An Angel's Landing

While we were in Michigan, my siblings and I discussed where our Mom would want her and Jimmy's ashes to be scattered. In a month, some of us would be heading out west for our brother Joel's wedding at Zion's National Park. At the park is a beautiful and very high peak called Angel's Landing. Because Jimmy and my mom met in souther Utah while traveling with the carnival, we thought this location would be a perfect resting spot for "Angel" and Jimmy Urquhart.

This past month has been a crazy time in our life. Running scout camps, an overhaul clearing out of the house, keeping the kids busy, a quick trip to PA, etc...Having so much to do has been a blessing and has helped me to put my focuses elsewhere. However, often times I've felt this sudden and overwhelming feeling of emptiness and sadness. No tears, but an aching feeling, wishing I could just pick up the phone and call my Mom and not really wanting to think about saying goodbye.

So as we went through security in our way out west, I was caught off guard by my emotions. Because we were carrying two bags of ashes, our bag needed checked and tested for suspicious substances. The TSA worker was very professional and apologetic, but while she performed the test the reality of saying goodbye hit me. And I started to cry. The finality of it all. I know that I will see my mom again. But knowing that I won't see her or talk to her again during this life is hard.

After Joel and Jamie's wedding, Jeff, Tara, Rob and I set out for the 5 mile hike to and from Angel's Landing. Knowing my fear of heights, hiking to the top of Angel's Landing would not be a reality for me, but we heard there was a good spot before the last scary part that was beautiful. We wound our way up the mountain, switchback after switchback. It was so hot and our legs were feeling the burn if the climb. Once we got to the top we realized that there were too many people around, so we sent Rob off to finish the hike to the peak while Jeff, Tara and I went further up the west rim to find the perfect spot for our Mom.

A little further up we found a small tree on the edge of the steep cliff (over 1000 feet up) a little off the beaten trail. The view of Angel's Landing from this spot was spectacular! It was dramatic! I imagined my mom flying off the cliff towards Angel's Landing. She would have loved the beauty of it all. Jeff offered a simple and touching prayer. We then scattered Janet "Angel" and Jimmy Urquhart underneath this little tree.

We took several photos of the location so that we can come back and visit it again with hopes of leaving a little Angel memento there one day.

As I hiked down to meet Rob, I was so grateful for this special moment. I know that my mom was pleased and happy with her resting place. Truly, this was a beautiful day.

November 26, 1953-June 5, 2012

Janet Sue Sluyter Urquhart “Angel”, a resident of Breckenridge, MI and beloved wife of the late James “Jimmy” Urquhart passed away on June 5, 2012 in her home at the age of 58. She was born in Detroit, MI on November 26, 1953, the daughter of Winfield Josiah Sluyter and the late Marjorie Evelyn Hobbs. Janet is survived by her father Winfield Sluyter of Petoskey, MI; sister Jennifer Bellairs of Charlevoix, MI; brother David Sluyter of Petoskey, MI; daughters Andrea Kunz of Manassas, VA; Audrey Jacobson of Mapleton, UT; Kymberly Haswell of Ithaca, MI; sons Joel Chiapelli of Hatboro, PA; Jeffery Chiapelli of Getzville, NY; Dana Haswell III of Ithaca, MI. Janet was affectionately know as “Granny Janny” by her nineteen grandchildren.

Janet grew up in Troy, MI and attended Troy High School. Janet spent most of her life in the state of Michigan, but also lived for short periods of time in Utah, California, Pennsylvania and Florida. Janet loved animals and had several pets over the years.

A Memorial Service will be held on Tuesday June 12^th at 10:30 am at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 927 Union Street, Ithaca, MI 48847.

**I do plan on blogging more regarding my mom, but the reality of this has been extremely overwhelming.  Ever since being home, I've been busy, busy, busy and the past few days I have felt a heavy weight pressing on me.  Like an aching pressure in my chest.  Like I'm on the verge of crying my eyes out all over again.  I have so many thoughts and feeling that swirl around and for my own sake, I plan on getting it all out...just not right now.**

I'm Famous...

For looking like a dork, that is!

It looks like I'm ready to catch a piece of shrimp at a Japanese steakhouse!

Really!  Of all the pictures this lady could have chosen (and she took a lot), she picked this one?  I was having a really good hair day, but come on!  I'm sure the photos of the cute kids singing turned out better than this one.

