Oil Ranch and Zoo Boo

Fear not, readers, I haven't been a complete slacker despite my lack of blog posts.  This month has actually been pretty eventful for us, and the only reason I haven't been posting much is because it took me a good two weeks to recover from the trauma that consisted of driving 12 hours by myself with two kids and almost spinning off the road at midnight in Arkansas.  But I'm sort of back in action, so here are a couple of updates on what we've been doing.

 

First off, we went to the Oil Ranch with my ward's playgroup.  I'm really grateful that it was all planned for me and we got a group rate, because I honestly don't think paying $30 to get into that place would have been worth it. The kids ended up having fun, but it was enough headache for me that I probably wouldn't go again. Instead of having an actual pumpkin patch, they had small pumpkins set out on the grass for the kids to take-- you know, the kind they use for pies that you can buy at HEB for $2.  But other highlights included pony rides, which Violet loved but Charlie wouldn't go near to save his life:

 A romp in a big stack of hay:

 Also, a petting zoo, but Violet is afraid of petting zoos ever since the deer at the rodeo ate her skirt, so we didn't go in that.  But the kids did like looking at the bunnies in their cage.

A tractor ride to go feed some cows, which should have been named the screaming tractor ride of terror, because the cows stick their heads in the wagon and lick anyone in sight, and their tongues are long enough to wrap entirely around Charlie's wrist (although even with a cow's tongue wrapped around his wrist, Charlie didn't get the memo that you're supposed to let go of the food).  The kids were fine after they figured out that dropping the food on the floor of the wagon and letting the cows eat it from there was a much better idea.

 After that, it was hot and Charlie started getting really grumpy and I was about to call it a day and make the hour-long trip home even though we had only been there for an hour.  I finally made a last-ditch effort to make him happy and took a little train ride, which was essentially the same as the tractor ride except that it didn't involve invasive cows and didn't have a 30-minute wait in the hot sun to get on it. So, it was exponentially better. 

The last thing we did there was nothing short of a miracle, and may have been the only thing all day that changed my view of this trip from "totally not worth it" to "pretty fun."  We found an empty bouncy house. We had tried bouncy houses before but they were full of school kids (and to be honest, pretty bratty ones) and Charlie left screaming every time.  But this one, oh, just look at his face. Have you ever seen him so happy?

 The next eventful we went to was Zoo Boo.  Basically, they have trick-or-treating at our zoo.  Awesome, isn't it?  And although it was just as expensive, it wasn't a two-hour round trip and Charlie never complained, so in my opinion it was more than worth it.  There were a few booths scattered around the zoo where you could get candy, play games, and even pick out and decorate pumpkins.

And can I just talk about Charlie's costume for a minute? He was originally going to be Pasquale (the chameleon) from Tangled, but I had nowhere near enough energy to make it.  So I pulled out Violet's old chicken costume and stuck it on him.  When we first put it on him, he had just woken up and was a little confused. But when he walked up to the mirror, he gasped, started clapping, and yelled, "Chicken!  Bok bok!"  I still can't get over how cute (and funny) he looked in it.  I just. can't. handle. it.

 And of course, Violet was a very pretty (and rather convincing) Rapunzel.

More Nashville fun

I'm not going to do a day-by-day post because we really haven't been doing anything too exciting.  But I will post some stories from our trip, and I promise they will make you laugh.

-- Violet consistently gets dirtier than all 3 Funk kids combined.  They found a sand pile at Soccer practice and all started playing in it.  But whose child had the bright idea to lay down in it? That's right, my little princess.  She also fell into the stream (almost completely submerged) when they were playing around Edwin Warner park, and if that wasn't enough, a few minutes later she fell face first onto a freshly cut field of grass, which all stuck to her wet, sticky body.  When she got into the car she was still soaking wet and now covered in grass, too.  Carrie kind of wondered how she always manages to get so filthy.  She's just special that way.

