Adventure is my middle name

Well, not really. . .I tend towards the mundane and predictable but I married Mr. Adventure, who is thrilled to finally have a vehicle with 4WD. On Sunday evening, when 6pm rolled around and he was no longer on call as an EMT, we packed up some sandwiches and piled into the Suburban. Plan A involved finding a thus far elusive road to a particular mountain pass, but it eluded us once again so we found other mountain roads to follow. Here is where we stopped for dinner:

Tailgating:

And a bit of high altitude snogging, just to embarrass the junior photographer:

We saw a variety of both wildflowers and wildlife, the latter including prairie dogs and rabbits, mule deer and antelope, ducks and birds. We also saw plenty of domestic animals: mostly cattle and horses, but also a few sheep. Open range always makes the drive interesting for us town folk, as you never know when you’ll have to watch out for the skittish calves or wait for Bossy to cross the road before you continue.

*~*~*~*~*

Monday’s adventures were a bit more urban, as Larry needed to make a pastoral call at a prison about two hours from home. It was in the same town as the nearest Sam’s Club, so we all piled into the Suburban and headed out again. We did take a short scenic detour to drive across a dam and then along the (unpaved, rutted) river road. . .but our detour was quickly put in reverse by panicked cries from the back row. Silly Boy had a frightening little pool incident while we were in Texas, which evidently bothered him more than we realized at the time.

Once we got to town, we ate a quick lunch at Burger King and then Larry dropped us off at Sam’s so that he could head to the prison. If you’ve never taken six children shopping before. . .don’t, at least not without another adult! As one older gentlemen commented to me, “It’s like herding butterflies, isn’t it?” “More like herding chickens,” was my reply. Because it had been several months since we last went to town to shop, my cart quickly filled with everything from blueberries to deodorant to gel pens. Larry returned in time to give me some much-appreciated help filling our canvas bags as the cashier scanned our goodies.

We stopped at the pet store long enough to pick out some “friends” for our new betta fish Neptune and then drove through Papa Murphy’s to pick up pizza for tonight’s dinner. We had hoped to do another scenic detour on the way home, but with two 4-H project meetings to attend that is an adventure that will have to wait for another day.

So much for that Mother of the Year award

A recent conversation (that will make more sense if you’ve read Harry Potter), on a day when Boy Genius was dragging his heels:

BG: But why do I have to dry the dishes?

Me: Alright then, why do I have to fix dinner?

BG: Because you’re the mom.

Me: Well, then, you have to help because you’re a kid, a part of this family.

BG: But you get special privileges!

Me: Oh, like what?

BG: You get to eat chocolate and stuff!

Me: Ah, but that is because sometimes you kids act like dementors!

Officially a Big Boy!

I know I’ve posted a lot of Bouncy Boy pictures this week, but today he lost his first tooth! His enthusiasm is positively contagious, so much so that Drama Boy was inspired to finish wiggling out his first baby molar tonight.

Rainy day

We don’t normally allow movie watching on weekdays, but this morning it is raining and the big kids are at the library’s summer reading program. A couple little boys were miffed at not being old enough, so I told them if their rooms were clean they could watch a movie.

It looks like Baby Boy isn’t too impressed by Silly Boy’s favorite movie, Cars; when I went down to check on them he was fast asleep in Twirly Girl’s beanbag chair. Bouncy Boy, in the middle, is awake, he’s just very mellow. “Hey, was that floating like a Cadillac or stinging like a Beamer? I’m confused.”

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Seventh, Bouncy Boy!

We celebrated Bouncy Boy’s birthday last Friday, while Papaw and Mimi were here to join the party. He chose homemade sausage pizza for his birthday dinner; yum!

As usual I baked a chocolate cake; he is a big Spidey fan right now so this was my best attempt at a Spiderman cake. . .he seems to like it and I got to practice some of the techniques I’ve learned by taking Boy Genius and Twirly Girl to cake decorating class.

After enjoying our cake, he dove into his presents. “It’s EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED!!” he squealed when he opened Papaw & Mimi’s gift.

Yes, his bear is wearing a Spider suit too. . .his gift from us was a Build a Bear the last time we went to town, and the bear’s name is (surprise!) Spider Bear. He alo received a soccer ball from Great Mimi and his older siblings made little gifts and cards for him. Since today was his actual birthday, other greetings have slowly trickled in via the morning mail.

Wordless Wednesday (June 2006)

Souvenirs

I do not do souvenirs in the traditional sense. I avoid souvenir shops as much as my kids will let me because I have no patience for buying “stuff” just to remind me where I’ve been. For that, I have memories. . .and lots of photographs to jog my memory.

However, that doesn’t mean we don’t shop when we’re on vacation! This has become more pointed now that we live in the middle of nowhere. If we’re lucky enough to be near a Trader Joe’s, our “souvenir” of choice is 2 or 3 canvas shopping bags full of goodies for our pantry. On our Texas trip, we happened to stumble into a Cost Plus World Market for the first time ever. Oh my goodness! That was fun. Among other things, we picked up a couple stocking stuffers to put away until St. Nicholas Day and some interesting new beers for Larry to try. And I found a couple of things that had been on my shopping list for a long time, and now using them will remind me of our trip.