On a serious note, I do love my "job".  And I say "job" because I hardly would call it that.  It kind of just fell into my lap, and I jumped at the chance to take it.  I don't even enjoying singing!  Unless it's with a bunch of energetic and happy 4 year olds.  I look forward to music time each week and seeing the love and excitement in the children's eyes.  It seriously is the best job EVER!

We are so proud of Tyler for taking on this adventure.  He's not a center of attention kind of kid and prefers to be behind the scenes.  He went in to the play tryouts with the intention of being a stage tech, but ended up scoring the role of John Darling in one of the two casts of Peter Pan.

And what a great experience it was for him!  He was able to spend lots of time memorizing lines and songs and choreography.  Hours and hours of after school play practices and time spent with good friends.  All of the hard work in the end was worth it.  And he's already talking about doing it again next year (this time he doesn't even want to do stage tech, too boring).

My Day.

All day yesterday, I told my kids the top ten reasons why this was the best Mother's Day ever.

10.  I woke up to hugs and kisses and Mother's Day wishes.  They were earlier than I would have liked, but they were initiated by the kids and that made my morning wonderful.

9.  Jared, Evan and Anna all created special Mother's Day cards for me and they were so excited to share them.  I loved all of them and the thoughtfulness behind them.  My children know me well!

(I do not smack Evan!  He likes when I playfully push him.  Geesh--I wonder what his teacher thought??)

8.  My parents came down for the weekend and helped me with the kids.

7.  The kids and my Dad made a yummy pancake brunch for us!

7.  I was able to spend a lot of time with Tyler prepping for his school play.  He also presented a talk during our Sacrament Meeting at church.  The topic--his mother. :)  He wrote and prepared it all on his own.  I am so proud of him and all of the hard work he put into the past week.  "What doesn't kill you makes me you stronger!"

6.  Rob came home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And we were back together again as a family.

5.  Rob came home!!!  With a beard.  And muscles.  

4.  The children sang a beautiful song during church to all of the mothers.  And of course, I cried.

3.  We all lounged around in the evening, watching the video recording of Tyler's performance of Peter Pan since his Dad missed it.

2.  Then we watched the season finale of our favorite show to watch as a family...Once Upon A Time!

1.  We were all finally home under the same roof.  Best.  Mother's Day.  Ever.

I hope yours was just as great.

A person's a person,

We just loaded up the kids backpacks with blankets and flashlights and lots of Dr. Seuss books to help them celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday tomorrow.  Jared will be reading to a Kindergarten class with the added bonus of wearing pjs to school.  Evan is having a lights out read-a-thon.  And Anna will be celebrating with green eggs and ham.  Sounds like they will be having a fun day!

Dr. Seuss has so many great quotes!

I love this poster, a list of the best of the best (although one of my favorites and most used quotes is not on the list...).

"Teeth are always in style!"  I need to make a poster of this quote for the kids bathroom!

"A person's a person, no matter how small."  I don't need to explain why I love this one.

"You do not like them. So you say. Try them! Try them! And you may. Try them and you may, I say."  I use this one often when we are trying something new at dinner, with the reminder that when he tried green eggs and ham he actually liked them.  A LOT!



Do you have a favorite Dr. Seuss quote?

Do you do anything special to celebrate his birthday?

Little Me

Anna and I have been best buds over the past 2 years.  Since Evan headed off to Kindergarten, she has been by my side every day.  Needless to say, she mimics the things I do and say and she listens to everything I'm saying and doing.  Because a lot of my days consist of church callings and responsibilities, they have become a big part of her life, too.

But she's now having a hard time with the separation of church and state...

On Friday I asked her what she learned about at school. "Well, we don't have school on Monday because it is Stake Presidents Day!"

Earlier this week she wanted to know who our missionary is.  I was confused by this.  Did she mean our friend Kyle Lee who is on an LDS mission to New Zealand?  Nope, that wasn't the right answer.  I asked her who our missionary was (before this new one came that she was referring to)..."Barack Obama."

Oh, of course.

Silly girl.

Anna as Mary at her preschool Christmas program.

Tour de France, Lance

Funnest school project in the world.
For me to attend anyways!

For a language arts report the kids in Mrs. 6th grade classes pulled together a wax museum. Each child chose someone to research, prepared and memorized a 1 minute presentation and found a costume to represent their famous person in history.

Tyler chose Lance Armstrong! Which I felt was perfect for him since he is beginning to love biking and is studying French at school. And as an added bonus, I'm quite a fan of the guy (Lance and Tyler).

