A Spring Card

My friend and stamp teacher, Cheryl (here's an an example of her work), challenged her group this past month to make a spring card using a theme of circles. Here was mine.

I made the flower a while ago so it was time to get it onto a card. I used a resist technique to create raised circles on the pink background circle of paper, but the effort doesn't show much (here's an example and video that shows a much more dramatic result). In person it shows more that the main areas of that pink circle paper are slightly lighter and sparkly. One thing I like about this card is that green raffia, partly because of the color but partly because was a bit of trash off something else - that kind of reuse makes me happy.

Al Fresco

This was one of those evenings that looks delightful on paper. Steaks on the grill, beautiful weather, everyone out on the picnic table, even flowers my son picked out for me for no occasion. It should have been the perfect outdoor dinner, right? Do you think I'll look back at this picture in a couple of years and remember it that way?

Because right now, all I am thinking is how James refused to put my steak on later than his and I didn't like how it was cooked but couldn't define why and how I set the bread on fire under the broiler and how I hid the strawberries so that Sammy would eat some real food but then James un-hid them so that Sammy spent the entire meal refusing to eat food and whining for strawberries and nobody liked my roasted corn and black bean salad but me and Zack refused to smile for the first eight pictures and... you get the idea.

Maybe we should try again. After we've built up our energies, maybe.

Train Cake

Lately I've been feeling really desperate to write, but then for some reason I haven't been writing here. Instead I've been moping around about how I don't have any good ideas for writing fiction (yes, I know the real answer is to just start putting words on the page. sigh.).

So, I started looking back through my pictures for stuff I might post about and realized I hadn't shown Sammy's train-shaped birthday cake. This cake turned out cute but it was not easy. I was rather frustrated with the quality of my work while I was frosting it. Of course later, the imperfections of the little icing stars don't show at all. I even had trouble with them not sticking to the side of the cake. I was in a hurry, though, so I just powered through and now I'm glad I did because the difference wouldn't have shown anyway.

The engine was a Wilton pan borrowed from a friend (thanks!). The little coal car and flatbed cars were made of the extra cake batter that didn't fit in the train pan. I put it in a mini-loaf pan and then cut the top third off the resulting cake so that I'd have two cars. Oreos for wheels and crushed oreos for coal and voila! Let's pretend it was all so easy!

At least Sammy was really excited about his "choo choo happy bir-day cake". That made it worth all the trouble.

Hold off a little longer, green!

That's something I never expected to say! As much as I believe the desert is beautiful, I usually put green and growing at the top of my list of what is valuable in landscape. But that was before I lived somewhere with redbud trees. These are such jewels in the already lovely landscape of Austin. They burst into bloom in the earliest part of spring and last a beautifully long time. But my favorite thing about them is the seeming determination in the way the flowers emerge directly from the trunk.

It has been more than a week since the bradford pear tree, already covered in new leaves, lost its flowers in a sudden and highly localized snowfall of white petals. I want the redbud's green to wait as long as possible before it covers the fuchsia flowers.

Star of Texas Fair and Rodeo

James took a day off work, just for a little break, and we decided to check out the Rodeo. When I was a kid in Arizona we got "Rodeo Weekend" off of school - two days at the end of February. We never actually went to the rodeo, though - we went skiing. If only that had been an option for us this year! Still, we had a fun day together.

Zack selected his own outfit and he fit right in. We alternated between a few scheduled events and the kids tent. Nothing was blow-you-away-fabulous, but it was fun. We saw the puppet show, a cow milking demonstration, the petting zoo, some of the livestock auction, some cow-herding dogs doing their contest runs and the pig races. The puppet show was just a couple of songs and a few bad jokes from a stationary puppet, but the kids liked it. We all liked the petting zoo, though we steered clear of one baby goat that was eating all the kiddies' shirts! The livestock auction was a little bewildering - we don't know much about it so we had no idea why two identical-looking cows fetched three or sixteen thousand dollars. I liked the dogs herding the cows through various spaces. It was pretty entertaining, actually! Although I have to admit the pigs were pretty cute racing, it did feel a bit surreal that I was sitting in packed stands, watching four pigs run in a circle. They even succeeded in making Zack long for a plastic pig nose for the low price of only one dollar (he didn't get it). We stopped in between things to listen to a little music, but there wasn't much going on at the time. I know there were great concerts at other times. It was neat just to walk through the livestock area and look at all the animals.

