March Madness - Not Really

March has come and is almost gone (today is the 31st) and we've just chugged along with work and school. We are looking forward to warmer Spring weather, especially after yesterday's rain turned to snow. It's pretty much melted now, but we were a little frustrated last night with how nasty it was.

In reviewing my pictures from the month, I took more pictures of the dog than anything else, which is probably a little sad, but when there's nothing much exciting, she is cute and often fun, so why not take pictures. :)

There were a few pictures of the boys with our newest little friend Eliza Wilkinson. She was born the end of February and we got to go visit with Victoria and Gage and hold her. The boys were so cute, I had to take a picture.

Graigry gently bounced her and would sing
"I am a Child of God" to her when she fussed.

Nate couldn't stop smiling;
he wanted to hold her the rest of the night

All my kids loved holding the baby. Aurora - "I want one." Both Victoria and I said, "No you don't. Not yet." Cute doesn't make up for the sleepless nights, unless you have someone to tag team so you can attempt to maintain your sanity.

March 13, a Wednesday, was a BEAUTIFUL day. The sun was out all day and the air was the perfect spring warm for an evening walk. While the kids were at their church youth activities, my friend Kathy and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. I brought Opal as I likes and needs walks. She did a fairly good job not pulling and only occasionally couldn't decide what side of us walkers she wanted to be on. It was a good walk, good conversation and good exercise.

We had about 20 minutes left of mutual before I could go home, so I put Opal in the van while I checked in on the kids inside the Church. When I came back out I saw this:

"Can I drive?"

I had to chuckle. I'd not seen her in the driver's seat before; she's never been left alone in the car before. I thought it was cute.

March 10, another nice but chilly day, the kids wanted to be outside, so Nate and Neta and I took Opal on a walk up to their middle school. Neta was on roller blades and Nate took a razor scooter. Once we got to the school parking lot, Nate asked if Opal could pull him. I remember my dog, Sport, pulling us while we were on skateboards, so I figured, why not and let him have the leash.

They had so much fun. Opal pulled Nate part of the way back home as well.

On March 15, this was the image I saw as I pulled into the driveway after work:

Someone's happy I'm home. :)

March 16, after Aurora's car sat for a week because it wouldn't start, I decided instead of having it towed, I would buy a new battery and we would see if that would fix the problem (it wouldn't jump, so we figured it was either the battery or the alternator). I made Aurora come to the store with me to buy the battery, which meant she had to get redressed. She did, we went and then I told her we were replacing the battery. She wanted to wait until Sunday or Monday, but I said no because I wanted to see if the battery would fix the problem before we had it towed to the mechanic.

It was dark outside (by now it's 9pm) but thankfully not that cold. We disconnected the old battery, which was more of a challenge than I expected, and then put the new battery in. I made Aurora help me, as it was her car and she needed to know how to do this kind of simple repair.

Aurora tightening the bolt of the battery cables.
You may notice that the handle of the battery
is still up. We had to unhook everything,
put the handle down and re!connect everything.
HA-HA

Thankfully, Grizelda as Aurora calls her, started right up. Thank you Heavenly Father for a simple repair and a working car!

March 21 I was hold a little less than half of a small red onion when Opal took a sniff of it when I asked her if she wanted it, she gently took it from me and went to her bed. We followed her and chuckled at her playing, chewing, reacting to the onion.

Opal licking her nose after carrying the onion
to her bed

I learned something that night about onions and dogs. Onions are toxic for dogs. Too much can make the red blood cells of a dog explode. I don't have the medical details on hand, but the imbalance of water creates the rupture. Opal wouldn't eat it and we took it away when it dawned on us that we didn't know anything about onions and dogs. Now we know!

A week ago, it was the perfect spring night and when Graigry got home from a study group he asked if he could build a fire. I had not problem with it, so a fire was built. We cooked brawts and hot dogs and called it dinner. Then, after kids were inside, the fire was still glowing so I went and sat by it.

I decided to take a video, because it was so calming to watch the flickering flames and hear the crackle of the fire. I could hear the occasional birds and dog bark, but that added to the relaxingness of that moment.