-- Charlie is also attracted to dirt. The other day he started eating some and got a patch of it on his upper lip that made him look like Baby Hitler.  When we were washing him off that night we had planned on only rinsing his extremities but then decided to wash his hair, too.  And when we did, the entire bottom of the bathtub became black.  We had never seen so much dirt come off of so little an area.  Good call on the hair washing, I guess.

-- I bought everyone lunch at Costco the other day (I know, I'm so nice, spending $1.50 each on our kids) and Charlie turned down his water when he saw Carrie's Diet Pepsi.  He kept taking my hand and reaching for it and yelling, "Soda! Soda!"  When he finally got a sip, he took a deep breath and yelled, "Must. Drink. ALL!"  He and Carrie also share a soft spot for Dirty Diet Cokes.

-- We had a "sleepover" in my room last night.  Since Violet was sleeping by her cousins and not with me, she stole my pillow, which made it hard for me to fall asleep.  I used Elmo, followed by a towel, followed by a stuffed dog, and it turns out that none of the three make for an acceptable pillow.  Graham woke up right as I was falling asleep, and I put him back to bed.  Then just as I was about to fall asleep again, he woke up again, this time crying that he couldn't find the stairs and Caroline yelling at him to stop stepping on her.  The commotion woke Violet up, who crawled into bed with me, and then told me she had to go potty, and then told me she needed a drink.  By the time Graham had calmed down (he was apparently upset because he couldn't find Devin, who was sleeping 5 feet away from him and managed not to wake up through this entire ordeal) it was 3 AM, and I had still not fallen asleep.  The next morning Violet woke me up extra early to ask me if it was her birthday and then beg me to make her some popcorn. I shooed her away only to be woken up later by Charlie standing in his pack-and-play, yelling, "Mommy!" to which I responded by covering my head with a pillow and yelling, "SHUT UP!"  Carrie at least thought that was funny.

-- Another reason I didn't get much sleep last night was because Carrie and I stayed up way too late looking at dumb things on the internet.  But come on, we had a good laugh looking at this:

And this:
http://dashmandy.blogspot.ca/2013/01/revenge-of-snark-and-testimony.html

First day in Nashville

 Vacations for me require nothing but being fed and having my kids entertained by someone other than me.  This is why Nashville has been so great. Violet and Charlie have loved playing with the cousins, and Carrie feeds me all. the. time.  Yesterday we went to the Red Caboose park, which had a red car train for the kids to climb on.  Charlie especially loved it since his favorite book is the Little Red Caboose.

 We then went directly to another park-- Edwin Warner park, which made me really jealous that I don't live there.  Charlie passed out in the stroller, the older kids played in the stream, and I took pictures.  It doesn't get better than that.

 After a well-earned nap, we took the kids to soccer practice, where Graham was busy being Graham and Devin and Caroline showed Violet their moves.  Towards the end, the kids found a pile of sand to play in which Violet ended up laying down in and making a sand angel.  Typical.

More fun to come!

Can't contain the excitement

I thought I'd write a blog post before visiting my sister, but all I can think about right now is visiting my sister!  So I'll just list the top 10 things I'm excited about.
1. Cool weather
2. Leaves that actually change color
3. Eating all my sister's delicious food
4. Not having to entertain my kids because their cousins will do it for me
5. Drinking hot chocolate because it's actually cold enough to do
4. Taking way too many pictures
3. Being able to do my hair and not have it poof up from the humidity 15 minutes later
2. Seeing my cute niece and nephews that I haven't seen in way too long
1. Reuniting team spoiled! Yay!!!!!!

