When I found myself in the Edmonton, Alberta airport last month, surrounded by snow and folks wearing parkas, I decided on a book purchase instead of a trip out of doors. Don’t get me wrong. I love Edmonton. Three of my favorite people were born there. But there was snow. My flimsy nylon traveling sweat suit kept me behind the thick windows. Never have I purchased a book in an airport…. I didn’t have high hopes. But my brain needed stimulation and there were four blank hours staring me in the face. At the overpriced shop, I came upon this gem:
On first perusal of the contents, I realized that the entire book was written in letters. I reminisced with heartwarming thoughts of one of my favorite children’s books The Jolly Postman and Other People’s Letters.
Oh was I in for a treat. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society ended up being historical (my FAV!) set in France and England just after WWII. The story involves a writer and all of the unique and utterly unbelievable people with whom she corresponds. I cuddled with every jot and tittle. Now I yearn to travel to Guernsey to see the steep shores and the stone houses and the green countryside. The creativity dreamed up for these folks in horrible times was amusing and very well written. My interest was held until the last page was turned.
Then tonight, my heart skipped a beat or two when I discovered this:
2013… NEXT YEAR the movie will appear on the big screen for me to love all over again. Mom, we’ll have to go on opening day just like we did for The Help!
GENERAL GRANT HIKE. Day #3 brought sunny skies and temperatures in the 40s! Whooo HOoooooOOOOooo!
During our stay at Kings Canyon there was a prescribed burn going on so the mornings and evenings were quite smokey…. which made for great sun ray pictures!
We took advantage of the clear weather and did the hike to the General Grant Tree which was a 1/2 mile from our campground. This was our first glimpse of one of the BIG trees. General Grant is the third largest tree in the world. It started growing before the Egyptians built the pyramids. Yes, it’s true. Along the trail there were several fallen trees expanding our minds as to the enormity of these specimens. In the middle of the trail the 7-year-old girl that was with us randomly announces to no one in particular, “This is a great place to shuffle” and proceeds to do the shuffle right there on the pine straw. Priceless.
No, there will be no photo essay of General Grant…. my camera batteries died on this hike. Bummer, dude. But we did sit on the hill above Gen. Grant and broke out our nature journals and drew the immense fire scar on the tree’s back side. While we sat there drawing, coloring and munching on beef jerky, groups of tourists came by from France. We spoke with a few of them, but their English was about as good as our French. About 90% of the people we met during our week stay were from France. We still don’t know why….
Deer were plentiful in our campground and all around the parks. These timid animals were not afraid of people or cars. Sad. Our girls were playing on the jumbo fallen log in the meadow behind our camp when a group of four deer came near. The girls froze and whispered to each other as they watched the gentle animals graze. Eventually one of the teenage boys yelled and the deer took off. Nora had never seen deer run before. She came scooting over to the camp and proclaimed, “Mom, they don’t run. They bounce!” So cute!
Please stay tuned for the upcoming episodes of Kings Canyon Camping.
THE BLUSTERY DAY. As the snow continued to fall, we realized our plans for the day had slowly drifted away, much like the snowflakes we were witnessing making their listless trek to the white ground below. National Park solution #1: Visitor Center! Yeehaw! A roof, heated rooms, a movie, warm bathrooms with hot running water, etc. etc. Off we went. We took in a 20 minute movie about Kings Canyon with the three teenage boys reading the last word of every subtitle. Did my homeschooling-mama-heart good. I taught those youngsters to read when they were wild, little, dirty whippersnappers.
The ten of us wandered the displays, felt the sharp blades of the 20 foot saw that was once used on the mammoth Sequoia trees, looked into bird nests, examined various sized pine cones and felt the bark of the enormous trees. Much to our surprise, there was a beautiful educational room at the back of the center that we inhabited for several hours. Our art boxes were brought in from the cars and we homeschooled in our socks in the shadows of three enormous paintings of the life zones we had studied. Perfect!
Each of the wall murals was abounding in animals and plants of each zone. The kids had made diorama boxes of these exact scenarios and they recollected many of the flora and fauna.