The Fair part of it was kind of an exercise in parental denial. Everything, from the rides to the food, is designed to make the kids want it (well, not just the kids). Zack wanted everything from all the food-on-a-stick to the pony rides to the Ferris wheel. Everything is purchased in tokens and the tokens are one dollar. It seemed like we could spend a ridiculous amount or spend the day saying "no" twenty times in a row. We got tired of that pretty quickly so we let Zack pick one thing to do - he chose the Ferris wheel. He was so excited. He insisted he wanted to hold his tokens in line, even though we said if he lost one he'd be stuck without enough to ride (there's a scary statement for a parent to make knowing it will be miserable to follow through!) Thankfully, he kept hold of his tokens through the entire line and I went with him - what a beautiful day! He said it was just as great as he thought it would be.
Overall, I thought it was a great family activity, and with the "pick one" approach, not too expensive. Most days there is some way to get free parking or admission or both, though we paid for our parking and partial admission (James wasn't willing to wear a pink shirt just to get in free. I did my part- I don't know what his problem was!). If you are going to do a lot of the rides, it would be a full day activity, but with the little ones we weren't. That made it just right for a half day. I think we'll be back in future years!

"Sammy do it!"

I guess all toddlers have some particular way of saying they want to do things themselves. Sammy's is "Sammy do it!". Anytime he doesn't want help, it's "Sammy do it!"... and when he gets frustrated and wants help after all, it's "Mommy do it" or "Daddy do it". When the activity in question has anything to do with sweet food, he goes into excited-mode, in which he tenses all over the the point of shaking and it becomes "SAMMY DO IT!!" with his lips pulled back past the point of smiling so that his bottom teeth show.

That was the case last night when he had a "vita-mix treat" (which is just a fruit smoothie made in the industrial strength blender we love so much). He was so adamant we just let him do it himself, and he did a great job. By the time he had only a half-inch of smoothie left in the bottom of his cup, I was cleaning the kitchen and not paying a lot of attention (cue the ominous music, right?). I'm thinking it was at that point that he was tipping the cup toward him but pushing the bottom of the straw away from him and not getting any smoothie. He must have tried to just drink it out of the cup because the next thing I knew he was saying "dip it? dip it?" and trying to use his straw to dip into the puddle of smoothie on his shirt. I poured the last drip into his mouth while singing out, "all done!" then quickly pulled his shirt off, hoping I could carry him upstairs without making my own shirt into a smoothie puddle... only to find he was happily soaked head to toe. Even his socks were full of smoothie!

I guess that's just how Sammy does it.

The Angels are Singing

We've made a major breakthrough at our house. It may not sound like it, but it's HUGE:

The children are playing outside by themselves.

The clouds are opening and a single shaft of divine light is shining down on me! Yes, that is the voices of the angels! The times of, "Boys, go out and play" can begin! Oh sure, someone will get injured after six minutes, but that would have happened anyway. This way I can do some amazing task like, oh, say... clean the kitchen.

These milestones are mixed blessings. Moms always feel some sadness at the little ways in which the baby isn't a baby any more, the small losses of dependence on the mommy...
But wait, let me think.
Nope, I'm completely happy about this.

Birthday Day Fun

Our main activity for Sammy's birthday was to visit the Austin Children's Museum.  I had planned to write a review-type post of it, but since I don't really have time to do it, I'm just going to share the pictures.

