It was bound to happen...

Perhaps I shouldn't be so dramatic about it because Rowan hasn't completely shunned tractors, but he definitely has a new love. Volcanoes or rather "Polcanoes." You know it's serious when his bedtime request for a "blue front loader story" has morphed into "tell me a big, big, big, BIG polcano story." I have to say I'm missing the blue front loader days. There's only so much you can do in a volcano story- it's big and it erupts at the end. After a while, it gets a little monotonous, but I'm so happy to find new materials at the library that do not center around things with tools and wheels. He seems to have picked it up from some picture he got at A&W which had dinosaurs and a volcano in the background. Apparently the tractors didn't stand a chance either. However they do have one advantage and that is market saturation. It's not like I can drive around and say "Look Rowan, a really big volcano!" so it's probably still safe to say tractors are here to stay (I've never seen a volcano toy either now that I think about it). If this obsession continues, I'll have a really fun birthday cake to play around with come Rowan's birthday if I'm not erupting myself by then.

Whirlwind

This week has been an absolute whirlwind. Here's the reader's digest version:

I started a very temporary full-time job watching the boys I nannied way back in the day.

We said our goodbyes to Grandma after a fun-filled summer.s

We sold our car- Goodbye Old Blue! Thanks for all the good times and broken parts!

I started my last two classes at community college and finished my last Independent Study course with the exception of taking the final.

I attempted to keep the house clean and feed the family through all of this craziness and failed miserably. Gotta love frozen burritos!

It doesn't look like all that much when you write it down, but I feel like my sanity left me several times this week. Luckily Steven wasn't at school yet and was able to help me more than usual (he really makes a mean frozen burrito!)

My last two classes to close off what amounts to a 10 year long bachelor's degree are Intro to Anthropology and Art History. When I was deciding what courses to choose, I mentioned Anthropology to Steve and he gave a very positive review of that class when he took it at BYU. After reading the first chapter in my book I discovered Anthropology at BYU and Anthropology outside of Happy Valley are two different things.

Anthropology at BYU- Our Divine Origins


Anthropology outside of Happy Valley- You evolved from scum and Curious George is your cousin


So obviously the first chapter of my textbook was about evolution, something Steve's class never touched on. It sure would be nice if it was coined as a theory and not reality.  Beyond the insistent language, it was half interesting until we got into the rationalizations of behaviors that clearly went outside of my religious beliefs.  I have a bit of a problem with the idea that "you and me baby ain't nothing but mammals..." Steve astutely noted that animals also kill their sick and the weak, but you don't see us perusing the local rest homes looking for dinner (unless you really have a thing for jello and pudding). There's a lot of things that go on in the natural world that would create a horrific society if we followed in the footsteps of our furry friends, but somehow those behaviors aren't relevant because they can't be used to support a certain cause.

Steven suggested I look beyond the first chapter so I didn't get so hung up on such a small section of the class. This is what I found:



It's going to be a fun four months. But it isn't a total loss. I read this little gem this week: "Urban women in the United States who were not working for wages outside their homes put 55 hours a week into their housework- this despite all the "labor-saving" dishwashers, washing machines, clothes dryers, vacuum cleaners, food processors, and microwave ovens; in contrast, aboriginal women in Australia devoted 20 hours a week to their chores." I guess my theories about camping are right. Too bad I love my air conditioning more than I love not dusting.

Camping!!!!!!!!

I love camping. I guess there are several reasons for this.

1. It's the cheapest family vacation ever! You spend maybe around $10 a night for a campground with hot showers, you have to make your own meals- no eating out, and there is endless free entertainment in the beauty of the outdoors.

2. No dishes!! Or at least a very limited amount. If it wasn't so reckless I'd eat with plastic every night.

3. No cleaning up toys! Instead of dealing with the eternal cycle of putting toys away, Rowan can throw his stick that he played with for the last 2 hours wherever he wants and I don't have to worry about it.

4. There is an inexplicable feeling of peace and awe I feel when I'm situated completely outdoors. Especially near water- Heavenly Father truly is an artist.

The only downfall

1. The outhouse. I think I've become more of a wuss now that I've gotten older, but I can't stand using the outhouse. Being pregnant and having to go all hours of the day doesn't help either, especially at night. Horrid.

