Toto, we're not in August Anymore

We're about halfway through September, bearing down on the Whitesall National Holiday, and here's the rundown: We made an August trip to the cabin; the boys found a way to stretch five days into seven when Grandpa Tom showed up just as we were about to leave.
Amy ran a race (just a mile) for the first time since high school; Ben broke a bone in his foot (It's pretty much healed now, and today he says he wants to be a physical therapist/baseball player/rock star when he "grows up").
Nick started catering with Grandma Pat. He works hard, and he's proud of that, which is nice to see.
We did the Clarkston Labor Day parade, and then jumped into the school year - with both boys at the middle school now. Dropping them off on the first day I couldn't help but think of Nick's first day of kindergarten, the last time that they were in the same school. I have a picture somewhere of them walking down the sidewalk together on the first day - Nick was scared and Ben was doing his best to provide moral support. They're so different now, and so much the same.
They spent a lot of the first week being exhausted and crabby every night (this would be in the present, though they were probably exhausted and crabby then, too). But I think we're all finding our groove now.

Sounds and Sights Fesitval

So what happens when you take seven middle school guitarists, borrow a good drummer, and put them on stage with a guitar teacher who can rock anything with strings?

End of the line

I added the last of the photos (I think) to our vacation collection on flickr and edited the whole thing down (from a gazillion) to about 150 pictures.



We went canyoneering - the one word term for exploring slot canyons and all the climbing, rappelling, scrunching, crawling, hiking and learning that implies - on Saturday morning. It was our one guided excursion of the trip, and it turns out our Zion Adventure Company guide, Lynn, was a former rower from Marietta College. (We already thought she was pretty cool - that was just the icing on the cake). She managed to coax Nick to rappel off a 50-ish foot cliff and helped us all get in touch with our inner spiderman/spidermom. All of us left skin offerings to the slickrock (some more than others) and gained a whole different perspective on perspective. Lynn informed us that 80 percent of the land in Utah is public; I'm convinced it should be known as "The playground state."
We managed to bring rain everywhere we went, and the Utah desert was no exception. On Saturday afternoon the skies opened up with a major thunderstorm while we were catching a late lunch. Later that evening we saw helicopters buzzing around some of the mountains. It turns out they were plucking people, trapped by flash floods, out of some of the more technical canyons.

We decided to forgo the drive over to Bryce Canyon in favor of one more trip into Zion - just a short hike to stretch our legs and a little break to soak our feet in the river before the drive to Las Vegas.

In Vegas we drove through downtown on our way to the hotel and almost choked on the cigarette smoke that came rushing in through the AC when we stopped at a traffic light in the heart of downtown. The lights were cool at night, though. In Las Vegas even the Motel 6 has a full-on neon sign that you can see from miles away.

We got home yesterday evening and I spent the morning marveling at how soft the ground is and how green the grass is. (Everyone I told this seemed to only notice how long it is.) Got a high-five last night from Nick, congratulating me on a trip well-done.

Up the river with a rented stick

Today we hiked the lower end of the Narrows at Zion National Park, which basically means we walked up the Virgin River until we were standing between two sandstone cliffs, 1500 feet high and 22 feet apart. I've never seen such a beautiful place. It's absolutely stunning. The Grand Canyon is awe-inspiring, but because it's so vast - you're looking at gigantic formations a mile or two or three away - it's sort of surreal. There's nothing surreal about walking in a river, watching the sunlight play off the walls and the water. Definitely the highlight of our trip so far.

Since hiking the Narrows involves negotiating a lot of rocks in a fairly fast-moving river, those in the know recommend you use a walking stick. A woman we talked to at the shuttle stop (the National Parks have an excellent free shuttle service - big thank you to Rhonda DeLong for letting me know about this ) confirmed that a stick really is a huge help, and since we're in the desert, where laying hands on a good walking stick is tougher than it is in, say, northern Michigan, we shelled out $5 each and rented sticks. They were just dowels, about 2" diameter, with a hole drilled through near the top and a piece of nylon webbing tied through it as a wrist strap. We figure about 3 minutes of labor went into turning it into a walking stick, but I'll tell ya' it was the most valuable piece of equipment on the trail. Worth every one of those 500 pennies.
Some people used aluminum hiking sticks and some sacrificed old downhill ski poles, but the low-tech wooden staffs really worked the best. I saw a guy later on the shuttle with a nice-looking aluminum pole bent almost 90 degrees. He didn't look happy.

Nick was a little apprehensive about how deep the water would be. We told him it might be waist-deep on him, and apparently he decided he was going to have to do a lot of swimming, which made for a tense morning - lots of grousing and foot-dragging.
That disappeared almost immediately when he stepped into the water and started splashing upstream. He did have a tougher go than the rest of us because his legs are shorter, but he also made no particular effort to get out of the water, preferring to wade through waist-deep water even when he didn't have to.