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday to my sweet Sammy, who turned two this week! Right now Sammy is:

• talking up a storm, even if we can't understand all of it
• crazy about his big brother
• discovering that he can sometimes get a "cookie bite" (his term for all desserts) if the meal goes just right
• desperately wanting to do a bunch of big kid things like using markers and climbing
• intense about his pockets and having money in them
• willing to say "yes, peeeeese!" and "dank-you!" when prompted
• getting so excited he trembles over things like choo-choo trains and playgrounds
  
• such a sweetheart
  

Snow Day

I grew up in the desert so I can tell you on behalf of all cities that almost never get snow: it is absolutely required that the whole city freak out on the occasion of a snowfall.

And you must post pictures.

Austin has had a cold winter compared to our usual, and they've threatened snow several times, but this time it actually happened. I have to say we made the most of it! Zack went to school before it started so I was thrilled to hear that his teachers took the kids (all five of 14 that showed up!) out when the big flakes started coming down.

Sammy and I went out in it, but even though there was some accumulation it was still so wet it was more like being out in the rain. He was desperate to be out there, but didn't know what to do and cried. So we came back in, but he cried more. So we went back out but he was getting totally soaked so after a few minutes we came back in. That to led to a full and complete meltdown (heh) and I had to bribe him to snacks to get him to calm down. It wasn't until Zack got home that they both really enjoyed playing.

The big treat of the day was that James' work sent him home early! We all played outside and then went to Chuy's for a late lunch - that's a treat for me! James worked from home while the kids napped but then they capped off the evening with a giant hot wheels track that ran all the way down the stairs, then up to a banister so that the cars flew out into the air like aerial ski jumpers. I ended up at the bottom trying to catch the flying cars. Sammy almost couldn't stand to eat dinner, he was so excited to get back to the car jumping. Good day!

[edited to add: this sounds very chipper, and today I'm feeling anything but. I'm finally giving in to this "cold" that appears to actually be a three-week bacterial upper respiratory infection and starting antibiotics. So far they (or something else?) are really hard on my stomach. Hope the evening is better than the day.]

How sweet, take a picture

One afternoon last week Zack woke up from his nap cranky and disoriented (which happens a lot) and we ended up just sitting on the couch watching Olympics and snuggling (usually it's much less cordial and someone ends up in tears). He's getting so big that extended cuddling has become all too rare. It was a really sweet time and I told James all about it.

So, when he noticed a similar scene playing out in the late evening another day, he very considerately grabbed the camera, knowing I would love to have a picture.

See what Zack thought of that?

What a little turkey, wrecking my "sweet moment" picture!

Wheat Bread, Five Minute Style

Our family really loved the bread from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. It was pretty cool to have fancy restaurant bread on our weeknight table. Oh, and the focaccia was so delicious. But it also seemed a little odd to add extra steps to the dinner preparation process for something that was all white flour. Now, the extra steps are very easy, but no matter how easy, it's still extra. And we currently eat a whole grain bread that we're very happy with. We thought maybe the fresh bread would be a better overall thing for us if it were wheat bread instead of white.

So, I tried the basic wheat bread recipe from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. It required an additional ingredient, vital wheat gluten (they talk about what this is in the recipe link), but I was able to find it at my regular grocery store so it wasn't a problem. It was just as easy to make as the white bread, so I felt like things were going quite well. Unfortunately, my family was underwhelmed with the result.

It's nice bread. There isn't anything wrong with it. It's a little dense, a little wheaty, but still good. We just didn't love it. I've only made two loaves over the first week I've had the dough (which is fine, it makes four loaves and keeps two weeks) and we didn't finish either of them. I made french toast out of the leftovers on Saturday morning, which was also fine but not fabulous. I could be wrong but I think it would be a lot better with a little sugar to balance out the wheaty-ness. And I'm not inclined to strike out on my own and experiment on what is essentially a quadruple recipe. I need to check out the other recipes in the book (I'm next on the library waiting list) and talk to some others that have tried it and see if there is something I didn't do quite right or maybe another recipe using this method that we might really love as much as we love the white breads.

Does it look like an After?

Because I think it's still a Before.

