2: Number of bizarre poopy diapers I changed today (teething???)
4: Number of times Amelia said "eye, eye!" after I got sand in her eye changing one of the above diapers. (Park. Sand toys. Jelly shoes. Lifted up her feet to take off the yucky diaper, and it was a sandfall.)
45: Number of minutes we have spent going up and down stairs so far today.
1 and 1/2: Number of hours I have spent today preparing to go camping this weekend.
1 and 1/2: Number of hours of A's nap so far.
1,000,000: Number of stinky grains of pollen blown into our yard and onto our porch by a strange storm we are having.
0: Number of raindrops from the storm.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
6 years ago today,
on a beautiful June afternoon,
surrounded by people we love,
I married my best friend.
surrounded by people we love,
I married my best friend.
Monday, June 20, 2011
What We've Been Up To
So I can't post every day. It was a fun experiment, but I really don't have something interesting to say every single day. I have enjoyed posting more often, though, and I will try to keep it up.
In the meantime, Amelia and I have been having a lot of summer fun.
We have a membership at the Denver Botanic Gardens and go there at least once a week. They have a wonderful children's garden with paths to follow, plants at kid-level, and garden-related toys to play with.
They also have a stream for kids to play in. So much fun! The gardens are only about 10 minutes from our house so this is a fun place to cool off on hot afternoons.
Here's Amelia at home later with her two Popsicles.
We've also been going to Book Babies downtown at Denver's Central Library. This is a different library than we went to for Book Babies last summer.
The library is at the edge of downtown, within walking distance, or we can take a bus (or drive, but it can be hard to park). We've been going early to hang out outside at the Denver Art Museum, which is across the street from the library.
A couple of weeks ago Amelia discovered this piece of art.
After a closer look she kept saying something, which I finally discerned to be "blocks in it!"
Dice. Part of the art, I figured (very thought-provoking).
Amelia added to the piece by dropping this strawberry into the water. She was pretty upset about it till I fished it out and we threw it away.
Last Friday, we went back and the dice were gone! But Amelia found a flower
which she gave to the man.
And today at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, she met a pirate.
As you can see, we've been pretty busy, but having lots of fun.
In the meantime, Amelia and I have been having a lot of summer fun.
We have a membership at the Denver Botanic Gardens and go there at least once a week. They have a wonderful children's garden with paths to follow, plants at kid-level, and garden-related toys to play with.
They also have a stream for kids to play in. So much fun! The gardens are only about 10 minutes from our house so this is a fun place to cool off on hot afternoons.
Here's Amelia at home later with her two Popsicles.
We've also been going to Book Babies downtown at Denver's Central Library. This is a different library than we went to for Book Babies last summer.
The library is at the edge of downtown, within walking distance, or we can take a bus (or drive, but it can be hard to park). We've been going early to hang out outside at the Denver Art Museum, which is across the street from the library.
A couple of weeks ago Amelia discovered this piece of art.
After a closer look she kept saying something, which I finally discerned to be "blocks in it!"
Dice. Part of the art, I figured (very thought-provoking).
Amelia added to the piece by dropping this strawberry into the water. She was pretty upset about it till I fished it out and we threw it away.
Last Friday, we went back and the dice were gone! But Amelia found a flower
which she gave to the man.
And today at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, she met a pirate.
As you can see, we've been pretty busy, but having lots of fun.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
June and a Half
A dear college friend of mine, Erin Wunker, wrote an excellent post about reaching and setting goals yesterday on Hook & Eye. Although her post is targeted toward academic professionals, her words hit home to me too. Summer doesn't mean the same things to a stay-at-home-mom/writer/former-future teacher as it does to a current academic professional, but there are similarities. Both situations lack immediate pressure to actually accomplish anything, as well as immediate consequences for not accomplishing anything. Hey--you could even say SAHMs are on summer break year-round--although I doubt most of my SAHM friends would describe it that way. In any case, summer doesn't promise the juicy break it did when I was teaching, but since I finished my manuscript and sent it off I have felt as though I am on (a well-deserved) vacation from writing poetry for awhile. But as I posted at the beginning of June, there are things I want to do this summer.
I decided to follow Erin's advice to take the next step from posting about my goals and plans for the rest of the summer and actually write them down. All of them.
