ZipLine!

Phew!  What a day!  Dad and I have been working on a zipline for a couple days. Today we finished it!  Obviously needed a maiden voyage... Would death follow?  Dad, gentleman that he is, let me have first go. 

It's only about 20 feet in the air. And you have to climb the tree hanging onto the rope, so the bar doesn't escape. 

I (fortunately) didn't die, and if you want to see the (30 second) video, follow this: http://youtu.be/h1C_xCiL3mE

Dusting Off the Blogg

Right, so last month I dusted off my ScrapBlog... This month I'm dusting off this blog...  Yeah, it's been a while. Between moving and the emotional (not to mention physical!) chaos all that caused, I got out of the habit, and then stayed there. 

But I'll be better!

My sister asked if I'd drive with her to my parents' house. Funny, she didn't feel up to tackling a 10 hour drive with a 2 year old without backup. Can't imagine why... So of course I said yes. 

I know it sounds like weird timing, for her to go off to her dad's on Father's Day, and leave her husband all on his own, but the work schedule for my brother-in-law gives him every-other Friday off.  That means that he worked this past Friday.  So rather than be gone over one of his Off-Work Fridays, we were gone over Father's Day. Was awesome for us to spend Father's Day with our Dad, though!

Now, you've undoubtably realised by now that my family are a little nuts. Well, we just know how to have fun!

Yesterday we did a 2 Mile Family Fun Run (err... Mostly walk).  Papa (my nephew's word for Grandpa) and Auntie (that's me) ran with Munchkin, while Mommy and Grandma walked.  Munchkin RAN most of the way!  At least a mile and a half!!!  And walked another quarter mile!  He only had to be carried the last quarter mile!  Pretty good for a 2 year old!

He had SO much fun!  He does LOVE to run, so he loved running with Papa and Auntie. Afterwards, he's 3/4 asleep in his car seat, BEGGING to go more!

At home we worked on the Treehouse. Munchkin "helping" by bringing Papa "all the woods."  (Never mind that Papa was up the ladder with nuts and bolts, installing the Zipline!)

Then we went up to the Rimrock Park and hiked across all the boulders. Another huge hit with the Munchkin!  We walked more than a mile, and he was still wanting more!

We rounded the day off with Nerf Gun Wars!  

Yeah, he slept well last night!

Today was another spectacular day. After church (and naps... For everyone!) we went back out and played in the yard. We checked on the baby robins in their nest under the eave's, played chase with Papa and Auntie, spotted a deer walking through the yard! Got tossed between Auntie and Papa ("I'm a Rocket Ship!"), played hide-and-seek (with a "Boo!" when found) with Papa, played with shadows, and Grandma hooked up the baby swing to the Zipline!

Oh the squeals!!!  Joy. Rapture. Bliss. Just enough danger to be exciting. Such a hit!

And ice cream and Nerf Wars, then Mario Cart... And bed. I hope he's as tired as I am!

Here are a couple of photos from the past 2 days. 

Sieging the Castle!

Remember that Gingerbread Castle I made at my parent's house over Christmas? Well, I'm sure you're wondering what happened to it.

On Wednesday, 30 December 2009, my parents and I went back to the Hospital to collect the Castle. Then, Dad and I came home and set it up in the yard, and laid siege to it with the 2 foot catapult. So fun. Now, this thing isn't the most accurate engine in the world, so it took a while to get dialled in. Once we did, though, we got pretty good at hitting it. It helped when we switched ammunition, too. We'd been using wooden blocks, but then we found a lovely block of ice, exactly the right shape and size. Flew much better.

So, here are the photos of the projectile demolition.After a while, though, it got so dark, we were having a hard time finding our ammunition. So, we switched to firecrackers. Since I was due to fly out the next day, we decided it wasn't so prudent for me to touch the explosives, so I just stood off to the side and took photos. *sigh* So many restrictions, any more! Never mind. It was still fun to explode :D

Here're the photos from the explosions!

Dashing Throught the Snow!

Dashing through the snow,
In a 2 horse open sleigh.
Or the fields we go, laughing all the way. (Ha! Ha! Ha!)
Bells on bobtails ring,
Making spirits bright.
What fun it is to ride and sing this sleighing song to night!

Jingle Bells! Jingle Bells!
Jingle All the Way!
Oh, What Fun It Is to Ride
In a 2 Horse Open Sleigh, Hey!
Jingle Bells! Jingle Bells!
Jingle All the Way!
Oh, What Fun It Is to Ride
In a 2 Horse Open Sleigh!

A day or two ago,
My mother booked a ride.
And so we set right out,
My parents by my side.
With friends we rode along,
Across the fields of snow.
Hiding in a groves of trees we saw a little doe!

Driving Home For Christmas

One might well ask, 'How is it possible to drive from England to the Untied States? There's that pesky little bit of water in between.'

The answer, of course, would be, 'Start in Canada.'

