summer so far

I mentioned last week how hot it has been. Well, the weather FINALLY broke today, after I don't know how many days of over 100 degree weather. At least 2 weeks. We woke up this morning to overcast skies, and around 9:00 this morning, we heard the glorious sound of thunder! Hallelujia! I was seriously worried yesterday that our lawn would decide the trials and tribulations this side of the veil were just too much for it, and give up the ghost. Now, maybe there's hope for it!
So for the first time this summer, I actually hung out in my backyard for a while this evening, watching my boys swimming.

I spent a few minutes freaking out over how grown up my boys are getting.



But before too long they reminded me they are still little silly kids.



I watched a lot of cannonballs.





Mosey is taking swimming lessons, and is getting really close to being independent in the water. The goal is to get him out of his floaty "muscly suit" by the time he goes to my mom's house in August. I am not terribly happy with the swim school he's going to right now, but at least it has given occasion for Ben to spend a few hours of concerted effort teaching Mosey in our own pool.
He does look pretty cute in his muscly suit, though.



The boys would have stayed out there all night long swimming, if I had let them. This is the face I got when I told Brigham it was time to come in to eat dinner.



The rest of the summer I've tried to stay in the air conditioning as much as possible. Mosey keeps me entertained.



Brigham has been on a dress-up kick recently. Here he is as a samurai cowboy.


But he doesn't constrain himself to dress up clothes only! Last weekend he put on jeans, a pair of shorts on over the jeans, a sweater (yes, in the over 100 degree heat), the plastic breastplate from the knight's costume we have, a suit coat (yes, over the sweater), and his knight's helmet. Quite a sight!

Trip Day 15: The Gateway Arch

On Thursday afternoon Ben finished up with his conference, so we gratefully checked out of the Ritz (it was nice, but too stressful!!), and checked into the Fairfield Inn, much more our style. The boys loved this hotel because it had a) a pool, and b) 2 cute little bunny rabbits that lived out on the front lawn. Joseph tried mightily to catch them every time we went to and from the car, but never quite managed to make the grab.
On Friday we decided to do the St. Louis tourist thing and see the Gateway Arch. I had thought we could drive out there, spend a couple of hours going up and down the arch and checking out the grounds, and then maybe hit a museum or two in the afternoon. HA!!!
It took us nearly 30 minutes just to get IN to the visitor's center. Blasted post-9/11 security. Ben and I were there about 12 years ago, and we just walked right on down, no security at all. Well, that's the world we live in I guess.
Anyway, we did get tickets, but they weren't for another 2 hours. Luckily there is plenty to do in the visitor's center. There is a great little museum chronicling the history of the exploration of the west. We also got tickets to see a documentary about Lewis and Clark, which was fascinating. I had forgotten about what an amazing person Sacajawea was. Ben came out of the movie with stars in his eyes, thinking how great it would have been to be on that expedition. I on the other hand, came out of it thinking how it must have been the most terrifying and unpleasant experience of their entire lives!! Funny how our perspectives are so different.
The arch tour was pretty cool. They load you into these tiny egg-shaped tram cars for the ride up and down. They are tiny!! And NOT wheelchair accessible. However, I managed to make it down the stairs to the loading platforms, and on the way back up, Ben carried me up the stairs. What a man. :-)

Here are Joseph and Brigham in the tram car. It was a little nerve-wracking going up. This monument is 630 feet high!!



At the top is the viewing area. The arch is shaped so that the windows are actually tilted downward, which gives a great view, but was also a little stomach-lurching for me. The boys didn't care though, they thought it was awesome. Even more awesome because we have recently read the Percy Jackson books (finished the last one on this trip), and there's a great scene in the first one where a monster blasts Percy out of the top of the arch and he lands in the Mississippi River.






This is the view facing west, toward downtown. There was a Cardinals game going on that day, and we had a great view of the stadium (just to the left of this picture).


And the view facing East, across the Mississippi into Illinois.



After the Arch tour, we went out and wandered the grounds a little. The Mississippi was really high, flooding the street area down by the shore. We had wanted to take a river boat tour, but the tours were canceled because of the flooding. So instead, the boys went down and waded into the extremely muddy water. Their shoes got soaked, and on the way out, absolutely covered in sticky, black, river silt mud. Nice. :-)



Mosey was "too tired" to make it back up the stairs, so Ben gave him a lift. :-)



Here's Joseph, happily clutching the Boysenberry candy stick we got at the Old Tyme candy store in the museum. We bought way too much candy there, and Ben bought a sausage-making book. Kinda random. Now he's all wanting to make sausage, but is being foiled by the lack of sausage casings to be found at any of our local grocery stores. Ewww...



