What Song Defines You?

When I asked Gavin recently what song defines him, he thought for a long while, then with conviction answered, "When the Sand Runs Out" by Rascal Flatts.  I was actually surprised.  I didn't know this about him.

Bennett thought "Eye of the Tiger" was a pretty accurate representation of himself.  But then later recanted and said that even though he loves Adele, he would have to say that Tim McGraw's "Live Like You Were Dying" best expressed who he was and how he lived life.

Chloe wouldn't be a typical 8 year old girl if she didn't tell me, "Oh Mommy!  I just love 'Love Story' by Taylor Swift.  To which I replied, "I know you do, Honey.  But I don't want your favorite song, I want you to tell me which song best describes you, who you are, what you love in this life, what you think is important."  In typical fashion, she can't commit to just one song so she gave me three.  The first is the same as Gavins.  The second and third are by her other favorite musician, Laura Story, "Mighty to Save" and "Blessings."

I love when my kids share their hearts with me.  I find the vulnerable beautiful.

Just in case you're wondering, Chuck has two life defining songs:  Lead Me, by Sanctus Real and "Offering" by Third Day.  These are the perfect descriptions for a man who is incredibly humble, wise and full of grace and love.  He is the better half of me.

I'm a tad bit more complicated.  Of course I would pick an instrumental to be the song that defines me...that I want played at my funeral.  The song, Promontory on the Last of the Mohicans soundtrack puts the thoughts of my head, the feelings of my heart and the energy of my body into one all encompassing song.  I am so thankful to Trevor Jones for composing it.  I'm too complicated to be defined by words only, the music describes who I am perfectly, serious, strong, playful, joyful, full of emotion and life, vulnerable, awestruck, humbled, and deep.

Maybe you know us a little better now by knowing the words that others put to music that speak the melodies and truths that echo in our hearts and lives.

Love Is...

Bennett comes in to cuddle me on this gray, cloudy morning.  Good snuggle time.  He looks over at me with stars in his eyes that have been there since he was born and says, "Mom, I love your nose.  It's so smooth."

The kid always, always, always makes me laugh.  What a fun way start a new day...with a smile in my heart, a laugh in my belly and the adoration of my son!

Of all things to compliment somebody on, the nose is not usually at the top of the list.

Apparently, my nose is at the top of his though.  Ironically, it's never been one of my favorite features on my face.  But I guess that goes to show that beauty definitely is in the eye of the beholder.

Pot Holes

Our latest adventure took us looking for pot-holes.  That just doesn't sound right, does it?  But it's true.  There is a beautiful area called Taylors Falls on the St. Croix river where the bluffs are as abundant as the rocky terrain.  And amongst this rocky terrain are the area's most famous feature, their pot-holes.  But these aren't on their roads, they're in the rocks.  Apparently, this area of Minnesota used to be covered by glaciers ions ago.  When the glaciers receded, the swirling waters left these fascinating geological features imbedded deep into the rock.  It looks as if someone took a giant drill and made a perfect circle, 10, 25, 60 feet down into the depths of these rocks.

The pictures just don't do them justice.  One pothole was so large, they built stairs going down into it so you could get a better feel.  They are amazingly smooth and perfect circles.  Most are filled with water (naturally), but some have pumps running to keep the water out so you can see how cavernous they are.  Truly a natural wonder and one I've never heard about until now.  We also made this destination our camping site for the next two nights.  No, we didn't camp in the potholes, but the state park one mile south of them.  This was our first camping trip in Minnesota. The weather was phenomenal for late July - only 80 degrees with a light breeze.

This was also our first time with a "kids only" tent and a "mommy & daddy only" tent.  It was wonderful!  Another first, we also had air mattresses.  Let me tell you, camping is such a joy now.  We actually slept and didn't wake up with bruises from the hard-packed earth.  Chloe so graciously organized all our shoes between our tents.  One big difference between camping here and down in Texas is...we didn't have to check our shoes for spiders before we slid our feet into them.  That, and there were no venomous creatures around to keep ever vigilant of where we stepped and climbed.  Speaking of climbing....we did ALOT of it!

