The dreaded virus

It rampaged our house- only Eli has remained unscarred. On Sunday I was sure I would never do anything productive again. On Monday I was certain that now that I could eat again that I would only provide my body with leafy greens and organic fruits. And on Tuesday....I broke into the chips. It's been a long time since I was brought so low by a germ.

Before the illness, we were busy whirlwinding through December, with parties and outings and doings galore. Jon and I have never seen so much of each other. At my staff party (after which Jon had to admit that I do work with a humorous, fun bunch) there was the much anticipated white elephant exchange. My co-workers took pity on Eli when he was stuck with the book "The Baby Whisperer" and took it off his hands. He ended up with the 'best white elephant gift ever!' which has since sat in it's box on the radiator. But Theo did dig through it and found a little book about the hula- including a flower comb for your hair. He put it in and taught himself a few steps. Never have I been so enamored with him. He was so serious, and adorable. Here he is:

After hitting the British Ad Awards with DuNordian pals I found myself longing for summer and lazy days sitting on the dock dangling my feet in Burntside Lake. This school year stuff makes time move so dang fast, it's hard to get my bearings.

After Jon and I went to the Dan Wilson concert, I sang myself "Hand on my Heart" for the next 36 hours. It's playing right now. Love that skinny 50-something guy.

And after 3 long weeks of exams and appointments and waiting- Eli is bespectacled. Turns out that the kid couldn't see much. During the wait, I wasn't sure if he was disappointed or excited about the upcoming change for him-he stayed so low key about it. When he expressed worries that he might start looking like a mole when he took his glasses off (apparently that is the fate of his friend Simon) I thought, disappointed. Then, the night before they were to be picked up, when he skipped dinner, then awoke at 5 am, ready to start his day, I thought, excited. Yep, he was excited. By now he might be disappointed, but I don't think that has happened yet. He is still thrilled to have them on, look at something, pull them down, look again, and be wowed by the difference. And I think that he thinks that he looks pretty cool. He does. But older.

Here's hoping that he continues to ward off the germ that is probably still lurking somewhere in our house. I have taken antibiotic wipes to any and all surfaces, but this one seems wiley. We have so many more doings to do in December that I don't know if we can handle another slow down. I do admit that having to sit on the couch and watch Harry Potter 1 and 2 with the kids was a nice break from the action. But it is time to jump back in.

Time

I've been thinking about it, wondering what I did all November...did I really spend so much time on Facebook? No. There was a lot of time spent watching the "Yes We Can" video on YouTube. But I'm done with that obsession now. Now it's on to the Jedi Gym video. If you haven't seen it, it is definitely worth a glance. Now that I think about it, I was alerted to both of these videos through facebook. shoot. Need more self control.....

Catching up

It's been a while since I have taken the time to update this old blog. To tell the truth, I started wasting time on that facebook thing and I don't get over here so often. But things are still happening in our world. The boys and I just got back from a quick trip to visit Jean and Rodg in Florida. I thought it was delightful to get away from work and my house and the cold. Wish Jon could have come, of course. While we were there Eli got into the habit of swimming laps in the pool with his grandparents. I often sat out of these sessions, and a couple times I got to watch them criss cross the pool from the balcony eight stories up. Eli does a good job keeping up with his grandparents. Theo, on the other hand, doesn't really do laps. He does zigzags. Hard to tell if this is on purpose or not, but it was fun to watch him do his little quiet backfloaty-flipper thing back and forth...he'd happen into the pathway of Jean and they'd share a smile and a laugh, she'd send him off in the 'right' direction and he'd soon enough bounce into Rodg's orbit and they'd have a little giggle, and on and on Theo went. It's very similar to how he goes through life- we're never sure exactly where he's headed, but he spreads a lot of love and smiles along the way. Anyway, now that we are back in the hinterland of MN, Eli wanted to continue his swimming, so we took him to the Y and he promptly churned out 20 laps using his unique left arm dominant trudgeon type stroke. I checked the chart on the wall, and sure enough, the kid had covered a half mile in really an impressively short period. He came home and started a chart with a goal to get to 1000 laps by 2010. Considering he has covered over 1/10 of that distance in the past week, I think he may make it. I've noticed him checking out his muscles in the mirror. Love that skinny kid.

