Our family and myself have recently been going through some "challenges."
Isn't that a lollipop way of describing circumstances, situations, emotions and general bad luck that have sucked you into a dark and angry hell of existence. There is a lot of poetic language that covers that very moment of life when mist, clouds, smoke make what was once light dark. Knotted and chained to negativity of all types damns the soul and incapacitates regular movement.
The hopeful pinnacle of such voided periods is a break - a beam through that breathes of freedom. Although our collective family breaths have been halting and hesitant (no deep sighs of relief yet folks), we are managing to survive and most recently seem to have signaled a beam that will burn off the fog.
Creating a point of focus is the newest laser technique for slicing through this vault. And now to slash the poetic vibe and get to a jargon more accessible: We recently sat down and made a family Purpose Statement.
Similar to what companies do in creating a motto or goal statement that directs the progress and market plan of their company, a family purpose statement's design is to visualize the future and guide the present to maximize on resources. Streamline and simplify family life.
I have been intrigued by the idea of a family Goal statement of Purpose Statement, or Family Motto. It is rather vogue in parenting books and family communication modules. I've thought of it quite a bit yet knew I would need Josh to be adequately motivated to jump on the hay ride. We reached that point of action and have spent some rather meaningful nights discussing and refining what each of us individually and us collectively believe to be the highest priorities for this family. After all, we created this family and had best take control of it before things get too crazy out of our dominion.
Josh and I went through a few exercises recommended by one source to help direct our thoughts in thinking not only of the present but the future. We examined where our family strengths and weaknesses are. We defined values and principles that guide our conduct and envisioned what our family would be like in 10 years and 30 years. From that set of answers we pulled out common threads. Rather than unravelling our thoughts altogether, the new tapestry that we built together resulted in the following Family Constitution (Josh requested that we title it a Constitution rather than a Purpose Statement so that it would be more binding and official...whateve):
We, the Button Family, believe that our purpose as a family is to Welcome and Nurture and individual's growth. We will accomplish this by:
- valuing optimism, love, and agency as our main guiding principles.
-making our home a place of warmth
-prioritizing "Becoming" above lesser values
and
-interacting with others in a spirit of Christ.
Key words come out such as 'becoming', warmth, optimism, agency, and nurture as very specific to our family and what that word embodies. For example, to us, warmth embodies acceptance, compassion, care, support, unity, happiness, protection, and uplifting. Likewise the other terms were selected based on all they carried in a positive way for our family's future.
Remarkably, after the almost week that it took for us to finalize our constitution, once written, our outlook and drive for the following days has been better specified. It has given force to schedules and plans for the immediate future. Most importantly, it has synchronized Josh and I's basic premise upon which we are moving this family. We are focused. Almost like a lazer beam. It is light, and light again is very very refreshing.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Daily Learning OR Learning Daily : Phonics vs Whole Word
Amazedly - we are beginning the restful regain of our daily routines. With that comes some of the loveliest learning of all - learning about learning.
Today while reading and writing with the kids in our own sporadic program I was traying to just observe strengths and weaknesses. I have been trying to find a good home-school curriculum that will best fit my kids and help them soar in their abilities. I have found one that I love (looking at for the time being) for it's basis and emphasis on phonics. Yet, while working with Viv I finally realized the crux of the debate about Phonics vs Whole Word reading training.
If you follow education you will run smack into the middle of the debate over phonics and whole word reading styles. Whole word is also know as 'sight word' reading. The debate has gotten more heated since the infamous 'No Child Left Behind' mandate in education. Here's why (from my viewpoint):
Once the government mandated that there be a national standard for reading - teaching nation wide changed. The emphasis switched from the process of learning to the product of learning. And if you can reach the product faster - all the better for the national standard. Not to mention, but slightly, the fact that more of the overall teaching days were being eaten up in testing days to measure said set standard. A lot of public systems jumped to the 'whole word' approach of reading. In this method children become familiarized with a written word such as CAT and know that it represents the animal with fur and a tail that lays in the sun lazily all day long. They can memorized the shape and length of the word without actually having to sound it out to figure out what it is. This method works great with younger kids because they have a strong association memory with images. Before you know it your 1st grade class can read to 'standard' with only having to had drilled on flashcards with pictures.
