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.

The Isolation Chamber

Sometimes when we are working through these long summer afternoons I lose track of old Theo. After a while I realize I haven't heard him for a while. Then I remember to go out back and listen real closely. Sure enough, I usually hear a faint murmer coming from within the rolled up hammock. Jon and I call this the 'womb' or the 'isolation chamber' and Theo seems to be called to spend some time there every now and then, especially after a long afternoon of tusseling with Eli. He gets in, lies on his back and then pulls the cloth sides up and around him until the only clue that he is in there is the slight lump his body makes in the center and the quiet little murmur that is carried on the wind as he whispers himself a tale where he is the biggest and boldest and there are no big brothers around.

The Mountains

We pulled into Boulder, Colorado on Wednesday, after 5 days of camping, and checked into a little hotel for a two day stay. In that time we ate some good food cooked by others (and those others did the dishes too!) and saw a wonderful outdoor play- The Three Musketeers. Here are two funny quotes from our boys during our Boulder stay: Jon stumbled across an outdoor evening viewing of a mountain bike video and we walked over to watch it. It was put on by Clif Bar and they were offering tours of their bus (a bus tour, rather than a tour bus?) but Theo and I decided to wait in the ampitheater. While Eli and Jon were gone a Clif bar rep happened by and gave me a free t-shirt and Theo a bike hat. Theo plopped it on his head at a rakish angle and said, "I am going to flaunt this over Eli! I NEVER get to flaunt anything and I am SO going to flaunt this!!!!" He spent the next 10 minutes in high anxiety, strutting back and forth in his new hat and when Eli reappeared he let the flaunting begin. Eli didn't seem to notice, but it was pretty high quality flaunting. Later, (and related in no other way besides that both quotes were spoken in Colorado...) we were reading Harry Potter book 5 and Professor Umbridge was handing out educational decrees left and right limiting freedoms. Eli listened to her latest decree then said thoughtfully, "Somebody better take Umbridge aside and tell her a little bit about Ceaser. He was happily making new laws and thought everything was fine, then he walked into a room and everyone there was clutching a dagger...."

Below are shots from our epic snowball fight at the top of the pass on our way to Jon's pal Darrin's cabin.

The Black Hills

They are actually quite beautiful. We stayed mostly within Custer State Park and so avoided the tourist trappings of the nearby towns. We did venture out to view Mount Rushmore and now I am absolutely positive that I never need to do that again. Remind me of that early and often if you ever see me heading toward the Black Hills again. On the way out, we did venture into the most noble Corn Palace and Wall Drug. Both offered up great temptations to our boys and did indeed manage to capture a good chunk of their allowance money. The first pic is of Eli doing the "Matt dance" (have you watched that youtube video?) at Mount Rushmore. Here are the three of us at the PEAK of little Devil's Tower. And finally, Eli's most proper response whenever I ask him to do the dishes or help set up the tent. "Yes, oh my most powerful and wise mother."

As we were heading toward the small town of Hot Springs to check out the Mammoth Site (recommended by travel guru Pete Nielsen- you should check it out) we stumbled upon Hot Springs Creek. The boys delighted in trying to fight the current and then turning around and letting it carry them downstream. The creek was nice and warm and the boys would have stayed there forever if we had let them. Another highlight of the black hills was watching those cute little prairie dogs bark and yap at each other. I decided that I like my wildlife pint sized. The buffalo ARE dangerous. Even from a distance and from within my sturdy Suburu that was very clear to me.

The Epic Car Trip

Somehow Jon convinced me to join him in a journey out to Colorado. By station wagon. With two small(ish) boys. We had never undertaken more than a jaunt to Chicago with the boys in the past, but now Jon had his sights on the mountains. So we loaded up the wagon and the trusty car top carrier and set out on a Saturday in late July. Our trip first took us to Blue Mounds State Park in SW MN, where we weathered our first severe storm in our sturdy little tent. At one point Jon and I were both holding up the sides of the tent, giving each other desperate looks as the boys slumbered on. Oh, to be young and not responsible for the lives of others! The morning dawned clear and we packed up our gear to head west, but before driving off, we went in search of the legendary bison that roam in SW Minnesota. We never did find them, but we think we heard them thundering across the plains...or it could have been just thunder. Or Harleys. Anyway, on our hike, Theo was not watching where he was stepping and stepped right into a cactus (did you know that they grew in MN?). He yelped, then exclaimed, "Help! I've cactusized myself!". New verb. Good one. Very descriptive. This is him below displaying the thorns stuck in his flipflop. That's it for the tale today, I have to go watch a little olympics. I'm hooked.