School's out.

I always have so many plans and intentions for the summer, I can hardly wait for the kids to be home again. We started out strong, with a visit to their favorite museum at BYU: the Bean Museum (which is actually the Monte L. Bean Museum, but which Matthew used to think was a museum of beans). I think they tout it as a life science museum, but it's a little more like a taxidermy exhibit. Very interesting, full of wild, exotic, rare animals, extremely child-friendly and educational...smells a little like formaldehyde. I'll tell you what, though; my children can hardly get enough of the place.

We've also gone to the BYU Museum of Art (have I mentioned how much I love living next to a university?) on a very exciting, very crowded family event day. The kids absolutely loved all the activities for the Walter Wick Exhibit--face painting, cookie decorating, building castles, creating bubble-blowers, playing musical instruments, and of course, the actual art pieces. Honestly, I prefer going to the museum on a regular, non-carnival day, but there is no denying that even Nate will remember this particular day more than our usual, quiet visits. I'm glad we went.

(After I took pictures of Matthew and Nate with their favorite exhibits, I learned that even non-flash photography of art pieces was not allowed.)

We've started swim lessons. Matthew, Jamie Beth, and Dallin have their lessons this week; Nate has his crazy-kid survival skills in a couple weeks, and is very disappointed every day when I strap him snugly into his stroller so he won't jump right into the pool. Here is a summary of each kid's reaction to swim lessons.

Matthew: "I don't need swim lessons; I know how to swim; I'm already good at this...I love swim lessons! Watch this, mom!"

Jamie Beth: "No, no, no, I'm cold, no, no, whimper, I can't, NO." Bless her nervous, timid heart. The gentle, patient teacher is able to get her underwater only by holding Jamie Beth in her arms and dunking together. Her backfloat is a study of frantic clinging and tense muscles.
Dallin: "Wow! I stayed underwater up to 16! Wow! I can fwoat on my back!" (Dallin's teacher--"My favorite part is the way he smiles...Dallin, come back here...Dallin, stay by the stairs until it's your turn."
Nathaniel: "Nate's turn for swim-swim! Nate's turn! I touch wa-wa! Mama, no stroller!"

It's funny everyday. And I think my legs are possibly turning a darker shade of white as I sit poolside for an hour daily.

And the kids' favorite activity, or maybe it's my favorite: A few days after real school ended, I reminded them that we would be having our fun! family! summer! school! a bit each day. (We actually do this during the school year as well, but they seem to think it's a less natural part of our routine as soon as the calendar turns to June. I don't know why. I'm sure it's fun, and it's certainly educational. After all, I enjoy our family school time.) So, they, led by Matthew, wanted to dub this learning time with a better name than school. After several suggestions, they decided on "Brainstorm" time. We try to have a half-hour every day of individual assignments--workbooks, journal-writing, puzzles, games, flashcards, and other activities. I know I sound like an uptight weirdo, but I swear they do have fun just as soon as they stop whining. And I know in my heart that if I were creative enough to just incorporate educational activities into the day, the kids would learn without complaining or even noticing. But, until I've reached that ideal, I know I can count on myself spending time teaching and learning with the kids much more regularly when I have it formally planned. They'll survive me, I hope.

And more summer, summer, summer. We watch our new, square-foot garden slowly grow. We take more frequent, longer walks. We stop at our neighbor's house--they are avid bird watchers and are teaching my children to sit quietly and watch the finches, quail, mourning doves, and occasional hummingbirds. We eat lunches on the back porch. I say, "Go play outside" a dozen times a day...and they go happily. We have more time for chores. More time for playing Zelda (umm...that does not include me, in case you're wondering). We eat Otter Pops and watch movies and sleep in sometimes (not Nate or Dallin). We read. We let other kids drop by to play, unannounced, unplanned. We love summertime.

(Now I feel more caught up, and possibly inspired to write shorter posts more frequently, rather than these long, rambling pieces once a month.)

I just earned $30 with my pen.

...in a manner of speaking.

After inadvertently receiving a parking ticket at BYU, I wrote a short paragraph to the appeals committee. Immediate success! Although they offered no feedback on my writing, the fee was waived within a couple hours.

That saved (earned) me $30.