This past Friday night, Ro was at work, boys were at a scout campout. Just Neta was home so Eric and I took her to Steak n Shake with us for dinner. Neta ordered chicken fingers, but couldn't finish the three large fingers she was served. They didn't look appetizing to me, so Neta got creative with the catsup.

After I took a picture, I took the catsup and wrote, in cursive, "Thanks" to the server or whoever had the privilege of cleaning up our table. I hope it made them smile.

Look at this! Last day of March and I'm caught up on my family blog. Miracle! Bound to have more pictures in April as Xela and her boyfriend Trevor are coming out for the weekend of the 12th and warmer weather means more outdoor activities. Guess we wait and see! :) 

Feb 24 - Sunday Pictures with Ro

It was a very blustery cold Sunday, but the sun was shining and while everyone was napping, Aurora and I took Opal on a "walk" which was very much interrupted by taking pictures around the block. She needed to submit a senior picture for the yearbook and that became the purpose of the walk (Opal felt jipped). The wind was cold and strong, so she was cold. I was smart enough to wear a coat.

Anyway, here are some of my favorite pictures from our walk around the block photo shoot.

 Here are some of the photos which are evidence of the strong wind. We thought the graffiti was particularly appropriate for our purposes. :)

She has a horn

Her shadow looks like E.T.'s cousin

Hair is a little more in control - sort of

This one isn't too bad:

I like the door background. This door is leaning on the shed in the back yard. 

This is one of my favorites

Before we left for our walk, Neta took a few pictures of Aurora with Opal. This is the picture that Ro turned into the yearbook:

She loves her puppy

Feb 16: Central Park, Audition and the Long Drive Home

We were not in a hurry to get moving in the morning. Aurora's audition was scheduled for 3:12 and she had to be there 10 minutes early. We took the morning more slowly while making sure we were up in time for the hotel provided breakfast, which because it was a Saturday, went until 10.

Neta and Graigry joined me for some time at the fitness center for about 30 minutes. I knew we would have another day with lots of walking, but I also knew there would be 11 hours of sitting so I wanted to get the heart rate up for a little bit.

Kids wanted to experience the subway so we found the nearest station and headed to Central Park.

Riding the escalator up from the station

Chicago is known as the windy city, but on the streets in New York, between buildings in mid-February, it is also quite windy. We faced the wind and made it to Central Park with two hours to walk around before we had to head back for Ro to get to her audition.

Smile & wave, boys. Smile & wave!
Kids wanted to go to the Zoo
(thank you to the movie MADAGASCAR;
the gift shop outside the zoo was as close as we got)

We walked by a big rock, so the kids had to climb it and...

Eric was smelling cinnamony goodness and the kids saw the churro cart so
Eric bought a churro for each person. Such a disappointment!
No cinnamon sugar and stiff as cardboard.
Even the squirrels wouldn't eat them.

I think this was called the Jackelyn Onasis Kennedy Reservoir
We walked up to the south side of it and then headed back.

We weaved out of Central Park for a bit, walked past the Natural History Museum. Kids again wanted to go in (thank you movie: Night at the Museum), but 1 - line was devastatingly long and 2-wasn't going to pay for it. We walked back into Central Park and then back out as we got closer to where the New York Manhattan Temple was. We had to walk two blocks west and south to 65th street and it snuck up on us. We turned the corner, couldn't see it and then Eric said, "Look up!" The Angel Moroni appeared. The temple always helps us look up. :)

We went inside to use the restroom. The church building (for regular weekday and Sunday use) were on the fourth floor and that is where the available bathroom's were so up we went. There were some beautiful pictures from the Book of Mormon hanging in the hallway, some I'd never seen before. 

After our temple potty break stop, we headed back to the hotel for audition prep and check out, which meant another subway ride. We packed everything up (we got a late check out for 2:00) had the van pulled out of storage for us, loaded it and headed the 1.5 miles up Broadway to NYU campus. Aurora's friend Rose (graduated from Herron High School last year and going to school in Rochester) came to support her with the audition, so we dropped those two off and we tried to find a free place to park and wait the 30-ish minutes for the audition to end. 

