Saturday: Blowing Rock, Sim's Pond, and What Did Tennessee?

After all the trouble we had getting our fire going, we had an equally hard time putting it out. After we'd read until we could read no more, we doused the charcoal with three pitchers of water (which we only did as a last resort because, really, dousing fires with water makes it difficult for the next fire to start in the pit if it doesn't get a chance to adequately dry out) and when we couldn't see any smoldering or red coals we went to bed.

I was surprised when I woke up in the wee hours of the morning to look out the tent and see flames in our fire pit! Benjamin was sleeping on top of me and I didn't want to move him but I couldn't wake Andrew up either so I just kind of drifted in and out of dreamland while Smokey the Bear alternatively laughed at us for not being able to start a fire and then nagged us about putting our fire out. All was still well when we woke up in the morning and Rachel had fun seeing how bright the flames got when she threw various things into the fire (leaves, paper plates, sticks). We managed to get it completely out (for real this time) before we left for the day.

Friday: Grandfather Mountain

In grade three my class did a unit on The United States of America in social studies. That was the first I'd ever heard of the Appalachian mountains—an ancient range of mountains half the size of "ours" and covered from head to toe in deciduous trees. At the time I was living in British Columbia, with the ocean to the west and the Rockies to the east. The conifer-heavy temperate rainforest I was living in seemed always green—those evergreens—and I remember pouring over those pictures of autumn in Appalachia, imagining what it would be like to walk through a forest surrounded by colour like that. It seemed so foreign.

Our western autumns are colourful enough, but there was just something magical about those Appalachians. I don't think I'm alone in this. Here in the east people engage in something called "leaf peeping," which is essentially just a trip into nature to enjoy the dazzling display of the forests shedding their foliage for the winter (confession: the first time I heard that term was when we were watching The West Wing last year). It seems, actually, that it's mostly a New England phrase. I don't know why that term isn't used throughout more of the world because I know that leaf peepers are everywhere. It's not uncommon to take a drive up Provo Canyon in the fall simply to look at the leaves...but there is no term for that strange autumnal behavior in Utah. And I'm sure people in other places do the same thing. I think we should expand the use of the term leaf peeping, so all you westerners reading this, here's your challenge: start using the phrase "leaf peeping" today!

Our little weekend excursion of extreme leaf peeping (ie. camping in the fall) was like bringing a twenty-year-old dream to life. We arrived when things were still green, but turning yellow, with a few ambitious trees bordering on yellow, and by the time we left the mountains were brilliant hues of scarlet and amber and gold. It was magical!

One of the benefits of camping in the fall, rather than in the summer, is that you don't wake up in a stifling hot tent at six in the morning. Or perhaps that's simply a benefit of camping in the woods rather than in the middle of the desert. Either way, we all managed to sleep until the sun was filtering through the trees.

Flintlock in Boone

Andrew left for school early Thursday morning while the girls and I got up and got busy so that we could have everything packed up and ready to go by the time he came home for lunch. We had to pack our clothes and make some tin foil dinners as well as wash the cloth diapers and do a few other chores. We had everything just about finished when Andrew walked in the door and announced a change of plans: instead of all of us going to campus for his last class and leaving from there, he'd just skip class and we'd leave from home as soon as we loaded up the van (the lecture is recorded and put online anyway).

We pulled out of the driveway at 2:30 PM, which was the exact time we originally planned on leaving since his class is at 3:00 (though by skipping his class we earned a couple extra hours of daylight which proved to be invaluable). We arrived in Boone at around 5:30 and had just enough time to set up our tent and explore the campground before it started getting dark.

Fluff'n'stuff

I hope you're geared up for a million pictures and stories from our adventure in Appalachia because we just got back from camping and are overflowing with tales to tell. Until then, though, here are some other pictures...

On Tuesday we went to the Museum of Life and Science with one of Rachel's good friends from school (K), as well as that girl's little sister (who is Miriam's age) on Tuesday. We had a lot of fun! After our friends left we went to the outside exhibits to wait for Daddy to pick us up between his classes (it was a car sharing kind of day). Somehow in our rush to get out the door we forgot a jacket for Benjamin so we all swapped jackets. Benjamin wore Miriam's, who wore Rachel's, who wore mine because I'm big enough to not complain about the weather being a bit chilly.

That afternoon—after he'd lost all of his clothes (a fairly regular occurrence at our house)—Benjamin asked for a snack so I told him to get a bowl out. He went into the kitchen and came toddling back out, lugging a big mixing bowl along.

"What kind of snack do you think I'll be serving, Benjamin?! That bowl is way too big!" I told him.

He handed me the bowl anyway.  I took it from him, put it away, got out a little bowl and put some cereal in it (Cheerios is one of his favourite snacks (but it looks like he got some Kix, too)). I set the bowl down for him (this is beginning to sound like I'm talking about a puppy or something) and he gave me a disgusted look before going back into the kitchen to retrieve the big mixing bowl he originally wanted.

And here is Benjamin on Wednesday night, all ready for bed and trying out a pair of Daddy's shoes:

He has a while to go before he'll be able to fill them!

Monday is over. Whoopee.

