tip top

luckily, we passed ‘chair lift 101′
with flying colors.

we rode the big chair lift only once
to the tip top of the Big Mtn.

and we rode the shorter chairlift
(by ’shorter’ i mean it’s still a 12 min ride)
a bunch of times to ride on the alpine slide.

i laughed so much
my face hurt.

at the tip top of the Big Mountain;
elevation 10,700 ft.

dad + nathan, mom + henry

you could feel the temperature change
as you went up + down the lift

if wishes were horses

we’d all take a ride.

well, daddy made my wish come true,
if only digitally.

we miss you like crazy, our beloved dr. cates,
and can’t wait to hug your neck.

me love you long time

my sweet jenny friend,
the main reason i so eagerly
anticipate our grand lake adventures…

because it’s the spot that we
meet up with the chris friend family
for the happiest of vacations.

[jenny and i have been
as thick as thieves
since i transferred to obu
my sophomore year of college;
to know her is to love her.

and that holds doubly-true for
her handsome mr. chris +
her three angelchildren.]

we can’t wait for next year!

um, yes, my eyes are red;
we might have just been
having the most precious
coffee break of my whole year,
talking about the Lord +
about our hearts.
(perfect picture-time, eh?
our little tradition is to meet up at the black bear
for an early coffee sans children
on the last morning of vacation,
leaving my parents–thank you!–
and chris–thank you!– to
wrangle care for the seven collective children
while simultaneously loading up for
the trip home.)

betsy, nathan, caroline, meredith + caleb

craft + snack
with the mountain backdrop

m + c

s’mores divas

little mr. oreo (aka. caleb)

nathan, will, henry, caroline, meredith, betsy + caleb;
with a cameo by stagehand chris

‘i have no greater joy
than to hear that my children
are walking in the truth.’
3 john 1:4

‘let us consider how we may spur
one another on to love and good deeds.’
hebrews 10:24

ps – remind me to tell you about
the ‘diaper shower’ her church holds annually
for new/expecting mom’s. 
it’s brilliant.

top o’ the world

on tuesday,
we drove up to estes park (7500 ft),
continued to scale the mountain on
trail ridge road
(rocky mountain national park),
thru the alpine tundra,
over the continental divide (12300 ft) +
then gently descended into
beautiful grand lake (8367 ft).

wow + whew.

i must say,
on the return trip today,
at one point i told everyone
(henry, betsy + caroline)
in my car to be
completely
silent
for the ‘next little bit’
because we were ‘on the top of the world’
and i needed to be
‘very careful’ as i drove.

and i must admit that my
heart was pounding and my
hands were sweating;

most of the road has no shoulder,
no guard rail,
no nothing.

just mountain
drop
off.

talk about terrifying exhilirating.

just before entering the alpine tundra.

@ the alpine visitor’s center

typical.
the boys are messing with eachother
while the girls are hugging.

note to my boys:
i think the top of a mountain,
mere inches from the ledge,
is a good place to mess around.
brilliant.

just after the ascent from the continental divide.

i was cracking up watching
nathan as he decided to
take charge
and organize the crew
for a photo.

here goes:

hit the buzzer

sisterly cheering squad

there’s a button hidden in the top rock
and if you make it all the way up there
you get to buzz it;
he was so proud of that buzz.
waytogo,h

lady and the tramp

the bungee tramp, that is

we l.o.v.e. summer days @ winter park.

when the boys ran up for their
first turn on the bungee trampoline,
the girls (of course) followed.

i hung back a bit,
thinking i’d let the staff
politely tell the girls that
they were too small to jump

and to my (pleasant) surprise,
both caroline + betsy
made the cut.

and jump+jump+jump,
we did.

again + again + again +

my little 2 yr old,
fearless + happy + flying

smiley caroline

betsy can’t get enough

nathan was all about the flips

sky-high henry

waiting for the next round,
betsy + grammy + caroline

my mom was fantastic at it

grammy

the guys who helped betsy
were always supersweet to
kneel down and make sure
her sandals were on just right
after her jump.

we’re a movin’ on up

we:

are going:

to see:

we (half-heartedly) promise to
return from paradise (aka. grand lake) on friday night,
xoxo,
kj

a texas weddin’

i handpicked two projects
to let slip in thru the
‘i don’t do citywrites work during august’
grid

i’m finishing up the second project today,
a big ol’ fancy texas wedding.

