Slide Rock

We drove a long time yesterday in order to be near Slide Rock State Park today.  It was worth it.  The water was freezing and the rocks very slippery--just the thing to slide down on a very hot day.  It got up to 94 degrees at the park today.  A bit hot for us chickens, but the cold water helped! 

We took a short walk at Griffin's Spring before heading back to the hotel, and everyone napped or rested until dinner time.  We couldn't talk most of us into having dinner at the restaurant with singing waiters and a 6 oz. sirloin on the kids' menu, but went to historic downtown and found burgers instead.  Elise said it was the best burger she had ever had.  They were served on an English muffin.  Karl took me to a yarn store afterward, and I found my souvenir yarn for the trip.

cliff dwellings

The train

Here are some train pictures from yesterday.  We had perfect fall weather for the trip, and beautiful colors in the mountains.  It's a little dry, though, and we tire easily.  We are learning to carry lots of water along with us.

After stopping at Mesa Verde most of the day today, we did a long push in the car and are now in Flagstaff.  Tomorrow we want to see Sliding Rock State Park--I hear it's fun, and the kids are looking forward to playing in water.

We made it

Not much to report on yesterday's happenings.  We were in airports a lot, buying expensive airport snacks and gum, but now we are in the southwest.  We flew into Albuquerque, and after picking up the minivan (a minivan!) and having a large late lunch (mmmm, sopapillos!), we drove up to Durango.  It's a tourist town, on a Saturday, with a festival, but Karl managed to snag us a hotel for a couple of days anyway.  Today we ride the the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, so there should be some interesting pictures to post tonight.  Stay tuned...

souvenirs

When we were kids, my extended family used to go on a fishing trip together to some small cabins in northern MN.  Sometimes on the way there or home, if they were crazy enough to choose this route,  my parents would take us to...Treasure City.  It was absolutely fabulous.  The glitz and glamor of Hollywood was nothing compared to the shelves of colorful trinkets, toys, beads, and baubles that were available in this paradise.  (I was always enamored by the old-fashioned moccasins with leather soles and fringe.  And  I once brought home a green rabbit's foot on a key chain that I thought was the bee's knees for the longest time.  Don't tell Elise about that.)

So now that we are about to embark on another family vacation, we have been thinking about what we'd like to  bring home for souvenirs.  We none of us, except Elise, really like to have stuff laying around just to have it.  As we pass through all the gift shops we will likely encounter, what exactly do we want to pay for and bring home?  Here's our list so far:

- yarn, of course  (I made a hat with the Greece yarn--I think about the ocean there everytime I put it on.)
- refrigerator magnet
- T-shirts for Karl, Albin, and Elise
- playing cards (We bought some to play at an outdoor cafe in Athens while it was raining one afternoon.  The tables were covered by a large tent, but it was wet and breezy enough that after a few hands of rummy we gave up and put them away.  Now when we play them at home, they are a fun reminder of that trip--and we all like getting the card that shows the crazy vampire cat.)
- postcards (I hope to send most of these out, actually.)
- Christmas ornament (Our carousel horse from Ohio fell out of the tree last year and shattered.  Sadness ensued.)

In a stroke of good timing, I finally read this article in the New York Times about a woman who downsized to 100 objects.  We don't want to bring anything home that we won't use or love...preferably both....

The new curtains are up--yay!  Karl had time yesterday to implement 'the fix,' which involved extra wood, glue, drills, screws, clamps, etc.  The hem is very long, so someday when we replace the sink and countertop, I'll be able to lengthen the curtains accordingly.  Anyone know a good place to get a porcelain farmhouse sink?  I have a few ideas, but I'm open to suggestions.  Oh, and Karl absolutely puts his foot down about installing a pump faucet (if I could even find one).  He says I can fix the old stove, but no humongous cast iron faucet sitting by the side of the sink. ...I'll take the stove.

Albin and I made dinner last night.  He found a great recipe in Cook's Illustrated that involved chicken breasts, bacon, and a rosemary garlic sauce made with the chicken stock and bacon grease.  Of course it was delicious.  Elise only had an infinitesimal taste and declared that she could taste the pepper (there were a few shakes from the dispenser into the flour which dredged the chicken before cooking).  We told her that now we know for sure that she is a princess, so we'd better not even try to put peas under the mattress : ). 

We also made cookies while dinner was cooking, so I got out my very special cookie jar to use.  This jar sat in my Grandma Rosella's kitchen for many years, and I associate it with fond memories of my grandparents and visiting their house.  Now it is time for my kids to have good memories with it, so we will actually put cookies in it....and be very careful when getting the cookies out.

