Sometimes life isn't fair. Or perfect. Or easy.
It's one thing to repeat those words and it's another to actually believe them. To celebrate my recent 34th (yikes!) birthday, we traveled down to good ol' Twin Falls to spend a weekend with my Mom and Larry. You know it's never easy to travel with kids and this was no exception. Hours before we left it was the usual:
Finish packing frenzy, Does everyone have what they need, Are the kids packed, Are the dogs packed, What time can Lucas leave work, My "Service Engine Soon" light came on, Do we have enough food and entertainment for the drive, Our neighbor with dementia issues put out a nice bicycle for the trash so hurry up and call her family to let them know and then run out to grab it out of the hands of the trash man, I forgot my sunglasses, Can we make it there in time for dinner?
Deep breath. We made it to Twin Falls safely and sanely and just in time for a wonderful dinner. The biggest gift of the weekend was not having to plan or cook any meals. The other joy is watching family spend time together.
Eliza watching so carefully as Kitty ate his dinner reminded me of the hours I used to spend hanging out in my grandfather's chicken coops watching their every move.
Although the time went by so quickly, we were able to squeeze in a round of golf.
Goof around
Do a little race car driving.
Another big highlight of the trip was the generous offer by Mom and Larry to treat us to the big new thing in the Twin Falls restaurant scene, elevation 486. This is a lovely restaurant right on the rim of the canyon. These kind and brave people took myself, my husband, a 3 1/2 year old, a baby and a 7 year old to a nice dinner.
I was almost as anxious to tackle this meal as I was getting ready for the drive down to Twin Falls. It was just as chaotic as I imagined it to be. Mom and Larry were so excited to finally be at the restaurant during when it was still light out so they could see the view. We had a wonderful table with a view however, it soon started pouring rain and the canyon was thick with clouds.
The 8 month old baby kept slipping out of the highchair and was unusually fussy as we shoved food down him. The 3 1/2 year old was a little sassy and I could only give her the "you had better behave" eyes from across the table. The 7 year old started pouting because she only wants to eat macaroni and cheese-all day long- so she wouldn't talk and put her hood over her head. It took awhile for the waiter to realize we were there and then after apologizing he promised us warm delicious rolls from the oven. Repeatedly. Our hungry bellies waiting in anticipation.When he proudly dropped them off at the table, we cracked one open and discovered they were still frozen in the center. Oops.
We quickly shoveled our food and politely declined the offer of free dessert since my mom had made me a surprise chocolate cake that I hadn't had since I was a little girl. Thanks mom.
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| Christina's 2nd birthday |
O.K. back to the present day.
Whew. We made it through a crazy dinner. Right? My mom was trying so hard to give me a break and offered to carry Anderson out of the bustling restaurant. She has him over her shoulder and started winding through all the people to the front door. Then I heard the sounds that make me cringe - drool, gag, cough.
Uh, oh. He throws up... all....down....my mom's nice leather coat. That's it. We started busting up laughing. We finally reached the point of where things get so crazy bad all you can do is laugh.
We couldn't get home fast enough but as we opened the doors of the restaurant to a freshly damp world, we turned to look over the canyon to see this most amazing sight:
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| Rainbow after the rain storm-Twin Falls Canyon |
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| Take One |
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| Take Two |
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| Take Three |
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| Humphrey Family Photo 1977 (a.k.a. Dad wants to kill Erik) |
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