this is what the placecards
look like,
except with my handwriting
instead of this (gorgeous) example:

they have an embossed
cow (beef),
rooster (chicken),
or a carrot (veggie)
to indicate your meal preference.

and they look tres chic;
way to go, genius-bride.

i’m having quite a good time of it.

sunday-funday

after church,
we hit the local grocery store
that has a starbucks embedded in it +
have our own private version of
‘coffee hour’
complete with sticky donuts
and a few games of hangman.

i’m amused that
little miss don’t-you-dare-touch-me-with-a-barrette
is now letting us put
pigtails in her hair.

almost as tall as grammy,
not quite as tall as the corn.

‘onward christian soldiers,’ it ain’t

during the school year when
free-time is in short supply,
i stash away certain projects
so that i can do them on
‘colorado time.’

the excess free time
(massive-thanks to my parents) +
the ease of having a car to zip
to and fro to gather supplies =

a happy project place

and i am so-super-excited about how
Goofy Project No. 1
turned out.

the scoop:
four yrs ago stacy gave me the tip
to teach my kids a hymn
for every letter of the alphabet.

so i made these awesomely daft-looking
song books that we use
in family devotions at the
breakfast table every morning.

(yes, they’re crinkly + covered with
dried cream-of-wheat smudges
and you probably wouldn’t want to hold them,
but we don’t mind)

then two yrs ago,
i made a second song book
(same alphabet, diff. hymns for every letter)
to increase our hymn-cabulary.

now, you know how much
we adore our brilliant 5pm redeemer service +
especially the music.
the old hymns,
the new arrangements,
the original songs,
all of it.

and it’s so special to have
nathan + henry in the worship
service with us.

well, the hymns that we sing at home
just don’t match
the songs we sing at church.

i mean,
what are the chances that
tom is going to have us singing,
‘victory in jesus,’
‘go, tell it on the mountain’
or
‘nothing but the blood’
?

ain’t gonna happen.

so, since december i’ve been
hoarding saving our bulletins
with all of the church songs in them
and stashing them away
so that i could make
brandspankin’new
songbooks
while in my
happyprojectplace.

for six months, i’ve been nurturing the fantasy
that the kids will be standing in church this fall,
they’ll hear the music
and think,
‘now, waitjustaminute, i know this song!’

they’ll look over at me
standing by cory
and they’ll smile that knowing smile,
‘mom loves me +
does everything she can think of
to help me in life…’

*poof*

whoops, just snapped out of
a little dream world there.

of course they wouldn’t think that
but they might think,
‘dude, i think i’ve heard this before’
and that’s all
i’m looking for here.

so after copying+sorting+pasting+whatnot,
voila!

the front cover-art is a color copy of
a huge weirdo-space-alien
that nathan drew on the
front of one of the bulletins
(while paying attention in church?)
and the back cover-art is a random doodle i
made on one of my bulletins,
(again, while paying attention in church.)
and following the 40-odd hymns
are the unison prayers + creeds we
recite in church.
sweet.

ps – i’m not going to mention
what Goofy Project No. 2 is
in case i don’t get it done.

i might just save it for next summer.

completing the denver-newyork-london triangle

q1. guess who we saw yesterday?

a1.

hooray for baby ahna
hooray for ryan + charis +
their new home in denver.

(sorry we didn’t get a cute photo of ry-ry;
he looked very handsome, as usual)

q2. guess who we skyped while we were all together?

a2.

(again, sans photo of handsomecade)

baby ahna, meet baby eloise,
eloise, ahna;
there now, bff.

i was definately choked up.

the Lord is so good to
bring these two sweet babies

skyping from my parent’s back deck in greeley
to the newman’s new flat in london
(my parents got to say hello, as well)
and we even saw
fireworks going off behind
melissa + cade’s back yard,
thoroughly completing the
magical feeling.

we sure do love you, newmans + smiths;

corylove,
so sorry you missed the
dreamy skyping -
i’ll give you the play-by-play.

which will probably make you cry.
just not at work, hon.

