Layers

After setting up camp this last week, we wanted to take our children on a hike from Bear Lake to Bierstadt Lake and then to the Bierstadt shuttle.


Bierstadt Lake

Somehow we made a wrong turn and ended up hiking all the way back to the Park and Ride. A little longer hike than we had planned on, much to our children's delight.

Chris was explaining to Misha along the way that when you hike it is good to wear your clothing in layers so that you can remove or add clothing one piece at a time and regulate your temperature. Kristen piped in "Shrek has layers."

7th Annual Camping with the Hansens

I'd like to say that we are die hard Hansen Campers, but we probably fall short by one night (miserable for all who stayed). I am not much of a camper. Chris knew that when he married me, and somehow he has worked his magic. The first year we drove up to the camp site and joined in the fun for the evening. We drove home as thunder rumbled, lightening flashed, and the rain poured. I was sooooooo grateful that we weren't sleeping over. Some of the campers were soaked by morning, all were chilled that's for sure. Some who got soaked have since bought a tent big enough to sublet. Chris found an old tent at a garage sale that summer, and I begrudgingly allowed him to buy it. Begrudgingly because I knew what was coming. We purchased sleeping bags at Shopko back when they were in business in Colorado that were warm to 35*. Woohoo. He placated me by saying they were for our storage. And so the next year, the Klines were pitching their tent right along side the rest of the campers. I had worried that my 1 and 2 1/2 year old would be in the fire the whole time. Not to worry, Amy was a responsible camper and Misha we later found out had strep and an ear infection. I held her the entire time we were there. Subsequent summers we made our annual trek to Rocky Mountain National Park in our $5 garage sale tent. It lasted through our first summer camping with Kristen. Yes, I took a three-month old camping. Don't worry though, she was so bundled in a snow suit, she didn't move an inch the whole night. The next summer we upgraded our accommodations to a two-room suite. And each year our camping supply grows in some manner. We didn't completely get rid of the $5 tent; we kept the fly and now use it as a canopy. We now have TWO dutch ovens. And I use them. (Bishop Wilson let us use his dutch oven table, and now I am sold and will have one of my own next year.) We have tarps up the wazoo, a camp stove, halogen light sticks, a propane light, and of course, the trusty dust buster comes along.

 

This is our van as we were leaving. Amy was stuck in the back seat. Literally. Miguel A. made the comment that Chris and I were the most organized couple he had ever seen. People made fun of us for bringing the dust buster, but it made the rounds. We began with just an overnighter, but we all spent so much time setting up camp and then taking it down, that we decided for the extended stay option--two nights. Our last morning is a group breakfast complete with artery-clogging bacon and sausage, pancakes, hash browns, scrambled eggs, juice, milk, fruit and anything left over that you don't want to take home. We usually go on some kind of hike the second day. This year we detoured from the Alberta Falls hike to visit the Alluvial Fan, a whopping, heart-pounding 0.2 mile hike. Still it was beautiful.

  For some reason, the dirt seemed especially apparent this time. It is black and nasty, and even Kristen asked to take a shower when she got home. So with another year behind us, I suggested we all go on a cruise for our 10th year. Only fitting since I don't like camping anyway.

Swimming with Jamie

Jamie, my kids' adult friend, as they like to call her, invited us to come swimming at the neighborhood pool in her development. She made lunch and brought snacks for us. She is one of the nicest people you will ever know. You can tell as the little boy, Garett, glommed on to her and wanted to play catch all afternoon.



My girls had fun swimming with her and playing "find the quarter" that kept on magically disappearing. Someone was finding soda money.





Oops!

Blondie

Misha is thrilled with her new look. As the second child, she doesn't always get her moment to shine. Now everybody notices her; most don't recognize her. Yesterday in Primary, she was sung to as a "visitor". Maybe blondes DO have more fun.

Messing with the Ice Cream Man

We had a picnic at Settler's Park on Saturday afternoon with friends. The weather was perfect, the kids had plenty of places to run and play, the food was plentiful and delicious. Someone had commandeered a shopping cart from King Soopers and left it at the park; the kids thought it was great fun to push each other around. Parents cringed as kids careened around corners, "They're going to tip that thing."

Of course, what is a summer afternoon without the melodic sound of the Ice Cream Man (hereafter called ICM) and his freezer truck? Really though, how does he stay sane listening to that awful music all day long?! Anyway, kids at a park were a prime target, and he was taking full advantage. He made his first round past the park without any takers. Oddly enough, none of the kids came running back to us, "Can we have some? Please. Please. Please." They had other sinister plans in mind.