The enforcer

Violet has loved climbing and jumping on me since she first became mobile.  I have tolerated it for years, but now that she's a little bigger and stronger, I've decided it needs to stop.  I have nothing against playing, even rough housing with your kids.  But when I'm obliviously talking to my friend and suddenly get hit with 35 pounds of knees and elbows, I get pretty mad. She does this a lot, too, and many times it's either after I'm done and I've told her to stop or when I'm not even remotely paying attention.  She's not extremely heavy, but since I'm small and slightly spacey, I get knocked over pretty easily.  She's also the boniest child I've ever seen and has no idea what putting her elbow on my thigh and then resting her entire weight on it does to me.  It's not pretty.

I've strategized a plan for making her stop.  She needs to realize that people get hurt when she does that.  However, enforcing this plan kind of makes me feel like this:

Okay, not that bad.  What I do when she won't stop running and jumping on me is put out my hands in front of me to stop her.  I'm not sure why she doesn't realize that she will fall over if my hands are there, but she gets really mad when I do that.  "MOM!  You pushed me!  That wasn't nice!"  No, Violet, you were jumping on me after I told you to stop and you ran into my hands and fell over.  Sorry you got hurt doing exactly what I warned you not to do.  Same goes for if she jumps on my arms-- I simply don't catch her and she falls on the ground, claiming that I "pushed" her. 

Yeah, she really hates this.  I kind of feel like a mean mom, but it's really hard for me to have sympathy for my kids if they are doing something I've repeatedly warned them not to do.  One way or another, she has to learn that jumping on people is dangerous.  Especially with me around.

Foam.

My city is better than yours.

 

There is a park here in Houston called Discovery Green that puts on a "toddler time" every Tuesday.  Sometimes they just do story time, but every once in awhile it's a full-blown party.  Yesterday was one of those times.  They had a foam pit for the kids to play in, and Violet didn't shy away. Here are some pictures from the event.

 Charlie clung to me most of the time, but when our turn was over he was comfortable chasing around the "snow" that flew out of the pit.

This park is also beautifully landscaped, has an enormous splash pad, and is one of my favorite places to do pictures.

I vote this as the best urban park ever.

Shouldn't she be in preschool?

Have you met Violet? She's tall and smart and wonderful and makes people think that she's a little older than she really is.  And I think that's why I'm always getting the question, "Shouldn't she be in preschool?"

It's beginning to annoy me a lot.  First of all, she's 3.  THREE!  She has TWO YEARS before she starts kindergarten, and even that should only be a half-day thing in my opinion.  But I constantly meet people who send their one-year-olds to "preschool"(which I like to refer to as "glorified babysitting") and I feel like they think it's weird that Violet doesn't do the same.  Give me a break, people.  I already have to take my husband to school every day.  I'd like to wait until he's finished with school before our children start. (I'm not counting the once-a-week co-op preschool that we do.)

So the other day I responded to this question by saying that I may put her in a half-day preschool the year before she starts school, after we move into a house and Brandon starts his job. And the response I got back was, "it's too bad that you don't know where you're going to live yet, because it may be hard to get into a good preschool if you don't apply now.  There are some preschools where you have to apply before the baby is born, and even then, you still may not get in."

At that point, I couldn't contain myself anymore and I replied with a rant in which I might have made myself look like a terrible mom.

IT DOESN'T MATTER. I don't care if she gets into a good preschool. I care that she is in a preschool where she is safe and they take care of her, but that's all. Because once she starts kindergarten, they're all going to the same public schools and there's not much you can do about that.  If you find a highly exclusive preschool that claims that 80% of their "graduates" go on to Ivy League schools, know this:  it's only because parents who are obsessed enough with their children's education to spend months getting them into something when the kids can't even wipe their own noses are likely going to be that obsessive all the way to college.  And when they leave home, those kids are going to be on medication for depression because they've never been given the chance to do anything on their own.  I'm not that kind of parent.  I can let Violet learn things on her own (by the way, playing at home is a great way to learn things) and be confident that she will be successful in school because she is bright and creative. 

And it's not going to have a thing to do with her preschool.

I call for a role reversal weekend

Sometimes I am a great mom, and look at my kids and their adorable little faces and think to myself, "I think I want to have 5 kids."

