Quotable John Kenyon:
"This is probably the only time in the history of the world that a five-year-old has sat on the toilet, pooping, while singing The Flaming Lips."

This was Daniel's a.m. bathroom serenade:

It was a great day to be Daniel!

We participated in our third Get Moving for Healthy Kids 5K event this morning, mostly walking, but with some attempts at moderate jogging. We all crossed the finish line right around 51:30, but only in Daniel's age bracket was this good enough for a medal. Third place in the 6 and under category!

To say he was pleased would be a MAJOR understatement. His name was announced on the loudspeaker and they hung his medal around his neck. He carried it around all day and took it to Grandma and Grandpa's when we went for dinner tonight. I was worried it would break, but fortunately, it held up to his love and adulation.

In celebrating this achievement, we were very careful to note that Edward's age bracket included ages 7, 8, and 9, making it more difficult, competing with older kids. So we also cheered his 7th place finish and talked about whether he could be even faster next time.

It is also quite possible that there were only three kids under 6 to complete the course on foot. But that's not part of the discussion! Daniel now has his very own medal to hang in his room, allowing him to take a step toward keeping up with his big brother, who earned participation medals this spring/summer for both soccer and baseball.

It's the first day of school!!!!
(With apologies to my sister Nora for over use of exclamation points; and to my sister Ann for potentially causing an exclamation point shortage.)

There was much anticipation for Daniel's first day of Kindergarten 

and Edward's first day of second grade.

 Both tend to internalize any nerves, so we've had a few days of emotional edginess--crying at the drop of a hat, easily frustrated, etc. I hope this can all be attributed to first-day jitters, because otherwise we have some behavior issues to deal with!

Our good friends were coming up the hill just as we were walking out the door, so we got to walk--well, run--to school together. (David is in second grade with Edward and Elizabeth, leading the charge, is in K with Daniel.)

 They stopped long enough for a picture before crossing the street at school.

Edward is very excited to have so many of his buddies in his class (there are three 2nd grade classrooms.) Time will tell whether the teacher shares their excitement. It's also Edward's first time having a male teacher, which adds to his excitement.

Daniel's teacher is the wife of Edward's teacher--might be a bit of Kenyon overload for them this year. We know them from church and their son is also in Kindergarten, though not in his mom's and Daniel's classroom. She teaches in the mornings and then Edward's former teacher Mrs. Smith arrives for the afternoon--two teachers splitting one full-time teaching position.

Here Daniel is holding his first-day homework--a star with a family photo in the center and then decorated with pictures and stickers describing his interests. He chose sports (soccer, baseball, basketball), whales (he drew his own), books, and Lego. He was planning monkey bars as well, but I think that drawing might have been forgotten in the frenzy.

Here's to a great year!

How ironic is it that at the end of a week of nature camp, where he did things like this...

...and this...

...Daniel ended up in the Emergency Room on Friday afternoon after slipping getting out of the tub from washing off the camp grime.

I wasn't prepared for him to step out because he'd had a fit about taking yet another shower (5 days in a row!) and was only pacified with the promise of some time in a bubble bath. However, his gnat-like attention span apparently led him to forget both the fit and the promise, so while I was turned to close the tub drain and grab the bubble soap, he started to climb out, putting his foot on the edge of the tub, slipping end banging his head on the toilet.

It all happened so fast! He was just sort of laying horizontally across the tub and toilet screaming from the shock and pain. I set him back in the tub, saw the cut and turned to get a washcloth. By the time I turned back, he was screaming harder as the full extent of head-wound blood came gushing down into his eye.

If you have to have a bloody head wound, being naked in the tub with the water still running is a very good place to do it. I got the blood washed away and then applied pressure with the washcloth. This gave us a moment to gather our wits and figure out how we were going to get from naked and wet in the tub to dressed and in the car for a trip to the ER.

He was pretty good about keeping the cloth pressed to the wound, so I was able to towel him off and get some clothes on him. But when he figured out we were going to the hospital the screaming began anew: "I DON'T WANT TO GET STITCHES!!!" Mind you he's never had them, but apparently just the thought was enough to conjure true fear. I made up some lameness about the doctors having other options we didn't have a home like "eye band-aids" and we got out the door.

