Cuddling an 18 Year Old

Recently I've been waking up too early wanting to climb into bed with Ike and cuddle him. 

I haven't done it. Yet. 

In 5 weeks he leaves for college. Roland has been saying, for months now, that this will be a tough transition for me. My friend, Shireen, is welcoming me to Act 3. When I googled "Checklist for College" I found lots of articles about how parents can survive leaving their child at college. And I laughed. I have already taken 3 kids to college. It was fun! It was exciting! There was lots of shopping involved! 

But this is different from when Hannah, Gabe, and Noah left. 

1. They were a 1 hour flight away. Now they are a 24 hour flight away. And if the plane is broken I don't even know how many days that takes on a boat! 
2. I left them at college and rushed back home to focus my parenting laser-beam at the next child in line.  Ike is the last child in line.
3. Each time I dropped a kid off at college my little brain told me that they were still all mine and when they came home for Christmas it would all be the same. But that little voice was wrong. It is wonderful and astonishing when they come home but as they say, "you can never go home again. "

So I am milking each moment and fighting the urge to smother him with motherly affection. 

The old lady in the grocery store was right. 

This happened too fast. 

Where Were You On 9/11 ?

Roland is flying today. I'm not too worried, but I did make sure we had water and all the cars are fully gassed. 

On 9/11/01 Noah was home from school to take his new dog, Zip, to the vet with me. Roland was in Portland. My mom called and told me to turn on the TV and didn't say much else. Noah and I watched in horror as people started jumping out of the buildings. I snapped to it and realised that Noah shouldn't see it so I sent him outside to play with Zip until the vet appointment and I watched TV while I called the kid's schools (they were in lockdown mode and strongly discouraging parents from picking up their children) and tried to reach Roland. When we drove to the vet I saw that the grocery store parking lots were full and there were long lines at all the gas stations - fortunately we had 2/3 tank of gas. Each time I heard a siren I felt panicked and sick. We tried to act like it was a normal day at the vet's office but everyone was tense and distracted. 

Roland called to say that he was fine, he cancelled the training and was going to keep his rental car and drive home from Portland because the airports were closed. The kids came home from school and told me how they had a lock down and had to hide under the desks and then watched the tower coverage over and over. We turned off the TV and radio and spent the rest of the day in the back yard, played with Zip, and had a picnic. Roland got home that night and we decided to take the kids out of school and head up to the cabin. It seemed that we couldn't escape the horror of the event and focusing on it wouldn't help our family or make anything better. The next morning we loaded up the car with yummy food and fun games and spent a 4 day weekend playing on the river with our new dog, we ran into town and get a paper everyday and Roland and I would read all the latest news and quietly speculate on why, how, and what would happen next. 

It was such a blessing to have a new cabin and a new dog to distract us from the gloom and misery of that horrible time. I remember making a conscious decision to focus on the sparkling river and my sunshiny children playing fetch with Zip, who was so happy to be adopted into a family again. Zip and the cabin loved us all better.

Where were you on 9/11?

One Day in LA

 Roland had a meeting in LA from 9-1 so I zipped over with him and Sally and I went to visit our Grandma! Remember her? We threw a huge party for her 90th birthday 2 years ago. That makes her 92 now. I love her so much! She is always so sweet and cheerful and tells me how much she loves me. I love her.

My Cousin Larry was at Grandma's cruise ship .. oops, I mean retirement center, singing songs on his ukulele. He is one smart guy.

After goodbye hugs and kisses Roland and I walked from Manhattan Beach Pier to Hermosa Beach Pier and back and rushed to the airport where we barely made our flight. It was an awesome day.

Summer Fun!

I love being at the cabin with family and friends. Each year the cousins get to know each other all over again and new friendships are formed. Food is shared, games are played, adventures are had. The grownups catch up and spend precious time sharing our dreams, concerns, worries, and hopes while encouraging each other and congratulating each other for being so awesome!  Darts, swings, bows and arrows, pellet and BB guns, puzzles, watermelon, popsicles, Boggle, Speed, croquet, fireworks (We got a firework lecture from 2 neighbors this year - makes us feel rebellious!), reading, butterflies, baby fishies, frogs, eagles, deer, elk (with antlers!), tubing, hiking, swimming and then eating some more.  

It goes too fast.

This is what summer is about.

Getting ready to tube the middle fork of the Payette.

 Swing fun.

 Sun screen applied and waiting for tubing.

 Bedtime Story time.

 Campfire talent show.

 Tractor rides!

 The table was constantly covered with puzzles and comic books. We completed 4 puzzles, modge-podged them, and hung them in the garage.

 Note the snow on the mountains. 

What is it about this picture that makes you think it was staged?

 Or this picture?

 Jason shows off his "handkerchief through the ears" magic trick while balancing on a tube.
Its just nice to have him around. 

 Ike bit it right after this. We rented a pontoon boat that wouldn't go faster than 25 mph and broke down on Cascade lake 3 times. THREE TIMES.
That's why we have more staged photos than real photos.
 Bummer.

 Ike and buddies get ready for church at the Garden Valley branch.

Such handsome boys.

Cam, Ike, Jason, and Spencer - summer fun!

Can't wait for next year!

4th of July - Crouch Idaho

 Old cousin Noah with young cousins.

 My brother, David. He is the dad of all those cute cousins.

 Catching frogs. 

Greensboro Pictures

Guilford Courthouse Battlefield Museum

The Woolworth Store where the sit-in happened

The actual counters and chairs.  I had to sneak these pictures. The tour guide said she couldn't let me take pictures but if I took them when she wasn't watching - oh well! 

 My cousins in Durham. I promise we had a nice time even though some of them look angry. They really are nice cheerful people. 

Really! 

L to R: Mark (looking very stern), Stephanie, Jared, Me, Aunt Nancy.

 At Lion King. I was hoping for a photo op with a poster or something - but no.

 The Duke Game. This was a big deal. 

Did you notice that Roland was wearing sunglasses in all the pictures? He is one cool dude.

Sunday

You know that part of the Primary Children's Sacrament Meeting Program when the children stand up front and sing and then the adults join them and they sing to each other? It gets me everytime. Choir and congregation joining in song makes me cry.

Our little sunbeams marched around the chapel holding pictures of the prophet while they sang "Follow The Prophet" and they were SO pleased with themselves.

Here is a picture of the Smith Gang that ate at our house today:

Mike and Chris, Dorene, Cousins Paul and Kris Anne, me, Jesus, and Roland

Cabin Lovin'

4th of July!

Before everyone got there we did lots of work - this is our septic field garden. 12 yards of top soil. It took 2 days to spread it out. We also cleared brush from the beach (an annual event) moved river rock to create more beach, mowed, fix sprinklers, stacked wood and spring cleaned the cabin.

I needed a little nap after the work.

We have a pinata every 4th for N's birthday and this was Jason's creation this year. 

I think it's name was Trogdor?

It took a long time to break the pinata made out of sticks, painter's tape, a cardboard tube and plastic wrap.

The birthday boy finally busted it open.

Rocky and Lulu

Patriotic Noah chills out.

Fireworks on fire island.

Fire Island

Handsome

Nature's Fireworks - see the smokey haze? It came from the 8 hour firework frenzy in Crouch (yes, that is the name of the no stoplight town).

Don't bring young children here. It is dangerous, loud, and drunk. And it is really fun - for about 20 minutes or until you get hit by a random firework.

There's always a live band:


After the big firework show we drove back to the cabin for more pyro activities and birthday cake. It was a great day!

I miss it already.