Some of My Favorite Places - Glacier National Park

August of 2008 I was fortunate enough to take my family to Glacier National Park. This include my husband, my then not quite 2 year old, my then barely 3 year old, and my parents. We all loaded up into a motor home and headed to northwestern Montana to visit a national park I had wanting to scratch off my "To See" list for a while. The drive was long, but it was worth it.

We spent most of our time hiking around this picturesque piece of the big sky country. The above photo was taken at Avalanche Lake, a fairly easy hike with a few difficult spots. My husband and I did it with our toddlers in backpacks on our backs. My parents also came along, although they said if the ending hill had been at the beginning, they probably wouldn't have tackled it. The view was spectacular, and the sun seemed brighter than it has anywhere else that I have ever been. We even met a friendly Ranger in his 80s, whom my daughters invited to the youngest's birthday party.

We also hiked the Hidden Lake Trail at the top of the Going to the Sun Road. Here the gazillion steps nearly turned me back initially, but once it was back to solid ground, okay really snowy ground in August!, it was a pretty easy hike. Here the mountain goats were close enough to touch and the sheep were visible in the distance.

We got to see the Going to the Sun Road up close, which my great uncle engineered, and we spent time wandering on smaller hikes and strolling by the lakes. It is a gloriously beautiful place that everyone should see.

Toys that Stood the Test of Time

Okay. So we all know how the Christmas toys fall. Some are barely looked at before they are set aside. Some are played with on the day of, and even a few days after, but quickly become old and tired. Then there are the few, the proud, the toys that stand the test of time. These are the toys that two months later, are still being pulled off the shelf everyday. For my girls there are two presents from this Christmas that really stand out. The first is the game Hullabaloo by Cranium. It is a wonderful moving game that practices colors, shapes, and categories. It also focuses on listening, and while they have the winner "do a funky dance" there is no real feeling of losing since we all just dance.

The second, and my favorite, is a handmade gift from their Grandmother, my mom. These dollhouse purses allow them to play pretend with any and all of their current toys. They also make for a great toy when you are heading off to somewhere you know you will be waiting, like the doctor's office. My girls adore these, and I have been known to play a little pretend with them as well.

The Inexperienced Expert Goes Skiing

The day was inexplicably gorgeous. The kind of day that is a welcome gift early in February. At the top of the pass, the sky glistened it was so blue, and the sun beat down on us to the point where we took off hat and scarves and instead donned more sun screen. This was the day to try skiing. The only unfortunate side-effect, was that everyone else was skiing as well. The gobs of human nature packed on the hill around the lodge, and drizzling down the snow packed hillside frightened me away from my original intention of downhill skiing for only the second time in my life, and instead lead me toward a more familiar side of cross country skiing. Still, I had not been in 15 years, and this time I had toddlers.

Simply strapping my girls into their skis became the first challenge. Unable to help, or even understand the point, my daughters flopped like rag dolls in my arms while I inexpertly popped first one toe, then the other into their skis. Immediately my youngest began to slide down the hill. Scrambling for her, trying to keep the oldest by my side and then put myself into my own skis, began one of many comedy of errors for that day. Finally everyone strapped in, we were ready to take off. My three year old immediately fell down and soon began her demands of being let out of the skis. We convinced her to give it another try, and off we took, again.

The two year old between my skis, and the three year old between my husband's skis, we used the practice loop to test our technique. The girls' poles were soon discarded and my husband and I dragged our own behind ourselves. I am sure we looked awkward and unbalanced, but it worked. Practice looped mastered, and three year old wavering between wanting to do it herself and wanting to be done, we turned to tackle the hill down to the easy course. The key word here, is the hill.

I was never skilled at skiing down hill. My husband was a downhill skier, hence the motive behind my plan. First, I must note that this is a very small hill, but I was terrified to crash on top of one of my girls. My husband would take one girl down and leave her at the bottom of the hill. He would then come up, get the second girl and ski her down. I would then ski down the hill, crashing as few times as possible, and that, with only two falls on my part is pretty much how it went.

