We Went to Colorado

We went to Colorado to visit Grandma and Grandpa.
We went to Colorado and rode our first Ferris wheel.
We went to Colorado and blessed Poppy.
We went to Colorado and saw old friends.
We went to Colorado and showed Hazel where she was born.
We went to Colorado and climbed boulders. In Boulder.
We went to Colorado and got peaches at the Boulder farmers' market... ...and ice cream on Pearl Street.
We went to Colorado and played... ...and played... ...and played with cousins.
We went to Colorado and got French braids.
We went to Colorado and held a tarantula.
We went to Colorado and had some Daddy time.
We went to Colorado and rolled down the hill.
We went to Colorado for 10 of its 300 days a year of sunshine and big blue skies.
We went to Colorado and completely wore ourselves out. And I've got the sandal tan to prove it.

The Good Stuff - July

Holy crap, it's already the end of July? Ginger had croup last week so I was out of commission all week and suddenly the month is over! (And I'm off to see George Michael tonight!) This month's good stuff is admittedly unbalanced; I guess I haven't been shopping for the kids much. But here are a couple of fun things for your perusal. Sit back and have a Good Stuff moment.

Grown-up Good Stuff

World Wide Fred - I don't even know how to describe or sum up this ultra funky quirky Rhode Island home products company. Neither do they. It all started when I saw Chopstick Kids in the Old Forge Hardware Store; I didn't buy any then but made a note of the company to look up later; it looked like stuff I could get into. And sure enough it's like Pandora's Box of cool stuff I don't need but want to buy for other people as awesome gifts. I don't even know what to highlight, there are so many interesting things. Some are kind of gross and immature like Stuck Up wad-of-gum-looking magnets while others are just fun and useful like the Equal Measure measuring cup. I also like the How Tie, the Tooth, Borrow My Pen, Batterfinger, and the To-Do Tattoo, just to name a few. Let me know what you like on here. This is definitely the place to go next time you don't know what to get someone!

GasBuddy.com - You go to the website, type in your zip code, and it tells you where the cheapest gas is near you. Must be working, too, because I typed in my zip code and found that the two cheapest stations nearby ($3.83 and $3.93) sold out of regular last night.

Woman's Day Month of Menus - At our family reunion in June Tona's cabin had a stack of old magazines on an end table that I found myself flipping through a couple of times. Two of the magazines - a Woman's Day and a Good Housekeeping - had so many good recipes I wanted to try that I brought them home for further inspection. Nothing against them, but I've never spent much time going through magazines like that before, though of course I find that I am now the target audience. There were some great articles and tips (I skipped Dr. Phil's secrets of a great marriage on principle, though it was probably good too), but the recipes really hooked me. I especially loved that Woman's Day had a calendar page with literally a month of menus - a quick meal description on each day that could be whipped up without a long recipe. For example, "Chicken drumsticks brushed with orange marmalade and sprinkled with chili powder, baked until done. Serve with steamed broccoli and squeezed lemon." Easy but I might not have thought of it on my own. Every Sunday meal is big with the intention of using leftovers later in the week, and every Monday is meatless. They do it every month, factor in seasonal ingredients and the best part is you can get them online without buying the magazine. As always I'm trying to expand my cooking repertoire but it's too tiring to try long new recipes every night. I am printing off and checking these Months of Menus for quick and easy family-friendly ideas to mix in with our regulars.

Jungle Speed - Dave brought this to the reunion. I was hesitant because my reflexes are shot in general and even worse late at night when we play games. But one night all 4 siblings and 4 spouses found ourselves around Maren's kitchen table ready to play a game. Dave whipped it out and I admit it was awesome fun, especially with so many players. An abbreviated game description: Jungle Speed requires a steady hand - which can be hard to maintain during the many fits of maniacal laughter. The wooden Totem sits in the middle of the table, waiting for the player with the fastest reflexes to snatch it up and win the game. Each turn, all of the players reveal one of their cards. If two cards are identical, those players must make a grab for the Totem. The faster player then gives their cards to their unfortunate adversary. To add to the difficulty, certain cards are almost identical, which can trick a hapless player into grabbing the Totem by mistake - a grave error. Other cards force all players to make a grab at once, change the method of play, or otherwise add to the difficulty.

