The Last Ship

These are our two biggest Sting fans.  These are friends that I love, and don't see often enough.  Gary Broadbent got us all together for the Pionees Theater production of Sting's The Last Ship.  I have vivid memories of Sting's album "Nothing Like the Sun" and these guys.  ne night at the end of our senior year, we listened to it in my bedroom, hanging out, probably talking about whether to drive into Salt Lake and eat at Rio Grande...again.  We spent so much time together, doing nothing.  Late into the night, we were all asleep.  Me, Gary, Justin, Jonathan, B and Scott.  Eventually, my parents got a "Bruce Call" and Scott had to go home.  The rest of us slumbered to the soundtrack of Sting, all through the night.  I woke up to it when the light came in the window.  That is one of my most priceless memories of high school and what friendship was.  It was emotional, all-encompassing and intense.  So going to Sting's musical together was perfect.  But even more perfect, Sting himself chose that same exact night to come and see the production!  We were in the audience with Sting himself.  Synchronicity, yes? 

I love this group and everything it represents, including the friends not in this photo who were there, then, and remember 1989.

Shelter Weekend

The last weekend of July was Shelter Weekend at the Scheullers' Park City home.  It's our one weekend a year to bask in friendship through 48 hours of non-stop conversation and chocolatey treats, with a backdrop of  aspens and freshly ironed sheets.  It's heaven, I tell you, and it's never long enough.  I love this little group that coalesced out of an open invitation years ago, to periodic dinners at Robintino's, organized my Michelle, our intrepid leader.  I guess you could say we were that last men standing after all the others lost interest or moved away.  And here we are, still relying on each other for all the little and big things in life.

Manicures for some, pedicures for others.  It was fun!  And one spa treatment a decade won't kill me, right?

Meanwhile, as the Shelter girls were relaxing, so were the Euros.  I dropped them off at my parents' condo and told them I'd come up and take them anywhere they wanted to go.  These kids are so nice, they never called me.  They just relaxed at the condo all weekend.  The only time I went up was to take Olympe to the airport Saturday morning.  We were all sad to lose her!  I would have left Ruby my car, but I was still extremely nervous about having her drive these other people's children around.  Not that they're children, for heaven's sake.  They all, including Ruby, travel around the world on their own.  It's just that I have a phobia of my kids driving, and I think it's because Golda was so timid about it.  Now that Ruby drives all over, I'm getting better at not being terrified.  As much as I wished I could have let them drive themselves in PC, I still didn't have the courage. I was more overprotective of the Europeans than my own kids.

Shelter girls at Sushi Blue

Like all good things, Shelter Weekend did come to an end, and we all went home.  Fortunately, I got to go home to Chloe's cooking!  Her recipes are adorable, in her French handwriting, and her food is delicious.  I can't believe we ever let her leave!  Come back, Chloe!

Airbnb Adventure

Last summer, I got this insane idea to rent our house out on Airbnb.com.  We had stayed in airbnb's and loved the experience, and I just thought it would be a hoot to provide that experience to someone else.  It was.  We got the house all ready and put pictures on the airbnb website.  HERE'S THE LINK, unless I've put it on snooze when you read this.

You won't be surprised to find out that I absolutely loved the experience of being an airbnb host.  I just love the whole idea of hospitality.  I loved providing the experience for people to stay in a comfortable place.  I loved seeing their reaction to the house, meeting them, imagining how much fun they were having at our house, and reading their glowing reviews afterward.  We hosted maybe 9 or 10 families or groups, most Chinese.

The downsides were first, that I wasn't invited to tag along on the vacations.  I wanted the guests to ask me questions about tourism in the area, but most didn't.  I would have picked them up at the airport or taken them to see things, but they all had their own plans.  Then there was the question of where we would stay when our house was rented out.  Our initial idea was to go on vacation whenever we rented out the house, but that doesn't always work out in real life.  Often, we wanted to save our airbnb money to use for future travel.  And a lot of our stays were only one or two nights, so it was easier to just stay at my parents' house or camp out at the violin shop/ Scott's office.  Sometimes the kids loved those adventures, and sometimes they were tired of it.  Fortunately, Golda and Ruby were in Europe during most of the summer, because they didn't quite see the adventure in camping out at the violin shop like the younger kids did.

One thing that was both good and bad was the cleaning and preparation.  It took forever, even if we had just rented it out and everything was spotless, I'd still have to spend 4 hours washing and changing sheets for the next guests.  Every single inch of every wall, floor and stick of furniture had to be impeccable.  If there was one single hair on a bathroom floor, that could get you a bad review, and you don't want that.  I loved this cleaning process, but also, I had kids and things to do, so it was tricky to block out enough time for the cleaning.  But then, when the guests left, our house would be SO CLEAN.  The kids were down to a bare minimum of possessions, and I loved it.  I hate stuff, and I relished the house being as bare as it's ever been, from being completely deep cleaned every few days, from base boards to ceilings, including drawers, showers, floors, sheets, everything.  All the cupboards and drawers were clean and organized, and actually empty for the most part, unless they were stocked with clean towels and sheets.  Like I said, heavenly.  Except for the two closets that we locked, with our personal stuff inside.  Those got messy!