When we weren't swimming laps, we perfected our beach combing techniques, uncovering such treasures as a full (and fully dead) crab, the picked clean skeleton of a sting ray, and lots of stunningly beautiful shells. Many of these will eventually find their way to The Collectors' Corner at the science museum and be traded for other fabulous natural objects.

One day Jean and Rodg rented a pontoon and took us out into the bay where we watched a flock of pelicans dive bomb a school of fish as a large pack of dolphins skimmed around the area. It was like we were in a real live "Mutual of Omaha" special. I was pointing and squealing and totally giving myself away as a landlocked landlubber from the frozen north.

I do think that the highlight of my trip was realizing that my two little guys have evolved into fully competent travellers who get a thrill out of new adventures. They hauled their own bags and navigated our way through the airports- I swear that they could do it without me. But I won't let them. Not yet.

Fraconia Sculpture Park

Here are some shots from another fall outing. The kids had many Fridays off this fall, and instead of being cold in our house, we decided to get out and check out some new Minnesota sites. These photos are from a trip with the NeskeMoens to the Fraconia sculpture park- a delightful little tribute to artists- plopped down onto the corner of a cornfield. Literally.

Fast Fall

I can't believe that I am sitting inside with freezing hands watching little pieces of ice spitting down from the sky. What happened to those glorious fall days? As the weather turns ugly, I have to keep reminding myself that it is not impossible to get out in this crappy November brown turdy season. I yearn for the first real snow fall- we did have a sloppy half inch or so this past Friday. The boys had the day off and delighted in the white view from their window. They quickly rummaged through the hall closet and found enough hats/mittens/boots to get out and use up every last flake to form about a half dozen snowballs. They then enticed me out and bombarded me. It was a great thrill, for 32 seconds. Then all was brown and mud again.

But we have gotten out- I started the last two Sundays with an energizing 'pole hike' out at Battle Creek park. Those are some hills. And this past weekend, as the sun started thinking about peeking out off a dreary Sunday sky, the family packed into the car to go to an undisclosed location for the fall launch of the rocket club. The original launch had to be 'scrubbed' (do you like the official language) because of gusts over 50 mph. As we waited in our car for the other members to show I found myself hoping that we would be stood up and could go back home to our luke-cold house. Then the cars rolled in and we bundled up and hiked across the field to the launch site. We spent a glorious 2 hours in the frigid sunshine racing down rockets as they dropped from the sky. I actually nabbed one out of the air before it his the ground this time. I only had to batter two boys out of the way to do so. As it approached 4pm and the sun had lost almost all of its weak power James prepared the final launch- he put in a big motor (is that what they are called?) and pointed the launch pad into the wind. As it took off it looked like it was going to disappear forever, then the chute came out and it drifted back so perfectly that all Theo had to do is reach up into the sky and grab it. I don't think he ever moved his feet. It was a perfect 'finishing move'- he was postively glowing with delight. We returned to the house chilled to the bone, our shoes covered in cold goose poop, but with light hearts and a firm committment to continue to get out, despite it being November in Minnesota.

Here's a shot from our wonderful October:

This time I did win.

