The Last Six Weeks Part II

It's Memorial Day weekend, I'm done teaching for the summer, seminary ends on Wednesday, and I have a week and a half with the house all to myself before the kids are loosed upon me. You know the sound a can of Diet Coke makes when you open it and all the pressure escapes? That sound is how I feel. Ahhhh . . .

Anyway, there have been a few more things going on that I didn't have time to get to in my last post. I also needed to have the time (and wherewithal) to upload some videos, which now that the top on my personal pop can has popped, I can do. Without further ado, here are some random goings-on of note:

The Wilds of Minnesota

As I have mentioned in previous posts, the weather this winter has been tough. It took a looooong time for spring to come. But when spring does come in Minnesota? It's like a drug.

Here's a pic of our back yard on April 23rd.

Beautiful, yes. But still as wintry as January 23. Then we waited, and waited, and finally in May things started to thaw. The leaves started to emerge, the bulbs pushed up out of the hard frozen ground, the birds came back and started singing. The gloriousness! I was so thrilled I even took a video one morning on my walk. The leaves aren't fully glorious yet, but listen to those birds. (And I apologize if it makes you a little dizzy. I shouldn't spin around so much.)

But just as we started getting used to spring, it snowed again. And hailed. One morning the sky opened up and deposited what appeared to be Dippin Dots (you know, from the mall?) all over our back porch.

And then lately it's just been raining, raining, raining. Except for Friday. Friday was a breathtaking day, and lucky for me, and for Wyatt, it was his Kindergarten field trip to a local farm. It was so beautiful I pulled over the car and took the following picture of the side of the road with my phone:

I also got a few pics of Wyatt at the farm. Here he is "holding" a baby chick. You'll need to look closely. Poor baby chick--he was so stressed that when I was transporting him from one grubby Kindergarten hand to the next he pooped on me. I thought it was pretty gross but the 75-year-old farmer who was helping us out didn't think it was that big of a deal. Luckily a number of moms were on hand with wet wipes and Purell.

They also got to hold kitties and puppies and pet a wide variety of other animals (after receiving a stern talking to about how a horse can bite your finger off, so stay away from their mouths).

Wyatt and a kitty and his cute Kindergarten teacher

Wyatt and his friends at lunch

And speaking of animals (what a good segue!) we've had a few four-legged friends in our yard this year. The squirrels are ubiquitous, and we've had a few rabbits who've decided to take up residence in our back yard as well. Technically they're varmints, but we have fun watching them in the mornings hopping around, eating the dandelions. Eat all the dandelions you want, rabbit friends! Just don't go near the potted flower arrangements on the back porch, please. A few days ago we sat and watched as one rabbit boldly hopped up onto our porch, fully aware that we were paying attention--but then Forrest gave Wyatt the go ahead to chase him off before he made a meal of my flowers. Forrest had the wherewithal to video it, too. (Just a short one.)



But rabbits are nothin' compared to another vistor that came trotting by our window a couple of weeks ago. I looked outside and, at first, I thought I was seeing a dog. But the I looked closer and realized a coyote was taking a stroll through the neighborhood. Forrest grabbed the camera and followed him.

The coyote, two houses down from ours

A better shot, taken across the street

The only thing that mars the beauty of our Minnesota spring is our dumb dumb dumb backyard neighbors (whom I don't know personally and should probably feel more charitable toward, but sorry, not there yet) who, without informing the rest of us, felled the giant deciduous tree that used to grace their backyard (and our neighbors' back yard, and the view from our back yard). They replaced it with three pine trees, all of which promptly died over the winter, so now when we go out in our back yard we see this:

Urrrgh.

Kid Choir Videos!

But on a more positive note, here are two videos of my two cute kids' choir concerts. Jonas finally relented and let me upload the video of his 6th grade boys' choir singing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." The video quality is pretty poor (iPhone video far away) and you can't see Jonas at all, but you can get a bit of the jist*. Cute 6th grade boys.