I have naturally shied away from the 'whole word' approach because of its problems that present later in a kids life - that point around 14-16 when word recognition fails, they start to fail, and someone gets labeled with a disorder that really just means 'problem reading.' The labels are distructive and the kid is just lost. All's they needed early on where a few tools to know how to put words together, also known as Phonics. Phonics (or phonemes singular) are the sounds that each letter makes in any given language. As they go through the alphabet it doesn't nesecarily matter what the name of A is but rather that it makes the sound of someone being surprised and exclaming 'AHHHHH!" in most cases that it appears. Thus when coming upon the word CAT the child reads "Ckkkk"- "Ahhhhh"- "tttt" then run the sounds together until they hear the word CAT. I don't rightly know how the Phonics approach to teaching reading disappeared. I can't see why it would be harder to teach except that you do need to teach the majority of the phonemes prior to a child ever reading a word. Yet, once they get how to blend the phonemes together then they can read pretty much any word.
Bottom line is, all kids learn different, especially early on. Personally I have been more drawn to phonics and a latin based grammar system but today I started so see that I might need to draw in more sight words, or at least sight training. Here's the scenario that caught my eye:
Viv has been a wiz at learning the phonemes. She will catch herself when sounding out a word if she mis-sounds a letter. She can articulately put together a word with distinct sounds. The weird thing has been putting together a whole string of words in a simple sentence. She will get each word individually but by the time she has it the 3rd word she can't remember the other words she read because she has been so intent on the current set of letters. I have been attributing a lot of this to ADD symptoms (which we are still testing through a first diagnosis and wish to follow up with more testing...and that is a whole other story). Inattention to one word or fish like memory were the likely culprits. Nevertheless I was not willing to let it rest quite yet.
We were stuck on a sentence that she had not only identified every word in, but had just finished tracing and writing herself. She had used all learning styles with this sentence: kynisthetic, auditory, and visual. Reasoning says she should remember it. The sentence was "I CAN BAT A BIG BALL." She would sometimes trip on I making it's sound, which was just not paying attention. She always got CAN but tripped constantly on BAT. That one stumped me. BAT was the crux of the sentence - the verb, the action word that makes the rest of the sentence make sense. If the sentence was making sense to her at all. We kept going through and repeating various parts of the sentence always returning to BAT which was rarely remember as a whole word. She could sound it out each time, but just couldn't remember what that word was. Hmmph. Maybe she needed some drills with whole word?
I sat down next with Viv and pulled out some sight word flash cards we had. I wondered if I showed the word with the picture she would remember the shape of the word better. We had five words: RUG, PEN, TEN, HIT and WEB. Each word had similar shapes, except RUG. I worked with repetitive patterns or just one word with pictures. Sure, there was a lot evident of the inattentive issues yet there seemed to be a bit more of recognition of the word without having to sound it out after the first 15 minutes. She was recognizing the word shapes and allowing herself to trust her eyes instead of having to hear it with her ears (which, by the way, Viv is totally an auditory learner, if she can hear it she can remember it, the kind of child that can repeat the lyrics to a song after hearing it once). Her best word: RUG. I have to surmise because it looked more different than the rest.
I tested the same method with both Danny and Faith as they came in curious as to what was taking so much time with Viv. Faith thought it dull after reading through once and asked why I was repeating the same words (super visual child). She had memorized them after going through once. Yes, nine months more in age helps a lot. Danny got the words by the second time and relied a lot more on the pictures but then got lazy (as is his high fault with learning - motivation) if asked to do it twice. Then I went back to Viv - it was as if she had never seen the words before. She was more intent on checking on my reaction to her performance than testing her own intellect. Huh.
We ended our time learning together and then my learning started. This whole Phonics vs Whole Word thing was a puzzlement. I rolled it around in my brain for awhile until I remembered a similar debate that had been clarified for me once having children - Nature vs. Nurture. Prior to being a mother I could logically say that one side of the argument was more predominate, although never admit to just adhering to just once. Once having my own children I recognized that pitting one against the other in any philosophical realm was ridiculous. If you are having to choose one or the other you are missing the symetrey of using both - as they are BOTH right. Could it be that Phonics vs. Whole Word was just another teaching philosophy that was jumbling up what should BOTH rightly be used to teach a child to read?
My conclusion is YES. Yet again being a mother has taught me more about educational pedagogy than I ever learned in a college course for education. I won't say that the people that have come to such conclusive studies as to affirm that one is better than the other are foolish dummies - but I would put a bit of money on the statistic that none of them were mothers to multiple children. I have been schooled by my children better than any professor. Although, I must thank them for even introducing me to the contrasting contexts of teaching a child to read - otherwise I wouldn't have had anything to keep my brain occupied for 2 miles of treadmill running.