The boys had another Friday off of school. And again the day started off gray and a little damp, but my friend Deb and I decided to risk it and head to Chutes and Ladders. This park, down in the southwest metro, has miles of trails around wetlands, lakes, and prairies, but the real draw is the gigantic playground that includes a huge complex of slides and cargo nets and ladders. We pulled into the parking lot and the boys immediately disappeared into the playground. Deb and I stayed huddled in our recently unearthed fall coats/hats/mittens. But then Eli called out and asked if the boys could take on the moms in a game of Capture the Flag. We of course tried to redirect them to other activities which would leave us sitting on the outskirts, but they would not be put off. Within five minutes I had to peel off my coat, then hat, sweatshirt...it is quite a game on flat ground, but when you are peeling around a crazy cargo-netted boy-sized heaven, it gets the blood flowing. In the end I found their flag and in a move that should be on some type of instant replay, flung it to Deb who then sprinted to what we thought was the boundry of our territory and therefore victory. And she made it. Only the boys claimed that the district had been secretly gerrymandered right at the very moment of our triumph. We pretended to believe them and went along with the return of their flag. But in our hearts we know. We won. After they were all but led to our flag we were able to eat lunch outside in the sun. Then we took a hike around the lake which included sightings of beavers and frogs. It had once again turned into a gorgeous day spent entirely outdoors.
And the next morning I woke up and could not figure out why I was so sore. Dang crazy tag games.

Flashlight tag

I got home from work at 5:30 with Eli in tow. My mom and dad were here watching Theo and they had various bits of info to share with me (Wendy and Judy met Hilary-even gave her a t-shirt, some dermatologist says McCain can NOT last through two terms, Durenberger is voting Dem., Max napped and pooped, Theo ate zuchinni bread- this is where Eli yells- Where's the zuchinni bread??) all in a whirlwind 10 minutes. Then they remind me that we won't see them again until we fly down to meet them in Florida- is there anything I want to send with them? So I frantically fly around the basement digging out snorkels and masks- including the ones I last used 18 years ago when I lived in Antigua. Then they walk out and Jon walks in and we rush to get supper cooked and eaten and cleaned up before Jon heads out to Spanish class. And then I sit down to get a few things done before bedtime..... within seconds Eli comes in and asks me if I want to play flashlight tag. I do. I really do, but I have so many things to do and I'm still in my work clothes and...., so I try to put him off and tell them to go get started. I'll be there soon. He knows what this means.... But then I decide to forget what I was trying to do and go join them. And it was delightful. I'm still wheezing. Mostly from running full tilt around the house 1,346 times, but also from being a little scared of the dark and a little from laughing my head off at the great frozen looks you get when you pop out of the dark and flash your flashlight in an unsuspecting little face. For the record, I won. Kidding. Eli is watching me type this and I wanted to get his goat. I'm totally up for another game tomorrow.

Something you shouldn't have to see....

So, about a month ago I was brushing my teeth and had the familiar sensitive shot of pain on the left side. Apparently my gums over one tooth over there are receding at an alarming rate. So I pulled back my lip and took a peek. And it freaked me out. There is so much tooth showing that I felt that it looked a little skeletal. So I looked at it again. Shuddered. Left the bathroom determined not to peel back that lip and look at that again for ages. Five minutes passed and I was back in there. It was like I was gawking at a car wreck. I couldn't help myself. But I eventually got a bit of leverage over the temptation, and I haven't had a viewing in a while. But then....a few weeks later I find myself diagnosed with TMJ and am convinced by my doctor to go get a splint made- a little clear plastic molded thingy that you slip over your bottom teeth at night and it purportedly stops you from grinding or clenching. Little does the doctor know that I have recently perfected clenching my jaw muscles with my teeth apart. I find myself clenched up, tell myself to relax, separate my aching jaws and take a breath. Only to find myself five minutes later all clenched up with my jaws apart. Oh well, I'm willing to give the spint a try. Perhaps some yoga too. So I go in to the speciality dentist and they put all of these foreign substances in my mouth, making a custom splint for me and me alone. After I've planted my teeth into a variety of plastics I'm free to go, if I pledge to return 2 weeks later when the splint is done and I can get it fitted. I return and have the dentist pop this little plastic thing into my mouth, I bite down for her and she tells me to take it back out. Only it's so tight I am absolutely sure that when I do eventually get it out at least 3-5 teeth will be stuck into it, pulled out by the roots. But I get it out. She files it, puts it back, I almost pull out 2 more teeth, and on and on we go. Only at one point, while I'm patiently waiting for her to file it a bit more I glance over to the counter along the wall. And what's there??? A model of my mouth!! Like a skeleton's mouth-with no nice lips to cover up the tangled, crooked teeth. Just my teeth in all their glory. And I'm instantly thrown back to the bathroom mirror and my glimpse at my root-y tooth. There it is, right above that one that wings out at nearly a right angle. And I think, now, no one should have to get a glimpse of their own skeletal teeth like that. I know that there are people out there with dentures who wake up to see their teeth smiling at them every morning. But I think that when you get fake teeth, at least they are straight. The one plus these faux teeth of mine had is that they were white. That much was appreciated. But I averted my eyes after the first glance. And this time I did not give in to the temptation to look again. I don't know, seeing your own warty teeth all on display with no live flesh around them, it's like getting a glimpse of your own mortality. Yuck. I will not be posting a picture.

