Blessed, Enviable Pioneers

Today is one of those days where I think that it actually might be easier to be a Pioneer traipsing across the plains toward the Valley-o than trying to get my kids to follow even the simplest of instructions without my becoming an absolute ogre in the process.

I can't help but think about a long-ago Mother's Day sacrament meeting program in my home ward where some well-meaning Primary president passed a microphone to a group of kids up in front of the congregation and asked them to tell their moms something about what makes them a good mom. My sister Joce, doing her best with such spontaneous instruction, gives out her best parenting advice: "Yell the first time, instead of the last." Oh, dear Joce, the ward members may have laughed at that comment (and the way I remember it, Mom was none too happy about the whole thing), but I'm currently thinking that it's the most sage parenting philosophy that I've ever heard.....

......because I've spent the whole day feeling like I've said little more than: no, stop, don't, come here right now, would you rather go to your bed today, leave your sister/brother alone, listen to what I'm telling you, don't whine, does there need to be a consequence, when I say to do something I mean right now, this is about the tenth time I've told you, why aren't you dressed yet, you really need to figure out when it's not appropriate to be silly, I don't care, why would you treat him/her like that, I can't listen to you when you're crying, I really don't want to get upset at you, please listen to what I'm saying, that's one..that's two...how many times do I have to say NO!

At least if I were a pioneer and my kids kept totally disregarding whatever instructions I had given them about the chips-for-fuel gathering, I could just go on and leave them behind because they would probably find some other wagon to join where there was a much nicer mother who liked to sing as she walked and walked and walked. And then maybe she'd actually know how to positively motivate them to do something, if not the first, but at least the second time she asks. Lucky them.

Swim Team

We just wrapped up our third season of one of the very best parts of our summer: the summer swim team at our neighborhood pool. For a little background, I was somewhat surprised to learn after moving here that basically there is no such thing as a public pool in the area. Instead everyone is a member of one of the various private, neighborhood pool clubs around (or you are a member of a health club like the YMCA, etc.), and each of these pools has a swim team that competes in a suburban swim league. I'll admit that three summers ago when I signed up Max, and he could barely complete the required one-length of the pool, I was doing it only because it was the best deal around--can't beat 6 weeks of everyday swim instruction for one insanely low price. And because I don't swim anything more complicated than a leisurely side stroke, it was like I was a little shocked when he and all of these other little kids actually learned to swim, and swim some pretty technical strokes too.

However, far-and-away, the best thing about the swim team is that it has helped us make our pool club into a real community of friends. Maybe it's that I'm socially needy by nature, but I love that it's like I'm on a real-life episode of Cheers where everybody knows my name. I love that the teenage coaches and lifeguards know my kids' names and give them high-fives when they walk by or tease them about whatever silly thing they might be doing. I love "making the rounds" as I follow Isabel cruising the edge of the pool during practice and getting a chance to talk with all the other parents as we pass by. I love that it's like Olivia has a half-dozen 8-10 yr old very doting older sisters (and she laps it all up, believe me). I love how plenty of people tell Isabel happy birthday in July because they all remember when she was born and that when I was very, very pregnant that the parking attendant during the meets use to save me a front-row spot even when the lot was already full (talk about DDParking!). And I love that the swim meets are like one big family reunion where everyone is cheering for eachother's children, where the kids pass the time inbetween their events playing games with eachother, and where the food, conversation, and baby-watching becomes communal.

So I'll miss swim team. But we ended it on a high since tonight Max competed in the final League Time Trial events to great personal success. He had three events: a 25 yd freestyle, and a 25 yd butterfly, and 25 yd butterfly in a 100yd medley relay. He came in first in his heat in the 25-fly and 25-free events making both a personal best, and taking off 11 seconds on his butterfly time and 6 seconds off his freestyle time. I couldn't have been more thrilled for him.

He didn't make it to the league championships, but I really couldn't care less about that--that's not why we go to swim team anyway.

The kids earned having a little movie party last night and so I set them up with the movie Oliver!. I wasn't watching with them, but only listening as I worked on a painting project behind the tv area in the same room. At one point I looked over to see Max with a look of growing glee on his face and Olivia with a growing look of horror on hers.

Me: "What's going on in the movie right now, guys?"

Max: (now giggling while telling me) "Some boys just pushed some girls into a fountain!"

Dear Isabel

Today is your birthday and have to admit that I'm almost sorry to see this day come since for more than a few months now I've been enjoying you so much that you've made me want to keep you as 1yr old pet. Maybe it's that in order to save my sanity with three kids I've become an almost dangerously lackadaisical parent (after all, yesterday I did forget about you in the backyard swing for a good 10 minutes after going inside to help Max with a hurt foot), or maybe it's that you've always had a really easy-going, sweet, and flexible personality, but I've been eating up practically every moment of your babyhood.

But you are now growing out of being a baby and I should have been paying better attention to the few subtle and not-so-subtle hints about that in order to preempt my mourning your getting older. I mean, life is a little different now that you've discovered effective use of the word "no." And since you now refuse to sit in the front seat of the grocery cart, refuse to wear a bib, insist on feeding yourself with your own utensils no matter what the meal, and have made me actually look forward to the time I have to pay for your own seat on an airplane, I guess I should have seen that your turning two was around the corner.

Only one request for your upcoming Two-ness, I'd really appreciate your occasionally letting me rock you to sleep so that I can daydream about what it would be like to hold you as my baby forever.

