Achievin’ Family Milestones

How many milestones can one family achieve in less than 2 weeks? By my count, at least 5. What an individual achieves within our family, you'll see the rest of us share in the joy of that achievement, no matter how small. Or, depending upon the circumstance, you may find an individual gagging at the sight of poop or blood. But ya know, thus is the joy and amusement of child rearing.

We start our adventure on Saturday, July 20th. What was to be a day at home with the man cubs doing chores turned into a mad packing rush and house prep to leave the same day to visit Paul in Tucson. Our initial plan of leaving the following week had been foiled due to the possibility of Isaac earning permission to test for an orange belt. With several other attempts to plan an earlier trip failing, we had accepted that we would not be making the trip. And then, my husband had a light bulb moment. It was more of a DUH moment actually. Both of us were not thinking clearly...He called to inform me the hotel he was staying in was pet friendly. DUH! Just, DUH! Commence the 3 hour minimal house cleaning, cloth diaper washing, car packing frenzy with 4 man cubs and 2 fur kids in tow. 3 hours is a record. 'Scuse me while I straighten my hat.
What should have been roughly a 7 1/2 hour drive with pit stops, turned into a 9 hour trip. I only had to pull over to threaten the elder man cubs once on the way there. The silence that followed that was beautiful. However, not long after stopping in Blythe, the highway was closed in both directions due to some idiot threatening to blow something up. Or maybe he had a gun and was behaving stupidly. Whatever. Some idiot causing trouble to get attention closed both directions of the freeway. Luckily there was an escape route for us (the lucky few) who did not end up stuck on the 10 East or West until 9pm when officers gave the all clear.
We drove 31 miles out of the way to avoid the blockade. Which, the speed limit was a lot slower too, but ya know....I kinda didn't follow the speed limit at all. There were some great dips in the road that we "flew" over. The kids were totally enthralled. See, Mom can be fun in the vehicle as well. You're welcome.
By the time we arrived to the hotel, there was 25 minutes remaining to get in the pool. The man cubs didn't care. I think they were too tired to fight us to get out. Thankfully, they passed out easily so Paul and I could have some peace.

The following morning, we had breakfast courtesy of the hotel. Instead of going to Tombstone, as was the original intent of the original plan for the following week that was foiled---We went to Kartchner Caverns. That. Was. Awesome.
My parental units took myself and my seestors to Onandaga Cave in Missouri (forever ago). We enjoyed that immensely. I knew the man cubs would enjoy seeing a cave as well. We had given them the opportunity to vote. I don't remember what their second choice was, but the vote was unanimous. This counted as a school field trip as well. I intend to home school all year (starting in the Fall). May as well! Why not?

The cave was discovered in 1968 and was kept secret due to the demise of many caves discovered prior to, as a result of the cave ecosystem being killed by people. You don't go into a cave and touch things. The oils on your skin can kill an entire ecosystem within a cave. Imagine throwing pennies into water---which caves thrive on---or paint fumes from graffiti overtaking the microbes within the air, and lint---I had NO idea lint was a problem. Apparently lint can cause serious problems for a cave. And as for the bats, there's a virus killing bats. The requirement prior to going into the cave if you had visited another cave within 15 years and was by chance wearing the same clothes or shoes, was to have a quick spray down with rubbing alcohol prior to entry. This particular virus can survive up to 15 years. I didn't wear my red boots into Onandaga nor into Kartchner caverns. Those are the only footwear items I own that are (now) 13 years old. Long live the red boots! :)

I learned that Paul had been to the Kartchner Caverns before. There was a bit of nostalgia in this trip for him. The boys were amazing. Amazed and amazing. They didn't touch the cave walls or try to climb anything which, I seriously expected the latter. I guess they got it all out of their system by pawing the "get your desire to touch everything out of your system" rock conveniently positioned on our way to the tram that would take us to the cave entrance.
No one was afraid except just as we got in. I think that was more because of the musty smell and eyes adjusting to the low lighting than anything else. Once the initial shock was over, they were looking for cave bacon everywhere. And bats. We didn't see any bats in the cave. The portion of the cave that hosts the bats was closed due to the current birthing season. As the guide lovingly put it, "We share a time share with the bats. They were here first, so we use their cave after they migrate for the winter." Yeah, apparently birds aren't the flying creatures that migrate. There was some disappointment for the man cubs not seeing bats within the cave, but they were ecstatic to become bats themselves for a few seconds.