Elise also had her final choir concert of the year. Her choir director, Dr. Russell, is leaving and the kids are pretty sad about it. He was a great guy and Elise will miss him. Hopefully the incoming choir director will be great as well! (And hopefully she'll be impressed by Elise's quick audition for the upper level choirs--always hard when you build up good will with a director or coach and then they leave on you. Her audition is this Friday so we'll keep our fingers crossed.) Here she is with the 9th grade choir. You can see her on the back row, right, in a black dress.



Forrest and Me

And last but not least, Forrest and me. We've both been very busy. Surprised? Forrest's spring has been particularly jam-packed. Not only did he wind up coaching baseball again, but being Young Men's President in the spring takes a lot of time and energy in our ward. In April, he was in charge of a day-long Book of Mormon activity that was really great, but a ton of work: food, presenters, scripts, decorations, even costumes. He was a little worn out once it came to the "what are we going to do about costumes" question so I volunteered to help out with that one. My bright idea? Buy curtain panels at Goodwill for $5, cut neck holes in the top, tie with one of my scarves, and voila. Here he is, modeling a few of my fabulous designs:

He's also in charge of a big ol' Scouting flag fundraiser--the Scouts in our ward purchased flags to put in people's yards during the patriotic holidays and it all kicks off tomorrow. Too hard to explain all the intricacies of pulling this puppy off (including disgruntled parents, spreadsheets, and filling out dozens and dozens of tithing slips for non-Mormon neighbors) but needless to say, it's a lot of work. He also wound up being in charge of organizing the Fathers and Sons outing last weekend somehow. They did get lucky with that one, though: it rained until 4 p.m., the outing started at 5, then it didn't rain again until 9 a.m. the next morning, so they had time to pack up all the tents. Here's Jonas, Wyatt, and a couple of friends, looking wet and happy:

But he does get a lot out of his calling, even if it take a lot of time, and he's enjoying baseball and spending time with Ethan and his friends. Add all this to his job--which is going well, even though it also requires a lot of time and mental energy--and it's a miracle he has time to do anything else. But he does. Like fly kites:

And make me doctored Mother's Day cards that are absolutely spot-on great:

And teach Wyatt how to ride his bike! This is Wyatt's very first try. Hop on, and there he goes!



I'm a lucky woman to have such a great guy in my life, I know.

And me? What's up with me. Well, I just finished Spring semester at UWRF and really enjoyed it. Do you want to see a picture of me in my cubicle? I sent this to Forrest one day when we were trying to Facetime each other and it wouldn't work. (Our Facetime still doesn't work, but this is much too boring to get into.)

My foiled Facetime picture:

Forrest's foiled Facetime picture:

Add caption

The big news for me on the job front is that I've decided to stay at UWRF. Long story short: Inver offered me a Fall schedule and my original plan was to stay at Inver, mainly because it pays a good deal more. (Minnesota!) UWRF offered me a schedule as well, but I told them I was going back to Inver and they understood; the pay thing bites them in the behind all the time. But then Spring semester schedule came out at Inver and, once again, there were only two courses available for adjuncts. Considering the fact that most adjuncts want at least three (if not more) courses per semester, and there are four adjuncts at Inver they really like, I knew my chances of getting anything at Inver for Spring were virtually nil. So I thought about it and decided that I would go back to my Dept. chair at UWRF and humbly ask if I could stay. (Technically I could have taught at Inver in the Fall and kept my fingers crossed that UWRF would offer me something for Spring, but they would have to hire someone to replace me for Fall and my name would fall out of rotation.) Luckily he was very happy to have me back and gave me a one year contract for both Fall and Spring with a MWF class schedule that fits perfectly with when the kids are in school. UWRF also gives me my own office, and the students are better prepared, and their adjunct positions are very stable. So, money isn't everything, I decided.

I'm also finishing up teaching home study seminary this week. They're making some changes with seminary and doing away with the home study class in our ward, so chances are good that I won't be teaching again next year. This makes me sad, actually: I loved teaching home study this year. But I can't do early morning again so, sigh . . . we'll see what the future will bring!

And that's where we are. Things are good. The kids are happy and healthy and summer is upon us.  Our June calendar is packed with camps and sports and all sorts of kid-related activities, so I'm sure there will be plenty of photos and other fun stuff to report over the next few weeks. And I might have a little extra time, now, to report it, so stay tuned.