More items long overdue.

I visited Emily in Washington D.C, during the first week of April. By my very own self. My sister was defending her PhD dissertation for atomic physics (at the University of Maryland). Listening to that defense was not the same as being in a family science lecture. I was mostly clueless, but still very proud of her.

Emily was much more relaxed and a far better tour guide after she finished her bit of work. Anywhere I wanted to go, and anyplace she thought worthwhile, interesting, or beautiful...we packed those items into the days we spent together. I've loved DC since I first went there on a high school field trip. Besides enjoying the beauty of the city, I do believe I feel smarter just for breathing its historic air.

Alexandria...

If I can just copy the Eastern look in my own yard and on my own 1950s house, my Utah life would be complete.

Emily is very happy to be called "Doctor".

My other sister, Jennifer, dropped in from NYC for the occasion.

At an outdoor marketplace, I coveted these purses made out of vintage hardback books. (I thought about making one myself, but I just cannot bring myself to deliberately ruin a book; buying the book-purse after it's already made doesn't seem quite as terrible. Except the price is way out of my purse budget.)

Cherry blossoms over Emily, Andy (her then-boyfriend/now-fiance), and Mandy (her good friend).

We went out to Mount Vernon and enjoyed the grounds (farm, orchards, riverfront), but did not take the house tour, due to the 1 1/2 hour wait. Still, very beautiful.


Emily chased black kids (Andy's joke)...



We ate at the fabulous restaurant at Mount Vernon. Not only was the "colonial" food delicious and reasonably-priced, but the waiter gave us the recipes of our favorite fares. The actual recipes...what restaurant does that?

I couldn't be in DC and not stop by the temple that I frequently attended as a teenager. How many times did a bunch of the young men and young women in our ward pile into leaders' cars before dawn, drive the 6 hours to be here for just a few hours, then turn around and get home late the same night?


Emily kindly drove me 1 1/2 hours north, just to meet up with my old friend, Sue, for dinner. This was one of my favorite things about the trip. Sue and I had just reconnected a few months previously (bless Facebook), and I was thrilled to work some catch-up time into my impromptu trip.

And other sites...


Clicking curbside photos on the way to the airport; I'm still trying to cram all of DC into my brain.

I'm ready to go back. Next time with Matt and the kids, and for at least two weeks. Actually, I just want to move to DC for a whole summer.

Spring Break, 2nd Half.

A continuation of spring break activities seems ridiculously misplaced in a mid-June post. But, since I'm currently counting our blog as keeping a family history, and since I labelled the previous post "part 1"--implying that more would follow--well, here's a bunch of information that is of marginal interest to anyone besides ourselves.

(Anyhow, what else would I do with the many pictures that I took with the precise intention of using them in a blog post?)

It seems like just two months ago that we enjoyed our spring break to the Grand Canyon.

We returned home just in time for an unseasonable, but stunningly beautiful snowstorm. I love snow, I love rain. I love sunshine and wind and clouds. I just love variety in weather. So out the kids went into the snow.

But, this was heartbreaking. Because I also love blossoms, I was sad to see trees all over town broken and ruined under the weight of the snow that fell so fast and wet. It seemed unnatural to have blossom-covered branches piled up on curbs for the garbage pick-up.

Since we still had a couple days to party, we headed to nearby Midway for an over-nighter with cousins. We relaxed way out there in the countryside, where cattle and horses grazed outside the window, and the kids could still go swimming on the premises. A very ideal vacation spot. I've thought for years, since I first saw Midway as a 19-year-old, that the place was perfect, exactly where I would settle if I had to stay in Utah. Unfortunately, a lot of people had the same thoughts and built a bunch of homogeneous subdivisions on previously charming farmland. ( Sorry for the feisty digression...Matt loves it when I start spouting opinions about people building way too close to each other.)
Back to spring break. Midway is beautiful; I love visiting that side of our mountains. It was a great way to wrap up our short vacation time.

That concludes the chapter on spring break. I don't know where we'll go next year, but I'm already thinking about it. Someplace historical, classically American, relatively nearby...maybe Yellowstone? Mt. Rushmore? Bryce Canyon and Zion's National Park? Dare I try Moab? So much to see, so little time off of school.