No more serving salad with our fingers (or a pair of stainless serving spoons, when we had guests)! Yes, I know that’s a small bowl of salad. . .most of our kids will only take the bare minimum of their leafy greens.

And a new rug for the kitchen door! We had been using the blue and white rug we bought for our bathroom as newlyweds (our townhouse had a surprisingly large bathroom), but its rubber backing gave up the last time I threw it in the washer. What a mess, but after a few weeks of using a beach towel for wet shoes we now have a cheery new rug.

Wheeels

Last Wednesday, Larry had a follow up appointment with his allergist in Billings; we all went along to run some errands and spend time together. Well, while we were there we decided to look for a vehicle since the market is much larger than here at home. We already knew we wanted a late 90s Suburban for its combination of passenger and cargo space (just an FYI, thanks to our friends Kevin & Diane we knew that starting in 2000, the floor in the back row was raised, eliminating needed leg room for growing boys). We found two to test drive that afternoon; the first was a black 1999 with only 101K miles. It drove nicely but it was a basic model and we didn’t want to buy the first one we found, so we drove a white 1997 next. That one was such a clunker, I’m not sure why we bothered to drive it except that we had already moved all the carseats!

We then stopped at a couple more larger dealers who didn’t have what we needed. By this time, the smaller dealers were starting to close for the night. As some of you know, once Larry starts a project he likes to finish it. So we picked up some bare necessities at Walmart (including a new tire for our van, which had picked up a big honking bolt along the way), stopped at Kohls to get nightgowns for those of us who can’t sleep in our skivvies, ate some dinner, and then drove through countless used car lots making notes of anything worth looking at in the morning before falling into a hotel room for the night.

Thursday morning after breakfast, Larry made a few phone calls and narrowed it down to two more Suburbans to drive. When we arrived at the lot with the green 1998, we found that the 140K miles quoted on the phone was actually 175K miles. Thanks, but no thanks–we were looking for something that might last until we’re ready to downsize again. The natives were getting restless, so we took them to the mall for their promised Build a Bear trip: Boy Genius had saved his money to buy a bear, Drama Boy had earned enough money to buy an outfit for his bear, and we let Bouncy Boy pick out a bear and outfit for his birthday later this month. Meanwhile Larry started making phone calls regarding financing.

Then it was time to get back to business and test drive that red 1999. Oh dear. . .it had the leather seats I wanted (and all the controls still worked on the passenger seat). But the 150K miles turned out to actually be  190K miles! And it clearly had issues so after a short drive, we decided maybe the green 1998 was worth driving after all. Feeling we were close to a decision, we requested a long enough test drive to take it to a mechanic for a buyer’s inspection. Luckily for the kids, the shop was across the street from Chuck E. Cheese; unluckily for us, now the kids know what is behind those doors! We ate a very late lunch while the green 1998 was being inspected, and then, because time was growing short, we drove it to get the black 1999 and take it to the mechanic before returning the green 1998. The dealer was not very happy with how long we had his Suburban; then again, we weren’t very happy with his making a point of “Look no oil leaks” and then it leaking by the time we stopped to add a couple gallons of gas a few miles down the road.

As it turned out, the inspection was well worth the expense: the green 1998 needed enough repairs to nearly double the asking price while the black 1999 needed the u joint fixed (replaced?) before we could drive it home and then only a handful of minor repairs once home. And so that is what we decided to do, but by this time the banks were closing and. . .you guessed it. . .that meant spending another night. So we headed to Goodwill for a round of fresh shirts (and bottoms for the little guys who had had diaper/potty incidents. . .okay and new jeans for Larry because he actually found a pair his size, and a new skirt for me for the same reason), and also went back to Walmart for fresh socks and undies all around. Because we had eaten lunch so late, this seemed like as good a night as any to have ice cream for dinner and so we did before returning to the same hotel for another night.

On Friday morning, we were ready to go before the bankers were, so Larry let me spend time browsing a lovely little yarn shop where I bought yarn and needles to attempt my first pair of socks. Once the paperwork was a thing of the past, we still had to wait for that u joint work to be done while we ate lunch and otherwise killed time. Once it was ready, it took some time to transfer all our “stuff” from one vehicle to the next; meanwhile, Bouncy Boy fell and got a nasty bump on his head. . .and the ice pack in our first aid kit didn’t work. So we found a Walgreens and patched him up; and then I saw a lighting store, so I went in and picked out a new ceiling fan for our room.

Once we were finally on the road, we couldn’t wait to get home. Instead of stopping for dinner, we picked up a pizza from Papa Murphy’s, although you’ll have to trust me when I say “You don’t WANT to know how late we ate dinner Friday night.”

And that is how we became the proud new owners of a 1999 GMC Suburban.

Wordless Wednesday (June 2006)