A loooong time ago, I tried to organize Zack's art stuff. But it proved too much for my skills. Some of you made good suggestions, which I worked on implementing with some little bins that were then stored in our kitchen bench. It worked ok. On the good side, it is accessible from the kitchen table, since the bench is at the kitchen table, and it's easy to put stuff in it when it's time to clean up. On the bad side, inside the mealtime seating for a five year old boy is a very crumbly place to be.

But here's the thing: no organization seems to last. Organization requires putting things back where they go, and apparently neither Zack nor I is inclined to do that in the inevitable mad rush to sweep the table clean in preparation for dinner. Instead, we were just tossing stuff back in with no order at all. It's a deep bench so things were just buried in the bottom until Zack couldn't get anything out and I didn't want to try. The bench had gotten SO terrible that Zack chose to give up his show for the afternoon to take time for us to clean it out! That quickly became Zack looking at his old art and reading rediscovered magazines while I cleaned it out, but I guess that's how it goes. The bottom was totally disgusting with crumbs and everything else, yuck.

I reorganized the bins and put everything back in and it looks pretty good. We've started using things again that were previously buried, so that's an improvement. But I can't believe it will last.

Maybe we just embrace the cycle and clean it out whenever it gets too terrible to use?

We're thinking of sending him to Rodeo Clown School

Zack's preschool had Circus Day a few days ago. The parents were rather surprised when we arrived to find all the kids with painted clown faces. As soon as we got home, Zack went and put on his cowboy outfit, saying, "Now I can be the Lone Ranger, because the Lone Ranger wears a mask." I didn't tell him it looked a little more like a Rodeo Clown!

Well, I have no Presidents Day crafts to share, so...

...I'll share another Valentine's Day item!

I found this fun flower tutorial and it was so easy to do, I made some for my family and sent them off for Valentine's Day. I sent them in regular envelope so I hope they survived the mail. I was able to use the regular Tombow Mono Permanent adhesive to make these and the ones I kept seem to be lasting just fine. Since then, I bought the Terrifically Tacky Tape, which is probably even better for a project like this and will certainly be necessary for a fabric version. I dissolved some Perfect Pearls in water and sprayed the finished flower for a little sparkle. Check out the tutorial - it's just as easy as it looks!

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines to all!

We spent the day in various family activities - church, lunch with friends and grandparents, naps, geocacheing and pizza for dinner. James and I have a hot date scheduled tomorrow night after the crowds are gone from the restaurants.

I sent little candy machine valentines, made in a class hosted by Cheryl (second photo down), to preschool with Zack. I don't know what the kids thought of them, but Zack was really excited. So, when it was time to make a Valentine for Zack, I thought this over-the-top version would be just the thing. It was made from the packaging for Terrifically Tacky Tape, by Provo Craft, which I picked up at Walmart (this is the same as Sticky Strip or Art Accentz Terrifically Tacky Tape). The tape package has a raised plastic circle, which I cut out and used like Stampin' Up's Sweet Treat Cups, just much bigger. I had to draw the hot air balloon myself, but it was pretty simple. The "Sweet You" is done with stamps. Zack was appropriately enthusiastic. :)

Fun, in a Dip.

Really, we're eating Fun Dip?

I used to love a Fun Dip as my treat at our Bobby Sox Softball games. My mom thought they were ridiculous. Now I'm feeling the mom side of things. I couldn't believe it when one came home in Zack's "box of treasures" as he calls his Valentine mailbox from preschool. He didn't know what to do with it... I'm thinking I should have left it that way!

Check out my fancy-pants lunch!

I had to try another recipe out of the Artisan Bread book. I went for the Onion and Rosemary Focaccia (p. 150). This used the same dough I already made and stored in the fridge but took a couple minutes longer because it has an additional step to saute the onions. Since I already had a pan dirty, I went ahead and sauteed some mushrooms and extra onions to top my salad (of greens from the garden, yum!). It also made a second additional dirty dish because it is baked on a cookie sheet greased with olive oil. But it was still easy and very tasty. It probably took less time than making myself a nacho sampler (Chuck fans, anyone?), which was my original plan for lunch.