Happy Birthday, our little Sunny Baudelaire. "Yeeka!"

A good NYC 4th

will include:

pizza from Sal's, with playing in Riverside park to follow

getting some very important business done even when walking to the train

breakfast with Sha-sha at Metro Diner

heading out early to get a spot for the fireworks

waiting for the fireworks with a new (and very patriotic) Polly Pocket doll

passing time for those who don't so much get into Polly Pocket dolls

getting a manicure with Sha-sha

swimming in Central Park

(but next time, without Dad taking a jump that lands on your face)

OBX

During the second week of June we went to the Outer Banks in North Carolina and met up with my family for what you might call our First Official Family Reunion. With my youngest brother Justin fresh home from his mission in Connecticut, we thought that this would be a great chance to get everyone together for a reunion and vacation. And I think that everyone had a really great time.

First, I'd like to congratulate everyone in my family for successfully pulling this off. It was quite the production, especially for a family that didn't exactly grow up with a philosophy of vacationing, unless you count taking a weekend off from sifting rocks in the garden. It was also quite the exercise in specialization of labor--dividing assignments for food, money, transportation, and area information, etc. More than anything, it was evidence to me of just what talented, fun, and interesting people all of my brothers and sisters have become now that we're all adults. And, for those who have married so far, it was also equally exciting to recognize just what fabulous people each has for a spouse. Overall, I feel so lucky to call each of these people my friends and not just my family.

And for those wanting to keep track, there are now five of us J-Smiths married with 10 grandkids and one more coming later this summer.

And speaking of highly talented people, since wordy this post may be, for anyone who wants to skip the words and go straight to the pics, here's a video slideshow that my sister Jayne put together with some of the highlights of the vacation. And thanks to my technically-talented brother Joel who helped get this slideshow ready for embedding capability.....since there's just no way I can do that myself.

And now for the words, since I'm stealing all the images from Jayne, i think that I'll just steal the description from Joel who wrote up a report for our extended family. He said it pretty well and, besides, my un-done dinner dishes are calling me. Thanks again Joel.

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My parent's flew to Delaware and drove down the coast with Jennette and Adam, Joce and Brian flew in from Texas, and Jordan and Rachel helped Karen and my kids on flights from SLC. Jayne, Jessie, Justin and Joel drove from Orem to Corolla, North Carolina in 36 hours of straight driving, with only the occasional gas and bathroom break. And last, but not least, Ryan (Jessie's husband) decided he'd rather pay for a flight than drive with the four of us. (Not because he doesn't love us, but because he makes the big bucks and couldn't afford to miss so much work, in case you were wondering.)

I'll give you a little introduction about the Outer Banks in case you've never heard of them. Check out this satellite photo of the area to see what I'm talking about. There are little narrow strips of land, usually less than 1 mile in width, that run along pretty much the entire North Carolina coast. Those narrow strips are collectively known as the Outer Banks. On one side of the Outer Banks is the Atlantic Ocean, and on the other side are several sounds. All the sounds between the Outer Banks and the continent are estuaries from the rivers that empty into the ocean there. It's a really unique place with some neat features.We stayed in a town called Corolla, which is on the North end of the Outer Banks.

The home we were in was right on the Currituck Sound, and had a neat boardwalk dock, several hundred feet long, that went from the house right out into the sound. The water on the sound side was very warm, calm and clear, and it wasn't nearly as salty as the ocean. We had lots of fun putting around on ocean kayaks and just wading around. A favorite of the kids was to tie a boogie board line to the back of a kayak to hitch a ride.Even though the sound was lots of fun, it was nowhere near as exciting as the ocean, so most days we loaded up the kids and drove or rode bikes a few blocks over to the ocean-side beaches. The little kids loved digging in the sand and playing in the surf, and the big kids learned how to ride the surf on boogie boards. Many days we were having so much fun, we forgot to apply or reapply sunblock, and there were some pretty impressive sunburns in the group. I think Justin won the grand prize and went from snow-white to solid pink.We also made some day trips and saw some neat sights. There was a visit to a nearby light house, a visit to the Wright Memorial near Kitty Hawk, a visit to Jockey's Ridge State Park, which is a giant sand dune (and had great wind for flying our kites), and a visit to the lost colony at Roanoke Island.Every morning my parents hosted a "Cousins Camp" activity with all their grandkids, doing fun arts and crafts and having fun games. On the last day, the water-fight activity received some extra participation from the aunts and uncles of the Cousins Campers.All week long we kept trying to muster enough energy at the end of the day to get cleaned up and get back to the beach for a family photo before the light was gone. Every day we were all too tired, and we continued procrastinating it. We finally made it happen, and even managed to get my dad to the beach. As you can see from the following photo, as your family grows, it becomes increasingly impossible to get everyone to smile and look at the camera at the same moment.
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Already looking forward to Reunion 2010 or sooner!

Seriously So Blessed

I would love to have been blogging more recently, but I have been seriously so blessed to have had some pretty swell weeks of vacation this month. And unlike some of my more talented multi-tasking friends, I am completely unable to blog and vacation at the same time. But now we're back, and I'm hoping to find a little time to update before we leave again to celebrate the grand ole 4th in NYC.

However, until then, I decieded to interrupt this blogging hiatus by sharing a little blogging comic relief that a friend just shared with me. So for any of you that haven't yet seen this, it's for all those blogging gals whose lives (like mine, of course) are Seriously So Blessed.