Archer Farms Multigrain Cereal - Archer Farms strikes again! This time they drew me in with their sleek new packaging. I used to buy their Blueberry & Flaxseed Granola all the time - it's delicious - but this time I was checking for something lower in fat and high in fiber. Simply named Multigrain Cereal has 190 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 10 grams of protein and 8 grams of fiber per 1 cup serving (none of this 1/2-cup serving size you find on some cereals). That's only 3 Weight Watchers points for those of you wondering. Plus it's totally yummy - puffed wheat, kamut, millet, brown rice & oats so it's kind of granola-ish but lightly sweetened with honey and molasses and lacking the weight and fat of typical granola.

Kid Good Stuff

Grandpa's Dollhouse - In the late 1970's my Grandpa Younce built this gorgeous, solid dollhouse for me and my sisters, then loaded it into his car and drove it from Oregon to Virginia. For years and years we played with it, then as we got older my parents carefully stored it. About 6 or 7 years ago they moved it up to Tona's house in Massachusetts for my niece Halle. And now it has been passed to us. Mom and Dad brought it over last week, with a bag full of furniture, and one or both girls sit and play with it at least once a day. Of course Ginger likes to climb on it but also watches Hazel arrange furniture and interact the dolls, and is beginning to imitate her. There seems nothing more natural for children to do than play with a doll house, practicing and playing out the things they are experiencing in their own lives. It warms my heart to see my girls playing with the same one that captured my imagination 30 years ago.

Fine Art for Kids from Oopsy Daisy - Parent conceived and owned, this collection of over 60o pieces by more than 50 artists is full of creative, whimsical, modern and unusual art for children. I have been totally focused on home decor and design this month, trying to set ourselves up, and carefully considering options for the blank walls in Hazel's room and other places around the house. Naturally the art is not cheap but it's ok because as I save up I need the time to decide what to get. Hazel is interested in maps and they have several to choose from. Plus a portion of profits go to charities that assist children. Here are a few, but not all, of my favorites:

Pop Garden by Andrea Cobb

Exploring the World from A to Z by Jenny Kostecki
Oh Say Can You See by Jill McDonald

Kite Day by Libby Ellis
For the girls this month it's been all about the new back yard! Favorites are:

Stone Temples...
...and planting flowers!

Update - The Reunion

OK. We've been in the house a week now. Ed started his job this week. We are just beginning to pull ourselves back to normal - new normal - life. Time for a short series of updates.

The Reunion
Our first week out of NYC we had a Younce family reunion in Old Forge, NY. We stayed at Kenmore Cottages, an adorable lake front cabin community. Each family had their own cabin around a central quad with playground, fire pit, gazebo, lake beach, volleyball, basketball and dock. The weather was cool, downright chilly in the mornings, for which we did not pack appropriately but made up for in hot cocoa consumption. The two best things about this reunion were 1) everyone came for the whole week, even busy doctors, professors, mothers of newborns, unemployed businessmen (Ed), and people from England; and 2) everyone had a great time, meaning there was something for everyone - no small feat for a family with such diverse interests and vacation styles. Don, who's training for an Iron Man in August, got in all the hiking, running, biking, swimming, and kayaking he could. The kids all got lots of sand, Grandma and cousin time. Mom and various family members got several trips to the Old Forge Hardware Store, a surprisingly fabulous shopping destination. We each took a night cooking dinner for the clan, and after the kids went to bed we played games or ate dessert together. We even took turns sneaking out to the movies. It was amazing and I wish we could do it every year. See also Maren's write-up and Dave's less-is-more commentary.

