't dressed for it. But I wandered down near the food vendors to find a restroom. I found a typical Manaus facility, which means that you, gentle reader, have never seen a bathroom like this. Use your imagination. But the city is revitalizing the area, as you can see in some of the photos, and the natural beauty is evident:

Praia da Ponta Negra, on the Rio Negro, one of the two main tributaries of the Amazon (the other being the Rio Solimões (say SO-lee-MOINGS)). The gray and red thing on the right is one side of an arch that is part of the revitalization project. The building in the center is a hotel I believe.

Rio Negro, taken from Ponta Negra. The city center is downstream/left/southeast of here.

At Ponta Negra, the top of a wrecked gazebo. I can relate.

I'll bet you didn't know there was a bridge across the Amazon, did you? Neither did I. They must have built it in the last 13 years. Wow. Now maybe they can make the highway to the south passable, and suddenly Manaus will be connected to the rest of the country. The left side is somewhere in Manaus, on the north bank, and the right side is on the south bank.

Maybe the revitalization project will address these steps. But maybe not. No ADA, no problem!

After visiting Ponta Negra briefly, I decided to try walking to the Marina do Davi, where I could supposedly catch a boat to the museum. I had a map and probably would have made it, but not two minutes into my walk, a nice-looking couple offered me a ride and I gratefully accepted. I am not one to hitchhike, and I did not, but in northern Brazil I trust people who offer rides. I wouldn't do it in Rio, which is fine because they would not offer. This very kind couple was going to the Marina as well, and they even showed me exactly which boat to catch.

Marina do Davi, near Ponta Negra in Manaus

The motorboat I rode really cooks. I don't know how fast it was, but faster than I expected. It can hold about 30 people when it's full, and the driver would not leave until it was full. We made lots of stops at various beaches and villages before the museum.

One of the beaches where the boat let people off

The forest growing in the Rio Negro. This time of year is high water, though many of the beaches have usable space this year.

DUUUUUUUDE! No wonder so many people go motorboating.

After about half an hour of dropping people off at various places up various creeks upstream/west of Manaus, we arrived at the museum. To my surprise, I was the only one to exit the boat there.

My boat, leaving the museum, with a few passengers left to drop off.

This made me wonder if maybe the museum wasn't such a good idea. But it looked interesting enough, and besides the boat had already left, so I gave it a try.

Museu Seringal Vila Paraíso from the boat dock.

The museum turned out to be immensely interesting. A gentleman greeted me on my way up to the buildings, and he called out to someone, "Ele tem português" (literally, "He has Portuguese"). Unintentional best compliment of the day. Thank you sir!

The someone he was calling turned out to be my tour guide. She spent a long time showing me the whole facility and knew all about it. It's a replica that was built for a movie, and they have kept it running as an actual rubber plantation, except that they only have a few people working it. The real plantations were owned by rich Europeans and/or Brazilians, and they were worked by basically slaves from northeastern Brazil. It was a horrible life. They lived under a tiny shelter, where they also had to make the rubber, which involves pouring the rubber milk onto the mass of rubber while turning the rubber, and then putting it over a fire. Remember, this is inside their living quarters. They also had to collect the rubber milk from the trees in the middle of the night, because that's when conditions were best. They were not free to leave and had no chance to escape.

The owner of the plantation would trick them out of their meager salary. For example, he had a chapel built for one of the Catholic saints, and once a year they would have a party for a month in honor of this saint, where food and drink were provided. Little did the workers know that the owner was keeping track of the food they ate and counting it against them!

Nowadays, it's run by my tour guide and her husband. They live there, in modern quarters apparently, and the rest is built to look like an authentic rubber plantation.

The owner's dining room

The owner's kitchen. The disc on a rope is to keep scavenging animals from getting the fruit. They would grease the disc, so that if an animal climbed down the rope, it would slip on the disc and lose its balance and fall. You probably think that's overkill, because you have never lived in northern Brazil.

The company store, one of the multiple ways the owner would trick the workers out of their money. The gray cylinder with a hole through it is a replica ball of rubber. The replica weighs 8 kg. A real one weighed 50 kg.

The private bath for the owner's daughter. Not quite so private, because it faced the river, where the workers bathed.

Rubber milk dripping from the tree and running into a little cup, which a worker would empty every night and then carve a new groove

Home of the top worker, selected by the owner as an incentive to work hard

Home of a regular worker. The little tower in the middle is a fireplace. The rubber ball is over it. They would sleep wherever there was room. I will never complain about bringing work home with me again.

My tour guide (I forgot her name but she was great), showing a simple Indian device for drying out manioc flour (farinha). Put the coarse flour in, pull the ends, and the moisture is squeezed out. Indians' only involvement with the rubber industry is that they would sometimes attack and kill the workers. (If you think it's politically incorrect to call them Indians, go to Brazil sometime and ask them about "native Brazilians" and enjoy the funny looks you will get.)

The European device for drying out manioc flour. The workers who couldn't handle working in the jungle were assigned to make manioc flour.

Cupuaçu (COO-poo-ah-SOO), the most glorious fruit invented. It's hard to describe what the pulp inside tastes like. I guess it's a little like a very sweet banana, sort of? Help me out, MBM alumni. Anyway, it is found only in the Amazon region. You can't export the seeds, so there is no cupuaçu of any volume anywhere else.

This tour was awesome, definitely a highlight of my trip so far. The tour guide was very informative, and also patient with my slow understanding of Portuguese nowadays. When the tour was done, she put up a big white flag to indicate to the boats that there was a passenger ready to go. I was the only visitor the whole time I was there, so it was just me. In about 15 minutes, a boat showed up. It was empty, except for the driver and attendant. They took me straight back to the Marina with no stops. It was early in the afternoon, so most people were probably not done for the day and heading back yet. The point is that this was a private boat for me, ala Where the Wild Things Are.

I could get used to this.

Arriving at the marina, it was about 2:00 and I was hungry. There are lots of little shops along the road that ends at the marina. There is also a small outdoor restaurant. I approached and ordered. The choices were beef, beef, chicken, fish, fish, or fish. They talked me into a popular regional fish, tucunaré. I'm on the banks of the world's largest river; I have to have fish sometime. It took a while, but when it came, wow:

Now that's what I call almoço. Left to right: macarrão (noodles), salada de alface e batata (green salad with potatoes), arroz (rice), feijão (beans), limão (lime), e tucunaré (tasty fish).

This was just like meals that church members would feed us for lunch when I was a missionary. When they would serve fish, they would cook a huge one for the whole family and the missionaries, instead of individual small fish like you see on my plate. Otherwise, it was just the same and brought back a lot of memories. I added a 600 mL (20 oz) guaraná soda, and the total was R$10 (about $6). Let's see, $6 for a full home-cooked delicious meal, or $10.80 for McDonald's.

I think this was a family-run restaurant. I asked the man about getting to the bus stop (remember, I hitched a ride to get there). He said to wait a while and there would be a free bus to take me to the bus stop. I waited a long time and then, when he wasn't looking, I decided to walk. I had my map and knew it couldn't be more than half an hour. About three minutes into my walk, I met a group of ladies and asked if they knew where a bus stop was. "Right here," they said (in Portuguese). But this was to catch the free bus that my lunch host recommended. They said if I were in a hurry, I should start the half-hour walk. If half an hour is a hurry, I figured I'd better start. Sure enough, two minutes after I left, I saw the bus coming, so I ran back and got laughed at a little. They were very nice and explained how it worked. Soon I found my way back to the city center.

In U.S. public transit, you're not supposed to eat or drink anything. That is also true in Brazil on the actual bus. But in a bus station, you can eat and drink, and there are a multitude of vendors to help you do so. I loved the smell of the cupuaçu at the museum so much that I decided to seek out a cupuaçu picolé. Picolé is like a popsicle but better because it's made from actual fruit pulp. It's like a fruit pudding pop. They only make them from local fruits, so I think the only one you would encounter in the U.S. is banana.

Picolé de cupuaçu. Mmm.

After cooling off and drying off briefly in my room, I went to the Palacete Provincial. It has been a lot of things over the years, but today it houses five different museums. I spent a couple of hours there and it was very enjoyable and free of charge. The most interesting of the museums was the one for the Amazonas military police (Polícia Militar), where I learned a lot about the history of the region. I'm told that all the docents speak enough English to pass a test before starting their job, so you can probably see this without much trouble. They don't allow photos, but here is a photo of the entrance:

Entrance to the Palacete Provincial

I left when they closed at 7:00. Walking back to the hotel, I went through yet another attractive square. This one was next to the Palacete Provincial, and the palace and square were both restored at the same time in the last 10 years.

Fountain in Praça Heliodoro Balbi

Final photo of the day (I can't begin to explain this):

Punched-up Mickey Mouse fun bus

I think the character hanging on for dear life was supposed to be Mickey Mouse, but he looked more like the Travelodge mascot, which Tracy once described as a punched-up Mickey Mouse.

I had a great day! The people of Manaus are friendly, patient, and generous, and it is a wonderful city to visit. I can imagine that it might not be that inviting if you don't speak Portuguese or you don't want to experience part of the developing world. Plus you can probably see all there is to see within a few days. But I sure enjoyed this day.

Tomorrow I plan to go to church in a couple of different wards and possibly see some people I knew when I lived here. Then I'll have time to kill before my flight. I won't likely be able to blog much if at all, but I'll write it up and then post it on Monday. It will likely be much briefer than today's entry. Thanks for reading!

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 13

2011-04-08T20:06:00.018-05:00

I'm writing to you tonight from Manaus! My overnight flight was long and I am tired, but I have had a nice day in the city once dubbed the Paris of the Tropics.

Highlights of my last 24:

- Sat next to a member of Natalie Cole's band on the overnight flight. I kid you not, unless he and all of his alledged band mates were kidding.

- Saw on the plane to Manaus several members of U2's stage crew, if their t-shirts were truthful. (No, U2 is not coming to Manaus, which is sad because if I ever meet them, the first thing I'm going to do is ask The Edge if anybody calls him "The" for short.)

- Sat by a nice lady who is a native Manauara (person from Manaus). Ate one of her cookies (thanks!).

- Drank from a drinking foutain in São Paulo but not in Manaus. Very important.

- Saw the Manaus Temple from the plane. I was probably eight miles away but it looked like a temple and was in the right location.

- Already met several Brazilians who said "is it the Mormon Church?" when I mentioned that I lived in Manaus as a missionary. I rarely met anyone who had heard of us when I was here in 1996-1998. No wonder we're building a temple here!

- Had a supermarket employee not believe I was American. She thought I was from southern Brazil (I assume because of my accent and complexion). Thanks to this young lady for the unintentional best compliment of the day.

- Had dinner in the hotel restaurant. Meh. It was okay but was a lot of money. But I thought it would be awkward to find a place for dinner alone on a Friday night. Plus I got to eat farofa made by folks in Manaus who know what farofa's supposed to taste like. ("Why did you have dinner? Lunch is the most important meal of the day in Brazil!," you're thinking. "Because I was on a plane at lunchtime and was given a bag of chips for lunch," I reply.)

I spent the afternoon touring Manaus. Manaus is more than 300 years old, but it became significant in the world in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when the demand for rubber was very high. During the rubber boom, people making lots of money from rubber started making Manaus into a grandiose world-class city. Then synthetic rubber was invented, and the rubber boom was over, as were Manaus's glory days. Think Pittsburgh when the steel industry collapsed, and that will give you some idea of what Manaus has gone through.

Fortunately for the locals, the Brazilian government has instituted certain policies over the last few decades, such as the Zona Franca, that have helped Manaus survive and even grow. Most people don't care much for Manaus as a tourist destination, outside of being a launch point for rainforest tours. But it's a city and region where I spent a very significant portion of my life, when I was a missionary. Has Manaus changed? I don't know yet. I haven't been anywhere (other than the airport) where I went on my mission. On Sunday I'll go out to the neighborhoods where I served, and then I can see what change there has been in 13 years.

Photos from my super-lo-fi international loaner phone (maybe tomorrow I'll use my Droid, which doesn't work as a phone here but has a much better camera):

My first photo of the day. This was taken from the airport. As you can probably tell, Manaus doesn't do the dry California sunshine thing.

Interior of the famous Teatro Amazonas. The intricate curtain is half-raised. It raises straight up into the dome of the theater without folding or rolling.

That's me in the theater. The tour was available in English or Portuguese, and I opted for English since I will not likely visit there again and wanted to learn something. By the way, the young guys giving the tour spoke excellent English.

The box seats in the theater. Like many old theaters, box seats were designed not for the occupants to see (the show) but to be seen (by the commoners sitting on the main floor). When they have events here now, the floor seats are the most expensive.

The floor of the theater's ballroom, made of 12,000 pieces of wood. Initially no nails were used, but they hadn't planned for the humidity, and they ended up using nails after all. Every major component of the theater was built in Europe and shipped to Manaus for final assembly. The rubber barons were almost all Europeans.

The slippers we had to wear to go on the ballroom floor. It's no longer used for dancing because it's too fragile.

A view of the Teatro Amazonas dome from my hotel room.

A LEGO blocks model of the Teatro Amazonas, sponsored by Coca-Cola and donated by them to the Teatro.

Appears to be a children's play area on the corner of one of the many parks and squares I encountered in the city today.

I was impressed by this giant staircase leading up to the door of a cathedral.

The busy Manaus port. On the right edge of the photo, you can see part of an Iberostar cruise liner.

Proof that grass can be grown in Manaus. I knew it!

And finally, some good Engrish samples:

Shop Dope. Brazilians love all things American, including our words. I don't know if Dope as used here refers to the customers, the staff, the universe of recreational drugs, or all three. I also saw a graffiti that said "100% MACONHA" (maconha is marijuana). (UPDATE: apparently Shop Dope was the name of service bulletins sent out by Harley Davidson once upon a time. But Shop Dope in Manaus didn't look like it had anything to do with motorcycles.)

Flesh brand orange soda. I don't remember that. There, that's one thing that's changed!

I had a great first day in Manaus. I don't know exactly what all I'm doing tomorrow, but I'm tired and can figure it out in the morning. This has been a good experience so far. Time for bed!

What's going on at home

2011-04-07T22:30:00.000-05:00

I didn't plan to blog much while Gary was away. I planned to keep busy in other ways, to help the time go faster. Here's a few photos to show what we've been up to:

Make a fort with me, Mom. Glad you asked!

The fort turned out to be a General Conference hang out for small periods of time. Not too long though, the kids didn't want to miss out on the talks.

After several attempts, we found the perfect place for a sand box- in the shade of a large tree. Everyone had fun with it.

But then James and Rachel had other plans.

See me on the slide? Rachel learned to slide and likes it a whole.lot.

I was going to take a picture of James shooting hoops, but by the time I got the camera, he was already scooting away.

Turn your head sideways for these next 2:

Here's a bathroom I repainted. The bottom is tile and is original to the house. I wish I had taken a before picture. The bottom was forest green vinyl, the top navy blue and between them was multicolored fringe.

Before, this one looked like dark, burgendy lipstick. Now it's white. I like white.

I remembered to take a before picture of this one (this is after the vinyl was removed from the lower tiles.) Hopefully it will be done by the time Gary gets back. It's going to be (you guessed it) another shade of white. One that has a lavendar undertone. That's the only color on the color matching machine at Home Depot that complimented all of the tile colors. Our real estate agent actually took pictures of this room to show at the office. She got a real kick out of the ceiling mirrors.

It warmed up nicely yesterday and today. There's a lot of yard work to be done. Yesterday we played basketball, soccer and baseball instead. Today I pulled weeds and spread mulch for a few hours (Rachel napped! She hadn't done that in a few days and I took advantage of that time. The little boys played Star Wars trivial pursuit and then rode bikes. Jonny asked when Simon will be up on two wheels- I added that to my to do list, then realized he's only 3 and I still had time.)

Well, so much for my goal to go to bed early and turn in to a morning person, it's almost midnight! I decided to give the old "early to bed, early to rise" a try while Gary's away. I am undecided as to whether it is better to get up early to get things done or stay up late to get things done. Or maybe, in the case of my poor husband, both at the same time. (My bathrooms have been painted in the early morning hours.)

