So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night.

Nothing like a little Sound of Music diddly while packing up from our Park City "staycation". Doing this again next year is in the definite works as we had a total blast! Many of our friends came to visit, so really this trip turned into a "funcation" for all the little people in our lives. Even though at times it felt exhausting, we would not have changed the last 12 days for anything!

We were nestled down in that little area.

The Kid and his sweet schoolmate and friend, Rosie.

Rosie's little sister, Mae, and her mom, Cori, made a friend with a puppy. We spent about 10 out of the 12 days at the wonderful park across the road from the condo.

The highlight of the trip is when my Besty Beth flew down from Corvallis, OR to visit with her 11 mo old daughter, Luci ("Little Miss Luci Lu").

Luci attacks! She is a quick one, she is. Just a bundle of smart, scrappy, adorable love. We miss her and can't wait until next summer. Maybe we will be bringing her a little friend?

Husband already started her on sharpening her tennis skills.

But I think she wants to just be a model...

...along with my (not-so-camera-shy) son.

Or maybe they will just start their own Olympic luge team? (sorry, but I can't figure out how to turn the picture, so let's just pretend they are on a sharp turn.)

This was the kid thinking about Luci and missing...


...but then remembered when she pulled his hair!

The boys had their first mountain coaster experience. The poor kid was terrified going up, but then was all smiles on the way down. I, on the the hand, had the opposite experience!


We had some fun visits from the Kid's best buds Grayson and little bro Dillion. Their favorite past time was having Husband blast off rockets. These things would go up so high, we lost sight of them!


Break time for a pizza picnic on the large, grassy area outside our condo. Bonus!

Another bonus was having a pool. The Kid learned how to swim!

Can there be a triple bonus to our staycation, you ask? Oh yes there can! Free bucket rides down the mountain. Hard to tell, but we are going about 40 mph at about 100 ft in the air (Uncle Farukah hitched a ride!)

The last night was the icing on the cake as we went to a free concert on the hill and ran into his friend (crush) Freya! He was the guitarist and she the background dancer...

.. and then they ran off into the sunset together (until at the end of the jaunt when the Kid smashed into a bunch of people and had to go home early to bed. Guess all good things have to come to en end).

I wish I had pictures, but will brag anyway. The men in our lives did a road bike race yesterday. My Step dad (Kenny) took 1st in his age category, friend Ben took 4th, and Husband took 5th! The one that really kicked all of their butts was Uncle Farukah, but he had to drop down his miles (from 100) due to a pesky hamstring. :( Regardless, you all ROCK! In all, a WONDERFUL trip! I know I have many far away friends that will read this, so maybe this will inspire more visitors for next summer?! (hint-hint)

Staycation!

What does our family do that has the summer off together, likes to maintain a perfect blend of relaxation and activity - though not want to continuously spend a fortune for air travel, gas, lodging, and hiring people to take care of the lawn and pet?

We take a STAYCATION!

We are having a most delightful vacation 25 minutes from our home in the town of Park City. Rents are super cheap during the summer in this resort town - home of world class skiing and the Sundance Film Festival. We rented a condo for one month with two other families. Splitting it up, we have ended up paying just over $30 a night for our 12 night stint. Best yet, taking a trip down to the valley to check on the home/pet every few days feels perfectly doable.

What do you get for $30 a night in Park City in the summer? You get a fully stocked 3 bedroom/2 bath condo with a loft, two pools/hot tubs and 4 new tennis courts within a stone's throw from our front door, and property that backs up to an amazing view of The Canyon's ski slopes. As if this could not get better, it does. We have a large lawn out the back door (perfect for a mean game of baseball) and biking/hiking trails leading off the property. Walking up a trail for 10 minutes, we can catch one of the many free nightly concerts or hop on a free gondola to take us down the mountain where there is a farmer's market on Wednesdays and a free shuttle to shopping, outlets, and old town. Not only are there concerts and markets where we are at, there is a good chance that there is a concert and/or market going on somewhere in town at any given time. And let's not forget the children's parks. GORGEOUS! One could eat off the floor in the bathrooms. Seriously.

We agreed today that a good different to a staycation is that we don't feel pressured to do a lot of stuff. If we were to have traveled to an area far and new, we would feel like we would have to get out, spend money, and see new things every day. Here we can either do that, or just spend days on end at the pool guilt free. Nothing lost, but a lot to gain; much needed stress free RELAXATION!

Because our poor son is just "so bored with hanging with just his old parents all the time", we sent out a ton of emails to our friends with an open invitation to come on up. On our first day here, we got what we asked for and were thrilled with the outcome! My friend, Cori, and her two kids came up to swim and hike. They were having so much fun, we ended up picking some toothbrushes and had an impromptu sleepover! The Kid and his little friend, Rosie, had their first sleep over in the loft. They giggled themselves to sleep while the adults had a rare opportunity to drink a glass (or two) of wine on the porch and reminisce of life before kids ... and our plans after the kids flee the nest (tee-hee).

The most important outcome of our staycation surely will be what is happening right now. As I am up in the loft writing this post, I hear my husband and son downstairs playing checkers and talking about what to go and pick up at the store for the makings of great breakfast in the morning and then their plan for us to either go biking or kayaking after that - ending the day at the pool to practice the Kid's new back floating skills. When I am done writing this, I will continue reading reviews to decide what my next cheesy poolside romance read will be. I might then even slip away to swim a few laps before bed. Even though we have this time together at home, this summer has proven too easy to take on ambitious home projects - like painting, building a fence, landscaping, etc. Exhausting! We don't have that here... just minutes away. Our only ambitious project is some serious family time! WOOHOO!
(warning: photo overload to come)

Because I know many of you will want this shirt...