We climbed up...

and up and up.

Only to be rewarded with views such as these:

We also climbed down after climbing up, but I was too busy holding on for dear life to take any downhill pictures.  The precipices were so tall and there were no guard-rails anywhere to be found.  So I spent alot of time leaning into the side of the cliff/hill hoping upon hope that my sheer will would keep me attached to the ground and not tumbling over the edge to an early demise.

 An example of one such cliff...from the bottom it's gorgeous, from the top, life-threatening...at least if you're me.  However, around the campfire later that afternoon, while relaxing from our miles of hiking, we were discussing what our favorite hike so far was.  I answered, "Believe it or not, the one that was the scariest, the Sandstone Bluffs Trail, was my favorite.  I guess the adrenaline hit me after the fact.  I guess if I'm not scared, we're not having an adventure."  That last sentence has since become our family tag-line for camping/hiking/adventure/thrill-seeking.  There's nothing more exhilarating than conquering your fear and having fun despite your wobbly legs and a fast-beating heart.

Speaking of campsites...this was ours.  Another funny story.  See that blue, vinyl square in the background?  Our neighbor gave us this mosquito-like net to use.  It's big.  It came with no directions and about 57 random pieces of metal poles, all with different numbers and shapes.  It was so funny to watch the boys all staring at it trying to figure out how to put it together.  Chuck even made a drawing to represent what it should look like upon completion.  Apparently, nobody except him understood the drawing given the blank looks on everyone's faces upon reviewing our new 'plan of action'.  We sat and stared at it for a long time.  We attached random pieces of poles together and attempted to put them on/around/through/under the big, blue square.  After an hour and a half and zero progress, we deduced that none of us are engineers and just don't care that much whether or not we get eaten by mosquitos.  At one point, we even thought our neighbor might be trying to play a joke on us, giving us this impossible puzzle to figure out knowing he didn't give us all the pieces.  Thankfully, the mosquitos had mercy on us.   

Another wonderful thing about our campsite was our proximity to the bathrooms.  One might think that this would be a negative point.  But oh, contraire!  These were the Taj-Mahal of bathrooms.  Okay, maybe I exaggerate a little, but they were spic and span, no creatures lurking under lids or behind doorways and no odors hovering around the structure.  Clean is the name of the game at this campsite.  And since we were right next door, we took full advantage of going to the clean bathroom whenever nature called.  Chloe even went in by herself!  That is huge people, huge!  And get this...we even showered there.  Never before have we felt the need to clean the camping effects from our personage.  We just stayed "woodsy"/ "natural" if you will.  There was no way I or anyone in my family were going to end up in their birthday suit in some of the bathrooms we've encountered.  Staying dirty was the best option.  But not here.  We smelled fresh and clean.  An experience I've yet to encounter while camping.  It gave me hope for future endeavors.

When we weren't hiking, we were either sitting around the camp fire reading or playing games.  The kids play hours of Yuh-gi-oh together. 

And each night ended in a competetive game of nertz.  The big challenge of this particular game was that our cards were on a sliding surface since the tent wasn't exactly sitting on flat ground.  Our cards kept sliding down towards Chloe giving the game that much more of a challenge.  Good times.

 

Lastly, one of hikes took us into the near-by town of Taylors Falls.  We passed this teeny tiny pink building that was just so adorable, I had to take a picture of it.  Once we got closer, we saw the sign announcing that it was a public library.  Well, of course we had to go in.  Our curiosity was piqued.  Plus, if there are books anywhere close by, we are there!  

Of course there was a retired, old school teacher who was the librarian.  She was so sweet to sit and talk with us and give us the history of the building and let us ohh and ahh over the gorgeous architectural features and touch the spines of books from eras gone by.  Come to find out, we were in the oldest library in Minnesota.  It has been operating as a library for over 100 years.  

