Four eyes

Ethan and Kate in their new readers

When we moved here Ethan told me he couldn't see so well at school and wondered if he needed glasses. The school nurse gave him a simple eye exam and said his eyes are just fine. For the most part that was the end of it. When Jason and I had our eye exams this month we decided to get all the kids checked too since they are now on the vision insurance. Kate went first and her exam was going great. The doctor was almost done; just a quick check of the up close stuff. She really struggled and the exam took another twenty minutes. She needs reading glasses and it turns out Ethan does too. We aren't passing our kids good eye genes. Or maybe they don't eat enough carrots? I wonder if Nathanael or Eli have a chance. . .

Clothes- Vanity or Hygiene?

What do you when your ten year old wants to wear the same sweatshirt all day everyday for a week? He believes that, "it's like a coat" so of course you could wear it a lot without it being washed. After all, we don't wash his coat every day, right? I tell him he has enough clothes in his closet that he doesn't need to wear it every day. Or even every other day for that matter. He is incredulous. The other morning I spied a food dribble on it and said, sorry, it's dirty and it shows so pick something else. He was ticked. So, as a mom do I just back off and say, whatever, Be gross! Or do I put my foot down and say if you want to wear it all your waking hours except at school fine, but you will wear clean clothes to school!?

I have opted for the latter, but maybe this is a battle I don't need to fight.

Turn One, Go Crazy!

Eli went nuts on his big day. He was yelling at the dishwasher because the dial wouldn't turn to his liking. He never noticed the dial before his birthday. He wreaked havoc on the old radio I listen to when getting ready in the morning. Usually he ignores it, maybe takes a second look at the cord but that's it. On his birthday he was turning every dial with glee. And moving on from the radio he happily discovered a large white item in the corner of the bathroom. Yes he has ignored the toilet for all of his crawling days, but not last Tuesday. He was all about the toilet on his birthday. He was spiritedly yipping and yacking and oohing and booing and lots of yelling "MA! MA! MA! MA!" There was also a healthy dose of laughter and surprise at the many things he noticed today that he has never noticed before. I guess one day really can make a difference.

And a chunk update. We have really been working the chunks with Eli and he's coming around! Yea for chunks. For his birthday dessert he got a frosted cupcake and ice cream. Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting- there's a vegetable, grain and dairy in there with just a *tiny* bit of fat/sugar so I figure we are good calling it a well balanced meal, don't you agree? He was pretty unsure of the cupcake at first. He poked it with his pointer and became interested as he noticed the frosting stuck to his finger. The finger then went right to his mouth and that was the end of the story with the frosting. He dipped and licked for quite a long time. After accidentally pushing the cupcake over, he managed to pick a bit of the cake off and found that wasn't bad either. I am impressed that he ate any of it considering he has had hardly any table food. He was apprehensive about the ice cream too, but it didn't take long for him to realize that it is yumilicious.

8 lbs 4 oz and 22 inches long

23 lbs and 29 inches long

I'm Thankful Too!

I'm finally getting around to being publicly Thankful. But make no mistake, being late about it (as in a week after the holiday named for it) doesn't make me any less thankful. So here goes. . .

My Family. There isn't anyone on Earth that I love more than Jason and our four kids.

October 2008

Christmas Music! I love this time of year. . .

Spending holidays with extended family. Thank you for having us Zollingers!!

Bonnie with Eli; She's always caring for someone!

Monica, Kate, Sierra

Stirland, Eli, Dimond

Having a baby in the house. . . even if he won't eat chunks. There's something heavenly about babies. Just tonight I couldn't get enough of rubbing gooey lotion all over his chubby legs and tummy.

October 2008

New stylin' spectacles (for the everyday things that look better when not slightly blurred). The doc offered to get me into bifocals but I politely declined. BIFOCALS!! I'm only thirty five for Pete's sake! It's taken me a little while to get used to the wide sides but I really like these beauties.

Kate and I on Temple Square, November 2008

Running. And friends to do it with, if only once a year.

