Living on the Edge

I keep saying I'll love Alaska as long as something doesn't kill me while I'm here. I've never lived someplace where a walk requires me to be armed for bear attacks and where 'cute' animals could attack (I'm talking about you, moose). But in the spirit of this quote I found online after we got this assignment:

I am attempting to wholeheartedly embrace these opportunities as they present themselves because I think that's going to be the key to loving life here. That attitude is how I ended up on an ATV for eight hours last Saturday. A bunch of wives went on an ATV trip last summer and said things like, "it was awesome!" and "definitely top three on my favorite things I've done here in the last four years" so I was in. We booked through Outdoor Rec and just had to show up with extra layers for warmth, lunch and water. They provided the ATV's, rain gear, helmets and guides. A dozen of us loaded into two vans and headed north to the Knik River for a day I'm sure I'll never forget!

When we arrived at the staging area, they taught us how to start our engines and told us to drive around to get a feel for how the throttle and brakes worked. Then we were off.

The trip began with a short drive along the river but we quickly found ourselves in the woods on narrow, rutted, muddy trails. There was nothing easy-going about launching ourselves down into a ditch at a forty-five degree angle with tree roots and rocks sticking out. We were about ten minutes into the woods when I gently rolled my ATV onto its side. I say gently because I had time to hop off and it was fairly easy to remedy (a friend wasn't so lucky and hers landed on top of her….twice). That was when I realized I truly had no idea what I was doing and that maybe a little more instruction at the beginning would have been good. We eventually emerged onto the wide beach along the river. The open flats were awesome - fast and easy to navigate. Through the day, we found ourselves alternating between wooded trails, water crossings and open stretches along the river.

Like everywhere else we go here, there were postcard-worthy vistas at every turn. In the center of the picture below, you can see the Knik Glacier - it's the light blue band above the river in the valley of the mountains and it was our goal to get there. This picture is from at least ten miles away.

Thankfully it was a fairly sunny day, but because it's been so dry lately there was a lot of dust. The riverbed is made of rocks and a fine, glacial silt which stirs into an impressive cloud when 12 ATV's roll through. I think it's safe to assume my lungs were coated with fine, glacial silt by the end of the day. For illustrative purposes, here's a selfie at the beginning of the day:

And here's one at the turnaround point:

Just a little dirty. By the time we rode all the way back, we were beyond filthy but it was worth it to see the Knik Glacier up close. There are actually two arms of the glacier feeding into Lake George. That shade of blue is impossible to accurately capture on an iPhone!

It was a long day full of craziness (lots of rolled ATV's, a couple of moose sightings, a few episodes of getting stuck in the mud) and it caused some massively sore muscles the next day, but was definitely an only-in-Alaska kind of experience. I don't need to ride an ATV every weekend, but you can bet that if there's another opportunity next summer, I'm in.

Friday Funday!

note older sister in blue, coloring. 

Well, yesterday was a whirlwind. We started with Wyatt's orientation which was great. His teacher's name is Mrs. Patterson and she's been highly recommended, so we feel lucky that's where he landed. He is not, however, in class with anyone he knows which is a bit of a double-edged sword (I'd love to know he's going to have a good buddy in there, but I'm happy for him to have the experience of making new friends from scratch. Sing it with me: make new friends, blah, blah, blah). We began in the lunchroom with information from the principal - he's been at the school for about 20 years and is kind of revered in these parts. I think he's hilarious in both content and delivery (very southern; very, very southern) and I think I could listen to him all day. We then moved to the classroom to hear from the teacher. Mrs. Patterson asked the kids to color a picture while she talked to the parents and told them that they could turn the picture into her aide, Ms. Williams, when they finished. Wyatt was in his awestruck, quiet mode (so much so that he was afraid to get out of his chair to reach the crayons in the middle of the table, I assured him it would be okay.) and focused diligently on his coloring, which turned out to be the best approach since it became clear the coloring was a competition as Johnny's* parents had their older daughter help him color his picture. For kindergarten. On the first day. Ai yi yi.

Nat and her favorite boy, Eli.