4×4

as i was tooling down the road today
in daddy’s truck
(think: big, diesel chevy silverado.
think: you can’t get in without
a step-ladder and
goodluck being ladylike.)
i was struck with this
‘polar opposite’ feeling.

the mountain scenery +
driving in general +
being 5′ off the ground;
this is just about the opposite of my
rest-o’-the-year-existence.
(think: urban.
think: pedestrian.)

and i’m loving it.

except that i have to add, oh,
15 min. onto every trip
because i have to park
So Far Out
in the parkinglot
because youknow i couldn’t
back that thing out
if i tried.

seriously,
i’m loving it while i’m here,
but 2/3 train, here i come.

vs.

fraud alert

if library cards had that
‘fraud early detection’ warning,
my mom + dad’s cards
would’ve definately been put on
lockdown.

the amount of traffic we
put thru those babies
during the month of august…
whoa, nellie.

my three favorite reads of the month so far:

-’heaven’s net is wide’ and
‘the harsh cry of the heron’
(paula got me hooked on the otori trilogy +
then the author evidently wrote a
prequel + sequel. brilliant.)

-thomas keller’s ‘bouchon’ cookbook.
i read
every
word
in the dern book.

now, we’ll see if there are any
notable improvemements in
my cooking this fall.

‘notable mention’ to:
-flannery o’connor’s ‘mystery + manners’
-david sedaris’ ‘children playing before a  statue of hercules’
-bill cosby, dennis miller, steve martin, ellen degeneres
(a girl needs to laugh)

on the ‘i read these, but don’t race out + get them‘ list:
-jonathan franzen, ‘the twenty-seventh city’
(early-franzen, he’s come a long way)
-ian rankin
(cory’s reading him so i wanted to
show some solidarity but
Oh My,
we completely disagree on this one.
contrived? complete lack of subtlety?
i checked out four of them and
couldn’t finish a one.
sorry, hon;
you have good taste in other areas.)
-julia glass, ‘a whole other world’
-alexander mccall smith, ‘love over scotland’
-curtis sittenfeld, ‘prep’
and
so
on.

okay, here’s where the world gets
reeeeeally
small:

as i’m reading thru, ‘the book of new family traditions’
by meg cox (apparently a former WSJ reporter)
and i hit p. 79 and
guesswhat??
she quotes ‘patty mac hewitt’
who summers at a lake house in
new hampshire.

?!!

that’s chris w’s mom!
wow.

s.m.a.l.l. world.

love it.

well, the girls + i are off to the library.
you know they close at 5pm on sunday,
must rush.

tell it like it is, mr. neutron

‘girls are like a big slice
of piping hot pie
with a big scoop
of confusion
on top.’

-jimmy neutron’s dad,
in that swervyfunny voice of his

i chuckled louder
than henry did.

‘trowt’

‘i wish you guys were here.
papa caught 11 fish in one day.
i caught 8.
we have seen chipmunks,
crows, crawdads and trowt.
love, nate.’

-nathan’s postcard to the jennings’

mountain park, co
elev. 6501 ft.

breakfast campfire

rainbow-magic

similar playground to those @ home,
different backdrop

dad helped the boys make their own slingshots
(they bent thick wire,
knotted rubber bands together +
cut a leather pouch which
they made holes in and
fastened to the rubber bands.)

bbgun practice

we may be well out of cell phone range,
but we always manage to find the local ice cream parlor;

priorities,
priorities.

man o’ leisure

listen, sometimes a guy
just can’t be bothered
to stand up to shoot.

(he filled up the little
cup-holder in the chair armrest
with slingshot-perfect rocks
as to avoid the
excessive-movement quandry)

wednesday non-fluff

way to go, matt candler + crew!

it was killer to lose you, virg + fam,
but we’re so proud of you and
melted by the awesome work you guys
are part of in new orleans.

‘the post-katrina classroom:
a teachable moment’
-nytimes, sunday magazine,
17 aug 08

‘hurricane katrina wiped out the new orleans public schools.
it also created a rare chance to build a system
that might solve the biggest problem in urban education –
how to teach disadvantaged children.’

little bits o’ wednesday fluff

backseat driver award:
henry, ever since he figured out
the speed limit signs should
match up to my speedometer +
that he can see both
from his vantage point in the
middle of the backseat.