At the bottom of the hill, we found a patch of snow and decided to make snowmen, but the ground was too iced over, and we soon abandoned our idea. Strapping back up, no more gracefully than the first time, we took off on the flat path through the woods. This time we were able to ski beside the girls holding onto one hand and moving fairly quickly. I was unbelievable proud of my girls as they plugged along for 10 or fifteen minutes. Cross country skiing, however, is hard work, and they were about done. We turned around and headed back. The girls did really well the whole time. The two year old starting to ask to take breaks, and the three year old starting to ski on her own. We made it back to the top of the hill and even had time for hot chocolate.

Altogether we probably only skied a quarter of a mile, and were out for maybe an hour, but it was exhausting and invigorating. The girls both slept all the way to Grandma and Grandpa's house, and everybody slept good that night.

Some of My Favorite Places

I decided that I wanted to include some of my old, and hopefully new, vacation photos on my blog. I am going to post the photo of somewhere I have been (they won't just be Internet photos, but ones I actually took) and loved. At the end of the month I will write a short post about where it was and what I remember about it. At the same time, I will add a new photo. My first is from a trip last summer to Glacier National Park in Montana. Most will be from the Western USA. Many will be from National Parks since my family loves to explore the outdoors. Occasionally I'll delve into my older international photos from some areas in Europe, Mexico, and Russia.

The Inexperienced Expert Plays Guitar

Imagine the musically challenged in a class filled with music. Imagine fumbling fingers, tongue poking out the side of my mouth, face cringing with concentration. Image all this, and you will have a good view of me in my first guitar class.

I love the guitar. The romantic inclination that can cover campfires and concert stages. I follow my memories back to a college apartment, feet crossed under myself, sitting snuggled on the couch while my latest crush plucked playfully on the strings that seemed to chime with infinite possibilities. I thought I had fallen in love with a handsome, quiet young man, but I realize, I think I just had fallen in love with his guitar. Since that day I have always kept a guitar tucked away somewhere in my house. I have tried in fruitless stretches of nostalgic whimsy to teach myself. I even successfully conquered "Ode to Joy", but no more.

You see, the problem with guitar is two fold. One is it takes practice, and two it hurts. It is easy to talk yourself out of guitar practice when throbbing fingers become more of a focus than halted music. This time I tricked my ever bemoaning fingertips, though. I signed up for an 8 week class. I figured that at the worst, I will have to practice for 8 weeks, thus developing the finger callouses, and taking away my excuse. Do you think it will work?

I have been at it two weeks. I have 6 chords that I must still pause to maneuver between, and I have nearly gotten down my first finger plucking song. Some of the people in the class have played before, and will casually trip along their strings like a brook across its rocky bottom. The ease and melodic nature of their half-hearted strumming makes me jealous, embarrassed, and even a bit inspired. It is a beginning class, but many of the participants have played before, but decided it had been so long they needed a refresher. Someday I hope to strum a chord with a smile on my face and a tune in my voice just like them. For now, though, I would settle for not looking constipated and like I have a claw for a hand.

Still, I am having fun, and I hope that by the end of the month I can play some fun kid songs with my girls. After all, they are the reason I finally did this after simply thinking about it for ten years. I want their lives to be filled with music and possibilities. When they pick up their little pink guitar, I want them to realize that someday they can make music with it. They can write a song and play along. There, I think I have their first line already!

The Inexperienced Expert Goes BELLY DANCING

So I am a person who is terrified of trying new things. I am constantly worried that I am being judged, or even laughed at by others. Seriously, I think I am a junior higher in a 32 year old's body. I have decided that I am done with that, however. There is too much out there that is absolutely fascinating to be held back any more. So my first adventure, small as it may be, was to sign up for Belly Dancing lessons, because, well, it just sounded fun.

The first night I had butterflies in my stomach all day. They needed a minimum number of people in the class to keep it open, so I kept waiting for a call. Okay, secretly I wanted a call. It was a freezing cold day, and it had ice rained the night before. I didn't have to go until the evening, but it was still a good excuse. I knew that if I let myself have an excuse, though, I would never go. I went, driving slowly and tense. I hate not knowing where I am going, and I was unsure of the way. It was dark and the roads were slippery. I thought as I was driving how the silence would have been a refreshing change, if not for the roads. I found my way without incident, though, and as I pulled open the doors to the building and stepped into the warmth, I knew something had just changed.

The class had not started, and the advanced class danced on the other side of windowed doors. The early comers watched nervously and excitedly together. They chatted in a friendly, stranger to stranger kind of way, and I found myself having commonalities already. By the time that class started, the butterflies were dissipating, and only the fun and excitement was being left.