We heard the ICM coming around a second time before we actually saw him. He drove slooooooooowly past the kids playing on the playground equipment, did a u-turn and drove back past again, and then stopped. The parents were all making comments about the ICM's efforts. He finally left without dispensing any cold treats.

A couple of minutes later, Amy came back to the covered pavillion we were lounging under and said, "Did you see the ICM?" Her eyes were dancing with mischief. I acknowledged that we had indeed seen the ICM. "It was so funny," she laughed, "he was driving past and I started yelling at him, 'I want some. I want some.'"

Hmmmm. I can see where this is going.

"We pretended like we wanted some ice cream and he turned around to come back and we all ran away. Isn't that hilarious?"

We had to laugh at the cruel joke she had pulled on the ICM. It's probably not the first or the last time it'll happen, but Amy was pretty pleased with her performance. The ICM probably makes a mental note though and thinks, "See if I stop for her ever again!" You just wait though, someday we'll hear about the ICM going postal. It'll be a tragic result of the music, the taunting, and the mindless driving.

Cereal Mixing

Next to oatmeal, a bowl of cereal is my favorite breakfast, lunch or snack. Not just any bowl of cereal, mind you. It has to be mixed. A bowl of Raisin Bran alone is so completely boring and unappealing. To make it interesting, I might add a handful of Cheerios, Mini-Wheats, something with grains and nuts, and/or Life. There's a few cereals I won't add. That would be abominations such as Lucky Charms and Fruit Loops. I don't even care for Rice Krispies. But once my cereal concoction has been created, I add milk, and Voila! Delish.

Double Delish: If you want to completely blow your diet, grab a chocolate chip cookie or two, break them into small pieces and hide them under the Raisin Bran so your children don't see you eating cookies with your cereal. That's a hard one to explain away and "I'm the Mom, that's why." doesn't always cut it.

Christopher on the other hand, NEVER, EVER, EVER mixes his cereal. He doesn't know what he is missing.

Expectations and Orange Buckets

Chris and I have determined that, in a world of slackers, our children will not be numbered among them. If you drive by our house on any given day in the next couple of weeks you'll find orange "Home Depot" buckets sitting close to our front door. If our children have completed one of the tasks on their list of things to do that day, the buckets will be filled with rocks.

Eventually we want to have some kind of water feature gracing the entry to our home... someday. So really there is no need to have the rocks moved at this point, other than to give Amy and Misha a job to do.

Amy and Misha have had a lot of additional chores this summer. To their credit, there has been little complaining. Every morning I make a list of jobs for them to do that day. They keep track of what they have done and what they have left to do and every day so far, all of the jobs have been erased AND there has been minimal nagging. They get a job done, they come back to the board. Chris and I are both impressed.

We are also endeavoring to teach our children the importance of exercise. You may or may not agree with our methods, but it seems to motivate them. At the beginning of summer break, we explained to Amy and Misha that we expect them to exercise at least 5 times a week throughout the summer for a minimum of 20 minutes each time. That may mean boxing on the Wii, jumping on the trampoline, riding bikes, taking swimming lessons. (Exercise is included in their lists of "things to do.") There is a reward for this activity. If they successfully fulfill their requirements, we will give them $50 at the end of the summer. Talk about an exciting motivation for them.

Really though, it's no different than the program set up by our local library to encourage our children to read throughout the summer. They get small prizes for reading a number of hours throughout the summer toward a final prize of a book bag and a book. It's all about filling buckets.

Work, work, work...there is no satisfactory substitute.
Ezra Taft Benson

The Pressure of Being Polly

Polly finally went over the edge. So hard when you're compared to Barbie "Beautiful" all the time, and those Bratz girls. You just can't trust them. But what did Polly with the beautiful blonde hair and Bendy-girl Polly do? They seem to simply have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Polly was heard muttering to herself before the drastic end came, "It's no use. I just can't be perfect all the time."

Sources close to Polly admit that her behavior has been somewhat erratic over the last two weeks. "She just wasn't herself," an anonymous friend lamented, "but I never expected this!!!"

More at eleven.

A Not-So-Happy Happy Visit

Today Kristen had her first dental visit--a happy visit as the dentist's office likes to call it. You've probably all done them. The goal is to introduce your child to the dentist and help them feel comfortable having foreign things in their mouth.

Lisa, the hygienist, seems a little nervous. She talks to my three-year old as though she were Misha's age and could understand the idea of a little tube sucking the spit out of her mouth. By this point, Kristen looks at the little tube and you can see the fear creeping into her eyes. Next Lisa introduces the polisher. Kristen is fine letting her run the polisher against her thumb, but move it toward her mouth and cries began to escape. Much to Kristen's disappointment though--she is doing her best to keep her lips clamped shut! Such a happy visit so far.