Wyatt and I then went to get a little sweet treat before retrieving Natalie from our friends' house. Jen and I had planned to take the Wyatt's (this being the 'other Wyatt' from preschool/church), Eli and Natalie to the children's museum in Columbia for the day. Of course they all loved riding in the van together, making demands of the mommies in the van together, laughing at the showing of Lion King in said van (yay DVD player! yay Swagger Wagon!) and we made it to Columbia just in time for lunch. After reordering chicken quesadillas with nothing spicy, procuring extra food for a starving Natalie, replacing my Wyatt's drink with Sprite ("the orange soda isn't fiiiiizzzzyyy!", he said in a whining voice) and corralling my two for a single bathroom trip, I kind of felt like maybe I'd expended all my energy. But no, we powered on and had a great big day at EdVenture.

the Wyatt's who are strangely COMPLETELY unable to contain
themselves when around each other. It's so weird and utterly frustrating. But they're cute, so they've got that going for them.

The last time we went to this museum was back in early spring. Natalie remembered every bit of it, even so far as to tell me to "turn yeft around dat torner and derr's the titchen!" Sadly, the kitchen has been removed to make room for an under-3 play area. She was disheartened but not completely brought down because lo, she loves the car area.

fueling up

riding in cars with boys

And considering all the fight I get weekly in the commissary, I find it fascinating that both of my kids would've stayed all day in the mini-Piggly Wiggly, which made them say in unison "local since forever." The Pig's marketing people should know their campaign is working on my kids.

checking cheese labels?

mmm….bacon!

focused shopper

let's check that cart: four boxes of cake mix,
a gallon of chocolate milk and store brand lucky charms.
But wait - he cancelled it out with two cucumbers.
Good job!

the final run; they've observed too many people doing the
monthly stock-up at the commissary, perhaps?

natalie saying, "nice tamel! good tamel. Thanks for yetting me ride you, Tamel."

We were there for hours and apparently my index finger got tired of taking pictures with my phone. These are a couple more of my favorites, though:

look out! three-year olds in a digger.

The Wyatt's doing their best tribal drumming in front of a green screen. They LOVED this! Dancing, loud noises and all of it's being shown on tv - what's not to love?

Needless to say, I was worn out by the time we got back. The kids claimed they weren't but Natalie fell asleep mid-demand for more water and Wyatt crashed about ten minutes after lights-out. Well worth it all because they had a great time!

*this name has been changed to protect the somewhat innocent.

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My Wyatt is six years old today and I can't wait to write about him. But right now, I'm too worn out from our spontaneous, amazingly fun day involving whole-family water fights, a cookout, lots of cupcakes and fabulous friends. This was a pretty great day in little ol' Sumter.

Lately

We're keeping busy, just the way I prefer summer to go. It seems that with too much time on our hands, the young ones get a little restless and then the mommy gets super-cranky. In an effort to keep fun mom around, we've got all kinds of stuff happening, like Disney.

I don't think I ever posted about our trip to Disney in December (a last great family hurrah with my sister's family and my parents); actually, I'm positive I never posted all the pictures since I just downloaded some of them before our most recent trip. But anyway, we went back for Memorial Day weekend, stayed in a fabulous resort with an even more fabulous military rate and enjoyed a couple of days in the parks.

we managed to get one picture of all of us - miracle!

We were excited to see a new section was partially opened at Magic Kingdom and started our day with Goofy's Barnstormer roller coaster and then moved right on to Dumbo, a kid favorite.

self portraits are always lovely

Natalie then requested the teacups since she remembered enjoying them back in Decemeber. Jeff doesn't particularly enjoy the spinning experience they provide (maybe it's a little too much like the centrifuge?) but was a good sport and tried to make us all sick by taking over the spin control for a bit. It made me dizzy but the kids seem unfazed. I'm not sure Jeff will ever do that to himself again.

The rest of the day was spent bouncing between rides, most of which the kids requested from memory. I let Natalie drive our car on the racetrack, thinking that since it was on a rail it couldn't be too hard. Quickly I realized that oh, yes, you can get whiplash (sidelash?) when that little car starts ricocheting back and forth on its track. But now that I look at this picture, I think I see there might have been a little problem with her watching where we were going.

do you see those closed eyes? they explain a lot.

I think we rode almost everything we wanted to at the Magic Kingdom that first day. Thankfully, we felt no guilt in leaving in the early afternoon for naps and pool time back at the hotel. The kids loved their swim time and we loved the chance to just relax. As we were sipping our frozen drinks poolside, Jeff and I realized this was the first time we'd taken a trip of that kind with our kids. Usually we're visiting family (which we love) or leave the kids at home (which we also enjoy) but I think the last time we just took a trip to enjoy ourselves with a kid in tow was back in July of 2007 when we went to Ishigaki with a baby Wyatt (you can refresh your memory on that here and here and really, you should, because Wyatt sure was cute). We see a lot more trips like that in our future - the kids are learning to be great travelers and seem to understand that actual travel days are a small price to pay for a fun vacation.