I had the presence of mind to grab the iPad and a few snacks, so we were prepared in case of a long wait. While we were there a friend texted me inviting us to join them at the Children's Museum. When I texted back with our drama, she offered to come get Edward and take him to the museum, which he eagerly accepted.

In the end, no stitches were required thanks to the miracle of Dermabond. Two hours and a little medical superglue and we were on our way out the door. We met up with our friends at the museum and within minutes, Daniel was scampering and climbing around like nothing had happened.

We had planned a quick weekend trip to the indoor waterpark in Dubuque, but had to switch to just a day trip and save the water slides for another time as he's not supposed to submerge until the glue falls off in a week or so.

He's a little self-conscious about "looking weird" and is now pretty tired of telling the tale of how it happened. Actually, he tired of it after multiple ER retellings--admitting nurse, room nurse, resident, attending. Here's hoping the glue works fast and he's on the road to a barely noticeable scar in no time.

It's Friday night and John is unexpectedly out at a concert he was asked to review for The Gazette after his good friend who was supposed to write it came down with shingles today. So it's only fitting that I take the opportunity of this quiet evening to share a bit of our last two Friday evenings.

Last week we tried our hands at archery when the university's Recreational Services department, which runs an outdoor education center that includes some of Edward's favorite summer camps, offered a family activity night. We didn't tell the boys about it until we were on the way to the site. Once there, they thought they should be allowed to pick up the bows and start shooting. They tried to be patient with the instruction, but it was difficult. Also, there was a glitch in the registration that allowed more people to sign up than they intended, so there were long waits for turns. But once they learned the rules and got the gear, they were eager archers.

 It turned out to be more difficult than they expected, but after about three or four arrows they were getting them all the way to the target. Not in the target, mind you. You see, the range is set up for taller people (local archery club for adults) so they were basically eye level with the wood frame. We tried to say that hitting the wood was the same as hitting the target, but Mr. Competitive Daniel was not fully appeased. Still, they both had a good time and Edward was excited to find out which one of the summer camp sessions included archery as an activity.

(The matching tie-dye shirts were made in camp that afternoon.)

The Friday before that ended with a brilliant fireworks display that we got to enjoy with my parents, as they had arrived for a weekend visit. Yes, it was July 5, not the 4th, but we were actually happy to have the late night followed by a lazy Saturday.

This Friday, I'm pretty sure both boys were sound asleep within minutes of turning out their lights. Daniel may have even fallen asleep as his head was dropping toward his pillow. He was yawning audibly from the time I picked him up from camp at 4. These last two weeks, both boys have been in daily swim lessons from 11:15 to noon followed by afternoon camp. Most of the rest of the summer, the camps are half days in the morning, ending by noon-ish. I guess it just takes a lot out of them. I know I'm more tired working in the afternoons and will be glad to return to our regular hours next week.

P.S. The swim session ended with Daniel passing to Level 3--ice cream for all!

The boys just kicked a ball in the living room, as they have been told repeatedly not to do. It knocked over and broke a lamp. I heard the crash and came running in to find two sheepish boys picking up the lamp. (Thankfully the lightbulb wasn't shattered.) When I realized it was broken, I told them they would be paying for a new one since they knew they were not supposed to kick balls in the house (Cue Brady Bunch, "Mom always said, 'Don't play ball in the house!' ")

This led to immediate break downs and screams/tears at the unfairness of it all. Then they turned on each other:

{screaming}
E: You were the one who suggested it and you knew we weren't supposed to and I forgot!

D: Then I'm going to call you Mr. Bad Memory
 (**editors note: this is the line that prompted me to start transcribing this exchange for you, dear blog readers)

E: Then I will call you poop face.

D: Then I will call you stinky head.

E: I DON'T CARE!

{break in dialogue to focus on wailing and screaming}

E: You're the one who kicked the ball!

D: Well you're the one who was supposed to catch it!

E: Well you're the one who kicked it and you knew we shouldn't kick it!

{calming down}

E: How many dollars do you have?

