Elementary Spirits

New Year-New Blog

2008-12-04T09:57:00.000-08:00

I will not be updating here anymore. Please go to Elementary Spirits to keep reading!

Well, Hello World!

2008-09-16T08:54:00.000-07:00

Since we moved I am finding less and less time to blog. With all the fun stuff there is to do here, it is enough to get on and get my 'work' done (let alone help Carter play his Toontown game). I launched another new website with a friend this summer and have been busy promoting like crazy. Connors site is doing really well too :) Connor and Bob are both taking guitar lessons from this great guy literally 3 blocks over from us. So lucky to have found him. Connor is still liking his one day a week school. We have been out fishing a few more times. No real luck with the fish but great family time.

Below are some great pictures with some captions to tell you what else we have been up to!

Carter turned 10! Connor made the cake. Connor has gotten really into cooking lately. Thanks Grandma for helping the icing to come out right! He had a whole Batman theme going on. He got a lot of money for Build a Bear thanks to Grandma, Nicholas and Nana. He went the day after his birthday and bought three bears with plenty left over for the Fall. He is excited to go pick out a Halloween costume for one or two of them. Great gift for him, he couldn't be happier.

Carter, me and his new friend Tony going up the chair lift to the alpine slide. Carter went up once with me and Tony and then ditched me to spend the rest of the day with Tony. He works with an awesome program based out of Winter Park that does disabled outdoor sports. The program was amazing. Not at all competitive, just fun, which fits Carter perfectly. They have amazing trips that are all accessible including camping, rafting, and horseback riding.

I absolutely love this picture of Carter on the alpine slide at Winter Park. He looks so free and full of joy. Don't worry, Tony was actually right in front of him but he separated just for the picture. Connor and I were in the fast lane where I got rear ended and thrown out of the car. I had quite a few bruises and burns but it was all worth that incredible smile on his face! Con had a BLAST as well.

Carter being fit for his winter sit-ski. We will all take family ski lessons through the same program that we did the resort day with. Connor is so looking forward to learning how to snowboard.

Connors best friend, Connor came to spend some time with us. The boys had so much fun but it made my Connor miss 'home' even more. They are in the middle of the boat on this picture. I have never seen a ride soak you as much as this one. We were at Elitch Gardens which is a Six Flags amusement park. Both boys love it here. They have an little Main Street that sells Disney stuff so Carter is always happy! They have a water park here as well. We have been several times since moving here.

Connor and Connor on our back fence.

The weather is WILD here. Connor drew pictures in the hail one day. It is a toontown smilie face. We had three days of tornado warnings. One of the days we were smack in the middle of three of them with one touching down less than a mile from us at the lake.

This is Sammy the Salamander. We found him living in the playroom window well one day. He only comes out when it rains. By the size of him I am sure he has been there a very long time. We have many other wild friends. We have Sammy the Squirrel (don't know why we named him the same) and lots of chickadees and finches. We occasionally see deer and fox next to the house. It is hard for the kids to understand that they are wild and not pets but we are trying to just observe and give them some feeders so that the kids see them more. I have gotten really into the birds which the kids think is hilarious. They call me the freaky bird lady.

Beautiful picture from 13,000 feet at Winter Park. Carter and I went up there with Tony. Carter was not real happy with this ski lift as it was much steeper than the one for the slide or skiing. The crazy thing is that kids as young as 7 can be seen mountain biking down this. Our nephew Tyler would probably have a blast doing that as he is quite the little BMXer. If you click on the picture you will see all the brown trees. This is damage from a pine beetle that is literally killing the forest in the Rocky Mountains. It is so sad to see the devastating amount of damage that has been and is being done.

Just a gorgeous picture from our back patio after a summer rain. Pretty symbolic of our time so far in Colorado. Seems like good things are starting to come out of the darker clouds!

Have a great month everyone!

