On Second Thought, I May Be a Water Buffalo

I used to think I was a mama lion. Fiercely protective of my pups if I ever thought they were in danger, or in pain, or under attack.

Now I'm not so sure.

Please, watch this video and then you can read my obvious metaphor. It is worth 8 1/2 minutes of your life.




Lions: mmm! I'm in the mood for baby water buffalo.

Water Buffs: AAAHHH!!! Run away! Run away!

Lions: Looks like baby water buffalo is on the menu.

Croc: Yeah, that sounds good. Give me some a-that!

Lions: No Way. This baby water buffalo belongs to us.

Water Buffs: WRONG. He belongs to US. SCRAM.

Call me an eternal optimist, but it looks to me like it's never too late for your herd to come to your rescue.

The key seems to be: Once your herd arrives, YOU have to be the one to stand up and run through the pain~ away from the lions~ and into the safety of your herd.

Regarding My Dad

He was the only child between a Navy Sea Dog and a Circus Beauty.

His mother was in her forties when she had him.

He is a master storyteller. I love being his captive audience.

I inherited my insatiable curiosity from him. He certainly nurtured my curiosity. He taught me about Lake Bonneville and the stars in the sky and the water cycle and how to identify a hawk. I could go on and on.

He used to recite Robert Service poetry for us in the kitchen.

I may have inherited my love of poetry from him.

And Stella inherited it from me.

He has strong opinions that he researches extensively. He is actually reading the Obamacare bill!

He is witty and intelligent.

He is a talented wordsmith and photographer.

His is the tortured soul of an artist. (That statement will induce either a cringe from him or a single tear shed at the insight.)

He loves chocolate chip cookies and Coca-Cola. With no ice.

Whenever he sees me he grabs me and squeezes until I can't breathe. 

He lives in Texarkana, Texas, and that is too far away.

We don't spend enough time together. My kids don't  know any of his stories. I don't know if Stella and George have ever heard him tell a story. 

I did get to spend July 12 with him this year. He took the entire day off. Robert and I took the red-eye into Dallas for a wedding and immediately rented a car and drove the 3 1/2 hours to his house.

His only vehicle is a motorcycle so we went around town doing things that require four wheels and a roof.

We bought a new toilet seat, rat traps, and toilet paper.

We learned that if one wants to have their glasses adjusted in Texarkana, Wal-Mart is really one's only option.

We turned his Boston Terrier loose on one of the rats that had taken up residence in his backyard.

We showed each other photographs of our recent vacations. 

It was not a day filled with spectacular vistas or extravagant meals. We didn't line up any kind of entertainment or excursions to fill the time. It was an ordinary day where my dad and my husband commiserated about professional woes, we talked about the most recent books we were reading, shared photography tips (I salivated over his gear), we ate a few meals, and it was over way too soon. 

I want 10,000 more days just like it.

The next night I was back in Dallas setting up tables and chairs for my friend's wedding and I received the following text from him:

"Do you guys have a minute to swing by? I need to exchange my regular toilet seat for the long toilet seat."

"Plus, it is raining and I need a ride to work."

*All of the photos from this post are from several years ago when I was visiting with my kids over spring break. As per my recent habits (that I am trying to break) I didn't get out my camera while I was with him.

**My parents were divorced shortly before I started blogging and I have always carefully avoided writing much about either one of them. I thought that if I wrote about one parent it would hurt the other's feelings. I have decided that my kids and their kids deserve to read about their grandparents. I love both of my parents and both of their spouses and I am officially ending my silence.

***I may not have needed to write that last paragraph.

Summer Memories, Denial, plus a few thoughts about death

School starts in less than a week. I am not emotionally ready and I am certainly not logistically ready. I  bought tons of school supplies on clearance last year, but I don't remember where I put them. 

Plus, I suspect the glue sticks have already dried out.

I will wrap myself up in a blanket of denial and keep writing about our summer break. It has been dreamy in so many ways.

On July 5th, under the cover of a total downpour, we headed out with Sara and Ryan for a camping trip. 

Life list: Ride a Tandem Bicycle. CHECK! 

 Ryan and Grant/Father and Son

Of course I was hollering at George from shore. "Don't get in the water until we put on your swimsuit!" It was a classic example of Picking My Battles and I decided to declare defeat early on. Will my last child ever take me seriously?

Creed announced at the end of the weekend that he HATES tubing. 

The Engine . . . .

. . . . and the Caboose.

You'll notice that we are wearing sweatshirts while our kids play in the lake. George and Stella both ended up in their underwear but I was freezing!

 Axel learned how to crawl about a week after this photo was taken. Sara's days became much more complicated after that.

Stella adores her Uncle Christopher.

A few of Ryan's cousins joined us on the first night. They were completely smitten with my children, which (of course) meant that I was completely smitten with them. The shortest path to my heart is through my kids.