A little something I'm realizing about myself....

I'm sitting here typing with the most amazingly red maple outside the office window. When the sun shines just right on this tree it must be what it looks like to be within the core of a fire. For some reason I feel like eating the leaves. Maybe not eating as in swallowing, but chewing them up. Not sure why- they are just so vibrant and amazing my reaction is to want to chew them. I feel the same way when I see perfect baby cheeks. But I don't act on these impulses. At least not yet. But this weird desire to chew beautiful things isn't even what my insightful realization is all about. I've been aware of the chewing thing for years- at least since Eli plumped up after birth over 9 years ago and those cheeks tempted me so- what I have come to realize is that I have a real strong tendency to try to convince myself that things are not going to go well, so that I am delighted and surprised when they do. How does the tree figure into this? Well, now that it is once again the single most amazing shade of red, I have to admit that for atleast the last 5 years that we have lived here, with our office window looking out on this glorious tree, I have begun every fall repeating a little mantra to myself. Quietly. Kind of unaware that I'm doing it. But I say: "This fall is going to suck. The drought (or the cold, or the heat, or whatever I perceive that year's trouble to be) you know, the trees aren't going to turn as brightly. I mean look at the tree out back, the leaves are just going to go brown and drop, skipping the red. This fall is sure to suck." And I keep that tape looping in the back of my head. But then one day, sure enough, I'm sitting in the office and the sun breaks out from behind a cloud and I'm blinded. Every year. But I'm never convinced that it will happen again. So I stop by the window as often as I can during that one prime week in October, and I look out, and I am delighted and totally surprised. And really tempted to do a little chewing. I'm putting up a picture, but it really does NOT do the tree justice. It can't be captured.

Amish Friends

The crew of the Amish Envy Club came together at Jason and Shannon's house for the last project of year one- and I like to think we ended on a high note. The weather was perfect, the work not too strenuous but very rewarding, and the importation of two cooks from the outside world was genius. As the sun set and most of us relaxed in the fresh new dining room with a big plate of pasta and a glass of wine, Jeff wandered around with a drill putting up the hardward for curtain rods. I think that is a good sign that we reached some level of completion. I have a bet on how long the tape will remain around the base of the light fixture, but really, the house was livable by sunset. And then the sun went down and the kids went wild playing "Ghosts in the Graveyard" out back. I really mourn the lack of time my kids get to play out in the dark with a pack of kids. My childhood was a constant round of "Ditch" -a complicated team-based tag game that involved tense moments of hiding in the dark. I loved it, but it just doesn't happen in our current neighborhood. I loved the drive home with the kids chanting "ghosts in the graveyard...." with dirt-smeared smiles gleaming from the backseat. They anxiously await the next round of workprojects so that they can gather with the gang again. Here are some shots of their daytime trip to the sculpture garden with Jon and Joe.