Check out Carts blog to read his stories: Carters World

The Month of July

2008-08-03T15:10:00.000-07:00

Still feel like I am playing catch up with everything but it is starting to get better. I will try to give you a little run down on the last month. We have been outside so much! We have been to WaterWorld, which is billed as being the largest in the nation. Carter had a blast in the wave pool which surprised us all. Connor fell in love with a slide that is alot like a giant toilet bowel that spins you around and then flushes you out. We had our buddy Nicholas come and stay. We had a blast at Dave and Busters and the Zoo with him. We have been out fishing, including today up in the mountains at Estes Park. It is about 1 1/2 hours from Denver, past Boulder and into the mountains. I was happy because Boulder has an Original Pancake House (like the one in GVR) that we stopped at on the way up. We went to Trout Haven which was like shooting fish in a barrel but the boys needed to be successful with this as they were getting pretty burnt out not catching anything in the lakes down here. It has been 'hot' here. They call out weather alerts when it gets over 90 and it has been over 90 for 18 days straight. That has heated up the lakes here so it is almost impossible to catch things from piers. Lets see what else? We went to the Spina Bifida family picnic here and went paddle boating. Carter spent a night in the ER for the staph infection in his leg that came back. We had a great time at the Museum of Nature and Science. Carter saw his first Mummy there. Totally freaked him out. The boys have been swimming alot. Connor is starting to make some neighborhood friends. The kids across the street have a roller hockey rink in their basement so that has been a lot of fun. He is taking a rock climbing class. He signed up for a school program that is one day a week. It focuses on global economics so it is perfect for him. He will be going to school downtown close to Bob on Tuesdays. He is starting an ice hockey league, and then tryout for basketball start. The middle schools here don't have competitive sports so they play on club leagues based on where they would go to school. That worked out perfectly for him! His good buddy, 'the other Connor' is coming to spend next week with us. They plan to hit Elitch Gardens and WaterWorld. Carters 10th birthday is coming up soon. He choose to have a dinner at Dave and Busters that night. I will take pictures. Speaking of pictures, below are some recent fishing ones. Fishing has been good for Bob and Connor. It is forcing them both to learn a little bit of patience (especially with each other). The first set, the really light ones (still can't find the battery to my good digital camera) on the pier are from a few weeks ago at the lake about a mile from the house. They didn't catch anything. The darker ones are from today where they took home 5 trout. Connor had the biggest at about 18 inches but Carter caught the first fish of the day. I am honestly about to throw up at the thought of eating them. My return to being a vegetarian again is getting closer and closer.

Pictures From Our Fourth

2008-07-09T10:02:00.001-07:00

Nala enjoying ice for the first time

Carter making frog legs

Connor hanging out and waiting for the burgers he made to be cooked

Bob and Nala snuggling at the fireworks

Con and Cart snuggling at the fireworks

Carters New Blog

2008-07-08T07:48:00.000-07:00

Carter set up a blog for all of his stories to come. Please visit it and leave a comment. He is really excited about it and I want to encourage him to write.

http://cartersworld10.blogspot.com/

I Got A New Altitude

2008-07-06T19:44:00.000-07:00

First off, our move was a horrible, horrible, let me say that again, HORRIBLE, mess. We still have 66 boxes missing, furniture destroyed, Carter's ramps gone and on and on and on. But, I can't dwell on the negative anymore. It just isn't what I want to think about.

It is BEAUTIFUL here. My Vegas and Phoenix friends shall drool at the fact that I took a wonderful, meandering walk through tall fields and pine forests and it was 65 degrees out tonight! Don't worry I will suck it up and take your bragging when it is snowing here and you all are running around in shorts.

Everyone here is scarily friendly. No seriously, I am afraid to drink the CO koolaid. I didn't realize how jaded I had become in Vegas until I got here and everyone you talk to is nice. There must be some nasty people around here somewhere....(heehee)

I went to the garden center today and signed up for some classes. I am so excited to grow flowers!!!

Connor is loving the community pool. He can walk over by himself. Carter and I have been twice this last week. Our new homeschool co-op has park days on Wed so we will check that out next week. This week I have someone coming to give me an estimate on making the house more accessible. I have heard that the library two blocks away loves homeschoolers and runs lots of classes during the school year for us.

Boxes, boxes, busy, busy....miss everyone! Pictures next time!

Adios Amigo's!!!

2008-06-25T16:20:00.000-07:00

We will be leaving on Saturday. To everyone we have not had a chance to say goodbye to in person: Thank you for making our time in Vegas so much better for having the chance to have known you. Our house here is not even on the market yet so I know we will back to visit :)

Long Time, No Blog

2008-06-16T22:44:00.000-07:00

To be honest with everything going on with the move and Connor's little skull fracture, lol, I have had a lot on my plate. We went through three houses before finally having the third work out. We close on it on Thursday so I feel relatively safe in posting a picture or two of it. It is a ranch, with an awesome basement. Very Colorado looking, don't ya think? At least that is only one set of stairs for Carter to deal with. We just got his old, yellow chair exchanged for a snazzy black one with red flames so that he will have one on each floor.

Two major fears have been conquered over the last week

Connor went on the Canyon Blaster at Adventure Dome. He has never been on an upside down coaster. He really wanted to do it before we moved. I can't believe our doctor let him do it with the concussion, but I knew if he said it was OK, there was nothing to worry about.
Carter went to the movies!!! That was huge. It was his Father's Day present to Bob. We saw Kung Fu Panda.

We move in less than two weeks. At this point, neither of the boys are happy about the move. Connor is going to miss all his friends terribly. He is not having an easy time with goodbyes and would prefer to skip them all together. Carter is more focused on the logistics of it all. Making sure all the bears have 'moving buddies' and such. He will not let the packers move his bears, that is a project him and I will do. Actually I am excited for it as we may finally learn how many he really has. Carters self esteem has been faltering lately, for lack of a better term, and I am not quite sure how to help him feel successful. He feels like everyone thinks Connor is so cool and he can't measure up. I am not sure how much of that is normal little brother stuff but my heart breaks for him. It seems that he is a an age where the boys are all running, skating and climbing and he is feeling very left out. I have talked to him about trying to take some drawing and writing classes in CO but he doesn't seem very excited about it right now. Hopefully, things will be better once we get there...