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, as did our mini vacation.  Out of no-where on our last night, at around 1am it started raining.  We waited it out in the car for about an hour thinking it was going to be a nasty storm.  Of course the nasty storm never materialized and we woke everyone up for nothing.  So, we all sleep-walked back to our respective tents only to hear the pitter patter of rain drops on the tent roof and walls all night long.  Air mattress or not, that was not a good night of sleep.  We were packed out and driving away from our weekend of fun by 8am the next morning. 

Fun in the Dark

An impromptu game of Hide and Seek in the Dark was planned by all the neighbor kids for our house this past Thursday night.   And Chuck & I were implored to play with them.  How could we say no?

The fun began at 9pm.  We needed it relatively dark outside to maximize the thrill of the hunt.  We closed all the blinds, turned out all the lights (I put any valuables that could possibly get 'accidentally' knocked over in the fray in safe-keeping) and sat down in our garage with 8 kids to talk about how this game was going to go down.

First, absolutely no lights were allowed.  Second, once one person was found, the Seeker had to yell, "Everybody Home" (to the garage) so the rest of us did not have to give up our hard sought out hiding places.  Third, no hiding in the washer/dryer or outside.  Lastly, the darker you dress, the better your chances of not being found are...soo...everyone raided our closets and costume box to adorn themselves in black.  We had 4 teenage boys, a 12 year old girl, a 10 year old boy, a 9 year old girl and an 8 year old as our competition.  It was hilarious to see these teenage boys decked out in a black superman cape in order to give themselves an edge.  Gavin even summoned his inner ninja and donned a ninja mask.  He felt dressing in all grey was more appropriate because he would look more realistic as a shadow.

Let the games commence....

The three girls all needed help finding hiding places and since Chuck was the first one to count, the responsibility fell to me.  I had to find 4 hiding spots within 2 minutes.  Talk about having to think fast on my feet!  The poor Chloes....I shoved one under the hamper in our closet and the other behind the lower level of shirts hanging from the rack in the closet.  Those two couldn't stop giggling.  They just HAD to hide together or they would be scared.  I don't blame them.  The house was pitch black.  You couldn't see a thing or walk without groping the walls.

I hid Jenna in a big box we had in the basement and put some more empty boxes on top of her and then crouched down beside her under the ironing board so I could make sure she was still breathing.  It seemed to work.  We weren't found on the first round.

It gave Chuck and I much satisfaction to totally dominate the game.  It took us back 25 years to old church lock-ins.  We were having so much fun, we forgot we were the parents.  We were taking this hiding thing way too seriously.  On the last run, all the kids together couldn't find either of us.  YES!  We may be inching closer to 40, but that just gives us a better edge, we can out-think and out-smart our competition.  And bonus - we still get to act like we're 15 again.

One thing I will do differently next time...dust.  Many people mentioned to me that they were very dusty and then proceeded to show me their clothing once we were in the light of the garage.  Ooops.  Ya, I don't really ever dust in the closest under the shirts or behind the HVAC unit or behind the sofa.  Maybe I should be more purposeful in my dusting.

The game came to an end and hour and half later when parents started calling and texting us: "Send so and so home now please."  Time totally escaped us, we were so swept up in the fun.

The funniest thing about the whole night was that with each successive hiding attempt, the Hiders progressively got more and more daring.  They started setting up booby-traps around the house.  It was hilarious. You should have seen the house once we finally turned on all the lights.  Thankfully, everyone immediately pitched in to put everything back in place.  The very next thing they wanted to know: when is the next time?  I love being the fun house!

Metaphorically Speaking

Gavin:  "How about every time I talk to you, you respond to me metaphorically."

Me:  "What does that even mean, Gavin."

Gavin: "You know, I say something and then you respond using a metaphor."

Me:  "Oh.  Like, if you say 'corndog', then I say, 'you're as skinny as a corn dog'. Right?"

Gavin:  "No mom.  That's a simile.  You need you use a metaphor such as, 'this red is the sun'.