The Clan
The Granddaughters with their Dolls

Escape to Paradise

WARNING: Reading the following may cause you to feel jealous of or happy for me, or a combination of the two, depending on your natural disposition. Last weekend I had a rendez-vous with my sisters, the beach, and my inner child in an alternate reality located in Clearwater Beach, Florida. We got to escape the cold weather and responsibilities of normal life for a few days. It took a miracle to make it happen, working with budgets and schedules of three very busy families, but miracles are more common than you might think. This was one I won't soon forget. And yes, I actually took this picture with my own camera from a 5th floor window of the hotel.

Friday, February 15
We were all scheduled to meet in the Tampa airport within a few hours of each other, around midday. I secretly relished in being dropped off at LaGuardia by Ed and the girls and waving bye-bye as they drove off. Before boarding I even bought an actual newspaper and even actually read it on the plane. When I arrived in Tampa I had a message from Maren that her flights were all screwed up and she wouldn't come in until later that night. Major bummer. But I met Tona and we loaded into our little "economy" rental car and drove over two awesome causeways to get to the Sandpearl Resort, our home for the next 3 days.

As if the sunshine, warm green-smelling air and palm trees weren't enough, things just got more surreal as our car was whisked off by a pith-helmet-donning valet, and we were brought goblets of non-alcoholic champagne with pomegranate seeds while we waited to check in. An exploration of the hotel and grounds confirmed we were no longer on planet earth.

We had 3:30 spa appointments so we made our way to that wing after wandering the beach, pool, and numerous outdoor corridors. After changing to chenille robes and sipping cucumber water we had massages. What a way to start the trip. I could write a whole post on that massage. Next we had manicures and retired to our room to savor the moments. We had a quick dinner at a beach cafe best known for their grouper sandwich, then headed back to Tampa to pick up Maren, who had waited 4 hours in Burlington and 7 hours in Cleveland to reach us, 17 hours after she had woken up that morning.

Saturday, February 16
I slept like the dead. No dreams, no stirring. I don't even think I moved for 10 hours. Maren and Tona rose early but I slept in until 9am - it was heaven. Maren had rescheduled her spa appointments for Saturday so while she got pampered Tona and I swam in the pool and then went to a local Italian festival at a park, where we got lunch and watched Italian folk dancers. I also got my main souvenir of the trip, a Venetian glass necklace. After meeting back up we went to the beach. I've never been on sand like that - it felt like powdered sugar and was almost as white - so white that it didn't get hot even in the afternoon sun.

We each had a few must-do's on the trip, and one of mine was going to a movie, preferably a chick flick. Saturday afternoon we saw Definitely, Maybe, a perfect 3-star romantic comedy for the occasion. Then we had dinner at the hotel's beachside grill cafe, each of us opting for one of their delectable salads. Saturday night was a facial extravaganza back in our room, where we pooled our skin care products and performed full facial regimes, complete with cucumber slices on the eyes. We also looked through Maren's blog book created on Blurb.com, which was amazing and reinspired me to make one of my own. That night I again slept like the dead.

Sunday, February 17
We got up early and went shell hunting on the beach. Maren found some amazing shells Saturday morning - see her blog post for details -, so I went with her the next day to gather some for myself. I could really get used to a morning walk on the beach as part of my daily routine - talk about a serene start.

We attended church at a local ward. It was their ward conference and we heard awesome and inspiring talks from the Bishop and Stake President. The Stake President had blessed his new baby boy earlier in the meeting so he based his talk on names - choosing his own children's names and also us as a people taking the name of Christ upon us. We all glanced at each other - kind of spooky since we had spent part of the trip trying to name Maren's baby (due in May.)

Not complete gluttons for luxury, we did improve our minds and cultural competence on the trip as well. After church we visited Weedon Island Preserve, where we toured an awesome visitor center and walked around the grounds and up an observation tower. Sunday night we ate at a popular panasian/seafood place called the Island Way Grill, where we sat on the deck overlooking the water and sunset. I could have died. But I still had to eat my seared scallops over sesame lime noodles followed by ginger creme brulee, so I snapped out of it. After dinner we took a final dip in the hotel pool, which by the way is treated with ozone instead of chlorine and geothermally heated.