All of our guests, without exception, were friendly and wonderful.  This family was the only one that fulfilled my desire for more interaction.  It was 3 couples, 3 kids and a photographer, some Chinese, some Chinese-American.  They had a baby, and then they had two boys.  They invited our kids to go to dinner with them so that their kids could get the "American Experience."  My kids, skeptical of the whole airbnb thing anyway, probably would have died if I'd pawned them off of this boisterous family and their photog.  So I invited their kids to hang out with us, doing kid stuff.  We went to David and Marilyn's and gathered up some of their kids to go to the new Maverik gas station.  It doesn't get any more American than that!  The kids played in the DeBrys' yard, then we went to Cherry Hill for mini golf and Fiiz for drinks.  It was chaotic and great.  The Chinese kids spoke a little English, and the DeBrys are in Chinese immersion, so there was some verbal communication, but kids don't really need it.  So that was a fun airbnb experience.

Mennonite family we didn't get to meet.
They stayed while we were in California.  Loved them!

I love this one from a little boy who was travelling with a big group of his relatives. I took these pictures a long time ago, and I should have taken a pic of all the reviews.  They were all positive and fun, and it was a highlight for us to read what each group had written after they left.  The main reason we did the airbnb host thing was that other people had done it, and we challenged ourselves to do it, too.  We wanted to tap into the tourism industry that streams through our state, unnoticed by the inhabitants.  We wanted to feel the excitement of people traveling, without leaving home.  We wanted an international connection.  And I, personally, wanted to make some of these families' journeys more comfortable, affordable and fun.  I wanted to share our resources with them, and at the same time, make some travel money.  We did all of that, and we had an exciting experience.  That said, I don't foresee us opening our airbnb doors again in the near future.  We have friends coming this summer, and we don't want them to have to camp out at the violin shop!

Festivities

No matter what, Christmas turns into a blur.  My idea was to focus on just spending time with people and not worrying about anything else.  That's why there are still Christmas cards in my purse.  I got a D- on organization this year, but it doesn't matter.

Having some cousins over for gingerbread was fun.  I invited them, bought some stuff and then left to run some ridiculous errand.  When I got back, the kids were happily doing their creating under Ruby and Golda's instruction.  

It takes a village!

Another daily visit to Nana Ruby

Some violin business

And a late-night movie with the Scheullers.  This must have been the 23rd, because as we stood in the freezing air talking after the movie, the clock struck midnight and it was Sarah's birthday.  My childhood was filled with memories of Sarah's fun Christmastime birthday parties.  Her birthday is tied with the holidays in my mind forever, with ice skating, tree trimming and reindeer visiting parties to celebrate this dear friend.  

Sand and Saltwater

 My friend Audrey works for Jet Blue, and I was lucky enough several years ago to become part of a little group of friends now known as the Dirty Diet Cokes, who occasionally get a last-minute call to pack up and take off.  This time, Cancun.  It was Jen's first stamp in her passport!  Whoo hoo!!!
 We ended up leaving a day early, on a Wednesday night.  Can we just give a shoutout ot the husbands who shooed us out the door, especially Scott, who drove us to the airport.  Got to Cancun early the next day and were greeted by the Gulf of Mexico in all its splendor.  I think all of us have reached a point in our parenting where we can relax and not worry while we're gone.  The home crew has everything under control.

 We bussed downtown for lunch, where fresh guacamole was prepared at our table.  Ahhhh.

 Giant hot tub.  This is the life!

 Obligatory shot of my feet doing what they do while I stare at the ocean.  Araceli gave me this cute pedicure before I left.  The pink things are anchors.  Cute, huh?

 My model friends, Jen and Angela

 Pizza for dinner, friends, a good book and the beach.  This is my zen place.

 And then...magic!  A crowd was gathering to see and hold baby turtles.  The Marriott has a conservation program where they take turtle nests and relocate the eggs to a safe place.  When the babies hatch, they release them into the ocean after dark so the birds don't feast on them.  We each got to release one!  Mine was asleep, poor little dear.  Imagine the shock of being a 3-day-old sleeping baby, and suddenly someone says, "It's time to go fend for yourself in the vast, dangerous ocean!"  We imagined our sleepy baby turtles saying, "Oh man!  That's today!?  I was just taking a nap!"

