Totality Awesome

Eclipse chasers! I was having second thoughts about going up to Idaho for the eclipse (fears of traffic, all that extra driving, possibly running out of food or gas, post-apocalyptic conditions on the road), but I am so glad that these kids and I made the trip.

My biggest fear was actually that we would get up early Monday morning, drive for hours, but be stuck in traffic and not make it to the path of totality before the eclipse happened. From what I was hearing, 99% is nothing like 100% and wouldn't make it feel worth it. So we decided to leave Sunday night and just sleep in the car somewhere up there.

The drive was smooth, no traffic at all, and when we got to Idaho Falls, we found plenty of room in a church parking lot, with this beautiful view of the temple.

Awake and getting excited! Sleeping in the car actually went better than I'd hoped. We had one car of noisy neighbors pull in around 3 a.m., and I had a really hard time going back to sleep, but the kids all slept pretty well. A couple inches of memory foam makes a pretty good bed.

And then we had a couple hours of killing time.

We tried out lots of different ways to see the eclipse stages--pinhole in a paper plate was cool. (Bean drew a lot of sketches of the sun along the way.)

The reflection through the trees was even cooler.

I thought it was beautiful, with the breeze making the shadows and light move around.

But nothing compared to totality. And pictures (especially the one I managed to get) don't do it justice. We were trying to take in all the different things that happen, the sky darkening, 360 degree sunset, stars coming out, the corona, temperature dropping. It all went by too fast, and was such an intense couple of minutes. It's so overwhelming and though I don't have words to really describe what it felt like, it somehow feels like it puts us in our place in the universe.  I got choked up, the kids were all crazy excited. It truly was a spiritual experience. It was worth every minute of driving and discomfort (and those ended up being a lot of minutes!)

And then we were on the other side. Glasses had to go back on, and slowly the moon pulled away. It's amazing how something that was so cool can seem so anticlimactic just a few minutes later. The build up to the total eclipse was really fun to watch, and I had thought we'd enjoy seeing those same sights as the sun came back out, but it really didn't seem like much of anything. I wish we'd been packed up and ready to drive then--would have saved us about 3 hours in the car later, but we weren't.

Instead, we went for a walk along the river and enjoyed seeing a little of Idaho Falls.

The kids liked these benches.

View of the falls.

And again.

The kids kept peeking at the sun, just to check on the progress. They saw it through to the end, but everyone was pretty tired, tired of walking around, tired from not enough sleep, probably tired of vacationing.

We left around 1:45 and then proceeded to take 4 hours to travel 55 miles. At that point, we stopped for dinner and I was REALLY hoping that google maps wasn't wrong and that the worst of it was over. Because 4 hours of broken sleep, a sore throat, and being the solo driver for the last 2 weeks was getting to me. Thank goodness it only took another 4 hours to get home and we were all tucked in bed by 10:30. I'd do it again, but I think next eclipse, we should find somewhere to stay overnight, and we'll bring Daddy-o along.

America, the Beautiful

One of our favorite yearly traditions--the Symphony and fireworks in Kannapolis.

We met up with our friends for a picnic and train ride before the music started.

This is Peanut's smile, pretty much always these days, if we ask for him to smile. I miss his eyes. ;)

This year was probably the coolest it has ever been. We've had years where we melted while we waited for the sun to set, but the cloud cover really helped, and made for some awesome looking skies.

Lots of good hang out time with friends.

And goofy picture taking time while we waited.

Love these kids of mine.

They can smile with the best of them.

Peanut was loving the Daddy time.

Almost sunset, and the clouds were clearing out for the upcoming fireworks.

Glo-sticks are a big part of why the kids love the symphony. There's a reason why we do outdoor concerts :)

Peanut getting decked out.

Perfect for dancing.

The firework show was as good as it always is. And Peanut reacted as he always does. It was Daddy-o's turn to take him to hide when the freak-out began. Poor kid has PTSD or something when it comes to the loud sounds. He woke up twice during the night screaming about the fireworks not coming to get him. The funny part is that the next day, he kept saying how much he liked them. He wants to think it is fun, but it's too loud for him.

Running Here and There and Everywhere

(AKA--How many times can we drive out to the church area in one weekend?)

 

This weekend was a mad rush of activities that left all of us needing another weekend. First off, it was our turn to clean the church building Saturday morning with a few other families, so we had a quick breakfast and were out the door by 8:45, at which point we are usually still in PJ's and making pancakes on a typical Saturday. Then, we'd planned to head to Latta Plantation a few miles down the road for the Celtic festival, but it was raining pretty good right then and was supposed to clear up for the afternoon, so we went home for a couple hours.

 

During those two hours, we cleaned, I worked on the cake I would need that night (more later on that), and Daddy-o gathered the things he needed for the pre-prom dinner he was making for the kids from our congregation that were going to the church prom that evening.

 

At 2:00, the kids and I headed back out to Latta Plantation, grateful for rain boots because even though it had stopped raining, there were 8" deep puddles the size of our van all over the place.