Today while reading and writing with the kids in our own sporadic program I was traying to just observe strengths and weaknesses. I have been trying to find a good home-school curriculum that will best fit my kids and help them soar in their abilities. I have found one that I love (looking at for the time being) for it's basis and emphasis on phonics. Yet, while working with Viv I finally realized the crux of the debate about Phonics vs Whole Word reading training.
Once the government mandated that there be a national standard for reading - teaching nation wide changed. The emphasis switched from the process of learning to the product of learning. And if you can reach the product faster - all the better for the national standard. Not to mention, but slightly, the fact that more of the overall teaching days were being eaten up in testing days to measure said set standard. A lot of public systems jumped to the 'whole word' approach of reading. In this method children become familiarized with a written word such as CAT and know that it represents the animal with fur and a tail that lays in the sun lazily all day long. They can memorized the shape and length of the word without actually having to sound it out to figure out what it is. This method works great with younger kids because they have a strong association memory with images. Before you know it your 1st grade class can read to 'standard' with only having to had drilled on flashcards with pictures.
I have naturally shied away from the 'whole word' approach because of its problems that present later in a kids life - that point around 14-16 when word recognition fails, they start to fail, and someone gets labeled with a disorder that really just means 'problem reading.' The labels are distructive and the kid is just lost. All's they needed early on where a few tools to know how to put words together, also known as Phonics. Phonics (or phonemes singular) are the sounds that each letter makes in any given language. As they go through the alphabet it doesn't nesecarily matter what the name of A is but rather that it makes the sound of someone being surprised and exclaming 'AHHHHH!" in most cases that it appears. Thus when coming upon the word CAT the child reads "Ckkkk"- "Ahhhhh"- "tttt" then run the sounds together until they hear the word CAT. I don't rightly know how the Phonics approach to teaching reading disappeared. I can't see why it would be harder to teach except that you do need to teach the majority of the phonemes prior to a child ever reading a word. Yet, once they get how to blend the phonemes together then they can read pretty much any word.
Bottom line is, all kids learn different, especially early on. Personally I have been more drawn to phonics and a latin based grammar system but today I started so see that I might need to draw in more sight words, or at least sight training. Here's the scenario that caught my eye:
Viv has been a wiz at learning the phonemes. She will catch herself when sounding out a word if she mis-sounds a letter. She can articulately put together a word with distinct sounds. The weird thing has been putting together a whole string of words in a simple sentence. She will get each word individually but by the time she has it the 3rd word she can't remember the other words she read because she has been so intent on the current set of letters. I have been attributing a lot of this to ADD symptoms (which we are still testing through a first diagnosis and wish to follow up with more testing...and that is a whole other story). Inattention to one word or fish like memory were the likely culprits. Nevertheless I was not willing to let it rest quite yet.
We were stuck on a sentence that she had not only identified every word in, but had just finished tracing and writing herself. She had used all learning styles with this sentence: kynisthetic, auditory, and visual. Reasoning says she should remember it. The sentence was "I CAN BAT A BIG BALL." She would sometimes trip on I making it's sound, which was just not paying attention. She always got CAN but tripped constantly on BAT. That one stumped me. BAT was the crux of the sentence - the verb, the action word that makes the rest of the sentence make sense. If the sentence was making sense to her at all. We kept going through and repeating various parts of the sentence always returning to BAT which was rarely remember as a whole word. She could sound it out each time, but just couldn't remember what that word was. Hmmph. Maybe she needed some drills with whole word?
I sat down next with Viv and pulled out some sight word flash cards we had. I wondered if I showed the word with the picture she would remember the shape of the word better. We had five words: RUG, PEN, TEN, HIT and WEB. Each word had similar shapes, except RUG. I worked with repetitive patterns or just one word with pictures. Sure, there was a lot evident of the inattentive issues yet there seemed to be a bit more of recognition of the word without having to sound it out after the first 15 minutes. She was recognizing the word shapes and allowing herself to trust her eyes instead of having to hear it with her ears (which, by the way, Viv is totally an auditory learner, if she can hear it she can remember it, the kind of child that can repeat the lyrics to a song after hearing it once). Her best word: RUG. I have to surmise because it looked more different than the rest.