I must admit, I proceed to ruin it for Kristen. Lisa somehow succeeds in polishing Kristen's eight front (top and bottom) teeth. "Now don't swallow the paste," Lisa admonishes a three-year old on the verge of tears again, as she brings the spit-sucking tube closer to Kristen's mouth. I jump in and say, "Let's let her spit in the sink next to her." So, I try to pick Kristen up and just as she is spitting, my grip slips and Kristen falls against the sink and bloodies her lip! Way to go, Mom.

There's no way Kristen's letting the dentist continue this charade. The only happy thing about this visit is her new tooth brush and tiny tube of tooth paste (or poop paste as she says) which Kristen clutches to her chest.

"Well, let's try a happy visit again in six months." Dr P says. Sure, we can try that. The problem I see is not being able to erase the memory of this not-so-happy visit.

Nasty Spider

Amy and I were working in the laundry room when I suddenly heard Misha start to cry as though she were in a lot of pain. I dropped the dirty clothes back in the basket and ran to see what was wrong. Sadly, I ran right into the problem. Misha doesn't like spiders-even the little bitty ones-and there was a huge one dangling from the ceiling. I was attached to it two seconds before I saw it! Uggh! It started climbing up toward my face; I kept sweeping my arm wide through the air to disengage it's string from me. My heart was pumping, and I yelled at my equally scared daughters, "HIT IT!" They weren't budging. Finally, the arcing sweep of my hand caught the web and the spider plummeted to the floor. I grabbed a shoe and handily sent it to it's death. Whew! Well....back to the laundry. That would have been quite the candidate for "America's Funniest Home Videos".

Dads

My dad is wonderful. You could classify him as a jack-of-all-trades. He built houses, gardened, fixed cars, fished, scouted-and he was skilled at all of it. Many things I learned from him, others I wish I had (woodworking). My "wish list" for a husband included many of the skills, attributes and talents that I saw in my dad. He is a kind, patient, and loving father.



When I met Chris, I was instantly attracted to him, but I didn't realize that he too had many skills and talents yet to share. Some of the skills he had that pleasantly surprised me was the ability to fix cars, do electrical wiring, fix things around the house, and pick up new skills such as installing a sprinkler system. He, too, is a kind, patient, and loving father.

I am grateful to have both of these men in my life. Love ya.

Family Picture

Becky of Bphotogenic took family pictures for us last month. We love how they turned out. This is one of my favorites.

All Smiles

Misha started taking violin lessons last week. She is excited to be taking lessons and couldn't wait to practice "peanut butter sandwich" after her lesson today. I can't help but think those words as she practices now. What makes me really happy though is that she walks out of her lesson with a grin on her face. I'm excited that she's excited.

We Should Have Known

We were visiting at Wasden's last night for dinner and Family Home Evening. They have kids that match our kids' ages almost exactly, and they all get along great. After dinner, the four older kids were outside playing while Kristen and Sophie (they are both 3) played upstairs in Sophie's room. The door was closed, and we kept saying, "They are playing so quietly together." Those two were up there for at least an hour.

It was getting late and we started rounding up all of the Kline kids. Sophie and Kristen come waltzing down the stairs, "Look at us. We're beautiful." Sophie was holding a Barbie Volkswagen Beetle and Kristen a Barbie. They were slathered in Aquaphor (ointment for dry skin), Barbie and the VW were slathered, and it was all over the carpet--they were well-moisturized. It was impossible to rub the stuff in and it couldn't be washed off.

We should have known that quietness from two 3 year-olds is not natural. We should have checked. We should have..... but we didn't.

After further inspection, Tasha noticed that the entire doll house and its poor residents were slimed! Hey, at least they all have soft skin. The pictures show mostly Kristen and Sophie's slimy hair. By this time we had wiped the layer of Aquaphor off their bodies--they looked like newborns covered in the "cheesy" white stuff.

Ahhhhhhh

I was putting Kristen in bed for the night. She likes to sing songs and be sung to. We started out with my goodnight lullaby and then Kristen chose "I Am A Child of God." No surprise there since we sing it most every night. As we were singing she says to me, "Mom, your beauiful (no t)." She caught me by surprise.

Kristen!

My girls are experiencing the opportunity of helping with more chores around the house while on summer vacation. Misha cleaned the tv screen yesterday and this morning I heard, "Kristen! (said in three syllable) I just cleaned that yesterday." It made me smile.

