Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

Also known as “Why I haven’t posted for almost two weeks”, as I’m sure you’ve guessed. We spent fall break in Idaho–leaving the morning of the 12th and coming home on the 16th–and I was busy enough prepping that I didn’t manage a post on the 11th. The day after we arrived I took the three older kiddos–my youngest was NOT interested–to meet my brother and various camping friends of his at Bruneau Dunes State Park, which (according to the website) “boasts the tallest single-structured sand dune in North America.” Only my oldest made it to the bigger dune–we started off at the smaller one and discovered that my 14-year-old wasn’t at all keen on the height of that one, while my particular 11-year-old climbed up and went down a few times before reaching his limit of SAND. I can’t say I blame him, really–it was windy, and while I’ve been to enough beaches that I can completely deal with sand from the neck down, sand blowing in my mouth and ears and sticking to my lips is just not pleasant. I took my middles home after lunch, and only my oldest stayed to hike up the big one and recreate more with cousins.

The rest of the trip was spent with family–eating, visiting my great-nieces and great-nephew that moved into my parents’ neighborhood this fall (as well as their mom–their dad was away training for work), and heading to DI to find magical items we didn’t know we needed. My niece spoke in church, I cut my foot on a pair of garden shears left on the patio while racing to let the 4-year-old into the house before she had an accident, and my oldest two went to a haunted house/corn maze that cost more and went later than I realized when I said yes. (Such is life–and parenting.) We were going to visit a state park with an Oregon Trail visitor and education center on the way home, but the visitors’ center was closed, so we decided to visit Golden Spike National Historical Park instead. It made for a bit more of a drive and some hangriness by the time we got home, but it was still neat to see (although also more expensive than I was hoping for). I’m thinking next year, when I have my last 4th grader, we should plan to visit our closest National Parks while it’s free.

Once we got home, of course, we got sucked into the whirlwind of school, appointments (both orthodontic and therapeutic), dance, Health Night at the elementary school, family pictures (I HATE, LOATHE, DESPISE, and ABOMINATE prepping for family pictures), and my son’s first band concert. (Which was touch and go there for a bit. When reminded that it was coming up in a few days, he went into panic attack mode and declared that he wouldn’t do it. Ultimately, we agreed that only I and Big Teddy (his comfort stuffie) would go, but my 14-year-old wanted to see her friends, and when I hesitantly approached him about her coming as well, he agreed with surprising calm. It ended up being a lot of stress beforehand but pretty chill the evening of, which was an incredible relief.) On Saturday I took the littles to pick apples at a friend’s orchard while my oldest stayed home not feeling terrific and my hubby took the 14-year-old to the Taylor Swift movie. The BYU game started at 5, which combination of events explains why my house still looks like a disaster instead of attaining its usual Saturday semblance of order.

This morning I did dishes, cut up a pot of apples to cook down into applesauce, and then turned my attention to the terrifying disarray that my computer area had become. It’s nowhere near perfect, of course, but progress has been made! My last item of blog business before I turn my attention to other projects is the graphic novel that I finished Saturday night and passed on to my youngest yesterday. Mat Heagerty’s Lumberjackula sounded bizarre but entertaining when my friend Britt and I came across it online; given its length (only a hundred and fifty or so pages) and its subject matter, I couldn’t resist putting it on hold and pushing through it myself so that kids could read it in October.

Spoiler alert? It was DEFINITELY bizarre. I’m not sure why Jack’s town seemed to be populated solely by Vampires and Lumberjacks (or why Lumberjacks are a species) while the next town or so over has a veritable “Monsters, Inc.” level of creature variety; on the other hand, it’s not MY fantasy world, so why not? It’s easy to sympathize with a kid who wants to please both his parents and so feels caught between his two heritages–although there’s an element of farce in how reminiscent his solo burn-off-steam-dance-sessions are to Kevin Bacon’s in “Footloose.” My biggest complaint is really more of a personal issue; plots where the lie goes on and on and ON have always driven me crazy. On the other hand, I don’t doubt that plenty of kids will completely understand Jack’s continued deceptions, although as a parent, it did bother me that he’s saved from them by other people. Since a book about a blue bearded kid who loves to dance clearly isn’t shooting for realistic fiction, however, go ahead and just enjoy the oddness of Heagerty’s tale; the message of self-acceptance is a good one, and I appreciate the proponderance of responsible, caring adults in Jack’s life. Let me know what your kids think of it!