We finished our NY stay with another park and wait at the edge of Washington Square Park. Nate, Graigry and Eric took a nap while I convinced Neta to come wander around with me. The park was full of people playing ball, chess, at the playground with their kids, walking dogs and/or watching two different musicians.

Then there was this piano guy, who invited people to lay underneath his piano while he played so that they could feel the music with their bodies.

Neta and I went into the playground area for a few minutes, but she got bored rather quickly.

Doesn't she look happy to be here?

At 4:20 with no call or text from Aurora, Neta was back in the car and I went to look for Ro. I got a little turned around and walked around the wrong block before finding the building in which they were doing auditions. When I got to the right place, I found Rose waiting in a room and she said that Aurora went into her audition five minutes before I got there. When Ro did come out, her first words were to the effect that "I bombed that one." Ro grabbed a bagel and we headed back to the van. Ro bid farewell to her friend Rose and we began our trip back to the Midwest.

We didn't get very far before meeting a traffic jam. I don't know what the cause was but no one was moving in the needed direction of the Holland Tunnel. We stood still for about 15 minutes and finally met the round about that led to the tunnel and New Jersey. We were on our way home, estimate time of arrival: five am. The last picture of our trip was maybe 20 minutes into Jersey. We were looking for a rest stop with a potty. This was a scenic view, potty-less rest stop, but I got a good picture of the sunset and my son.

Instead of getting the usual fast food for dinner, Eric stopped at a Flying J, a little bit into Jersey, where they had real food options. The lady that helped dish us up, Lisa, was amazingly sweet. She cut us a deal on the meals we ordered and then when Graigry paid for hot chocolate for Nate and Neta, she gave him the employee discount. It was something that made all my kids very happy and was a wonderful way to start the long drive home. At another point along the Pennsylvania Turnpike, someone in front of us paid our toll. Thank you kind people, from us weary travelers. We greatly appreciate your thoughtfulness. 

We got home just after five am, had a couple of hours sleep before raising the dead for church that started at 10. It was a quick, yet long trip. I'm sorry that Ro's audition didn't go well, but I'm glad it gave us the opportunity to experience a small piece of the Big Apple.

February 14-15: Long Drive, World Trade Center & The Statue of Liberty

Aurora had a shadow-day and audition at NYU so we decided to make a quick family vacation out of it. Initially it was going to be Eric, Ro and Graigry because the older two didn't have school on the 15th. Then after the almost week they had off of school during the Polar Vortex, the 15th became a make up day for the high schoolers. We decided if two kids were going to miss school, going to NY was worth all the kids missing one day of school.

I had my car in the shop the week before for a general check up, which meant the back brakes were replaced and some small things were tied down. I felt comfortable about driving it the 11 hour one way route. Then, the Sunday before we were supposed to leave, the car wouldn't start. GREAT!! Just what we didn't need. After church, Eric listened to the clicking noise and decided we should charge the battery, so I got the battery out and we charged it over night, praying that this would solve the problem.

Monday morning, while Eric, Graigry and Ro were at seminary, I put the battery back in place, reconnected it and turned the key. LIFE! I was so happy. Our prayers were answered and we would be on our way come Thursday afternoon.

Manhattan is only an 11 hour drive so we wanted to leave as early as possible after work and school. I got home from work on Thursday at 4 and finished helping Eric fix the fence on our driveway. Ro and Graigry got home from school about 4:30 and after the last few things were taken care of at home, we were off.  Kids were going to miss school on Friday, so we spent the first part of the lit road trip working on homework while listening to Simon & Garfunkel while driving I-70 Eastbound.

We stopped for Burger King just after seven. It being dark outside, homework was tucked away and a DVD became the road trip entertainment. I think we watched three movies before deciding it was time for "bed."

"NO!! NOT THE FLASH!!"

This is what an 11 hour drive looks like

Eric did most of the driving, but I drove into Manhattan, which terrified me. I hate driving on unfamiliar roads, at night, that are narrow due to some construction. I was so nervous winding around the roads in Jersey on the way to the Holland Tunnel though it was cool to see the Statue of Liberty lighting up the early morning sky (we arrived in Manhattan just after 5am). I tried to wake up the kids to see it, but I think they were more interested in the inside of their eyelids.