D: I only have 11.

E: Well I have 29...that's 40 all together...maybe 41 if we count all our coins.
{end scene}

Does that count as a summer math exercise?

My parents were visiting this weekend for the 4th and came to Mass with us on Sunday morning. The boys were on very good behavior, looking forward to a hotel swim afterward. (Also, it helps to have extra adults as barriers between them.) Anyway, after Communion, my mom fished a piece of paper and pen out of her purse to quash Daniel's restlessness. After Mass, he showed me his drawing:

"Look, Mom, a crime scene!"

To which I replied, "Well, that's very holy."

He didn't quite get what I meant, so I said, "You know, holy, for church. Like God and Jesus."

"Oh," he replied. "I can draw a holy picture too." So on the way to the pool this is what he came up with. (My notes added after the fact)

Edward's contribution: "Make sure you put Jesus on the right of God."

Well, I guess they are listening. Sometimes.

Youth baseball season has come and gone and here I am just getting around to blogging about it. Well, technically I guess that's not true as I did share some early tales of extreme weather and extreme exhaustion.

And also, let's be totally honest, the phrase "come and gone" is not really an adequate descriptor. More like, "come and stayed and lasted and lingered and continued and finally--mercifully--gone." Did I mention it was a LONG season? Starting with winter coats at April practices, continuing through May flooding and relocation, and finishing with a five-games-in-three-days weekend tournament at the end of June. And that was just Edward! Daniel's coach-pitch tee ball was but a six-week blip in comparison.

They both really liked it and even after three months, I heard Edward sigh wistfully in the middle of the week after the season ended, "Oh, I wish I still had baseball!"

I think he really likes being a part of a team. Also, at his age they use a pitching machine, which (usually) makes it possible to have some success with hitting. (The machine wasn't always consistent.) 

Edward in right field; umpire feeds the balls into the pitching machine

He started strong, then went through a few weeks where he adopted a weird batting stance, holding the bat way over his head and striking out a lot, then allowed himself to be corrected and got back to connecting the bat and ball. 

John was often the third base coach

Now, it didn't always get past the pitcher, but that was actually OK since it was rare for any team in this league to be able to throw out a runner at first. After one of those little dribblers, one of the other dads commented, "Well, you know, his on-base percentage is actually pretty high with those." 

His fielding was...shall we say...unfocused. Early in the season they rotated the kids through various positions, but ultimately Edward ended up in left field, without much action.

Rare "readiness." Likely had something to do with
John standing at the fence to take the picture.

 The final weekend was a bit much with the last regular season game on Friday evening followed by two tournament games each on Saturday and Sunday. And it was HOT! But then it was over and only Edward was sorry.

Participation medal

Team at the end of the tournament weekend

Daniel was a trooper with going to all those games, but it helped that we let him play at the nearby playground and there were always plenty of other baseball siblings to have fun with. He also appreciated Edward's game day preparation:

Is it weird to fire yourself up for a game by reading
about Abraham Lincoln's funeral train?

Daniel was just as intense about tee-ball as every other sport he's played.

Happy to be on a team with his good friend, who we met when the
older brothers were on the same tee ball team two summers ago

His was a coach-pitch format with four or five chances to hit the coach's pitch before hitting off a tee.

Swinging too high

Note the tongue; sign of concentration

The kids all stood in the field while the other team batted, but it would be a stretch to say that Daniel did any actual defense. But he had fun and he could certainly tell you how many games his team won, even though they don't keep score and every kid gets to bat every inning.

Pre-game warm up

I tried to de-emphasize the whole winning/losing thing to focus on having fun and learning the game, but he was not buying it. This did lead to me being hilariously called-out in front of my parents when they came with me to pick him up from a sports-themed week at day camp and he said, "Mom, I know you don't care about winning and losing, but my team won both soccer games today!" He was pleased.

The last baseball-related item was a big surprise to me. I asked Edward to make thank you cards for his two coaches and he took his materials and disappeared for a while. When he came back, this is what he had created:

for reference

He had grabbed his hat and free-hand copied the logo with crayon and colored pencil. I had no idea he could do that--100% Kenyon genes at work!