Con and I went to see the new Indiana Jones last week and that sparked a new interest in some ancient ruins. He has been watching shows and reading about Stonehenge. The movie didn't specifically mention that area but for some reason, he is really interested in it. Funny how kids minds make leaps like that when you let them just wonder a bit. I love to watch that process unfold. We have had some great conversations lately about ancient societies and the meaning of life. You can tell he is getting older and his thought process is expanding to realize that, wow, *get ready for the shocker* the world may not really revolve completely around him. Fun stuff, truly! I am really enjoying getting to know this new him.

Con, Cart and Club Penguin Party Tonight

2008-05-29T09:26:00.001-07:00

Thanks for all the well wishes everyone. Connor came home last night. His head is really hurting and he is still throwing up this am. It is so hard for him to just lay there and not do anything at all. He is not allowed to even listen to music because anything that activates his brain makes it worse.

Carter, on the other hand, is not used to be the 'sibling of the sick one'. Talk about role reversal. Carter is bored to death as well. So,he is hosting the following virtual party tonight.

If your kids play Club Penguin, Carter would like to have a virtual meetup tonight at 5:00. In order for everyone to get on his Buddy List. Have the kids meet his Penguin, TeddyBear007, on the SNOWGLOBE server in the middle of the town at 5 tonight. Once they are on each others Buddy List they can apparently find each other anytime! Post your kids penguins names if you are coming so he knows who to look for. Thanks guys!
**Carter says to make sure and bring your party clothes**

Quick Update

2008-05-27T22:30:00.000-07:00

Today was not a fun day here. We canceled the contract on the "yellow house". Why? Let's see, the roof was made of recalled materials, the foundation is leaking a cancer causing gas, and it has a wee bit of a rodent problem.

Just as I faxed back the termination, Connor fell in the backyard doing exactly what I have told him a thousand times not to do. He jumped from the retaining wall behind and to the sides of the little basketball court area to the rim to practice dunking and missed this time. Of course he had the rim set at 10 feet so he fell and smacked the back of his head onto the concrete from 10 feet in the air. He didn't bleed or break anything but he has a wicked headache and can't remember what happened. Bob is at the emergency room with him now. He called a little bit ago to say that they are taking him in for an XRAY but it looks like the standard kid concussion. They have told him he needs to stay still and inside for a minimum of a week. A goody, this will be fun!

Bob goes back to CO on Sunday for an indefinite amount of time. I am back to look online for houses. Maybe the boys and I will go back with him this Sunday so I can look some more. That ought to be about as much fun as keeping Con inside for a week.

Wine, wine, I need some wine (not whine, I have plenty of that)

**update: Con just started throwing up at the ER so they are doing a CT instead of an xray**

**update2: OMG---he fractured his skull and they are admitting him. Will write more as I can.**

New House :)

2008-05-20T19:25:00.001-07:00

We did it! Found and ironed out a purchase agreement during our 5 day house hunting trip, with the kids in tow, I might add. Actually it only took us 2 days to find the house and we spent the next three days touring the town :) We fell in love with it the minute we saw it. The street is adorable. All of the homes are custom so they all have their own character. Such a difference from our cookie cutter street here. Nice wide open spaces, raised vegetable beds, trees and flowers and mountain views...oh, my! The house has 6 beds, 5 baths so lots of space for our friends to visit. :)

Connor's Birthday

2008-05-08T19:00:00.000-07:00

Con turned 12 this week. OMGosh, where did the time go? I blink and another year goes by. He is taller than me now. He is wearing a size 101/2 men's shoe. My baby is no longer a baby :) Connor got an XBOX for his birthday. He has been enjoying the Halo game a little too much, ha ha. Tuesday was our weekly park day with the homeschool group I started. We went to Exploration Park and taught the kids in our group how to letterbox. The box was a good hike up a baby mountain. It is one of our friends birthday this week as well so we shared cupcakes. That night we went to Memphis BBQ and Con stuffed himself full of biscuits and bbq. This weekend he is having some of his neighborhood buddies spend the night.

Teeny Tiny Tree Hugger in Me

2008-05-06T23:27:00.000-07:00

Tonight I can't sleep so I am up randomly surfing my favorite blogs. The teeny, tiny tree hugger in me (my friend April coined that term today) read some great posts lately about small things you can do to benefit your family and the earth, so here they are:

Miranda talks about a program called Swaptree, which is basically trading your books, dvd's, cd's and such to another person. The thing that caught my eye was the video games. It drives me crazy how fast the kids go through them and when you sell them back you only get an insulting fraction of the price you paid. So, we simply stopped selling them back and I have piles of these games that my kids are tired of.