We couldn't check into the hotel until 8am, so we found a free place to park, at the side of Washington Square Park and tried to get a little sleep. Eric got out and walked around looking for a bathroom (I did the last drive shift while he was sleeping). At 7:30 we called the hotel and asked if our room was ready (we'd asked for an early check in) and it was! We drove the 1.5 miles down Broadway to the Residence Inn (a very big thank you to Patience who got us a free room making this trip become a reality) where Eric and Ro went in while we stayed with the car. Ro had to get ready for her shadow day at NYU and Eric needed to check in. When he got back, we made the trek to the 16th floor while Eric drove (rolled around and waited in Manhattan traffic) around waiting for Aurora to prep herself for the day.

Daytime and night time windows' view
(the clock was on our wall)

Aurora had to be at the school by 9:30 so while Eric took her there, we freshened up and the kids perused the tv stations. Once Eric got back from dropping her off, I wanted to head out. We were in New York, the city that doesn't sleep! Therefore - neither should we. :) It was 10 am Friday morning and we had less than 36 hours to get in as much NY as possible. I was going to spend as little of it as possible in the hotel. We had tickets for the Statue of Liberty tour at 1 and our hotel was within walking distance of several "site" so off we went. The World Trade Center was two blocks from our hotel, so we went there first.

World Trade Center Train Station
(there's a mall inside, underground)

I couldn't help but feel emotional as we walked past all the names of victims, but especially the public servants that ran into the buildings of their own will to try to save strangers.

Neta capturing water to feed a rose
White roses are on the names of those whose
birthday is that day.

My Monkeys at the Memorial

These buildings were HUGE!

Reading about the Survivor Tree

I hope you can read this.
I would love to see it in the Spring.

After our stroll around the Trade Center, we stopped back by the hotel and I packed my back with some snacks. Then we walked the just over a mile straight down Broadway, making a stop at the Wall Street Bull and the National Native American History Museum before arriving at Battery Park and getting on the ferry (talk about security - sheesh - three checks before getting to Lady Liberty). I was grateful that the weather was partly cloudy into to partly sunny for our adventure. (Earlier the forecast was for rain.)

ON THE FERRY

On the self guided tour to the pedestal,
you can get a walkie-talkie thing that tells
you different things about the Statue
depending on what numbers you type in

FAMILY SELFIE!

Listening to the tour on the pedestal

Inside Liberty
I really wish I would have bought tickets to the crown,
but I didn't think the kids would be up for the climb
(or the required decent & walk back to the hotel)

I should have got some video;
you feel like you're moving, or the Statue is moving
as you look up and the clouds roll by

Manhattan background

We went to Ellis Island, which the kids were not interested in, sadly. Eric and I had wanted to walk around, but the kids were done and completely uninterested. Instead of walking around Ellis Island they spent 30 minutes waiting for the next ferry. My phone was dying so I couldn't really go wandering around incommunicado. Blah!

After returning to Battery Park and walking back to the hotel, kids had walked enough and were not in the mood to do any more sight seeing and it was 4:00 anyway. Aurora was done with her shadow day at 4:30. Eric thought about calling for the car, but that would take 30 minutes and then we'd have to fight traffic to get to NYU. Better use of time, walk the 1.5 miles to campus. Because my phone was charging, I wanted a buddy, and Graigry was told to come with me (he didn't want to go, but came when asked). We walked at a speedy pace and he complained the whole time about his ankles and how his feet were about to fall off. In about 30 minutes we were outside the building waiting for Ro, after which, we walked back to the hotel with a stop at a Subway to grab two footlong sandwiches for dinner. Back at the hotel, we ate while Aurora told her about the fantastic shadow day she had.

Aurora went to the lobby to study after dinner (got her email from Vanderbuilt saying she wasn't accepted) and Nate, Neta and I watched a movie on Lifetime. I am grateful we do not have tv at home; WAY TOO MANY commercials.

Eric and Graigry fell asleep fairly quickly after laying on the bed. I was told that Nate, Neta and Ro went to bed after midnight. I have to take their word for it as I fell asleep after ten because I laid on the bed. Had I stayed sitting at the desk, slumber would not have overtaken me. Probably a good thing though as we had a long drive back Saturday evening.