I love savory flavors so I like this bread even better than the regular boule. The crust doesn't brown as much but is plenty crispy and I like the cracked pepper on top. Definitely one we will eat again!
(Below: dough before baking, lunch inspired by fancy bread)

(I ate three pieces that size for my lunch, not just that little piece on my plate!)

Artisan Bread: First Five Minute Day

I was inspired to try the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day method by a couple of people, including C.Beth and House on Hill Road. (Some of these ladies have been doing the Artisan book for a while and have moved on to the newest book, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, in case you want to check out what all they've been doing.)

Here's my first loaf!

And for my report:

The book calls for some semi-specialty equipment. Nothing too exotic, but I had to make do with what I had, which involved very minor variations (which were helpfully given in the book). First, they specify not to use bleached flour because the dough will be too wet; I'll buy some unbleached but for now I only had bleached. I wanted to start right away so I just went about 1/8c heavier on the flour (based on the advice in the book for too-wet dough). Second, I didn't have a pizza peel (that long handled, pizza-sized wooden spatula that they use for pizza ovens. Is this something people usually have on hand at home?? ) so I used a cutting board and extra cornmeal. Worked fine. I'm not really seeing myself purchasing a pizza peel. Last, I didn't have a baking stone, but I did have a stone dish which was large enough that I could bake a free-form loaf in the center of it. The sides got in the way when I transferred the loaf but not much. If I find I continue this regularly I might buy a baking stone - I've been wanting one anyway. I did have a large storage container with a lid (I used my popcorn bowl) and a good serrated knife already. I think if you don't have all the equipment they recommend it's still worth trying.

I was really curious about that "five minutes". Seems like it could be rather underestimated, but no - I really did have active involvement for five minutes, or even less. This was the most basic recipe so I'm sure some of the variations take longer, but this was super-fast. This book gets full points for keeping its promises on that front!

I also wondered about cleanup. If cooking takes five minutes but cleanup takes twenty, I'm probably not going to do it every day. Well, cleanup was a cinch. They say you can mix the dough in a mixer or food processor but I say it would not be worth the trouble. It took only a couple of minutes to mix it with a wooden spoon in the bowl I was using for storage so my cleanup on mixing day was a grand total of ONE wooden spoon (what? please tell me you don't wash a measuring spoon after you use it for salt). On baking day, I've got the serrated knife to wash and a dusty cutting board (which I'll be dusting off and using to chop veggies for dinner). That's it. The baking stone is something that you season rather than wash with soap and anyway, it just has a little flour and cornmeal on it. That's a really easy cleanup.

And now to the real heart of the matter: YUM. YUM. YUM. It came out just like it was supposed to! Isn't that exciting? The crust is crispy, the inside is soft with just the "custard crumb" character they describe in the book. It's a very simple flavor (there isn't even any oil in the dough) but still really good. The raw dough tasted overly salty but the finished bread is just like a table bread at a nice restaurant. James said, "Wow, that looks like it came from the store!" Zack, Sammy and I (James is sick, poor guy!) ate the entire loaf at dinner.

As far as barriers to doing this regularly, I can only see one: the need to think ahead. You only have to be involved for five minutes, but you need to pull the dough out to rest at least two hours before you want to cut it. Sometimes I just don't get started that early. I'll keep you posted as I continue!

(Below, top to bottom: resting dough, after slashing and right before baking, after baking)

December Daily: Finished in February

One project I tried out this past year was a December Daily Album. The idea is to do a daily journal of a photo and/or story each day of December in order to capture the flow of everyday life during a magical time of the year. It's an incentive to capture the everyday and to stop and enjoy what's happening now during a time that can be buried under a flurry of busyness.

What does it say that it's finally finished on the fourth day of February?

To be fair, it has been almost finished (just lacking two days) since my scrapbooking retreat and I was just waiting on a few photos from friends, a program from my husband and a photo I forgot to print.