[un]wanted accountability?

waterslidingleaping

an enchantinly-foggy
early morning drive to
our friend, marilyn’s house;
i’ve known her since i was little
[she also happens to be
emily's aunt]

little miss aubrey

i feel about the family funplex
like i feel about the jcc;
i would live there if i could.

the big waterslides;
can you see the spirally-green one at the top
that leaves the building
like a speeding bullet?

2 for 2:
monday night, settlers with
emily, amy + abby

tuesday night, settlers with
nathan, henry + my dad

tonight, anyone?
meet us in mountain park;
we’re on our way.

love to nyc

i’m only laughing because
it’s true not true.

miss you like crazy, cjc.
like crazy.

pucker up

getting ready for church

we are falling apart in colorado;
nathan’s lost 2 teeth since we’ve been here
and henry has 2 just barely hanging in there.

ouch:
can you see betsy on my back
pulling my hair like the reins of a horse?
nice.

audio:
the girls were screaming at the computer,
‘hi, daddy! hi, daddy! hi, daddy!’
as if he was right on the other side
of the monitor.

?

polarbearclub-ish

less waterslide,
more waterjump

cool it

52 degrees outside +
raining-pouring+
my teeth are chattering…

well, that might be because
we spent the day
in the water.

2 hrs this morning
and
2 hrs this evening (the boys had to go back)
and
we’re wasted +
freezing +
very, very happy.

and miss amy
(miss emily’s middle sister)
was our supercool lifeguard;
thanks for the waterslide-action.

spashdown

the tunnel o’ love

a facial, of sorts

once we got b started,
we couldn’t get her stopped

i don’t have any shots of the
Big Waterslides,
but, seriously,
one of those slides
speeds out of the building
and then comes back inside
for splashdown.

can you say, ‘wedgie-city?’

the boys couldn’t
scramble out of the
splashpool fast enough
before they were on the
stairs headed up for
more action.

not a creature will be stirring
in this house tonight, folks.

so i’m going out.

(yes, i get a night out
with friends.
sweet.)

cruising altitude

8365 ft, that is.

dowdy lake, co;
3 days in heaven

“hi, guys,
i wish you were here.
me and henry spend
all day fishing and
catching crawdads.
betsy’s having a great time
yelling at chipmunks.
love, nate”

-nathan’s postcard to the kramers’

i considered
reaching up and
touching
the sky

as much spontaneous hugging
as these girls do,
it’s like they’re posing for
a sisterly-love calendar.

the boys were never like this.

a brotherly-skirmish calendar, perhaps.

my kind of roughing-it.

come on, now,
don’t underestimate my camping-abilities.

we didn’t use the a/c
but we were glad for the
heater @ night.

breakfast, lunch + dinner
in the glorious wilderness.

[do they have picnic tables in the wilderness?
okay, semi-wilderness.]

have you ever had that feeling
where it’s so delicious
that it doesn’t matter
that it just came out of the fire
and it’s scalding your mouth
you just Have To Eat It.
Right.Now.
?

nathan has.

ice cream run

if i hadn’t seen it with my own eyes…
who knew henry would still fit in the
little sink for a camping-bath?

nathan opted out this year.
i guess at 5′1″
that’s appropriate.

watch out,
i’m driving.

and i’m about to take us between those
two cool rock formations.

finding our home port again
requires a careful game of
‘i spy’

awww, shucks;
princess here had to be
carried in and out of the boat
so she wouldn’t get wet.

(prince was morethanhappy to oblige)

the girls lounge
while the boys fish

a granny smith by a mountain lake?
betsy’s own personal heaven.

(gotta love those goofy
lifejacket/swimsuit contraptions
that rub your chin raw.
nice.)

thanks, mom + dad;
simply divine.

and thanks for visiting, steve + sue;
just lovely to see you
and your neck of the woods.

.. ..

‘the heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.

there is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.

their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.’
psalm 19:1-4

.. ..

‘he makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,

he restores my soul.
he guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.’
psalm 23:2-3

.. ..

the obvious verses rolling around
in my head this week;
the kids liked the idea of
the trees proclaiming +
the sky speaking.

workaholics

henry to my dad:
“papa, do you have 19 jobs for $1 each?
(pause)
or can i do the same job 19 times?”

the boys,
motivated by the local toy aisle,
are begging papa for jobs
so they can earn money,
and he is gracious to oblige.

today’s mission:
squeakyclean golf balls + clubs.