Tara informed me that I can cancel those bulky,waste of paper phone books that I get. I honestly did not know this. Yes, I do always recycle them but not getting them at all would be even better.

Leid Science Center

2008-05-03T19:01:00.001-07:00

Wow, we were busy last week. Two park days, book club and the Science Center. Next week will be even crazier with Con's birthday :)
Look for more pictures soon! Click on these to make them enlarge.

Book Club

2008-05-03T18:52:00.000-07:00

The boys really look forward to going to book club every month. Carter makes a big deal about choosing the perfect book to share with his friends. This time he brought the book Underwear. He got some good ideas for new books from his friends.

Some Park Day Pictures

2008-05-03T18:33:00.000-07:00

My three kids playing at the park :)

Leaving Las Vegas

2008-04-29T16:58:00.000-07:00

The final decision was made this afternoon. We are Colorado bound. This is a huge opportunity for Bob and I am happy for him. Connor seems very excited about the move. He is excited to have water parks, museums, amusement parks, and most of all a ZOO. Carter is not so sure. He has a lot of questions about the logistics, how we will make sure all the bears make it and so on. We expected this and that is why we have been preparing them for this for a while. Both boys and I will miss our friends. I wish I had a time table for the complete move but I am thinking mid summer will be about right. I would like to get to Colorado in time to enjoy the few months of no snow :)

I have been reflecting a lot about this change for a few weeks now and I am ready to move on. Las Vegas was a huge change in our lives. I can honestly say that I really grew up in Las Vegas. This is where I learned that I can truly raise my family on my own. In Phoenix, we had so much help but in Vegas I had to learn to do things on my own, especially with Bob traveling so much. Vegas gave me a confidence in myself that I didn't have before.

Vegas will always be special to me and the people that I have come to love here will be hard to leave but everything in life has a season and our Vegas season coming to a close now feels right.

Adventures of Frog Pond

2008-04-28T19:15:00.000-07:00

Written by: Carter

Once upon a time two tadpoles were expelled by the evil Uncle Milton from the Frogville Stream. Uncle Milton captured them in a small bottle and gave them no food. He sent them in the mail to Las Vegas where he was sure they would never be heard from again.

Unfortunately Uncle Milton's evil plan was foiled by a hero named Bat Kid. Bat Kid rescued the tiny tadpoles from their packaging and began the process of creating a habitat for them to thrive in.

Bat Kid used his super powers to turn the tadpoles into healthy and strong frogs. The day came when the frogs were strong enough to be released back into the wild. Bat Kid found a pond (in his backyard) where the frogs could be safe and happy. The frogs were strong enough to make their way back to Frogville Stream where they attacked Uncle Milton and made him apologize for keeping them captive in a jar for weeks. Uncle Milton promised to never catch frogs again. The frogs returned to the Bat Pond and lived happily ever after.

Moms note to other parents: While the boys finally enjoyed seeing the process of metamorphosis, I would never, ever recommend buying tadpoles through Uncle Milton's. Read the reviews on this product. You can also read our experiences with this and see how much more money, effort and heartache this took. If you live in an area where you can't find tadpoles in nature, ask your fish store. Occasionally they accidentally get shipped in with the feeder fish and the store will gladly give them to you. This is a much better way to rescue a tapdole :)

Mickeys New Service Dog

2008-04-24T08:44:00.000-07:00

Carter decided that Mickey needs a helper dog too. Build-a-Bear to the rescue again. I absolutely love the accessories that they have, including the dog cape and wheelchair. I crocheted the leash (yup, I did!)

Our Recent Comings and Goings...

2008-04-23T21:50:00.000-07:00

So much going on here that I haven't had time to sit and just write for the last week. Where to start?

First off, my dad is in the hospital. He hasn't been feeling well lately and his legs have been really swollen. He has been there since Saturday with little to no progress in figuring out what is really the problem. Things are moving very, very slowly.

My mom turned 80 on Sunday. I can hardly believe that this vibrant woman is 80. She came up to spend a few days with us despite my dads hospital stay. She mostly hung out with us and enjoyed the kids busy schedule. Here is a picture of her and I at the local bar (yup, you read that right) playing video poker for her birthday dinner. ROFL!

Nala was presented with her service dog cape today. She is officially a "service dog in training" and has full access rights to anywhere her humans go. The boys are trying to figure out which rides at Disneyland she will like. :) Below is a picture of her and Krista, our incredible doggie and people trainer. Krista's organization, All Purpose Canines, is incredible. Please visit their site if you are interested in a service dog.

Bob has been in Colorado this week.

....and for those of you waiting to hear about our recent decisions, I will probably have a 100% answer by the weekend. Stay tuned.