I tested the same method with both Danny and Faith as they came in curious as to what was taking so much time with Viv. Faith thought it dull after reading through once and asked why I was repeating the same words (super visual child). She had memorized them after going through once. Yes, nine months more in age helps a lot. Danny got the words by the second time and relied a lot more on the pictures but then got lazy (as is his high fault with learning - motivation) if asked to do it twice. Then I went back to Viv - it was as if she had never seen the words before. She was more intent on checking on my reaction to her performance than testing her own intellect. Huh.
We ended our time learning together and then my learning started. This whole Phonics vs Whole Word thing was a puzzlement. I rolled it around in my brain for awhile until I remembered a similar debate that had been clarified for me once having children - Nature vs. Nurture. Prior to being a mother I could logically say that one side of the argument was more predominate, although never admit to just adhering to just once. Once having my own children I recognized that pitting one against the other in any philosophical realm was ridiculous. If you are having to choose one or the other you are missing the symetrey of using both - as they are BOTH right. Could it be that Phonics vs. Whole Word was just another teaching philosophy that was jumbling up what should BOTH rightly be used to teach a child to read?
My conclusion is YES. Yet again being a mother has taught me more about educational pedagogy than I ever learned in a college course for education. I won't say that the people that have come to such conclusive studies as to affirm that one is better than the other are foolish dummies - but I would put a bit of money on the statistic that none of them were mothers to multiple children. I have been schooled by my children better than any professor. Although, I must thank them for even introducing me to the contrasting contexts of teaching a child to read - otherwise I wouldn't have had anything to keep my brain occupied for 2 miles of treadmill running.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Another type of call-back list OR tooting my own horn a bit
I have been nominated for an AriZoni award for Best Actress in a non-Contracted musical!
It is a stunning feeling. The AirZoni's are the state of Arizona's equivalent of the Tony Awards. Despite the debate among actors in the area as to fairness and viability, I think everyone secretly feels that they would like to be nominated. It is has been a little secret in my heart when I started out acting in Arizona.
It may not be the case for all actresses, but as for me, I suffer from a minor case of self-doubt. Obviously I have enough confidence in my ability to get up on stage and do as directed, but I have never known for sure if others' compliments were for real. I really try my best in each role and have been really humbled by the few times I have received a majorly good role. Even when viewing a call back list I get the mixed feeling of 'oh yeah sure of course I got that part' and 'really? are you sure you want me?' All through the process I fight the two sides of that confidence coin. When it comes to reckoning day, or 'payday,' all I have really wanted is to hear the register ring. This nomination is a sweet bell indeed.
I suppose, more than anything it is nice to not only be seen, but to be seen by colleagues as being valuable as well. And it is humbling. I see the long list of other actresses I know in that list and think Wow! I'm on the same list.
Being Anna was an awesome experience indeed. I loved every minute of that character. I loved working with Tom (also nominated for Zoni for best actor as the King). I was so happy to be working with Copperstar again/for the last time. Ah. it was the 'best time they ever know!'
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Extra Non-Working Working Time
After Josh's shift on Sunday July 15th Josh was informed that he was being let go from his position at the Emergency Department at Parkview Medical. It was startling. He couldn't sleep all night and was only comforted by a priesthood blessing given by the Elder missionaries ensuring that all would be okay.
In God's good graces, Josh was able to phone me the next day while I was still in Utah to tell me the news. With distance, and still a vacation mindset, I was able to reassure Josh that losing his job was okay. It was a strange conversation as went through the timeline of how this happened after we had just thought coming out of his training period that he was secured in his job. In the end, there was a board meeting in the which the votes against him out weighed his supporters. However strange and unsettling, it was understandable. After a bit of thought, we were even grateful for their decision.
We moved to IN so Josh could try out work in the ER. It was a specialty he had always looked at as exciting and a great learning experience. So it was. But all that excitement pared with a steep learning curve and some extremely demanding physicians turned into one of the most harrowing times of our life together. I noticed how the stress seemed to be eating on Josh like a Harry Potter deamontor. What was left of him after work was not enough to give back to his wife or kids. However, as Josh is a phenomenal provider for our family, he would have stuck to it to the death to keep a roof over our head. In a very succinct way, God was able to show us that this job was not the one for us. Job ended.
The past three weeks have been interesting. We have evaluated, prayed, fasted, discussed and searched each day hoping to make the better decision for our family and a career. Thankfully, Josh's skills are highly marketable and we knew that with savings, food storage, and an open mind we would not be out of a job long. Josh starts next week on a temp job for the next 30 days as the search continues. If we were ready to move we could have a full time job by the end of that, but we are still hoping to find something here that would enable us to stay a bit longer in this house. Still, open minded about everything we have no concrete idea of what the future holds. The one assurance is that it is held in the Lord's hand.