Yes. Canada. Why Canada? Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Rather than going to Georgia or Texas and then up, I went from London to Calgary, Alberta. I was supposed to connect to Denver and then to Billings (yes, I know. It's ridiculous.) However, we were an hour late leaving Heathrow, and then we had to circle the airport for half an hour before we could land. I'd nearly missed my connection before I even left the plane! I got through Canadian customs very fast (I ran to be at the front of the queue) but then got stuck waiting for 30 minutes for them to decide to deplane our luggage. Finally got that, walked over to the connecting area, and they said, 'Your plane is gone. You'll have to rebook.' Nice. That was the last plane Stateside for the rest of the day. After quite a long discussion with the airline personnel, we came to the conclusion that they couldn't actually get me to the US for 48 hours. Uh huh. 2 days. Ummm... it's only an 8 hour drive!!!! So, we decided (the reservation woman and I) that it would make most sense for me to cancel the rest of my flight, and drive to Billings. So, I canceled my remaining flight (and got a refund). [color=red]NOTE! DO NOT DO THAT UNTIL AFTER YOU'VE DEFINITELY FOR SURE GOT ALTERNATE BOOKED!!!![/color] Then I went over to the car rental desks and tried (note the word TRIED) to get a car. Umm, turns out you can't rent a car in Canada and return it to the US. Or, you can but it's very difficult and quite expensive. So, there I am, in a foreign country, no way out, jetlagging major time. I didn't actually burst into tears, but it was an effort. I called my folks (again) and just as I was starting to tell my mom the full situation, the manager of National Car Rental comes up and said, 'You'll never believe this. We've just had a US car returned, and we need to get it back across the border. I can give it to you for 1/2 the price of a domestic, turn up on the day rental. That's $150 plus tax.' (Canadian dollars.) Umm... YES! I'll take that! :D So, I drove out of Calgary last night.

Stayed the night in a tiny little . . . I hesitate to say town . . . just north of the Canadian/US border. It was that small. It was a hotel over a bar. The room had a bed, a light, and a sink. That was it. (Everything was very clean, just very spartan.) Smelled faintly of smoke. Didn't care. It was 10.45 pm local (6.45 am London!) and I was tired. Very tired. I was asleep before 11. But, by 5.00 in the morning, the random plink-plink noises the radiator was making got to be too much for me. I got up and hit the road.

And then, the border crossing. For the second time this year I've managed to confuse a US Customs Officer on the US/Canadian border. Last time it was because my answer to 'Purpose for visiting Canada' was 'To get a haircut.' This time it was 'Driving from England to the US.' Ok, so what I actually said was 'In transit from England to the US.' But, I got an equally blank look. (The answer to the previous question - How long were you in Canada? - was, 'Over night.') So, then I had to explain why I was now driving, instead of flying to Montana. Eventually he gave up trying to understand and just sent me on my way. It was funny.

Finally, I got to Billings a little before noon today. Yeay!! I'm home!! We immediately drove up to the airport to return the car, then stopped off at WalMart for necessary supplies (DIET COKE!!!!), and now we're back.

I'm tired!!!!!

Happy New Year!

I did it! This is the completion of my 2008 Resolution: to blog at least once/week, every week. Ok . . . there are a few holes. When I was in Morocco, for example. And when I was having serious computer issues and 2 house guests. But other than those, I managed it! Ooooh, I guess that means I'll have to come up with a new resolution for 2009. Hmm. I'll have to give that some thought.

I'm on my way to Utah today. I'll be leaving my folks' house in just a little while. I'll get into Utah tomorrow, though. We're not driving the whole way in one day. We could, but it would make for a really long day. So, since we've got friends in Idaho Falls, which is more or less half way, we stay the night there. Saturday I'll be moving into my new place. I'm staying with the professor I'm covering for at BYU this term. Sunday I'll have to check out my new Ward, then Monday, bright and early, it's full force lecturing! BYU's terms start so early! I've got so used to the 'normal' system of mid to late January. Never mind. I'll cope. But it would have been nice to have one extra week with my folks before getting thrown back into the deep end!

Sunday was kind of an exciting day for us here at my folks' house. We got snowed in. Well, really we got drifted in. The weather has been so cold that the snow has stayed really light and powdery. And then the wind picked up Saturday night. Blew all the snow into the road and drive. My folks live on a private road, so the city doesn't plow. We got up, got dressed, and jumped in the car and jeep. Only after we nearly got the jeep stuck, and did get the car stuck, did we realise exactly how bad the drifting was. We eventually got the car dug out, and all us back inside. Then Dad and Steve went out to try and dig out the driveway. That took a little over an hour. Of course, by this point we've missed Sacrament Meeting. Dad decided to go on in (once we eventually got dug out to the private road. That's a long drive they've got!) to teach his Deacons Quorum Lesson. Only thing was? When he got back? The weather had warmed up a bit, so the snow had gotten a lot heavier and denser. So it wasn't pushing aside, like it did when he went out to church. The road still wasn't plowed, so he'd tried to bully his way through the drifts, and got the truck stuck. So he and Steve spent another hour (or more, I forget now) digging the truck out. And it was in 4-wheel-drive! Kind of a fun experience!! I'll post photos when I get to Utah. They're on my camera, and it's kind of a pain to transfer to my folks' computer.