Last Days of Vacation

We drove back to Phoenix on Friday morning, stopping midway to shop at the Outlets at Anthem. It is an up and coming area, but not quite there yet. Our girls rediscovered the joy of coloring and amusing themselves in a car--when they weren't bugging each other. They've become desensitized to long trips with the DVD player in the van, and so have we as parents.

It was close to 100* in Phoenix. Shortly after we returned to Grandpa's house, the girls were spraying on the sunscreen (I love spray on sunscreen) and jumping in the pool. I never once agreed that the pool water was that warm and never fully immersed myself in the pool--the hot tub, yes. By August, the water will be a wonderful 90 some degrees. My kids were jumping in and out of the pool non-stop having a super time. I took a small tea set for Kristen and she sat by the edge of the pool and poured "tea" for hours on end--herbal of course.



We met up with our great friends, the Wilcox family, on Friday evening. We wish that we had been able to spend more time with them. They have three girls. We have three girls. And those that walk get along pretty well. The picture of all of us came out rather fuzzy, but here it is anyway.



We said goodbye to Grandpa and Grandma Sunday morning. My girls always have a hard time with goodbye. They miss family a lot and enjoy the time they spend with grandparents especially.

Here's a beautiful shot from the back patio of Grandpa's house on Saturday night and a last photo opportunity Sunday morning.

Montezuma Castle

On our way back to Phoenix from Sedona, we stopped at the sister site to Tuzigoot--Montezuma Castle. It was amazing. Visitors to the monument used to be able to actually climb up into the cliff dwellings to explore.



We listened to one of the volunteer guides talk about the Sinagua people who once populated these cliff dwellings. They created a 20 room high-rise apartment, farmed, and fished in nearby Beaver Creek. I thought it was fascinating.

Vacation within a vacation

Christine a.k.a. Grandma was gracious enough to use some of her timeshare points for us in Sedona, Arizona. We took off on our vacation within a vacation on Wednesday, and arrived in Clarkdale (about 20 mintues from Sedona) midafternoon. In our exploration of this little town, we passed through tons of construction but finally ended up at a town park complete with a gazebo in the center. The girls were thrilled to pile out of the car and headed straight for the playground toys (Chris also let us use her Nissan while we visited). A quick snack after playing and we were on our way again.




On a side note, we gleaned a valuable piece of information on this trip. A sedan is not a good idea for our family. Oh, we fit well enough, it's just that our children were close enough to touch each other. That caused problems.

We had a little extra time before checking in at 4 pm and decided to visit Tuzigoot National Monument ruins in Camp Verde, AZ. The ruins were built on a hill and were surrounded by valley on all sides. We had fun exploring the small museum and ruins. Amazing to think about living in such primitive conditions. From the website:

"Tuzigoot is an ancient village or pueblo built by a culture known as the Sinagua. The pueblo consisted of 110 rooms including second and third story structures. The first buildings were built around A.D. 1000. The Sinagua were agriculturalists with trade connections that spanned hundreds of miles. The people left the area around 1400. The site is currently comprised of 42 acres."









As we drove in to the Sedona valley, we were awed by the beautiful mountains and land forms. Kristen had finally fallen asleep and we decided to drive around to give her ample time to rest. We headed up one of the mountain passes and enjoyed the wonderful scenery. Kristen only slept for maybe 40 minutes (she has never been a good car sleeper), so we decided to stop at a little Dairy Queen on the side of the road for a cookie dough blizzard and check out the Indian jewelry being sold. I found the cutest little bracelet for Kristen.

Our kids were tired of all the time in the car and were ready to be done. They also knew that there was a heated swimming pool at the resort and were anxious to try it out.

Our favorite time of the day...

More Vacation Highlights

Much to our girls' delight (NOT!), we hiked on Thursday morning. Our first stop was the Overlook. They called it a hike, but really it was just climbing up rocks to a mesa with a beautiful view.









We hiked along the Brewers trail and then later up Soldiers Pass. Kristen had the cushy ride but wasn't quite as appreciative as she should have been. We passed the Seven Pools, and I had hoped to find the arches, but my kids pooped out.





We spent time shopping and, of course, swimming on Thursday afternoon. Chris was pretty ticked off that a lunch of sandwiches on Wonderbread came to almost $40 in the tourist mecca of Sedona--especially when certain children ordered something and then decided that they didn't want it. The whole "eat it or you get it for breakfast" spiel worked pretty well.