Anyway, day two took us to Epcot, per Wyatt's request. I love that he asked to go there because it was one of my favorites as a kid. He specifically wanted to go "up in the big ball" again and to "visit Japan." Twist my arm, kid, making me shop in the mini-Mitsukoshi store! It's been at least a week since I've said it, but I miss Japan so it makes me ridiculously happy to wander through the incredibly authentic replica at Epcot. And of course we managed to leave with an Engrish bag for Natalie, a fan for Wyatt (his choice that sure came in handy that hot afternoon) and some favorite hundred yen candy for the low price of much-more-than-a-hundred-yen. Natalie fell asleep in the stroller somewhere around Germany, so I sat outside with her while the boys rode Soarin'. I was soon joined by two feathered friends, who settled in for a snooze behind me. Natalie was able to chat with them a bit when she woke up.

It was kind of amusing to me, in the midst of one of the world's most amazing theme parks, how many people were downright fascinated with the two ducks in the flower bed. I bet eighty percent of the people walking by commented on them or spoke to them (me included, of course).

The best part of the whole trip, though, was yet to come. Through the miracles of Facebook, I realized  one of our favorite families in the whole world was at Disney, too. And that's how it came to pass that we spent an evening riding, laughing and catching up with the Rifes. It made my heart so happy to see our friends and for Wyatt to spend some time with his very best buddy. I truly believe these boys have a lifelong friendship! I also loved how our kids immediately intermixed with the parents on rides: Isaac wanted to ride with Jeff, so Wyatt rode with Jerod and Samuel. Later in the night, I had Ellie snuggled in next to me while Natalie chatted with Kristen. At one point all the boys were in one section while all the girls were in another; it all just made me realize Disney really is the happiest place on Earth.

Wyatt and Isaac, right after we found each other  under the flagpole.

Natalie and Ellie were fast friends, discussing who-knows-what away from the silly boys.

We immediately launched into a lot of this. I believe I was holding
a Rife boy's hand for this picture.

dads and kids. in true Disney fashion, an employee saw me taking this
and quickly offered to take a picture of us all.

so here it is: all of us together! 

Last picture of the night; parting is such sweet sorrow!

This week the kids are at Vacation Bible School at our church and I'm working it (totally entertaining but exhausting - not sure how all you teachers do it!) and next week we're off to the beach for a Rock reunion. Can't wait…I'm sure a photo-bomb of a blog will follow!

So Very Thankful

I know you're thankful that I've quit coming up with drivel every day. While it was a good exercise to write every day, the whole quality vs. quantity matter needed to be addressed, so I decided to scale back a bit. I don't consider that to be a problem and, judging from the lack of comments on the more lackluster posts (really, pretty much all of them), I'm guessing you don't either.

I've also taken more time in the last week or so to just be more present with my family. I mean, I'm always here because that's my job. Be here to get the kids up, get them dressed, shuttle them to and fro, shop for them, feed them, tuck them in, play with them, etc. but in all honesty, I'm often not really that fully present when I'm completing those tasks. I get caught up in the drudgery of it all, the sense of groundhog day, the frustration of 'why can't the floor stay clean for more than an hour? why can't the refrigerator stay stocked for more than two days? why can't a bathroom stay clean for a day? how does a family of four generate such vast quantities of laundry?' and I let those annoyances cloud my thinking. So then, while I should just be enjoying the fact that Wyatt is regaling me with some game he's invented involving a football which he both throws and catches, yet requires goals like soccer, and he's a Jayhawk battling a fictional foe, I'm caught up thinking about the eight other things I 'should' be doing. Or maybe it's that I also really suck at time management and while I can think of twenty creative things I'd like to do to make our house more of our home, I never quite get to all of them but they're still in my brain, weighing on my to-do list. It's a list, of course, that matters only to me and only serves to distract me from the things that are right in front of me.

So what's the point of this diatribe, you ask? Well, I've received a wake-up call of the hardest kind. A friend of ours passed away this week from lung cancer. She was 36 with no risk factors, incidentally. We weren't close, but knew each other from college; we have a lot of mutual friends and her husband is one of Jeff's pledge brothers. We've tracked her battle since she was diagnosed a little more than a year ago and were able to see them a few times since we were in Kansas this year. Her kids are just a few months younger than mine. We were just at their house for a get-together a month ago today. We all knew Heidi was waging a battle that was as uphill as they come, but she'd just found a promising study in Nashville and she still seemed so strong that night as we sat around their table, talking about college stories, old friends, traveling, kids. You know, just the stuff you talk about when you're with friends that you don't get to see enough. There was talk of a lake trip next summer; Jeff and I suggested South Carolina. She was so determined.