Monday, February 18
Poor Tona had a cruelly early flight so we said our goodbyes at night. When the sun rose Maren and I ventured out for a final shell comb on the beach, then returned to pack up and head out. The rest of the day is not much to mention, though flying alone was a luxury in itself. Ed was quite late picking me up, which only attests to some of the important lessons he learned over the weekend, among them being how nearly impossible it is to get out the door with the kids, especially on a deadline. Another was how much he loves and appreciates me, which was nice to hear. Another was that doing Hazel's hair is harder than it looks. But everyone was alive and well so it was a success all around.

Telling what we did is the easy part. But it was what I saw and felt, and the conversations we shared, that made it such a meaningful trip for me. And that's what is hard to put into words. All I can do is use my notes and pictures to bring it back. The most important determination of the weekend was that we are not waiting another ten years before the next sisters' getaway.

I'm already doing research.

A Reunion of Firsts

Last weekend we traveled to Cedar City, Utah, for a Smith family reunion. That's Ed's mom's family - her brothers and sisters and their kids and grandkids. The picture below is just the Hickman clan, and while we were the most represented, there were plenty of other relatives there as well - it was a hefty crowd.In just two days of traveling and two days of reuniting I collected enough observations to fill many pages, but since we are leaving again tomorrow for another trip, if I don't post a little about the reunion now, I'm afraid I'll never catch up.One thing I noticed was how many "firsts" took place this weekend. It was Ginger's first plane ride, and ours with two kids. Also Hazel's first with her own seat. It was both kids' first time in Utah, and my first in Cedar City. It was the first time anyone besides Grandma Marsha met Ginger in person, and also our first meeting with several new nieces, not to mention second cousins. Ginger with 6-wk-younger cousin Talia

We flew from NYC to Salt Lake to St. George, UT, and then rented a car to drive to Cedar. But first we grabbed some lunch in St. George and went to visit the temple there. Hazel loves the pictures of temples, but has never been to one, plus the St. George Temple is where Ed's parents were married, so we wanted to see it. As you probably know, it was stunning and majestic, and Hazel proclaimed it "a castle!" She kept repeating that Grandma Marsha and Grandpa Mike were married there, and she wants to get married. She wanted to go in, but settled for checking out the fountain outside, and getting a small picture of Jesus from one of the sister missionaries in the visitor center. Hazel at the St. George Temple

Marsha's sister Georgia lives in Cedar so her house was home base for most meals - thanks, Georgia!!! - though we all stayed in a nearby hotel. Because there are so many little kids in the family, the agenda was relaxed and mostly revolved around mingling in Georgia's backyard over meals, and swimming in the hotel pool (Ginger's first.) On Saturday we took all the kids to a fun Discovery Park, and on Saturday night we got the Hickman boys to watch the kids while the girls went out for serious sundaes.

Sunday was probably my favorite. We drove about 50 miles to Milford, UT, where Marsha and her siblings grew up on a farm. We attended church and then had a picnic lunch at a park next to the cemetery where Ed's grandparents and many other Smith relatives are buried. It was Hazel's first time going barefoot outside. My camera batteries died or else I would have gotten a picture of the farmhouse, which we stopped by on the way back. Marsha rode in our car for that drive, so I grilled her about growing up on a farm, a concept so foreign to me as to be almost comical. I learned all about crops, cattle, railroads, and other industries of southern Utah.
It felt so surreal to come back to Brooklyn, having been gone only four days, and having been to a place so distant and different. But it was good for all of us to take a step away from busy city life and learn about our heritage. I guess it's not mine exactly, but it is Hazel's, Ginger's and Ed's, and my suspicions were confirmed that it's one to be proud of.