Me:   "Oh.  I don't know what to say.  How about I just don't talk."

The Power Of One

We've waited years to show one of our favorite movies to the boys.  We finally deemed they were mature enough to handle the deep, powerful concepts and reality this movie brings to light.  Some messages are best understood through words, as ideas that seep into your brain and take root in your heart from a book.  Other times, an intimate, one-on-one conversation is all that is needed to convey a deep idea or discuss what life does to our hearts. And then there are yet other times, such as this, where a picture is worth a thousand words.  The images played out in this movie said more than any of the words we could have used to explain apartheid, prejudice, hatred, forgiveness, love and sacrifice.

Some of my absolute favorite quotes from this movie are:

"Little defeat big when little is smart.  First with the head, then with the heart."

"A waterfall starts with but one drop and look what comes of that."

"Any ideology that needs to attack the thing that least threatens it is an ideology that will not outlive its own generation."

"Laws define rights."

"I agree sir, but do they always define justice?"

"Justice, young man, is only relative to who is in charge."

"Quite true, sir.  But perhaps how well they stay in charge is only relative to how well they dispense that justice."

"The brain, PK, has two functions:  It is the best reference library ever, which is a good thing to have.  But also from it comes original thought.  In school  you will get all filled up with the facts.  Out here [in nature], your brain will learn where to look, how to look, and how to think.  Any question you ever have you will find the answer in Nature - if you know where to look, and how to ask."

Articulation Matters

Gavin:  "Mom, can I tell you why I like Rascal Flatts?"

Me:  "Sure, Buddy."

Gavin:  "I like them because they pronounce all their words correctly. I can hear the words they're saying. Not like Coldplay like Dad was playing last night where it's just a jumble of words and you can't hear what they're saying."

Me:  "I like your criteria for good music.  Who would want to listen music with jumbly words?"

Being American

This morning Chloe and I were laying in bed cuddling when she decides she wants to write something on my back.  I am so not good at decoding letters on my back.  We were doing good until she starts trying to write an "A".  No matter what or how many times she wrote it, I just didn't get it.  In exasperation she says, "MOM!  IT HAS OBLIQUE LINES!"

"Well...you should have told me that from the beginning Darling.  What are oblique lines again and where in the world did you learn that?"

"I learned it in math and they are slanted lines."

"Ohhhh....so that must be an A."

Proud that I finally recognized the letter, she moves on to the next one, which was "M".  Trying to cut her off at the pass and guess the word before she writes it I blurt out what I think her sentence was:
"YOU ARE HUNGRY AND AMERICAN."

We laughed so hard!  I couldn't stop giggling.  I'm not known for my great memory.  I couldn't remember the words she wrote on my back before the elusive "A".  Thus, the crazy sentence.

Then of course it was my turn to write on Bennett's back.  I wrote:  YOU READ LIKE AN OWL.  Which makes zero sense actually.  But, being his mother's son, he also tries to cut me off at the pass and declares my sentence on his back to be:  YOU READ LIKE AN AMERICAN.

Nothing could have been funnier at that moment to me.  I was crying I was laughing so hard.

What a wonderful way to start the day!

Competition

In the spirit of the olympics, I'd like to take a moment to divulge a conversation Chuck and I were having recently.  Keep in mind, this was a serious conversation.

Chuck:  "What sport do you think you're good enough in to compete at an olympic level?"

Me:  "Seriously?  If I was good enough at anything, don't you think I'd be there this summer?"

Chuck:  "You know what I mean...which one would you want to do?"

Me:  "None.  I don't have enough discipline to train as hard as they do.  I love to watch them and admire the athletes tremendously.  But I so wouldn't want to compete.  I'd be so nervous I'd throw up."

Chuck:  "Well...I think I could compete on an olympic level at go-kart racing.   I'm that good."

Me:  "Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?!   The only people you've ever beat on a go-kart race track are the kids.  How hard is that?  It's a lawn mower engine."