Running Pals at the Women's Celebration in Boise; September 20, 2008

Free produce (grapes and apples were free this year!!) and the knowledge of what to do with it.

Volleyball and friends to play it with. Oh how I miss Wednesdays in Twin Falls!

Reading glasses. Not especially happy about needing them (of course I could have gone for the bifocals. . .), but having them makes it easier for me to sew or read or scrapbook.

The beauty of the Earth.

Little Red Fish Lake at dawn. August 2008

Modern medicine. I am thankful to have enjoyed the benefits of simple surgeries (where things could have turned rather ugly without them), anesthesia for dental procedures, epidurals that kept me sane and in control through 3 hours of second stage labor (the pushing part) with my first baby, Rhogam (the shot I get when I am pregnant to stop my body from annihilating the baby's blood cells) and ibuprofen to name a few.

Last and least on this rather short list. . .

Snickers bites (this one is a double edged sword). Love these things!

anti chunk

Eli enjoying some peas

What kind of baby prefers pasty bottled peas to freshly smashed, perfectly ripened banana?

Mine of course. We are trying to get Eli to eat table food- smashed table food of course. He's not interested in anything that hasn't been pureed. If there are chunks mixed in with his mushy food he won't have anything to do with it- spits it out, turns his head and he's been known to growl.

Stubborn child. And smart (He watches us closely as we prepare his food and he won't even try it if he sees we have sneaked in a little something under the radar). And happy. And cute. But stubborn.

And soon to be hungry as his first birthday approaches and the baby food disappears. He'll eat then won't he?

Shoes vs Snickers bites

A few weeks ago I ran three miles, fast. Fast for me that is (seriously, not really that fast). And I felt great. And I thought, man I love this. And my skinny jeans fit. And that makes me happy. Vain, I know.

Nearly three weeks have passed and I have been telling myself how I don't really have time to run right now. Jason's schedule, all the activities we have going on, a million errands, making stuff for Christmas. . . something has to give! So the running dropped off the list. And my skinny jeans still fit and I am thinking I am getting some bonus days here.

Yesterday Jason nearly kicked me out the front door. So I went for a run on the most perfect fall day. Clear sunny skies with a little nip in the air. I felt like a sea cow. I was dragging terribly. That chocolate is catching up to me. Easy on the snickers bites!! I am pretty sure Ethan could have wasted me. Humility can be a bummer, huh? Today it's a motivator. Fewer snickers and more miles under my feet from now on.

Yesterday I was sore. Today I am sore. Tomorrow I will be sore. (I'd better be over it before Wednesday though because I have a date with a little white ball!) But I went for a run on a beautiful fall day and even though I was slow it felt good to run again.

Kate's Baptism

Kate was baptized on Novmeber 1st. Hooray for Kate! We had hoped to have lots of family here but weather, funerals and sickness held everyone at bay. Kate had a hysterical crying fit when she realized that not one member of her family (besides the boring ones she lives with) would be at the baptism. I am sure she had visions of Ethan's baptism in her head (lots of family and friends. . . the summer is certainly a better time to travel).

But she got over it and all was well. Our family provided a prayer and the Holy Ghost talk. We asked Kate what she wanted and she requested that Ethan say a prayer and that her home teacher give the talk. Our home teacher is the bishop and he happened to be the supporting bishop for this baptism and as such was already giving the bishop's remarks. She was happy to have his companion and 14 year old son, Daniel give the talk. He did a great job! Several families from our ward came to support Kate and it was very sweet.

Before

A friend of mine made a dress for her daughter to be baptized in (instead of a jumpsuit) and offered to let us use it (thanks Gretchen!). It is so darling! She was loving it, thinking it was so pretty. While we were in the bathroom I told her how happy I am that Sis. Child let us borrow it it. Her reply, "Well, I think I want to wear a jumpsuit." That's Kate, expressing the exact opposite of my opinion. Oh her teenage years are going to be fun! Two days later she was glad she got to wear a girly dress and not a boyish (ie-pants) jumpsuit. Go figure.