When we finished, we browsed the gift shop. Isaac chose a geode as his souvenir, Nolan chose a vial of gold, and Ethan chose to stuff a bag of colorful rocks. I laughed a bit at Nolan because he's always looking for gold in our yard.

Following an attempt to get the man cubs to nap, we visited El Charro for supper. What appeared to be an old store front was previously a 2 story home with the bottom level below the ground. It was left as the house was originally built (from what I could tell). I noticed a hallway blocked by a simple privacy screen, the front itself, could have been a screened in porch at one point, and the position of the fireplace near our table are the reasons for my assumption. Food was good. There were several unique dishes different from your cookie cutter Mexican cuisine. I wish mine had some heat and a touch more salt though. It would have been perfect with either a spicy tomato salsa or spicy tomatillo salsa. Deep fried ice cream, no improvements needed.

Monday was a nightmare in the hotel room. I rarely have issues with all the man cubs at once. When I do though, hell hath no fury. They pushed every button in existence and then some. I have no idea how we didn't get kicked out of the hotel. They were absolutely awful. Thankfully Paul was finished with class at a decent time. It was still bad enough I took the boys with me to get a coffee and remained in the car until Paul called asking where we were. Jerks....One source of amusement for myself was seeing a Roadrunner near the pool (pictured below).

We met with one of Paul's friends for supper at Culinary Dropout later in the evening. That place was unique. I was happy with my meatloaf, taters, green beans, and tomato soup. But the Korean BBQ Ribeyes Paul and Wayne ended up with on the other end of the table were fantastic. Lawd, have mercy.

Tuesday was entirely uneventful in the hotel room. Thank God. I was not mentally capable of handling another awful day like the day before. We hit up the pool when Paul got in. We attempted to teach the boys to swim. It went well until I repositioned my hands under Isaac, forcing him to let go and swim nearly unassisted. That didn't go over so well. They're getting it worked out. All a matter of time. They'll be doing handstands in the water in no time.
Ethan was so tired from the pool, he passed out hard. He slept through being carried downstairs for supper in the hotel dining room, slept through supper, and then slept all night without budging at all. I don't believe I've ever seen that kid sleep so hard. We were grateful. Everyone was tired, but he's an antagonistic child. Him sleeping so the others could relax without being bothered was nice for the parental units.

Our trip home started at 6:30 the next morning. Everyone was up easily and we were off quickly. The man cubs plus the fur kids and myself made it home just in time to unload the car, get changed for MMA class, and arrive 15 minutes early to the studio. Isaac earned orange belt test permission that day! :) He was scheduled to test on Friday night with one of his classmates.

Come Friday, yet another plan change left us a bit frazzled. Isaac was scheduled to belt test around 5, and Paul told me he was able to get a flight that night. He was to arrive at 545--while we were still an hour away in another activity. Thankfully, my inlaws volunteered to pick up Paul, taking Nolan and Ethan with them so I could watch Isaac during his belt test.
It's cool how the belt test itself is set up. It's a demonstration of skill to the instructors but also an example to the younger kids what they can look forward to when they're older. I was impressed by many of the older elementary and middle school kids. There were a couple beasts within that group. It's difficult to decide whether I look forward to that age, as we continue with MMA for the man cubs because they already beat the crap out of each other sometimes. There are things we (Prepatory and Adult Students) are taught that can seriously injure people. The intent is to use only when necessary obviously. And the youngest of the students are not taught many of these techniques due to the maturity required to use these skills appropriately, but it's still an intimidating thought that my kids could easily use the techniques they have been taught to make the attacker think twice. I must admit, the idea of witnessing one of my boys whip some idiot for assuming weakness is all too amusing--but with that comes a responsibility to determine the necessity for said wood shed whoopin'.