Eli-isms

So I went in to get a haircut and somehow got suckered into letting the stylist recommend a coloring scheme that is really not me. But I went along with it, came home, looked in the mirror and immediately called my agent so that she could hook me up with an audition for Baywatch, circa 1992. I'm all frosted and yucky. But, as so many helpful people have pointed out, it will help cover up the gray as it comes back in.... Thanks. Anyway, Eli gave me a few sideways glances when I picked him up from the walk-stop after school. I said, "WHAT?!?" not at all defensively. And his response? "Um, Mom, um, your hair....it kind of looks like someone who is trying to be sexy." It was clear from his tone that it was an unsuccessful attempt. Love him.

On a different topic- when Eli gets a little anxious or excited he starts talking. And talking. And the yammering is like someone is tap-dancing on my head as he goes on and on and on. Last night we watched the Spiderwick movie and it was tense. For all of us. I'd like to report that my arms and legs did not go numb, but there was some beginning of the tingling... Anyway, when it ended Eli started talking, rehashing the whole movie at fast-forward pace. Kind of maniacally. I broke in and carefully said, "Sheesh Eli, you've got a lot to say right now." He stopped, chuckled, and said, "I guess I am kind of like Bob's wife from Open Season." If you've seen the movie you have to realize that the kid hit it head on. He is self aware, if not quietly introspective.

I think we agree that he inherited this trait from his maternal grandmother. Skips a generation for sure.

Autumn strolls

I just got back inside from a chilly walk with Theo. Nothing better than walking through the dark streets with Theo's warm little hand in mine. We pondered weighty questions: Do bats hibernate? What is Halloween all about anyway? Sadly, I must report that I did not know the answer to either question, but when we got back, old encylopedia Eli could rattle off enough to satisfy Theo. And then he added more info. And more. But back to the walks. We are going to try to get out each night between now and Halloween to keep ourselves updated on all the decorations going up in the neighborhood. Oh, and Theo likes to keep track of the McCain v. Obama sign count in the hood. Tonight we came across two McCain before we hit any Obama. His quote, "Boy, we live in a bad neighborhood."

The new oven

Its got an attitude. The old one broke down last week and we called in the trusty Sears repair man. He apparently had a little chuckle and estimated the age of the oven to be between 30 to 40 years. Parts hadn't been made for that model for years...heck, decades. So, since I can't stand the thought of an ovenless kitchen (I've got bread rising right now) we gathered up the kids and made the trek to the local retail outlet. And bought a shiny white oven that was most probably made in the 21st century.

And then it got delivered and placed in the kitchen. And it looked around from its new vantage point and sighed. There is clearly no one else it can relate to here in the Sage-Martinson kitchen. Every other appliance is decades older and the oven just has nothing to say to them. It hasn't even tried. Just sits there in its shiny white glory, quietly mocking the dreary kind-of-white fridge with its faux-wood handle and sweaty sides. It gloats at the 'new' used dishwasher, clearly aware of its checkered, transitory past. And I know it would shrug off the mottled old teapot if it could. Its sense of disdain at having to have that mongrel on its lovely surface is palatable. We'll give it some time and see if it comes around...but for right now we all cut it a wide path, keeping our eyes lowered because of the glare, hoping that some day it will accept its place here in the lowly Sage-Martinson kitchen.

Imagine what it would be thinking if it ever got a peak in our basement! Down there the combined appliance age must be over 2 centuries- most of those years attributed to the TV.

Farmers' Market

Early this summer I started reading Barbara Kingsolver's latest book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I only got in a few chapters before getting distracted, but I got a little inspired by her tale of her family's quest to eat locally for one year. I hear that I stopped in a good place, that as the book goes on it just gets a bit depressing and overwhelming. But after just two chapters I was all fired up to try to introduce more fresh, local, foods into our life. I became very dedicated to the farmers' market, making it every week that we were in town. Each week I ventured into new products- first falling in love with the eggs, then buying meat sticks for the boys' lunches, and most recently going agog over the melons. I don't think I can ever buy a grocery store melon out of season again. The ones that are in the market right now are absolutely lip-smacking. If you haven't tried one yet- get down there next weekend. The greens are back and look delicious, the peppers keep turning up in eye-popping colors, and the late-season bouquets are abolutely stunning. Before too long the market will just dwindle down to eggs, meats, and cheeses- so go now while there is still plenty of produce!!