She went right under without any trouble and froze in the cold bathroom while I helped her dry off and get dressed (Thanks for the towel Mom and Dad!).

After

Loving her Daddy

In sacrament meeting, just before it was time for her confirmation she looked over at Jason with tears brimming and said she had to go to the bathroom! What??? She couldn't wait. We didn't want her to wet her dress so she ran off to go. The bishop didn't see her leave (funny since we were sitting on the second row) and got up and started talking about Kate. He mentioned how nice it was to see her baptized and, "now she will be confirmed. She is sitting right here by her Dad and she is dressed in white and is so spiritual that I think she's transparent because she has disappeared and I can't see her anymore." It was hilarious. So he was like, "Well, I guess I need to filibuster here for a minute. Uh. . ." Then he reviewed a few announcements and she came running back and was confirmed.

She hand picked several men to stand in the confirmation circle. . . her two primary teachers, her friend's dad, the bishopric and her favorite babysitter's (Valentine) dad. Jason did a wonderful job. Valentine's dad bore his testimony and said he was honored to stand in for her. He mentioned how neat it is that she could just pick from so many, how blessed she is to know so many worthy priesthood holders.

At home before church Sunday morning

Happy Belated Halloween

This Halloween is one we won't soon forget. I planned to take the kids downtown where the merchants hand out candy (beginning at 4 pm). Then we were going to eat dinner, go to our ward trunk or treat and then come home to watch a movie (The Goonies- edited version) and roast marshmallows in the back yard.

When Nathanael got home from school at 11:30 I told him that I wanted him to do his chores (would have taken him 10-15 minutes to do his two chores) right after lunch because he wouldn't have time to do them when the bigger kids got home from school (this is when he would normally do them). After lunch I nagged and he goofed off for a good thirty minutes. Long story short, after the nagging I gave him a very clear ultimatum. Do your chores before Ethan and Kate get home. If you don't do them, you won't trick or treat. Do you understand? Yes. You won't go with us if you don't have your chores done. Do you understand? Yes. No candy for you- do you understand? Yes. Ok. Can you do it? Yes. Will you do it? Yes. Awesome. I won't bug you anymore.

So every so often I would randomly call out the time, "It's now 2:15, 1 hour and 15 minutes until the kids get home." He sat in the kitchen and played games on the chairs. "It's now 2:45, 45 minutes until the kids get home" and so on.

Story becoming long again. So he didn't start working until about five minutes before they got home and he didn't make it. AHHHH! Are you kidding? What kid would *not* do two measly chores and give up trick or treating? I don't get it. I felt terrible about it- total backfire. He still had to finish his work, while Kate and Ethan were trick or treating. He was weeping and wailing and carrying on. I was so close to just letting him go, but I didn't and he stayed home.

After getting some candy (not a ton this year for which I am so grateful!) we came back home and had some friends over to watch our movie outside (Nathanael joined in for this). It was so warm we were able to do it and be comfortable (with blankets). We also had a fire to stand by if needed. Later we roasted marshmallows. Once the sugar high wore off we dropped like rocks into our warm beds.

Can you guess what my kids dressed up as?

Blank space where Nathanael should
be shown dressed up as a bat.

Ethan wanted to be an "Australian." Aside from telling him that Australians wear clothes just like we do I didn't argue since I didn't have to do anything for this costume. He wore the hat he made at cub scout day camp this summer (theme was cubs down under), the shirt Grandma and Grandpa sent from Australia for his birthday and a sign on his back saying, "G'day Mate!"

Kate asked to be a polar bear. Yikes. I don't want to go into the hairy details but I ended up throwing some material on the table with the sewing machine and this is what came out. Next year she wants to wear the same thing, without the ears, and be a marshmallow.

Eli was our adorable frog. Jason took this awesome picture with his new SLR "work" camera (that means work pays and he plays). He says it was luck getting such a good shot. Luck or skill, I don't care I LOVE this photo!