Thus together we have been getting a lot accomplished around the house (more than Josh did while I was away from 3.5 weeks). The kids have been in Zoo camp this past week and what a blessing that either Momma or Dad or both can attend with them each day! I love the time with Josh at home for meals and bedtime routines. Although weird, all this time together is great! Admittedly, I had my apprehensions about how it would be, all for naught. Everything works out in the Lord's own time in His own way. Our job is just to keep having faith and working along.
In God's good graces, Josh was able to phone me the next day while I was still in Utah to tell me the news. With distance, and still a vacation mindset, I was able to reassure Josh that losing his job was okay. It was a strange conversation as went through the timeline of how this happened after we had just thought coming out of his training period that he was secured in his job. In the end, there was a board meeting in the which the votes against him out weighed his supporters. However strange and unsettling, it was understandable. After a bit of thought, we were even grateful for their decision.
We moved to IN so Josh could try out work in the ER. It was a specialty he had always looked at as exciting and a great learning experience. So it was. But all that excitement pared with a steep learning curve and some extremely demanding physicians turned into one of the most harrowing times of our life together. I noticed how the stress seemed to be eating on Josh like a Harry Potter deamontor. What was left of him after work was not enough to give back to his wife or kids. However, as Josh is a phenomenal provider for our family, he would have stuck to it to the death to keep a roof over our head. In a very succinct way, God was able to show us that this job was not the one for us. Job ended.
The past three weeks have been interesting. We have evaluated, prayed, fasted, discussed and searched each day hoping to make the better decision for our family and a career. Thankfully, Josh's skills are highly marketable and we knew that with savings, food storage, and an open mind we would not be out of a job long. Josh starts next week on a temp job for the next 30 days as the search continues. If we were ready to move we could have a full time job by the end of that, but we are still hoping to find something here that would enable us to stay a bit longer in this house. Still, open minded about everything we have no concrete idea of what the future holds. The one assurance is that it is held in the Lord's hand.
Thus together we have been getting a lot accomplished around the house (more than Josh did while I was away from 3.5 weeks). The kids have been in Zoo camp this past week and what a blessing that either Momma or Dad or both can attend with them each day! I love the time with Josh at home for meals and bedtime routines. Although weird, all this time together is great! Admittedly, I had my apprehensions about how it would be, all for naught. Everything works out in the Lord's own time in His own way. Our job is just to keep having faith and working along.
A lot of bit of vacation
For three weeks - three great weeks, the kids and I escaped to Idaho. I do mean escaped; we left on a Thursday morning and by that very afternoon a neighbor called to tell me that a tornado had just ripped through our neighborhood. She sent me a photo of the massive trees uprooted right down the street from our house. Since Josh was at work, she was gracious to stop by our home and make sure nothing was damaged. Our house went unscathed.
Although travel may seem grueling - it certainly felt better to be in an air-conditioned car while Josh explained to me that for 5 days straight how the hottest wave had just settled into Fort Wayne and there had not yet been any power restored to our home. While he was sweating in the basement and going into work early for air-conditioning, we traveled to the cool west.
Truth is, traveling with my kids is awesome! We did invite along some traveling companions, Jenna with her two kids age 1 and 2 which made the ride different that we normally would take. We surprised ourselves by making the trip across the mid-west in two and a half days! I had anticipated at least four, but as long as the kids were happy, we kept traveling. I had been a bit anxious about having all three of the kids right up against each other in the back seat, but that turned out to be just fine. We stopped a lot for potty stops so it never seemed to long of a stretch. The allure of staying in hotels and eating at restaurants --- with the added bonus of seeing cousins at the cabin very soon made the trip just great from a kids' point of view. I don't like sitting that much, but all in all it was nice. Thanks to the aid of a lot of pretzel sticks I never got too sleepy.
Because we got into town days earlier than expected we got a super special Sunday with our Hancock cousins in Rexburg. I am so very impressed with my nieces and nephews. They are all so polite and caring. I can not even number the many times that the older boys just took Danny under their wing and made him the happiest boy on earth. The girls got along perfectly and each day was just a blessing.