....here you go! Mini Fine "Sesame Street - I Love my Hair!" shirt.

Mini Fine "Sesame Street-I Love My Hair!" Toddler & Big Girl T-Shirt - Kitsel

An amazing read...

If you want to read a blog that will undoubtedly move you, inspire you to reach out, and make you analyze the small things we sweat and appreciate the good things we have - then read this blog.
http://drhail.wordpress.com/
It is written by an OB/GYN as she does a 2 year medical mission in Ethiopia. An amazing woman, indeed.

Big unhappy face... Boo HGTV!

Here's the news from HGTV..... no deal. :(

In the last 2.5 months the crew flew in to see our house, hours talking to producers, wrote a "script" together, filming contracts signed, many "we are excited to work with you", and "your house is just what we want", and when they were at our house, they were like, "We canceled the other houses to scout because we know what we are looking for". Blah blah blah.

Then we get this simple 3 sentence email tonight saying that it was fun working with us, but they are unfortunately not going with our house, but have a nice summer, anyway! DRATS! BOO!

Well now that it is done deal, I can finally get this out: "Guess what, HGTV? We think your show SUCKS anyway (HGTV'd)! We have had a hard time getting ourselves to even watch it and were just hoping you would come before it gets canceled, so TAKE THAT! HA!" (Whew - that felt good!)

Getting our house done for HGTV was really too good to be true and such a wacky, out-of-the box thing to happen to us, and we should feel lucky to have gotten this far, but still, I believe we were led on by them. I felt confident that we were getting picked by things that were said and we have been planning our summer around the filming date at the end of this month, so it is a massive disappointment.

I was already boo-hooing earlier this evening because not only am I going back to a full time teaching contract next month (when I had been counting on a half time - but it was cut), I am going back with a double load (they consolidated two positions into one). The biggest bitch is that we don't have our daughter - the daughter we had hoped to have in our home three years ago.

This HGTV thing was really more about getting a free re-do. It was a distraction from thinking about our reality. It was shedding a bit of hope, inspiration, and that magic of "dreams really do come true" into my life. Many people would be shoveling anti-depressants and/or doughnuts into their mouths by the fist full to repress the feelings associated with what we have been up against (adoption, job woes, etc), but I had this.

I know we have it good. I really do and we make sure to take time each day to reflect on these things together as a family. We are happy, healthy, have a great son, have wonderful friends, have jobs, have opportunities, have our summers off together as a family to share in fun adventures, and have a great new (bland) house. Still.... we have had our fair share of disappointments the last few years that seem to stem around waiting and holding our breath for something good to happen. And it is just not happening.

Needless to say, we would welcome some good news for a change.

The "Cousers"

What's a "Couser" you ask? It is a new word that the Kid and I invent to label the sweet relationship between he and his cousin. He told me that they secretly pretended that they were brother and sister (cousin + sister/brother = Couser) the last few weeks... that is until they decided to get married (oh my!). They get along marvelously, and from the minute they wake up until they hug each other good-night, our world is filled with the pitter-patter of running feet on wood floors and silly giggles.

These two little rascals could not live farther apart (us on the west coast and them in New Zealand), but we manage to get them together at Grammy's house in Massachusetts for an extended time each summer. Each time they see each other again, they pick up on activity like not a minute has passed. And speaking of activity - we did not lack in that department! There were numerous trips to the lake to practice swimming skills and to dazzle the beach dwellers with our sand castles, train into Boston, two different children museums, put-put golf, a hike, the Cape ("Yo Cappello!"), playful times with cool uncle Steve and Aunt Lindsey, a toy wood shop, nightly dance performances and art shows, parks, and best yet - just hanging out in Grammy's backyard.


This is my favorite photo of the two of them as it caputures their personalities perfectly. The best way I can define their relationship is symbiotic. They both have strengths and weaknesses that each one seems to identify with each other and then uses them to enhance their own selves. It's beautiful to watch, really.

Mini updates...

1. Adoption: There was one infant girl referral last week, which now puts us at #2, or #5, or #3, or #4 on the referral list, depending on how you look at it.

2. HGTV: Even though we were told we were going to hear back by last weekend, we still have not heard if we are officially picked, but here is how a very strange phone call went yesterday from one of the producers:

Producer: "Hi (used my name)! Since your husband (used his name) is a property manager, we were hoping he could refer some good plumbers and electricians to use since we like to support local businesses."

Me: "Ummm... he is not a property manager, he's a teacher."

Producer: "Are you sure?

Me: "Yeah, pretty confident with that one."

Producer: "Oh, I guess I got some incorrect information."

Me: "You know, we have not been told if we have been picked yet...."

(Long silent pause that really spoke volumes of "Oh, shit")

Producer: "Well, I am not the one that tells you this, so I will tell that person to call you right away. Bye!"

**click**

So, where does that leave us? He knew our names, so either we are picked and he just messed up on Husband's career and they are in planning mode - though failed to tell us, OR they meant to call the contending household, whose husband is the property manager, but got the names messed up on the call list. Regardless, there was not the call right back, so we continue to sit on the edge of our seats!