Music to my Ears

An unsolicited comment from Kate. . .

"Mom, now my favorite thing to do after my homework and chores is read my book, it's not watch TV anymore!"

Proof that depriving my kids of uninterrupted hours of TV does not make them desire to watch it even more. Awesome.

Get out and Vote!

It's rainy and cold and windy and yucky outside today. The kind of day when I want to stay inside and drink hot chocolate. But not today. Today I voted.

In Washington, voting is done by mail. We get our voters pamphlet and ballot in the mail a few weeks before the election and we can mail it back.

This bugged me when we first moved here. I like to drive to the voting location, have my name marked on the voter registration list, stand in a booth and then put my ballot in the box. The act of going somewhere to do this appeals to me. But the advantage of voting by mail is that we got pour over the voter pamphlet for as long as we want and research this or that online as well when we have a question about a candidate's stand. We make our choice without being in a hurry to mark the ballot and get back to whatever is going on in our lives.

My compromise of these two voting methods was to vote this morning in my house and then drive my ballot (and Jason's) to the drop off box. When I got there I saw many people dropping off their ballots too. It warmed my heart to see all these people coming and going; exercising their right to choose their leaders. I was one of them.

I think this moment was more poignant for me because my kids are paying attention to this election. They are eager to learn about the process. They are watching their parents. I was in second grade when Ronald Reagan beat Jimmy Carter. This is the first election I remember. My classroom had a vote complete with ballots and booths and a winner. I voted for Ronald Reagan, but Jimmy Carter won our classroom vote. Ronald Reagan won the election. It was a big deal to vote and take part in the process. Now my kids are in that situation. They know who John McCain and Barack Obama are. We looked in our voter pamphlet and talked about other candidates and races as well (for president, congress, initiatives, etc). At home we talk about the importance of voting. Their classes talk about the election and how it's important to be sure your voice is heard. It's good to be part of this process. It's even better to know it was inspired by God. We feel fortunate to live in this wonderful country.

One day last week when Ethan got home from school he came to me immediately to talk about something he heard that day. He told me that a kid in his class told him that he would never vote for Barack Obama because "Obama believes that it is okay for a woman, if she is pregnant and doesn't want to be, to go to a doctor and the doctor will put poison inside her to kill the baby and then the baby dies and gets sucked out and she doesn't have to worry about it anymore. Isn't that crazy?" His intent was to tell me this outlandish thing that couldn't possibly be true because it is just unbelievable. I looked him in the eye and said, "That is true. It's called abortion and Barack Obama does support it." He was shocked beyond words. His whole body kind of slumped and after a few minutes he said, "I bet that makes Heavenly Father really sad."

Yes, it makes Heavenly Father really sad.

I believe he had a life changing moment. His perspective has changed. The world isn't as nice a place as he thought. Growing up can be a bummer.

Please vote, if you haven't already.

Kate is eight!

Kate is great!
On Tuesday last, she turned eight.
Nearly nine pounds was her birth weight.
October 21st is her birth date.
For her special day she could not wait.
Just two years ago we moved to Washington State.
Riding her bike increases her heart rate.
She has a cousin whose name is Tate.
With her dad she likes going on dates.
Her silly giggle always invigorates.
Her hair is blonde and straight.
She’s easy to appreciate.
She’s impossible to duplicate.
We love you Kate!

November 5, 2000

On the day of her blessing

A random Sunday morning in 2003, when she still liked sponge rollers.

October 2005 in Salt Lake City

Eight Great Things about Kate. . .
1. Kate loves cheese pizza.
2. Kate's favorite toys are Littlest Pet Shops, but she also loves her dolls- Emily and Bemily.
3. Kate is a huge help with Elijah. She always wants to hold him, help him, get him up, change his diaper, put him in his high chair, get him out. . . It's a wonder I ever had a baby without her help.
4. Kate loves pretty dresses. . . but ONLY on Sunday.
5. Kate loves to draw and color and ride her bike.
6. Kate loves to go shopping with me and bring a notebook along where she keeps the list and marks everything off as we buy it.
7. Kate's favorite color today is "rainbow. I love all the colors."
8. Kate giggles and giggles and giggles and giggles. And giggles.

