Bear Lake 2009

Bear Lake has been a favorite vacation destination of mine for as long as I can remember. I've gone every summer at least once since I was born. It's a fantastic vacation for kids as well as adults. The kids play in a calm, shallow lake and the adults enjoy some stress-free reading and relaxing. Okay, it's not that stress-free. There are kids to take care of, but we love spending time with our family and we look forward to it every year. Here are some things that made this trip ultra-special. Most importantly, Josh was only able to accompany us on the vacation for our 2 day, 14 hour drive there, and the 2 day, 14 hour drive back. He had to fly home to work in between. If you think that's bad, read the account of said drive home below.

Jonah loves Bear Lake. He spends all day, every day on the beach, building sandcastles, playing in the raft, riding on the boat, bobbing around in the water, or participating in any other beach-centric activity. Here he is about 30 minutes after we arrive at the lake.

And no, we do not dress him in shorty-shorts. He's just wading in the freezing cold water on a windy, cold evening. Kids are weird.

Further emphasizing his weirdness, even though he's deathly afraid of his swimming lessons, we can't get him out of the water.
Noel, on the other hand, spent most of the trip whining about not wanting to go the beach, and then, after much coaxing, sitting on the beach and eating BBQ potato chips.

And capri sun: (p.s. Doesn't he look like a wax figurine in this photo?)
And whining some more about how he wants to go golfing. And then, after golfing, whining about how he wants to go golfing again.


Strangely, the boat rides were whine-free.
And here's Lila, who's an angel wherever she is. Also, she's wearing a swimming suit, cover-up, sun hat, legwarmers and a life jacket so that she can. . .what? Swim?
We missed Josh but had an amazing time. Thanks, mom and dad! It was almost worth it when, on the drive home, our tire exploded off of our car. . .1.5 hours from home. . .when the kids were finally sleeping after the drive from hell. . .and we had just breathed a sigh of relief that we were really going to make it. But we put on the spare and drove really slowly for the rest of the drive, and now it will just become one of the days of which we will never speak. After I write about it on this blog, that is.

Remembering

My grandpa Corky died on September 23, 2009. It saddens me to know that my kids most likely won't remember him, so I hope they one day read this and know what a great man he was. That's him in the middle. Josh's cute grandmas are on the left and my dad's parents on the right. His wife is somehow missing from this picture, but she's adorable and loved him very much.

I remember having dinner over at my grandparents' house sometime in my 20s. I must've been getting on in years and I'm sure more than one person was concerned that I never would marry. I remember so clearly when, out of the blue (as most of his comments came), he said, "Amy, when you get married, he's sure going to be a classy guy." Grandpa wasn't one to hand out the compliments willy-nilly, and, strangely, these words brought me a lot of comfort. He got it. Being of "marrying age" didn't mean anything. And I did, in fact, meet my classy guy. And he was worth the wait.

Grandpa was a provider. He provided for his family for many years and, in turn, provided for us as well. I have many memories of him and my family thanks to his generosity. And, most importantly, he created one of my most favorite people in the world -- my mom. She is hard-working, kind, generous, and extremely likeable, with a fierce love and loyalty for her family. She has been shaped by her parents. And, hopefully, I have by mine. And this is the legacy grandpa will leave. I love you, grandpa. Until we meet again.

Love

Lila turned 4 months old on the 18th. I adore this little sweetheart of a girl. Why? you may ask. Well. . .let's see. . .it's 10:15 AM and she's still asleep. . .from last night. I finally understand why people choose to have babies. No colic (Jonah). No waking up every morning for two years at 5 AM (Noel). No swinging in the car seat to induce sleep (Jonah). No 15 minute naps (BOTH). She eats. She naps. And in between she smiles. Her cry is equivalent to a "Hey. If it's not too much of a nuisance, I'd love some food. But whatever. Get to it when you can."

I get it. Things will change. But I'm loving the time up until she turns hyper-dramatic, and then surly, and then hates me. Or all three. Here are some things she's been up to.

Eating my rainbow sherbet ice cream cone. She pried it from my hands. I thought the cold would bother her, but I think even at a young age she realizes that sometimes there's a price for good food, and she's willing to pay it. Why am I eating a rainbow sherbet ice cream cone, you may ask? Because it's good, that's why.


Playing Wii with her dad and brothers.


Chillaxin' with her brother, who has decided he's old enough to pick her up and carry her around even though she's half his size. Noel just likes to suffocate her with pillows.


Her first foray into eating. She likes to feed herself. She's less effective.



And here's a photo of the boys. Isn't it funny when we do crazy faces every time mom tries to take a picture of us? While we're on it, isn't it also funny when we start screaming and yelling at the top of our lungs the second our eyes pop open at 7 AM? And isn't it also funny when we like to play on the square of carpet outside of mom's door whenever she specifically asks us to keep quiet while the baby is sleeping? If I run away, blame the boys.

BTS

(See Jonah under the canopy? He is not crying - he is complaining that the sun was too bright and we kept making him smile for pictures.)

It has been a two-day back to school launch at our house. Jonah had a small half-day (quarter day? He is in Kindergarten, so even on a normal day he only goes for a half day.) where Amy went with him for the first 30 min. Today is his first real day - and he rides the bus!! Noel started pre-school today.

I wish we could say that we had some really awesome back to school traditions, like father's blessings and thoughtful journal writing, or chocolate chip waffles cut into the shapes of ABCs and 123s. But we don't. We were mainly focused on trying to get the kids to eat breakfast at all and reminding Noel that he was excited about pre-school, since the mood was wavering between excitement and telling me that he would rather go to the ice cream store than school. (Side note: wouldn't we all?)

But we made it...Jonah came in the car to drop Noel off. It was fantastic to listen to him doling out brotherly advice. "Noel. When you get in the school, first you have to hang up your backpack." "The best class is gym." and my favorite, "If someone asks if you want to be friends, you should say yes. You can have two friends, or a lot of friends. I had a lot of friends."

There was a brief moment of "I don't want to stay" when we first got there, but I distracted him with hanging up his backpack (great advice, Jonah!!) and finding his name card. Then it was off to the gym (You're right again, Jonah!) I hung outside the door for a minute to make sure he was OK. He stood in the middle of the room for a second kind of looking around. Then he ran over and started jumping on mats, so I slipped away. He was fine.

And I am not ashamed to admit I got a little teary in the car.
This is Jonah on back to school day one. Notice the fun shoes. I think funky shoes are the key to a cool little boys wardrobe. (And those did not come from Oshkosh. Oops.)

Off we went to the bus stop. Which is at the top of our street.
The bus comes at 11:07am. You are supposed to be there 15 min early. They are picking up like 10 kids. How could they get so off schedule that they would be there 15 min early? But, Jonah (and me) is a rule follower so we were there plenty early. And we had to wait a bit.Jonah was very focused and serious. I think he was excited, but he knew this was a big day and didn't want to be distracted by idle chit chat. He. was. waiting. And that was all he wanted to focus on doing. There were quite a few false alarms, too. I think we are the last stop, so the bus passed us about 10 times as it zig-zagged around the neighborhood. Jonah thought it was really funny every time we would get ready for it...and then it would pass us by.

But at last, they arrived. And the bus driver knew his name, which did a nervous Dad's heart good. (I had fears that maybe this was some bus that would drop him off in downtown Vancouver.) And he climbed right on and went and sat next to some little boy. And was totally fine.
I, on the other hand, shed a few tears as I walked back to the house with Lila. At least she's still little.