People do all sorts of fabulous things with this idea, some more elaborate than others. I chose a mini-book (the pages are about six inches tall), which is in some ways easier than a full size book. I could plan just a little something, no pressure. I could tuck some memorabilia into the pages with a single punch. On the other hand, when I take a bunch of pictures it's hard to narrow down to one; fitting in a few photos on a small page can be difficult. I made all the little pages plus the little journaling cards (space to write, with the date) in the fall before the holiday craziness started so that did make it easier.

I really like how it turned out. It's a fun little book that I now have sitting with another mini-book in a large pottery bowl on my sofa so that anybody can pick it up and flip through it. I did have some mixed feelings about this project, though. I realized after I got started that people usually do this by printing out single prints daily from their home printer so that they can really do it daily. I don't like the look of home prints so I was picking up a few prints at a time at the photo shop at my local Costco (well at least that was convenient - I am there ridiculously often). This meant that I could think about it daily but not actually do it daily, which seemed a little backwards. Later, it was hard to finish it when I've mentally moved on from December.

It is fun looking at it now, though so although I don't know if I'll do this again, I do like the final product.

Artisan Bread in Progress

I'm trying a new bread thing! I had seen a few people post about Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and was curious, so I requested it at the library. I picked it up today and look what is started!

The idea is that you make up a big batch of dough for the fridge and then each day you can hack off a chunck and bake it. The dough is much more wet than traditional dough so it keeps well and you don't have to knead it. The five minutes is actual hands-on time, so we'll see how it goes. I'll report on the results!

Scrapbooking

(I have been trying all week to make this item to share! Real life keeps getting in the way with the recording of life. Sheesh!)

In addition to the retreat, a while ago (I think last summer) some of the scrapbooking blogs and websites were taking turns posting layouts that addressed the topic "Why I Scrapbook". (I can't seem to find what was inspiring me then, but I did find a gallery of layouts on the subject at Write.Click.Scrapbook.) After being on such a good scrapbooking roll, I've been thinking about why I love it so. It's a little funny that I'm so into scrapbooking, though I should have seen it coming. After all, I hoarded paint chips from Home Depot as a child just because I love bits of colored paper!

But when I started scrapbooking, I really just wanted to make a baby book for Zack. I specifically did not want to get "into" scrapbooking, as it sounded like a time and money sink. I also though it was a rather laborious way of doing the simple job of showing someone a few photos.

But as I started actually doing it, I fell in love with it. All the prettiness really helps. Who can resist the beautiful colors and textures, the brads and tags, the velvet flourish paper, oh my! I definitely enjoy the artistic aspect of the hobby. But the real heart of it is in the story. As I've talked about before, I love story. This is a way to capture the stories that really make the pictures meaningful. It records the history of the moment - the traditions, the events and the everyday life that are so quickly forgotten.

Really, it's the same reason that I like blogging. The story of life is captured best in the bits of everyday stuff, the stuff I won't remember this time next year unless I write it down. And the connections possible when we share those bits are what is so compelling to me about reading blogs. So, yeah, scrapbooking is more involved than sliding photos into an album (and sometimes I do that too) but it is richer in story and sharing too, and that's worth so much to me.

The image above is a "digital layout", meaning I made it all on the computer using Photoshop Elements. More on that soon!

Scrapbooking Retreat

I'm pretty hyped up on creative topics right now, particularly scrapbooking, which is why I'm happy to be writing about creative stuff the next few posts! I just got back from a two-night scrapbooking retreat and ooooooh was it fabulous!

What does one do at a scrapbooking retreat? A friend asked me if there were activities. Yep, there sure are: there's scrapbooking. In between the scrapbooking? Um, we did pause to eat regularly and sleep briefly. But that's about it, which is the best thing about the retreat: you can just keep working and working. You can leave your stuff set up when you go to bed and come back to it without packing up in between. Is the opposite of that constant feeling I have as a mom, "I can't form a complete thought!" Instead, I could actually focus on a project, work on something without interruption and have a lot of pleasant mental space to be creative!

Notice those great girls I got to hang with? They were really fun. We packed up all our STUFF, filling up the space in the minivan even with the backseat folded down. Two years ago when we went we didn't have near as much paraphanalia as many of the other attendees, but this year we were right up there. Can you get a good sense of the room from the pictures? It was FULL of scrapbooking EVERYTHING!