 We were all wishing our kids were there to experience the magic.

 Excursion to Isla Mujeres the next day.  Our crew was fun!

 We snorkeled and then spent time on the island getting 10-minute massages, wading in the water, kayaking, and eating the lunch provided, which was tasty.

 Seriously, I think my body slowed down its metabolism.  I felt like Jen looks in this pic!

 Massage guy

 Our friend the popcorn vendor on the island

 Beautiful place, beautiful people.  Each of the people we met was genuinely open and loving, and fun.

 Loved our crew.  We each got a kiss on the cheek from the guy on the left, Mariano, as we left the boat.

 That night we were all sitting on the beach and a hotel employee walked up to us and whispered, "Do you like baby turtles?"  Angela thought he said, "Do you like scriptures?"  So she was surprised when some of us said, "Yes!!!"  Then he said, "Do you want to release some?"  Again, " we said "YES!!"  and Angela was baffled as we got up to go, thinking the guy had said, "Do you want to read some?"  Ha!  No, we weren't headed off the beach to read scriptures with this guy.  Tee hee.  In fact, he had two crates piled high with baby turtles!!  And there was nobody on the beach except us.  We each released probably close to a hundred.

 It was magical.  I was gathering up 4 or 5 at a time, whispering into their ears, "Vaya con Dios," (since we were in Mexico:)  and waiting for a wave to come so I could set them in the retreating water.  We had to watch for those that washed back, so we didn't step on them, and try again.  Two or three were sluggish and we knew they wouldn't make it out there.  Sadly, according to statistics, only about 2 or 3 of every thousand ever makes it to adulthood, which is 30 years.  Each one of the baby sea turtles seemed so precious, so complete and whole it its creation, so perfect.  They were beautiful.  Look at their faces.  They looked somehow stoic, wise, determined, yet playful.  It's incredible that they know what to do.

 Everyone sent pictures home to dads and kids.  We were wishing so much that our kids could hold these tiny creatures and take part in their life cycle.  Once-in-a-lifetime experience.  Unless you work at the Marriott in Cancun.  They release these little guys every night.

 This is the turtle egg nursery.

 Airport.  These guys were good!

 Jen's hot chocolate

 The way the flights looked, we opted to leave Mexico a day early and spend a night in New York.  I was thrilled.  Two trips in one!  I love New York.  I don't care what I'm doing, I just love to be there.  We got in late Saturday night and subway'd into Lower Manhattan the next morning.  We had a loose plan to do breakfast at a gluten-free place in the Financial District that Melanie looked up, then see the 9-11 Memorial.  It was a gorgeous New York day, with just a hint of fall in the air.

 Stock Exchange

 These unborn children on the memorial are what gets me every time.  I love how they did the memorial.  It's a perfectly chilling reminder of that day, and you can't help but relive it when you're there.  Four of us were pregnant on 9-11, or about to be.

 The church next to the towers that became a makeshift triage center during the crisis is still a monument to the fallen.

 Lower East side, Little Italy.  I love those neighborhoods.  We walked from Lower Manhattan through Chinatown, Canal Street, Little Italy, Nolita and the Lower East Side to a gelato place Audrey wanted to try, which happened to be right across the street from Katz's Deli.  It was the perfect itinerary for our day in the city.

 Next time, I'll try this place.  I bought a book on Kindle for the plane ride home, Russ and Daughters.  It's about a herring store that's been on the Lower East Side for a hundred years.  It's a fascinating history of the neighborhood.  Only Russ and Daughters, Yonah Schimmel and Katz's are original to the area, having survived through all the changes over the last century. Where I really want to go is the Lower East Side and the Bowery, but during the 1920's.

 To die for.  I still think Feldman's in Salt Lake is better, though.

 The gelato was so good, I still have regrets about not being able to eat more of it!

 We were totally pressed for time getting to the airport, because the city had us under its spell.  It was a lazy Sunday in New York, and we bought into it 100%.  Fortunately, we did make our flight and got home to see all the little faces who were waiting for us.

I brought Tziporah this cute little Mexican dress.  I'm so thankful to my friends, who accept me really without judgment, even after some deep conversations on the beach and some experiences that will, hand to God, stay in Mexico forever.  I'm so grateful to have Scott, who supports whatever I want to do, and all my sweet little kids who love me even if I leave them during the first week of school, as long as I bring presents.  There's a saying that "Travel isn't about finding yourself.  It's about discovering who you were all along."  It's so true.  There are so many layers of intensity in daily life, and especially in parenting.  It's nice once in awhile to remember, with the help of the sand in my toes and salt water in my hair, that I was once just a girl, before I became a lifeline to 7 little ones and a partner with Scott in creating a life that is safe and fulfilling for them.  Once, it was just me, and I'm still in there.