The list isn't terribly legible but I defined "summer" as today until the end of July. I included things I want to do between now and then under different headings: Amelia (learn about potty training); Writing (find books and brainstorm ideas for two writing projects I have been daydreaming about); Blog; Home; and Health. My favorite thing about the list is that it actually includes boxes to check. I think the idea of tracking progress for summer goals, or any goals that lack much outside pressure for completion, is a fabulous idea. It's easy to do but (hopefully) incredibly effective.
Although I just made the list today, my June plans have been progressing pretty well. I have been running and going to yoga about 2 times a week so I would like to up that a bit. I have posted every day of June except one. I have been reading a couple of times a week, not as much as I wanted but more than I was reading before. And I have not been cleaning! Much. The house is messier but not that bad. I am pleased with my June so far, and glad to have found an idea to help me get more specific with my goals for the rest of the summer.
I decided to follow Erin's advice to take the next step from posting about my goals and plans for the rest of the summer and actually write them down. All of them.
The list isn't terribly legible but I defined "summer" as today until the end of July. I included things I want to do between now and then under different headings: Amelia (learn about potty training); Writing (find books and brainstorm ideas for two writing projects I have been daydreaming about); Blog; Home; and Health. My favorite thing about the list is that it actually includes boxes to check. I think the idea of tracking progress for summer goals, or any goals that lack much outside pressure for completion, is a fabulous idea. It's easy to do but (hopefully) incredibly effective.
Although I just made the list today, my June plans have been progressing pretty well. I have been running and going to yoga about 2 times a week so I would like to up that a bit. I have posted every day of June except one. I have been reading a couple of times a week, not as much as I wanted but more than I was reading before. And I have not been cleaning! Much. The house is messier but not that bad. I am pleased with my June so far, and glad to have found an idea to help me get more specific with my goals for the rest of the summer.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Mount Sniktau
Dean and I went on our first Amelia-free hike yesterday! It was probably the longest period we have spent together away from her since she was born.
We climbed Mount Sniktau. It was a morning of false starts. We had planned to go on another hike, one that involved driving up to Guanella Pass, a pass that just reopened after being closed for over a year due to an avalanche. Yikes. But when we got to the road for the pass, there was a sign that said it was closed from 8-11 and 1-3. This was about 7:30 am, and we knew we would have to be back to the car by around 12:30 to avoid being stuck there till 3. We decided to go to Sniktau so we wouldn't have to be rushed.
It was a good choice. First we spent about half an hour hiking on the wrong trail, and then we started out hike on the correct trail, up a steep "hill." A very steep "hill."
This picture does not capture the steepness.
If you read the description of the hike on the link above, it sounds pretty easy. But it's Rocky Mountain easy, which to people like me means it's still pretty hard. I had a difficult time on the beginning of the hike. Even though it's "only" 13,234 feet high (really, website author? "Only"?) I got out of breath pretty quickly. It's a crazy out of breath feeling, too, not like you have been running too long, just like you took about 5 steps and you can't catch your breath. But Dean was patient and we finally made through the first section of the climb, up to a point at about 12,500 feet of elevation. We hid from the wind behind some rocks, had a snack and enjoyed the view.
Then we got started on the second leg of the trip, to "point 13,152."
It was cold! And very windy.
We climbed along this ridge. It reminded me of a black and white cookie, which should give you a clue about how many times we stopped to eat a snack.
After the initial climb, the hike was much easier, even though we still had a climb. I think the beginning was so hard because I wasn't used to it. Once I got through the first climb I was more in the hiking zone.
These mountains are a winterscape. This is Torrys Peak, a 14er.
This is another shot of our trail along the ridge.
This is a view of interstate 70 from the summit. You can see the Eisenhower Tunnel, tiny from this view.
After another snack and rest at the summit, we made our way back down the rocky trail. On our return trip, we noticed tiny patches of wildflowers. Such a harsh place to live!
We got back to the car around noon, so we drove through the town of Dillon to eat lunch (delicious portabella and pepper cheese"steaks" and fries!). It's a lovely little town beside a lake, much warmer than the mountains so close by. See the avalanche paths on the mountain in this picture?