And sometimes, when it's 10:30 and Violet is still not asleep, I look at them and think, "I think I'll get my tubes tied tomorrow."

Okay, it doesn't get that bad. But things get out of hand very quickly around here and the only thing I can do to keep myself from being admitted to the psychiatric ward is to think of how funny it is.  No, it's not funny when I'm tired and my kid just peed on the couch.  But you know what is funny? Thinking of what would happen if I were the toddler and Violet and Charlie were the parents.  And, oh my gosh, just imagine the fun we would have!

When I have a scary dream, I could just crawl into bed with them.  And when they wake up and wonder what's all wet-- Surprise!  That's me!  Time to do laundry!

Or I could wake Charlie up by putting a book on his face and saying, "Read dis. Read dis. Read dis. Read dis. Read dis. Read dis. Read dis. Read dis....."

They could take me to HEB and let me pick out my own shopping cart.  I of course would refuse to get in it unless I found one shaped like a racecar that weighs more than a baby elephant.  I would tell them that I urgently have to go potty as soon as we are in the cereal aisle, and when I get into the bathroom I would definitely put my hand in the tampon dispenser to see if it gave out candy.  And even though I came into the store wearing flip flops, I would mysteriously leave wearing socks and no shoes and just leave them to wonder how I pulled that one off.

I could make Violet make dinner for me, and after it's finally ready and I've been telling her I'm starving for an hour, I would announce that I no longer like rice, or some other basic staple of the human diet.  Yep, I'll just have fruit snacks.

When she finally puts me to bed, I'll be really cute and try really hard to convince her to let me watch a movie in my bed while I fall asleep.  I'll ultimately settle for a cup of water, as long as that girl doesn't have the nerve to put three ice cubes in it instead of four (I'm telling you, I WILL count them).  And she'd better be prepared with an apology if she gives me a yellow straw instead of a blue one.  And I may come out a couple of times if she's doing something really interesting like loading the dishwasher... but other than that, I PROMISE I'll stay in bed.

Yep, having kids is pretty fun. Especially when you look at it from their eyes.

Shooting macro

I don't have a true macro lens. What I do have are tubes that you can attatch to your lens that make it sort of function like a macro lens.  It's a pretty cool concept, but they are incredibly hard to shoot with.  The depth of field is extremely narrow and everything shows up dark.  Anyways, I just wanted to make sure you appreciated how hard these were to take.  

Not such a bad year

Today I felt a little burned out. Brandon has been working so hard lately on internships, theses, and job applications that it seems like we've hardly had time to spend together.  Instead of enjoying weekends I now dread them because Brandon is usually still working and I'm still stuck entertaining the kids.  Because of all his thesis papers, his schedule will be like this for the next 9 months.  I could literally grow a human in the time it takes him to finish them.

 

Tonight I installed dropbox on my computer and it uploaded all of my camera photos.  Looking through all of them reminded me of some moments that I might have otherwise forgotten.  I guess it hasn't been such a bad year after all, and it made me think that maybe this next little while before Brandon finishes school may not be so bad, either.

 

This year Violet learned how to take selfies on my camera and hasn't stopped since.

I got to go to the Nutcracker with my cute girl.

She took her first gymnastics class-- and loved it.

She spent some quality time with daddy.

I got paid to paint for the first time ever.

I was in an art show.

We spent an hour trying to get home from Costco in a terrible Houston flood.

I spent 6 hours at the DMV and got some seriously weird Salvadorian food while I was waiting.

This moment happened.

And so did this one.  I love them so much.

Things I love

 My two little tigers.

Rainy days.

 The new park downtown that we found.
The awesome bridge there that makes you feel like you are in France.
How studly Charlie looks in his suspenders.

 My new shirt from Target.

 The perfect view of the city from that bridge.

I could be done.