Having dedicated an entire weekend to scrapbooking has me thinking about what is so satisfying to me about this hobby. Some of it is the fun company, as you can see. More on the other motivations tomorrow!

Firstfruits

The lettuce is finally ready to thin! And lucky me, I get to eat the thinnings. So tender and delicious!

I think the sprouting has been really slow this year, probably because we had the garden locked down the whole time we were gone on our Christmas trip, since temperatures were very cold here. Now James has sown a second crop too, so as this batch matures, the others should start sprouting. It's a short season before it is hot here, so I'm going to enjoy every leaf!

Cook's Confession

I am addicted to Ramen Noodles. As a somewhat foodie type, I guess I'm not supposed to... but I don't care, I really love them. I have Ramen for lunch (or dinner if James is working late) multiple times a week. I crave them (hm, should that worry me?).

Now, I do fix 'em up - more or less depending on how energetic I'm feeling. I start with the Lime Shrimp flavor, add the juice of half a lime, dried parsley, lots of paprika, a few dashes of cayenne pepper, some turmeric, a small dallop of sour cream and a sprinkling of chopped scallions. Just to class up the joint, you know?

New Toys

Ah, what retrospective of December photos would be complete without one of the baby of the family loving his new toys?

Ok! As much as I enjoyed looking back over December's pictures, I'm on to creative-type topics next week. Whoo hoo!

Pima Canyon

Isn't this a gorgeous canyon? These photos are by my hubby and father, so I haven't seen it myself, but I was impressed with just how BIG the country is. On the last day of our Christmas trip, Dad and James decided to hike a 12.3 mile loop in the mountains just outside Tucson.

The starting point point and ending point didn't quite make a full circle, and they didn't want to leave a vehicle there all day, so the plan was for my mom to drive them to one side then come pick them up at the end of the day on the other side. The hike had a lot of elevation change, taking them up into the mountains, across a saddle and back down; when they chose which side to start at, they chose the uphill side, knowing there would be plenty of up and down to complete the hike. Also, since the days were short, they knew they needed to start early and keep moving to make it back by dark.

When my mom dropped them off at the trailhead, there were a few law enforcement people around but they didn't realize until after she was gone that the trail was closed due to a tracking operation they had going. Dad and James quickly realized that they weren't going to get on the trail anytime soon, so my mom went back and picked them up and took them to the other end of the route. It was a later start than they intended but off they went.

By the time they were close to the saddle, it was already 3pm. The last little bit before the saddle was the most elevation change and the route down the other side was unfamiliar to both of them. They had started from the opposite end from what they intended, making the elevations even more challenging. So... they turned around. They had to almost-jog to make it down before dark and it took the last bit of the light to get back to the trailhead. It was over 11 miles - still a great hike!

The pictures are so beautiful that it makes me want to go too. We're thinking about a hiking challenge to have all of the family that feels up to it make the 12.3 mile loop next Christmas. Considering there were 13 of us (yes, all staying in my sister's house) this year, we could really have a fun hiking contingent next year!

Check out that stance

I love this picture. It really makes me smile to see my nephew with his feet planted in this wide-legged stance and his baggy bottom jeans. That boy is all boy! The light sabers were courtesy of my parents and, as you can imagine, the boys were obsessed with them - thank goodness those particular toys will be residing in Tucson! And the weather! We see why all the snowbirds love Yuma. It was really sunny, pleasantly cool and beautiful.

Southern Arizona Transportation Museum

When we were in Tucson we visited the Southern Arizona Transportation Museum. This is a really small museum but it is fun for little and medium ones. Zack liked the telephone style recorded information on all the displays and Sammy liked the train table at the entrance. We all loved the huge engine outside! This is in the downtown historic area and we also walked around a little looking at some nearby historic hotels. I recommend it for a light outing. And, with the beautiful weather, I wish I'd gotten some really great shots of the kids in front of these green doors!