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 12

2011-04-07T18:32:00.002-05:00

Whoa, I'm halfway there. Twelve days (mostly) down, eleven to go.

Thirteen years ago this week, I came home from Manaus, Brazil, where I served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Today I am on my way back to Manaus for the first time since my mission. This is a personal stop in the middle of my business trip. I haven't been back to my mission yet since I came home (unless you count my visa wait in New England), so I'm excited yet nervous. I haven't kept in touch with anyone in Manaus, so if I see anyone I know that will be nice. But if not, at least I'll get to see the temple (under construction) and do some of the tourist things I didn't and/or couldn't do as a missionary.

My flight out of Ontario today was delayed by a bad engine. I was a little nervous, because a missed connection would get me to Manaus at least a day late, but they got it working and we were underway about two hours late. My layover in Dallas was scheduled for four hours, so this works out nicely. I'm not looking forward to the 10-hour flight to São Paulo though.

By the way, DFW airport has free wifi! Just connect to the tmobile network and it works great. Last time I was in an airport with free wifi, it was Columbus, and it was dreadful. Here in Texas they do everything bigger, and apparently that includes bandwidth.

I'm going to try to blog daily, but it may get tricky now that I am off to Brazil. Thanks for reading, and I hope to blog with photos soon.

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 11

2011-04-07T00:47:00.002-05:00

Today I took it easy. I worked very hard for ten days straight, so today I took a half day to relax, go through some personal email, etc. It was nice to relax a little.

I did laundry again today because it means I should not have to do it again the rest of the trip.

This is my last full day in California. It has been a busy week and a half, but it all turned out for the best yesterday. The rest of the trip will be lower stress. It will also be international, which is exciting and fun but a little bit stressful. I'm glad to be going, but I'm also glad that I'm one day closer to home.

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 10

2011-04-05T22:10:00.002-05:00

I won the meeting.

Today's Main Event was a rollicking success. To oversimplify it, all the demos worked great and the customers ate it up. Everything that could have gone right did. We had one minor scare that turned out to be nothing. We had a lot of good people working on this event, and I have been praying about this for a while. If this had gone south, it could have been for me what people in my office call a "career-defining moment." Instead, it has turned out better than I dared dream, and I and my colleagues have been truly blessed.

Now I'm working on tying up loose ends from this event and getting ready for my next couple of events.

I talked to Tracy this afternoon to tell her the good news. And she told me the good news: the kids saw a rabbit in our yard! I see rabbits often at night, but this one was during the day when the kids could see it. They were very excited and thought they could lure it with a trail of lettuce and turn it into a pet. It didn't work.

Tonight I'm going to sleep well, with no alarm clock. Tomorrow will be an awkward extra day in California, for airfare reasons. Thursday I fly to my next destination. Ten days are in the books, or maybe I should say in the blog, and I have 13 days to go. I miss my family but I am glad they are doing well at home.

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 9

2011-04-04T22:14:00.003-05:00

Today was a wonderful day of work. All my demos work great and I was done working before 5:00. Finally, I'm going to get a good night of sleep.

At home they had a school holiday today. I don't know why, but it sounds like the kids were good. Tracy has been painting like crazy. She wants to paint our horribly colored bathrooms before I get home. She is so good to me!

Here in California, it's the night before the Main Event. I have worked very hard to prepare for tomorrow. They say you're supposed to be passionate about your work. I am, but mostly in the sense of providing for my family as one of my main duties in life. My Father in Heaven has blessed me with the talents I need to earn a good living, and I'm careful not to let those talents go to waste. Tracy and the kids deserve that and much more. I pray that it will go well, and I have done my part. Stay tuned.

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 8

2011-04-03T23:02:00.003-05:00

This was a very unusual Sunday for me. I worked for most of the day. As a Latter-day Saint, that is very unusual for me. We believe in keeping Sunday holy. We also believe in getting the ox out of the mire, and since I did not have the option to skip work today and keep my job, I considered this an ox in the mire. It wasn't the most effective day of work, but it wasn't bad. I'm grateful that I get to go to church next Sunday.

I missed General Conference, but tonight I made time to watch President Monson's Sunday morning talk. I was pleased that he talked about the Manaus Temple. It was announced in the news media four years ago, rather than in conference. Some of you probably know that I served in the Manaus Mission in the days when members traveled seven days each way to go to the São Paulo Temple. For example, I knew a faithful man who was getting ready to SELL HIS HOUSE to raise the money to take his family to the temple. Once. It was probably their only chance to go. Now they'll be able to go every week. Of course, they'll probably volunteer as temple workers a few hours a week too.

At work today, the company president came into the auditorium where we were working to chat with someone (not me) about our work. This is that important of a project, hence working the weekend.

Two days until the Main Event. After that, we start post-event activities on Wednesday: reviewing what went well and what we can improve, preserving the work we did and the demos we built, etc. On Thursday, I fly out of here. I still have fifteen days until I get home. But eight days are done, so I am now one-third of the way through my business trip extraordinaire. Right now I hope I never have to do this again, but at the second half of my trip should be infinitely more enjoyable than this first half.

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 7

2011-04-03T00:41:00.005-05:00

Do you ever reflect on how you ended up where you are, doing what you're doing at a given moment? I do sometimes, and I had one of those moments today. I was working in the room where the Main Event will take place, which is a large auditorium. Everyone else had left by about 6:00 PM, and I worked there by myself until about 9:30. It occurred to me how weird it was that I had this auditorium to myself, in California, getting ready for the biggest moment of my career so far, with my family 3,000 miles away. I could never have predicted this.

I had a good Saturday at work. One of my Linux laptops for the Main Event was not working as it should, so I reinstalled Linux, and now it works great. I'm glad it does, because if I had reinstalled and it still didn't work, or if I had made it worse, I would have been in big trouble, with the systems guys out for the weekend and only three days to go.

As predicted, I missed all of General Conference today. I started work before the conference started, and I left work after the evening priesthood session ended. I tried to listen on my phone, but the coverage in the auditorium was terrible and it did not work.

After I left work around 9:30, I decided to have dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. I was impressed. The food was really good, and the servers were friendly. There was no waiting at that hour. Also, a family nearby had one too many free dessert coupons from Facebook, and they gave one to me. That was very kind. After one of the loneliest and most demanding weeks of my life, I was grateful for some kindness from strangers.

It was cool and misty walking from the restaurant back to my hotel, which was unusual for southern California in my experience. I might have needed my jacket if it were a longer walk.

I have now transferred all the way to Pacific time and then some. Time for bed. More work tomorrow, unfortunately. Seven days down, 16 to go.

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 6

2011-04-02T00:16:00.002-05:00

My temporarily one-dimensional life continues for the sixth day. I got some work done today, but there was also some discussion and setup for the Main Event coming up on Tuesday, and it wasn't as productive as I would have liked.

The good news is that I said good-bye to the freezing U-shaped server room and moved to the meeting room where the Main Event will take place. Now that I shouldn't need my jacket until I fly home, it's hanging over the edge of my hotel room's mostly useless jacuzzi, and there it will stay until Thursday.

The bad news is that I will undoubtedly miss most if not all of General Conference this weekend. For those who aren't aware, General Conference is a twice-a-year worldwide meeting of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in which the leaders of the Church, who we consider to be prophets and apostles, teach us. Most active LDS make it a priority to watch or listen to the conference, which takes place in Salt Lake. You can watch it online, either live this weekend or archived later.

I don't think I have missed conference since my mission in Brazil, where live conference coverage was not available at that time. Now I have it available on a computer, a phone, maybe the TV in my hotel room, and a few miles away at a church building, yet I'm going to miss it because I have to work. I always thought this was the kind of thing I could avoid with a college education and a professional career. And until tomorrow, I have avoided it. But I'm grateful to live in a time when technology will make it relatively simple to watch it any time I want over the coming weeks and months.

Tonight I joined several colleagues for dinner in a loud pub-type place. The food was good and they had root beer (memo to Least Coast restaurants: there's this new thing called root beer! Serve it!). The conversation was heavily about business, and since it was about my team in particular I felt compelled to stay the entire three hours or so, though I was not very interested. They're all visionaries and I'm a worker bee, and I like it that way, though apparently I'm not supposed to.

Six days are in the books. It looks like I miscounted originally, and this trip will include a total of 23 days, so I have 17 to go. Will I ever get home? Will I remember both backpacks and all three phones? Will I get stuck on a tarmac somewhere for nine hours? Only time will tell.

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 5

2011-04-01T00:08:00.002-05:00

Day 5 has come and gone. There's not much new to report today. I worked all day and into the evening. It was a pretty successful day for me.

I called home twice today because my schedule worked out that way. Everyone is doing okay. Tracy already blogged about James's new glasses. As a person who wore glasses for more than 20 years, I can relate to that (nothing a little lasers won't fix though).

Tracy also mentioned James's classroom holding a corrupt election. As a person has lived in both the U.S. AND Latin America, I can relate to that too.

Tonight I wanted to do something different for dinner, so I made my first ever visit to a hippie grocery store. I've heard lots of people rave about Trader Joe's and Whole Foods and thought I would go see what all the fuss is about. There is a Trader Joe's in the town where I am staying, so I picked up a few things there for a light dinner. They do have a decent selection of very expensive food for a place so small. Since it is a small store, it was easy to see everything and decide what to get (salad, bread, and cookies). I was reasonably impressed, and maybe I'll go to Trader Joe's in the future but probably not on a regular basis due to budget constraints.

Today I wore long sleeves for the cold server room so I could leave my jacket behind. It was very warm outside today. This is a beautiful place. So is home. I'm grateful for such a beautiful world and that I have been able to see so much of it.

Lesson Learned

2011-03-31T20:04:00.000-05:00

Here he is, our boy James. Don't you love the new glasses? I think they suit him very well.
Last week, he wrote a constitution for his class and got everyone to sign it. It had things on it like no note passing, no tattling, no rumors, etc. Then he decided there should be class elections and the teacher said ok. The some kids made posters and campaigned. Today was election day. He and this girl made a deal to vote for each other. He voted for her, she didn't vote for him. Poor guy lost by one vote, but not to that girl. Lesson to be learned: always vote for yourself!
He called to congratulate the winner after school. Very sportsman like. I was proud.

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 4

2011-03-30T23:21:00.001-05:00

Day 4 started early. I was all ready to go by 6:00 when I had a conference call scheduled. On the call they told me they didn't need me after all. Good thing I couldn't sleep past 4:30, or else that's what I would have called information that would have been useful yesterday!

I talked with Tracy this morning. She said James got his glasses! I'm curious to see what kind of glasses James would choose and how he looks. I was eight or nine when I got my first glasses. James is ten, so I can relate.

I had a productive day of work, which made me happy. I still have a lot to do before next week, when I'm done here and move on to my next stop.

Tonight it was warm outside. I like spring, but I especially like spring when it feels like summer. Tonight I could have taken off my jacket but I forgot because it's such a lightweight jacket. I needed it all day in the cold U-shaped server room.

I had dinner with my coworker, who is also traveling. He wanted to be back in his room before Survivor started. I rarely watch TV and I haven't seen Survivor in years, but I watched tonight. It's interesting and pretty entertaining in limited doses.

I'm four days in, and it feels like longer. And I still have 18 more days after this one. I have a lot of respect and also pity for people who travel all the time for work. They do what is needed to provide for their families, and I respect that greatly.

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 3

2011-03-29T21:45:00.004-05:00

Day 3 has arrived. On most of my trips, by Day 3 I'm halfway through or even ready to leave. On this trip, I'm just settling in with no end in sight. I still have nine days until I leave sunny California, and there's plenty of trip left after that.

I had a nice Skype chat with Tracy and the younger kids this morning before work. I got to see Jonny's two fish! He sure is excited. I was happy to see some of my family. Chatting with James and Amelia doesn't really work in this time zone on a weekday, but maybe I can on Saturday.

I made a lot of good progress today, clad in my jacket in the chilly U-shaped server room. I could get used to Qt. Qt has been forced on me but has been a pleasant surprise. In fact, some things about it are better than Java. Java is still my sword of choice, but Qt is quickly becoming the dagger hidden in my boot. Considering what Oracle might do to Java over the next few years, I'm happy to expand my arsenal. And that's about as far as I want to take that metaphor right now.

I had lunch at a great Chinese place that a colleague discovered. I had a full meal (no drink) with table service for about $6.25 plus tax and tip. Back home it's hard to find a fast food sandwich for that. Of course, back home there isn't 12%+ unemployment like there is here. In that sense, like many others, there's no place like home.

I have got to stay up a couple more hours or I will never get to Pacific time. Must...stay...awake...

A few photos for you (and Daddy-diddo)

2011-03-29T08:13:00.000-05:00

Here's Amelia all decked out for the 2nd grade musicaL How does your garden grow? Gary was there for that. She had the most lines and got to say them solo. It was cute!

Jonny has decided to breed fish. Here are his latest additions: above Rainbow the boy, he's really colorful. Fire is below. She's a girl. He's been excited to breed them for a long time. We'll see if it works out. Apparently, ideal conditions are 80 degrees and fresh worms. It may warm up in the summer, but Jonny is my boy who does not want to be a plumber (toilets are stinky) or a trash man (strink again) so I'm not holding my breath on the worms. They are stinky too.

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 2

2011-03-28T22:56:00.005-05:00

I had a productive full day of work on Day 2 in California. I'll be working a bit more before bed. All work and no play makes kiddodiddo a dull blog, so today's entry won't be long.

The room I worked in today was a U-shaped server room. Thankfully, all the servers were at one end of the U, so I sat at the other end and had a fairly quiet day outside of meetings and discussions. But being a server room, the air conditioning was excessive, so I'm glad I had my jacket.

I called Tracy after work. Jonny used his saved allowance to buy two pet fish today! He wanted a boy fish and a girl fish so there would be babies. I don't know if Tracy let him know that fish try to eat their babies. This should be interesting.

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 1

2011-03-27T23:07:00.003-05:00

Time for a new blog series that will act as a journal of my longest business trip to date. I have just started 22 days of saving the day and taking names. I also hope to have some fun along the way and share some of it with you, gentle reader.

Tracy and the kids were very kind to drop me off at the airport this morning. I could have taken a taxi but we wanted to spend a little more time together, so Tracy offered to drive me. She's so sweet! Right now I'm looking at a photo of all seven of us that I brought with me. I miss them all and though it's a long trip, I'm grateful that my job usually does not take me away from my family for this long.

I flew on American Airlines today, which is unusual for me. They had no TV or audio entertainment, which was actually a refreshing change. My flight to Dallas was late, and I barely made my connecting flight. I was planning on lunch in Dallas, and the airline did not have enough sandwiches aboard for everyone who wanted to buy, so I missed out on lunch. Hey, life could be much worse.

On the domestic portion of this trip, I have two laptops with me. I thought I would make life easier by carrying them in two different backpacks. Arriving in California, I promptly left one of them on the rental car bus by mistake. Thankfully, when the same driver returned, the backpack was still on the bus.

It's cloudy and cool today in Southern California. Methinks Day 2 will be jacket weather.

I've now accomplished my goal of staying up as late as I can to get used to the time zone. I usually don't bother but I'll be here until next Thursday so I need to do it.

Have a good night everyone, and I look forward to blogging at you again tomorrow.

What are little boys made of?

2011-03-23T12:46:00.001-05:00

Last month or so, Jonny, Simon and I were playing "I Spy." I always get a kick when Jonny spies something "made of pure bark." (a tree)
So I said "I spy something made of pure bark" and just to tease, the answer was Simon. When I gave the answer, Simon cried out: I'm not made of pure bark. (pulling up his shirt and grabbing his tummy) I'm made of squish!

Place and Show

2011-03-14T11:29:00.001-05:00

Last month, our pack did a Pinewood Derby. James wanted the car the same as last year, after all he came in first. Why mess with a good thing? Last year, there was a work shop with power tools. This year there was a coping saw and a pocket knife. So the results were not as professional, but it had a lot of heart. Unfortuantly, as a den leader I didn't get to see much of the action on race day. I was quite pleased to find James came in second place!

He's not quite smiling in the picture because Amelia is behind me and he's trying not to laugh .