Brigham liked this place.



I couldn't even begin to get the whole arch in one shot. This thing is incredibly massive, it's hard to imagine unless you're actually seeing it.



After our tour of the Gateway Arch, we drove back towards my sister's house. I made the boys all strip off their muddy socks and shut them in the windows of the van so they could dry on the way back. I bet we looked really classy, driving down the road with 4 pairs of muddy socks hanging out the windows. :-)
We wanted to go see Grant's Farm, but got there just after it closed to visitors. Grant's Farm is this sort of wildlife preserve on what was President Ulysses Grant's Farm. I guess there are lots of wild animals to see, and wagon rides through the park. We drove around the outside and did catch a glimpse of some Elk enjoying some fresh green grass.


We met my sister and her kids at Steak-n-Shake (my boys still remembered going there in Florida!), and then she and I ditched the kids with their daddies and went back to downtown St. Louis to see a production of Chorus Line. I loved the dancing in the show, of course, but more than that I loved being with my sister and gossiping about our siblings and fixing everyone else's problems.
What a great day.

Trip Days 12-14: Rosalynde's house

We got to St. Louis on Sunday night. Ben had to work the next day, then had a conference for the next 3 days, so the boys and I got to hang with my sister Rosalynde and her kids.
It was great to see Rosalynde and her new baby Miles, and wonderful to see my boys rediscover their cousins.
Rosalynde has a great basement (I want a basement!!) and the kids all went down there and raided her dress-up clothes (my boys love dressing up), and entertained themselves beautifully. Joseph and Jack especially were pals.


We went to the zoo one day (St. Louis has a FREE zoo!) and the boys loved watching the chimpanzees. Brigham took a bunch of (mostly blurry) pictures of the mama and baby chimpanzee cavorting around. I loved watching Brigham and Miles interact. Brigham definitely has a curiosity for babies, and with Miles it was reciprocal.


Another day we went to the park with McDonald's hamburgers and french fries and let the kids play. Mosey found a pair of kitty cat ears in Rosalynde's dress up box, and hardly took them off. He even begged to take them home with us to the hotel in the evening, saying, "I promise I'll say a prayer so I won't forget to bring them back." (It was the sweetest prayer, and he didn't forget them).




Rosalynde told me Jack got this hat for Christmas and hasn't gone a day since without wearing it. I believe it, I don't think I ever saw him without it except at church.


Joseph got in a little Miles-time, too.


And isn't this a sweet shot of Jack and his baby brother?


One of the afternoons I did a little photoshoot with Miles. Brigham was very interested and helped me arrange the blankets and held up a backdrop. Afterward, he created his own little setup and asked if we could take another picture of Miles. Maybe Brigham will be my assistant!


I loved being at Rosalynde's house. I could live in St. Louis, as long as we were in the same city as her and her family. I would love my boys to have cousins to play with all the time, and my sister to be my friend. My MS got so bad so quickly after we moved to Austin, that people here really don't know me from "before." One of the great things about this trip was simply being with my sisters who knew me before, and I think still see me in much the same way. My sisters are my best friends, and have been for quite some time. And probably always will be, because they know *all* of me. Not just the disabled version of myself.

Trip Days 12-14: The Ritz Carlton

So the Ritz Carlton in Clayton, MO is by far the fanciest hotel I've ever stepped foot in, let alone stayed in. Ben's conference was being held in the hotel, which was why his company reserved our room there. I was actually very nervous about it, because we were probably the only family with children in the entire building!
The lobby and halls are filled with beautiful, breakable things that I forbade the boys to touch. Ben thought it was a little over-the-top in its opulence. There were fancy cages of parakeets in the front hall. The floors were of red marble. Ornate chandeliers lined every hallway and lit the grand stairway.


Beautiful antique furniture with gorgeous vases.


China cabinets filled with beautiful pieces of china.

Beutifully upholstered furniture and drapery along every hallway.



Even the elevat0rs were paneled in wood and lit from within by a chandelier!