*see comments

The Last Six Weeks Part 1

So I have a lot to blog about, don't I? And the truth is I still don't have time to do it. The truth is I'm 2/3 of the way through all the final papers (and revisions of previous papers) that landed in my inbox on Monday, but I told my students I'd have their grades done by the weekend and I darn well better get it done. Problem is a girl gets a little burned out after a while, so I'm taking a break and blogging. There's so much to catch up on that I'm going to have to break it into two posts. Today's post will focus on the kids, since that's what the Grandmas really want to know about, and the Grandmas are my most enthusiastic audience. So here goes!

Ethan

Even though Ethan decided not to try out for the Spring play, he's been quite busy, due mostly to the grueling test schedule that he's had to endure over the last month or so. Not only has he taken three AP tests (AP Chem, AP English Comp, and AP American History, otherwise known as "APUSH" by all the kids in the know), but he also had to take the SAT. Why the SAT you ask? Turns out that if you do well on the PSAT, which Ethan did, and want to qualify for National Merit Scholar, then you have to take the actual SAT as well. (It's a good thing there are counselors who tell clueless parents like me such things, because I have no idea how a lot of this stuff works. First kid = Guinea pig.) We're still waiting on his SAT score. He also took the ACT, which is the one that really matters, and we were thrilled when he got a 32 on his very first dry run try, with very little studying. He's going to take it again the first weekend of June, but there won't be much pressure because 32 is already a very good score. He's thinking of both BYU and Utah State, and I think scholarship considerations (which are probably much more likely at Utah State) will probably tip the balance, but we'll see. He's also working hard at school to make sure that this final trimester of his Junior year allows him to apply with a strong GPA.

He's been working on getting his Eagle project approved too. Finally. It was a giant pain in the keister trying to find a project that would pass muster, but he finally decided on building "field desks" (wooden lap desks that open to hold notebooks, pencils, etc.) for elementary schools that have a "forest school" program allowing kids to learn things while traipsing about in the wilds of Minnesota. Or at least in a field. Or at least outside.  He just met with all the Scouting honchos at Round Table (one word? two? And no, there aren't any knights involved) and is set to do the project this summer.

But it's not all studying and Scouting for Ethan. He still manages to spend plenty of (ahem) quality time on Reddit, his website of choice. But even better than Reddit? (Hard to imagine there's anything better than Reddit! Said sarcastically, and with a tiny bit of apprehension because I think Ethan will now read this and feel defensive, but whatchagonna do, I'm a mom.) Anyway, better than Reddit is baseball, which Ethan is playing with a group of friends from his speech/theater group, as well as a bunch of other boys who don't really know them and are probably thinking, "Hey, why are all these theater kids on my baseball team?" Ethan hasn't played since he was 11, and somehow Forrest got roped into being the coach (he's enjoying it, though, even if he has so very little time right now that he would totally sign up to do that Multiplicity thing that Michael Keaton did in that 90s movie). Ethan's having fun too and improving every game. It's a pretty relaxed bunch--a couple of Ethan's friends haven't played for a long time either--but the competitive juices still get flowing, even with in-house rec ball.

And then, once school is out the first week of June, Ethan's off to England with the theater kids again. It's an incredible opportunity for him to go, and it's been a bit of a sacrifice, but what a thing to be able to do! Bum around Great Britain with all your friends, see some plays, tour some castles. I'm jealous. Then, right after he gets back from England, the cast of his one act play is going to Nebraska for the National Thespian Festival after winning best one act at our state thespian festival. (I always want to say National Lesbian Festival, as well as National Lesbian Society. I can't help it. But what in the world would Ethan do at a National Lesbian Festival? He wouldn't fit in on a number of levels.)  So he's a busy dude. As soon as he gets home from Nebraska he is GETTING A JOB!!!

Wow. Ethan took up a lot of room.

Elise

Although I'm sure Elise will be just as busy when she's a Junior, it's been kind of nice to have her home more with a more relaxed schedule now that speech and choir have wound down somewhat. She's been busy as the new Mia Maid president in Young Women and really enjoys that, and has a good babysitting job lined up for the summer. She's also super excited about going to EFY the beginning of June and Girl's Camp in July.