The district pinewood derby was hyped up at the pack meeting, so this weekend we went to cheer James on. (as a side note, our family cheered for James and the announcer always commented that James brought his own cheering section. I was surprised that we were the only ones cheering for our son.) The event was well organized with over 100 cars racing. James' car earned a nickname as it whizzed down the track "the Blue Streak." He came in 3rd in the Webelos division, hence 2 trophies, one car! As a finalist in the webelos, he was invited back for the grand champion round. There were 12 cars in that one and he came in 5th. I was proud of James and his good sportsmanship.

double digits

2011-03-10T17:03:00.000-05:00

10 years can change you from this

to this!

Happy Birthday, James! love you tons!

Alert!

2011-02-22T21:34:00.001-05:00

Today the kids had no school. And they showed their creative and wonderful sides and I was glad to have them home.

Amelia hauled an old latch hook kit out of the garage and her hands are now nimble enough to manage it herself.

James and Jonny decided they would like to be in a marching band and made construction paper instruments for themselves- a saxophone and a drum. James also made a mace. Amelia turned up her nose at the affair as the instruments were not real and James already had the best part. I offered to make a flute for her out of a few toilet paper tubes and she thought that could really work, so I set off to make her one. I was denied the hole puncher by Simon. He was sitting on the floor with a sheet of yellow construction paper on his lap that he was steadily destroying with a hole puncher.

Can I use that? I asked. “No.” I was told “I am in a hole punching club and I need it.” Well. I was not about to interfere with his club activities, so I used something else to make my holes. The kids dinked around with their make shift instruments for a while and I forgot all about it.

Then, when I was giving Simon a bath, Jonny poked his head in the bathroom. “There are blankets in the hall. When you get out of the tub, don’t let your feet touch the floor or you could get mad chicken disease- that’s on all the yellow dots.” (Oh yes- the holes from Simon’s hole punching club.) Simon was concerned. “mad chicken duh- zeez?” He dutifully stayed on the blankets. When I came out of the bathroom, Jonny and Amelia were at the table, making surgical masks and feet protectors, to combat the spread of disease. So get your blankets. Don’t let your feet touch the floor. Mad chicken duh- zeez may be coming to your house next.

Home Movies!

2011-02-22T08:49:00.000-05:00

All right. I might start doing this chant any moment because it's snowing, it's late and I'd like to sleep in tomorrow. Thankfully, the snowing started after the kids were in bed. This is good news for the following reason: local tradition is that children can flush ice down the toilet to make it snow and cancel school. After the last storm, Amelia grabbed a seriously huge icicle and stuck it in the freezer. She has been waiting for her chance to flush it ever since. I think it would damage the plumbing. I am willing to let said icicle thaw in the toilet, but would rather not have that discussion tonight.

Gary gave James a few pointers, and next thing you know, he was honking out a tune! This saxophone was purchased at a local pawn shop a few weeks ago and it sure is fun.

Rachel will peek a boo with anything. Her funniest was (clean) underpants. She will do anything for a smile and gives them easily in return.

I tried to upload James' Lollipop Guild number a few times and it hasn't worked yet. Hopefully coming soon.

Pictures!

2011-02-19T14:53:00.001-05:00

Gary helped me find the cord to connect the camera to the computer, so here are a few pictures I promised.

Christmas was a quiet affair, sandwiched between episodes of the “erp disease.”

The reason I put this on here is that Jonny has the same expression that Gary had as a little boy, in a photo of him feeding a goat in a petting zoo.

I decided to reuse a few of the Christmas decorations for Gary’s special day. I thought it was funny. He thought it was a little sacrilegious. It’s not like I put him in the manger!

Here’s the birthday boy, handsome as ever!

Below you will find my new team of Sumo Wrestlers.

Rachel, admiring herself in the mirror.

Amelia, displaying her handiwork. Snow days can be fun!

Jonny shows off his cupcakes. We did a science experiment where we made cupcakes missing key ingredients, so see what would happen. The ones in the blue feet were normal. And they were the only ones that tasted good.

The next post will feature James heavily. He wasn’t in any recent pictures, but he’s the star of a few good home movies!

What You Almost Got to See

2011-02-02T11:19:00.000-05:00

Rachel is learning and growing in so many ways. She's 8 months and almost 20 pounds by now- that's huge for someone whose growth and digestion was so slow she was referred to a specialist last year.
In the last week, she has started giving me and Gary love pats on the arm or back when we pick her up. Too sweet! The other night, she was sitting on Gary's lap during family night playing with her pacifier. I leaned over to her and opened my mouth (just to see what she would do) and she almost popped her pacifier in my mouth, but not for lack of trying, I didn't want to share the germs.   She's got 4 teeth- two that are long enough to see. And when I find the cable to connect the camera to the computer, you'll be able to see too!

Here's another thing you'll be seeing soon- it's a video of the kiddodiddos doing their most recent chant "No school! No school! Another day of Weekend-ness!" (I totally thought the last word was "wickedness" until they explained.) They have been doing this chant a lot- 4 snow days last week and one yesterday for "ice" (that's in quotes because that was the reason, but the weather didn't live up to it.)

While on snow holiday, Amelia got bored and asked if I had a bag of scrap fabric. I pulled out a bag that was left to me by a moving friend and handed it over. She cut and sewed her own little quilt top- one row of huge squares, one of medium sized and one of small. I think she did great and you will too, once you see it. The only help she wanted was at the end, pinning the rows together to make the top. I think she should keep sewing, she's good at it. (she used my machine)

During the snow break, Amelia made a card board car for Rachel out of an old pull ups box. All the kids took turns sliding Rachel around in it for hours. She was so happy. Every time she whizzed past me, she had this grin on her face that seemed to say "See me having fun?" No pictures from that one, you'll have to use your imagination.

Also in the camera is a picture of my cute hubby diddo, on his 34th birthday. I think you'll like that one, he's cute!

The other night as I was helping the kids dress for bed, James came in to complain that Jonny had locked their bedroom door and wouldn't let him in. That's kind of weird. Then he called up "It's easier with a zipper!" What the heck does that mean? We weren't kept waiting long. He came parading in, fat as a sumo wrestler. He had stuffed every last article of clothing in his dresser into the batman zipper pajamas he was wearing. I died laughing, then I took a picture. Coming soon!

Here's one you won't see: Jonny's latest extermination attempt. (We did end up hiring an exterminator to be rid of the ants last year, in case you were wondering.) The other day we saw a stray stink bug in the kitchen. "Don't worry" Jonny told me. "My friend told me stink bugs are scared of spanish." Then he proceeded to yell spanish words at it (hola como estas, etc) until he got bored. Apparently, stink bugs are not scared of spanish after all.  They should be scared of the toilet though. We flushed it in the end.

We went to the Jazz game a couple of weeks ago. I didn't hear it first hand, but Gary told me later that Simon was surprised that the cheerleaders were "only wearing socks and underpants."  (they were wearing more than that, but it was not easy to see.) The Jazz didn't win that time, but we love to go see them when they come East.

Experiments

2011-01-28T09:23:00.000-05:00

James successfully made a large lump of "gak" yesterday. Think "slime" if you grew up where I did and used to buy it from gumball machines. He is having tons of fun with it. Amelia was inspired by his creation and decided to make her own. She used all of the ingredients but didn't measure any so it didn't turn out.
Simon still thinks he can hold poop indefinately, so I devised an experiment of my own, to teach him the truth. I got out a playdoh press, where you put playdoh in the top and press the handle and it comes out in ropes of various shapes at the bottom, depending on which piece you fit over the opening. Then I got out the playdoh- hard and dry. But there's clay on top of the fridge and that's practically the same so we proceeded with the demonstration. He and I took turns breaking off pieces of playdoh, labeling it a particular food (shredded wheat, french fries, etc) and worked the handle up and down to make chewing motions. The idea being that the more "food" we put in the top, the more comes out the bottom. I think you know what I was getting at, so I won't be more descriptive than that. So we fed and fed this playdoh machine and nothing came out. We gave it more. We packed it so tight that we couldn't cram in anymore. Unfortunately, clay is thicker and heavier than playdoh, so try as I might, I couldn't get any to come out the bottom. I popped the handle off a couple of times trying. So I unintentionally validated Simon's beliefs. It would have been cool, if it worked.

Gary's Vacation

2011-01-24T01:08:00.000-05:00

Gary aboard the Disney Wonder, near the lifeboats for maximum safety.

NOTE: I started this blog post back in December. I wanted to do it justice, which requires thousands of words, and hopefully you’re reading this while it’s still freezing outside. Enjoy!

We had a most excellent journey in December 2010. I can't say everything about it but hopefully this will give you a good summary of our vacation including some photos and advice.

In summary, we took a train to Florida and went on a four-night Disney cruise in the Bahamas. We had a wonderful time with no major complications. The worst we had was a few vomiting episodes, which is typical for our kids, but somehow they all happened in Tracy's room so I'd have to defer to her (sorry cutie!).

FIRST: THE BAD AND THE UGLY

First things first. If you want to go on a cruise or arrange any kind of travel, I cannot stress enough how important it is to avoid using the travel agency we used. I hate to call them out by name (since they have my credit card number) but I'll just say they briefly had their own mom-and-pop airline and the folks back home will know who I'm talking about. (If you're not sure whether you're "back home," you're probably not, so you're not in much danger of encountering this outfit.) Contact me if you need a better clue. For now, let's call them Agency M.

This was an extended family cruise, and my parents decided to go with Agency M based on what they learned at a travel expo. Tracy and I had never used a travel agency, but since the decision had been made for us, we decided what the hey, let's party like it's 1972 and go through a travel agency.

I was going to post a long list of complaints about Agency M, but you don't want specifics. I'm surprised you made it this far. So it's enough to say that the benefits promised--best possible rate, rooms adjacent to extended family, and same dining schedule as extended family--were easily available through the Disney Cruise Line (DCL) website with a little coordination. Agency M and our agent failed to communicate adequately with us and were frequently unavailable to help us over the phone. No, it didn't cost us any extra money to use Agency M, and no, our actual cruise was not eventually affected. But there were no apparent benefits and several inconveniences. If all travel agencies are like this, no wonder their whole industry is slowly going out of business.

One wee complaint about the cruise itself. Our first afternoon on the ship was a bit overwhelming, and for lunch we went to the first restaurant we could find: the Beach Blanket Buffet. They let us in and let us get food, but only then did we find out that the restaurant was actually full and we would have to eat outside. With five kids under age 10 (including baby in stroller), six trays of food, and 55 degrees and 30+ mph wind gusts outside, it wasn't a pleasant exodus outside or first meal aboard the Wonder. After lunch we were wondering what we had gotten ourselves into.

We also had a real train wreck, which I will detail later. Also, Kennedy Space Center is way too expensive. Also, the kids’ vomiting, of which I was blissfully unaware thanks to Tracy.

Well, that's all the bad and the ugly! Sorry to put the negatives first, but the negatives came first. Now I can spend the rest of this post on good stuff!

THE GOOD STUFF

Friday, December 10: Awesome Mode Enabled!

We started the day going early to the kids' school to see James sing in a "season" concert with the school choir. The singing and dancing was wonderful. What a great bunch of kids. They sang lots of winter and secular Christmas songs, as well as token Hanukkah and Kwanzaa songs for the .0001% of elementary school students who do not celebrate Christmas.

After the concert, we took James and Amelia out of school early so we could finish packing before leaving:

You will know Jonathan is trying to show you his missing teeth when he smiles like this.

We bundled up and packed to leave. After quick stops at Sheetz for food for the drive and Walmart for supplies, we drove our van to Lorton, Virginia, where the Amtrak Auto Train has its northern terminus. Those who know us and our conservative/libertarian leanings may be surprised that we trusted a crucial part of this once-in-a-lifetime vacation to the federal government. The fact is that according to lots of reviews on reputable websites, the Auto Train is probably the best line that Amtrak runs. It helps that they only have two stations and everyone on board is required to bring a vehicle.

Arriving at the station, an attendant at a booth put a giant magnet on my door to identify our van. We pulled up to the loading area, retrieved the kids and items we would need overnight on the train, and said goodbye to the van, which was scanned for explosives and videotaped for damage and then driven onto the train by friendly Amtrak staff. Then we walked into the station.

We had to get there extra early because of our oversized vehicle (most minivans are oversized), so we had lots of time to explore the station:

Simon has a ticket to ride!

In fact, the wait was extremely long:

Finally we were able to board around 2:30 PM. At about 3:45, the train departed Lorton. The whole ride was quiet and smooth, including the train wreck on the return trip (I'll bet you think I'm kidding). There were some slowdowns and stops for train traffic ahead, but it was all very smooth and pleasant. It had advantages over air travel because there's plenty of room, you can walk around whenever you want, there are plenty of lavatories (including a changing room), and did I mention it is as *quiet* as can be? To be fair, air travel takes two hours and the train takes 17, but those were 17 hours to chat with our family, watch movies on our DVD player, enjoy a better-than-expected dinner and breakfast that were included in the fare, enjoy actually a decent night of sleep, and take a picture or two:

Jonathan, James, Simon, and Amelia enjoying a movie on the train. Before 10 PM and after 6 AM, you can use audio without headphones at a reasonable volume. Leg rests not pictured in Awesome Mode.

The chairs feature adjustable leg rests. They effectively extend your seat several inches and help you sleep or relax. On airliners, I have only seen anything similar in business class or better. The "federal" part of the leg rests is what my kids dubbed Awesome Mode (I called it Expert Mode and was immediately corrected), in which the leg rests are placed not just horizontally but vertically, pointing up. The kids thought it was really fun. I still don't know why it was useful, but I grin when I imagine the federal subcommittee that must have decided that feature was necessary. (I failed to photograph Awesome Mode. I took few photos inside the train to avoid creeping out other passengers.)

One great thing about the Auto Train was the ability to use a row of empty seats for Rachel's stroller. She slept soundly with the stroller pointing sideways, brakes on, in front of two empty seats. We were fortunate that there were empty seats to do this. I'm not sure what we would have done if the train had been full. Holding her all night would have been tricky. Fitting a car seat in the foot space would be tight, and putting a car seat on a train seat would not be safe in my opinion because there are no seat belts. But as long as you're not going at the busiest times of year, you should have space to use a stroller. Remember, a train has lots of momentum and cannot stop or turn on a dime. During our train wreck, we barely noticed anything unusual let alone dangerous (you don't believe me, do you?). I think it would take a derailment for a stroller to be unsafe, and there's no safe place for a baby during a derailment anyway.

All the passengers and staff we met were extremely nice. They seemed to put all the families with small children into the same part of the same car, which I thought was a very nice touch for us and for passengers without kids.

Dinner and breakfast were served in the dining car. Soon after breakfast on...

Saturday, December 11: Freezy Florida

...the train arrived in Sanford, Florida ahead of schedule. It took 15-20 minutes to take apart the train, car by car (the Auto Train is the longest passenger train in the world), and then we stepped down into an unusually cool and foggy Florida morning. Tracy and I decided that the beach was out and we would have to think of something. We quickly decided that the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), in Cape Canaveral where our hotel and the cruise terminal were located, would be a good poor-weather option. We waited in the train station a while for our van, which emerged and then we were on our way to the Cape.

Arriving at the Kennedy Space Center, the kids were disappointed about missing the beach, but Amelia was very excited because she had a friend who had been there and had met real astronauts and had seen the Space Shuttle launch. We toned down her expectations, but she was still excited. Imagine our disappointment when we saw the admission prices: $41 for adults and $31 for kids, and everyone pays except Rachel. I was hoping for more like $15 or maybe $20 apiece. Game-time decision: Tracy and I went frugal and forever became KSC Liars. We got back in the van, Amelia in tears, Dad feeling stupid and apologizing profusely but not wanting to drop more than $200 for a few hours on a spur-of-the-moment museum.

We got some fast food lunch, during which the fog and clouds lifted and a sunny, lukewarm Florida day emerged. So we went to the beach in Cape Canaveral after all:

Tracy, Rachel, Jonathan, Amelia, and James enjoying the water. Where’s Simon?

Simon enjoyed the sand a lot more than he enjoyed the water.

Rachel sampled the seashells and told us which ones had the finest taste.