Real Life Learning

2008-04-15T15:27:00.000-07:00

There is no possible way that I can do this story justice by writing it but it is such a great memory that I need to preserve. Try to imagine my sweet, innocent 9 year old telling me this in all sincerity:

C: I am going on Club Penguin to earn more coins.
Me: Why?
C: I need more coins to buy new clothes so I can get a girlfriend.
Me: Um, OK. Good luck with that.

***30 minutes later***
***Carter enters visibly upset***

C: My girlfriend broke up with me!
Me: What?
C: I did everything right. I don't understand. I took her to the pizza parlor. I took her to the coffee shop. Then she invited me back to her igloo
M: ***starting to giggle at this point***
C: Then she just dumped me. *very sad puppy dog face*I did everything right. Why?
M: I don't know C, girls can be like that.

***5 minutes pass. C is back on the computer.***

Me: What you doing now?
C: Applying for a job (he is in the Club Penguin Pizza Parlor)
Me: Why?
C: Well, I can't get a girlfriend so I might as well get a job!

***And who says that unschoolers don't learn anything????***

In case you don't know, Club Penguin is a virtual game owned by Disney where kids interact as penguin characters.

And That Ain't No Bull

2008-04-14T14:04:00.000-07:00

We took the boys and Nala out to the County Fair in Logandale this weekend. Both Bob and I have such fond memories of the fair as kids. I know the boys will too after such a great family day. Here are some pictures:

The movie City Slicker comes to mind here...

Who doesn't have Fair memories of the big slide?

Can't believe he really went on this!

They really do have fun together :)

Watching the goat show...

Have I mentioned yet how AMAZING Nala is? She is only 17 weeks (pushing 45 pounds now) and she walked that Fair for 5 hours like a pro. The only thing she balked at were the roosters. She had no problems with any other animal, noise or people. She is beyond incredible but if I have to answer one more time, "What type of dog is that?" I may say she is a cat.

Extreme Dodge Ball

2008-04-13T20:08:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the down time lately. Between Carters staph infection (which is responding very well to all the antibiotics BTW) and the life changing decisions (don't want to say anything conclusive on this just yet ;) ) we have going on for the family, I just have not had the time. Anyway, we seem to playing a lot lately. The weather here is so beautiful and we have been trying to get outside and enjoy it before the heat comes. We had a lot of fun with our friends at Skymania on Friday. This is Connor's favorite homeschool event each month. The kids play dodge ball on huge trampolines. The moms hang out and talk on the sidelines. Carter likes to get up on the trampolines and be bounced by all the kids. It worked out this time that everyone that was on his team this time is also in one of our homeschool groups so I thought I would post it for all the kids to enjoy :) The quality is not that great because I have to reduce it so much for the blog.

Please Turn the Volume Down!

2008-04-07T23:05:00.000-07:00

I need a vacation. A solitary stay in a silent monastery sounds perfect. Actually, Mrs. Puff gave me the idea (if you know any child under the age of 15 you know who I am talking about). We were watching the episode where Mrs. Puff goes to jail and SpongeBob and Patrick insist on trying to break her out. I felt so sorry for poor Mrs. Puff, why couldn't SpongeBob just leave the poor woman alone instead of haunting her every moment with that insidious laugh and stupid smile? Jail doesn't really fit my style though. Somehow I doubt that jail bunks have the 600 thread count sheets I require for sleeping :) So, the idea of the monastery came to be. It would feel like a small piece of Heaven to be somewhere quiet for just a few days. It seems like everything around me is is just SO LOUD lately. Everything feels like noise to me. I know, I know, I KNOW it is because I feel some insane need to take on everything...the HOA Board, starting a new homeschool group, keeping a company going, taking the kids to everything that they take on, being a wife and mom in general I guess and I know that I am not the only mom in the world to feel this way once in a while. So, if you are a little stressed too, why not book a room with me......just please, NO TALKING!

PS...I am checking into the thread count at the monastery :)

The Boys Are Going Back to School!!!

2008-04-01T14:54:00.000-07:00

This was an April Fools Joke people....

We are all so thrilled. It is rare to have one kid accepted into this program, but to have both boys accepted is a HUGE honor for our family! The boys will start school this summer at the Sandou Theatrical Circus School. Carter is hoping to train as a master elephant pooper scooper. Connor is aspiring to be the head trapeze boy. He really wants to earn his tights quickly. In order to pay for their schooling, I have taken on a teaching position with the school. I will be training the clowns to juggle and get in and out of the car. I was hired because of my immense experience in in this area. We are so happy and proud of our boys!

If you didn't guess already, April Fools!

More Nala

2008-03-21T10:10:00.001-07:00

So far Nala has been too good to be true. We keep waiting for the other shoe to drop (or be chewed) but she has been an angel so far. She starts her vaccines today so it will be a little while longer until she makes her public debut. We are working on simple things like getting her used to a leash and collar and a walking harness. Her 'trainer' comes next week to get us all started. Us humans apparently need more training than Nala does so she works with the whole family.

Not much else is happening here. Bob took the day off to watch basketball with Connor. March Madness I guess....