So after we learned last week that all of a sudden things weren't looking very good, that the Nashville study sent her back home for being too sick, I started thinking about how I need to appreciate the small moments more instead of waiting for more interesting things to come my way; that I need to start doing instead of just thinking about doing. Because you know what? I bet Heidi would've given a lot to have a few more mornings to get her kids ready for school, to go through the mundane routines of an every day life. I'm a little ashamed that it's taken something so drastic to wake me from my stupor. There have been events like this before, where I'm made painfully aware how quickly things can be taken, and each time I vow to myself that I'll remember and change yet I always slip back into the old habits. So there's no guarantee I won't this time, too, I suppose. But at the very least, I will try each day to remember that there are so many small graces in my life for which I need to be thankful. I hope this is the start of a new habit, the one where I wake up every day remembering that this is the only day I know is guaranteed and that I need to make the most of it.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Sponsored by a Hose

Despite my fear in mid-May that our summer was nothing but one blank canvas, stretched emptily before us as far as the eye could see, we've been so busy for the last few weeks that I can barely keep track of myself, let alone two kids, a dog and normal household tasks. So, I'm finally sitting down to catch up a little courtesy of our hose on the patio - it turns out two small people can be very entertained by water, especially when it's reaching a hundred degrees every day. But don't worry, it's only eighty right now and they're in the shade.

So I left off at Wyatt's birthday, which was followed by a quick jaunt to Omaha for me and the kids. You see, our fabulous friends, the Rifes, were passing through on their epic journey from Virginia to Alaska. Wyatt often tells me he misses Virginia and specifically Isaac, so when I found out they'd be only a few hours away, I had to try to make it work. Normally the drive from here to there would be about two and a half hours. I say normally, because normally the Missouri river isn't experiencing doomsday flooding that closes down portions of major interstates. Luckily we were able to make it on backroads that were much more scenic anyway.

I told the kids we were going on an adventure, but opted not to divulge exactly what we would be doing in hopes of avoiding the "how much longer?" question every four minutes. The kids were game and we headed out around 8:30 on a random Thursday morning. By the time we reached Nebraska City and had only 45 minutes to go, I told Wyatt who'd we be seeing. His reaction was priceless and I wish I would've had a video camera out to capture it. It went something like this: "Oh thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you! Mommy, thank you! I'm so excited! Mommy, I'm so excited I get to see Isaac! Thank you thank you! I've been dreaming of Isaac for sixty-six years." So I guess he liked the idea. Natalie was equally excited, though expresses herself a little differently. Namely she just sat in her seat with a gleeful expression and said, "yay! Iyaax, Sam-ee-yel, Eh-yee!" while kicking her feet.

genuine joy

yay! friends!

It was really hot that day, so after hanging out at Kristen's sister's house and grabbing some lunch, Kristen and I took the kids to a bouncy house where we all (of course) had a great time. I like to hope that Wyatt and Isaac will always be buddies as they seem to have a real bond with one another. And, well, who knows? Maybe Natalie and Samuel will, too, since they seem to have their own special relationship.

like puppies or long lost friends, these two couldn't
stop hugging at lunch

Natalie & Samuel spent a lot of time pushing each
other around in little cars

the closest we got to all the kids sitting down
long enough for a picture

The separation was a bit painful (again) and Wyatt shed some big crocodile tears because he misses his friend so much. I was able to numb his pain with some airplane sightings and "travel treats" for both kids on the way home. Near the end of our long drive home, Wyatt said he'd really like to be out of the car and stop driving. I asked whether it would be better to have not been in the car and not seen Isaac, or whether the drive was worth it so we got to see his friend. After careful consideration, he announced he'd like to fly to see Isaac next time. Smart kid. I hope maybe we can! 

On the Road

Yesterday, Jeff and I had the great pleasure of going to a real live book launch in Richmond. Remember when I told you that our friend had written a book about her family? Well, it officially debuted yesterday to a crowd of hundreds at the Virginia Historical Society. You can read more about it here, here and maybe even here. We enjoyed the experience, partially because (let's face it) I'm never in a position to attend book launches but mostly because we know a little about how much life Elizabeth has poured into the book. And let me tell you, it was hard to put it down last night to go to bed and I'm so glad it's with me right now.