I Don't Like

I am in love with BNL's kids CD, Snacktime. The kids like it more than me. In truth, I am a little bit sick of it but EVERY time we get in the car it must be on with the kids singing to it. One of the songs is called, I Don't Like. We simply cannot get through this song without commentary from the peanut gallery. Not only that, it's the same commentary EVERY time. Like it's been rehearsed. I suppose it has, but not really on purpose.

I can eat pork 'til the cows come come
And cheese like it's going out of style
(Kate, "Me too, I LOVE cheese." Ethan, "I HATE cheese.")
I like just about every type of vegetable
(All three of them, "Oh yea, I'm with him, I love vegetables!")
I like raisins, and nuts, and seeds, and olives,
And pickles, and fruit, and beef, and bread,
But I don't like... salmon.
(Nathanael, "I am totally with him. I like fruit and I don't like salmon." Ethan, "How can you say that? You've never even tasted it." Kate, "Well salmon is fish and I don't like fish so I don't like it." Ethan, "You've never even tasted fish!" Kate, "Yes I have." Ethan, "No you haven't" repeat this like an annoying echo including a few supporting arguments. . .

I've jumped from a plane with a parachute
Scuba'd to the ocean floor
Driven super fast in a racing car
I've bungee jumped, and zip lined too,
I've crossed rope bridges over raging rivers
But I don't like... those spinny rides.
(Kate, "Oh yea, I love spinny rides!" Ethan, "I am so with him, I hate spinny rides." Nathanael goes into a long explanation of which spinny rides he likes- did you know there are varying degrees?)

I can fly my very own aeroplane
And I've been to the top of mountains
I've been to the top of the CN Tower
I can work on a ladder, I can climb a tree
I can look out the window of a really tall building
But if I stand close to the edge of a railing, or up on a roof or something I realize I don't like... heights so much.
(Ethan, "I agree. I don't like heights." Nathanael, "Me too, I don't like heightsomuch." "Nathanael it's heights. . . . .so. . . . .much, three words." Nathanael, "Well I still don't like heightsomuch."

sigh.

This is the best "snacktime" picture I could find. This is Kate in July 2004 (3+ years old)

Hokey Pokey

Saturday I was telling Nathanael (for the 100th time) to please stay on task and get the dishwasher emptied. The poor kid HATES this chore and it can take him forever. He asked if he could have some tunes to listen to while he did this job. He loves music and wanted his "rhyming CD". Then he said, "But mom, when the Hokey Pokey comes on I always want to dance to that, so can I stop for that?" Of course the dishes can wait for the Hokey Pokey! He was so happy to get permission to break from the horror of dishwasher emptying so he could rock out.

Women's Celebration

This weekend we went to Boise for the Women's Celebration. The 5K is the "nations largest 5K for women." Side note: I did spy a man or two this year.

For me this weekend is about celebrating friendship. The first year I did it was 2006 and we had just moved to Kennewick. I was so lonely for my friends. We had such a fun weekend and I ran my fastest 5K ever. So of course after that I wanted to come back every year!

Friday night I hooked up with the girls at the Cheesecake Factory- YUM. Tierra and I shared the Luau salad and let me say it was DIVINE. I hung out with my pals until midnight. Jason texted me a few times after eleven and I thought I could be 16 agian and he could be my mom. . ."where the heck are you???" and "You know you have a race to run tomorrow. . ." Oh yea, the race. That's why we're here. Thanks Heather for driving me home.