Anyways, we had a wonderful time camping with Grandma. I was so excited to try out this tent I got at a garage sale. Why? It has 3 rooms! I LOVE this tent! Not to mention it retails for around $500 new and I got it for $25. The guy I bought it from said he only used it once, which is a crying shame because this tent is like the Ritz. Well, maybe I shouldn't go that far, but I've never heard of a tent with bay windows and shelving before. I've also never owned a tent I could actually stand up in and has floor to ceiling windows so you don't get that enclosed tent smell. Did I mention the skylights? Rowan LOVED it. Several times after coming back from our adventures, he'd ask us where we were going. When we said home, he would respond "Our tent home?" I could live there!

Our Casa


The first night was deafening with all the noise from the cicedas, frogs, crickets and strange bird calls. Rowan complained "It's too noisy!" so we told him to tell everything to be quiet. He did so and then got mad that "They aren't listening to me!" The tables have turned...

We ended up going to an unfortunately named State Park, Kickapoo- stupid name, but beautiful. There had to be close to 10 little lakes along with a river. The only disappointment was that the horse stables were closed so we couldn't go horseback riding.

Our campsite was just adjacent to this view.



Grandma cooked some awesome burgers for us, even though we forgot a frying pan. Too bad the pancakes weren't as successful. Rowan was pretty disappointed the pancakes didn't work out so we put a sparkler candle in his PB&J. I swear 30% of parenting toddlers is trying to distract your kid.




And of course what's camping without a tractor cameo? Rowan seems to attract these things wherever we go.


I'm still amazed at how many "Bambis" we saw. They were everywhere!


We hiked down this ravine to get to the riverbed. Fish kept nibbling on my feet and little frogs were constantly underfoot.






I'm ready to go again, if it didn't take so long to clean everything and pack it away.

 Story of the Day:

Steven was discussing girl names with Rowan and asked him what his favorite letter was. Rowan said "O!" So hubbie proceeded to name off all the "O" girl names he could think of. After each suggestion, Rowan would shrug and make some kind of noncommittal noise. Then Steve said "How about Olive?" Rowan looked at him and said "That's a weird name Daddy." Apparently we have at least one name crossed off our list.

What do you do...

What do you do when you got up at 4:30am to finish your final and then went garage saling all morning, your husband hasn't showered because he was helping some friends move for 5 hours and your kid refuses to take a nap? Well, you go get family pictures taken. Brilliant!

This is as good as it got. Let's just say the baseball caps weren't planned as a cutesy coordinated thing.



It was actually a fun outing, despite our ugliness. We took Rowan on a paddleboat for the first time at a nearby park. The weather was perfect and I think he enjoyed himself quite a bit.







See video #9


There are some beautiful botanical gardens near the lake, so we went and admired. A high school senior was getting her pictures taken while we were there. I was half-tempted to copy some of the cheesy Greek Goddess poses the photographer was making this poor girl do, but I don't think Steve would have cooperated.






We saw some of the hugest goldfish I've ever seen in this pond. Too bad we forgot the fishing poles!



There was this bridge that we went on earlier in the day as well. Rowan was pretty excited to go on it, until he found out that it wobbled while you walked across. I don't know what to do with this boy sometimes. He hates swings and anything else where he feels the slightest bit unstable. I guess Disneyland is out of the picture for now.

The Wipe Wipe Song

Coming back from the lake, Rowan and Grandma favored us with this number. I especially like Rowan's take on it.

See video #10

Lions, Tigers and Kittens....Oh My!

My mom and I headed out to a local pick-your-own-produce farm the other day. I guess it extends beyond just picking apples as there are animals there to pet and lots of stuff for the kiddies to enjoy. I thought Rowan might enjoy the morning there, so we went early when the weather was going to be bearable and we'd possibly be able to enjoy the place to ourselves. As we first approached the animal section, four beautiful little kittens ran up to us, obviously hoping we were going to bring some breakfast. Apparently this little stampede of furry hairballs was too much for Rowan- he freaked out. I've never seen a kid so scared of little kitties before, it's making me rethink sending him to boot camp. This really isn't going to score him any points on the playground. Then when we went to feed the goats, they were literally trampling over each other to get to our feed. A pair even started butting heads which didn't rub him the right way either. So I guess the moral of the story is if you have an overly sensitive boy, don't go to petting farms before the animals' breakfast. It's a scary place.

See video #11

It's Official...

We've replaced ourselves in the general population. Glad that's done! Yes, it's a girl and we are very excited!