The beach we chose was at Cherie Down Park, where we have been before during warmer weather, and which is beautiful and very family-friendly. The water was just barely warm enough to be enjoyable. But the weather was not cold, and there was very little wind. For a beach trip in the mainland U.S. in December, I think it was about as good as one could hope for. All of us except Rachel enjoyed being in the water, though Simon was nervous. The big kids loved to get soaked. Jonny even got trampled by a wave!

After a very pleasant afternoon at the beach, we took a drive over to the cruise terminal to check it out. The Disney Magic was there, getting ready to sail that afternoon on a seven-night Caribbean cruise. We also saw a big Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) ship. We were even more excited for the next day!

We drove to our hotel, Country Inn and Suites in Cape Canaveral, to unpack a few things for the night and next morning. We were disappointed that they did not have interconnecting rooms for us, as they had said they did over the phone. That was inconvenient. Other than that, it was a very nice hotel and had everything we needed.

We went to Cocoa Beach Pier for dinner at Marlins. It was decent food and not busy at all this time of year. James had his second big cheeseburger of the day, which had sad consequences during the night. Simon slept through most of the meal, but we ordered him some chicken because we knew he would be sad and hungry when he woke up.

After dinner we were all ready for an early bedtime. We split into our two rooms and went to bed to prepare for the first day of the cruise.

Sunday, December 12: Anchors Aweigh

I always feel bad about vacationing on Sunday, but we made it a little better by attending church Sunday morning. After a nice buffet breakfast at the hotel, we drove to Titusville. Many thanks to the Cocoa Ward for welcoming us to their sacrament meeting. It was the right way to start Sunday.

We drove back to the hotel, arriving a little after 11:00 and changing out of our church clothes, which would become formalwear on the cruise. We checked out and got the rest of the bags we would need for the cruise out of the van. Then a shuttle took us to the cruise terminal. Many Cape Canaveral hotels have a “park and cruise” deal where if you stay one night, they give you free parking and cruise shuttle for free or cheap. It’s free at the Country Inn, and it worked out exactly as advertised.

As we pulled up to the shuttle stop at the port, I noticed that the rest of our relatives were right there. What a great coincidence! So the family reunion started a little sooner than I expected. We had lots of greetings and hugs. It was great to see everyone. They all flew to Florida for the cruise and had just arrived via shuttle from their hotels in Orlando.

We had not yet placed our luggage tags on our checked bags. This was the place where luggage would be whisked away. With seven of us, we had to be sure we tagged everything. Thankfully, the helpful Disney service started right there on the curb, where the porters weren’t technically Disney employees but were just as helpful and friendly. They helped us sort everything out, and we took our kids and carry-ons and got in line.

Tracy and I had a backpack that held items that must not be lost. Those included the passports, cruise documents, train tickets, and camera. When we arrived at the port, my first check revealed that the passports were gone, and I panicked for a moment. But I’m just clumsy, and the passports were indeed there. So we proceeded to a quick ID check booth, which I think was mainly to make sure you got in line at the right cruise line.

We waited in a line that was a little like an airport security line but in a much more pleasant environment, with windows everywhere to let in that Florida sunshine. At the front, I was overjoyed to see that the checkpoint was not run by the TSA, so we did not have to choose between the peeping line and the groping line or have our personal items extorted. They were very friendly and reasonable.

After security, we took an elevator up with Rachel’s stroller, while everyone else took an escalator. We arrived in the main hall of the DCL terminal. We filled out a “community health survey,” which I think was a sneaky way of trying to identify people who were ill and should not cruise. We were pleased that James’s vomiting did not disqualify him from the cruise. You have to have vomiting in conjunction with some other symptoms. Cheeseburger-induced vomiting was okay, so we proceeded to the main check-in line.

Check-in was a little like the check-in line at a very large hotel, but very slow. They took our photos and issued seven Key to the World cards, used as room keys and payment cards. They gave us some paperwork, including a Personal Navigator for the day, which is the daily schedule of events and ship directory. They also gave us a boarding pass with the number 20 on it.

We had to check in separately for the kids to join the Oceaneer Club and Oceaneer Lab, which was also slow. The kids received wristbands and we received a pager. Simon did not receive a wristband at that time because he is not completely potty-trained. But here is the secret: 3-year-olds who are mostly potty-trained can go in the Oceaneer Club! Yes! You’re supposed to go check on them every 45 minutes or so, but they can indeed join. Too bad we didn’t find out until a couple of days into the cruise.

We waited in the terminal hall until they started calling boarding numbers. 1. 2. “I need to use the bathroom.” Bathroom trip. 9. 10. “I need to use the bathroom.” 17. 18. 19. “I need to use the bathroom.” Again? NOW??? Bathroom trip. During the bathroom trip, “everyone may now board.” Oh no, we’re going to miss it! Hurry kids! No, we would not have missed it. We were hours early. But I was anxious to see what this ship would be like. So finally, we made our way across the gangway and onto Deck 3 of the Disney Wonder!

My first impression was that the ship was a lot narrower than I imagined. I’m a bad judge of distance so I won’t even try. But it was narrow for something that looked so huge from the outside. Of course I wasn’t disappointed, and I’m not saying it was cramped. Not at all. It was spacious. But that was my first impression: narrower than expected.

Of course the ship was gorgeous. The lobby where we entered looked like the grand entryways of some the most beautiful homes I have visited. The ship is a giant floating hotel, and it was as nice as the nicest hotels I have been in.

As we boarded, they announced our family by name and several crewmembers applauded to welcome us. It was lunchtime, and we were told that we could go either to the Beach Blanket Buffet on Deck 9 or the Parrot Cay Restaurant on Deck 3. Tip to future Disney Wonder cruisers: go to Parrot Cay for your first lunch! We went to Beach Blanket, as I mentioned above in “The Bad and the Ugly.” The food was fine but due to lack of indoor seating we could not enjoy it very well. We did not return to Beach Blanket for the rest of the cruise. (Note: everyone’s jackets go in your carry-on, not in your checked luggage! Big mistake on my part!)

At this point Tracy was feeling very stressed and worried that the whole cruise would be full of waiting in line at overcrowded restaurants and other venues. Thankfully, our first lunch was by far our worst experience of the cruise, and really it wasn’t that bad.

After lunch we went to our staterooms on Deck 6. We wanted to be together with my relatives, and they all chose the cheapest rooms possible, which did not allow us to get interconnecting rooms. So we had two separate rooms again, just like at the hotel in Cape Canaveral. We got extra room keys so Tracy and I could open both rooms, but soon the extra keys failed. Some of our Key to the World cards didn’t work either. But Guest Services on Deck 3 did their best to fix it up.

The kids loved playing in these little rooms. They also discovered the life jackets in the closets. They ran between the rooms, carrying life jackets back and forth and having a ball in a new place.

The rooms were very nice. It was our first cruise so I don’t know how the Disney Wonder rooms compare to other cruise staterooms, but they were the same size as the smallest rooms I have had in nice hotels in some large cities. Since these were the cheapest rooms on the ship, I was impressed. We didn’t spend a lot of time in our rooms, so I didn’t miss having more space or a window.

Each room featured a queen-size bed and a sofa that folds into a twin bed, as well as a pull-down bed from the ceiling. The pull-down bed is locked, and our room attendant Johny prepared all the beds each night, complete with the famous Disney Cruise towel animals they are so good at folding:

Towel ray, in Tracy’s room on the last night of the cruise.

When we arrived in the rooms, the TV was on and tuned to a ship channel all about the ship and the safety drill that would soon happen. At the right time, we grabbed the kids and all the life jackets and headed to Deck 4, lifeboat station F, and lined up by family with shortest in front and tallest in back, underneath our lifeboat:

A lifeboat on the Disney Wonder. I don’t think this was our lifeboat. Boats are numbered, but meeting areas are lettered. Disney was the first line in the modern era to have non-orange lifeboats, because orange didn’t go with the Mickey-Minnie-Donald-Goofy theme. They got special permission for yellow after proving that this particular hue is in fact more visible than standard lifeboat orange.

We all wore our life jackets, and Rachel’s jacket was made for infants and was truly like a jacket, with a hood and sleeves. Tracy thought Rachel was so cute in the life jacket and wanted a photo, but Rachel was asleep when Tracy thought to take the photo. So here is the jacket sans Rachel:

Imagine little Rachel, bobbing around in this cute thing, with people screaming all around…

Thankfully, we did not need to use the life jackets or boats for their intended purpose.

After the drill, we returned our life jackets to our rooms and went up to Deck 9 for Adventures Away, a sail-away party. It was cold, cloudy, windy, and rainy. Also, our kids got lost, so we spent the party looking for them. They turned out to be with various relatives. At that point, we made clear the need for people to tell us they were taking our kids, so we would not spend the next four days searching the ships and islands instead of having fun. As far as I remember, that only happened once more during the cruise.

Once we found the kids, the party was over and I was freezing. It was notable that the ship did *not* sail away during the sail-away party. Then it was time for our first dinner. We retrieved the kids and went to the Animator’s Palate restaurant in time for our 5:45 dinner seating.

Here’s how dinner works. There are three restaurants for sit-down dinner: Animator’s Palate, Parrot Cay, and Triton’s. You are assigned to one restaurant each night and have a chance to eat at all three. We had a four-night cruise, and our first and last dinners were in Animator’s Palate. This is the one where Disney art on the walls is supposed to fill with color and come alive. It did not happen on the first night, which we later learned was intentional for the first night. On our last night, there were some colors and sort of a light show, and I believe the servers changed their vests from black-and-white to color, but I was underwhelmed based on everything amazing I had heard about this restaurant.

But the food was amazing at all three restaurants. Each diner gets an appetizer, a soup or salad, an entrée, and a dessert. Each appetizer is single-serve, so everyone gets what they want. I can’t remember very many specific dishes, but here are the things I remember enjoying most from dinners on the cruise:

Mixed Grill: all kinds of meat seasoned and grilled
Some kind of spinach/artichoke dip with chips
Potato cheese soup
Crème brûlée

As Latter-day Saints, we do not drink alcohol (I think crème brûlée is okay because the alcohol is burned away). That’s great on DCL, because non-alcoholic beverages are free! (Exception: drinks at some venues like the theaters, as well as “virgin” mixed drinks, are not free.) I ordered orange juice on my first night, and I guess that became my default because they kept bringing me orange juice every night. I ended up asking for something different, which was fine.

The #1 best thing about the dinners, and maybe the best thing on the cruise, was the service. Our servers were Jedi master Geffrey, from the Philippines, and his Padawan learner I Made (ee-MAH-day), from Indonesia. They made our dining experience extremely relaxing and pleasant. When we go out to dinner with our five kids, it’s often a relief to finally be done and get out of there. Not so on our cruise.

When we first arrived at the Animator’s Palate, Geffrey and I Made were there to welcome us and take us to our tables. There were 17 of us, and each large table is designed for 10, so we had two tables. I figured it would be me and my family at one table and most everyone else at the other. Instead, Geffrey and I Made suggested having an adults table and a kids table. I thought they were crazy and didn’t know what they were getting into. As it turns out, they were wonderful with children! They helped them understand the choices, order, cut their food, and have a great time. Meanwhile, at the adults table we got to have a very pleasant meal most nights. One night we did have trouble with both Simon and Rachel, and that was more like a typical restaurant visit. But all the other dinners on the cruise were very nice.

During Sunday’s dinner at some point, we felt the ship start to move! It was unnerving at first, mainly because Animator’s Palate has no windows. But soon we got used to it. The movements are very gentle and subtle. I can’t imagine anyone being seasick on a ship like that, though I know some do get sick anyway.

After dinner, we went over to see Sunday night’s show, The Golden Mickeys. We took some photos ahead of the show:

Simon, Amelia, James, and Jonathan near the entrance to the Walt Disney Theatre just before The Golden Mickeys. Amelia’s pompom came from the Adventures Away party.

“The Golden Mickeys are tonight!”

Actually the three big kids wanted to go to the clubs instead, so we introduced James, Amelia, and Jonathan to the kids’ clubs. The Oceaneer Club is designed for ages 3 to roughly 8, and the Oceaneer Lab is designed for about 8 to 11. There is no rule saying who goes where. If a child wants to switch between Club and Lab, a counselor can take them. James spent more time in the Lab because they have cooler video games. Amelia, Jonny, and later Simon when we learned he could participate, spent more time in the Club. Amelia says, “I just loved being little-kid-ish.” The Club had some great climbing and sliding, as well as a stage where the counselors ran fun activities for the kids. Jonny says, “I liked the Oceaneer Lab, but for some reason I only went there once.”

One good thing to know about is the ability for 9-, 10-, and 11-year-olds to check themselves in and out, if parents give permission. At first we said no, because we didn’t want to spend the cruise looking all over the ship for James. But then we found out about a great program called Out and About, in which the counselors take the tweens to fun activities around the ship, not just in the lab. To participate in Out and About, a child has to have self-checkin/checkout privileges. So we let James participate, and as it turns out, Out and About was his favorite part of the cruise. We made sure he realized he was not to leave the Club and Lab outside of Out and About, unless he returned to the Club or Lab right away. It went really well, and he did exactly what we said. Way to go James! He was especially excited when Out and About took over the teen club for an hour!

After we dropped off the kids at the clubs on Deck 5, we went back down to Deck 4 in time for The Golden Mickeys. It was a good musical show about a stage crew member who ends up hosting an awards show (best hero, best villain, etc. from Disney movies).

I’ll be honest: the thing that impressed me most was before the show, when Christian the cruise director introduced Captain Gus, captain of the Wonder. Wow, the captain of a huge ship! Right there on the stage! Captain Gus sounds like he’s from one of the Bork, Bork, Bork countries. He said there are 999 crewmembers on the Disney Wonder (“that’s the actual number,” he added).

Later in the cruise, there was a Captain’s Corner scheduled to hear Captain Gus talk about the ship and ask him questions, but we didn’t have time for some reason. I told my dad about the Captain’s Corner after the fact and he said, “how did you know?” “The Personal Navigator,” I said. “Oh, we haven’t bothered to read those,” he said. I can’t say enough about how useful the daily Personal Navigator is. You get one in your room every night or morning, and they have extras at Guest Services on Deck 3.

Anyway, The Golden Mickeys. The show ended around 9:15, and Simon and Rachel were already asleep. We had had a fun-filled and energy-draining day, so we collected the big kids from the clubs and went to our rooms to sleep. We found all the beds configured for sleeping. I shared my room with Amelia and Jonathan, and Tracy had James, Simon, and Rachel. I offered to take Rachel, who was not sleeping through the night, but Tracy very kindly took her. We read and prayed together, and then we hugged and kissed good-night, separated to our rooms, and settled down for a wonderful night of sleep.

Monday, December 13: Windy Day in Nassau

On Monday morning, we woke up and could tell that the ship was still moving. That morning we were supposed to be in Nassau, and in the late morning we were scheduled to ride the Seaworld Explorer semi-submarine. We had time, so we took it slow and let everyone sleep as much as they wanted.

Around 8:00 or 8:30 each morning, Christian the cruise director would make an announcement over the PA system. Christian was quite witty, and I always looked forward to his morning announcements, as well as his introductions to each night’s musical show. For example, he poked fun at his own baldness, and at one point he compared himself to his counterpart on The Love Boat. On Monday morning, Christian announced that they were trying to dock in Nassau but it was windy and tricky.

We went to breakfast with relatives at Parrot Cay, where breakfast and lunch are buffet-style. It was awesome, with no waiting or lines. They had all kinds of great breakfast food, including a cook making omelets to order. They also had chocolate soy milk for dairy-allergic Simon! He was in heaven!

During breakfast, they announced that we had docked at Nassau, and we could go ashore very soon. Then they announced that due to extreme wind, some excursions had been cancelled. It would have been much quicker to read a list of excursions that were *not* cancelled, because almost all of them, including our semi-submarine ride, were slapped down by Mother Nature. Thanks a lot, Mother! However, Chris and Tirah got to go swimming with the dolphins, which was a great experience for them.

Amelia actually cried about missing the semi-submarine. She gets emotional. I was a little sad but also thought “by Grabthar’s Hammer, what a savings,” because we now would not have to pay for it. By the end of the day, I realized that it was a pretty relaxing day without the scheduled boat ride. It would have been fun but by no means ruined our vacation.

