The Trips Before the Trip

I was visiting my parents one morning, sitting in their kitchen watching their pack of feral cats, waiting for my dad to fix me his special fruit and yogurt, when Dad said, "Well, do any of the kids want to go to Colorado with us tomorrow?"  Mom chimed in,  "We have extra space in our room."

The fools!  20 hours later, they were driving toward Snowmass, Colorado, with a cooler full of treats, a tangle of cords and electronic devices, and two of our children.  Two, because we thought it would be harder for a cougar to eat two of them than one, should they decide to wander away into the Rocky Mountains.

Tricia and Jim giving the kids some spending money for their trip and saying good-bye.  Thanks!!

"Be careful with my kids!  Be nice to Coco and Bill!  Drive carefully!  Mind Coco!..."

The trip to Snowmass was for the Bar convention, where my dad was honored for being on the Bar Commission for 13 years, the longest tenure in Bar history.  Meanwhile, Ari and Freestone ran into their friends Indai and Ian.  Coco and Bill spent the rest of the trip co-parenting with the Edgars, switching out kids and coordinating their schedules.  They had a ball swimming, doing provided crafts and activities and roaming freely around the hotel.  Because FOUR kids would be practically impossible to kidnap or eat for lunch, depending on if you were a bad guy or a mountain lion, everyone thought they'd be fine.  Either way, I'm sure they were perfectly safe whenever they "accidentally" could not be found by any of the parents or grandparents.

With Ari and Free gone, Xanthe slipped into the role of eldest child easily.  In fact, she was very helpful and
grown-up.  She watched the kids while I packed for the big road trip!  I got the car packed, so I guess we're really going!

  
The littles and I had fun together, but then I had to leave for my Shelter Weekend with my girlfriends in Park City.  That started out like this:

 Lenore and I met to do the Seven Canyons water feature at Liberty Park and then crashed Shelter lunch at Oh Mai.  All the ladies who had just left their kids for the weekend were thrilled to see us coming with six banshees, some of whom were wearing imaginary shoes and were otherwise scantily clad.   But since all of our kids are perfect angels, it was fun, followed by more fun at a thrift shop billed by Nor as "The most magical place on earth!"

Then I passed the kids to Scott and drove up the canyon, listening to NPR in my silent car.  If I thought that was heavenly, it was even more relaxing when I got to Sarah's place and sat down with my friends, a big fat Dirty Diet Coke and a big, fat plate of Tiffany's cookies.  Upon assuming the position, I didn't move much for the next 48 hours, except to go to dinner, the pool and a concert.

The Deer Valley concert with Steve Martin and Edie Brickell was phenomenal.  Steve Martin had us in stitches, but the highlight for everyone, including the reviewer from the Salt Lake Tribune, was the fiddle player, who went OFF in his solo and got a raucous standing ovation for his pyrotechnics.  Of course, my old teacher Lenny could blow him out of the water anyday, probably.  He is the best of the best, and I'll never understand why he isn't concertmaster.  Ralph M@atson?  Pshaw.  I love Lenny for helping me prepare for Indiana and life.  He is a dedicated teacher.

With Ari and Free in Colorado with Coco and Bill, me in Park City with my kindergarten friends and Scott home with the kids, we got these pictures from Venice.  Golda and Ruby have loved everywhere they have been.  Venice was magical, and our new friends the Argentis, were very gracious and fun.  I think they wished they had more time there, but it was only 4 days.





At dinner, I stole a baby from a stranger who was trying to balance the baby and a hot, frothy drink.  Scott sent the picture to Golda and Ruby and said, "Mom had another baby while you've been gone."

Ruby sent this picture with the caption, "What's one more?"  Ha ha.  Golda wondered if it was Ella Joy.  Kristi??  Hello?? :)

 

My last Shelter day, I was anxiously awaiting news of the girls' arrival in Lisbon.  I had to settle for "no news is good news" until our Spanish friends finally let us know they had met the girls at the airport and everything was great.  Phew!  I get antsy when they fly, hoping that they make the flight and find their people.  They LOVE Portugal so far.  They are staying in Sintra, a resort area.  They have eaten VERY fresh fish, killed on the spot, and been to the beach and some castles.  Scott is dying to go back to Portugal now.  We looked up the beach town where we stayed on Google earth, and even though it was 16 years ago, it still looked familiar.  Salema, Portugal.

  

After my weekend getaway, Scott suggested that I stay an extra night by myself at the Ranch.  After all, only one kid at home was throwing up.  He had it all under control.  Well, I desperately needed some sleep after staying up until an absurdly late hour two nights in a row, so I took him up on the offer.  Sunday night, I kicked up my heels at the Ranch and read a whole magazine.  I lounged at the pool without having to save any lives, and I went to bed early, as promised.  It was very restorative.

Scott was a benevolent genius to suggest my Ranch retreat.  On that same note, Scott and I were having a discussion on our roles.  I jokingly said something stupid like, "What I do is harder than what you do.  (Which I don't even believe, by the way) When I come to the office, you and my dad are always running at a slower pace than I do.  You aren't really doing anything."

Instead of pointing out what a creep I am, Scott said, "That's because we make time for you.  We stop what we're doing because you're there."   Oh man, there is nothing worse than someone being extremely kind and thoughtful AT YOU, when you're a self-centered brat.  It's true, both Scott and Felshaw drop everything when we come to interrupt their busy days, because they love us.

  

Speaking of love, here are a whole bunch of cousins lined up to watch our measly little driveway fireworks show.  We threw out an invite because everything is more fun with cousins, but we were a little nervous about everyone making the effort for so small a show.  As it turns out, it really is about family, not fireworks. The kids were thrilled to be together, especially with the added bonus of the pyrotechnics in the background.  (Using the word pyrotechnics in context, twice in the same post?  Is that even allowed?)  We got to say good-bye to everyone with a flourish.

Next up on the agenda, a three-week trip staring in 16 hours.  Am I ready?  Um, no.  But when has that ever stopped me before?  In case I can't blog and you don't have Instagram, see you on the flip side!

P.S., somebody asked me about my edited photos.  Those are the ones I've put on Instagram with the cool filters.  My Insta name is Preposterousplan.