Chuck:  "I'm serious.  It takes skill to round those corners and cut people off and shave off time as you go around the track."

Me:  "I am so done with this conversation. I can't believe we're even having it."

Doesn't this make you just wish you could sit around and have lovely conversations such as these with Chuck and me?

New Food

The kids begging me to make a new food item that is actually healthy just doesn't happen.  So you can imagine my pick-my-jaw-up-off-the-floor excitement when the boys asked, "Mom, do you think you could make us some steamed beets and spinach tortillas?  Seriously, I am not making this up.  Not one, but both of my boys asked for this dish.  I previously didn't even know how to spell beets, two 'ee's or is it 'ea' - forget being able to find what they looked like in the grocery store.  I actually had to read the signs underneath all the vegetables to find my beets.  Did you know they come in bundles of 3?  Now you do.  Anyways, now that I have them, I must learn how to steam them.  I actually had to watch a youtube video on 'how to steam beets'.  If you're ever bored, I highly recomend it.  It was enough for this beginning beet steamer.  Apparently, I cook beets good now because Gavin raved and raved about how delicious they were.

This idea didn't just pop into their collective heads all on it's own.  I'd like to thank Priya Submaranian, the  Mom of one of Gavin's close friends.  She is the premier Indian Food Chef this side of India. I love every and any thing that comes out of her kitchen and I'm not even a vegetarian.  But she could sure convince me to be one.  Apparently, she has already convinced Gavin and Bennett because when they came home telling me tales of foods they ate while at her house I was aghast.  How could she get them to eat some of these vegetables?!  Someone as nice as her can get anyone to eat anything.

Moral of the story...learn how to steam more vegetables and maybe even try a few you don't know how to spell once in a while...you just might like them.

Vacation

My parents came to visit during the most wonderful time of the year - summer!  No apologies were necessary like, "Sorry the snow is up to your elbows." or "Don't forget to pack extra pairs of long underwear." Instead, we were treated to record highs (much to their chagrin) and a little more humidity than we would have liked, but at least rain didn't dampen any of the many outdoor activities we had planned.  Actually, the entire staycation was one big outdoor activity... from sight seeing in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul to walking the rocky coast in Duluth or kayaking on Lake of the Isles.   What fun laughing and sharing life together we had!

The lake was filled with these beauties.

Gavin taking it easy for a spell.  

The kids being overly dramatic about how hot 

they are and how done they are shopping.

The ruins of the old Gold Medal Flour factory looking out

onto an old stone arch bridge crossing the Mississippi River.

The grapes from a winery tour we took in Stillwater.  

A gorgeous view of Gooseberry River leading out to 

Lake Superior from the trails around Gooseberry State Park.

 Mom and Dad at one of the trail heads in Gooseberry State Park. 

They just liked the name Gitchi-Gami (what the Native Americans used

to call Lake Superior) and wanted a picture to remind them of it.

 

Dad (deathly afraid of heights) perched precariously close

to the edge of the cliff where the falls begin.  Making sure 

he has a firm grip on Mom so he doesn't have to jump over

the edge to rescue her, not because he's afraid or anything.

The falls.  You never tire of looking at them.  

Dad braved the cold water, big waves and slippery rocks 

to make his way out to this lone rock and conquer it!

 The kids examining the waves and what was being washed ashore.

There was lots of debris from the recent flooding Duluth experienced.

Praying he doesn't drop me in the cold water.

 Sunset at the lake.

Date Nite

The only thing that comes to mind when I behold such beauty is Psalm 145:5

This was the backdrop for our last date night.  The weather, a cool 75 degrees. Sand between our toes as we walked along the beach adjacent to the lake.  A blanket spread under the shade of a huge cottonwood tree.  Two glasses of White Zinfandel.  Time with my favorite person.  Boy, does he know my love language or what!

I promise, I did not doctor this photo.  Number one, i have no idea how to and number two, it really was this pink out.  I love pink.