 

The Celtic Festival is one of our favorites. Lots of vendors selling tartans and dragons and swords, haggis and shepherd's pie. 

And what's not to like about people wearing kilts? Not only the performers, either. There were plenty of casual observers decked out, too. Bug was admiring the tartan scarves until he saw the $50 price tag and decided maybe he wasn't ready to make that purchase.

The pipe band was fun to listen to.

The kids loved trying out the lathe. The man running it told them this machine has been around for more than 800 years.

 

 Bean is hoping to build one in our backyard. She made me take pictures and everything so she could recreate the setup. Sometimes I think this girl was born in the wrong century.

We ran into friends while we were there. Pretty funny since they'd been over at our house the afternoon before for a very long overdue get together, and then after weeks of not seeing each other, we get to hang out two days in a row.

 

Peanut wanted to hang out with the animals, of course. He loves them all and can't get enough of calling for the donkey, Oreo, to come to him. Sometimes Oreo obliges, but I think it's a coincidence.

They had a few stations set up focused on WWI troops.

Bean was fascinated by the dancers.

 

All in all, it ended up being a beautiful day and I wished that we'd had more time. But after a couple hours, we had to rush back home so we could get ready to drive right back out that way to the Cub Scout Blue and Gold Dinner at the church.

 

Along with the dinner, they also had a cake/dessert auction, for which Daddy-o had stayed up late Friday making one of his famous apple pies and I had made a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake.

 

We all had fun at the Take Flight themed dinner. Bug and Bean made paper airplanes to fly down the hallway runway, the scouts put on a few skits, we ate pizza, and drooled over the desserts.

 

And while all that was going on, this little guy was busy flirting with his new friend. Her parents were probably grateful she was busy because they were fully occupied keeping her brother from bidding on every single cake. Auctions get intense! Daddy-o's pie ended up bringing in the most money of the night, $100 thanks to a big leap made by a family who really wanted that pie to celebrate the ultimate Pi Day. They posted a picture a little later, letting everyone know that they took a bite on 3.14.15 at 9:26:53 p.m.

 

After such a crazy Saturday, it might have been nice to have a lazy Sunday, but no such luck. Today was our annual ward conference and potluck for church. Which translated into fixing a crock pot of Paula Deen's White Bean Chili with Chicken (and being really grateful we'd bought a couple desserts the night before to bring for dessert), Daddy-o coming up with a short sermon, me planning a lesson for the 8 year old class I teach, trying to get there earlier than normal, and then a 9 hour day at church for Daddy-o with all his extra meetings before and after, and a solid 4.5 for the rest of us.

 

Thankgoodness the weekend is over--not sure we could handle anymore. :)

 

It's Not Easy Being Green

Time for the second annual Green on the Green 5K. I love that the kids' school puts on this race. It's such an awesome family friendly, health focused activity, and the kids like getting to see all their friends and teachers along the way.

Peanut has done the race twice now in the stroller. Somehow, I have a really hard time imagining that he'll be able to do it on his own in 2 years which is when he'll be able to officially enter. Maybe because we have another kid who thinks he's going to die each year about 1 mile into it.

I'll tell you, I love races, love the idea of family ones, and like supporting this community in this way, but doing a 5k while essentially dragging a 60 pound person along behind you who keeps telling you that he's dying and he can't make it, really isn't my favorite. I wasn't even feeling all that competitive and hadn't planned to run it at all, but when there are 3 and 4 year olds passing you, and we can't even sprint the final few yards, it's painful. I have a lot of empathy for Daddy-o, who got that job last year. Love my middle child, but I don't think we'll ever be running partners :)

Post race festivities included rock climbing, a bounce house, and free pizza. Add in some warmish weather and lots of sunshine and it made for a good Saturday afternoon.

Beautiful February

This weekend, we got lucky with some beautiful weather considering it's the beginning of February. Perfect timing for the Latta Plantation Fairy House Festival. The older two kids and I went to it a couple years ago, but the weather was even better.

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Even though we didn't take our own advice from last time and bring along supplies, the kids took the building of their fairy house and grounds very seriously.

 

First, there was the picking of the perfect spot. Mossy ground, good trees to build against, and right on the lake offered a unique twist.

 

The house may have been simple but it had its own boat dock. They actually spent way more time working on the dock than the house--anything to do with water. . .

 

This sweet boy was mostly content to throw things in the water, including some of the building materials Bean and Bug had used on their creation, which didn't go over so well. But overall, they had a great morning. One of my favorite things about this is that we see a lot of people from our preschool days there, and this year, there were also several people from church, so it felt like a great community event. I love anything that makes me feel like I live in a small town--I'm always searching for my Stars Hollow :)

 

There was also a WWII event at the plantation house, so we stopped by there for awhile, too. There was a lot of fun equipment to look at and Bug even got to try on the British supplies. We talked with "soldiers" and a woman war correspondent who filled us in on the roles women had during the war. Russia even had a famous woman sniper.

 

Peanut came home obsessed with guns for the next couple days and kept wanting to shoot all of us. What is it with boys and guns?