Postcards were purchased, written, stamped and sent home to various recipients whose addresses we knew by memory. We ate granola bars and cheese sticks. Of course, we also did the booklets for the Jr. Ranger Program! What would a trip to a national park be without doing a word find puzzle??? We learned about backpacking canisters for bear-safe food storage… see the black can?
As the natives got restless, we had wheelbarrow races and then we played charades in teams with National Park dice. No one will ever forget Austin’s portrayal of a space ship complete with noises… because we are all familiar with the sounds made by alien flying saucers.
STUMP MEADOW. After lunch, the snow had turned to rain and then to mist, allowing us to venture out and see a bit of the park. Our first stop was Stump Meadow where hundreds of the BIG trees were harvested in the 1850s. You can’t quite grasp the vastness of this area from a picture, but I offer my feeble attempt.
All eight of our children fit into the fire scar of this big stump with room to spare. We have been reading My Side of the Mountain and the sequel The Far Side of the Mountain about Sam Gribley who, at 15, moved from NYC to the hills and made a giant Hemlock his home. Every time we saw a new BIGGER stump or hollowed-out tree the kids would claim, “This one will be my home!”
One last photo for you which I titled “The Little Colombian and the Giant Tree.” Yes, Nora is standing there at the bottom, but I couldn’t back up far enough to get the top of the tree in the picture. They are BIG.
Please stay tuned for the upcoming episodes of Kings Canyon Camping.
THE ARRIVAL. Driving the supposed 10 hours and 21 minutes from Phoenix, AZ to Kings Canyon National Park, CA was almost uneventful with the exception of the swaying tent trailer that required only 60 MPH, the unfindable Visalia Costco that was a Walmart (seems that Costco moved to a new building and didn’t tell Mapquest), and the Park Ranger who said the showers were closed for winter. He was mistaken much to my relief after the 13 hour trip with two crazy moms and eight kids.
We arrived at Azalea Campground with about 90 minutes of sunlight to spare. Every camper was in motion getting tents set up, wood hauled, food in bear boxes, fire built, trailer leveled, etc. THEN, being a mom, I went to the closest bathroom building that was just a hop, skip and jump from our campsite, only to find out that it was also closed for winter. GAH! Next time we will check bathrooms BEFORE we unpack and set up camp. So, much exercise was had ALL week hiking the hill to the open bathroom facility.
We tucked ourselves into chilly sleeping bags and beds, turned the propane heater to low in the trailer and snuggled in for a cozy night. My night time camping routine might seem needlessly silly to some, but it works for me. Wool socks with sweat pants tucked into them. Long sleeve t-shirt tucked into the sweat pants to halt drafty freezing breezes. Long sleeve flannel jammie shirt. Long sleeve red Mickey Mouse hooded sweatshirt with drawstring hood that is tied down to a small circle that only reveals my nose and mouth. And earplugs. And hand warmers…. I hold them in my hands until they are toasty, then I put the little bags of comfy warmth into my socks for the night. BAM! Arizona woman sleeps in a thin tent trailer at 6,500 feet in October in comfort.
THE FIRST MORNING. My initial recollection was that there was daylight instead of darkness unlike the other 42 times I awoke during the night. My nose told me that it was chilly out….. really chilly. Next, an early riser who had already departed from the tent trailer cheerily yelled, “It’s snowing!” Turning over and snuggling down deeper into my warm nest, I closed my eyes and groaned, “Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!” But it was true. Weather.com had predicted only a 40% chance of rain or light snow. They were 60% wrong.
One of the books that I read to my children in preparation for this trip was about Johnny and Teddy (John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt) titled The Camping Trip that Changed America. Mr. Muir took the President camping in Yosemite to raise his awareness of the vast and enormously beautiful landscape that needed protection and the National Parks were born. The two men awoke to a snow covered valley below them and Teddy Roosevelt proclaimed it the “best day of my life!” The President’s joy was his alone as I did not share his feelings upon seeing snow while camping in the Sierra Nevadas, but I was glad for the experience for my city-slicker kids. Every kid should camp in the snow ONCE! Simply to say they did…. and lived to tell the story.