Hiking the Pass

Grandpa is an avid hiker/exerciser and was thrilled to take us up Telegraph Pass. It was the third climb up the pass for Chris and I, but a new experience for the people in our house with shorter legs. Misha was a little energizer bunny and hiked right on up, Amy and I kept pace with Chris who had the added bonus of 40 extra pounds called "Kristen in a back pack" to carry.





It was a fun, busy day as the girls also got to go for rides on Grandpa's motorcycle. The helmet was so huge on their little bodies, if they had leaned too far in any direction, they would've fallen right over.





Monday afternoon we headed south for a little glider time. Grandpa thought for sure Amy would be big enough to go up in the glider but it was a little iffy on Misha. Sadly, the owner of the small airport determined that neither Amy nor Misha were big enough for the seatbelts to give adequate support. Talk about some disappointed little chicas. Grandpa had to recertify with two solo flights and then it was my turn. There weren't enough thermal air pockets to keep the glider afloat for too long and my ride was over pretty quickly. Chris then climbed into the passenger seat. His first ride was short and sweet, but Larry a.k.a. Grandpa decided to go for one more time. They flew a little more south and were able to stay aloft for quite some time.









Meanwhile on the ground, all of us girls (Amy, Misha, Me, Kristen and Grandma) were getting hot and tired. We finally retreated to the shade and Amy took advantage of my MP3 player to pass the time. She danced and sang (quite off tune I must say) and was oblivious to the workers trying to stow the gliders in the hangar. I called her three times, each time a little louder and still she didn't hear. I finally had to grab her by the arm to get her attention and move her out of the way.

Skipper on my Shoulder Makes Me Happy

I am sure many of you have heard and sung along to the John Denver classic "Sunshine on my Shoulder Makes Me Happy" Every time I saw Misha and her new best friend Skipper, I thought of that song but changed the words slightly to '[Skipper] on my shoulder makes my happy.' To be honest, Amy and Kristen wanted little to do with Skipper, and I wasn't all that keen on him climbing through my hair either. But Misha was happy to walk around with Skipper as her new BFF and Skipper was rather content to hang around Misha.




Sadly, that all changed on Wednesday. Amy and Kristen were trying to go upstairs and big, ferocious Skipper was on the stairs. They tried to pass and came running in to the living room, "He's pecking me. He's pecking me." They got riled up, Skipper got riled up and when Misha came to rescue them all, Skipper took a little chomp on her face. The next line of the song says, "Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry" but was changed to "Skipper peckin' my face can make me cry."

Misha was soooooo disappointed. When I asked her what happened to her face, she replied, "I don't want to talk about it." By the end of the week, and after a few days apart, they began to be friends again, but Misha was pretty heartbroken.

Fun in the Sun

Much to my girls' disappointment, it was too cold to swim on Saturday afternoon. All they had dreamed of over the past couple of weeks was swimming in Grandpa's pool, and the weather wasn't cooperating. Fortunately, Grandpa has a hot tub. It hadn't been used in awhile, and it took some time for the bubbles to recede, but my kids enjoyed those too!

The 4:00 am wake up call caught up to us mid-afternoon.

 

Family Vacation

Our flight to Arizona last Saturday left at 6:50 am. The girls were so excited that they bounded out of bed at 4:15 am with smiles on their faces. Kristen was especially excited to go on an airplane but everyday for two weeks prior to leaving we had to explain that we weren't leaving the next day. Chris finally made countdown loops for her and then he headed off to New York. He arrived home at 10 pm Friday evening and we were up and out of the house before 5 am Saturday morning.

We arrived at the airport with a few minutes to spare (here we are happily standing in line), but sadly the people in front of us were not airport savvy and stood in front of their check-in kiosk for probably 15 minutes waiting for help. We were stuck in the middle of a line and couldn't move! So frustrating. By the time we tried to check-in, we were past the one hour check-in window and told that we would not make our flight. Our luggage was sent on the next flight and we were on stand-by. The likelihood of all of us getting on the next flight was nil.

Chris, my airport warrior, decided that we were going to try for our original flight anyway even though the people at the check-in counter adamantly told us we wouldn't make it. Oh me of little faith wasn't "booking it" through the airport quite as quickly as he and the excitement-filled girls were when he turned around and rather rudely said, "Hustle!" Rude. However, we did get on our original flight with minutes to spare. I should never doubt Chris in an airport.

From there our flight was smooth, and I have concluded that the employees at DIA could use some friendly lessons. We arrived in Phoenix ahead of our luggage, and since we had a little time to spare, Grandpa and Grandma treated us to breakfast at IHOP. I know this will be hard to believe, but I was really grateful that I had brought my jacket. It was chilly!