Isaac wiggled one of his loose teeth enough during belt testing for us to finish it up after we got home. I was afraid it would come out during the test and he'd get blood all over his WHITE uniform. Master Kruger told Isaac to leave it alone at one point. That's when I realized (as he turned to show me) there was some blood surrounding his tooth. I believe we were about halfway through the test when I noticed this.
Everyone who tested earned their next belt rank Friday night. The little ones are so fun to watch. As we drove home, Isaac told me he was so proud of himself. Talk about a proud Mom moment when your child informs you how proud they are of themselves. He was over the moon with happiness. Paul landed in San Diego in time for me to video chat so he could witness Isaac getting his belt tied on.

Saturday morning, I attended my Prepatory class and stayed for the Family class with Isaac. It was no bueno for me. I was having an off day. Thankfully, we have a patient and sarcastic instructor. The remainder of the day was spent working on a dress for AnnaBelle. What a nightmare. The dress pattern was simply stupid. There were instructions I believed to be out of order after I followed the instructions in the order given on the pattern. I had to call my mother. That's bad. If I have to call my mother, there is a problem.
As of today (Tuesday) my sewing machine has crapped out and said dress and all the material for vests for my 'phews are in a box to be sent to Mammie. Hopefully she'll be able to take the skirt in for AnnaBelle (I didn't like the top so she's getting a skirt instead), and do the vests for me. Talk about poor timing.

Sunday was the first day we were all in church together in several weeks. We've finally chosen a place to attend full time. We'll be attending two churches--one for regular services and home groups, and a second for AWANA on Wednesday nights come time for public schools to get back in session. The one we're attending full time has a talent show every year just before school starts up again. I signed up via email and a voice recording audition a few weeks ago. Practice was Sunday evening following an afternoon with Paul's grandparents.

The show is entirely family friendly. There are a few puppet shows, a skit, poetry, and some singers (myself included). Consider this your official invitation to attend Calvary Has Talent on Saturday, August 3rd and Sunday, August 4th at 6pm both nights. Refreshments will be provided following the show. :)

We had to pull another of Isaac's teeth Monday night. It was a difficult tooth to pull oddly enough. He kept complaining of it being painful--which I found odd because I don't remember my teeth being painful to remove. After pulling the second tooth, we found the culprit for the painful complaining. The tooth had a sharp edge on the side that was hanging for dear life. It's no wonder it was so uncomfortable to wiggle. We're now 4 teeth into this process, with at least 3 more loose. We have a friendly competition going with AnnaBelle. Not sure how to gauge a toothless competition except counting the empty spaces in one's mouth. Sounds like a solid Hillbilly competition, does it not?

As of this past Monday, I have a special, long anticipated announcement to make! On April 10th of this year, just prior to attending The SCC Solo Tour in Palm Desert, I paid to have some song lyrics copyrighted. Just as we arrived at the studio for the man cubs' MMA class, I browsed the mail and discovered a letter from The Library of Congress. It contained the copyright certificate for "Surrender All to Me." This is my first copyrighted work, as well as the first Contemporary Christian song I felt lead to share. I am ecstatic to finally have the certificate in hand. It's one step towards finishing a collection I anticipate finishing by next Summer, grant it, the copyrights move forward quickly, and my guitar picking skills continue to improve. Can't have everyone else playing my music for me, can I?

Anyway, so much excitement has occurred in less than two weeks. Many milestones have been achieved as individuals and as a family. We are busy as usual, but happy to be busy. We all know a lack of busy-ness breeds boredom.