 Maddie found out that Stella was a ballerina and she immediately got out her pointe shoes. Look at those things! Ballet is hard work. Stella dazzled Maddie with her poetry recitation skills, her literary knowledge, and her Kid History Quotes.

 Sara dazzled me with her waterskiing skills, and I have some excellent photographic proof, but I think I would get in trouble for posting a picture of my sister in her swimsuit.

 She is graceful even when she falls! 

Both Jack and Creed were AWESOME at wakeboarding but I don't have any pictures of that because Robert and I left the camping trip early to attend a funeral in Tooele. It was for Robert's sister-in-law's father. Did you follow that? He died while he was delivering a lesson at church. Can you believe it? I feel so bad for Tif. And I miss Robert's dad. That's a whole separate, much less flippant post for another day.

I don't want my parents to ever die. Ever. (But not in an Anakin Skywalker evil controlling kind of way. Just in an "I hope I have another forty years with each of them" kind of way.) Stay healthy, guys! Go drink some juice and take a vitamin!

George wasn't too keen on wakeboarding with his dad and I don't generally subscribe to the "I'm bigger than you and you'll do what I say" philosophy of parenting, but sometimes kids need to be pushed to try something beyond their comfort zone. Don't they?

In this case, George cried almost the whole time he was out there with his dad, but as soon as he was back on the boat he turned to me with a big grin and said "Mom, I was laughing on the inside the whole time!"

Was it the right decision to send him out there? I don't know. I'll tell you what, though, I can appreciate the fact that his dad is able to do that kind of thing. The man is strong!

(Have I mentioned that he took the Silver Medal in the Utah Summer Games Powerlifting event? He was competing against guys that were almost half his age!)

Our whole group minus Vicki and her niece and Lauren and her girls.

Next time I will talk about our trip to Texas where I was able to spend an ENTIRE DAY with my dad. 

We attended Andrew and Ramona's wedding which meant that we were able to spend some quality time with the VonNiederhausern's!

And then, we went to Montana to spend a few weeks with Grandma and Grandpa Jim.

Between blogging about my summer and getting ready to send my kids off to three different schools next week plus some other stuff I won't go into here I am starting to think that I may have to forego some sleep to get everything done there is to do before school starts. 

I do not enjoy cutting into my sleep time.

My Denial Blanket isn't big enough. 

FREEDOM!

July .... I barely knew ye!

On Independence Day we drove "up north" to Salt Lake and met my family at Hogle Zoo.  We have been celebrating the Fourth of July at Hogle Zoo ever since I can remember. My aunts and uncles along with my cousins meet up and walk the zoo together. It was pretty fun to drive by the Village and think about our TEN YEARS in the Student Apartments. As we passed Foothill Village I reminisced about riding my bicycle to Dan's Foods for groceries. 

Good Times. 

We found Grant playing with the bubble guns at the souvenir stand.

This was George's first visit to Hogle Zoo. My parents used to buy us a season pass every year. I'm going to do that kind of thing for my children. Until I revisited the place, I had forgotten how much of my personal history is wrapped up in it.

Here is George gazing into the trunk of an elephant statue. He knew it was going to spray him in the face. In fact, that's exactly what he was waiting for . . . .

. . . . but he was still pretty upset when it happened.

Jack and Creed were there, too. I don't know why I don't have more photos of the rest of my family that was there.

Note: As we were leaving, some of the zoo employees showed up with about 100 hula hoops and turned on some tunes. We discovered that Creed is quite talented with the hula hoop. The boy can shake his hips! Unfortunately, my camera battery decided to die at that very moment.

After the zoo, we headed over to Auntie Kim's house to feast on bar-b-que fare. 

Now I may have to bar-b-que hamburgers for dinner because I am salivating as I think about that delicious meal.

This is the only group shot I have. After we ate we walked up to Jeff and Emily's house. Their house is so cute. I loved it.

My kids loved their rope swing in the back yard.

Stella and Lola

Eddie came to Kim's and he brought his freeboard. This brother of mine has an uncanny sense of balance and he can do anything. Anything I tell ya!!

Georgie and Robert on the walk home.

We enjoyed a festive fireworks display spearheaded by Jack and Creed. My little boys were more involved with the lighting of the fireworks than they have been in the past, and I have to say that I didn't love it. It made me very nervous.

I have no pictures of the fireworks because I don't care enough to do any research about how to get decent pictures of fireworks.

Perhaps my very favorite part of the day was after the fireworks when Jeff broke out his guitar. We sang the night away. John Denver, Johnny Cash, Social Distortion, and Neil Diamond were among the artists whose music we all knew. Seriously, that will be one of the moments I live over and over again.

It reminded me of Stella's favorite poem "Daffodils" by William Wordsworth

I gazed--and--gazed but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought.

For oft when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood

They flash upon that inward eye 

That is the bliss of solitude.

And then my heart with pleasure fills

And dances with the daffodils.

Of course, the daffodils in this case would be sing-a-longs with my cousins and my children.

Even Jack was willing to pick up the guitar and strum out a few songs for us!