Tyler borrowed his dad's sunglasses and bike gloves. We found him a yellow jersey that we attached USPS and Tour de France logos to. He refused to wear bike shorts, though. Something about looking like I dancer in tights...

Once at the school, the kids posed as if in a wax museum. We would walk around and tap a character and they would come to life, sharing the information that they'd prepared and then freeze until the next person came around.

So impressive were these kids! We were able to meet Muhammed Ali (in a full on boxing ring), Marie Antoinette, JK Rowling (with a British accent), lots of soccer stars, Jackie Robinson, Albert Einstein, etc...

Tyler was rather impressive himself and I think he's got a bit of drama underneath that shy exterior!

P.S. Have I ever mentioned here that when I lived in France as an LDS missionary (back in 1997, gulp), the Tour de France started in the area that I was serving in--Rouen! What great memories I have from that time of my life!!

P.P.S. Thanks for the idea to blog through the Blogger app. Don't know if I love it, but I'm going to try it out!

Why I Don't Blog Anymore

I blame the iPhone for my lack of blogging.

It's so easy to take and post pics on Facebook or Instagram.  Just one simple click.

We went to a fun event tonight at Tyler's school and I was ready to to post about it on Facebook and realized that it would be a better blog post.

So I came home and finally took the 1000 images (from the past year) off my phone and imported to my computer.

Hopefully more blog posts to come.

We'll see...

Christmas wish lists

The kids keep announcing new things that they'd like this year for Christmas.

I have to remind them that the lists were made last month for a reason.  Santa is done shopping.  Santa has even finished wrapping.

On the top of their wish lists this year...

Tyler--a hammock, a watch, bike pedals, Indiana Jones movies, The Lost Hero series, a new pocket knife, an electric scooter , Star Wars legos, Wii games.

Jared--Harry Potter Legos, Wii or DS video games, a bike with shocks, a new scooter, Knex roller coaster, a trampoline, an ugly doll and a guitar.

Evan--super sonic race set, a remote control plane, a DS, a watch, hot wheels tracks, anything angry birds, legos, Imaginex super heroes.

Anna--dollhouse furniture, a Lalaloopsy doll, a pillow pet, a piggy bank, Hello Kitty watch, a pink clock, a pink scooter, Rapunzel doll...

AND...get this...If you were to ask Anna what she wants most for Christmas, she will say a...

Camelbak!

She is such a Kunz!

2011...A Great Year

This year, I managed to get it together.  Christmas cards are addressed and stamped and ready to go.  I opted to not write the traditional family letter, but instead sent our friends and family to the blog for our 2011 update.  Here on the blog, I feel a bit more comfortable bragging on my kids and telling the truth on how things are really going down!

Kunz Kidz Highlightz from 2011

Anna (4 1/2)

• Plane flight to Michigan with Mom and road trip all over the state meeting grandparents, great grandparents and aunts and uncles, and cousins!!
• Turning 4 and her very first trip to Build a Bear!  Being 4 also means attending preschool every single day.  This gal is a social bug and loves spending time with her friends!
• Music and Movement class where she was able to dress up in her leotard and skirt and wear tights all day long.
• Helping Mom plant and harvest a garden.  She could be found during the summer eating basil straight from the garden!
• Getting to know her Utah girl cousins!  Anna was able to see every single one of her 27 cousins in 2011!--that was until baby Kaitlyn was born in October.  She can't wait to meet her, too!
• Riding her very first roller coaster, The Ghoster Coaster (aka The Scooby Doo) and sitting in the front with her hands up the entire time.  She was so proud!

Evan (6 1/2)

• Playing t-ball for the Orioles and sliding into home base.  He came home covered in dirt after each game!
• Hiking, hiking and more hiking!  His two little legs took him to Delicate Arch, all over Goblin Valley, to the top of the "Y" on Y Mountain and through the hot Valley of Fire.  
• Mastering the art of playing games on our phones and finding every moment possible to sneak away and play video games.  We did manage to pull him away long enough for him to begrudgingly learn how to ride his bike--now if he could only get on it by himself!
• Growing an amazing 3 inches during his 6th year!  His large growth spurt was able to qualify him to make it on some of the smaller Kings Dominion roller coasters!  He was a happy boy!
• Visiting Grandma and Grandpa in UT.  We were able to spend 2 1/2 weeks in UT visiting family this summer.

