Showing posts with label outings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label outings. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Traveling by train to the Ogden Temple Open House
That one time we tried to be fun parents, and mostly managed it, despite being in the middle of a move and utterly overwhelmed.
Sunday, February 02, 2014
The rest (of the Caribbean)
Surprise of surprises, school is not letting up like I'd hoped. (Yup, I have "naive" written on my forehead).
So many tiny, fleeting, visceral thoughts dance in then out of my head with nobody taking time to make sense of them. It's plenty depressing.
But I did promise to make a record of our trip, and an abbreviated one will have to do.
Mr. Renn, blessed man that he is, got all goal-oriented about doing something "big" to celebrate our 10th anniversary. When we first discussed this idea, well before grad-school landed in my lap, I was totally on-board. But when it came time to actually plan something I was up to my neck in navigating strange waters, and had no space in my brain for tackling extra stress. So I told Mr Renn, "Sure, we can go. But you'll have to plan every last bit of it. I simply cannot."
He opted for a cruise in mid-January. Optimizing bang-for-buck is a priority for this man. I have mixed emotions about cruises on-principle, as they offer only a glossy peripheral sense of a space. One cannot really say they've "been" to a place after only a 4 hour excursion there. So that's the fault of it. But the culture going on in the space of the cruise ship was its own anthropological wonder. There were crew members on our ship from more than 100 different countries, and it was fun (and rather proletariat of us) to visit with them. And frankly, having housekeeping and room service and dining out every night was a delightful diversion. Watching the systems in place to keep that vessel running was crazy impressive. Everything was always so clean, even though we were constantly watching messes get made. The speed with which everything from spills to fingerprints were eviscerated was just awe inspiring (For this lady who can't keep up with 4 kids' messes).
So - the trip.
Day 1 - We flew to Florida and stayed a night there.
Day 2 - Boarded our Ship, spent a Day at Sea.
Day 3 - Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We toured the Coyaba Gardens, then hiked Dunn's River Falls. We missed the "wear a swimsuit" memo and looked pretty silly, also Renn's phone died a watery death.
Day 4 - Grand Cayman. Because snorkeling on a sandbar out in the ocean holds absolutely 0% attraction for Mr Renn we visited the world's only sea-turtle farm. We played with baby sea-turtles, and birds (I was supposed to be feeding colorful little birds, and instead got attacked by this lone ugly pigeon), and we snorkeled in an enormous salt-water tank. (Controlled environment = only way Mr Renn's ever going to snorkel.)
Day 5 - The ship docked at Cozumel, Mexico. We took a taxi, ferry, and then a Perrault to Tulum, Mexico where we got a private tour of the ruins. Easily the most gorgeous place I've been in years.
Day 6 - Day at sea.
Day 7 - Spent sitting on the floor at the Ft. Lauderdale Airport. Then retreated in poor spirits to a 1-star hotel where the bathroom door wouldn't even close and the floors were all TILE. Imagine the implications. Pretty well cried myself to sleep.
Day 8 - Finally made it home, with no time to recoup anything, as real life had to start the next morning. I think, 2 weeks later, that I've finally got everything unpacked, caught up, and even most thank-you's distributed.
So ultimately, the trip, the break from reality, was lovely. The transitions out of and then back into reality were painful. Vacations are double-edged swords. But I maintain that the vitamin D was unequivocally beneficial. I can totally understand why some people regularly vacation in the Caribbean in the middle of Winter. Being comfortable outside just feels so healthy when one has just spent a month in freezing temperatures.
So many tiny, fleeting, visceral thoughts dance in then out of my head with nobody taking time to make sense of them. It's plenty depressing.
But I did promise to make a record of our trip, and an abbreviated one will have to do.
Mr. Renn, blessed man that he is, got all goal-oriented about doing something "big" to celebrate our 10th anniversary. When we first discussed this idea, well before grad-school landed in my lap, I was totally on-board. But when it came time to actually plan something I was up to my neck in navigating strange waters, and had no space in my brain for tackling extra stress. So I told Mr Renn, "Sure, we can go. But you'll have to plan every last bit of it. I simply cannot."
He opted for a cruise in mid-January. Optimizing bang-for-buck is a priority for this man. I have mixed emotions about cruises on-principle, as they offer only a glossy peripheral sense of a space. One cannot really say they've "been" to a place after only a 4 hour excursion there. So that's the fault of it. But the culture going on in the space of the cruise ship was its own anthropological wonder. There were crew members on our ship from more than 100 different countries, and it was fun (and rather proletariat of us) to visit with them. And frankly, having housekeeping and room service and dining out every night was a delightful diversion. Watching the systems in place to keep that vessel running was crazy impressive. Everything was always so clean, even though we were constantly watching messes get made. The speed with which everything from spills to fingerprints were eviscerated was just awe inspiring (For this lady who can't keep up with 4 kids' messes).