(surely they’re not muddy
from cory + dad’s
recent morning of golf?
can you say,
’sandtrap?’
‘recovery shot?’)

i digress.

our sweet miss emily lives
right around the corner

drip.drop.splat.

murphy’s law.
when you start putting the tent up,
the rain comes down.

we wanted to do a ‘trial run’
in the back yard
before heading to the
mountains.

it did rain most of the night,
but it was a gentle pitterpatter of rain,
not the massive kind we had
a few nights before.*

exhibit A. those who started out in the tent.

imaginary exhibit B. those who actually
slept in the tent.
(see sleepycory + passedoutnathan?)

exhibit C. who i found in the tent
when i woke up
(from my comfy bed
inside the warm house)

*about the massive rain:
word on the streets is that
between that rain +
the rain two weeks ago,
greeley received
half
it’s annual rainfall.

in two rains.

nathan drinks it in.

betsy’s mugging for the camera.
that clown.

bookworms

a wee bit late last night,
mom came into my room
and said with a little smile,
‘you assumed he was sleeping, right?’
and showed me
nathan’s book in her hands.

‘i told him it was probably time
to crawl under the covers +
that tomorrow is a big day.
i think ihes asleep now.’

and she added,
“i didn’t mention that his mom
and his grammy
have the same ‘problem’. “

as she tucked me in a bit more,
still curled up with
my book in my hand;
we both knew it was another
good hour and a half
before my light
was going out.

me amo los libros

my literary companions so far
on this vacation,
thanks to the
farr regional branch:

john grisham, four of them; my dirty secret
jhumpa lahiri,
emily post’s manners for children
(i way prefer tiffany’s version),
and
david sedaris.

and henri nouwen from my dad’s bookshelf,
‘in the name of jesus.’

he articulates
the simple/complex idea
of the ‘two loves:’
the first love being Christ’s unchanging love for us
and
the second love being the broken-by-nature,
imperfect-at-best
love we have for eachother;
making sure they’re ordered correctly
in our minds, in our hearts.

now, can i tell you
how hard
cory was laughing
as he read aloud
‘me talk pretty one day’
to me in the car?

(3 legs of to-and-from denver trips;
i drove + he read)

so now, in his honor
i’m listening to david sedaris
live @ carnegie hall
while driving.

i leave you with
this jhumpa lahiri snippet
to start your morning:

‘…his ears were insulated by tufts of graying hair
that seemed to block out
the unpleasant traffic of life.’

-‘when mr. pirzada came to dine’

memo

to: cory
love: us
re: we really miss you, love.
of course, the kids don’t
actually have
one second
to stop and think about it;
we’re having a supergreat,
reallywet (waterfight) day.

ps – remind us to tell you
about nathan’s first solo
bikeride+retail experience+return trip
today.

sweet.

things i did not know

…about current-day retail:

1. that marshall’s is selling
vera wang stationery.

2. that old navy has the cutest
little girls’ fall clothes around.

exhibit A:

exhibit B:

(it’s navy+white w/ green bits)

3. that walmart has a cool display rack
of superattractive + yummylooking recipes,
free for the taking.

[good timing as i'm putting together
a family recipe book. finally.
after re-inventing the wheel
most every week for 12 yrs.
i know, i know,
i are uh genus.]

4. michael’s is clearancing their
letterpressed stationery section;
letterpress for the masses.

(the cute stripey cards i found
aren’t on the company’s website)

5. nordstrom rack carries
chloe bags??

what is this amazing world
coming to?!

ps – i did not buy the chloe bag;
i saved it for you.
run over + grab it -it’s at flatirons.

don’t be surprised to
see the other items
in our fall line-up
or
receive in your mailbox.

casa bonita

after beggingbegging to go in,
caroline basically clung to my skull
the entire way thru
black bart’s hideout

sneaky grammy;
mom convinced us it wasn’t scary
and then backed out herself
at the last minute.
clever.

on your toes, fairy

a few minutes ago,
a sleepy henry comes out to where
my dad was sitting
and said:

nathan lost his tooth.
fyi for the tooth fairy, okay?

he did a sleepwalking-ish
about-face +
returned to his bed.