 

Our summer vacation could have started with disaster if not for the forgotten carrots.

See what I did there? You're hooked now!

Well, we were leaving on a Saturday morning about  9 a.m. with about 5 hours of driving in the first leg of the trip. I'd packed a picnic lunch in the cooler with plans to stop when we got hungry, not exactly sure when or where. After John pulled the loaded car out of the garage, I pulled the second car in for safe-keeping while we were gone. I hopped back in the wagon, hit the garage door remote and we were off. About a mile later, and before we hit the Interstate, I remembered I'd forgotten to put the carrot sticks in the picnic cooler. Since we were still so close, we decided to go back rather than let them rot in the fridge while we were gone. 

At home we discovered our garage door standing wide open.  Now, truth be told, we have inadvertently left it open overnight before and nothing has happened. And several of our neighbors knew we were going to be gone and probably would have closed it for us. But still...potentially leaving your garage open to your unattended house for a week? Relieved we didn't. The carrots were also a delicious addition to our picnic.

Turned out we got hungry around Fort Dodge, so we thought, "Hey, the kids would get a kick out of seeing the old fort and we can have our picnic there." Unfortunately, we happened to arrive smack in the middle of Frontier Days, the only time all year you have to pay to enter the grounds. We weren't planning to stay long so we opted out of the $5 per person festival fee and used GPS to navigate to a playground. The kids dashed off to play while I laid out the picnic. Then the raindrops began. At first it seemed like a sprinkle light enough to ignore. But as the intensity increased, we threw everything back into the cooler and ran for the car. It didn't last long though and the kids ate enough in the car to ignore the rest and head back to play as soon as the sun came out.

Lake Okoboji view

After about an hour we packed up again and continued on to Iowa Lakeside Lab, our first stop. This is a field station operated by Iowa's three public universities, and the current leadership is interested in developing a broader scope of programming than the traditional nature/ecology classes and research. We had met the director (a U of Iowa biology professor) at a party this winter and he and John had corresponded about John coming up to see the place and consider partnering on writing workshops. Since it was not at all out of the way to head to South Dakota via Okoboji, we made plans to stay there for our first night. They put us up in a very nice two bedroom house (donated to the lab by a family with lakeside property when they decided to upgrade to a fancier house) and even invited us to share in their weekly cook-out for students and faculty.

In the photo at the top of the post, the boys are following a "treasure hunt" tour of the grounds with instructions to help find a series of animal print stamps to collect on your map. They LOVED this, although they were a bit disappointed not to find actual treasure at the end. (State budgets, boys.)

The next day we barreled all the way across South Dakota to arrive at Custer State Park the first of our three-night reservation in Blue Bell Lodge cabin.

On the way we stopped at 1880 Town, where the boys proved they would have fit right in to pioneer life--as the outlaws! Just kidding!

O-ho the Wells Fargo Wagon is a-comin' down the street,
Oh please let it be for me!

Wetting our whistles with a little Sarsaparilla

Dueling pianos

Glad our school has more than one room!

 With our final destination entered into the GPS, we continued on to Rapid City and then South toward Rushmore and Custer State Park. I was surprised at the route the GPS selected as I would have done it differently based on the paper map, but who am I to question the omniscience of Google, Siri and whoever else was steering us?

Well, I am a woman who reads maps, and we should have gone my way. When the GPS announced, "Your destination is on the right" and we looked up to see an empty lot, we were disappointed to say the least. At this point we'd been on the road eight hours and were more than ready to stop. The boys were entertained alternately by their DVDs, DS & LeapPad as well as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on CD.

It ended up taking another whole hour to get to the Lodge and then the friendly staff nodded knowingly when we'd told them of our GPS problems. "Yeah, we've heard that from others." OK, well, here's an idea then, PUT A WARNING ON YOUR WEBSITE!

But we got over it, and were able to enjoy a buffalo burger dinner on the patio while the boys ran around to burn off that all-day-in-the-car energy, stopping back from time to time for bites of dinner.

The cabin itself was very nice--spacious and comfortable with central heating (which would unexpectedly turn out to be very handy) a fireplace, kitchenette, and full bath with tub.