The boys’ reaction was approximately “too bad; oh by the way, can we go to the club now?” We said sure and dropped the kids off there. We decided that we would not be denied a visit to the non-Disney part of our foreign vacation, so the rest of us (I, Tracy, Simon, and Rachel) headed down to Deck 1 and across the gangway into Nassau, The Bahamas.

Simon, Tracy, Rachel, and me near the cruise terminal in Nassau. Yes, the water is really that blue!

The stern of the Carnival Fantasy in the foreground, with the stern of the Disney Wonder in the background. Our ship is better than yours.

The northernmost pier of the Nassau cruise terminal, taken from Deck 9 of the Disney Wonder, facing north. Windy day!

It was extremely windy, especially between the Wonder and the Fantasy. The two ships created quite a wind tunnel. But elsewhere in the city it was windy too. We wandered through the cruise terminal, were offered 57 taxi and buggy rides, and walked into the shopping district of town. We went into The Linen Shop and bought a Christmas tree ornament, which is a traditional souvenir for our family trips. Unfortunately, I left Rachel’s blanket there, but when we went back the kind shopkeeper knew why we had returned and gave me the quilt. I was half expecting to find it on the shelves for sale, so I’m grateful that she was kind and honest.

We took a few photos, one of which was close to the water and soaked my feet and pants! Thankfully, the kids did not get wet, and neither did Tracy, who was taking the photo. We got an American-looking couple to take our photo all together, at least the four of us who went on the island. Meanwhile, James, Amelia, and Jonathan were having a ball in the clubs on the ship.

We returned to the ship around lunchtime. We checked with the kids to see who wanted to come see Toy Story 3 in 3D! Everyone but James said yes. On our way to the movie, we stopped by the counter service restaurants on Deck 9 to get some lunch, which we were able to carry into the movie theater. That was fairly pleasant, other than taking four small kids and food for six from deck to deck and down some halls and stairs.

Dads, if you see Toy Story 3 and you love your kids, you may get emotional. That might sound silly, but if you have seen it you know what I mean. It addresses kids growing up and leaving their childhood behind. It made me ponder the next 10-20 years in our family. I look forward to those years, but I’m not ready for them to grow all the way up yet.

After the movie, Amelia and Jonathan went back to the clubs. Tracy, Simon, Rachel, and I went to Deck 9 to kid around, play ping pong, and eat watermelon. I think Simon appreciated the attention. Simon got cold, so we took the watermelon back to our room. We met my mom and dad with the other cousins in their room, where they had a nice quantity of fried snacks they were sharing.

Around 5:00, we gathered the kids to dress for dinner. On DCL, every dinner except one is “cruise casual,” which means no shorts or bathing suits. One dinner is supposed to be formal, so we dressed everyone up. It floors me that it takes 45 minutes to do this. I should know, because we give ourselves 30 minutes every Sunday to get ready for church. But Simon had a bit of a meltdown and was difficult before and during dinner. We barely made it in time. If you’re too late for dinner, you miss out, though you can go to the counter service places to get decent food. We never missed our seating, including on Monday at Parrot Cay.

Parrot Cay is supposed to be reminiscent of the Caribbean islands. It was nice but didn’t remind me of islands. Geffrey and I Made were there in tropical vests. We were there in our Sunday best (even though it was Monday). I noticed that only about half of the guests abided by the formal dress code that evening. On the one hand, how can you enforce it? Everyone has paid hundreds of dollars to be there. On the other hand, it would have been a little nicer if everyone had been dressed up. But our entire party was:

Rachel, James, Simon, Cameron, Abby, Jacob, Jonathan, and Amelia near the elevators on the way to Parrot Cay for formal dinner on Monday. Thanks to Jonathan and Amelia for looking at our camera instead of the one next to us!

Dave, Angie, and Todd. Angie and Todd did not realize they were being photographed. After this one turned out so nicely, I decided not to take more photos of our table at this dinner.

Simon, Geffrey, Abby, and Amelia, doing a kids’ conga line around Parrot Cay.

Amelia, Jacob, and I Made in the Parrot Cay kids’ conga line.

James, Jonathan, and Cameron in the Parrot Cay kids’ conga line. I Made is cheering them on, and Angie is taking photos from the other side. Rachel’s stroller is in the foreground.

I believe Parrot Cay is where I had the Mixed Grill entrée that I enjoyed so much. It was also where Simon had a complete meltdown. It was a real train wreck…well, not as real as the train wreck on Thursday (I’m telling you). Tracy very kindly took him back to our rooms, while I took the other three walking kids for the rest of the dinner, and my mom graciously took Rachel for a while. The food and service were great once again, but Simon’s behavior made this dining experience not so pleasant.

After dinner, we changed out of our clothes and saw Toy Story: The Musical in the Walt Disney Theatre. It is a pretty good show that quickly goes through the original Toy Story movie in dance and song on the stage. Some of the kids opted for the clubs again. I think they missed out again.

After the show, I put the sleepy kids in bed, while Tracy retrieved the others from the clubs. This was when Tracy discovered the glorious secret about almost-potty-trained kids being allowed in the clubs, as long as parents check on them frequently. Armed with this information, we were confident that Simon’s tantrums were done, and we rested easy as the ship steamed out of Nassau toward Castaway Cay.

Tuesday, December 14: Abort, Abort, Abort!

On Tuesday morning, Captain Gus himself made the announcement that the extreme winds would made it very difficult to dock at Castaway Cay and almost impossible to do anything fun there, so instead we would spend the day at sea and try for Castaway Cay tomorrow. By this point we knew that being on the ship was extremely fun, so we were not disappointed. We went to Parrot Cay again for breakfast and re-planned our day.

The kids spent the lion’s share of Tuesday in the Oceaneer Club and Lab and had a ball as usual. Tracy, Rachel, and I attended a Disney theme park trivia contest, where we got about 18 correct out of 25 multiple choice questions but had the worst score in the room. We were up against some real Disney fanatics, I think.

We went through the main lobby on Deck 3 and took a quick photo of the Christmas tree:

The Christmas tree on Deck 3 of the Disney Wonder.

After counter service lunch on Deck 9, we gathered the kids to go to the Mickey 200, where the kids would be able to make racecars out of vegetables! Sounds like a veggie Pinewood Derby. Unfortunately, we were late and they ran out of kits. So we went up to Deck 9 and spent some time playing ping pong and foosball. We had a nice time.

During ping pong and foosball, Simon needed a bathroom break. On our way back from the bathroom, we ran into someone special and got one of my favorite photos of the trip:

Simon and Daisy Duck. Look at Simon’s face!

Daisy Duck was waiting for an elevator and had time for a quick photo. Simon was thrilled. I told him that was a reward for choosing to use the bathroom. The characters always had long lines, just like at the Disney parks, so we were very fortunate to run into Daisy like this.

At 2:30 we all went to a class that taught us how to fold and twist towels into animal shapes. Everyone had a blast and learned a new skill. All of us can make a swan—they’re easy. Only the few and the proud can make a monkey without using the instructions. The DCL room attendants make these cool animals in all the staterooms every afternoon.

The kids nagged us about the swimming pool the whole cruise. We realized that we should bite the bullet and go swimming while it wasn’t too freezing or windy. It turned out to be both on Tuesday afternoon but we did it anyway. It was even cloudy and about to rain. But I was already a KSC Liar, and by gosh, I was not going to become a Pool Liar. So we swam (not Rachel; Tracy and I took turns). The water was warm. The kids didn’t want to get out and neither did I. But finally we got out and made a mad dash for the towels. The kids still asked to swim throughout the cruise, but we were justified in saying no, for the sake of everyone’s health.

After swimming, we put on dry clothes and went to dinner at Triton’s, a French-themed restaurant. I was not brave enough to try the escargot. I tried one once at age 15 and spit it into a water cup, and I did not want to try again. But the food was fine once again. It was Angie’s birthday, and Geffrey and I Made assembled a squad of crewmembers to sing to Angie. They also brought a cake in addition to our individual desserts. The cake was good, but it had corn flakes on it, which was weird.

At Triton’s we each received a Pirates IN the Caribbean bandana to wear to the party of the same name that evening. Rather than wearing them pirate-style, I Made tied them on our heads the way we would do if attending a traditional Indonesian ceremony. It was different for men, women, boys, and girls. It was a nice touch, and though some in our party weren’t amused, I was proud to wear I Made’s handiwork that night.

Most of us, all but James I think, went to see Tangled in 3D, which was in lieu of a stage show on Tuesday evening. Tangled is Disney’s new Rapunzel movie and was in theaters at the time of our cruise. DCL claims to be the only cruise line showing first-run movies onboard. Good show. I like how they did not go overboard on the 3D. I don’t remember any parts that screamed, “hey look, it’s 3D!” 3D added a little to the experience without dominating it.

All but James then went to the Pirates IN the Caribbean party, which was a dance party with Captain Hook vs. Mickey Mouse and the only at-sea fireworks of any cruise line in the world (another Disney first; they had to do the research to convince the government to let them do it, and then they patented the process. Brilliant!).

Cameron, Chris, Tirah, Rachel, and Tracy at the Pirates IN the Caribbean party.

Amelia at the Pirates party, with fake pirate teeth.

The party was okay, but we had at least two sleepers by the end. Drowsy, we did not stay for the food. We retrieved James and went to bed.

Wednesday, December 15: Welcome to Paradise

Wednesday morning, we had room service for breakfast, since we would need to make an early start if we were indeed going to Castaway Cay. We still didn’t know for sure.

Then Christian came on with his daily announcement, which began thus: “Good morning! We’re hee-re!” I didn’t realize until a few days after the cruise that Christian was totally imitating a line from Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, but the point was that we had made it to Castaway Cay! Woot!

Then Christian started the list of excursions cancelled due to weather. Tracy and I were planning our one and only date without kids during the cruise to be a walking and kayak adventure on Castaway Cay, and it sounded like we would not be going. As Christian went through the long list, I just knew ours would be included. To my great astonishment and joy, ours never came up! The walking and kayak adventure was on!

When 9:00 arrived, we split up to quickly drop off Rachel at the nursery on the ship and the kids at Scuttle’s Cove, the kids’ club on the island. Captain Gus was welcoming people off the gangway, but sadly we had no time to talk. I didn’t want to miss the kayak adventure.

Castaway Cay has a tram to take you around the island. In our experience, Murphy’s Law applied exactly: if we chose not to wait, a tram would pass us a minute later. If we did wait, it took longer than expected. For healthy young folks, I don’t think the tram saves much time. If you’re older, slower, encumbered by children, or you just want to relax and are not in a hurry, the tram is probably a good bet.

We met up with Ricky the tour guide, who issued each of us a life jacket. We started walking down a small road toward the kayaks. Ricky was full of good info and survival tips about the island and its plants. For example, Ricky said that Disney simply bought the island from its owners several years ago. However, Ricky said to say that a guy named John said the real story is that the island was snatched from drug smugglers and then Disney bought it up (your secret’s safe with us, Ricky). It’s a beautiful island, but Ricky pointed out non-native tree species introduced by the smugglers that were planted for concealment but are harming the native vegetation.

After the hike, we paddled kayaks through a mangrove swamp. Tracy and I shared a kayak. All our adult relatives on the cruise were there too. Everyone had their spouse with them except recent RM Dave, who shared a kayak with another lone fellow. These two-seat kayaks are not at all cuddly; you can barely reach your co-passenger. But I think operating one alone might be tricky for a beginner, so it worked out for everyone. Even my mom and dad did pretty well in the kayak.

Castaway Cay from the road.

What a cutie!

Ricky teaching us about lifesaving plants.

Looking down the road on Castaway Cay.

Are you prepared to rock?

I took no photos from the kayak for fear of dropping our brand new camera in the water. I’m clumsy like that. But we had a wonderful time paddling the kayak. It’s much easier than a canoe. After kayaking, we went in the water for a few minutes. Then we headed back so we could pick up the kids.

Rachel slept almost the whole time in Flounder’s Reef Nursery. After getting Rachel and returning to the island, we grabbed lunch while it was still open. The other kids had a great time in Scuttle’s Cove, but all except Jonny were ready to leave. In fact, James was already gone. Argh! We figured one of our relatives must have picked him up. Sure enough, we eventually found him, but it took some time. Again, make sure you tell people in your party to let you know when they’re taking your kids.

We spent the rest of our Castaway Cay day swimming at the beach. It was cold but warmer than Florida. A few of us saw a huge fish, 2-3 feet long, swimming in shallow water right near us. The kids were pretty confident in the calm water.

Tracy and Amelia swimming off Castaway Cay.

Dave, Todd, James, Abby, Jacob, Tracy, and Amelia swimming off Castaway Cay.

Amelia, Jacob, and James wading off Castaway Cay. Every child eligible for the clubs had a wristband like the one you can see on Jacob’s arm.

Simon, Tracy, and Amelia off Castaway Cay.

Simon, Jacob, Abby, James, and Tracy at Castaway Cay. Great smile Simon!

James, Amelia, and me swimming off Castaway Cay.

While we swam, we were blissfully unaware that we were being paged to get Jonny before Scuttle’s Cove closed. Then we were paged to say they were taking him back to the Oceaneer Club on the ship. We didn’t realize it, so we panicked when we saw that Scuttle’s Cove was closed and abandoned. But a friendly crewmember said not to worry—the kids would be at the Oceaneer Club. We went straight there and retried Jonny, who was enjoying more time in the club. I was sad that he chose not to swim with us, but it was a vacation and I’m glad he had a nice time.

After changing out of our swimming clothes, the kids went to the Oceaneer Club and Lab to get ready for a stage show called Friendship Rocks. The kids were the stars of the show! They each got a t-shirt and got to sing and dance in a brief stage show in the Walt Disney Theatre, which we attended Wednesday afternoon. Some were more into it than others. Amelia really rocked the house! The boys did fine, though Simon was so little and needed to be directed around.

FriendSHIP Rocks!

Simon (short boy in yellow t-shirt) on the stage during Friendship Rocks!

Mickey and kids on stage during Friendship Rocks! Amelia is the pretty girl in the center of the photo, second row, red t-shirt, taller than the other kids in her row.

Friendship Rocks! Jonny is to the right of the center of the photo, in the third row. He is easy to spot with his widow’s peak.

Show’s almost over. Simon is two to the right of the adult in the photo, with his thumb in his mouth.

James exiting the theater after Friendship Rocks!

After the show, we took one last chance to look out at the ocean from the ship in the daylight:

From the starboard side of the Disney Wonder, Deck 4, underway from Castaway Cay to Port Canaveral. There is land in the distance, probably one of the islands of The Bahamas.

I took an excellent opportunity to photograph the most beautiful woman in Disney Wonder history:

Wow!

We had one last gourmet dinner with excellent service, this time back at Animator’s Palate. The lights were working and it was entertaining. But after so many days in the lap of luxury, everyone was getting a little loopy:

Mom, Dad, and Dave

Dave’s left arm, Chris, and Tirah

Todd and Angie

Tracy

When dinner was almost done, the servers left, and then an announcement prompted us to cheer as our servers re-entered. Geffrey and I Made came back wearing colorful vests. We understood that this was the time not only to clap but also to give gratuities.

On a cruise, it is traditional to give gratuities to your dining room servers and your room attendant, all in one shot on the last night. On DCL you tip your server, assistant server, head server, and room attendant. The head server is the server and assistant server’s boss, who comes by once a night to make sure everything is okay but is otherwise like a mob boss, taking a cut without actually doing much. But it’s tradition, and you never want to tick off a mob boss, so everyone got gratuities from us. Some in our party thought Geffrey was the head server, so it was a bit confusing. But I think Tracy and I got it right. One weird thing was that Guest Services said we should pay gratuities for our two separate rooms, rather than lumping it all together on one room. I don’t know why, but it was their ship and we did as we were told.

I’m making light of the gratuity process, but believe me when I say Geffrey and I Made earned every penny and then some. They went many extra miles to make every dinner a delightful experience for us and our kids. I’m guessing the head server picked out her best duo for this family with a zillion kids, and for that I am thankful. Jonhy was also very helpful, getting our room ready just the way we wanted every morning and afternoon.

After dinner, we went outside on the deck for one last family photo onboard:

My past, present, and eternity: Amelia, James, Jonathan, Simon, Rachel, and Tracy

Some of the kids went to the clubs after dinner. Most of us went to Disney Dreams, a stage show featuring various Disney movie vignettes. This was my favorite performance of the cruise. There was some great singing, dancing, and acrobatics.