I was awake half of the second half of the night (did you get that- the second half when I needed to sleep I was mostly awake- it was a bummer). At 6:30 am I needed to get up but I was dead tired and couldn't figure out why the sky was still SO dark. Maybe I really had more time to sleep. . . no, just a lovely thunderstorm and 50 degree weather to awaken to. We got drenched waiting for the bus. We got drenched walking to the start line. We got drenched waiting at the start line for the race to start. About 5 minutes before the race started I was wringing lots of water out of my pullover. My toes were swimming in my shoes at the starting line. We also had spells of thunder and lightning to keep things interesting. The rain let up nicely for the run and then started up again at the finish line. It was great, great fun (and memorable with the rain). I can't wait to do it again next year. Thanks ladies for a great weekend!

Here we come. . .Notice the street lights (to the right) are on. It's after 9:00 am!

Roxanne, Trish, Heather, Debbie, Lani, Roxanne's aunt (help me Roxanne!), Tierra, Heather, me, and Kate. Kate didn't run but she wants to. Maybe next year.

Jason and the kids were troopers. Eli apparently loved the rain and enjoyed having it running down his face. I forgot Nathanael's jacket (yes, that puts me out of the running for mother of the year, and I was so close!) so he ran around with this sunflower blanket that lives in the back of the van for occassions just like this.

First Day of School

In honor of the first day of school I put a new ABC song in my tunes. I only just discovered it this week and I am LOVING it.


The first day of school was an exciting day indeed. The kids were excited and little bit nervous of course. I think they were most excited to wear their new shoes since I would have almost made them go barefoot rather than start wearing out the school shoes before school even started. I got tired of being asked if they could please just wear the new shoes. No (said with a smile of course). I know I can be a little weird about it. Kate got her hair cut on Monday night and insisted on bangs. These are her first ever bangs. We had a hard time keeping them out of her face for the picture. She says, "They are always in my face!" but secretly I know she likes them because she likes to hide behind them and pretend to be Violet (from The Incredibles). She's a funny girl!

I feel relieved to be locked into a schedule after an often crazy, sometimes lazy summer. A little bit of structure is very soothing to me. But I am a little sad that now we won't just up and leave on another adventure for a long while.

Nathanael didn't really start school this past Tuesday. Here in the great state of WA we are all about smooth transitions and helping everyone adjust and deal properly with the emotions they have. So to help our sweet children enter kindergarten without life-long damage to their still developing psyches we have what I fondly call a transition week. On Tuesday and Wednesday the kindergarten teachers held small conferences with four or five children and their parents lasting 30-45 minutes. The teacher gave us needed info and the kids did a few activities. Nathanael's conference was Tuesday. Then on Thursday and Friday only half of the class attends to allow the kids to settle into their new environment with a smaller group. Nathanael's day was Thursday. The parents are invited for a sweet story at the beginning and then it's time to say goodbye. After the story Nathanael was very matter of fact, "Well Mom, bye, see ya." No tears, not even a backward glance. However there were several kids having complete break downs and sobbing up a storm, poor things. Maybe those parents are nicer to their kids than I am to mine. All of our kids have been super excited for kindergarten. So Nathanael was bored silly Wednesday and Friday and was irritated that he wasn't riding the bus and going to school like Ethan and Kate. But Tuesday is just around the corner and he can't wait. Shhh, me either. I am looking forward to some quiet stillness in the mornings when I can have some one on one time with Eli.

Coeur D'Alene, Idaho

Jason travels a lot. Some of the time it's horrible. A lot of the time I just deal with it without thinking about it because it's my life and I am not going to sit around having a pity party (but if I need one, I won't hesitate to invite some friends). But some of the time we get to enjoy the perks and I really love those times! Jason had a meeting in Coeur d'Alene the week before summer officially ended for us and we were able to tag along. It was great fun, although there were a few glitches. . .#1 A four hour detour home to get the Silverwood tickets that we left home (yes paying the gass to drive home was cheaper than just buying new tickets), and #2 We tried to eat at Red Robin and it was a nightmare but we got a $50 gift card out of it.