At one point, as we stopped for a break, Nick overheard a family trying to troubleshoot a blown-out sandal. As they walked away one of them mentioned that they could fix it with duct tape. Next thing you know, Nick grabs a full-sized roll of gorilla tape out of his pack and goes splashing after them. They were very grateful - we saw them several times up and down the trail - and we began to learn the extent of Nick's overpacking. (As it dawned on us why he kept losing his balance. He was probably carrying 20 pounds by the time he soaked everything down. In addition to his camelbak and snacks, he had a notepad, four pencils, a pen, two extra pair of socks, two hats, three flashlights, a bunch of batteries and other miscellaneous small doodads. The only thing in a waterproof case was his survival kit.

When we turned around and headed downriver, the boys floated whenever they could and stopped to swim and play in some of the deeper holes. Nick emptied his gear onto a rock and we re-packed him - the basics in his bag and all the extra junk in mine. I immediately understood why he'd been so cranky earlier. I think he learned an important lesson about packing light; I just hope the lesson wasn't "If you pack too much, Mom will carry it."

We got back to our motel a little blistered, a little sunburned and really tired, but in the best kind of way. Our gear is drying on a bench outside our room, camelbaks are hanging over the bathtub, Ziploc baggies are packed with snacky stuff for tomorrow.

Greetings from the Grand Canyon's north rim!

First off let me say that I don't possess enough adjectives to describe how big, vast, wide, huge, gigantic, epic, enormous, grand, monumental, magnificent things are out here. That goes for both the open space and the things that occupy them (though maybe not the chipmunks). You're going to get sick of seeing pictures of rocks, but we haven't gotten sick of taking them - sorry!
Nick has emerged as our budding nature photographer - the chipmunk is a friend of his. Ben and Nick have both learned to play canasta, so Steve is in his glory.
We took a 5 mile rim hike this morning, then took some time this afternoon to do laundry and check email at the North Rim campground store. Uploaded a bunch of pix to Flickr. Since my laptop battery is in the red, i'm going to keep this post short, but check out the photos. Will post more later when I can plug in.

the balance of a day

ate the first two cherry tomatoes from the hoophouse =righteous

worn out light switches in the bathroom proved to be an easy fix = righteous

went to ann arbor to exchange the pants i bought online and they had the right size = righteous

the right-sized ones, in a slightly different cut that i liked better, weren't on sale = bogus

while i was in the mall decided tho have the AC in my car fixed@ the parking lot firestone = righteous

woman at the dead sea products kiosk showed me how to use the buffer mom put in my Christmas stocking to make my fingernails shiny (helps if you follow the directions) = righteous

then she tried to sell me a $60 jar of dead sea salt= bogus

firestone guy calls to tell me the ac is recharged = righteous

but it's still not working despite $100 service. they've determined it's the compressor, and replacing the compressor requires replacing an additional part. total bill $1800= WTF! (could almost put central air in my house for that) = bogus

Back at home i decide if nothing else i can still make my nails shiny=righteous

Nick is intrigued. We sit on the couch and buff our nails - fingers and toes = righteous

Arcadia Brewing Co. Whitsun Ale = righteous

Steve puts on leather gloves, musters his courage and removes the board bats have been roosting behind on the side of the house = righteous.

no bats behind the board, just lots of poop = bogus

Nick declares our nails "fabulous" giving me reason to laugh out loud = righteous

righteous 11, bogus 4. i guess that makes it a good day

July already?

Ben had two baby teeth pulled this morning to make room for orthodontic maneuvering. Fortunately he's laughing as he drools and slurps yogurt for lunch. I think he'll survive. I'd been dreading this, though, as it dredges up my very least pleasant dental memories. Shots, pliers, the pulling pressure on your jaw, and that cracking sound... mmmmm, good times.

So for those keeping score at home, Ben and Nick spent the first week of summer vacation in North Carolina with Grandpa Tim and Grandma Pat. Highlights included lots of euchre, playing with Amanda and Arnold's kids, hanging with Brennden, helping bury a dead sea turtle, and a little issue with Grandpa Tim's truck.

Steve and I went through a couple days of empty nest symptoms, softened by the annual summer kickoff camp-out at Aldrich's and repeated sit-down dinners at which no one said "eeeeeww. I hate (insert entree or side dish here)." We lived in a cleanish house, and it remained cleanish for several consecutive days. I finally got every shred of laundry done. And then they came home. (and we were glad, even though none of the cleanishness or laundry doneness applies any more.)

They started in on their summer to-do list, which includes dismantling the treehouse (the trees are dead). This is apparently something that can only be done if you hold your tongue just so.

After a whirlwind week of ballgames squeezed between severe thunderstorms we shipped the boys off to Grandma and Grandpa's again and took off for that other great June tradition, the Pine River Rendezvous. I haven't put this year's pictures into any organized format yet, but it was an excellent trip - fun and injury free. Didn't even come close to winning the Cup. But there's always next year.