Jared (9)

• With poofy unbrushed hair and while wearing sneakers, he reached the coveted 54 inches!  He has become a roller coaster junkie!
• Spending his birthday at Arches National Park and walking underneath Delicate Arch, although Landscape Arch was his favorite.
• Going to Kings Dominion 10 times during the summer!  His favorite thing was being 305 feet in the air while on the Intimidator.
• Having his Dad coach his baseball team.  He loves baseball and is a fearless natural at it.  Catcher is his favorite position to play.
• Feeding Atlantic sharpnose sharks while at Myrtle Beach.
• Memorizing facts and details about every roller coaster at Cedar Point.  Dreaming that he will one day be able to experience the thrill of it.

Tyler (11 1/2)

• Attending boy scout camp with his Dad and friends.  He was busy while there and earned 12 merit badges!
• "Graduating" from elementary school.  He earned the Citizenship Award (bragging here--only 8 kids in his grade earn this), all A honor roll and the President's Education award.  He works hard and it pays off.
• Goblin Valley was the highlight of his UT trip.  He loved exploring this large natural playground (we all enjoyed it).
• Starting middle school.  His calendar is now busier than mine!  Between French and pre-algebra studies, he's also filling his time with the robotics club, playing the cello and participating in the school play.  
• Thanksgiving break, Myrtle Beach, baseball season, mountain biking and trips to Kings Dominion were other highlights for Tyler in 2011.

Andrea

• Finally ridding myself of the awful cough.  I had sinus surgery over the summer and wow!  What a difference it made!
• Being able to see so many loved ones over the year.  I was able to see all of my nieces and nephews, brothers and sisters, parents and grandparents and even some dear friends.  Spending a whole week with my sister almost made me wish I lived in UT again.  Almost.   
• Family bike rides.  Pulling Anna along was tough, but I love that we have this activity to do together.  Biking to see the DC monuments was my favorite ride of the year.
• Baking cupcakes for a few weddings (and just for fun).  I still love doing this but have cut back because the sugar issue is reeking havoc on my children's teeth (and my waistline).
• Starting a new job.  I haven't "worked" in over 10 years!  I'm now teaching music at Anna's preschool. It's only a few hours a week, so it's a great fit for me and I love spending time with the children.
• Being released as our ward's Primary president (over the childrens organization at church) and being called as the Stake primary president (over the 10 congregations in our area).  Still not too sure how I'm feeling about this one!

Rob

• Spending the last few weeks of the year in Japan.  It's been over a year since he's been able to go back and he's missed it.  Hopefully, he's eating lots of good curry, ramen and sushi for us!
• Kayaking!  He spent the summer working on flipping his kayak in a friends pool and he enjoyed a few kayak adventures with friends.
• Boy Scout high adventure with the Varsity Scouts.  They canoed (Rob kayaked), rock climbed, went shooting and came home with tons of stories to share.  He's enjoyed working with this group of boys as their scout leader.
• Taking the kids rock climbing, mountain biking with the boys, teaching the family how to kayak, coaching the kids in baseball--being an all out adventurous, on the go father and husband.  Saturdays are always fun-filled around here!
• Working on his newest toy--a pop up trailer that we inherited from our generous neighbors when they moved away.  He has lots of traveling and camping dreams for us next summer (and as long as they don't involve sleeping in a tent, I'm on board)!
• Continuing to work at Lockheed Martin.  Travel this year has been a lot less, but the work load has kept him very busy.  Rob's job has been very good to him and we feel blessed because of all his hard work.

2011 has been an exciting year for us.  We will be ending the year with a winter adventure to New York City!  We are sad to see it go, but we are gearing up for an extraordinary 2012!  On the 2012 schedule so far...Tyler turning 12 (with family coming to visit), a family visit to Buffalo, a trip to Myrtle Beach, cub scout camp, Goshen boy scout camp, another high adventure for Rob, an outer banks beach vacation, Anna starting Kindergarten, many more trip to Kings Dominion, Jared's 3 day dream adventure to Cedar Point (!!!), my sister coming to visit, Tyler playing John in Peter Pan, etc...Hoping to rest up for 2012 during Christmas break!!!

Merry Christmas and Love from the Kunz Family to yours!

Extreme Sports

Have you ever heard of a PlasmaCar?  (aka Wiggle Car)

We have 3 of them.

These little cars can hold up to 220 lbs and have a 6 month warranty.  But we're here to tell you that they have withstood the test of time and have endured much abuse over the past few years that we have had them.