[our]second[church]home

it was so good to be ‘home’
at greeley wesleyan
this morning.

seeing people who i’ve known
since i was
kneehightoagrasshopper,
well,
that’s a good feeling.

and steve’s sermon,
wow,
what an exhortation.

philippians 4:4-9
isa 43:2
eph 3:20
james 4:3
hebrews 4:14
II cor 10:5
I peter 5:7

yep, we need to memorize
all
of those bad boys.

it’s good to be here +
to know that we have
several more weeks to
worship together.

vintage tim

one of the things i really look forward to
about our time in colorado
is the dinged-up cardboard box
in the (otherwise immaculate) trunk
of my mom’s car
full of redeemer sermon tapes.

the ‘sex, singleness + marriage‘ series
is my first listening-priority,
but i make room for some of the other
golden oldies,
to boot.

you know,
‘lord of the wine’,
‘the terrifying jesus,’
‘the new city,’
‘the girl nobody wanted,’
etc.

today’s tape on ‘submit to one another‘
was m.e.l.t.i.n.g.
melting.
i listened to it twice.

the way he articulated the vision of marriage as
serving your spouse
with a vision for
his/her
future glory.

emphasizing the ‘complimentary + harmonious’
nature of marriage.

always serving the needs of
your spouse
before
your own needs.

and when he said one spouse is to
say/portray/life out to the other,
‘i find in myself
a passion
to make myself
useful to you,’
i shook my head in amazement.

wow.

may it be so.

ps – i doubledogdare you to listen to that sermon.
watch out,
it might change the way
you think on things.

an open letter of my brilliant idea

dear handsome handyman to whom i’m married,

after i dropped you off at the airport +
was trying to see the highway
through my tears*
(virtually bumper-to-bumper on I-25
and we’re all doing 80mph?
okay, that’s a tiny bit scary to me)

i came up with the most brilliant idea
that i’ve had today.

just a hint:
it’ll involve some sheetrock,
a day or so of manual labor
(nothing you can’t handle)
and
will make an awesome difference
in our hallway by the boys’ room.

curious?

don’t you worry,
i’ll have dad help me
sketch it out
so we can sell you on the idea.

sleep well +
good luck with the jet lag.

xoxo

*actually, i must be a ‘grown-up’ now,
as this was the first time i’ve dropped him
off and not boo-hoo-ed it home.

bigol’jetairliner

as always,
my least favorite
view of cjc.

take good care of him,
nyc family.

see you sept 1, mi amor;
22 days + counting.

we medaled

greeley wesleyan had the
Most
Fun
swimming party last night.

a massive shout out to
miss nancy
(and miss emily +
miss abby +
the crew)
for such a fun evening.

nathan + henry had been going down
this monstrous water slide (below) continuously
before nathan had the brainy idea that
‘caroline should come!’

and.guess.what.
?
to.our.total.happy.surprise.

our cautious little three-year-old…

[caroline loves to watch
the other three kiddos
play hard and
wrestle hard and
swim crazy and
all of those things,
but she's the one following behind
with the box of bandaids and
a cheerful smile
ready to play nursemaid to
whoever gets hurt first;
she doesn't usually
Join
The
Crazy.]

well, she did it.

over + over + over.

i thought my heart was going to
burst with happiness for her.

and then,

it was time for the
cannonball competition
off the diving board
(superfun that i got to be a co-judge with em + abby;
thanks, guys)
and
nathan + henry
totally did it.

it was both of their first time off
a diving board that high
and,
also,
henry just learned to swim
this summer,
so jumping off a diving board
(it was about chest-high on me,
so several feet off the water;
you get the picture)
and
swimming thru the deep end
and pulling himself out on the side?

it was one of those moments
when my heart simply couldn’t
feel any more
grateful.

the boys are superproud of
their olympic-ish medals
that miss nancy cheerfully placed
around their necks.

we all went to sleep
with big goofy grins on
our faces last night.

thanks, again, nancy b +
the gwc crew.
see you on sunday.

c-

my grade so far
in the
‘traffic circles’
department.

listen, buster.
i’m trying to play my best
faux-suburban-person
though-i-don’t-actually-own-a-car
role,

but those blasted
traffic circles
get me every time.