Tomorrow she's heading to a "con" (anime convention) with her friend Sammy and is dressing up like Rainbow Dash, one of the My Little Pony characters. (If I haven't told you on the blog before, My Little Pony is a thing now among the teenagers.) Here she is, trying on her outfit and her excellent rainbow colored wig:

She also took a cute pic of the two of us on Mother's Day. Fifteen years old and still the best hugger, snuggler, and I-love-you sayer I know:

Jonas

Jonas is officially morphing into almost-teenager-but-not-quite-yet-hood. He has friends who are girls again. (Not girlfriends, but friends who are girls. Four-year-old Jonas had friends who were girls. Ten-year-old Jonas would never have had friends who were girls.) He's still the same dependable, obedient Joe, but I sense a flash of defiance and/or irritation occasionally sparking up in the air that has the all too familiar "Just you wait mom, my childhood is fleeing and there's nothing you can do about it!" feel.  He still hugs me though. Occasionally. Thank heaven.

He's enjoying being in Young Men instead of Primary and was so thrilled that he didn't have to traipse up to the stage on Mother's Day and sing. He's doing a great job passing the sacrament, although he keeps getting the confusing spot where you have to go out in the hall--but he's handling it with aplomb. He's also playing soccer. Because our weather has been so crazy they've pushed the season back a couple of weeks, but they're finally practicing out on the fields. On beautiful sunny afternoons, a soccer field is glorious:

 He's going to Scout camp this summer for a full week and has a bunch of friends who'll be joining him, so that will be fun. I remember being so nervous the first time Ethan went on a week-long Scout camp, but with Jonas I'm totally chill. Probably a combination of my much-more-chill mothering outlook and Jonas's general overall chillness as well.

I also took a video of his 6th grade choir singing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and doing hilarious choreography, but he absolutely refuses to let me upload it to the blog so I must respect his wishes. Sigh.

Wyatt

Wyatt has been SO THRILLED to finally see the weather turn. Nothing makes him happier than looking out the back door and seeing our neighbors Yuvraj and Aniraj out playing basketball on our other neighbors' (Anessa, Aliyah, and Amaya's) basketball court. Many gun battles with the boys and the girls have already commenced as well.

Not a good picture, but just for the sake of it: the neighbors' awesome basketball court which they let all the kids use whenever, and the partially obscured Yuvraj and Ani.

Wyatt's class also had a darling school play where they dressed up like barnyard animals. Wyatt was a dog. He's had a great Kindergarten year: a cute class, a nice teacher, and lots of opportunities to learn.  What more could you ask for? His reading has really taken off, too, which is always so fun to watch.

And most exciting of all, Wyatt learned to ride his bike! He's a little on the old side, but last year he was a bit nervous and Forrest and I decided not to push it. (Man--and this is becoming a theme tonight for some reason--how I pushed things back when Ethan was little. "It looks like most kids learn to ride their bikes before Kindergarten! You have to learn to ride your bike before Kindergarten even if you're scared!" Hey past self: chillax! Hey Ethan: sorry, hon :-/) But as soon as it warmed up Wyatt announced, "I want to ride my bike now," so Forrest took him outside and off he went. He's still figuring out the starting and stopping, but for the most part he's got it down. I have a great video of him taking off for the first time, but I don't have time to upload it. Maybe next post.

And that's enough break time from grading, and enough reading time for all of you, I'm sure! I promise I'll post part two sooner rather than later. After this weekend, I'm off for the summer!

Sunny Friday Evening

Finally! Sing hallelujah.

Rainy Sunday Afternoon

Our back yard, just a few days ago

It's raining outside, and grey, which is better than sleeting outside and freezing, I suppose. This spring has been a doozy: only a couple of days over fifty so far. Most days have still required that I dress Wyatt in boots, snow pants and gloves. There are many things I love about Minnesota, but this spring has reminded me of one thing that I don't: the seeming neverendingness of winter.