Viv was the Little Mama, always wanting to take care of the babies. That was mostly good, yet as we all know, little kids don't understand yet that they are not quite large enough to counter the weight of a baby in motion. There were several times that we were reminding her of needed space away from the babies face in order for them to process them. On one of the first days that we were at the cabin, Viv was concentrating on baby Dagger, and he was concentrating on something rather in her direction. She quietly tapped me on the leg and said "Momma, I think he is staring at me thinking 'why is her skin brown?'" Ah, well, I laughed and didn't even attempt to dispel that one. 
Thank heavens for the sturdiness of things made in the good ole' days - the jacuzzi tub was saved through the summer flooding in the cabin. Of all the events recorded in photo history of the cabin, I am willing to bet that the bubble bath photos are the most. It is just too cute to see little heads popping out of a see of bubbles. I still like getting in and playing in the bubbles too.
Dress-ups upstairs was a beautiful creation lab for the kids' imagination this year! Cousins came up with millions of different scenarios based off a few simple smocks. Here I believe Viv was some sort of fairy, and looked the part too. Noah was being the most amazing wardrobe helper ever! In fact, I frequently was thanking Noah for being such an amazing helper and friend with my little kids. It made such a difference for me knowing that the kids were really having a good time and being taught great creative ways to play together without me having to hover. It is a new stage of life for me to let the kids go and do their own thing for an hour or more. I get a bit anxious just leaving them to their own devices but am glad to know that I have taught them something right because none of the three has done anything really mischievous or dangerous. I suppose I am going to have to relent sooner or later and let them grow up.
The main event of the whole vacation was Grammie and Grampie Hancock returning from their 23 month mission in the Ukraine. Mom and Dad look amazing; healthy, happy and a bit more silver plaited. I am kinda starting to notice that my Mom and Dad are getting old, which then reflects on me getting old. Of course on the drive down to IF to welcome them at the airport the kiddos fell asleep. Danny and Viv were reluctant to wake much for a joyous welcome, and Faith was just energized by her cousins and gave Mom and Dad a quick hug before running and screeching with her cousins (which I really don't mind, she is just so dang happy with them). Grammie is holding baby Theo in this picture. Although I may not be baby hungry for myself, I sure am nephew hungry! I couldn't get my happy fill of little Dager and Theo (just 19 days apart) while at the cabin. Since my kids were entertained I had plenty of empty arm time to just love on those little guys!
Even though we were on vacation, I did try to keep some order with the kiddos with pitching in to make sure the cabin was clean. One morning while Faith was picking up the dress ups and putting them in the chest, it easily turned into play and she ended up putting herself away. Danny is the BEST helper, always so eager to be your buddy and help out, he loves vacuuming and I got a kick out of his maneuvering the vacuum -seems it is easier to go in a circle than to go back and forth. He left crop circles in the rooms that he vacuumed, what a fine mark to leave. ;)
We spent ample time in Rexburg at the Yellow Brick House helping Grammie and Grampie move back in. Things sure were made to last in the past - that and my parents are excellent at keeping things around. Grampie's quality time is still working and my kids got a taste of what a leisurely afternoon with Dad was like - some sort of yard project. I kept having to remind Dad that my kids were still young and preferred to play, but he did have them all cleaning at one time. The swing Viv is on is really the same plastic swing I swung on as a girl. I was astounded that through the many weathering years that plastic hadn't disintegrated.
With all the 'progress' in and around my childhood home, I was certain to savor the moments and history that was being remade by the mini-me's. It was crazy to see my childhood replayed by my kiddos and I tried to capture some of the tried and true. Yes, as a kid I too got my head stuck between those banister railings. It is rather unfair to think that a kid would remember to go back up to the thin part to get their head unstuck.
I remember hundreds of hours sitting on the downstairs banister just as Faith is in this picture. I used to have conversations (mostly lazy complaining ones that must have been exhausting for Mom) with my Mom while she sat and folded clothes below me. I was generally complaining that I had nothing to do and had no one to play with. Wo is me. Sturdiest banister ever! I sat on that up until I went to college - maybe even with the same sad story of a boring life. ;)
I had been telling the kiddos that we would be riding the carousel in Idaho for months, mostly to divert them from wanting a ride at the certainly overpriced zoo carousel. Nostalgia reigns in Rexburg for the very horse I rode on as a kid remain. I was tickled to see that my kids picked my same favorite horses: the All- American, 
and the Idaho Centennial horse. I didn't pay much attention in grade school, except to Idaho history in the 4th grade. I soaked in all the minutiae about the state and remembered it all! I loved that this horse had a syringa painted on it, our state flower.
