Through the Eyes of Elinor

At Activity Days today Elinor answered a few questions about her mama.

I must share.

1- My mom's favorite food is dark chocolate.

This is true.  It's not really a meal-food, but why should that matter?  The question didn't specify what kind of food, so I give full credit for this one.

2- My mom is very happy when I am doing my jobs.

Yes!  That's right!  She is referring to her daily cleaning jobs she is assigned.  I am very happy when she is doing her jobs.  I feel satisfied, fulfilled, complete, successful when she is doing her jobs.  Come on, kids-- let's all do more jobs!

3- My mom's favorite place to go is home.

Have I mentioned recently how much I love my home?

4- My mom's favorite restaurant is home.

Ummm, I'm not so sure about this one.  I do love to eat at home (I like to eat almost anywhere), but eating at home means that I have cooked the food.  Truth be told, I would rather have someone else cook for me, but that costs money, which I don't want to spend, so YES-- my favorite place to eat is home.

5- My mom's best friend is me.

I do love you, Els.  So I suppose you are in a 6 way tie right under Dad.

6- My mom loves to wear P.J.s

While it is true that I enjoy getting in my P.J.s, let the record show that I get dressed and stay dressed every single day of the year except Christmas and the week after I give birth (which is about every other year).  And for a bonus-- I wear make-up every day!

7- My mom loves to go on vacation to St. Louis.

I enjoyed St. Louis immensely, but let's not confuse a "trip" with a "vacation".  The St. Louis trip was most definitely a trip and not a vacation.

8- One of my mom's hobbies is being happy.

Oh, that is sweet.  I do try.

9- One thing my mom hates to do is touch spiders.

True, true, true.  Can you say, "Panic attack?"

10- I love my mom because she is happy.

That's because of all the dark chocolate!!!

Ahhhhh...

The big event of the day was...

NOTHING!  ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!!!  It was glorious. 

No wait-- that is not true.  I did go to the library.

Rather than attending a world competition, touring a cave, climbing rocks, traveling across the country, visiting historic sites and staying in different hotels every night---
I cooked, cleaned, did laundry, unpacked, read a book, read to little ones, made jello with Faith, potty trained with Cannon, nursed a sicky-poo George, cut the little boys' hair, and helped with music practice.

And I couldn't be happier!!!!!

Well, I could be happier if I didn't have a bed full of laundry waiting to be folded. 

Look what awaited me at home.  My one bunch of tulips.   I love them, but I can't event take credit for my token tulips.  The bulbs were planted before we moved into this house.  I want more, but I never think about it until Spring when all the tulips bloom.  I need to remember to plant the bulbs in the fall.  My neighbor to the east of me has lots of GORGEOUS tulips.  I covet her tulips.  I should just plant my own tulip bulbs-- there can be enough tulips to go around.

That's A Wrap--- GPA Day 13

We are HOME!!!!!!!!  Hooray!!!!!!!!!

The drive was wonderfully uneventful.  I'm so happy to be blogging from my big red chair this evening.

One last family picture.  On the long drive home (11 hours) we stopped briefly at Martin's Cove in Wyoming.  We are posing by a painting of Joseph Angell Young who is an ancestor of Abe's and a rescuer for the Martin Handcart Company.

The funny thing was that it was bright, warm and sunny when we arrived, and not 25 minutes later when we left it was freezing and hailing! 

Well. . . it is done.
And now I would like to present "The Foxies"-- awards to each of my people for their contributions to our Great Plains Adventure.

Abe:  The Top Researcher Award
For his indepth, somewhat neurotic research and planning of an epic family trip in which more was seen and done by a family of 2 adults and 6 children, ages 11 and under, than should have been possible.

Betsy:  (oh, yes, I give an award to myself)  The Blogging Pulitzer Prize
For her startlingly realistic glimpse into the nomadic lifestyle of the Fox Family on their Great Plains Adventure.  Her continual coverage was impressive in the face of the constant company of overtired and undernourished children.

Clark:  The Champions Award
His team accomplishments with Pi POD made this entire trip possible.  His consistent good attitude and cheerfulness throughout is a personal triumph for him! 

Bethany:  The Miss Money Bags Award
For saving up the most money for the trip and collecting the most souvenirs on each leg of the trip.  Her generous nature allowed her sisters to purchase more treasures as well.