Spring is around the corner though, or so they say, and it will be exhilarating to see the green budding out on the barren tree branches and hear the birds sing every morning. Our bedroom gets beautiful morning light, and there's something so satisfying and peaceful about waking up at a reasonable hour on a Saturday morning and lying in bed in the sun for a few minutes, listening to birds.

This last year of teaching has been good. I do love teaching, and these college-age kids are pretty great human beings, most of the time. Not every class is a home run (some are foul balls) but a good class with good discussions, some laughter, and evidence of engagement and interest can lift me all day long. My home study seminary class has been wonderful, too--one of the best classes I've ever taught. Great kids, and so willing to talk about the gospel. They teach me too. I've enjoyed my Wednesday nights.

I do miss writing though. Why is it that I can't figure out how to integrate it into my life in a more regular way? I started a new novel, but then when I got hired at the last minute at UWRF I put it aside, vowing to get back to it when I got on top of everything at school (ha!). I've also felt the change of not blogging very much--not only am I not blogging as much here, but I stopped blogging for Segullah last year and don't do guest posts and other writing nearly as much as I used to.  I almost feel sheepish saying, "This summer! This summer when I'm not teaching I'll write more." But didn't I say that last summer and still the months got away from me? What I've got to do is make a plan and stick to it. But that's never been my strong suit, especially when kids and family need me too.

There have been so many sad, hard things on the news this week, as well as in the lives of some people I know. Ethan saw me watching the news of the marathon bombing the day it all happened and he looked at me very seriously and said, "Mom, you know it's not good for you to watch too much of that." (I think my kids were taken aback in December when I started crying in the middle of the kitchen a few days after the Newtown shootings. Crying moms always freak kids out.) But with Boston and the explosions in Texas and some tragedies in friends' lives and the never-ending freezing cold weather part of me has just been feeling like, "Seriously? SERIOUSLY?!?!" (You guys know that emotion, right?) Sometimes life just seems so hard. And not my life, really: just life, life. Sometimes when I'm at the grocery store I watch people, just really look at them (without them knowing of course, or I hope they don't know it, because who wants to think people at the grocery store are really looking at you? Horrors.) Anyway--sometimes when I watch people it just seems so clear to me that everyone is fighting a hard battle, as Marjorie Hinckley is wont to say, and I just think everybody in this world should be given a big, fat break.

And yes, I realize that this post makes me sound like I have Seasonal Affective Disorder, which I don't think I have but who knows, but even if I DO then the good news is that it's seasonal. Everything, all the hard stuff, it's seasonal. Life is so good, so very rich and beautiful and fun and important, and even for those whose lives are truly one hard slog--people who are not me, who would give anything to have even one of the blessings of family or health or financial security that I so often take for granted--even for those people, this life can also be good. I think of my pioneer ancestors who sang the line, "And should we die / before this journey's through / happy day!" -- a joke Forrest and I often have between us -- and I wonder what it would be like to live that life. A life so hard that the thought of rest and reward at the end of it was all that gets you through.  And still they kept walking and slogging. So many people keep walking in the midst of so much difficulty, and some of them even take a break from walking to sing and dance and eat a good meal with people they love. These are the people who inspire me most.

So. Spring will come. And I'm really okay: just ruminative. It's probably just the rain. I hear a little over a week from now, we'll finally have a day that's sunny and 65. I'll go on a walk and take in the sun and all will be right with the world.

March Madness

Holy frijoles, you mean I need to try to encapsulate everything besides Disney that went on in the month of March in one post? And this includes three birthdays, one Easter, a smattering of kid stuff, and uploading videos to Youtube? Alrighty then, I'll give it a go. First, birthdays!

Elise Julia turned FIFTEEN. Can you believe it? I can't. She's almost as tall as me, but I still have her by 1/2 an inch.  Here she is, her beautiful 15-year-old self:

This is a "family party" year for Elise, so we all went out and saw the new Wizard of Oz movie, then merrily criticized it all the way home. I fear Forrest and I have infected our children with the tendency to over-think giant plot holes and bemoan flimsy character motivation. But ripping a movie to shreds is also kinda fun, in its own way. (It was nice looking, I will say that.) Then we went home and enjoyed the first of many March birthday cakes:

Wearing her new green St. Paddy's Day sweater

Nothing like a Dad who photo-bombs. 