So about that heat--you may notice that we are all basically wearing the same clothes in all of these pictures. As it turned out, the weather forecast was adjusted downward by about 10 degrees between the time we packed (Friday night) and the time we arrived (Sunday.) We only brought one sweatshirt each, and ended up wearing them pretty much every day. Not that I'm complaining--the weather was truly lovely no warmer than mid-60, and we were warm at night (mid-30s!) in our cozy cabin. We just weren't quite prepared.

We headed out to Mt. Rushmore right away the next morning and were pleasantly surprised to discover that the road we took offered spectacular views along the way. There were three places where they'd blasted tunnels to put the road through, and as you entered, you could see the faces of Rushmore perfectly framed through the tunnel. Stunning!

First view from entrance to the Hall of Flags

Did you know that the sculpture originally
was supposed to be more than just the faces?

Friendly fellow tourist took a family shot,
but didn't get the mountain.

John got us all.

 The boys were a good age for this experience--old enough to hike around the full path and even have some interest in the museum display in the artist's studio, and young enough not to dismiss it all in pre-teen angst. We'd read several books about Mount Rushmore in the weeks leading up to the trip, so they were excited to see the real thing.

From there it was down to the city of Keystone for lunch and a few other tourist stops including the Big Thunder Gold Mine and the Alpine Slide. Our mine tour group was small enough that the guide (a college student studying to be a history teacher who reminded me a lot of my cousin Mike) let the boys climb into the cart for a picture.

 He also knew just what details to emphasize--ask them about the "honey cart." Then there was panning for gold afterward and we did manage to come away with a few flakes as souvenirs.

Kind of regretting not buying these

After mining, we headed up the street a bit to the Rushmore Alpine slide. You ride a chair lift up and then careen down on a flimsy scooter--whee! Edward was old enough to ride solo, but we did not inform him of this. He and John rode first and then captured a picture of Daniel's and my descent. Good fun for all!

 

Then it was back to the cabin to wait for our Chuckwagon dinner departure. Daniel fell asleep on the way, which was good, but then we saw our first buffalo in the park and our excitement woke him up, which was not. I tried to tell him that the buffalo woke him, but he said, "No, Mom. YOU woke me up." I consoled myself with how much worse it would have been if he found out he'd missed seeing them. If we'd known how many more we would see (he "counted" 183 over the three days) we would have tried to keep a little quieter about it.

Different buffalo sighting--stopped to wait for them to cross the road.

The Chuckwagon Dinner involved a hayride to an open valley (billed as "closed to the public; open only to dinner guests) where a steak or burger dinner was served at picnic tables while two singer/guitarists entertained us with country/Americana music. The musicians also entertained during the hayride, which lasted an hour. John was aghast to discover the next day that the wagon ride was an hour by design, not necessity as we happened to drive past the access road to the private valley mere minutes from our lodge departure point.

All guests were issued hats and bandannas, which were more popular with some members of our group than others. Daniel very kindly gave his bandanna to the son of the singer when they were all playing cowboys after dinner. But we're pretty sure that three bandannas and four hats will carry us through.

After that busy day, we were very glad for our cozy cabin and slept well.

Ahead of the trip, John and I talked about the "divide and conquer" method of preserving family harmony. On our last trip, this meant splitting two-and-two, but this time we were able to give John a few hours of actual vacation respite (quiet reading time) when the boys and I took a horseback trail ride. By sheer luck, we were the only guests on our ride and had two guides assigned to us--one to lead and the other at the side, which was very helpful when Edward dropped his reins when his horse (Wild Bill) suddenly lowered his head for a tasty grass snack.

I was never so proud as when the guide observed, "Wow, I've never seen kids who talk as much about pee and poop as your boys!" Well, I mean, those horses weren't very modest after all.

Daniel insisted that this was NOT his first time riding a horse, because he once rode in a pony ring at a church carnival in Skokie, IL. I did not try to argue the point. First time or not, they were both thrilled with the experience. They did not seem to feel the same posterior effects as I did, this being my first horseback since my scouting days 30 years ago (oy!) I also found the stirrup forced my knee to an uncomfortable angle. But all in all, a great experience.