Elinor:  The Get Up and Go With the Flow Award
Despite a strong tendency toward late sleeping and slow movement, she truly exerted herself and helped maintain punctuality.  She was always ready and willing to head off on another excursion.

Faith:  The I Can Do It Award
She declared her independence and proved she could keep pace with the big kids.  She swam on her own with no floaties and refused to be left behind when there was adventure to be had.

Cannon:  The Showman Award
For drawing any and all attention to himself with endless laughs and conversation for anyone and everyone he came in contact with.  He proved adept at performing tragedy as well as comedy.

George:  The Trooper Award
For being hauled, lugged, carried, driven, toted, pushed, and dragged throughout 9 states in 13 days and smiling throughout. 

I am now going to lay down in MY OWN BED!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, JOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Black Hills--- GPA Day 12

In all of my travels in life, I had never before seen Mt. Rushmore. 
Now I have and it was impressive. And it was a beautiful day to be experiencing the Black Hills.

Do you know the movie The One and Only Genuine, Original Family Band?  I love the movie and the "Dakota!" song.  If you've never seen it you must put it on your Netflix queue immediately.  We've been singing the song for the past couple of days, only we don't really know the words, so we just sing, "Dakota!  Dakota!  Da da daaa da daaaa.  Dakota!  Oh, Dakota!  Da da daaaaa da daaaa".  I suppose it gets pretty annoying after a while.

We made one more stop at Reptile Gardens for about an hour.  We just didn't get enough yesterday.  What can I say?  We love reptiles.
We climbed up a big rock at Sylvan Lake.  As you may have guessed, we have asked a lot of people to take our family's picture on this trip.  Surprisingly, the kids have all been quite cooperative and uncomplaining when we announce, "Come on, kids-- let's do a family picture".

We drove through The Eye of the Needle-- but it was a pretty tight squeeze.  We pulled our van mirrors in.

Abe and I concur that while the Black Hills are beautiful and have some fascinating rock formations like we've never seen before, we prefer the landscape of Yellowstone.  It has also given us more appreciation for the amazing outdoors that surround us all over Utah.

I am so excited to come home tomorrow!

We took an elevator 234 ft. down into Jewel Cave National Monument.  It is the 2nd largest cave in the world!  But we opted for the 20 minute tour into one large cavern rather than the 1hr 15min scenic tour.  Good choice for us.

I don't know if they have Jr. Ranger programs at all the National Parks and Monuments, but we have taken advantage of the program at several that we've been to.  The girls have earned certificates and patches and badges by completing several activities and answering questions about the park or monument.  I must say that I am very impressed by our National Park Service.  I particularly like how sharp all the rangers look in their hats and uniforms.  It is good to have pride in one's work.

Funniest moment of the trip--
Feeding the Beggin' Burros on the wildlife loop drive through Custer State Park.  We cut up an apple to feed to them and sure enough they come right up to your car-- practically sticking their heads in your car!  The white one was SO FUNNY, opening its mouth!  We laughed so hard we woke up a napping George.  That was no laughing matter.

Never look a gift horse in the mouth, but it is okay to look a greedy burro in the mouth.

We saw lots of bison, deer, pronghorns, wild turkeys, and a prairie dog town.  The wildlife loop did not disappoint.  Abe pointed out to the kids the nursing bison in the middle of this group.  The kids said, "Okay, Dad.  Would you please stop talking about it-- that is gross."

Gross?  Really?  I thought nursing wasn't a big deal for our kids since a baby is nursing quite regularly at our house, but I guess there are underlying feelings.  Perhaps I should be more diligent with my blanket coverage.

Tomorrow is the long drive home.  Did I mention how excited I am to get home?

Very.

I love my home.  I love my friends.  I love my ward.  I can't wait to do laundry that isn't coin operated.  I want to cook food in my kitchen and eat at my table.  I want to see the buds in bloom on my trees.  I want to sleep in my bed.  I want to do regular school time with my people.  I want to teach my piano students again.   This trip has been AWESOME, but fortunately, all good things must come to an end!

Dakota! Dakota!---GPA Day 11

 

We've seen a lot of interesting things on the trip, but this was just COOL. Right off of I-90 on our way from Sioux Falls, South Dakota to Rapid City we stopped at the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site.  It is an underground nuclear missile control center for several missile silos in the area.  Of course it is no longer active, but it was from 1963-1991.  Talk about a piece of Cold War history!
Abe and I were children at the end of the Cold War, but especially because I lived in Berlin, Germany as a child, we got a little taste of it.  I remember the bad guys in movies were always Russians.  It was strange to realize that our children really have no frame of reference for the Cold War.