Speaking of Elise, she also had the opportunity to perform for a special Young Women's event a couple of weeks ago as well. Each young woman was asked to perform or create something that spoke to their testimonies. Elise chose a Christian song she learned at camp last year and did a wonderful job performing. Gave me chills. Here she is, singing beautifully . . . and the back of our bishop's head (please ignore--seated iPhone video):

Forrest also had a birthday: the big 4-2. Time keeps a-marching on. Forrest said he wanted a SingStar party for his birthday which, when I told my mom, made her laugh out loud. "Could you ever imagine your dad saying he wanted a SingStar party for his birthday? In a million years?" No, not in a million years, but to be fair to my dad, how many men would have that birthday request? Well, at least one: my man. We invited over five families and ate, laughed, and sang the night away. It was a great time; not a single party pooper in the bunch. In fact, everybody was singing loudly from the couch, as you can see:

See all those open mouths? Singing.

And to commemorate the fact that our Morrissey concert wasn't canceled once, not twice, but THREE TIMES (the third being the final cancelation--alas, the Morrissey tour is no more), here is Forrest and Steve, our Morrissey concert compadre, with a little tribute to a man who's now apparently too old and/or sick and/or tired to manage a heavy touring schedule anymore:

And then there's Jonas Leo! He turned the even bigger 1-2. A monumental birthday! Alas, he's also on the "no party" year (well, alas for him :-), but he was happy to go to DeLeo Brothers pizza with the family and eat some cake when we got home. He and Dad shared--that's what happens when you decide to come into the world one day after your dad did, 30 years before. As you can see, he also had to share a birthday cake.  

New headphones. And money! Money is always Jonas's favorite. He gave me $3 before I went to the grocery store yesterday and whispered, "Hey, can you pick up a box of Cocoa Krispies, just for me?" I was happy to oblige.

The biggest news, though, was Jonas receiving the Aaronic priesthood. He did a great job finishing up his Faith in God award and looked so confident and mature up there reciting his Article of Faith in front of the congregation. His dad gave him a beautiful blessing, too. Hard to believe my little boy is growing up so fast:

Currently my favorite 12-year-old in the universe.

Ethan didn't celebrate any birthdays, but he's been busy with school and speech, among other things. He's had a great run at speech this last month, placing highly in a number of competitions and earning 4th place at sectionals. It's hard to get a good feel for what that means if you're not familiar with speech, but our section is big and competitive: we have two of the biggest speech schools in the Midwest in our section, so placing at sectionals is a big dang deal. Ethan competed most of the season in creative expression, which is a piece he wrote himself, but he also competed in Duo, which is a pair of performers interpreting a script that's either humorous or serious. Ethan and his friend Ryan did a take on Jurassic Park which was HILARIOUS. If they do it again at the speech banquet I'll have to see if I can video it. But I did happen to be there judging at a meet when Ethan and Ryan won first place and got to watch the awards ceremony. It's kind of fun to watch the kids' faces as they figure out they're getting closer and closer to first place and they might just win it. You also get to see the famous speech "one clap!" All the kids on the gym floor have been called up as the top scorers and they find out in real time who wins. Ethan and Ryan are in the red ties:

And then there's Wyatt Dean! He's busy growing up but staying cute, as usual. A few pictures as evidence:

This week he gets to be "Star of the Week" in his Kindergarten class and we made a special poster this weekend. Two sample questions, answered without hesitation:

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: A stunt man! (News to me!)

Q: If you could have one wish, what would it be?
A: An army house with a bunker underneath. (You know! An army house with a bunker underneath? He drew a picture, but I still had a hard time quite picturing it. He thinks we could probably build one in the back yard.)

And lastly, Easter. This year the pictures weren't too bad, although I didn't take many Easter egg hunting shots. Now that the kids are getting older, it's mainly Wyatt who's getting up early, but all the kids still hunted for eggs with their names on them. And I still herded them outside before church began and made them smile for the camera in the freezing cold. Ah, springtime in Minnesota!