i mean,
when do they go?
when do i go?
optimal speed?

i’ve got to go get my copy of
miss manners guide to
traffic circle etiquette.

also, what else do i need to
carry in the car with us on
little errands about town?

diapers + wipes, got it.
sunglasses in every vehicle i might possibly be driving, check.
kids’ socks, check.
(after paying $1 a pair
four times now
for four cheapy-cheap pairs of socks
at the bounce place + the kiddy climbing place,
i’ve taken the hint:
we need socks to participate.)

what am i going to realize
today that i ‘need’
and don’t have?

come on,
help a girl out here.

cpu

or
cory’s potty university

it’s pretty amusing,
i must admit.

my dad + i are cracking up.

so, the timer on the
watch on betsy’s arm
goes off every 15 minutes.

and he + betsy trot off to the potty.

in the case of a successful ‘event’,
she gets a popsicle or apple juice.

for the record,
there are a lot of
15 minute segments
in one day.

i think we’re all going to be
hearing that imaginary beeper
going off in our sleep tonight.

face the river

pin-up girls: you’ve met your match

optimistic rookies at the start of the run
(dad’s been a bunch of times,
but we were all green)

david, our amiable guide

cory, our fearless strokemaster

dad + nathan

this photo is just a split-second before we high-sided
on that big rock right there
and went into the drink.

dude, we have stories to tell.
icy cold,
very wet
stories to tell.

everyone but david went in
and we were rescued by
the other two boats in our party.

(wait, do you think he planned that?)

c + h

a steady moment

nathan was convinced we should
take these class IV’s;
thankfully, cooler heads prevailed.
maybe next year, kiddo.

h’s favorite rock formation: the ‘kissing gorillas’
n’s favorite rafting section: the ‘rollercoaster’
and i cracked up
at this one:

just after we had gone over this
big, smooth, soft rock
in the middle of a
small rapids,
david piped up,
“we call that one, ‘michael bolton.’ “

thanks, david, + A-1,
for a memorable novice ride.

ps – here’s what i learned yesterday from our river guides
(i copied this table from wikipedia):

class I: easy.
waves small; passages clear; no serious obstacles.

class II: medium.
rapids of moderate difficulty with passages clear.
requires experience plus suitable outfit and boat.

class III: difficult.
waves numerous, high, irregular; rocks; eddies;
rapids with passages clear though narrow,
requiring expertise in manoeuvring; scouting usually needed.

class IV: very difficult.
Long rapids; waves high, irregular; dangerous rocks;
boiling eddies; best passages difficult to scout;
scouting mandatory first time; powerful and precise manoeuvring required.

class V: extremely difficult
exceedingly difficult, long and violent rapids,
following each other almost without interruption;
riverbed extremely obstructed; big drops;
violent current; very steep gradient;
close study essential but often difficult.
all possible precautions must be taken.

class VI or U: unrunnable.

15 days + counting

i think this vacation is
extra-everything:

extra-refreshing,
goofy,
playful,
beautiful,
fun, and the like,

considering what we
were considering
about c’s health
this time last year,
well…

this vacation
is a triple-decker
deliriously-fantastic,
Big Deal
to me,
to us,
and an all-around
very, very good thing.

now, our God,
we give you thanks,
and praise your glorious name.
I chron 29:13

the boys caught a rockies game today w/ papa

soft spot for the mechanical mouse

we have a weakness.

a weakness for chuck e cheese, that is.

thankfully,
we only indulge this addiction
when we’re in colorado.

but i’d put good money
on us coming back, oh,
two more times
before this vacation ends.

the ken-chuck-e-derby

the only kind of car-date allowed

my mad skeeball skills prevail

can you feel the excitement?
counting tickets @ the end.

picking out our worthless plastic treasure

suburban enchantment

ways you can possibly tell we’re not from here:

1. we stood outside and
watched cory mow the lawn today.

(usually, i think one person does
it while the rest go about their business,
but not us.
we all had to watch the
Powerful Machine at Work)

2. we screamed as the car wash
flooded over grammy’s car.

(who knows,
maybe you still do that?)

3. we’re going to have to
take turns
getting the mail.
it is just Too Exciting.

what with opening the flap,
putting the red flag up.

we All want to do it.