Meant to be a child's toy, these cars have taken on the label of "extreme".  When our children (or the neighbors) ride on them, helmets are required.  And sometimes we insist on knee and elbow pads--only because several months ago, Tyler took a nice slide down the street after his speed machine tipped over.  He knows the definition of road rash!

Basically what you do is start at the top of the hill, speed down as fast as you can and either fly off the bike jump or whip into the driveway at the sharpest angle possible.

Today, the boys took advantage of all their Dad's hard work from raking up the leaves...

Happy Halloween

This year, Halloween is going mellow at our home.  

Our costumes this year were easy, peasy.  A hat (each one cost anywhere from FREE to $3, templates found here), foam (already had), a beak or pig nose (PartyCo for $1.99), coordinating shirt (had on hand or less then $5).  Done.

This may sadly be our last year doing the whole family themed costume :(.  The pre-teen is losing interest.  We'll see what next year will hold...

2010 (Superheros)

2009 (Harry Potter)

2008 (Star Wars)

2007 (Ninja Turtles)

2006 (Ghost and skeleton, road and construction worker, Evan was a lone octopus)

2005 (Dinosaurs)

2004 (Pirates)

2003and 2002 (pumpkin and dragontail?  Sadly, I can't remember these years...), 2001(cowboy), 2000 (cat family)

Worry Wart

Headed out on a field trip with my 6th grader today.  6th graders and a rainy day...I didn't think would be a good combination, but it was kind of sort of fun.  However, I did not come home with any pictures.  So sad.

I did come home with lots of thoughts, though.  Maybe more like anxieties.

I hated my high school experience, middle school wasn't as bad.  I was the quiet one.  Some would say shy, I prefer quiet.  I'd talk to people, converse in class, but outside of school I was not really close with too many school friends.  I remember all of the anxieties that I felt.  At that age, friends and relationships are important.  Don't get me wrong, I did have friends.  Just not at my school.  So it kind of sucked.

Tyler is our quiet one.  So I curiously watched his interactions with his peers while on the field trip.

And I really probably have no reason to worry.  But I do.  Because I don't want him to go through what I did.  And with his closest friends in his grade moving or going to a different school, I can tell that he is bummed.  He interacted and laughed with and talked to the other kids, but I could see in his eyes that he wasn't happy (or as happy as he could be).  He was more happy about what they were doing on the field trip (science related) rather then the social aspects of it.

And that's ok, right?  I need to just top worrying about it, right?

He is well liked.  He is active in school--taking French, cello, robotics club, school play, etc...He likes the challenges that school offers.  I'm sure his quiet personality will settle into a happy school routine.

So what's the problem...

me.

Stop worrying!

I'm All Alone

Anna went back to school today.

I kind of missed her.  I kept turning around in the car wondering why it was so quiet.  One time, I even opened the door to get her out.

But I do look forward to going to the grocery store tomorrow...by myself!

A few hours of peace everyday.  Weird.

And our afternoons of shoe shopping and lunch dates...awesome!

I will never forget.

As the days inch closer to the 10th anniversary of 9/11, my mind has been going back to that day...

I drove Rob to work that morning around 8 am.  I gathered up Tyler, 19 months at the time, and put him in the car for the drive across town.  As we walked out of the apartment (just a few blocks from where we lived now), I remarked about how beautiful it was outside while noticing the blue cloudless sky as an airplane flew over head, heading to Dulles airport.

Once we were home, I turned on the tv (which at that time in my life was out of the ordinary--not so much now, though) to Good Morning America just as the first airplane hit the World Trade Center tower.  I watched in shock.  Did that really just happen?  I immediately called Rob.  "An airplane hit the World Trade Center."  He didn't seem too shocked.  Having lived in Manhattan for 2 years as an LDS missionary, he thought I meant a small airplane came close to a skyscraper.  But watching it live, you just knew that something awful had happened.  When the airplane hit the Pentagon, I felt like I couldn't breath.  This was all happening a little too close to home.  It wasn't too long after that that I was not able to even call my husband because all of the phone lines went down.  And I sat there on the couch, glued to the tv, holding my son as tight as I could for what seemed like days.  Crying.

I wondered what the effect of this would have on me and my family.  I wondered what this would feel like 10 years later.  I wondered if my children would ever really understand this incredible event.