Luckily, our afternoon plans called for a trip to Hot Springs to visit Evan's Plunge, a spring-fed indoor pool/water park. Good fun, warm water, strange time-capsule-ish place. (No pictures)

On the way back we thought about visiting Crazy Horse, but decided to make a u-turn and leave rather than paying the $27 entrance fee. We knew we didn't have the time or energy to make it worthwhile, though we acknowledge that our fee would have supported ongoing efforts to complete the monument.

We stopped in the town of Custer for groceries before heading back into the park for our cookout dinner. It was still quite chilly, but took the opportunity of this long stretch back at the cabin to make use of the guest laundry and wash the jeans and sweatshirts we'd been wearing for three straight days. The fire kept us warm.

The next day it was time to pack up and start the trek back toward home. We ate a big breakfast at the lodge and then headed out via the "wildlife loop" in Custer State Park, which turned out to be more "loop" than "wildlife." We saw a few more animals, but ultimately, probably would have preferred a more direct route. Full of pancakes and french toast, the boys did not appreciate the winding road.

We headed back up to Rapid City, where a few more tourist stops awaited including, Bear Country U.S.A., which is essentially a drive-thru zoo. This is where you can be quite glad that we've moved beyond the days of slide projectors and endless vacation reels. These three photos are a mere fraction of those we took, all of us fascinated by the opportunity to be so near to these huge animals. Edward and Daniel took turns taking pictures out their windows, passing Edward's Nintendo DS back and forth depending on which side had a better view. Edward will be happy to show these to any interested viewers.

From there, it was on to Storybook Island, a very nice park built and supported by the Rapid City Rotary. Even though it was lunch time, the boys were more interested in playing than eating the picnic we packed so they tumbled through the park discovering all the nursery rhyme and fairy tale themed playthings.

Daniel tumbling with Jack & Jill

Boys climbing on Pete's Dragon

Daniel assaulting Mary, whose lamb seems unconcerned

Crooked boys in the crooked house

Self-portrait by Daniel

By mid-afternoon we were ready for our final destination--our overnight hotel with its attached water park. This was where John took his turn solo with the boys while I enjoyed the quiet room (and opportunity search for and reserve the next night's hotel in Omaha, which I'd neglected to do before departure. Details, details.)

The water park was a HUGE hit, even after having been to one the day before. Edward was happiest pulling himself along on this rope climber with floating pads, though he took a fair number of turns down the slides.

Daniel was ALL about sliding, racing up the three story stair tower each time he extricated himself from the splash pool. He had no use for the "kids slide" area, though before I got there, they did take a few turns down those smaller slides, including one that slid through the adjoining restaurant (very good planning to limit that exposure to kids only; you know the adult views would surely put people off their appetites!)

 

 

Water park aftermath

It was quite an effort to get up and out as early as we needed to the next morning to have time for a stop in the Badlands before heading all the way across South Dakota for our planned dinner with John's cousins in Omaha. Have I mentioned how WIDE South Dakota is? O.M.G. Thank goodness for the 75 mph speed limit (which may or may not have been strictly observed.)

The Badlands were quite stunning and the boys really enjoyed climbing on the rock formations. We definitely would have spent more time if we'd stopped on the first day instead of the last. We did beg the forgiveness of our generous cousins who held off on their own dinner while waiting for us to get there about an hour after our original plan. (We'd called from the road with updates.)


Over the course of the trip, we kept an eye out for license plates. Daniel has a particular interest and often points out non-Iowa plates at home. Aunt Nora got him this game for Christmas last year (at my suggestion) and he was quite pleased with how many we found. (Full disclosure, by the end of the trip, I was the only one still playing.)

All but Hawaii, Alabama, Vermont, Maine,
Rhode Island, Delaware and Washington, D.C.

All said, it was a great vacation, with lots of memories we hope will last. Many friends recalled their own childhood trips fondly when we told them where we'd been and said they'd like to go again with their kids. Here's hoping Daniel and Edward feel the same in 30 years.