They are a good looking bunch, though. Gotta love em.

Whew! There it is. Thanks for sticking with me, even if you skimmed. Now onto spring. Please? Spring?

More Florida

And the travelogue continues!

On the third day of our trip we took a two hour drive south to visit what has been dubbed, by someone somewhere at some point in time, the best beach in the USA. And it was a very fine beach, I do agree. The sun was shining and temps were pushing 80, so it was a perfect day to go. It was a little busy, but the sand was excellent.

Here we are, frolicking:

Or reading a little Manga on the beach:

Of course, the boys had to play a little frisbee:

This is my favorite frisbee pic

Jonas chose not to play frisbee and instead decided to bury himself in the sand. I tried to get a picture of him but my camera focused on the guy in the foreground instead. I figured it was a perfect representation of the particular brand of ambiance you find at a public beach in Florida during spring break.

Here he is close up, sans tattooed-manboob guy:

After spending the day at the beach we headed to our new hotel, a sweet condo complex run by Hilton Grand Vacation Club that we sold our souls to stay at for a bargain basement price. It was a fantastic hotel--two full bedrooms, kitchen, nice pools, etc.--but Forrest and I had to spend 2 1/2 hours of our Monday morning listening to a sales agent named Jack Hammer (no I am not kidding), a grizzled man with a distracting case of post nasal drip and very little patience with "customers" who supply non scripted answers to his scripted sales questions, drone on about how "excited" we should be ("You're excited, right? Right? Aren't you excited?") to become "owners" instead of "renters" because "owners" are "winners." We escaped, though. Barely. And thoroughly enjoyed the rest of our time in our fancy digs.  

Later that day we took off once again to explore another Disney property, this time Epcot. It was my first time at Epcot and I loved it. So much to look at! I kept wishing my mom was there so I would have someone with whom I could meander through all the specialty shops; alas, the kids weren't so much into souvenir looking-but-not-buying. The food was good, though, and the kids were happy about that. We had some nice BBQ, some tasty Italian pastries, crepes, teriyaki chicken. So much better than the chicken sandwich at Tomorrowland.

Wyatt, enjoying some caramel sauce. He ended up drinking it straight from the cup. No, this was not an international delicacy. Just caramel sauce.

Jonas, making the acquaintance of a terra cotta warrior.

Wyatt, celebrating our Scandinavian heritage.

Elise, mysterious, with a fan.

A bonsai tree, mostly because it's cool. 

The boys (and Forrest, can you see him?) watching a street performer in "Italy." Elise and I were off getting pizza and Italian pastries.

All of us at dusk. A nice Asian family asked us to take their picture, so I asked them to do the same. It's a little blurry, but it's still a nice shot of all of us.

Fireworks at the end of the night.

Our last full day we spent at Hollywood Studios. At least part of the day. We were a little Disney Park pooped and only lasted until the early afternoon, then we left to enjoy the pools and do a little outlet shopping. But no pictures of that. Actually, I mist have been a little picture pooped as well, because I only took two at Hollywood Studios. First, this cute one of Wyatt and the Disney Dogs (although Goofy's near-humaness contrasted so sharply with Pluto's very-doggishness that it confused me as a child--was Goofy a dog, and if so, why did he wear clothes and Pluto didn't?) Anyway, there were only two people in line for photos with the Dogs, so I made sure I got one of Wyatt. It's the rule of lines at Disney: see one that's uncommonly short? Hop on in!

And here's the picture I forced the kids to take after riding the Rockin Roller Coaster. Super fun ride (even Wyatt loved it) and even though the kids weren't altogether thrilled that I made them put on hats and take a picture, I think this is a keeper. Even if Wyatt's hat is completely covering his face, he makes up for it with his "rock on" hand signs.

We had a fabulous trip. It's hard to believe that we only have one more year of all of us together . . . but I'm not going to think about that right now. I'm just grateful we have the chance to have great experiences like this.

Now we're back in Minnesota with only our memories to keep us warm. (Seriously. High teens today. Ridiculous!) But spring, real spring, is just around the corner. I can feel it.