Goodbye to summer

It's been almost a month since I have taken the time to sit down and write a little. We have been busy getting back into the swing of the school year- figuring out new schedules, rearranging the boys room to make room for a place to do homework, and enjoying the last gasp of warmth here in Minnesota. If my memory serves me correctly, September served us up some glorious weather. Sunny and bright, with some days topping out in the 80's. My brother bought a boat and had us down last weekend. Who would have guessed that in late Septmeber the kids would have been swimming in the lake? But it was almost hot and they report that it felt great. I got my feet wet once when Theo got knocked backward by a hyper german shepard puppy. But that was enough for me.

This weekend I am seeing signs of what is to come....the sun hasn't been out since it set Friday evening, with mist and fog prevailing. Theo and I took the hint and rearranged our furniture to cluster around the fire place, and we made sure the light bulbs all worked in the many lamps that have not been on all summer. And then we did get ourselves outside to meet some friends for a walk in a park. An obscure park that consists of intertwining trails through thick woods. My friend insists it is called "Murder Park" and when we stumbled upon the corrogated tin shanty I began to believe. But it was just what the kids (and me) needed after a restless day indoors. They sprinted down wooded paths, dug into animal tunnels, (I am very glad they still have all their fingers) and collected the brilliant red leaves of the sumac that is turning. We somehow made our way back to our cars -a little damp, a little chilled, but exhilirated by being outside, even when the weather wasn't glorious. Now we just have to remember to keep doing that. For the next 9 months.

Hard to believe that the pictures below were just taken last weekend.....

He swims

Is there any doubt in your mind that the kid pictured below has become a full on swimmer? I mean, look at him.

Showing old Dottie around

Friends from Colorado sent the boys a package- part of a geography project for a second grade class. They received 'Dottie', a stuffed ladybug, and our assignment was to show Dottie around our neck of the woods, send the Coloradoan kids some info about our home, and then send Dottie off to a new locale. So we set out on various errands with Dottie tossed in back. It was great to look at the cities through Dottie's eyes. This is a great place.

First days

They're off. To first and third grade. And they're not really looking back. We had a wonderful summer with lots of reading, good travels, and time with great friends. We topped it off with a hot labor day weekend spent almost entirely at the Highland Pool. The first day of school started out swampy and horrid- not at all fall like. But, like magic, by the end of the day the temps had dropped drastically and it had me thinking of apples and wool socks. Made me fall in love with our seasons all over again.

My family doesn't believe me, but

I was biking this morning along the West River Road when from above I heard something that sounded like a rodent war cry. Kind of a high pitched "heeeeee yaw!". And then an acorn cracked off my helmet so hard that there is no way it could have just been gravity that propelled it. Believe me, they are out there and they are armed. Squirrels that is. I strongly recommend going out of doors only if helmeted.

On top of the world

See that road snaking off below us? That's the road where the cop clocked me going 59 in a 30. Oops. It's just that it took so dang long to get up to this pass that whenever it got anywhere near straight on the way down, I stepped on it. Luckily, she had pity on me and only wrote the ticket for 39 in a 30. I owe her. About $2oo.

While staying in Estes Park, which is at about 9,000 feet, we let the boys try the bungee trampoline to see if they could bounce even higher toward the heavens. Too bad you can't really see Eli's face in this pic, because fear was etched in nicely. Theo, on the other hand, was trying to play it cool. He did not fool me.

Theo tended to take his wand everywhere. Nothing was safe from his spells and charms. But it did the trick in keeping his mind off of putting one foot in front of the other. The boys proved to be tireless hikers. Most of the time.

