I Love the Mountains, A Long Time Coming, A Pommel Horse Pummeling

A hodgepodge of updates:




This week we.....


Drove up to the mountains on Monday to look at the Autumn color. Sometimes our family outings are quite the horrid little affair. And sometimes we all get together to do something as a group and we have a wonderful time; everyone pulls together and the children are kind and patient with each other. Pie and I are kind and patient with each other (and the children) and I am completely fine with the way Pie drives. Sadly, this was not one of those wonderful outings. This was another HLA (horrid little affair). The children didn't want to go and were detained in the car against their will. We got started too late in the day. Pie had remembered the drive to Guanella Pass as "not very long". It was very long. Some children wanted to sing. Others were against singing. We were too early in the season to really see the best color, but too late in the day to get a good look at whatever there was to look at. We don't imagine we'll get another shot at it this year. The kids made it very clear that they are done with the mountains. And Pie and I officially wash our hands of the whole thing.

Actually on the Pass. Which we actually spent less than 10 minutes driving on. But oh! the memories we created as a family.

Some trees that we thought looked pretty. The photos aren't quite as pretty. But everything smelled great.

More trees.

We got out and frisked about. Josie climbing up a tree. Teen Angst behind her, lurking barefoot in the forest.

Pie and one of the "good" children. As you can tell from these pictures the sun had already set and since we had a 1 1/2 hour drive back home in the dark with hungry, thirsty children we didn't stay long. On the way home we stopped in Bailey for a delicious meal of hot dogs at this very Coney Island Hot Dog Stand pictured below. The children were unimpressed (it was quite dark) and the place, being much smaller than it looks in this picture, was very crowded with our crew making up the bulk of the customers at the time.

So to recap: We drove to the mountains. Josie and Sid hated it. Calvin cried because Sid was mean to him. Jon begged Josie to stop crying in the back seat. We begged Josie to cry into her blanket. Sid was surly. Tommy napped (contrary to what you might think, not such a good idea at 5:30 in the afternoon) and Pie and I were each offended with comments we made to each other about the driving. We spent $17.50 on hot dogs.

And then on Tuesday:

Josie and Jon went to gymnastics. After almost a year and a half, Miss Josie finally moved on to the next level in her illustrious gymnastic career. She had been ready to move up since May, and her coach was merely waiting for her to get a few classes in a row under her belt wherein she did not spontaneously burst into tears. August was good, and September was even better so finally Coach Trevor gave us the go-ahead and the much coveted, oversized ORANGE RIBBON.
It is a many-splendored thing, isn't it?



Unfortunately for Jos, her moment of jubilant rejoicing was overshadowed by the gruesome injury sustained by Jon on the pommel horse. Jon was working on the horse when suddenly his face fell onto the horse and his teeth fell through his lip and gushing blood ensued. Thankfully, all the teeth involved are "baby" teeth and with this not-so-gentle-nudging will soon be coming out. We talked over the possibility of putting a lip ring in his mouth--this being an opportune time--what with the hole in his mouth and all. Jon said NO to the lip ring but YES to a Wendy's Frosty, so we have great hopes that he will make a full recovery. No word yet on the status of his emotions regarding getting back up on that pommel horse. In this attractively posed picture below it is hard to see the hole in his lip--but trust me--it looked just like the result of a small hole punch and it bled profusely. The inside of his mouth was worse, and three distinct teeth-shaped holes can be seen. Sadly, the gym did not have a ribbon for this.