So - the trip.
Day 1 - We flew to Florida and stayed a night there.
Day 2 - Boarded our Ship, spent a Day at Sea.
Day 3 - Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We toured the Coyaba Gardens, then hiked Dunn's River Falls. We missed the "wear a swimsuit" memo and looked pretty silly, also Renn's phone died a watery death.
Day 4 - Grand Cayman. Because snorkeling on a sandbar out in the ocean holds absolutely 0% attraction for Mr Renn we visited the world's only sea-turtle farm. We played with baby sea-turtles, and birds (I was supposed to be feeding colorful little birds, and instead got attacked by this lone ugly pigeon), and we snorkeled in an enormous salt-water tank. (Controlled environment = only way Mr Renn's ever going to snorkel.)
Day 5 - The ship docked at Cozumel, Mexico. We took a taxi, ferry, and then a Perrault to Tulum, Mexico where we got a private tour of the ruins. Easily the most gorgeous place I've been in years.
Day 6 - Day at sea.
Day 7 - Spent sitting on the floor at the Ft. Lauderdale Airport. Then retreated in poor spirits to a 1-star hotel where the bathroom door wouldn't even close and the floors were all TILE. Imagine the implications. Pretty well cried myself to sleep.
Day 8 - Finally made it home, with no time to recoup anything, as real life had to start the next morning. I think, 2 weeks later, that I've finally got everything unpacked, caught up, and even most thank-you's distributed.
So ultimately, the trip, the break from reality, was lovely. The transitions out of and then back into reality were painful. Vacations are double-edged swords. But I maintain that the vitamin D was unequivocally beneficial. I can totally understand why some people regularly vacation in the Caribbean in the middle of Winter. Being comfortable outside just feels so healthy when one has just spent a month in freezing temperatures.
Wednesday, October 09, 2013
Persistence from a Distance
This is the theme when Mr Renn tells his version of our dating story. Be persistent, but not oppressive.
It looks like it works both ways. I've been asking to go to a Rooftop Concert for years. We finally made it happen, to see the Lower Lights, with dinner beforehand at Station 22. It might not seem like a big deal, but it was way outside of Mr Renn's comfort zone, and the man does not expand his comfort zone lightly. He finally humored me, and it was a big deal for me, and for us. The fact that it happened still feels like a victory for our marriage. (Even if he complained through the opening bands.) The fact that all of our kids got sick on our babysitter while we were gone feels rather like karma. Of course they got sick on the one night I'd been hoping would happen for such a long time. Parenting, I tell you, is chuck-full of irony. Too much of it to find it funny in the moment, but always enough to evoke a smirk in retrospect.
It looks like it works both ways. I've been asking to go to a Rooftop Concert for years. We finally made it happen, to see the Lower Lights, with dinner beforehand at Station 22. It might not seem like a big deal, but it was way outside of Mr Renn's comfort zone, and the man does not expand his comfort zone lightly. He finally humored me, and it was a big deal for me, and for us. The fact that it happened still feels like a victory for our marriage. (Even if he complained through the opening bands.) The fact that all of our kids got sick on our babysitter while we were gone feels rather like karma. Of course they got sick on the one night I'd been hoping would happen for such a long time. Parenting, I tell you, is chuck-full of irony. Too much of it to find it funny in the moment, but always enough to evoke a smirk in retrospect.
Tuesday, October 08, 2013
Mini Vacation - Heber
On the other end of Mr Renn's week off, we overnighted in Heber. My boys think staying in a hotel is some sort of Xanadu. Bunny, on the other hand, takes to sleeping away from her own bed like a rabbit in a den of foxes. Rough night for me.
But the unequivocal highlight was the family-night special on the Heber Creeper. The Captain calls it "the party train" because there was karaoke and live musicians. He's still singing his own version of YMCA - it goes something like "Y-it-C-it....." We love it.
Boys + Trains, there's something kismet there.