At some point before and after dinner, we packed our things. You have to pack checked luggage on the last night of the cruise, tag it, and leave it outside your stateroom door. DCL crewmembers whisk it away to be picked up in the terminal upon arrival.

After Disney Dreams, the kids were finally exhausted from a wonderful week:

Me and Simon, on the way to retrieve the other kids and turn in wristbands and pagers.

We put the kids to bed, and since our packing was done and all the kids were asleep, Tracy and I took one last chance to explore this grand ship, this vacation we had waited nearly two years to take, this dream come true. We went through the entry hall on Deck 3 with its tall Christmas tree. We walked outside on Deck 4 and around the back, where we saw lots of equipment including huge chains, small boats, wave runners, and other stuff that I couldn’t even imagine. We walked up to Deck 9 or 10 Forward, where there is a plaque from the shipyard in Italy where the ship was built. We just wandered, enjoying being together on this (so far) once-in-a-lifetime experience. When we had seen enough of this wonderful ship, we kissed good-night and went to bed to get ready for a busy day.

Thursday, December 16: The Boot

They say that all good things come to an end. I know that’s not true, but let’s say all good things that are of this world come to an end, and a Disney cruise is one of those things.

We were told to awake early and get ready to get off the ship. But first, we had a final DCL meal, back in Animator’s Palate, and once again with Geffrey and I Made serving us. This was the only breakfast where we had our dedicated servers. It was very pleasant once again, though it was designed for efficiency. No buffet, just a simple menu. I had an omelet and a drink, which was plenty after such lavish food that week. I am pleased to say that I did not overeat in general, and there was only one time that I felt a little uneasy from too much to eat. Overeating is a general problem on cruises, so I’m happy with my performance.

After thanking Geffrey and I Made one last time for helping us have such a great experience, we bade them farewell and went back up to Deck 6 one last time to get our carry-on bags from our rooms. Then we went down to Deck 3, through the entry hall (which I suppose was an “exit hall” that day), across the gangway, and back into the real world.

Rather than the grand hall where we checked in on Sunday, we were directed underground to a warehouse-like area where we found our luggage waiting for us. A helpful porter approached us and I gladly accepted his help. I was a little embarrassed that he cut ahead of other passengers in the immigration and customs line, but it did get us through quicker. Make sure you tip these folks who help you with your bags. You’ve just paid hundreds or thousands of dollars for this vacation—don’t be cheap over a few dollars for some valuable help.

Almost as soon as we made our way outside to the same curb where the Country Inn shuttle had dropped us off, the Country Inn shuttle drove right up, and it was already time to say goodbye to relatives who were headed to the airport. We got in the shuttle and off we went. The driver was friendly and witty, warning us that there would be no one to clean our rooms or cut our steaks for us anymore now that we were back in the real world.

Arriving back at the hotel, we loaded the van, had a quick bathroom break, and drove toward Disney World, where we planned to meet some of our relatives with later flights at Downtown Disney. It was their first time in Florida, and we had several hours to kill until the train. We saw more of Downtown Disney than we had seen before:

Abby, Amelia, and James running around in front of the House of Blues at Downtown Disney

Jacob and Jonathan playing near the House of Blues at Downtown Disney

We realized that we had not had the kids shop for souvenirs. We got them some on the ship, but we had said they could pick their own. They had been too busy having fun! But we were already KSC Liars, and I did not want anyone to remember and realize that we were also Souvenir Liars, so our main mission at Downtown Disney was to let the kids pick a souvenir each. Jonny and Simon found their treasures at the Lego Store, while James and Amelia chose from the world’s largest Disney Store.

We were going to eat lunch with Chris, Tirah, Angie, Todd, Jacob, and Abby, but we realized that the timing didn’t work. So we said goodbye to them all and headed for Sanford. We stopped at Checkers to get some food to eat in the train station (meal for everyone was a little less than $20 and decent for fast food…thank you Checkers) and then checked in at the Amtrak Auto Train station. It was a very similar process to what we saw in Lorton. We even saw some of the same staff as we boarded the train.

We were relaxing on the northbound train when I noticed the train braking harder than it had the whole southbound trip. It wasn’t enough to jostle anyone (remember what I said about momentum), but I noticed. Then it braked hard again, then it started slowing to a stop. As we crossed a street that had the gates down and lights and bells on, I felt a “thump-thump-thump” and then smooth. Immediately I thought we had run over a car. In fact, we did hit a pickup truck. One rumor was that the driver tried to go around the gate. Another rumor was that the driver drove up to the white line, saw that the gate was coming down, pulled forward onto the tracks, and was stuck.

Thankfully, the driver was uninjured in our train wreck. He walked away. The news reports state that the train was headed southbound from Lorton to Sanford, but don’t be fooled. Believe me, I was there.

I got out my phone and searched for news. No good. Then the thought occurred to me: maybe this is what Twitter is good for. I searched Twitter, and sure enough, someone had tweeted about the accident. In reply, issued my first ever tweet that said anything other than “still not sure what Twitter is good for.” The original tweeter replied back. Interesting stuff. We were stuck there for about 2.5 hours while they investigated. It was one of the smallest train wrecks you can imagine, but I’m proud. If my family can survive a train wreck, we can survive anything, right?

We ate dinner during the investigation. After we were done, the train got underway again. Once again we had a place for Rachel’s stroller. Once again the kids insisted on Awesome Mode for their footrests (I used Standard Mode for mine). We had an easy night of sleep.

Jonathan sleeping by Rachel’s stroller on the northbound Auto Train

James sleeping near his unfinished bowl of complimentary snacks on the northbound Auto Train. Leg rest in Standard Mode. We did have pajamas and blankets for the kids, and Amtrak provided blankets and pillows. I think this was an afternoon nap when everyone was all cruised out.

Rachel napping in her stroller Friday morning on the northbound Auto Train.

Friday, December 17

At almost noon the next morning we pulled into Lorton, a few hours behind schedule but safe and happy.

Virginia is freezing. I never thought so until returning from this sub-tropical vacation. But now I promise that Virginia is cold. But we put on our coats and braved the cold. We went to lunch nearby (I think it was Wendy’s) and then went home to find everything well.

I’m so grateful we could go on this very memorable vacation. This blog post is more for my benefit than anyone else’s so that I can remember the wonderful times we had and things we saw and did. If you have any questions about Disney cruising, Amtrak Auto Train, or anything else, put it in the comments and I’ll help if I can.