Sometimes I think of what my life would be like if I were a normal person.  According to the national average, I should be done having kids.  Some people that don't know me even assume that I am.  I see people utterly confused if I hint at a potential third child. "What? But you already have one of each..." as if the only reasonable explanation for wanting another child is trying for one of a different gender.  I've already reached replacement rate.  What more do I want?

Admittedly, it might be nice to be done.  I would never have to buy a minivan or an SUV. I wouldn't have to keep in mind our family's growth potential when looking for houses.  I could buy clothes without having to calculate in my mind how long I would be able to wear them before getting pregnant and not being able to fit in them again.  And honestly, I have two REALLY GOOD kids*.  They have their difficult moments, but sometimes I think about just having them for the rest of my life and I think, my life would be so easy.

But easy has never been the way I live.  I see people with new babies and I swear my uterus skips a beat. I'm not in any rush-- if I wanted to have all my kids really close together, I wouldn't have started when I was 20.  I'm sure there will be more.  I love babies.  But for now, I really enjoy only having as many as the national average.

*Please note that this phrase does not apply to Violet during the hours of 8-10 PM or to Charlie when he is hot.

Summers aren't kind to me

This summer got off to a great start.  Remember that post about how I'm so on top of things and I'm a responsible adult now?  Man, those were the good days.  Too bad they only lasted a couple of weeks.

My AC is broken again.  Not broken like how I thought my sewing machine was broken, but broken as in blowing smoke through my house.  This is the third time this summer, and let's not forget the incident with the drivers license that took 2 weeks out of my life.  And for some reason our AC always seems to break on a Friday, meaning all three times we have had to go the entire weekend in a sauna.  So in case you were wondering exactly how inconvenient this is for me, I'm about to let it all out.

We live in sweat.  My kids sleep in pools of their own sweat.  We stink.  We can't get a good breeze going through our house (since we only have windows on one side of the house), so it's actually hotter in here for much of the day than it is outside. The only way to sleep is with a fan blowing directly at your face, which is pretty annoying, because it blows the hair into my face and tickles like crazy.  All of the food in our pantry has gone soggy from the humidity.  We can't cook because turning on the oven makes it even hotter.  So we have to subsist on fast food, since no one in their right mind wants to sit down at a restaurant with my grumpy, sweaty, homeless-looking kids.  (I know that last part sounds mean, but it's kind of true.  It's too hot to make them wear real clothes or maintain appearances. When we went to pick up the pizza tonight, Charlie was wearing no shoes or pants, and Violet was shoeless with a homemade necklace and a dollar-store tiara.)  Because of all the fast food I'm about as limber as a beached whale right now, and if I don't drink at least twice as much as I normally do, I get terrible headaches.

On days like today, our mental and physical endurance has worn thin.  By 8:00 Charlie was screaming and I was so hot, tired, and frustrated that I passed out on my bed and slept for 2 hours.  Brandon was nice enough to stay up with Violet and put her to bed, but because of that he had to stay up 2 hours later to finish his presentation for tomorrow, and I feel terrible about that.

And I know exactly what everyone will say to this: Go stay at Mom's house!  Tell your landlord you won't put up with this!  That's nice, but going to my parents' house doesn't prevent me from having obligations here, and travelling out all the time is not my favorite thing.  I live here, I have a life here. Brandon has a job here. Is it too much to ask to have a livable house here?  And what exactly am I going to tell my landlord?  I'm not going to put up with unexpected problems that he didn't cause that he is trying to have fixed?  Is complaining going to make the repair company operate on weekends?

No. But it does make me feel a whole lot better right now.