Monday, October 07, 2013
Lavender Festival
Bad mom. Remember that time back in September when Mr Renn took a whole week off work and we tried to get out and vacation a bit without messing up the house-of-cards that is my homework schedule? It was actually pretty great. On one end of the week we visited the Lavender Festival in Mona. It was A) - really affordable and B) - really not-crowded due to the crazy thunderstorms throughout the day. So we got wet, but we had fun.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
promises, promises
My self-imposed parenting rule is that I will not make promises that I don't fully intend to keep. I'm doing pretty good at this when it comes to punishment-type promises. Reward-type promises are proving more elusive.
Sir O has begged on multiple occasions to go visit his "chickies" that live only 3 houses down the road. For 2 months he has begged and only today did I make it happen. We won't delve into the parenting guilt involved with that. The chicks are doing splendidly, and are easy to spot. Now that all their feathers are in, they are the only white ones in the entire bunch. They're not entirely grown up, but they are a far cry from fluffy yellow baby chicks. Once they are large enough to keep from being bullied by the old lady chicks, they'll be completely free range and have almost half an acre to themselves.
While we were there we also got to visit the horses, pregnant sheep, and some newborn cows. My boys both bonded something fierce with the resident border collie, and we were invited all the way back to the flower garden where the irises and peonies were popping in full force. My kids were insane, but there was room for them to be insane, and I was yet again convinced that my boys need to spend about a million times more of their hours out of doors. (Which means, yes, more parenting guilt).
While Mr Renn shows no signs of ever considering keeping animals (I'm waiting until our Captain is old enough to beg with persuasive arguments for a puppy. Between his utter delight in the company of animals and his own puppy dog eyes he's sure to be the one to win Renn over) we have a mutual desire to live on enough land to at least nominally attempt homesteading. Outings like today's remind us both how much we'd like that. We shall see.
Sir O has begged on multiple occasions to go visit his "chickies" that live only 3 houses down the road. For 2 months he has begged and only today did I make it happen. We won't delve into the parenting guilt involved with that. The chicks are doing splendidly, and are easy to spot. Now that all their feathers are in, they are the only white ones in the entire bunch. They're not entirely grown up, but they are a far cry from fluffy yellow baby chicks. Once they are large enough to keep from being bullied by the old lady chicks, they'll be completely free range and have almost half an acre to themselves.
While we were there we also got to visit the horses, pregnant sheep, and some newborn cows. My boys both bonded something fierce with the resident border collie, and we were invited all the way back to the flower garden where the irises and peonies were popping in full force. My kids were insane, but there was room for them to be insane, and I was yet again convinced that my boys need to spend about a million times more of their hours out of doors. (Which means, yes, more parenting guilt).
While Mr Renn shows no signs of ever considering keeping animals (I'm waiting until our Captain is old enough to beg with persuasive arguments for a puppy. Between his utter delight in the company of animals and his own puppy dog eyes he's sure to be the one to win Renn over) we have a mutual desire to live on enough land to at least nominally attempt homesteading. Outings like today's remind us both how much we'd like that. We shall see.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
How to have a long day
Our dear Mr Renn had another morning of testing the waters at his *new* job yesterday. We elected to have me bring the boys down for a late lunch and then make an afternoon of exploring our new town. Sir O got to meet his new preschool teacher (who reminds us a lot of his current preschool teacher, whom we all adore), the boys got to play in the "kids room" in the waiting area of the clinic (it has a treehouse, a tv, and at least one monster truck), and we checked out in person a few of the rental houses we'd been considering online. Most of them were in neighborhoods that we were only "alright" with. There were only 3 that I felt any real energy about. And one of them, of course, I fell head-over-heels in love with.
It has the most perfect back yard known to man. It also has only 1000 square feet and 0 closets in the entire house. It would be tiny and tight living there, but a part of me can't fathom living anywhere else just now. It is right across the street from the Art Museum, and the kids played in the backyard for over an hour and we had to peel them away with great alligator tears. All of us want to live there, we just think the lack of space inside might just kill us. We'd definitely have to have a storage unit again. We'll see.
We stopped by Sammy's in Provo for dinner on the way home. (A friend from my freshman ward is married to "Sammy")
It was as cool as I'd hoped, and the food was a good as I'd hoped. But it wasn't as kid-friendly as I'd hoped.
I also had a "welcome to Utah county" moment when I was surrounded by 3 moms trying to force their kids to be cute so they could mamarazzi them with their dSLRs. I was happy that at that moment my camera was out of sight. That part of life "down south" will be an adjustment for me.