And then we got to our room. The first thing I saw as I walked in, was the entirely marble and crystal and glass bathroom.


The room was beautiful with a balcony view of downtown St. Louis, the Gateway Arch stretching up over the horizon.
It was very luxurious.
Each afternoon from 5-7 there was even a sushi chef in the lobby making fresh sushi for the guests!
Of course, there was no free breakfast, and the internet was $16/day, but, as my brother-in-law pointed out, most of the patrons of this sort of hotel either don't pay the slightest attention to what their meals or internet costs them (being way above such crass concerns), or they are charging it all to a company account anyway.
But it was an interesting experience and one I may never have another opportunity repeat!

Hot!

The summer so far as been so hot!!! The average high for June is 91 degrees, but it's been over 100 degrees for the past several days, and the forecast is pretty much more of the same for the foreseeable future. Our grass is dying. I got our electric bill in the mail today and, let's just say it isn't pretty. We could probably afford to all fly somewhere cooler for the summer for what it's costing us to keep this house cooled. At least we're not in South Florida stressing over hurricanes coming our way. (100 degree weather is even less fun in 95% humidity and no air conditioning because the hurricane knocked out the power for a week. Or two.)
The boys and I have a pretty fun summer schedule, though, despite the heat. We're only doing half lessons, which means math, reading, and piano every day, plus one other lesson-- language, science, history, or spelling, which we alternate. This gives us time for some other fun activities
Mosey is taking swimming lessons every afternoon and he's doing great. A far cry from 2 years ago which was pretty much a waste of money.
Tuesdays we go bowling at a local alley that offers 2 free games every day for kids during the summer. My boys hadn't ever really bowled before, so their technique is... lacking. And I can't really get up and show them how it's done! So I imagine the other patrons get some laughs out of watching us. Mosey's got a kind of spin-and-drop technique going on. He hasn't quite grasped the idea of trying to make the ball go *quickly* down the lane. His balls can be better described as sort of meandering. One of them even petered out and stopped in the middle of the lane. Still, he has a great time and that's all I care about.
Brigham does this running start, drop to the knees and slide technique, but he's getting pretty good. He told me this last time that he would only have fun if he could get at least 2 spares. Ah, my little competitive boy.
Joseph gets down on the floor, lines up the ball and then carefully *pushes* it down the lane. He has about the same level of success as Brigham, but he's a little better at rolling with the punches when the ball doesn't go his way.
I just have fun watching them and watching the old '80's music videos they've got playing.
Wednesday morning we go to the free kids movie at a local theater (so far we've seen City of Ember, Igor, and Journey to the Center of the Earth-- the boys' favorite so far), and then horseback riding lessons in the afternoon.
Thursdays are half-price at Extreme Fun (inflatable bounce-house kind of place).
These are a lot more activities than we normally do, and it's not that easy for me getting in and out of the car, especially when I have to get myself across a 120 degree parking lot! But on the other hand, these activities are great incentives for the boys to get their other stuff done.
The rest of the time the boys are having fun swimming, building with legos, and light-saber fighting. They try to get me involved with the light saber fighting, but I'm no match for them! I am really not cut out for sword fighting. This is why little boys need daddies. That's what Ben gets to look forward to every day when he walks in the door from work. :-)
We stumbled upon a new (audio)book series, Peter and the Starcatchers. They are prequels to Peter Pan, and really fantastic. Jim Dale narrates them and the 1st two at least are really good. The boys are begging me to download the third.



We also discovered a great game that a woman from our ward gave to the boys. Scrabble Slam. The game is played with playing cards with a different letter on the front and back. 4 cards are put down initially to make a 4-letter word, and then each player tries as quickly as possible to "slam" cards down, one at a time, to change one letter of the word, changing it into a new word. The first person to use up all their cards wins. We're not playing like that, though, we just take turns putting cards down. My boys are competitive enough with each other, and as played by the actual rules, the game would definitely end in tears, every time. They find great hilarity in spelling words like "fart" and "spit" and "dumb." Yes, they are boys.



So that's our summer so far!