Banana pancakes have never tasted quite as delectable as they did that cold cold inaugural morning of our week’s stay at Kings Canyon.
Please stay tuned for the upcoming episodes of Kings Canyon Camping.
The Colombian princess played in the snow for her first time today up in Prescott, AZ. In the morning I pulled out some snow pants and boots for her. She was jazzed about the boots, but the snow pants were not her thing at all. First she started to take off her jeans to put them on, but her brother explained that they go over your clothes. This didn’t fly either. Of course, this was in our balmy 74 degree house. Her tune changed when we arrived to snow and chilly weather. For some reason she asked for her hair to be tucked in her jacket??? Not sure what that was all about.
Next came the making of snow angels for the frist time. I never realized how hard it is to describe the making of a snow angel until today. She didn’t want her hair touching the snow… then I told her to move her arms up and down and she repeatedly raised them off the ground straight up and down. (She is good at following directions!) Finally a kindly friend plopped down next to her and showed her how it’s done. The result she loved…. the snow in the hair, not so much.
Then the snowball war commenced. Nora loved throwing the snowballs and sneaking up behind unsuspecting targets…. but she didn’t exactly love being hit by snowballs. I can relate. I’ve been trying to teach her how to throw like a boy, but it’s not sinking in yet. Lots of girly-thrown snowballs today.
So much fun to see the wonder on a child’s face the first time their little fingers freeze from making a snowman! I loved that we got to share this day with Nora… and I love that God let there be snow in Arizona at least once in a while.
Lately Nora has been fascinated by eyebrows… and uni-brows… and snowman brows… awesome!
Really! In Phoenix… in December… it snowed only 25 miles from our house! We had rain … but we are not used to harsh conditions where we need closed-toed shoes… and a jacket! I can imagine the sympathy in your heart for us! haha.
December brought out Christmas decorations with a vengeance… lights, wreaths, trees, snowmen, etc. First year EVER… I got the fake tree up with all the silver, blue and white ornaments… on December 1st! A week later, we are still waiting to go buy a tree for all the non-blue ornaments. A few years back, I came to the realization that red is not my favorite color. In fact in the ROYGBIV list… I’m basically loving the rainbow in reverse order. I’m a violet, indigo and blue gal from the boots up. SO…. I went blue Christmas shopping and the blue tree was born. I love it more each year… as the ornaments accumulate. There are a few homemade preschool ornaments that made the cut… we have a popsicle stick Star of David with blue glitter…. and a dough star painted royal blue. Yes, they are on the back, but they did make the cut for MY tree.
I love these stained glass snow flakes. Rick and I bought these in Mexico two years ago at Christmas time. Love them!
This stained glass trio was purchased last Christmas in Bogota, Colombia. Yes, it’s supposed to by Mary, Joseph and the Babe Jesus, but I also like to think of it as Rick, me and our little colombian princess who joined us last Christmas!
Nora has loved the thought of Christmas since her first days in the USA. She arrived to her forever home on December 22nd and it was one big blur of Christmas bliss her first week home! Her eyes sparkled when she saw Grandma’s house all decorated in every corner! A village with ice skaters and lights in the windows… a sleigh full of teddy bears… brass reindeer with ribbons… embroidered Santa pillows…. snowmen that play the piano and sing…. little Christmas mice climbing candles… matching wreaths on the front doors… and Santa himself waving the lantern from the top of the tree…Spendid! All year long she has repeated that Christmas is her favorite! We have stressed over and over that it is our favorite too, because Jesus was born then and THAT is the reason we celebrate.
We are doing the Jesse Advent Tree devotional with the kids. We bought a little tree for the kitchen table that looks pretty lame right now with only five ornaments, but it looks a little better each day as we add to the story of Jesus! We review every night and Nora basically gets it so far…. just a bit off on a few stories! It is a bit alarming that of the first five stories, death is talked about three times! (Adam and Eve’s disobedience, Noah’s neighbors and Abraham starting to sacrifice Isaac!) I never thought of it before, but it’s all part of the story of our salvation!
So thankful for a relaxed Christmas month to share with our little girl!