Do people really sign a lease for a house and move in a week later? Everybody wants their rentals filled by June 1st and we are not moving until July. I can't quite wrap my brain around not planning ahead more than that. Perhaps it's because I'm moving from far enough away that I can't buzz over to look at a new listing. A rather large part of me is anxious to nail down our new temporary home and move on to the next stressor. How have you handled temporary housing?
It has the most perfect back yard known to man. It also has only 1000 square feet and 0 closets in the entire house. It would be tiny and tight living there, but a part of me can't fathom living anywhere else just now. It is right across the street from the Art Museum, and the kids played in the backyard for over an hour and we had to peel them away with great alligator tears. All of us want to live there, we just think the lack of space inside might just kill us. We'd definitely have to have a storage unit again. We'll see.
We stopped by Sammy's in Provo for dinner on the way home. (A friend from my freshman ward is married to "Sammy")
It was as cool as I'd hoped, and the food was a good as I'd hoped. But it wasn't as kid-friendly as I'd hoped.
I also had a "welcome to Utah county" moment when I was surrounded by 3 moms trying to force their kids to be cute so they could mamarazzi them with their dSLRs. I was happy that at that moment my camera was out of sight. That part of life "down south" will be an adjustment for me.
Do people really sign a lease for a house and move in a week later? Everybody wants their rentals filled by June 1st and we are not moving until July. I can't quite wrap my brain around not planning ahead more than that. Perhaps it's because I'm moving from far enough away that I can't buzz over to look at a new listing. A rather large part of me is anxious to nail down our new temporary home and move on to the next stressor. How have you handled temporary housing?
Monday, May 16, 2011
bloggers anonymous
You may begin wondering whether you have a blogging "problem" when every time your camera is whipped out you get an "is this going on the blog?" comment.
How often does this happen to me? Pretty much every time there's another adult in my picture.
But it's always nice to find out people actually read what I write. More than occasionally I feel like I'm talking to myself here in bloggerspace.
I slipped out last night to visit some out-of-town friends from college, most of whom I haven't seen in years. My, how we've all grown up. I was the only one with kids who managed to make it to this shin-dig (thanks to my lovely husband) and I got to contemplate lots of deep and happy things. God's good to me in the "landing lovely people in her lap" department.
How often does this happen to me? Pretty much every time there's another adult in my picture.
But it's always nice to find out people actually read what I write. More than occasionally I feel like I'm talking to myself here in bloggerspace.
I slipped out last night to visit some out-of-town friends from college, most of whom I haven't seen in years. My, how we've all grown up. I was the only one with kids who managed to make it to this shin-dig (thanks to my lovely husband) and I got to contemplate lots of deep and happy things. God's good to me in the "landing lovely people in her lap" department.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
brief bouts of insanity
Despite having another intense wedding week ahead of me, and a 50% chance of precipitation, the HSF and I decided to take all our crazy kids to Red Butte Garden and get some mileage out of my membership yesterday.
I can't be certain but it's possible that I spent the entire time yelling at my kids. Either I am awesome or they are. Must have something to do with vessels of water large enough for children to fall into.
The poor Gentleman was stuck strapped in the entire time, and he endured it as best he could.
We wrangled the kids out the front entrance just as our sanity reached it's limit. And about 45 seconds later we started getting pelted with hail. I will forever be grateful I didn't have to do that wrangling during the hailstorm. Tender mercy? I think yes.
I can't be certain but it's possible that I spent the entire time yelling at my kids. Either I am awesome or they are. Must have something to do with vessels of water large enough for children to fall into.
The poor Gentleman was stuck strapped in the entire time, and he endured it as best he could.
We wrangled the kids out the front entrance just as our sanity reached it's limit. And about 45 seconds later we started getting pelted with hail. I will forever be grateful I didn't have to do that wrangling during the hailstorm. Tender mercy? I think yes.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Hill Aerospace Museum
As further proof that Mr Renn could never handle my job, he got stir-crazy on Saturday and had to get out of the house. This time we elected to revisit the museum at Hill Airforce Base because we knew they were working on a replica of my Grandpa's pow-cell. (We could see where they were working on it, but couldn't get very close.)
We lucked out and discovered their interactive kid's room/education center. It's rarely open to the public (usually only for scheduled school groups), and it's full of fun models, experiments, simulators, and costumes. We just got lucky, I guess.
And I think I may now know what we HAVE to do for Halloween this year.
We lucked out and discovered their interactive kid's room/education center. It's rarely open to the public (usually only for scheduled school groups), and it's full of fun models, experiments, simulators, and costumes. We just got lucky, I guess.
And I think I may now know what we HAVE to do for Halloween this year.
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