Overall, the trip out west exceeded my expectations. The kids were better car travellers than I was, certainly, and the miles did fall away as we read Harry Potter. The one thing I would want to change next time is that on our way back to MN we will NOT stop to camp for a night in the black hills during the climax of the Sturgis bike week. No we will not. We should have known something was up when the road to Deadwood featured over 30 motorcycles roaring by every five minutes. We counted. I think our boys were the only kids in the tri-county area. The rest of the families were smart enough to get the hell out of Dodge. But that was just one night- and the bad memories of that evening were erased the next when we pulled into the peaceful little town of Fairmont, Minnesota, and sat down to a gourmet dinner cooked by our pal Wally in their beautiful back yard. The boys also enjoyed getting their hands on Peter's nerf arsenal- they had just gone 2 full weeks without access to their own weaponry afterall.

I can't believe it's time to wrap up all the summer time trips and memories and start preparing for the next school year. Theo is hitting the big time and entering the 'real' grades. Eli is moving on up to third. He's nine and seems about two inches taller each day. But they're still both willing to hold my hand as we walk down a path, chatting about Dumbledore, and going 'agog' at the scenery.

Seeing the true Theo

After living with Theo for 6 years I have noticed that the kid has a tactile thing going. He takes any opportunity to get as much skin in contact with any substance as possible- perhaps that is why he loves to cocoon himself in the hammock. He will also plop down into any stretch of sand, or dirt, or mud, and cover himself from head to toe, clearly delighting in the sensation. The brothers have very different approaches to beaches. Eli will tiptoe down to water's edge, plunge in, and when called out will beg to be carried across the stretch of sand. However he gets to the other side, he will sit down (on pavement or grass- not the sand) and carefully remove every last offensive grain. Theo, upon arrival at a beach, will rush down to the water, submerge himself, then exit and begin the rolling and covering and burying in the sand. Anyway, it's not only me who has noticed this thing about Theo. Today we got an email from Steph (who we just visited in Colorado) and she said, "Jake (five year old son, new friend of Theo) just mentioned the other day how Buddy (their dog) reminded him of Theo rolling around in the dirt. He said it with such warmth." Below is a shot of Theo and his new pals Jake and Sam working the pump at the cabin. They undoubtedly were drawn to this activity in the first place because Theo had to rinse off after sitting in the dirt and covering his hands with pine needles and leaves and sand.....

New Friends

As we headed out of Boulder Eli kept asking, are we heading back to Minnesota yet or are we still going away? We were still heading out, this time over a pass (where the previous shots of the snowball fight were taken) and then down a dirt road to Jon's friend Darrin's cabin. Jon and Darrin met when they were studying in Germany back in 1991. We figure we haven't seen Darrin or his wife Steph for about 14 years and have really only kept in touch via Christmas cards. But that didn't seem to matter. About 16 seconds after we tumbled out of the car, Darrin's oldest, Sam, asked Eli and Theo if he and his little brother, Jake, could show them around. That's the last time we really talked to the guys over the next 48 hours. That's not true, we all hung out together, but it was clear from the start that this was a meeting of the minds in terms of the young ones. They shared a love of tramping through creeks, building chipmunk shelters, throwing rocks, drawing, and fashioning anything into a weapon. And I'd like to think that there was similar camaraderie with the adults. It was a joy to get to know Darrin and Steph better and to meet their fabulous boys.
We were able to stay out of the car for an entire day and just take walks in the woods, gaze at the surrounding peaks, chuck rocks into creeks, and even try panning for gold (we found a few of the smallest of flakes- nothing that was possible to keep). It was also at this cabin that Eli turned from 8 to 9. Darrin had made a cake and even transported some ice cream up to the electricity-free cabin. We sat around by candlelight and toasted Eli by everyone saying something they liked or appreciated about him. I liked that Jake called him a 'Buddy guy', not in reference to his friendship abilities (although Eli is so sweet to little guys) but because Eli had fallen for their dog and had spent much time petting old Buddy. Theo had been burning with anticipation for his turn to speak up about Eli and when if finally came he exclaimed, "I pass!" with a devilish grin. Later, he did come up with a compliment, but he thrilled at the chance to 'dis' his brother like that.