Meet Nala

2008-03-20T07:27:00.000-07:00

Our newest member of the family came home last night. This is Nala, our puppy. Nala was given to Carter by our favorite doctor. Nala will be trained as a companion/therapy dog for Carter. She was born on December 11, 2007 and is over 30 pounds now. Full grown she will be roughly 110 lbs plus and 3 feet tall. Here are some pictures of her homecoming. Chardonnay took to her right away and they slept together all night.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2008-03-17T11:05:00.000-07:00

Those tricky leprechauns somehow turned all the water in our faucets green this AM! The toilets flushed green water, too! It was a big mystery for a while but then the boys started to figure bits and pieces of it out. They guessed that the Leprechauns must have put green paint or something in the faucets. After a lot of fun and teasing I brought out the fizzy tablets from Steve Spangler that does this. They had fun mixing the colors...Carter did not know that yellow and blue make green...I just assumed he learned that in Kindergarten (maybe he was absent that day, lol). Connor remembered back to 4th grade where I taught him chromatography and made black with the primary colors. Thank you Leprechauns for the fun color reminder and for leaving us extra fizzy tabs to play with! ;)

Welcome to Holland

2008-03-16T20:59:00.000-07:00

One of my amazing friends whom I have never actually met in person is going through the very difficult loss of a little boy with spina bifida. Years ago I started an international support forum for people with spina bifida. I met my friend here. We emailed back and forth for years, we kept in touch when I had to shut down the board temporarily, I sent her stuff to help her son that they do not have in Northern Africa, we 'speak' weekly :) No, thank God, it was not her son. My friend is a support contact in her own right in her area where information about spina bifida is not so readily available. She is a source of inspiration to mothers all around her area who come to her for help and advice. It was one of these little boys that she has helped and loved. She remembered this poem (story?) and asked me to send it to her for the family. It reminded me that I should share it again for all the moms (and dads) for whom the birth of their child did not turn out quite the way they expected. It is one of my favorite stories of all time and it makes me smile and cry every time I read it.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by
Emily Perl Kingsley.

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.
c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

Letterboxing at Red Rock

2008-03-16T18:45:00.000-07:00

We braved the wind, rain, cold and snow (yes, Vegas got a light dusting in the mountains last night) to go out letterboxing again today. This picture looks like a painting doesn't it? This one shows the snow a little better. Notice the signature desert pink sky. Sometimes I am in such awe of the desert beauty. Because I have grown up in the desert my whole life (minus a few years on the East Coast that I don't remember well), I often neglect to look at just how marvelous it can be.

We picked Red Rock Canyon because there a several boxes out there and it was a far enough drive to be considered an "adventure". We first looked for one at Calico Basin which is just outside of Red Rock. As we did on Thursday, Carter stayed in the car with me. Bob is much tougher than me :) so he took Connor up to look for it. After more than an hour I was about to send the rangers up after them. I was scared to death that something happened to them. Of course, they find it hilarious that I thought something terrible could happen to them on this 'bunny hill', WHATEVER! Here they are hiking up for the first box.

The second box was not successful either. This one we are pretty sure is 'missing'. I contacted the owner of the box so that they can check on it. There was snow patches all over the ground on this trail. Sorry, no picture of that one.

Thankfully our last box was a success and what was great about this one was that 95% of the trail was accessible so Carter got to hike on this one with us. The wind had let up and we had a great little family hike.

Bob is hooked on this which was a big surprise to us all. He even suggested that we buy a hiking backpack with a compass and more supplies so that we can hunt for harder ones.

There are 4-5 boxes out at Calico Basin so we plan to go back there in a few weeks and hunt for all the ones in the area. There is a nice little picnic area right at the bottom of the mountain. If any of our friends are up for joining us, let me know. It would be more fun with some friends. We can grill at the bottom and have another fantastic family day.

Letterboxing and Chuckwalla!

2008-03-13T16:04:00.000-07:00

We went today to find our first letterbox today. We went to the Hoover Dam to find Stephanie's box. Letter boxing is a little like treasure hunting. Think National Treasure meets boy scouting project and you will have the gist of it. It is an English tradition that began in the 1800's. Carter was able to stay in the car with my mom while Connor and I went hunting for it. We had an absolute blast and found it after a little while. We brought it back to the car for Carter to stamp.

After we found the box, Connor saw a big "lizard".I thought it was a gila monster. But when we got home Connor researched it and found out that it is actually a chuckwalla . So, we watched him (her?) for awhile before heading back home. It was HUGE!

The weather was beautiful and it was a perfect day.