Despite the challenges, or maybe even because of them, it was a really nice day. It was great to hike with Dean without worrying about Amelia or listening to her make her Marge Simpson "get me out of this backpack" noise. (And this hike was definitely too cold and windy for her--plus she had a fabulous time with her Ewee and Inna). I couldn't post yesterday about the hike because I had what I deemed exposure exhaustion. The sun, wind, cold and elevation really take something out of you. But the feeling of being at the top of a mountain after a long climb is like nothing else. It's a kind of freedom. I am glad I have a partner whose idea of fun is climbing tall mountains, because otherwise I might not do it, and I would be missing out on something incredibly beautiful.
We climbed Mount Sniktau. It was a morning of false starts. We had planned to go on another hike, one that involved driving up to Guanella Pass, a pass that just reopened after being closed for over a year due to an avalanche. Yikes. But when we got to the road for the pass, there was a sign that said it was closed from 8-11 and 1-3. This was about 7:30 am, and we knew we would have to be back to the car by around 12:30 to avoid being stuck there till 3. We decided to go to Sniktau so we wouldn't have to be rushed.
It was a good choice. First we spent about half an hour hiking on the wrong trail, and then we started out hike on the correct trail, up a steep "hill." A very steep "hill."
This picture does not capture the steepness.
If you read the description of the hike on the link above, it sounds pretty easy. But it's Rocky Mountain easy, which to people like me means it's still pretty hard. I had a difficult time on the beginning of the hike. Even though it's "only" 13,234 feet high (really, website author? "Only"?) I got out of breath pretty quickly. It's a crazy out of breath feeling, too, not like you have been running too long, just like you took about 5 steps and you can't catch your breath. But Dean was patient and we finally made through the first section of the climb, up to a point at about 12,500 feet of elevation. We hid from the wind behind some rocks, had a snack and enjoyed the view.
Then we got started on the second leg of the trip, to "point 13,152."
It was cold! And very windy.
We climbed along this ridge. It reminded me of a black and white cookie, which should give you a clue about how many times we stopped to eat a snack.
After the initial climb, the hike was much easier, even though we still had a climb. I think the beginning was so hard because I wasn't used to it. Once I got through the first climb I was more in the hiking zone.
These mountains are a winterscape. This is Torrys Peak, a 14er.
This is another shot of our trail along the ridge.
This is a view of interstate 70 from the summit. You can see the Eisenhower Tunnel, tiny from this view.
After another snack and rest at the summit, we made our way back down the rocky trail. On our return trip, we noticed tiny patches of wildflowers. Such a harsh place to live!
We got back to the car around noon, so we drove through the town of Dillon to eat lunch (delicious portabella and pepper cheese"steaks" and fries!). It's a lovely little town beside a lake, much warmer than the mountains so close by. See the avalanche paths on the mountain in this picture?
Despite the challenges, or maybe even because of them, it was a really nice day. It was great to hike with Dean without worrying about Amelia or listening to her make her Marge Simpson "get me out of this backpack" noise. (And this hike was definitely too cold and windy for her--plus she had a fabulous time with her Ewee and Inna). I couldn't post yesterday about the hike because I had what I deemed exposure exhaustion. The sun, wind, cold and elevation really take something out of you. But the feeling of being at the top of a mountain after a long climb is like nothing else. It's a kind of freedom. I am glad I have a partner whose idea of fun is climbing tall mountains, because otherwise I might not do it, and I would be missing out on something incredibly beautiful.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Today's Post
Rearranging elements on the blog counts as posting, right...?
Not really. But one thing trying to post every day has taught me is that I really don't have something to say every single day.
On the bright side of that is that I have been reconsidering what I do have to say and how I want to say it. Hence the sudden changes in the blog, changes I have been considering for some time.
A couple of months ago I read an article about "mommy blogs," and it really upset me. More on why I was upset later, but for now, I will say I am trying to reconfigure this blog and webpage to better reflect myself--as a writer, a person, and, yes, even a mommy too.
Thoughts?
Not really. But one thing trying to post every day has taught me is that I really don't have something to say every single day.
On the bright side of that is that I have been reconsidering what I do have to say and how I want to say it. Hence the sudden changes in the blog, changes I have been considering for some time.
A couple of months ago I read an article about "mommy blogs," and it really upset me. More on why I was upset later, but for now, I will say I am trying to reconfigure this blog and webpage to better reflect myself--as a writer, a person, and, yes, even a mommy too.
Thoughts?
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