Despite the Rexburg winds we let the kids play at the splash park. Danny loved the slides and went down and down and down until the shivering stopped him, then all the kids too breaks to 'solar heat' on the sidewalk. Summers in Rexburg have never been really hot. When we were kids my mom made us wait until it was 75 F until we could play in the sprinklers. The sun warmed sidewalks were our saving grace after that mountain cold water had near frozen us. Still works!
The kids were so happily exhausted that any time I forcibly separated them from their cousins the would konk out. Here Danny fell asleep in the shopping cart on the metal bars and was serenely snoozing while we got supplies. 
A 4th of July favorite tradition, thanks to Aunt Brooke is colorful hair designs. Each year the designs get better and better and it is super fun for all the kids to wear their pride in their hair. Viv's hair looked really slick and sparkly, the best of our bunch, but some of our nephews got some super cool chevron stripes and American flags.
The Rexburg parade is long and totally hometown. There are several entries you can count on each year, which makes it fun. Faith stood most of the parade with at least one of her hands in the air - asking for more candy to be thrown.
Viv just about popped out of her skin when the gymnastics gym came down the road. She is convinced that she will be in the Olympics as a 'gymnastics girl' some day. We gotta lot of work to do in the next 8-12 years! 
Danny liked the parade, but he rather preferred getting a few pieces of candy then sitting back and enjoying it on the blanket with mom while the other kids greedily scrambled for more. He was wise, because the fact is, after half a day, I threw whatever was left away and most everyone only had eaten a few pieces by then. 
The gorgeous trees of our front yard made the perfect afternoon lazy get together on the Fourth. Our trees are pretty much the only ones left on the block. You can tell by the glare in the background of the picture that all the tress on the opposite side of the street have been torn out with construction. I love lush lawns and lovely family on a holiday.
Once back at the cabin, Danny got stuck in a bucket. Bucket seats are kinda like Chinese finger traps for kids. There is a very simple way to get out, you just have to stop fighting it. Danny was half frustrated and half amused by it. The scary funny part was that as soon as he got out, Viv and Faith wanted to get stuck too! Really?
Never mind that the back patio is made out of wood and that this was a drought season - did fireworks as usual. Usual means fast and dodging mosquitoes most of the time. The big boys did manage to start the 2nd ever fire on the island across the canal this year. In the instant the fire started and the next instant when adults needed to be running around to the bridge to get over and put it out, it seems all the kids have already swarmed halfway to the bridge ready to get involved in the fire themselves. I swear we have all done fire drills in our family and told them to get away from fire. Marshall was the first one on the scene and used the fire extinguisher on the blaze. By the time Jamie and I got there with water, Marsh was standing there looking really satisfied and said "I have always wanted to use one of these." The best part was, each of us 'kids' got a bit of a scolding from Dad (Grampie) for not having been more careful. It was almost a replay of about 18 years ago when the last fire got started on the island, only that year Marshal jumped into the canal to get the island and be the first respondent and probably used his then soaked shirt to put out the flames.
The highlight of the trip by far for Danny was fishing. Danny has gone fishing with his Dad tons of times in ponds near our home but they have never caught anything. The first morning Danny went out with the Uncles and big boys he was the first one to catch something on his line. Lucky boy! Thereafter the big boys made sure to get Danny out there fishing with them as their lucky charm, and sure enough he always got something on his line. As part of Malcolm's scouting merit badge they even cooked the catch one night. Danny is surely a fisherman at heart and has the patience for it too. After he hurt his foot and couldn't walk, he would just go out and sit in a chair with the fishing crowd and be happy just observing it all from his spot.
In honor of the Rexburg Whoopee Days Rodeo, I bought my first pair of Wranglers. We try and do Rodeo right with big hats, boots and Barq's rootbeer. I was so happy to finally be able to stay to see the bull riding (which is always the last event at a rodeo) since the kids were old enough to stay awake longer. Irony being, once it got to the bull riding I was bit distracted with getting one of my nephews to sleep. ;) The kids loved every minute of it --- well most of it. Marsh was the big treater that night and paid for all he cousins to ride the mechanical bull, and he and Jill had their turn to which made for plenty of laughs. We Hancocks are more the spectator types for rodeos is all the more that needs said.
A special treat was that our McShane cousins were in Rexburg for a day on a whirlwind road trip. We had an hour or so to walk around BYU-Idaho gardens with them and let the kids get acquainted. I hadn't realized that this was the first time that they all had met Viv in person. She has been part of the family for so long it doesn't occur to me that it is often years in between that we get to see some family members. 