Hospital Thoughts

2008-03-09T17:30:00.000-07:00

So, while I was in the hospital I did a lot of thinking about the past year especially and how happy I am that we are now homeschooling. Sitting there watching Carter sleep hooked up to so many machines made me think about how many nights Bob or I have done this, about how little control we have over him and his health, how many years we wasted trying to maintain the status quo. I could kick myself for not listening and being strong enough years ago to follow my heart and not put him in school. I always wanted Carter at home with me but I let everyone talk me out of it. I listened to all the comments of how not going to school would make him reclusive and wouldn't give him the real life experience that he needed. My solution was to be the PTA President and then a teacher at their school. It was always my way to be there with the boys as I never wanted them far from me. Almost a year into this (May of last year was really the last time he attended school for any regular basis) I laugh at all of that. When we first started homeschooling, we followed all the rules :) We did a curriculum every day, even though he hated it most of the time. I remember one frustrating day of actually yelling at him to pay attention to some stupid lesson he was not at all interested in and that was the day I became an unschooler. I didn't know at the time that there was a real term for my newfound philosophy. I just realized how stupid it was to keep pushing him to be 'grade level' and prove that I was right in homeschooling him. Unschooling has been the most incredible thing to happen to our family. It has given control back to Carter over a life that he previously had very little control. You could see the changes in him during this hospital visit. He advocated for himself, insisted that everyone tell him what was going on, told people to leave him alone when he had enough. He saw how little control he had in this situation and fought desperately to gain it back. Perhaps that is because he is getting more comfortable controlling his own life through unschooling. It hit me as a watched him sleep how much unschooling has given him and our family. Now, I will admit I a much less confident unschooling mom of Connor. He has some big goals and I struggle with the boundaries of pushing him to do now the things he needs to accomplish those goals. I suspect as Connor fully explores his freedom, his goals will change. He will see that there are many more roads for him to travel now. At 11 years old he started his own company and website. Yes, he gets a lot of mom support with it but it is his in the end and it is becoming very successful. He wants to explore this more, getting more involved in building business relationships, controlling the site finances, and delving into more advanced coding. I know that he has the drive and spirit to be successful in whatever he chooses. My hope for him is that he learns to be HAPPY in whatever he chooses. That is my hope for Carter as well. More than anything, the boys both need to learn to control their own lives and destiny.

See Ya Later Suckers!

2008-03-09T15:21:00.000-07:00

Cart has been home for about an hour now. He is on the 'sick bed' with a bunch of bears and remotes. He is looking great and feeling good. I think it will just be a few days until he is fully up and about. As we drove away from the hospital he yelled out the car window, "See ya later suckers!" This vocabulary is certainly funny if nothing else....

THANK YOU to everyone for all the offers of help, emails and well wishes.

Saturday Update

2008-03-08T11:39:00.000-08:00

C slept much better last night :) He is still having a problem keeping anything down, which is not unusual at this point for him. Connor is keeping him well entertained with the bears. We are keeping him happy with the thought of maybe a puppy and a new trip to Disneyland. Can anyone say spoiled??? We can't help it! He is just so cute. Every now and then he will say. "Mom, this place SUCKS" or come up with some other lovely (insert bad word) phrase. His almost 10 year old vocabulary is certainly increasing. Then 5 minutes later he will be watching a video from one of our many Disney trips and he says "Mom, I will never get tired of seeing those elephants dance". I just have to laugh....of course you can have a puppy and more build a bears, and yes, we can go to Disney when you feel better.....LOL

Update

2008-03-06T21:05:00.000-08:00

I feel like I am at the Ritz Carlton with all the amenities this hospital has. Seriously, who uses pay per view at the hospital? ROFL. Thanks for everyones well wishes. We hve told C how many wonderful messages he had. Hisi two new bears are in his hospital bed with him. He is cranky which is normal on the first day. We are trying to keep him comfortable. Everything went well with the surgery. The doctor ended up putting a shunt in the spine at T9. We should be out of here Sunday night. I have internet access through the TV only. He is enjoying unlimited ice cream :)

It's Official

2008-03-04T17:23:00.000-08:00

Cart will be headed back into the hospital on Thursday. We will be there a few days for sure. Can't really say what the surgery will be for exactly as a lot of it will depend on what we see in the scans done this AM.

Anyway, I will just update here later in the week to let you all know how he is doing...

If you would like to learn more about Spina Bifida you can peek at this.

And The Lawn Mower Passes...

2008-03-01T20:18:00.000-08:00

A pivotal point in any Father-Son relationship came today as Connor became the official lawnmower of the house. I am not sure who was more happier about the passing of this important 'manly' chore but it is one more sign that Connor is growing up. Of course, we only have about 20 square feet of grass on our whole property :)

Owl Pellets and Water Treatment

2008-02-27T18:32:00.000-08:00

We had the funniest day yesterday. We went to the Bird Preserve which is located on a water treatment plant. I knew when I set the day up that it was a water treatment area but it never dawned on me how bad it would smell. Needless to say the boys were COMPLETELY grossed out but they were fascinated to find out where the water goes when you flush the toilet. Such a boy thing. Adding to the boys disgusting day (which they thought was incredibly AWESOME) they got to dissect owl pellets (which is owl vomit basically), they found three full sets of mouse bones in the pellet, and they discovered maggots growing on a decomposing animal on the walk. Yeah, I am going to throw up from it but to quote the boys "COOL!"
I love this picture because it shows my two boys but also one of my old students who is now homeschooling and hanging out with us!