I was watching a news report this morning with interviews of random people and how their lives are different since 9/11.
I don't know if the events of 9/11 have necessarily changed the outcome of where my life is now, ten years later.  I still would have had 3 more children.  We still would have moved to the homes that we did.  We still would have stayed active in our church.  I still would be a stay at home mom.  Rob would still work for the same company. 9/11 or not.

But obviously it has changed me in many ways.

I'm more grateful to the loved ones that I have in my life.  I appreciate more that they are with me.

I'm more sensitive to saying things like "I'm so blessed that we are all ok" or "it's a miracle that he lived"  because so many people were not "so blessed" or did not receive that miracle.  I think it jaded me a little bit and tested my faith.

I came out with a better understanding that God does not control us or the choices of others.  That man is responsible for his own actions.  And sometimes (often times), we suffer the consequences of others choices.  Innocent people, even children suffer at no fault of their own.  God can help us with that, though.  He can help us to not be bitter or hateful or to feel hopeless or alone.

I'm more patient to those around me that I don't know.  Every person has a story.  Every person is loved by someone.  Who am I to judge them by a quick glimpse into their life at the check out counter or behind the steering wheel.

I'm more concentious to what my children need to know and what they should know.  I want them to feel safe, but I don't want them to be naive.  I'm cautious as to what they see on tv or hear in the news.  I remember how watching those events on tv made me feel.  I don't think children need to or should feel that way.  So we rarely watch the news in our home.

This past weekend, we took visited the Pentagon Memorial with our children.  Obviously, they will not remember the events from 10 years ago, they were not born yet (or too young know what was happening). But we want them to understand.  I think they do.

No tears.

I didn't even shed one tear this year.

Not even when Tyler left for his first day of middle school. 

I think all of the bickering from the past week made it a little easier on me.

But I will anxiously await for their return home so I can hear all about their first day, hoping all day that they are doing well.

I'm going to have to keep myself busy today or it's going to be a long day.

Is it 3 o'clock yet?

Summertime

We had such a great summer!

We played our days away at the pools, ran around Kings Dominion, pushed ourselves on bike rides, hiked around national and state parks, visited lots of family, explored all over Utah, experienced out first earthquake, ate one too many cupcakes, kayaked together,...

We barely took time out to practice our handwriting or piano.  I think we might have pulled up the multiplication table app--once! We did manage to read a few books, but never made it to the library.  Yard work and gardens fell by the wayside.  The carpets are stained with dirt from running in and out of the house and the house needs a good scrub down from lack of cleaning. 

We just played, played and played some more.
It was an exhausting summer, but so so much fun.

That was all up to two weeks ago.

Today, I'm ready.  Ready for a nap.

Tomorrow, Tyler starts middle school.  And he is so excited about it.  A little nervous, but mostly excited.
Jared will begin 4th grade with a much smaller class size and lots of opportunities for the attention that he needs and deserves.
Evan wants nothing to do with 1st grade or school in general.  I'm hoping that he'll be able to hold it together and at least be nice to his teacher.
Anna starts preschool next week and she is so excited about seeing all of her friends at her school.

My plans for the day Anna starts school (September 12th)?--NOTHING!  I'm giving myself one day to just be lazy, to stay in my pjs and take a break.  And maybe even take an afternoon nap!  Just one day. 

After one day, I'm sure I'll be bored and wishing I had my children around to go on some more adventures!

Back to school is so bitter sweet.

54"

Jared came downstairs on Wednesday morning wearing about 7 pair of socks.
I was in no mood for games.  He was supposed to be upstairs brushing his teeth and hair.
And he still hadn't even touched the piano keys for his practice or picked up the broom to finish up his kitchen work.
Instead he was trying on socks.
This is a normal scenario in our home.
Something is always distracting him.
Today it was socks.
Or trying to make himself taller.

I'm disappointed in myself, though that I didn't stop to see the humor in the moment.
I would love to have a photo of  his feet about right now.  They were so huge and fat, covered in all those socks...different sizes and various colors.
Instead, I sent him upstairs to put on only ONE pair of socks and to hurry up because we were going to Kings Dominion and needed to leave.

I'm happy to report that Jared did not need all of those socks.
He just needed to forget to brush his hair (again, he was distracted!).
For the first (and probably only) time this season, he received the coveted orange 54" bracelet.
Which is pretty much the golden ticket to ride EVERYTHING at Kings Dominion.
Including...

The Volcano

 The Dominator

The Crypt

And the ever so frightening Intimidator 305!

Jared thinks that his life is now complete...
except that he still has not been to Cedar Point!