4. time for the First Outing of
our colorado vacation +
where did we vote to go?

the library.

more specifically,
the Farr Regional Branch library;
that beautiful oasis of
literature + creative outlet.

earlier,
the three boys came home
from a sweaty bike ride
to get ice cream
and now the 3 big kids
are shooting cap guns
in the back yard
while cory + betsy
nap the afternoon away.

ahhh, let the games begin.

church tour, week 3

recap:

wk 1: st. philips of the highlands,
garrison, ny

week 2: new covenant baptist church,
parkville, mo

week 3: first covenant church
salina. ks

the friendliest church ever.

and after the third person who
said they were so glad to see cory +
that they had prayed for us all
last year,
i couldn’t stop crying
grateful tears
at their kindness +
faithfulness.

thank you, salinafriends,
and thanks, aunt kat,
for having your church pray for us.

ps – how happy was i to hear
dennis jernigan songs sung
in public worship?

it’s been 12 yrs since
i’ve had that pleasure,
since we last went to church
in oklahoma.

during communion @ first cov.,
we sang,
grace flows down
and
worthy is your name.

and during his sermon,
he mentioned john newton’s
melting words:
i am a great sinner,
but
christ is a great savior.

i also appreciated the
pastor’s message of
repentance + forgiveness,
clear but difficult.

II cor 7:9
godly sorrow brings repentance
that leads to salvation and leaves no regret,
but worldly sorrow brings death.

trail blazing, day 2

the wind farms that
stretch on and on;
the turbines are
majestic,
mesmerizing.

we loved our two days driving
through the kansas prairie.

and now,
650 miles later,
guess
where
we
are?!

(you can see my grin, right?)

trail blazing, day 1

pinch us;
we think we are
the ingalls family today.

driving down i-70
with green kansas-scape
on either side of us
we could almost imagine
we saw laura + mary
in their covered wagon.

and when we stopped for
penny candy,
well,
the similarities are unending.

here’s your kansas tutorial:
btwn kansas city + salina = this

trust me,
at 100 degrees in the shade,
there wasn’t much competition
for the rockers @ cracker barrel

with aunt kathleen,
great aunt letha +
great grandma freiheit;
yay

if i were a 2nd grader,
i’d beg to be in mrs. robbins’ class
(my aunt is famous)

whisper-phone play

(i always make her take me up to
see her classroom;
she’s a brilliant 2nd grade teacher +
her classroom is fantastic)

so, this cool little invention:
it’s called a whisper-phone
and basically you’re talking to
yourself on the phone.

instead of having 20+ kiddos reading aloud,
they use these cool gadgets and
whisper their read-alouds into the phone
and voila
you are your own reading buddy.

also, you can twist it so that you’re
whisper-reading into your buddy’s ear.

sweet.

and the boys came home waaaay past
their bed time hollering
barely-distinguishable things about
‘gokarts!lasertag!videogames!
moregokarts!’

and then cory wanted to round out the
midwest-experince by
making sure they tasted
braum’s
while we were here.

doublesweet.

and tomorrow we head for
colorado to see:

indulge me.
photos from the 4th of july parade
in greeley w/ aunt kat,
grandma + great aunt letha.

how thankful am i for my family?
Very Thankful.

cruising smithville lake

cousin parker + nathan

nathan + henry and uncle jacob

jacob wins the ‘degree of difficulty’ award
with his double-roll out of the wake

finishing the day with a round of mini-golf in parkville
w/ cory + jacob;
the temp + the humidity = the Hottest Day Ever Made.
[i don't think the kids even noticed]

photo credits: cjc

ps – too bad we’re missing this;
have any of you guys @ home
already hit the central park balloon rides?

smart+kids

don’t tell your kids that they are.
more than three decades of research shows that a
focus on effort—not on intelligence or ability—is key
to success in school and in life

the secret to raising smart kids,
by carol s. dweck

[via swissmiss]

play+learn

children’s museum of kansas city

two-way mirror fun

you have to climb the ladder +
rescue the dollies from the
burning building

cool part of the fire section:
where you learn to stop, drop + roll (on a gym mat)
and
crawl low to stay under the smoke (on a carpet runner)

here’s wishing those were actual prices

danny + stacy’s treehouse

a landlord’s visit
delights the tenants