Why right now? Well that would be because I'm blogging to you from the hallway of a hotel in North Carolina. Sounds nice, doesn't it? We decided, kind of abruptly, to get out of town and see the Outer Banks. You know, we have to start checking things off the list since we're moving and all. Why not wait until the last three months to squeeze it all in? Kind of keeps things interesting. In our minds, we were going to rent a house for a few nights but when push came to shove (or rather keyboard came to search engine) we found that not many people want to rent their houses for only a couple of nights and on such short notice. And then I decided that maybe I didn't want to deal with grocery shopping to stock another fridge for only a couple of nights, because I'm lazy like that.

So here we are, in the hallway of our hotel because it's really hard for two overtired little people to fall asleep with their parents right in the room. After a lot of screaming from young Natalie ("mama! ma daddy! ma mama! daddyyyyy!" then Wyatt's voice, then quiet, then more "mama! mama! daddyyyyy! MAMA!" it was awesome), they're finally out. It's no wonder, considering the amount of playing they managed on the beach today. We arrived just in time to eat lunch but practically had to tie Wyatt to his chair so he'd finish; he was just so excited to get to the beach! Natalie was just excited because her brother was and we all know - let's say it together - if it's good enough for Wyatt, then it's good enough for Natalie.

We have no grand plans for our time here, but are hoping to see the Wright Brothers Museum. We've mentioned to Wyatt that the first flight ever took place right here and he's pretty excited about it. However, after seeing a photo at lunch of the Wright Brothers with pieces of one of their failed attempts, he later informed me that "the first ever airplane crash happened right here!" Pessimist. Either that or he's going to work for the NTSB because he's far too interested in plane crashes. Hopefully all of the (more positive) history of it will hit home a little more with him after we make it to the museum. I also predict a Wright Flyer will be landing on the base in Wyatt's room when we return.

Of course I'm taking pictures, but of course I didn't bring the card readers so I could actually access them on the road (brilliant, right?) so you'll just have to imagine the shenanigans of the youngest Rocks keeping their parents on their toes. Because trust me, they are. But we're having fun and we're glad to be together as a family everyone's glad to be with Jeff. I can't tell if he's thrilled or annoyed that his departure from the room brings on a round of cries (not from me, of course, though I do really like him and enjoy his company) and his arrival means two small bodies are attempting to climb him. I think a couple more days of family adventure will be the perfect way to finish out his leave.

I think they're really asleep, so I guess that means I can go back in and read a little more Finding Thalhimers before bed. I have a sneaking suspicion they'll be up nice and early, ready for round two of Operation: Coat the Parents in Sand and Operation: Sprint Headlong into the Atlantic, so I'd better get rested. Tomorrow could be a really great day!

Umm, That Was Pretty Cool

Happy Mother's Day, everyone. Hope yours was good. Mine? It was pretty awesome. First of all, Wyatt came running into our room this morning, directly to me, saying, "Happy Mother's Day, Mommy!" I assumed Jeff had put him up to it, but then Jeff appeared behind him mouthing, "I didn't tell him to say that!" It was really cute.

And then my day got really interesting. First photo:

Isn't that cool? It's the picture a Secret Service Agent took with my camera to make sure it was actually a camera.

Picture 2:

Secret Service agents scanning the horizon with big binoculars - BIG. Oh, and they had these:

You know, just a standard cache of weapons.

Why all the hoopla?

Yep. POTUS was here today and we were lucky enough to get to see his arrival. Our friend Brian is on an AF Presidential Advance team (or something like that) and worked this event, so was able to get us front row seats to see the President arrive. And arrive he did.

I found the whole thing fascinating. The pomp, the circumstance, all of it. Early in the week, I was kind of meh about the whole thing, but then after hearing more about it, I decided I was in. I didn't realize how interesting I would find all the details, like the suburban full of armed men. 

We were in a pen with a few other friends and strangers, about this far away from the airplane.

And we didn't take the kids with us to the arrival because right after that, we got to go on a tour of Air Force One and we were unsure of how that would really play out. So while we were touring, Kristen brought all the kids. And then we got to do this:

Seriously cool experience. And good luck to my husband and kids in making future Mother's Days more interesting.

Revisionist History

While the entire day wasn't as glorious as it could have been, I'm choosing to remember the best part: playing in the leaves with my kids and their friends. Good times.