New stuff

My personal blog has been lacking a bit lately.  I feel like no one cares about the blog when I don't post pictures, but when I do take pictures, they all go on my photo blog. I guess all my cell phone pictures will grace this blog.  Here's what I've been up to lately:

 

1. Being a high roller.  I know, I know, a picture of a hot dog doesn't make me look like a high roller.  But last week Brandon told me that there was a baseball game we could go to on Friday. I thought it was weird because he never watches baseball, but I figured that he got free tickets or something and I'm not one to pass up a date with my one true love.  That day, I realized that he was talking about an Astros game (I had assumed that he just meant a Rice game) and he pulled out the tickets when we got to Minute Maid Field.  To our surprise, there was a $15 credit tacked onto each of our tickets.  Brandon asked me what I was going to spend it on and without hesitation, I yelled, "Food!"  Then he looked at me and said, "There is already going to be food there."  Whaaaat? I was not expecting that.  After inspecting our tickets further we found out that we were supposed to go to the upper level where we found a sign that said "Private party" and there was a HUGE buffet and open bar.  Yes, I felt so cool about being part of a private party.  Then I got to meet Brandon's boss and advisor and have so many cokes with lime that I had to run to the bathroom 4 times during the game.  Fun night if you ask me, except that I thought that the Astros were the ones in gray and I spent the first 20 minutes of the game cheering for the wrong team.  

 2. Mooching off my mom.  It's true, I've been a mooch lately.  We headed out to her house for the weekend when our AC broke and I would be lying if I didn't say that I was at least a little bit happy about it.  She bought us snow cones for lunch (come on, I have the best mom, don't I?) and I even convinced her to give me the leopard print jacket that she had just bought.  I wore it to church on Sunday with a neon pink skirt. A little over-the-top, but I loved it.

3.  Having crazy kids.  No joke. Violet sleeps less than any other 3-year-old I've ever met, and has been pushing me into making her Halloween costume 3 months in advance.  Charlie's new thing is speaking in sentences, which is pretty funny.  He loves to talk about swimming (when we fed the ducks and turtles at the park, he constantly pointed out, "Turtle swimming!") and eating.  His first couple of sentences yesterday came right after he finished an Oreo: "All done!  Eat it all!" His next sentence was to tell me, "I pooping!"  Thanks for informing me, little guy.

Best reaction ever

Little Graham can always make my day. Yesterday I was talking to Carrie and told her that I'm for sure coming to visit.  She was so excited that she told Graham, and this was the reaction I overheard:
Graham:Yay!  They're my favorite people! Are they coming here on a train?
Carrie: No, I think they're just driving in their car.
Graham: Wow!  How fast does their car go?

I'm excited to see you, Grahammie!  You're my favorite, too!

Things I've heard this week that I never want to hear again

Some of these things are things I heard myself say, just to be clear.
- "BOOM!" (coming from my AC unit, followed by smoke through the house)
- "Brandon, how do you put out an electrical fire?"
- "That isn't covered by the warranty."
- "That needs to be replaced-- I'll have to order a part and come back on Monday."
- "He's booked for Monday.  He will come by on Tuesday."
- "The poop won't come, mommy!"
- "You can buy an enema at Walgreens."
- "Ouch! Mom, my bum itches!"
- "It might be pinworms."
- "We should test for Strep."
- "Probably a yeast infection."
- "Do you have any Pinex?" "No, we don't carry it. Nobody ever asks for it." "Well, I never thought I'd ask for it either, but, Surprise!"
- "I need new panties, mom!"
- "Somebody help me.  I've turned into white trash."
- "I can't find his other testicle."
- "Do you ever feel around for his balls?" (Of course not, Mom!  Who does that?!?!)

Yeah, not my best week.  Lots of doctors' visits, very little AC.  Thankfully that's all fixed now, and let's pray I NEVER HEAR ANY OF THIS EVER AGAIN.