This is painted on the launch control room door that was 4 feet thick.  The security measures they had in place were intense.

From the control center we drove 11 miles to look down the missile silo at a bomb-less missile.

Next we took a drive through the Badlands.  Who knew there was so much to do in South Dakota?

Have you ever heard of Wall Drug Store?  It's the world's largest drug store-- quite the distinction!

I'm not sure what to say-- It is big.  It sells cool stuff.  We felt compelled to stop, but we didn't buy anything.  So we left feeling it was a giant tourist trap out in the middle of nowhere and rather a waste of time for us.  But truth be told, I was really hungry and grouchy at this point, so disregard my opinion.

A big piece of the Berlin Wall resides in Rapid City, SD.  Why?  I don't know-- I haven't done my research yet, but I got my picture by it nonetheless.

Throughout a couple of city blocks they have statues of all the former presidents of the United States-- thus the nickname "The City of Presidents".   Georgie got his picture taken with George Washington.  

Did you know that Reptile Gardens hosts the largest collection of reptiles in the world?

Who knew?

Clark knew.

We went there today and it was glorious!  And I quote--"This is heaven!"

 We had a private (only because no one else was there) snake show and I was reminded just how much my freaky family already knows about snakes.  Everybody was missing our pet snake back home. 

The cobra was impressive.  In fact, I've never seen so many venomous snakes in all my life.  

To say that Clark was happy to be there would be a gross understatement.  He saved most of his trip money to spend in the Reptile Gardens gift shop.

  We enjoyed a sit down pizza dinner here in Keystone and then swimming at the hotel.

Then a little movie time to relax.

Then A LOT of sleep-- hopefully.

On The Road Again-- GPA Day 10

Not a whole lot to say about today.  This picture pretty much sums it up.  It was good.

We did catch a Sacrament meeting in a downtown ward of St. Louis this morning.  That was good.

We did a very quick stop at the Church's visitors' center at Winter Quarters in Omaha, Nebraska.  That was good.

They had a replica of the tiny log cabins they built to house 12 people.  Makes our house seem like a mansion.  Which house I found myself day dreaming about on the long car ride today.  I think I'll be very ready to come home.  Do you see that little curly top down in the corner?  May I just say, he has a lot of energy.

A few thoughts on the Great Plains Adventure before I slumber:

---I can understand that man-truckers don't want flowery, girlie smelling soap.  But at our first hotel on this trip the bar of soap smelled like smoked bacon.  It was nasty to me.

---Abe thought the smoked bacon soap smelled good.

---I am a compulsive eater when I travel.  Good thing I don't travel very often.

---The Residence Inn in St. Louis was so comfortable and our room smelled wonderful every time we opened the door.  I try to keep my home smelling fresh, but it is an effort and I regularly fail.  We couldn't get our hotel room to smell bad.  It was marvelous.

---We're at a Ramada Inn tonight and it smells bad without any help from us.  Ramada Inn needs to find out what sort of miracle air fresheners The Residence Inn uses.

---Abe has remarkable driving stamina and I trust him very much behind the wheel.  Nonetheless, I never like to doze off because I figure two people watching the road is safer than one.  I would love to be lulled to sleep by the gentle rolling of the open road, but that's not really possible as I am on duty keeping my people fed, hydrated and happy. 

---We've covered 9 states on this trip--Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, and South Dakota.  We should have been more diligent in playing the license plate game.  Oh well.

---Our family of 8 has been a bit of a spectacle wherever we've gone.  The kids have been wonderfully well behaved, all things considered, and no one has said anything unkind or even grimaced at us.  That being said, they can't help but look on with a mixture of shock and sympathy.  I take no offense as I occasionally feel that way myself when I see a picture of our whole family and realize how many of us there are.  However, the lady who oversees the dining room at the Residence Inn was so kind and attentive to our family that I had to hug her when we said good bye this morning.  She gave Elinor a big hug and gave her a few bags of M&Ms and Skittles from the little market room to share with the other kids.  I feel like we should send her a Christmas card or something!  It made Elinor's morning. 

---I am fascinated by the Royal wedding.  There.  I said it.

Great Plains Adventure Day 9

I realize that Missouri is considered more of a Midwest state than a Great Plains state, but for the sake of continuity, I shall continue calling our trip our Great Plains Adventure.