The Good the Bad and the Wonderful

2011-01-15T15:13:00.000-05:00

This is my first attempt at blogging about our family vacation on the Disney Wonder that took place last week. It will probably seem whiny at times. Sorry, but that's my reality of being a mom of 5 kids.
I really want to express how Wonder-ful it was. That will be a photo essay on another day. A picture is worth a thousand words, right? So on with the long winded account.
Day 1 started with a Christmas concert at school. James signed up for the chorus and the timing worked out for him to sing before starting our adventures. It was beautiful. The Carol of the Bells was harmonious and brought tears to my eyes. There were a few others, including one called "Winter in America" inspired by a James Brown song and at the end a little boy wearing a huge afro came out and danced around. Pretty funny. The song talked about being cold up north and warm down south and so I took it as a song about our upcoming trip.
We left school after that. Amelia had a TON of make up work to get started on and I figured James could help the rest of us finish trip preparations.  Amelia's teacher refused to give out the make up work in advance, so on the last day before the trip, Amelia brought home a stack of work tall enough to make anyone headed on a cruise weep. It was labeled "due the first day you return." When we got home, she and Jonny got to work (he had a few kindergarten sheets to do to stay caught up.) James figured school was out and wanted to play video games instead of help clean. Go figure. I hate coming home to a dirty house after a trip.  But just as I got into cleaning it started to snow and Gary and I figured it would be better to leave so we could avoid potential traffic problems associated with snow in a place where no one knows how to drive in the snow.
So we drove to the auto train watched our van get loaded on and our adventure began.  There was a tiny playground outside the station and some of the kids went out to play. I stayed in with Rachel- we both had colds. Gary had a cold too but kindly agreed to take the others outside.  The train seats were comfortable and we settled in to the top level of the train for the 17 hour ride. The kids enjoyed reading the books they brought, we got fruit and snack mix from the lounge car (the snack mix will abate hunger, but it's not good enough to really chow down on, so it's great for calorie counters:) Dinner served was much better than anticipated- the only "hiccup" was that there were 2 pitchers of drinks on each table. I poured out water for the kids. I checked out the other pitcher as the kids wanted whatever it was. It was almost clear and I couldn't place the smell. So I poured myself a fraction of an inch to see if I recognized the taste. Hmm- juice with a "bandaids" aftertaste. Yes- go sniff some bandaids. That was the aftertaste.  Gary asked someone what it was (we were at separate tables to fit everyone in) the answer: wine.  So now I've decided not to be a wine- aholic.
Then we returned to our seats where the kids were eager to don their Mickey pajamas and "go to sleep." They ended up watching Prince Caspian (which we brought along) until they were sleepy. Simon stumbled around between seats for a while. He was disoriented and tired. I was concerned he would fall down the stairs on the train until we got him situated. We bought Rachel a new stroller for the trip- we have a double stroller before and a broken down umbrella stroller so I figured it was time.   It's a Chicco Liteway and the main reason I chose it was for the deep recline so that she could sleep comfortably in it. Luckily on the train there was an empty row near us and we could set up the stroller there AND fully recline the seats in front. Sleep that night was very restless. Gary and I had colds keeping us up. James has a funny way of describing that night: I just kept wondering if this was as comfortable as I could be and so I'd try something else. I can fully attest that he tried "awesome mode" several times that night. (That is the name the kids gave the seats when they extended the leg rests to be perpendicular the the chair. That is not nice for sleeping, but if you throw a quilt in there, it makes a cozy playing nest for a baby.) Rachel got up several times to eat that night. At 3 she decided it was daytime and was ready to play. I took her to the lounge car, (which was very clean and comfortable) to play until quarter to 6 when she decided it was time to sleep after all.   So back to bed. I carefully observed the sleepers we passed on our way to our seats and decided the ones who looked the most peaceful were using the foot rest, the leg rest and the seat recline on their backs, instead of those who were trying to get comfortable in side, fetal, or other "awesome" positions. I slept for an hour or two and then it was time for breakfast, packing up and getting off the train.
Day 2 We got our van pretty quickly. We had plenty of time to spare. We had padded our trip by a day, not wanting train delays to cause stress with our cruise departure. It was cold and damp in Florida, so we decided against the beach (our original plan) and headed to the Kennedy Space Center. We got there, looked at the prices and left. It would have cost our family over $200 to go in and we really didn't want a stressful museum day before the cruise. We wanted to relax. We ate some lunch at McDonalds, a major treat for the kids. James somehow talked us into buying him a 1/3 lb hamburger and proudly devoured the entire thing. It warmed up and we decided to go to the beach after all. We had been to Florida a few years ago and headed to Cherie Down, the beach that our family had enjoyed so much previously.   Gary waded out with the kids and I played with Rachel on the towels. She delicately tried to eat each sea shell she grabbed. She likes the taste of sand and salt apparently. Then I went out with the kids. I am a real sissy when it comes to taking my kids in the ocean. I fear losing them at sea. I can imagine the terror of trying to find them in that vast expanse and so I don't let them go in very far.   James loves the water and humored my requests to stay close to shore although he encouraged Amelia and Jonny to go out as deep as he was and since he's so much taller than Jonny, that was a bit of a problem. I don't really like to swim in the ocean, but I like to play tag with the waves, racing them as they go in and out, trying not to get wet. Simon really liked that game too. He doesn't like water much.
After bathing and scrubbing the sand off the kids, we went out to dinner in Cocoa Beach, right on the pier. It was scenic and restful. James had a hamburger as big as his face. Then we went back to the hotel for much needed sleep. Gary kindly offered to take Rachel in his room (the hotel did NOT have interconnecting rooms as promised when we reserved.) so I could sleep. This would be a first for both me and her. I took some Niquil and went to bed, sharing with James and Simon. I slept really good, until I heard the throwing up. Remember all that beef James ate? Yeah- there it was, all over the walls and tub and toilet lid. (here's a tip, go to bed with the toilet seat up so midnight chuckers don't hit the lid instead of the bowl.) Simon was up once too, just disoriented.
We got all dressed up for church the next day, attending Cocoa Beach ward. They gave some delightful reviews of General Conference talks and tried desperately to get us to mingle after Sacrament meeting.  We headed for the cruise terminal instead. It was warm and sunny and I was glad because I had forgotten my jacket.   As our shuttle dropped us off at the cruise terminal, we spotted our extended family arriving at the exact same time! Hugs and kisses were exchanged and we got in line. We enjoyed catching up while we waited. We showed passports and filled out papers several times. I was nervous during this time because Gary, Rachel, and I had colds and we had heard that you would not be allowed to board if you were sick.   Gary and I parted ways briefly (bathroom) and I ended up in line with the kids and all the papers and passports. The line moved a lot faster than I thought and I found myself checking in without Gary which stressed me out, but it turned out to be fine.   We went to sign up the kids for ship activities, which took way longer than it needed too. Because our family had to be split up- we were too large for one cabin  we had to be rejoined in their system at that time.   We received one pager and 3 wrist bands for the kids attending clubs. Simon was sad not to get a wrist band, but he wasn't fully potty trained and so we thought he was not eligible for ship youth activities (this turned out to be false, but we did not learn that until the next day.) Then we were off!   We got our pictures taken and boarded the Disney Wonder.   It truly has a grand entrance, with an Ariel statue on one side and glass elevators on the other. We headed up to deck 9 for lunch, as it was a bit late and we were all hungry.   Nana and Pop, Dave, Chris and Tirah were there too. Deck 9 was open to the weather, which had turned windy and cold.   The kids jackets were in the luggage, so Uncle Chris and Aunt Tirah lent theirs to help them stay warm.   It was really hard to maneuver the buffet with 4 mobile kids and one in the stroller. Gary helped 2 kids and I helped two, we didn't really trust them to get appropriate amounts or cleanly help themselves. SO we ended up with 5 kids and 6 trays of food and a stroller and no where to sit. Since it was nasty outside, all of the inside tables were taken. Gary set off to figure something out. So I waited patiently at the end of the line wondering why I thought this would be fun- really I did NOT want to repeat this scenario 3 times a day for the next 4 days. A Disney worker offered to assist me- bless their hearts, they are so helpful. We set off in the same direction Gary left and quickly met up. Gary lead us to the rest of the fam enjoying a chilly lunch on deck.
After that, we went to our cabins where the luggage was being delivered. Somehow, all 8 pieces of luggage ended up in my cabin, which also had a pack and play for Rachel to sleep in. So Gary and I sorted out the luggage and sleeping arrangements and located jackets for everyone (but me I forgot mine- I had a green sweatshirt I ended up wearing most of the time- Rachel blew her nose all over my other long sleeved shirt) and then it was time for the life jacket drill. I just about died when I saw the life jacket sent to our room for Rachel. It had a little hood and long sleeves (thermal) and of course the huge orange puffy parts. It was the cutest thing I ever saw.   I got the kids in my room ready for the drill and Gary was working on the kids in his room when Simon pooped in his pants and threw everything off.   Gary stayed to clean him up and I took the rest to the evacuation area. I wish I had a picture of that. I think I made a few jokes with Uncle Dave, but don't really remember. That may be the only time I talked to him on the trip. Gary and Simon joined us and our family reorganized our line to fit them in, tallest to shortest.   Simon didn't want to be in the front but I told him he was the engine and he was okay with that. I thought we would get to get on the life boats, but we did not. That was disappointing, but the cuteness of Rachel in her life jacket made up for it. Then we returned our life jackets to our room and it was time for the departure party on the top deck. Gary and I thought we were going as a group with the others, but we ended up separated and couldn't find Amelia or James and spent the time looking for them. When we found everyone, Amelia was crying because she wanted to go to the dance floor and it was too crowded and the party was over. Gary and I were frustrated with not knowing where the kids were.   I think Gary's mom asked how I felt and I said truthfully said "frazzled."   Then it was time for dinner.  I think this was one turning point. The waiters were amazing. They suggested having a kid party table and a table for the adults. They helped the kids pick out food (and cut it), did magic tricks, origami and more.  We ate in this restaurant called the Artist's Palate and for some reason, the kids were obsessed with the walls.   They said someone lied about the walls, they were supposed to change color. I had no idea what they were talking about and did my best to relax.   The food was delicious, Rachel napped, and the walls did not change. So I was happy but the kids were a little disgruntled.   We gave them the option of Oceaneer's Club/Lab (youth activities) or a stage show called "the Golden Mickeys" where they tributed the princesses, heroes and villains of Disney animation. The kids chose clubs over plays, so we dropped them off and took Simon and Rachel to the show.   Chris and Tirah saved us seats, bless their hearts. The show was amazing. I loved the Tarzan part, he did tricks while swinging from vines. Simon fell asleep during the show (this became a tradition.)  Then we gathered the kids and went to bed.   This went well until James threw up and I realized (again) the importance of going to sleep with the toilet lid up. We had a talk about eating reasonable amounts of food and went back to bed.  Rachel slept reasonable well (she's usually up twice a night) and Simon slept through.
Day 3
We were able to sleep in some because we were scheduled to go on a glass bottom boat tour in Nassau at 11. I was sharing a room with Simon, James, and Rachel and they enjoyed watching Playhouse Disney while we got ready for the day. This was a treat since we don't have TV service at home. We ate breakfast in Parrot Cay buffet. This time James and Amelia helped themselves. This was readily apparent when we reached the table and noticed Amelia had helped herself to an obscene amount of sausage and bacon. I dumped out at least half and gave her plate back. I loaded up on fruits and veggies (James teased me about veggies for breakfast. I like them. I like donuts too.) I was looking forward to the cruise because of the wide variety of fruits and vegetables available. I was not disappointed. While we ate, the captain announced that due to high wind conditions our port adventure (glass bottom boat) would be canceled. This was a big bummer and Amelia shed a few tears. Our spirits were raised though because Chris and Tirah's dolphin encounter was still on. After eating, we went back to our room where the kids rollicked and Gary and I revised plans. James wanted to attend a paper plane making event and a flubber making activity. Score one. Toy Story 3 was playing and none of the rest of us had seen it. Score Two. Amelia wanted a cookie making class after that. Score 3. Jonny wanted to be in a Mario Cart Tournament. Woo Hoo!
Armed with a plan, we set out to take the big kids where they wanted to go and then leave the boat. After all, we were in Nassau and how often do you get to set foot on ground in the Bahamas?!    Gary, Simon, Rachel and I walked down the gangplank (I think it's called that anyway) and into the wind. The captain had warned of flying debris on land, but I had forgotten that part. So I was surprised when Rachel's quilt blew away. As I chased it down, the stroller (which I had been pushing) started to roll away with Simon in it! Gary rescued Simon and we went on our way into the sunshine and wind. I could not believe how blue the water was there. I said over and over how I loved the blue water and Gary probably got tired of my amazement. I think I could have sat and watched the water and waves all day, had it not been for the wind. We were in search of a Christmas ornament, as it is a tradition to buy one in each of our vacation spots. So we went through their customs area and into Nassau.  We didn't venture far, just enough to hit the tourist trap stores. The only ornaments I saw were ones I could make myself so we moved on. We ran into Pop and Nana and peeked into a few stores together. They were in search of a snow globe for my niece Cameron. We went into a linen store that sold all kinds of "pretty things" where Simon used the potty and we got a ship wheel ornament to our liking. After that we headed back to the ship. We stopped at one point where the sea looked especially beautiful and I asked Gary to stand so I could take a picture of him with the kids. Right as they got settled, a huge wave rolled up over the ocean wall and soaked his shoes. Sorry! The picture was nice though. I think someone stopped and took our picture together too.
When we arrived back on the ship, we checked on James (playing a basketball video game as the Jazz. Some previous resident of the club had entered cheat codes to give the Jazz some extra special moves, so everyone there thought James was awesome.) He did not want to see Toy Story 3 as it conflicted with his Flubber activity. Amelia was playing this jewel game and was eager to see a movie. Jonny was easy to find too and so was Cousin Cameron. She was relieved that someone had come to get her. Knowing the chaos that comes when your kids aren't where you left them, I reassured her that Nana and Pop were on their way but did not take her with us. The movie theater on the ship is really nice and we settled in for an enjoyable show. The kids made it through to the last 45 seconds, when Simon had to use the potty. He and Gary took off quickly. They didn't really miss the tear jerker ending, but probably didn't see enough of it to really break down and cry like me. Amelia hurried off to make the cookies (the chef promised delicious broccoli cookies, but they turned out to be chocolate chip.) Jonny and Simon came back to play with cousins in Nana and Pop's stateroom.
We again retrieved the kids and ran them all through the showers in preparation for that night's formal dinner. This went well in my room. I was prepping myself and the girls. They were easy as they are naturally cute and naturally want to dress up. I was feeling some angst since I found out about the formal dinner. I didn't have a formal or anything that would pass. I had never been to a formal affair of any kind. I am naturally quite plain and wanted to look my best, so the week before the cruise I hit the local second had stores and found a dress I liked for myself (plus a few pairs of pants for the boys so we could make it through the trip without doing laundry.) So the girls and I got ready in relative ease. Simon on the other hand was in Gary's room and DID NOT want to get ready. This caused some angst that could be heard throughout deck 6. Sorry everyone. We eventually made it to dinner. Rachel was awake this time. That made it a little more difficult. Simon was restless and that made it a challenge. Amelia had to go to the bathroom lots of times and so it was a hard meal. I was very grateful when the waiter offered to cut my meat because my hands were full of kids. Finally, I had enough.  Nana offered to push Rachel in the stroller to help her settle down which I am so grateful for. I asked Gary to bring back any dessert that had ice cream, took Simon and left. We went to our cabin, changed clothes, read scripture stories and tried to unwind. He calmed down, I calmed down and we made a plan. The next night, when he felt restless, he was to come and tell me he needed to run and I would take him to the hallway where he could run and be silly for a few minutes before returning to the meal. Then he freaked out. I don't really know why. At that moment, Gary came to the room with real ice cream in a tall glass. He took the screaming Simon outside for a minute, where he immediately calmed down. Then some of us headed to Toy Story the musical. It was fabulous. My favorite part was when they depicted the claw machine and all the aliens. I was surprised that a huge claw came down and actually lifted the actors from the stage. Simon tried so hard to stay awake, but was asleep before the end. This was wonderful because it meant he wouldn't be bumping around the cabin in a sleepy stupor at the end of the day. He could be comfortable and peaceful. While we watched the show, Amelia attended a dress up session with Ariel (Ariel came and brought a trunk of costumes for the girls) followed by a Royal Ball with her cousins. James set the ship record for Wii baseball, and Jonny played Mario cart.
Gary took the sleeping kids back to the room and I collected the kids from with events and went to have a word with the Flounder's Reef Nursery (ship babysitting.) Because of weather the trip itinerary had been rescheduled we were to spend the next day at sea, instead of at Castaway Cay and I needed to make sure that the babysitting would still line up with me and Gary's walking and kayak adventure. As I talked to the staff, they asked why Simon was going to the nursery instead of the Oceaneer's Club. I explained that he wasn't done potty training and they said that kids don't have to be potty trained to join the clubs. This was news to me. Every source I had checked said that kids had to be potty trained to go to the clubs. I had spent the better part of 2010 trying to potty train him for this trip and had failed.   I felt terrible about this and was really sad about this right up until we got on the ship and there was really nothing more I could do. So anyway I was floored when they said that the kids didn't have to be potty trained to go to the clubs. I asked again.  "5 and 7 year olds have accidents in there all the time" I was told. "Just make sure he's in good diapers and check on him every so often." I hurried over to the kid's clubs and talked to the staff there. No potty training- no problem! I felt elated.  Finally Simon could join the others for some ship board kid oriented fun. When I was talking to the staff I found out about another activity I had never heard of - Out and About.  It's geared for tweens. And I guess James qualifies. It's for kids who have permission from their parents to check themselves in and out of the youth activities and participate in events all over the ship such as scavenger hunts, dodgeball and glow in the dark games.
Armed with new knowledge, Gary and I tucked the kids in bed and pulled out the Personal Navigators to plan the next day's activities. As an aside, Gary and I firmly believe in planning out vacation time. Our kids want to know what's next and if we can't tell them (because we don't know) a lot of valuable time gets wasted. Kids lose focus while you try to make decisions. They get upset if they don't get their way. They get rowdy and tease. Then precious vacation time gets spent disciplining instead of having fun (and this vacation was costing $32 an hour.) So we plan. That way the kids know what's coming and what choices they do and don't have.
Day 4
Day four started early. With what else? A round of vomit. Thankfully I had learned my lesson and left the toilet open when I went to bed and it was a cleaner occasion. Then then I was feeding Rachel around 3am, Simon woke up, said "I did my time yesterday" and started to walk out the door. It's a good thing I was already awake and tending the baby because I was clear headed and could grab him and put him back to bed. Rachel was up around 5. I put her in the stroller and pushed her up and down in the hall, so as not to wake the boys. Later, Nana saw us in the hall and offered to take Rachel so I could get a break. What a sweetheart. I went back to my room, rested and got ready for the day. (OR maybe this happened the day before. I am a little foggy on the early morning parts of the trip. I know Rachel slept in til 7 one day and I forget if it was day 3 or 4.) Anyway, we got ready for the day and headed to the Parrot Cay buffet. They have plenty of seating and good food. As we were arriving, we ran in to Chris and Tirah. They helped the kids get some food and sit down.  So nice! We ate and revealed to Simon that he would be going to events with the big kids! He was very smily after that. James ran up to Aloft (the teen only club) that was open to tweens for an hour each day. I have no idea what's up there, but rest assured it's cool because it's for teen's only. Then he was off to "Goofy World Records." He got first place in the hula hoop contest (He must get that skill from my mom, who was the neighborhood hula hooping champ in her day- heredity.  He does a lot of hula hooping in PE at school.)
We got Simon registered for youth activities and settled him in. Gary walked him to the bathrooms and helped him wash his hands. When we arrived, Snow White was dancing with the kids. Jonny played a game called Memory Wall, Simon played on the slide. Amelia did girly stuff. Gary and I set off for a Disney Theme Parks trivia game. We lost big time, but that's okay. Then we collected everyone for lunch and vegetable racing (one of the predetermined activities we would do as a family, the others being towel origami and family vote of swimming or soccer.) The vegetable racing activity was full, so we headed for deck 9, where we played ping pong and foosball until it was time for a family picture under the ship's Christmas tree. Actually, about half way through the ping pong and foosball, Amelia and I decided it was time to dance. So we got on Goofy's Pool Side stage and danced our hearts out. It was just her and me and we had a lot of fun. She told me later that was her favorite memory.
We met up with the rest of the family in the lobby where a huge character dance party was just cleaning up and arranged a photo. There was a bit of discussion on how to best accomplish a group shot of the 17 of us but it came together very nicely. Unfortunately we forgot our camera and will have to rely on others to share. I was floored when we got a Christmas card with this snap shot on it. I couldn't believe that Nana and Pop had time to get the pictures printed and mailed and received within days of the trip. From here, we went to get dressed for swimming (kid's choice.)  There was no protest among the ranks, so it was a quick process.  Because of timing, we headed not for the pool, but for a session in towel origami, where we could learn to fold towels into animal shapes. (if you want the instructions, I can scan them and put them up. Let me know in the comments) It was way fun. They invited the kids to the front so they could have enough room and see what was going on. Gary and I stayed in the back with the younger kids. After the first animal. a floppy dog, Amelia came back frustrated. She and I worked together on the swan and the monkey and the elephant. She was all smiles because she was able to do it with minimal coaching from me and Gary. Gary and Simon were a team and they appeared to have a great time. Gary, who is self reportedly not artistic made perfect animals and this resulted in big smiles all around.
We ended up a few minutes late for our swimming date. That turned out to be okay because Chris, Tirah and Cameron were late too.  We stripped down to suits, inflated arm floats (a must for my non swimmers) and got in the water. Jonny was eager for the water slide. Rachel and I helped him up the to slide while Gary played in the water with James, Amelia, and Simon.   When I came to the bottom of the slide, I saw everyone chest deep or neck deep in the water. I greeted Jonny at the bottom of the slide, but I wouldn't let him jump in the deep water solo. I walked him around to where Gary was and had him get in there, for safety. Imagine my surprise when the water in Mickey's Pool turned out to be 2 feet deep! Everyone was ducking to keep out of the wind and that made the pool appear much deeper than it was. I sat and talked to Chris and Tirah for a few minutes. Tirah and I briefly discussed going down the slide - we were both under the height limit of 64 inches. There aren't that many benefits of being short, but this was one of them! The water was warmer than the outside air so it actually felt good duck in the water. Gary, Rachel and I were still fighting colds, so we didn't stay as long as others. We went back to change. James was eager for Dodgeball on the Wide World of Sports Deck (funny aside, the wind was so bad that when he threw the ball it came right back and hit him in the face. Head shots did not count.) Amelia, Jonny and Simon wanted to go back to the clubs. So Gary and I took them there and did some Christmas shopping. We had done the extended family shopping before the trip but had not done anything for the kids at that point. After the gifts were stowed, we picked up the kids for dinner (Amelia had been doing dress up with Ariel and Simon had been doing an animal game, pretending to be an elephant.) It was in Titan's and the theme was Pirates in the Caribbean. There were pirate bandannas for everyone at the table and the waiters tied them on you whether or not you asked. I wish I had a picture of Jonny in his. Imade, one of our waiters tied them after the manner of his native culture (Bali.) The children had theirs tied in a knot that stuck straight up and the adults had a ruffle in the front. Angie had the best birthday hat on that I ever saw. Tirah picked it up for her, I think. I forgot to give Angie her birthday card (sorry!) At the end of the meal, Geffery (the waiter) brought Angie a birthday cake and we all sang happy birthday. Then he said "Are you done with it? I need it for the next table." We all laughed pretty hard at that and then ate the cake.  After that, we went to see the newest Disney movie, Tangled in 3D. It was a great show and the kids loved it. Rachel fussed a bit in the middle so I held her at the back of the theater until she fell asleep. Simon and Cameron shared a seat and he fell asleep leaning on her. How sweet!
Then it was time for the Pirates in the Caribbean dance party/fireworks show. Angie and Todd bought big fake teeth for all the kids. Chris and Tirah bought them spy glasses. I felt a little bad because I hadn't brought anything to share, but live and learn right? James didn't feel like dancing, so we let him go to glow jams- activities where the kids all wore glow sticks and played games on the Wide World of Sports deck (which is open air so it was pitch black.) I danced with the family and extended family for a while before gathering James from his activity. Then we danced some more. I loved it, Amelia loved it. The boys not so much. Then Mickey Mouse came down on a zip line and started a fire works show. Amelia thought this was scary. (A guy in a big heavy Mickey costume dangling over a crowd- what if he fell down on us?!) The fireworks were beautiful. The youngest kids fell asleep and we all went back to sleep. Gary and I spent a few minutes planning out our morning departure- it would be complicated because of our 9 am Walking and Kayak date. Then we went to sleep. I believe Rachel was my only wake up that night. Whew!
Day 5
This day started out with Rachel and me in the halls at 5:30. We walked around each deck of the ship from 1-9. I couldn't get her back to sleep, so eventually I went into Gary's room to get something and as soon as I woke him up, she fell asleep. Go figure. I went back to bed for 45 minutes and then the boys and I woke up to room service breakfast. This was Simon's favorite. Room service is free on Disney Cruise (except gratuity) so it was a great way to get us going early.  After we were dressed and ready, I headed off with Rachel to the babysitting and Gary left with the big kids to Scuttle's Cove- youth activities on Castaway Cay (Disney's private island.) Gary and the kids showed up breathless at the Flounder's Reef Nursery and I discovered I had half of the room keys he needed to leave the ship. Whoops! So they ran while I checked Rachel in. She did just fine but I got lost leaving the ship, ending up in a staff dining room (which by the way was both attractive and functional.)
Once on the island, I was quickly found by someone waiting for the lady who was dropping off the baby. She quickly directed me to where I needed to go for the morning Walk and Kayak adventure. There the guide, Ricky was trying to sort out his list of registered participants (too many with our surname and he was way confused, especially by the my husband who is a junior) also, some had turned in their tickets before dropping off kids and some had not. So Gary wasn't there. And I was worried he would miss the fun. finally the group could wait no longer and we set off on a tram. They assured me that they would send an island taxi for Gary when he got to the meet up place, but I wanted to be sure he didn't get left behind. So we drove around to the life jacket place and I was still distracted because Gary wasn't there. When we did meet up at the next tram stop, he told me Simon had freaked out at Scuttle's Cove and didn't want to go. He asked James to help Simon find something to do and he settled down. Ricky was very knowledgeable about the native plants and after I learned about each one, I found myself wishing it grew in my yard (wart removers, insect repellents, cold and flu remedies, rogaine) the possibilities were astonishing. Then we got to the kayak place and had a quick lesson in kayak steering and headed off. The water was beautiful and clear in the mangrove inlet. We mostly just paddled to follow the guide and it was relaxing. The mangroves swamp was protected from the wind and that made it really pleasant to be outside. On the way back, Gary and I stopped to admire jelly fish and star fish in the water. We also tried to follow a heron. That made us slow coming back. When we arrived, we got to see a shark! It was about 4 1/2 feet long and had sneaked up behind one of Gary's brothers. The guide said hey there's a shark behind you! and he thought it was a joke. But really, there was a shark behind him. Gary and I would have liked to stay longer, but we needed to get Rachel from the ship. So we set off to get her. It took over an hour to get her and come back to the island. When we did, lunch was closing up so we ate quickly. While we were eating, Todd came to tell us that they had checked James out of the children's area and they were going to to paddle boats. That surprised us so we hurried to get the rest of the kids and catch up. Simon was digging in the sand and Amelia and Jonny were involved in an elaborate scavenger hunt with a radar type device that took several kids to carry. Amelia was ready for the beach. Jonny had no interest so we left him and went to meet the others. Unfortunately we could not find the area they described so we set off for the family beach. Gary and the kids set up and I went to look for James, Todd and the others.   I looked in the left beaches again like they said but could not spot them. Then I went to the boat rental place to find out where they would be. They looked through the stack of receipts and found one that matched and I set off again. This time I found them. They were cleaning up after riding around in these amazing looking pontoon tricycle things. Then we went down and joined Gary and the kids for a swim. The air was cool and windy, the water was warm. I hesitated slightly before getting in the water, but when would I ever have that opportunity again? Never! So I jumped in and helped Amelia swim a bit. Then I spotted a fish in the water and the kiddodiddos, cousins and I chased it around for a bit. It was about 6 inches long and white. Simon made up a game that had me laughing.  He was throwing fistfuls of sand into the water and said Do you know what I'm doing? Making soy milk! and sure enough as the sand hit the water, it made everything cloudy/milky looking. Gary, Todd and Dave swam a little further out and saw bigger fish. It was a lovely time swimming. The water was a pretty shade of blue further out, but where we were it was crystal clear.  Everyone was happy and playing together. Amelia frolicked with Cameron and Abby. James and Jacob were chasing around. Simon was making "soy milk" and Rachel felt like cuddling.
Eventually it was time to head back to the ship and clean up for "Friendship Rocks" a show that the kids put on for the last day of the cruise. It lasts maybe 20 minutes. They learn a dance to do for the parents and watch a slide show of the activities. Amelia couldn't wait for the show. I think Abby was excited too.  Jonny and James went along for the ride (all the other youth activities shut down) and Simon looked a little confused but happy. The kids all got t shirts commemorating the event, which they always ask to wear at home.
Gary and I hurriedly packed. It wasn't too hard. We just had to set aside enough clean clothes for the morning plus an overnight bag for the train. All of the careful packing before the trip had made things easy. The suitcases looked a bit ridiculous crammed with gallon size ziploc baggies labeled per person per day. We didn't need to be so careful packing up to go home. It would all end up in the laundry anyway.
Dinner was in Artist's Palate again. This time the art on the walls changed throughout the meal and then the walls themselves changed from black and white to a riot of color. It was a wonderful performance. Who knew the walls could do all that?! Everyone but me- they had been expecting it the first night we were there. We also had the opportunity to applaud the servers and thank them for their efforts. When I heard about this event before the cruise I thought it would be cheesy, but after being on the receiving end of such excellent service my gratitude was really heartfelt.
The final stage show of the cruise was called Disney Dreams and it was about a little girl and her imagination. It was well done. I think there was a great Under the Sea number, a winter Beauty and the Beast number (where they have the snow ball fight) and my favorite was Aladdin where they did the parade, complete with a giant Abu the monkey turned into an elephant. Rachel fell asleep before it was over, and so did Simon (all snuggled up with Cameron again- too cute!) What a perfect day.
Day 6
The last day of the cruise, we had to be off the ship by 8. This was not a problem for Rachel because she decided the day should begin at 3am. She was ready to party and I didn't want to wake up everyone so she and I explored the ship. Not so much as we had on other days though. We ended up on the Promenade lounge where she played with a Jenga set and I watched the ship head for Port Canaveral. After she got tired of Jenga we went walking some more. Around quarter to 5 we ran into Pop, who was returning an extension cord. We ran into Imade, our waiter who needed to talk to immigration (standard.) and we saw and appreciated all of the people who work to make a cruise ship beautiful. They work around the clock to keep the ship looking gorgeous.  I forget when we went back to our room. Eventually the family woke up and it was time to dress and have our final meal on the ship.
After leaving the ship, we went to Down Town Disney to kill some time before the train ride home. We met up with Chris and Tirah, Todd, Angie and their kids Jacob and Abby. Initially we were looking for some place to do lunch but then realized we weren't hungry. So the kids shopped for souvenirs. The favorite store was the Lego store, where there were tables of legos for the kids to build with. There was also a ramp for them to race lego cars down.
The kids were tired on the train ride home. I was tired. Right before dinner, the train hit a truck (the driver was okay) but it delayed the train by several hours. I was sitting next to Gary when it happened. We couldn't see anything, but we definitely felt the train run over something big. Simon had a hard time at dinner. Then Amelia needed to use the bathroom. I took her and Simon to the bathroom. This was not unexpected. Our family averaged AT LEAST 4 bathroom trips per dinner on the trip. We tried to take them to the bathroom before the meals and jointly during meals, but to no avail. As we were leaving the bathroom, Amelia said "just so you know I'll need to use the bathroom again during dinner." I lost patience and told her that we weren't going back to dinner until she was done because it wasn't fair to have to make so many bathroom trips. Then she freaked out and said "so you want me to spend the whole dinner in the bathroom?!" Well. finally she got it. She didn't want to spend her dinner in the bathroom.   Neither did Gary or I, but with so many bathroom trips per meal, that's the way it felt sometimes. So we returned to dinner. The train was stopped. There was a truck under the dining car. I was exhausted and freaking out a bit, for the wrong reasons. If we were delayed to long, we would run out of diapers and formula. Rachel is mostly breastfed, but sometimes she needs a bottle and the spare formula was in inaccessible in the van. Simon was still ansty. It turns out he didn't want to eat. He just wanted to wear his pajamas. So he put on his pajamas, Rachel put on her pajamas and as soon as she fell asleep, I fell asleep. I intended to nap but I didn't wake up until late. (Thanks Gary for getting the kids to bed that night.) The kids slept a lot on the way home.
The next morning at breakfast, Simon and I ate with a lady and her daughter. They were several rows behind us on the train. I had no idea they were there.  She told me my husband was "well trained" I told her I didn't train him, he came that way. He is my hero and rescues me on a regular basis. She said that we work well together. I agree. I am so grateful for vacations and the opportunity to work closely together with my husband. He is my best friend.