The things I left out

Many things have happened lately that I've forgotten to blog about. Here's an update:

1. I was able to schedule a driving test for June instead of July.  I failed the first time because the lady told me to pull up to the curb, so I did (about 3 inches away from the curb) and then she told me to back up in a straight line until she told me to stop.  Since I was only inches from the curb, I got my back tire up on the curb, which is apparently a "dangerous act" and she failed me.  I spent the rest of the day almost crying and wanting to punch someone in the face.  Miraculously, Brandon found an appointment open for the next day (it usually takes weeks to reschedule) and Dad came to my rescue and drove me up for it.  I passed this time, and the lady didn't even make me drive backwards.  I honestly don't know why that can even be a requirement, since it is DANGEROUS to drive backwards, and if you need to get somewhere behind you, you should just turn around.  Oh well, I have a license again.

2. I bought an 85mm f/1.8g Nikon lens.  It's clear and sharp and I love it.  I can't wait to use it for a shoot.  Also, since starting my photo blog, my friends are starting to ask me to take pictures for them more and more.  I can't even explain how fun that is for me to do.  My friends probably think I'm weird for how excited I get.

3. We had a memorable 4th of July.  I had planned on doing a 3k that our church was putting on the morning of the 4th that started at 6:30 AM, but it didn't happen.  Days before, Brandon (being the supportive and enthusiastic husband that he is) asked me, "What do you think has a better chance of happening-- you running a 3k or you getting up at 6 to do it?"  Thanks.  We did have a fun time with friends that night, and stayed up well past our bedtime playing with sparklers.

4. Charlie went to nursery! I'm a free woman now!  He is doing well in there but gets very excited when we pick him up, yelling "Daddy, Daddy!" or "Ommy, Ommy!" (That's what he calls me.) I basically think everything he does is cute.  He is talking a ton, and loves playing with Eyelet (Violet). His chubby, gap-toothed smile kills me every time.

Still growing up too fast

Yesterday, Charlie surprised me.  He started pointing to letters and yelling "A" or "E." He rarely gets the letter right, but it's clear that he recognizes them as letters, and I found that pretty impressive (he just turned 18 months).  I was taken quite off guard by his skills, and I was thinking about how young he is when I realized that Violet was only a few months older than he is now when she memorized the entire alphabet. 

This isn't a post about how smart my kids are.  What I'm really talking about is how differently I see them.  It was easy for me to accept Violet's milestones since she was an only child.  By the time she knew her ABCs, I was already pregnant with Charlie, and she didn't seem like a baby anymore.  But since Charlie is the younger sibling, I have viewed him as a baby for much longer.  When I think about him learning the alphabet or speaking in sentences or someday becoming an older sibling, the first thing that comes into my head is, "That's crazy!  He's my baby!"  I guess that's what comes with being the youngest.  Now I know why my family can't take me seriously.

Our best day of the trip

Am I still talking about our road trip?  Yes, I am. Get used to it.  The best day of our trip in my opinion was our last day.  Brandon's family came to meet us in Capitol Reef and we went to hike Cassidy Arch, in the picture below.  The arch is enormous, and you get to climb right on top of it.  It was one of my favorite hikes of all time.

 And the most exciting part of this hike, at least for Violet, was that Aunt Mia was there.  I love all the pictures I got of them.  And is anyone else impressed that my 3-year-old did this hike?  I mean, she had to be carried a good part of the way, but she hiked much of it by herself.

 In the next picture you can see a cairn in front of them.  Violet was really excited to learn about cairns on this trip.  At first she kept asking if she could knock them over, but I explained to her that they were actually there to point the way.  After that, she would get excited each time she saw one, point, and yell "I see a Karen!  Hi Karen!"

 This next picture shows Brandon and me out on the arch with a 200- foot abyss in front of us.  I had to leave shortly after this because I was too scared.

 One really cool part of Capitol Reef is the holes in the rocks.  My kids loved exploring them.

 The fun didn't stop when we got back to camp.  Violet still had the time of her life playing with Mia.

 Charlie gorged himself on their homemade apple juice.

 And we made campfire hot chocolate-- one of my favorite things on the trip.  The whole day made me really miss living by Brandon's family!