The Road Goes On Forever and the Party Never Ends

I've been looking back through the mini-album I made journaling our days in December and now I want to share some of my favorite pics. I'll post on a few more throughout this week and hopefully get to show some pics of my album too.

It was apparently important that Zack's Froggy got the best seat, looking out the window into the blinding sun.

You see our choice of roadtrip beverages is Sonic drinks.

There was no sight sweeter than Sammy finally asleep.

And yes, I did do some light scrapbooking on my lap in the car. What? It was a long time!

Carlsbad Caverns

(click on the image to see it full-size!)

We decided to add a couple of days to the beginning of our Christmas trip in order to visit Carlsbad Caverns in southern New Mexico. It was very beautiful and a lot of fun, though I think it will be better for us when our kids are older. The formations were so impressive and we loved seeing them, but in case you are planning a trip, let me just make a couple of notes in case it's of help to someone.

If you do the full walk, which is really worth doing after going all that way, it is two and a half miles. It's really very steep. There were these signs warning you that it was steep as we walked it but I guess I didn't take it very seriously! It was fine for James and I (with sensible shoes), but it was enough to make us tired afterward. Zack walked all of it but I was coaxing and bribing by the end to stave off whining: "there are snacks up here, should we walk on and see about a snack?"

We figured Sammy would love riding in the backpack with Daddy, but for some reason he did NOT. It's true he was sick, and also that because of being sick or in a hotel, he didn't sleep well the night before, but he was VERY cranky about being in the backpack. Maybe it was just too similar to being in a carseat. Whatever the cause, he wanted to be down and walking. We tried that, but it was totally impossible. The guardrails were above his eyeline so they weren't much of a deterrent. Instead, many of the precious and sensitive rock formation were at his eye level and well within reach (yikes). The dropoffs were right at the edge of the path and steep in many places. There was just no way a 21-month-old could walk it, even just long enough to tire and want to ride.

Also, we thought we could ply Sammy with snacks, forgetting that no snacks at all were allowed in the caverns (duh). And we forgot his pacifier. That was just a dumb move on our part. He cried a LOT. I spent many a switchback running along side James, holding Sammy's hand in the backpack and trying to sing to him in the lowest possible voice.

Which brings me to another point. You aren't supposed to speak above a whisper level in the cavern because everything echoes and sound carries. I can barely keep Zack from shouting everything he says, much less get him to keep his voice to a whisper (sometimes I notice my own volume and think me must take after his mom in this respect). And explaining to Sammy that he needed to keep his crying to a whisper? Well, you can guess how successful we were with that!

In the end, I gave Sammy my wrap and to hold like a lovey and he fell asleep, Zack was a trooper, and we got to see everything. One thing I loved was that because of the winter season the crowd was extremely light. We didn't get to see the bats, but there wasn't any guano smell and there weren't any crowds. There were many times when we were totally alone, not able to see or hear anyone in either direction.

Also, we rented some self-guided tour audio units that gave interesting details about more than forty stations along the route. There was a kid version and an adult version; we got one of each. They were both fun and Zack liked punching in the numbers and hearing the ongoing "story" of the cave. I recommend taking advantage of that feature when you go!

p.s. Don't forget a sweatshirt!

Fridge Sitter

Thanksgiving to Christmas, Texas to Arizona, Grandma's or Granny's... this boy is a fridge sitter. You can't even get the milk out before he's in there lounging.

Customer Service

Remember my favorite Starbucks vat-o-coffee mug? Here I am, not apart from my mug even while opening presents on Christmas morning. Sadly, it broke! The threading inside the lid that closes it for leak-free travel broke off so that it wouldn't close anymore. I took it in to Starbucks and just showed it to them and I was so pleased at the cheerfulness with which they replaced it. Sometimes it seems to me that good customer service is disappearing, so I'm glad to report that Starbucks is still great!

Views over 2400 miles (2009/10 version)

We had a great Christmas! We were gone for 17 days and drove over 2440 miles. There was lots of beauty, lots of family and lots of fun!