Learning at Ceasars Palace

2008-02-26T08:57:00.000-08:00

With the weather being funky lately we headed indoors to Ceasars Palace this weekend. R taught C1 how to play the big piano at FAO Schwartz...I time honored kid tradition. C2 and I played hide and seek in the four story Trojan Horse that sits at the entrance. C2 was really sad that we would not buy him a $125 lightsaber but got over it. We had lunch at Cheesecake Factory and watched the Atlantis show. Who says learning can't take place at the mall? The show prompted a huge discussion of Roman and Greek mythology and C1 compared it to the stories of the Shang dynasty. Pretty impressive for kids who don't do school, I think.

Tadpole Drama, Oh My!

2008-02-22T13:50:00.000-08:00

I finally have my car back. I missed it but it was nice to be home and quiet for a while. So, what did we do? Well, we watched the tadpoles grow legs and turn into little froglets. They finally have legs! This has been a major drama in our house. C2 got an Uncle Milton's tadpole kit for his birthday in August. It took until November for them to arrive. We followed all the directions but the silly things would not grow. At this point I went and read all the horrible reviews for this kit on online. Not wanting to be an inhumane tadpole owner, we researched habitats and the boys built this with almost no help from me:

They had to learn about how to slope the rock and stack heavier than lighter. They found a way to camoflauge the pump by creating a waterfall. They made landings for when the tadpoles started to get legs.

I surprised them with the sign. C2 thought it was hysterical.

Here is Raphael. He has the biggest head of the two. I don't think you can see his legs in the picture but they are there! Success----so far! And to think this little experiment has only taken 6 months and $150 so far! How fabulous is that!?! (sarcasm intended)

Forced Down Time

2008-02-15T16:09:00.001-08:00

Last week, it was apparent that flushing my transmission was not going to be the answer to my cars prayers. We took it in today to find out that the transmission is pretty much shot. The technician had some fancy name for it, but that is what I got out of the conversation. I hate when something goes wrong with the car mostly because you never know who to believe but R thinks this is a good move so since I know nothing about it and trusting him, I have to give up my car for almost a week!!!

To be honest, I am looking forward to the forced downtime. I have a lot of laundry to catch up on, work to do online, and some good movies to watch :) We may all be going crazy by next week but right now I am enjoying still being in my pj's at 4:15 pm.

Basketball

2008-02-13T21:20:00.000-08:00

C1 just started playing for the Tarkanian Academy. He is really liking it but it is hard work. Here is a quick video of a great assist during a local league game. He is number 7 in the blue.

Look Mom, Something Healthy is Growing in My Kitchen!

2008-02-13T20:18:00.000-08:00

So, last week at the boys bookclub meeting, my friend Amy gave me a sample of Kombucha. Kombucha is a drink of fermented tea and sugar. I was intrigued, C1 was completely grossed out and I wouldn't get it near C2 in fear he would throw up right then and there (he tends to do that without much provocation). Today, Amy brought me my own kombucha 'baby'. As Tara correctly described it as it looking like someone threw up their intestines. So, I am going to make this for R and I and see if it helps us on our road to good health. Worse comes to worse, the boys have a great science experiment on their hands. Lets just say it probably isn't the only thing growing in my fridge at the moment.

Park Days

2008-02-13T18:34:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of the boys enjoying the great weather lately.

C2 and his friend A trade pokemon cards. It was VERY windy today.

C1 and his friends discover the simple joy of climbing a tree.

C1 on his beloved rip stick which is a skateboard with two wheels. These things are very hard to balance on and he has earned a lot of scrapes and bruises on this :( I hate it.
It is nice to see him out of his chair everyone once in a while :)

German Beer Garden

2008-02-11T15:07:00.000-08:00

So, when we last met, I promised a picture of us at the Hofbraus House. Here is it. I like this one because it hides how ridiculously fat I am getting. We are there with our good friends and neighbors. The boys got to try German food, which they loved, C1 had a huge sausage and C2 had some sort of noodles. The grown ups had lots of beer. C2 learned that a glass is called a stein and we all had a great time raising them to the music!

So, What is This All About???

2008-02-10T22:35:00.000-08:00

If you know me personally, you are probably thinking "WTH is she doing now? She has enough sites to deal with. She can't handle another one!" and you might be right. But, I have recently met a great group of friends that have inspired me to blog about my time with the boys.

I plan to use this space to share what we are up to, how the boys are constantly growing and learning, and occasionally my random thoughts on things. I can't do that with my companies sites. This is my own little personal space to write what I want and not worry about keywords, metatags, and page design.

So, stick around. I am waiting for a friend to send me a video clip she shot tonight at a German Beer Garden. It could be interesting!