Today was one of those days that made me question whether I'll survive this parenting gig. My kids have me completely outnumbered. Let me give you a rundown of my day:

2 AM: Feed the baby
3 AM: Feed the baby
4 AM: Feed the baby
5 AM: Feed the baby
6 AM: Hear a clunk and retrieve the baby from the floor where he fell after you fell asleep...feeding him. He's teething and is so miserable.
7 AM: Nurse the baby to sleep
8 AM: Get up and have a shower with the baby
9 AM: Clean up poop from the floor (his first time pooping on the floor)
10 AM: Finally sit down for breakfast with the kids
11 AM: Finish up the family newsletter
12 PM: Start getting lunch ready for the kids
1 PM: Nap time! Turn on a show for the girls, fall asleep within second of head hitting pillow
2 PM: Start some laundry
4 PM: Try to motivate girls to do some chores
5 PM: Settle on boxed macaroni and cheese for dinner
6 PM: Andrew comes home and makes dinner
7 PM: Family Home Evening
8 PM: Put girls to bed
9 PM: Put Benjamin to bed

It doesn't look too bad written out like that, but I left out the number of fights I mediated (because it wasn't possible to count the number of fights the girls had today) and how many hours Benjamin spent alternately screaming and nursing (he was terrible today). When he wasn't screaming or nursing he was getting into stuff. At one point in the day he decided to see what kind of sounds different bowls made when he dropped them on the floor (or something). Metal mixing bowls are a particular favourite of his to drop on the floor, as are the little melamine dishes Karen gave us when we moved.

I can't tell you how many times I have tried to convince Benjamin that dropping bowls on the floor is not a good activity. He's persistent. And a little...stubborn.

Today when I told him to "stop! throwing! those! dishes!" he looked at me with fire in his eyes, lifted a bowl above his head, and then sent it crashing to the floor.

Conference weekend

2 hours of Saturday morning session
2 hours of Saturday afternoon session
2 hours of Priesthood session
2 hours of Sunday morning session
2 hours of Sunday afternoon session

That's 10 hours of church in one spirit-packed weekend but I wouldn't change it for the world! Conference was wonderful!

I didn't prepare any activities for my kids to do (though I did print off bingo sheets for them on Saturday afternoon) and they were good, anyway. Rachel took notes in her journal, Miriam quietly built towers on the kitchen table or brushed (and brushed and brushed and brushed) my hair. Once Benjamin figured out that we weren't skyping with all the General Authorities, and that they weren'g going to wave back to him even if he waved until his arm fell of, he wandered around the house like a feral child. All in all, they were pretty well behaved. I can't remember whose talk it was, but someone mentioned something about not underestimating the ability of our children to grasp these spiritual concepts. As I looked at my children behaving possibly better than they typically behave at church, I had to nod my head in agreement.

That's not to say things were perfect all the time—by Sunday afternoon our ability to sit still and listen had deteriorated quite dramatically—but the kids were really quite well behaved.

Here we are, twirling some stacking cups on our fingers. Benjamin passed them out to everyone and prompted us to do so. He's got quite a commanding personality. People can't help but obey him. It's his smile, I think.

Dating

On Friday night we left our children in the care of our friends while we went to the temple. We never leave our kids with babysitters so they were really excited about this, though they didn't quite know how to call it. Miriam said she was excited for the Farneses to come "watch over" her. 

I was so worried that Benjamin would scream the entire time we were gone, but he apparently behaved marvelously (which is more than I can say about his behaviour today). 

We had a bit of trouble pinning down a weekend and kept changing dates on the Farneses, but they were so accommodating and even told us to go out afterwards (we went to Cici's Pizza—classy, I know), which was lovely. Andrew and I haven't been out together, alone, since.... Wow. I frankly can't remember. I know we went to the temple in April when Karen came to watch the girls while I was in Utah (obviously we went before I'd left) and we've done plenty of things together as a family. I really think our last "date" was the time we went to Kneaders for breakfast either right before or right after visiting Benjamin in the NICU. The last date we went on before that was when Auntie Emily babysat for us when we went to Arabian Nights at BYU, just a day or two before Benjamin was born. 

So, that about sums up our out-of-the-house dating for the past two years. Fortunately, we have plenty of board games and movies and neither of us minds staying in most of the time. Still, it was nice to go out for a change. 

Our temple trip was lovely, even if we didn't make it there in time for our session (we got stuck in traffic). Instead we did sealings, which was just as nice. 

The kids had a blast with the Farneses and now that I know Benjamin can handle being separated from me (and I know that I can handle being separated from him) for that long we'll have to try going out more often. To that end, I recently entered a babysitting swap with a friend (who has two girls and a boy who are just about the same ages as our two girls and boy). We'll see how it goes!

Museum Day

Last Friday Andrew took his scooter in for a tune-up because it was having some motor issues that we didn't know how to deal with. Motors are much more intimidating than the "add-ons" that we've fixed ourselves when our van has had issues. Because he had no scooter he took the van to school, which meant that the kids and I were stuck at home, which was fine—we just went to the park, rode our bikes, cleaned the house, that sort of thing—but by Wednesday (when we finally got the van back) the kids were anxious to "do something fun!"

We went to the Museum of Life and Science and...had fun.

They had a big room full of cardboard boxes and little fasteners and the kids were allowed to just create. My girls were a little nervous about creating but they did eventually dig in and each made a sign to put in the room with their name on it.

Progression

Last year, Rachel wrote this in her journal:

Bikes and Snow Cones

One of our family goals this year was to "make the shed awesome." We did that on Saturday (and it was quite the project) and now we can walk into the shed and get our bikes out and everything (because before everything was just shoved on top of everything else in a big jumble). So today I pulled out my bike and the bike trailer (and pumped up all the tires) and we all rode to the park together. Rachel still doesn't have the pedals on her bike but she's learned how to balance on her bike quite well.

I was terribly sweaty by the time we got there. I kind of wished the pool was open, but because it's October now it wasn't. Just look at how sweaty Benjamin and Miriam are—and they weren't even pedaling!