Been there, Done that, got the pictures to prove it

For about the past month or so, Dan and a bunch of guys from church have been planning a big hike up Mt. Whitney. They've been talking and planning about all kinds of stuff, usually away from the house and making me wonder about their "secret combinations". In any case, this past week all that planning finally paid off. They left Wednesday night (could they pick a worse night???) and drove 9 hours to a base camp on Mt. Whitney which is about as high as the top of Half Dome in Yosemite. (Dan and the boys conquered Half Dome over the summer...he was due for another challenge)
They arrived at about 0230, set up camp and got everything all ready to hang around the next day and do nothing. (all that build up for nothing!) They did a few measly hikes around the area and played with some icicles on a frozen river but scaling the mountain was set aside for Friday.

So Friday came (his day started at 0300 or so) and the trek began. There were more pictures than this, but these are the ones with smiles in them.

They all hit the top by 1 pm and then turned around, trudged down, crabbed, packed, ate, and drove home...all on Friday. Needless to say, his Saturday was spent sleeping and walking VERY slowly.

Here are some lessons we learned:

1. 7 men motivated by high adventure trips can finish a lot of work in a little time so they can go have fun

2. It is not a wise idea to simultaneously try to pack and eat if you are in a hurry to leave....you will choke, throw up and worry people around you (once they stop laughing at you for eating so fast you choke yourself...)

3. No matter how tired a woman is, she worries (and hence doesn't sleep...at least not well...) until one of two things happens: a) He walks in the door, b) she passes out casue she's so tired and her body will not go any more

4. You are going to find out, on a hike like this, who you want in your foxhole. Be prepared.

5. Hiking up and up and up sounds easy but is actually very hard. It takes longer than you plan for to get up there and longer than you think to get back down.

6. Driving for a long time after you've hiked 22 miles in one day makes you tired.

7. The day after you come home, you will probably scare the people who love you the most when you try to get out of bed and nearly fall to the floor yelling something about "OW". (Apparently, a hike like this will make your calves and feet VERY sore and make it an exceedingly painful thing to stand up or walk)

8. Baby steps, after a hike like this are a good thing...they take a long time but they feel so much better!!!

THE absolute DUMBEST dog on the planet

So Oreo, our dog, has been with our family for about a year now and we're all pretty well adjusted. Every now and then we see him doing something completely retarded and know he was meant to be with us. He'll run laps around the table just to get you to play with him and one time he even nipped Stephen's rear because he was being ignored. He'll whine and cry if he's not getting any love ( Like when Dan and I are hugging and NOT paying attention to him).

These are all little things that he does...small and simple and very comfortable. And then there are things like the "making" of the bed. This is a very important ritual for everyone and each person has his or her own way of doing it.

Dan likes to twist up and sleep the BOTTOM sheet off the matress.

I prefer to have everything smooth and flat so that when I get OUT of the bed, I don't have to do much to make it neat.

Stephen is a burrito...very literally, a boy burrito.

Haley begins as a ball, breaks in the middle to make knee tents, and then goes back to the ball.

Nathan is all over the place...makes me nervous having him sleep on the top bunk.

Emily is a "star sleeper". Arms out, legs out...Ahhhhh.

Little did we know that Oreo also has a method to his madness. Observe.Watch the video here...

Ohhhh....I wish I wish.....

What to say about these choice pictures.....

There are days when I'm really serious about wanting this to be real. Take yesterday for example and we'll examine the angry boy in the white shirt.

Yesterday was a regular day. He came home from school, The Happy Wanderer/Hungry Hunter Gatherer, in search of food. Anything would do, EXCEPT the crust from his lunchtime sandwich. Three tortillas microwaved with too much cheese, a spoon ful of peanut butter, a handful of chips and a paper cup full of green Kool-Aid seemed to satiate his hunger. But then it was time for homework. (scary music here)

THE HORRORS OF ABC ORDER!!! And that stupid letter "F"! (it kept getting forgotten...) For an hour he was on the living room floor playing kewpie doll with his worksheet. (You know that thing you do when your paper is on a soft floor and you stab it repeatedly with your pencil to make many little holes...it feels sort of neat-o when you turn it over.) After that, he tried to spear it while it floated....this did not go over well with the older brother who kept getting speared because he was in the line of fire.

"Nathan, go upstairs and work please!!!" I shouted....? yelled...? shrieked...? You get the picture....imagine the exasperation.

He went and peace reigned downstairs. Then the little sister began to be tortured. Pencils were moved, marks were made on her papers, crayons were taken and broken with one hand (...she said I couldn't do it so I showed her....) and, the piece de resistance, she was knocked out of her chair (which her older sister cleverly balances on risers)

I arrived on the scene to find half of a worksheet, torn lengthwise so the words could still be used and punctured mercilessly, on the table next to a folder, torn in half in a fit of forgotten "f" temper. These were accompanied by a horde of broken crayons and the wadded other half of the aforementioned worksheet. The little sister was in tears under the table and the BOY was on a chair in the closet, berating the sister for falling from the chair.

WHY do they not offer to let parents use the jails a few days a month?!??! Do you know how helpful this would be??? *sigh*

As it was, I had to improvise...

I looked at my watch...5:15 pm. I looked at the BOY....

"GO TO BED!!!"

Snot So Very Easy....

Snot. Snot. This I have learned.
This blogging stuff can suck up some serious time! I thought it would be a simple enough thing to click, create and post (and given my limited technical knowledge, this is a good thing) but after several hours spent clicking, creating, trying to upload, downloading about 12 different things to help me upload, trying to figure out how to set up said things and failing all miserably, I came to my conclusion: Snot so very easy. I finally achieved success (after a few more downloads and a phone call to my internet service provider). NOW, we’re getting down to it.
Now I can post news on my blog and think I've done very well and have time to visit my friends blogs. Then I switch back and forth between theirs and mine and debate deleting mine entirely because theirs look so much better. *sigh* (what was it that girl in first grade said that her mom told her??? "Never compare yourself to others, you'll only make yourself miserable." I know, I know....but I'm still new at this.

And now I'm tired.