Father's Day

Happy 8th year of being a father, Ben!
This picture was taken after much painful prodding. Brigham and Mosey were willing, Joseph as usual was not. I told Ben to go get him, and this is what Ben says: "Come on Joseph, Mom wants to take a picture. I know she always wants to take millions of pictures, and no one wants to take them except her. But she's going to make us take a picture, so just get over here and take it fast."
Thanks for the support, Ben! :-)
Someday he'll thank me for the pictures.
I didn't have any great Father's Day gift for him, and I felt bad. The boys got him some bags of candy. I wanted to get him a mixer for the bread he likes to make. He's not sure he needs one, so I was hoping to buy one and let him try it out, and if he didn't like it, to take it back. But the more research I did, the more I realized that the best bread mixer out there is a Bosch, and there is no place around here to buy one. I'd have to order it online, and then it's not quite so easy to return if he doesn't like it. So instead I just didn't get him anything. I'm nice like that.
The boys colored these cute paper ties at church with this sweet poem about dads. At the bottom there's a space for them to write their name, and they were to give them to their dads after church. Well, Mosey and Brigham nicely color theirs to give to Ben, but Joseph, the stinker, instead colored dark blue (he told me they didn't have black) over the poem, and at the bottom instead of his name, wrote, "This is not true" with an arrow pointing to the poem. What a sweet kid! The funny thing is, though, he *is* a sweet kid. He is very affectionate and sweet, as long as you don't demand it of him, or point it out. He'll hold Ben's hand when they're walking into stores together. At church, he'll grab my hand and pull my arm around his shoulders. He's very snuggly and affectionate, it just has to be on *his* terms.
Ben is such a good dad, though, truly he is. One of the first really strong impressions I had of Ben when we were dating (and not even dating seriously) was one day when we were driving back to Provo from Gunnison, where we had spent the day with my family who were up from California. My little sister Eva, who was 2 at the time, wanted to come up with me and spend the night in my apartment, so she rode back up with Ben and me in his green Ranger. He stopped to get gas, and as he was walking back to the truck after paying inside, and I was sitting with my arm around Eva, it hit me really strongly that *this* guy would be a great father. And he has not disappointed.

Trip Day 11: Chicago to St. Louis

Sunday morning we packed up and checked out of our hotel and then went to check out the beach at Lake Michigan. It would have been fun to actually spend a day (or an afternoon) on the beach, but time did not allow. And it was COLD. So it was just as well.
The boys ran around on the sand for a while and touched the cold water of the lake.





Mosey brought along his Harry Potter wand and is practicing his stunning spells.



We found a place to go to church, a typically unusual down-town church building all on the 2nd level of a building with a gated parking lot.
There was only a little drama getting there while being navigated by our GPS. It directed us to turn left under the freeway, unfortunately the wrong way down a one way street. Luckily Ben figured it out really fast and spun a quick 3-point-turn before the red light all the cars were waiting at turned green. Scary!
We only stayed for Sacrament Meeting, but it was long enough for Ben to meet someone he knew. It's amazing how many people Ben knows. Or how small the LDS community is, at least. At Naomi's ward in Charlottesville he found someone he knew as well. And when he came out to Austin to "ward hop" while he looked for a place for us to live, he knew someone in *every* ward he went to. Ben never forgets a face.
Then we hit the road for St. Louis.
We stopped in Springfield to see the state Capitol. It was Sunday, so no tours, but we wandered around the grounds anyway.






Stephen Douglas was sure a grumpy-looking guy.




Honest Abe looked like a much more gentle soul. Depressed, yes. But gentle.



Why did Brigham tie himself up in a rope? Only he knows.

We got into St. Louis a little after dark and made our way to our hotel in Clayton. Ben had a conference there the next week, so his company put us up in... the Ritz Carlton.
I've never stayed at a 5 star hotel before, so it was quite an experience. I took a bunch of pictures, but I'll wait to post those later.
So, 11 days and 10 states later, we arrived at our final destination of our cross-country trip.

Recent Fun

He comes to me to help him put this costume on, then take it off, then put it on, then take it off, etc., etc., etc., all day long. And I love it.


The world's biggest blanket fort. You have no idea. This is one, tiny little corner of it. Every blanket in the house was used.


Getting ready for Halloween. Hey, a kid's got to be prepared!


Fun with C(17)H(20)N(4)O(6). And don't believe his shirt for a second. All of them are!


When Ben was in 1st grade, he was told to draw a picture of what he wanted to be when he grew up. A smart-alec from the cradle, Ben drew a picture of a slide. Well, he didn't grow up to be a slide, but a human jungle-gym is pretty close.