We stayed at the Coeur d'Alene Resort. It is really, really nice. When the kids and I walked in (Jason was already working away) I felt like we had signs that said "hick" or "beware, backward country folk coming through!" taped to our foreheads. But when I checked there was nothing so I guess we were safe. I was constantly telling the kids to please stop fighting over who gets to push the elevator button and compose themselves. They couldn't figure out what my problem was. Looking back there was no problem- just me being paranoid that we would bother other guests.

Here is the hotel's description of our room (we took a few pictures but they were too dark; besides, the marketers make it sound so glam).

"Premier Mountain View: This signature room offers your choice of one or two beds, a large sunken living area with floor to ceiling picture windows that open onto a private balcony with mountain views. Our signature bed features a pillow-top mattress, luxurious fine linens and duvets with down pillows. Enjoy an oversized separate bath from dressing area complete with beautiful granite dual vanity sinks, European shower and soaking tub. Room Amenities include cotton robes, luxury toiletries, hair dryers, iron and board, in-room safe, 32" flat screen TVs, in-room movies, Clock/Radio, newspaper, wireless internet access and complimentary coffee & tea."

The kids thought it was so DUMB that there were Pringles and gummy bears in our room and we couldn't eat them (the Pringles cost $3.95 and the bears cost $6.95 from the self serve mini bar). Too bad they were born into a family who won't spend that kind of money on snacks, especially when I could buy them a block down the road for 75% less!

Our room had 50/50 down/feather pillows on the beds. In the hotel info binder there was a pillow page with the extension for the 'pillow conceirge' and a list of 10 different types of pillows you could request if the standard gives you a headache. Wow. . . a pillow conceirge. Going there I sort of felt like I was raised in a closet. No offense Mom and Dad, of course I wasn't, but I just never considered the possibility that 'pillow concerige' would be a job description. Go figure. Stupid hick.

For those of you who are green through and through--environment lovers like ourselves--you will surely appreciate how eco friendly this place is. The shampoo and conditioner smell delicious, of course they were all natural, processed safely without harming any animals or polluting the air or water. Plus the soap had a giant hole in the middle. The explanation on the box is: "This vegetable-based, eco-friendly soap has been specially designed to reduce waste left behind from the unused center of traditional bars. The carton is made from natural recycled paper and printed with soy based products. Cruelty free--contains no animal fat or byproducts." Whew, well that's a relief isn't it? Sadly, I was enjoying the smell of the shampoo and conditioner so much (very soothing) and trying to do my part as to not waste any of the hollowed out soap that I took a really, really long shower and in the end I am afraid I wasted an awful lot of water. I just can't win. . .

On to the fun. We got to take a boat ride on the lake with Jason's colleagues. The kids were wonderful and it was so fun. Our captain was kind enough to let the kids drive a little bit which they loved and he told us about all the famous people who own really cool houses on the lake (John Elway for one).

We swam in the most awesome indoor pool I have ever seen in a hotel. No pictures of course because I am lame, but there was a kids' wading pool, a pool with a lane for lap swim but big enough playing and two hot tubs. We walked and/or rode bikes along the lake and played at the park.

If only the weather had cooperated better. . . it was cold, cloudy and rainy most of the time. We only had brief periods of sunshine, but we made the most of our time anyway.

After the meetings we went to Silverwood which is a theme park kind of like Lagoon but much smaller and lacking in many areas from my fond memories of Lagoon. It was cold and rainy so we couldn't play at the water park. The rain came and went and then came again followed by marble sized hail (the picture doesn't do it justice), then thunder and lightning which essentially closed the park down for a good 45 minutes. Most people left after that. Our kids sort of freaked out. Kate and Nathanael wanted to go home. Ethan WOULD NOT ride any coasters after that. My best chance to get on the coasters went out the window with that hail storm.

But we found some rides that could put smiles on everyone's faces and enjoyed ourselves in spite of the weather.

On the way out we consoled our weary, wet selves with some hot funnel cake that was delicious! The kids are already talking about earning free tickets again (reading program through our school) so we can go next summer. We won't forget the tickets this time. . .