Cookies anyone?

2011-01-07T17:16:00.000-05:00

It's Girl Scout cookie time and Amelia would like nothing more than to sell cookies to you. She will squeal with delight and jump up and down if you offer to buy some. So, if you are local (meaning same county as the Kiddodiddo Ranch) and you want cookies, I'll bring Amelia (in uniform) to personally take your order. Just let me know in the comments.

Jonny's Vacation

2010-12-26T16:25:00.000-05:00

Jonny at the beach in Florida

I loved the Oceaneer's Lab and Club and I really really liked the servers.
In the Oceaneer Lab I was always playing Kung Fu Panda games. In the club I really loved to do the slide. Slide slide, slide! And I liked to see some magic tricks.
In Scuttle's Cove I was burying one truck and I liked searching for fake monkeys. I did digging for whale bones but I didn't get anything.
I liked to see Toy Story 3 and Tangled.
I loved playing Mario Cart Wii.
With Jacob well I was going down the slide with him.

We played a memory game where you dance and get prizes if you get it right, but if you get it wrong nothing happens.
It was a Mickey shaped pool. The water slide was warm but the pool itself was average.
The Oceaneers Lab was awesome. So, so awesome.
That's all.

Simon's Vacation

2010-12-26T16:15:00.000-05:00

Simon with Daisy Duck. They met by chance on the way to the bathroom.

Train boat. Just the train and the boat.

Games! Finding Nemo- arrow keys on the computer.

Movie- a movie where there's a bad guy that's trying to hurt the good guys. Toy Story and Woody and Buzz Lightyear!

I goed swimming outside. The pool looked like a circle. It looked like Mickey Mouse.

James's Vacation

2010-12-26T16:07:00.000-05:00

James, zonked out on the train ride home. Foot rest is not in awesome mode.

I liked the train. There were foot rests that could recline to "awesome mode" and it was pretty helpful to conserve heat in the night. Then we put on some movies to watch in the night. I had bascially a sleepless night so in the morning I was napping a lot. Then we got off and waited to get the car and we drove to McDonald's for lunch. I had a 1/3 of a pound cheeseburger then we checked in at our hotel and went to the beach. Then for dinner we went on a walk at a boardwalk at Cocoa Beach and then went to a restaurant. I had another cheeseburger that I thought would be small but it turned out almost as big as what I had for lunch. I don't think I need to tell you what happened in the night but I will give you one word: BARF
Next day we got on a shuttle bus and went to our cruise ship. Then we started sailing there were a few clubs for kids like Oceaneer Club and Lab. There was a tweens club called Out and About that I liked better than the Club or Lab. We did games like dodgeball and scavenger hunts and it was fun because we got to go around the whole ship instead of staying in one room. When we played dodgeball one time it was so windy when I threw a ball the wind pushed it back and hit me in the face. Luckily head shots did not count so I did not get myself out. For the scavenger hunt we did, we were not allowed to use the elevators because it was during the dinner rush. We had to collect things like a packet of salt or pepper. We had to count all the stairs from deck 1 to deck 11- A.K.A. Aloft, the teen's club.  We would count up to deck 3 or something and then we would lose count and so we would start again. Once we got to the top, but on deck 7 my legs gave out and I fell down to deck 6.
The next day we stopped in Nassau our parents got off the boat and we stayed on the ship. I went to Out and About. We did a scavenger hunt the rest of my siblings went to the oceaneer club.
Next day there was so much storming we couldn't land at Castaway Cay so we had a day at sea.   I went to the Oceaneer Lab and made flubber it's this squishy stuff that you can make out of glue, borax, and water.
So the next day we did stop at Castaway Cay. They closed down the Oceaneer Club and Lab and did Scuttle's Cove, which is like one big club for the kids on Castaway Cay. I mostly built sandcastles with one of my cousins- Jacob. After that Jacob's parents picked me up and took me to the beach. We went on little boats. Then we went swimming (all together). We saw lots of fishes. They were probably 6 inches long. They were white and had yellow eyes and the water was cold. Then we got back on the boat.
The last day we had dinner at Animator's Palate. It was this restaraunt that was all black and white. In the middle of our dinner all the pictures of Disney characters sprang into full color it was totally awesome.
The next day we got off the boat at 8. Then we said our good byes to our relatives got on our shuttle and went back to the hotel. Then we took our car got some lunch at checkers (I didn't get a cheeseburger that time.)   Then we went back to the train station, got on the train and headed back home.

Amelia's vacation

2010-12-26T15:42:00.001-05:00

Amelia dancing and wearing pirate teeth at the Pirates in the Carribean dance party

I loved that cruise. The ship had a 2 swimming pools and some fun clubs. One of the clubs was called the Oceaneer club and the other is called the Oceaneer lab. I had so much fun there. Everybody has there own waiters that go to the same restaurant with them. My waiters were really cool. Their names are Geffery and Imade. Geffery can do good magic and Imade is really, really good at origami. I have 2 girls that are my cousins that went on the cruise with me. There names are Cameron and Abby. I went to a Royal Ball with them and we always sat together at dinner. We had so much fun together. I swam in the Atlantic Ocean with them.
I watched Tangled and Toy Story 3. My brother James didn't come to either of them.
I learned how to make cookies and I found a match in a memory game and I drew Pluto and I also tried to make a postcard. It was so much fun.

Creativity

2010-12-19T22:19:00.000-05:00

We just got back from an awesome vacation/family reunion and I won't mention it because I want to do it justice in another post. But this little bit from tonight is too funny to put off.

On Sunday nights, we have a little club, the RCG which stands for Reverent Church Goers. If you are reverent at church, you may attend the club and play board games and have dessert. Tonight Amelia was griping because she didn't get invited (James was the only attendee today.) Since Christmas is coming and Santa is watching, her mixture of complaints and confessions were a bit garbled but here's the gist of what she said:
I've been naughty for years and I NEVER get any coal.
I don't care if I get coal. I'll whittle it into something I LIKE!
Gary wants you to know that the last statement was made AFTER she caught him shopping for coal on Amazon.com.

Simon Says

2010-11-28T17:49:00.002-05:00

"I challenge you to karate on knees! It's like this:" (Simon gets on knees and flails arms and head wildly.)

A Bad Idea

2010-11-27T08:13:00.000-05:00

As you well know, we have been busy potty traning Simon. Things were going very well. He graduated to underpants and even attende the exclusive Wegman's Kids Club (grocery store babysitting- yay!)
Then 2 weeks ago he got this idea that threw a wrench in the whole thing. It results in hour long potty dances, leaping, and wild (self) spanking manuvers which always end in disaster. The idea: people don't actually have to go potty. They can choose to hold it forever. Sigh.

She's got the look

2010-11-20T06:58:00.000-05:00

I have often thought of writing a post but thoughts are seldom put into words.
I overheard Amelia talking to James: if Mom were a food, she'd be a doughnut. If she were a number, she'd be googleplex. I think this meant really good stuff.
This from the girl who totally hated me the day before. She spent the entire ride to church yelling about how she'd never come to see me when she's a grown up because she hates me so much. She's moving to Austrailia. This behavior was similar to, but not to be confused with the boys who were screaming about moving to Africa when they grow up because they hate me (and baths) so much. They have the misguided opinion that they have not invented baths in Africa.

I was out visiting teaching Thursday night and my companion and I were talking about stuff and she said "you know that 'mommy look,' the one that mom's give their kids and the kids know they are in trouble, so the sit up a little bit straighter and quiet down?" I have often heard of this look and wondered how I could get one because if the kids are Licking the pews or wrestling on the bench, I'd love to have a look that would stop them in their tracks. So I acknowledged that I have heard of the mommy look and wished I could do it.
Akward pause. "oh no. You're really good at it. You mean you didn't know you do that?! Yours is good."
I think I died laughing when she said that. I guess it's my hidden talent.
When I got home, I found that my new found mommy look had been required in my absence. Gary's brother Dave had returned from his mission that day and they wanted to have a Skype chat. I really wanted to be there for it, but VT took longer than I thought it would. I hoped they would still be talking when I got back, but no, the boys were in bed and Amelia was just finishing her native american chickee (dwelling) that was due the next day. I was so thankful her project was done, the dishes were done and the house was quiet. I could tell Gary had been working hard in my absence. (Not that these things are good indications of hard work- if the baby had cried nonstop, he couldn't have done any of those things, but he still would have worked hard.) I asked how the call had gone. Not good. The kids were super crazy and after 5 minutes, Dave called it quits. Hopefully this weekend we can try again. I'll use my new talent: death ray glare and we'll see just how effective it is (or isn't.)