The class was exhausting. We drilled hip hits in all directions. I was sweating, which I hadn't, sad to say, done in months. My arms were about to fall off. My arms? Yes. I never realized, or thought about the fact that belly dancers hold there arms out in a T, the whole time they are dancing. My arms, shoulders, sides, and legs were all screaming at me by the end of class. It was wonderful. I am not one to relish pain, but it was just what I needed to feel real again.

We ended class with Yoga, quietly coming into ourselves. I found myself struggling to find quiet. Instead my mind was jumping between things I wanted to do, and thinking about my family at home. I realized how much I needed to start living in the moment, and I have started practicing it every day since then. I have had one more class since my first. The roads were clear and we learned a dance, rather than just drills. I chatted again with people I really didn't know, but it didn't really matter. I had fun, sweat, danced, smiled, laughed, struggled, looked silly, and didn't once care what anyone else thought of me. It was a wonderful day, and I am glad I went.

Now for my next challenge.......the guitar. :) Any other suggestions? Let me know. I am up for almost anything. I'll try it out, tell you how it goes, and then you can decide if it is still something you would enjoy.

Eurecka! I Found My Focus.

So I have been racking my brain the last few days, trying to decide what is my real focus for this blog. Sure it is about my goal to be the perfect example to my girls as a mother, but other than blogging about rearranging closets or clipping coupons to stay on budget, what could I be writing about. Suddenly, yes I was cleaning when it happened, it dawned on me.

I realized that I want to open up the world for my girls. I want to take life and lay it before them like a blank canvas that only they can paint correctly. I want them to gobble up life like they won't be served seconds. That led me to two important things.

1. Time and things I do with them.

2. Things I do, with and without them.

Some of you may wonder about number 2, but in my thinking, I want them to see me constantly trying new things and seeing new places. They won't always be able to come, but as they get older, they will do more and more with me, as well as see me never back down from life.

With these in mind, I will focus on my two main features: A Kid's Life and The Inexperienced Expert.

A Kid's Life will be reviews of toys, activities, books, puzzles, etc that my kid's and I enjoyed. I will talk about the good and the bad, from a real world experience. I will also talk about activities I develop and crafts that we do. Yes, I am sure I will have photos of kid artwork that only a mother could love, and strange sculptures created from nature objects. I will explore inside and outside activities, and I will have the best excuse in the world to take LOTS of time to play with my girls.

The Inexperienced Expert will be a once a month(ish) feature, perhaps more. I have resolved to try something new, or go somewhere new every month this year, and I will take you along for the ride. It will include the real feelings of a newbie, and let you have a little insight to some fun new hobbies. If you have suggestions for this, let me know. I already have one ready I hope to blog about tomorrow, BELLY DANCING!! Seriously.

I am sure that I will have other blogs here and there about every day ups and downs, but these two things will be my main focus. Sound like fun, come along for the ride. I am very excited to start, okay a little scared too, but every good adventure starts with a little twinge in the stomach!

A Statement of the Obvious

1. I need to stop worrying so much what others think about me

2. I need to stop thinking that I need to do everything perfectly the first time

Enough said.

A World of Possibilities

So here is a list. My list of things that sound like fun new things to try or take up again.

1. Guitar
2. SCUBA Diving
3. Rock Climbing
4. Hiking
5. Skiing (downhill and cross-country)
6. motorcycling

Okay I could go on, but you are probably already wondering what this has to do with becoming the perfect mom. You see I have a phobia. I am terrified of being embarrassed. I am not one of those people who laughs about things years later, because I am still horrified by how silly I looked. It has stopped me from trying things, stopped me from living life to the fullest. I don't want that for my girls.

I want my girls to plunge into life fully dressed and laughing out loud. I mean, what is the point otherwise. I want them to go for it, every time they get a chance. I want them to try new things and see new places, and the only way to teach them to do that is to do it myself.

I will be taking guitar in a couple weeks. Yes, it is the tamest on the list, but hey, I have to start somewhere. I want to write songs with my girls and sing songs around the campfire. I want them to remember mom playing the guitar and smile. I want them to learn how to play and be in a band. Okay, maybe not, but I want them to have the possibility if it is important. I want to be a happy, energetic influence, and I start right now!