As the week wore on we had a full cabin - completely full with all the Hancock side of cousins. In this little pow-wow there is someone from each of my siblings' family (minus Annmarie and Jill whose kids are much younger, in Jill's case, much much much younger). Again, amazingly, the older kids were happy to direct some of the younger kiddos in creative and imaginative play. Everyone played together for the most part with very few exclusions. A rather miraculous kid environment!
My favorite day by far was the Red-Neck Swimming Club day. We spent hours, and could have spent hours more, of time at the Egin Lakes at the base of the St. Anthony sand dunes. As some people would point out, Egin Lakes is not really a lake, kinda like a really big puddle. The water is never more than 3 feet deep through the whole thing and the bottom is perfectly sandy. Splendid! That meant there was plenty of water space for kids to roam and play and no threat of getting into deep water. On the bank the adults found a fine shady spot and just sat observing all the play, dipping into the water when we wanted. We could play Frisbee in the water, float lazily in tubes or build all sorts of mud works. It was truly paradise. I felt like we owned the place that morning. It wasn't until some other (really nice) people started to invade our shade that we thought about leaving the water front promised land.
The next few days Danny couldn't walk on that owie foot since we flex our big toes with each step and we didn't want to tear the stitches. I was so grateful that it was my boy that had such an inconveniencing injury because he is the most patient and careful of kids. He would sit nicely on the couch and watch his cousins play without complaint and then wait for me to move him to the next spot. Since Danny couldn't do as much up and about play we took the chance to head to the mountains - a bit of a drive but Danny needed to be sitting anyway. Thanks to tourism, there was no need to hike to get a grand view of the mountain tops, we took the tram up to the top of Rendezvous Peak in the Teton range to get a good look at things. It was windy a top which reminded Danny he had to pee and more me couldn't get him to the pot in time. So, we didn't spend as much time atop as I would have liked. I would have loved to stay there all day. The mountain air is more than just refreshing to me - it is soul reviving. I can hardly wait until we get back for more time int he Tetons next year!
Yet another fun no walking adventure in Jackson Hole, Wyoming is the alpine slide. You take the ski lifts up to the top then have a luge like sled to go down the slide. Faith got to ride with Aunt Jill and Viv went with her favorite Uncle Marsh down (so grateful for amazing siblings to help me out while a single momma) while Danny went down with me. It is so fun! The wind blowing in your face and the click of wheels speedy underneath as you lean into the curves is enough to get anyone remembering 'Cool Runnings.' There was nothing but smiles at the bottom and no one broke their lucky egg ;)
There is something about exhausted kids at the end of the day that makes me really really happy. All of their energy is zapped out and the peace of their repose is so innocent. It is marked out Faith is still proper even in sleep and Danny just as flopsy. I couldn't have gotten Viv in one camera frame, for, even in sleep, she is all over the place. I had to tread lightly when going in to check on them in the dark for I never knew if Viv had shifted into the walking space off of her sleeping bag. 
Once all our cousins had left back for home it was a debate as to how much more time to stay at the cabin. My kids were still enjoying the wild fun of the outdoors on giant teeter-totters and over sized swing sets, sticks and snakes and a whole cabin wonderland to themselves. I felt rejuvenated listening to the river and watching the blue heron fish. Alas, we decided to leave so we could spend a few days with Great Grandma in Utah.
Time with the Grandparents Rasmussen was restful. We visited Great-Grandpa Ellis Theo Rasmussen's grave and listened to stories of that humble giant of a man. I wish my kids could have know my Grandparents as well as I did, each one of them has left so an indelible mark on me. I was glad we spent several days in Utah so we could see more of Grandma, now in her 90s, in the little spurts of time over the few days. Viv loved playing the disappearing veins game on Great-Grandma's hands and we had four generations of aging hands there to prove that the older you get the easier it is to see the veins on your hands - which we equated to a badge of service.
My Aunt Paula and Uncle David were our hosts and what great Greats they were for the kids. We took and excursion out to feed the ducks at the park and play on swings as well as lots of time playing with their well stocked toy room.
At the end of it all, we traveled back to IN in a bit more than 3 days. The weather got progressively hotter and muggier as we went East and we missed the desert mountains, but it was good to see signs of home as we got closer. The kids were happy for any rest stop with any sort of play/climbing apparatus and I was happy for a cool breeze and a patch of grass to stretch out on. Our summer vacation was perfect. So perfect I am ready to repeat it now, even with the cross country drive ;)
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