I also had to take a picture of the dining room table because it's been weeks since we've seen the surface, the whole surface, and nothing but the surface.  In nice weather, we usually eat out on the porch, and when rearranging the dining room so much, of course we put all the misc. items on the large, handy, horizontal top.  So we haven't had dinner at the table in quite awhile.  To celebrate, we got out the good china and glasses, and lit  all the candles currently in a holder (eleven).  It was so bright, you could almost see to eat by.

Return of the Nook

Karl, Elise, and I had breakfast together in the new nook this morning.  She got out of bed just in time; Albin was still asleep.  Then Karl took the nasty shutters out of the kitchen before he left for work.  They were put in to hide the underbelly of the sink, but gracious, could they get dirty!  And I was inspired by that book to sew some lovely fabric curtains to take their place.  I had just enough 30s reproduction fabric in my stash to do the job.  Now the only trick is to hang it up.  The brackets temporarily defeated me tonight, but I have a new plan which I shall try tomorrow.  (Someday I hope to replace the sink with a porcelain farmhouse style.  I'd better carry measurements with me in case I see one at a sale or flea market someday.)

I finished my two pairs of socks that I knit for our trip, and with a week to spare.  I was hoping to make a sweater to bring along, too, but realized awhile ago that there wasn't enough time.  At least I have socks : ).  The last pair I made for myself (a year ago) stretched in the wash and fit Karl perfectly ever after. 

A nook!

I finally made a nook in the kitchen!  I have longed for such a thing for many a day.  I browsed a book from the library called 500 Kitchen Ideas, and was finally inspired to give the refrigerator the boot.  Who needs that in the kitchen when there could be antique tables, crafting, and tea with family?  We brought up (Great) Uncle Gust's table from the basement, spread Mom's tablecloth on it, and Bob's Your Uncle!  (Karl, that is proper usage of the phrase, though I have never seen it in print, so maybe it is not all capitalized.)  I have one or two more ideas for the kitchen up my sleeve as well...stay tuned... 

We have been taken in lately with the bright lights, glitz, and glamor of Waldorf school.  Elise actually went to school there for three days last week to try it out.  We then had a  difficult time deciding if she would go to school for year.  She liked it, but was not so enthusiastic that the inconvenience and expense of it made school worthwhile.  By Monday night, she no longer had any doubts that she wanted to stay home.  Since that's what Karl and I preferred as well, it works out.  If she wants to go to school another year, we'll think about it then.

In other news, this is the sock yarn that I dyed in at the fiber arts class I took last weekend.  It's self-striping, which has to be pretty precise.  I am not the queen of precise, so I was amazed that it turned out so well.  And look at how long that skein is! 

The last picture shows something that could not have happened on a 'school' night.  Elise and I were crafting in bed (making felt puppets) after 10:00.  Clover had to join us and makes things even cozier.

sharing breakfast

ladder ball at family camp

candle dipping at family camp

the gaga pit at, you guessed it, family camp

new internet radio--with alarm!

changes

Well, I'm not quite sure how to say this since I still feel guilty about it, so I'll just go ahead.  We traded in Othello.  He was starting to nip Elise, and he never really liked being held, even when we could catch him.  Elise was hoping for a snuggly animal, and poor Othello just wasn't it.  Maybe our expectations were too high, or we let him be too dominant, but things were heading in the wrong direction.  Jean, the pet store owner, had the perfect bunny for Elise, so we switched them.  Jean really wants everyone to have the right pet.  Tiny is the most darling little bunny.  He licks Elise's nose, likes to be held, and eats while sitting on her.  He almost fell asleep with her in bed one night.  So we thought maybe we should get Othello back and let him be himself, and Tiny can be the snuggle bunny.  Jean asked if we would take Spike instead, if we wanted another bunny for Tiny.  Spike and Tiny were housed together in the store and were best friends.  So here they are:

This is the new cage we built out of shelving cubes.  It still needs some padding on the shelves so they don't hurt their feet, but it's pretty roomy.

The only sad thing is that Spike has attacked Tiny three times while they are out and running around the living room.  Now we are only letting out one of them at a time, so we'll see how that goes.

On another note, school in town has officially started.  (We could finally go to Target to get a few things without a crowd.)   Elise and I attended the unschooling not-back-to-school picnic, and Albin went on a field trip to learn about traffic engineering.  The rest of their classes start in the next one to three weeks, then I'll be in the car all the time.  Good thing I have some knitting projects started!