I went away for the past four days to a little cabin in the woods, way up in the mountains of Prescott, AZ to scrapbook with some friends. There was snow on the ground and laughter on our lips. We had a GREAT relaxing time. We go twice a year and enjoy every minute of the freedom from being moms for one weekend. We haul all of our scrapbooking materials in suburbans to the tiny cabin and create works of art for our family and friends. This was my first time leaving Nora, so I called every day and got the report on how Papi was doing taking care of his little girl. He passed.
I only worked on two projects: Nora’s princess crown album and her “baby” book. I scrapped all of the pictures that we have of her from when she was five years old. I loved every minute of it and she beamed with delight as I showed her my masterpieces. She did ask why I didn’t get more done. Sheesh. I didn’t tell her that I was busy watching movies without kids…. or eating without kids…. or sleeping the night through without kids….. some day I will finish!
In case you thought I ran off and died, or something, I didn’t. I’m not dead. It is simply NEVER a dull moment around here… not that it needs to be dull to blog… but seriously, I blinked and eight days flew by.
Nothing out of the ordinary, other than my brave, strong and sore husband hiked the Grand Canyon last weekend…. in rain and sleet and even snow. C-R-A-Z-Y… totally. A clue to the weather conditions may have been the closed highway leading to the canyon… but NOOOOOOOOOO! The 17 C-R-A-Z-Y men found an alternative route and kept right on going. Instead of a leisurely three and a half hour drive it was EIGHT hours. Yes, the following photos were all taken in Arizona.
(photo courtesy of Barnabas Moses… who also didn’t put in his deposit for next year.)
After the delayed drive, the need arose to take the FAST five mile trail to the bottom, to beat sundown. As if hiking the Grand Canyon in rain and sleet and even snow wasn’t bad enough….. imagine it in the dark! It continued to snow the entire next day while the men rested at Phantom Ranch… and the next day as well…. providing fun five foot tall snowdrifts across the trail on the way out… that could only be passed on their hands and knees. But I digress.
(photo courtesy of Andy Leebrick… not sure if he put in his deposit.) Notice the bottom left corner for more hikers on the switchback trail. I think Rick is the mostly blue person in the number four spot… but I’m not sure.
Rick is back home. He’s mostly fine, but he did walk funny for a few painfully slow days. He did not put his deposit in to hold his spot next year. Hmmmmmmmmmm. He said it was the hardest thing he’s ever done in his life. Hence, the tight-fisted deposit money still in his tightfist.
Cactus in snow is just wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
P.S. I’ll have pictures SOON of Zaza’s tea table and chairs!!!! I’ve been a busy bee painting them!
Yesterday we hiked West Fork Trail 108 in Sedona. It is past Slide Rock, for those who know the area. It is a four mile hike that crosses Oak Creek seven times…. on rocks, logs, mud patches and twigs. Twigs were my personal favorite. Well, it’s actually 14 crossings if you count in and out. Only one kid fell in from our group. We did witness another kid fall in twice. It’s not deep, just FRIGID!
It was an absolutely beautiful day! Sunny and breezy. Perfect for hiking.
There was an abandoned homestead on the way to the creek and this was their chicken coop. Keeve thought it was a barber shop. Not sure what’s up with that? Oh, Larisa took all of these pictures. I carried the sandwiches.
The beauty God mixed together in this valley is sublime. Red rock, green trees, blue sky, white snow…. yes, you read that correctly… SNOW.
My niece, Whitney, came with us too. We went with two other families, the Fooks and the Browns. All together there were 3 moms and 11 kids ranging in age from 6 to 19? Not sure about that last one.
Welcome to My Sister's Jar. The story behind the blog lies in the original post on Feb. 2, 2008. Type "giddy moments" into the search box to find it.
I'm a homeschool mom who loves to speak and write, encouraging moms to press-on in motherhood. Two of my books are available NOW! Laughing in the Midst of Mothering and Laughing in the Midst of Marriage. See them at www.LindaCrosby.com or www.cbd.com.
I have four children, one of whom is adopted from Colombia, so there are LOTS of adoption tidbits here.
~~~~~~ Linda Ann Crosby
My Sister's Jar 