Today all the FIRST Lego League festivities wrapped up.  This afternoon was the awards ceremony in which Pi POD did not win any awards, but agreed that the whole experience was AMAZING!  Once again, thank you to everyone who made it possible.

Today we went to the most distinguishing landmark in St. Louis-- the Gateway Arch.  Up close it is so much bigger than I imagined!  Abe does not like heights, but he was a brave boy and went anyway.

Here we are - squished into a space ship about to be shot into space.  

Not really, but that's what we told Cannon to make it seem more fun to be in a tiny enclosed pod jerkily making our way 630 ft up the arch.  It was partly very cool and partly very freaky.  So the trick was to be fully present and enjoy the moment while mentally checking out and pretending it wasn't really happening.  

It's kind of the same mental trick I do when I'm having a baby.

Here we are at the top.  It was quite crowded and stuffy up there, it swayed ever so slightly and any fear of heights or tight spaces combined to make one anxious to get back into the pod and get back down ASAP.   We all agreed to head back down sooner rather than later. 

All that said, we're glad we went up.  It is an engineering phenomenon.  And you all know how much I know about engineering phenomenons.

"We must touch the great Mississippi River". 

It was interesting to see the River overflowing it's banks. 

 No one here seems concerned about it, but this river is huge and I think the natives should be more concerned.  But you know how much I know about rivers flooding.

 Previously I wrote about how traitorous we felt in going to the St. Louis Zoo without Clark.  We purposefully did not go into the reptile house out of respect.  We had a bit of time before our ticket time for the Arch, so we revisited the zoo.  Abe stayed in the car with the little people (parking is very expensive and we're getting tired of toting them around) and Clark, Bethany, Elinor and I booked it as fast as we could to the herpetarium. 

Lego robotics and World Festivals are cool and everything, but I guess the Reptile House is where it's at!

As we finish up our time in St. Louis we are pretty worn out.   Everyone's feet are tired and aching and no one has gotten enough sleep.   Except maybe George-- he can't walk and he happily falls asleep wherever.  

Abe and I are looking forward to a long days drive tomorrow to rest up for the next leg of the trip.  If all goes well we'll be sleeping in Sioux Falls, SD tomorrow night, then on to Rapid City. 

End note:  We will not be wearing Pi POD shirts in anymore pictures on this trip. 

Skimming The Surface - GPA 8

The Wiener Mobile is parked in our hotel parking lot every morning and evening.  We suppose that it cruises around the city and outlying areas during the day.  At night there is a manned security car to protect the wiener mobile.  I've never seen it in person before.  Now I am complete.

Because there is SO much to do here, there is no way we can do justice to any of it.  Our approach is to experience as much of it as we can even if we can only skim the surface.  We went to the St. Louis Science Center first off.   It is a great place, but truth be told, my girls aren't crazy into science, and they are pretty worn out from lots of walking the last few days, so they were a little slow moving.

Once again we didn't have Clark with us (I'm missing him), but we thought of him as we took this picture of the pi sign.

I really really really wanted to go into The Art Museum, but we were short on time before we needed to be over to the arena for the first robot run.  Abe stayed in the car with the littles while Bethany and Elinor and I saw as many beautiful paintings as we could in 20 minutes.  Lame, I know.  But it was better than nothing.  I loved what I got to see.

Pi Pod spent much of their day hanging out in their pit and completing their 3 robot runs-- the last one went great.  Clark tells me that it is NOT a good run when your robot falls over, which sadly did happen in the 2nd run.  They said their little Lego driver guy was drunk.  Good thing they take your highest score.  

The girls were ecstatic to get to go "trick or treating" around the pits collecting all sorts of trinkets.  They got their faces painted, they got to have their names written in Chinese and Korean, they got buttons, pencils, chapstick, wrist slap bracelets, pins, stickers, rubber bracelets, temporary tattoos.  

That was really fun, but then the girls spent hours back at the hotel trading with the sisters of other Pi POD members.  Elinor wasn't so much into the trading.  She and her friend Caleb were vegging out on superhero cartoons, but she enjoyed the collecting.

Pi POD Shuttle Craft.   

This evening the boys headed off to a Black Eyed Peas concert for FIRST participants.  Supposedly it was the "clean" version.  These boys aren't exactly into pop culture, and neither are their dads who accompanied them, but they decided to give it a go. 

They didn't stay very long.  

This is my happy place. 

Good night.