Copying the theme of
great bloggers before me, I thought I'd catch up on things non-Taylor Swift with a quick hits list. Here are five random things I thought were worth covering when I sat down just now, without my emotional support work laptop because our firm is updating some systems this weekend and I had to leave it in the office which is something I've never done since I re-joined and it's acutely uncomfortable. Yes I can login with this personal laptop if I had to, but it's not the same. Milo is holding me for comfort.
Anyway, I just sat down to watch the latest episode of Top Chef Season 20, which is generally the highlight of my Friday evening, post-work and pre-boys getting home from swimming, and thought I should blog! I should blog while I sit alone on the couch with popcorn, Top Chef, cat, and my non-work laptop. So here we go, five things on a Friday!
1. A foyer full of boxes. After months of having boxes everywhere in the house - moving boxes, furniture boxes, Amazon boxes, and more - we've finally had a nice clean foyer for the last several weeks. Until last week when I ordered all our new patio furniture and it arrived on the same day.
Our backyard isn't done yet, but we thought it would be soon, so James and Landon go to work assembling the furniture while the girls and I were at the Taylor Swift concert.
Landon questioned his life choices (I offered him a ticket).
But then we got rain every day forever and the backyard still isn't done so we have a million chair options in our living room. Milo appreciates them.
2. Lake walks. I love so much about our new city, new neighborhood, and new home, but I think perhaps my favorite thing about it is living near a beautiful lake and getting to walk along it almost every day.
Any day it's not raining, or I'm not waking up in another city, I walk 3-5 miles along the path with my 50 lb bulldog in her stroller.
I listen to podcasts: Pod Save America, The West Wing Weekly, We Can Do Hard Things, I smile at the people who smile at Maggie, and I admire the wildlife. This is our first Spring here and the baby ducks and abundance of birds has been so fun. In the evenings, while Claire is at rowing and the boys are at swimming, Cora and I will often ride our bikes around the lake looking for Claire. When I go on my morning walks I walk very fast- faster than some people run, but with Cora, even though we're on bikes, we cover ground slowly. We stop often.
We talk about the ducklings and the birds and the trees and that one dog that just walked by. Since I've already had my walk I let Cora set the pace of this outing and it is a delight. She is a bright soul and I like seeing the world through her eyes.
3. Cora's art. Speaking of Cora, she is our independent child who often spends hours on her own in her room, always busy, never looking for input or collaboration.
At the moment she is working on a "Peace Place." She has yet to explain what precisely that is, but it is beautiful and she is working very hard. She did show me her list of things she's going to draw for it and it is, in true Cora fashion, incredibly detailed. She will follow it to the letter, because this is Cora, and then she will start a new project.
4. Wine/cooking. Now that we don't have Becca in our lives any more (we miss you Becca!), James researches, shops for, preps, and cooks all of our meals. It's been an interesting adjustment- he is allergic to planning more than 6 hours in advance, so he goes to the grocery store everyday and I have to bite my tongue a lot for the sheer inefficiency of it, but it works and he does it well, and I'm not the one cooking.
Last week he decided to make a vegan
walnut lentil bolognese. He called as he and Landon were headed to swimming to let me know it was simmering and to stir it when I got home.
James:"
Oh, I used some of that wine you had in the pantry because the recipe needed a cup."
Me:
"We don't have any wine in the pantry right now."
James:
Huh, well there was a bottle and I opened it.
Oh. THAT wine. It was the $300 bottle of wine I won at a business development event and was saving for a special occasion, which turned out to be last Tuesday night.
The bolognese was incredibly delicious, and should you choose to make it, I think it would still be delicious even with much cheaper wine.
5. Newcomer of the Year. Landon's high school swim banquet was this past week and it was earnest and adorable and full of nostalgia for me remembering my own high school swim banquets.
Landon was awarded Newcomer of the Year, which made his ears turn pink and he waved to everyone from his seat at a table instead of going up to the get the award until his friends finally made him.
The seniors gave their speeches, which were emotional and wonderful and again full of memories for me. High school swimming is so wonderful and remains one of the brightest spots of my life. The seniors also give silly "paper plate awards" to every member of the team, and this year Landon and his best buddy got the annual "Best Bromance" award.
Forever thankful to this sweet extrovert who adopted Landon in the first week of school and decided they'd be friends. The slideshow was filled with photos I hadn't seen of Landon and I was particularly struck by this one, and asked the senior parents who put it together if I could get a copy.
I'm good at living in the moment, and we are, but sometimes it takes my breath away that he'll leave this house in 3 years.
------
And now it's Sunday. I'm sitting at our new table in the screened-in porch finally finishing this post I started Friday. James and I decided to go on an impromptu date that night, so I had to go change and didn't go back to my laptop. Then yesterday we had a family work day, finishing the furniture assembly and setting up the porch. We now have a couch in the screened-in area and I adore it so much I accidentally fell asleep on it for nearly 2 hours yesterday afternoon when I sat down to finish this post. Milo has since taken up my post.
It's been a wonderful weekend- full of little projects and no big plans. And now- it's off to my walk! Happy Sunday everyone.
This was so lovely to read. I did cringe at the wine though -- that would be a tough one to swallow. I have an expensive bottle of Champagne in my basement that I got from the CEO of my last job for doing well on a major project, and I have been saving it for something special... perhaps I should put a note on it!
ReplyDeleteCheck to see how long that bottle will last. Since are only good for a few yrs
DeleteHi LL, big fan of your blog and I have been *devouring* your Utah/Arizona travel recaps the last few days so thank you for inspiring me with those! I have two kids ages 9 and 10 who are pretty good hikers, although a little less so in the heat so we are hoping to plan our own Southern Utah trip for next spring break rather than summer in order to avoid the heat. But this means we'll only have a week (we live in the Midwest and will have to fly in then road trip from there) because I teach and can't take off more time than just the week. My question for you is--with two kids ages 10 and 11 who are good hikers, would you recommend we do Zion-Bryce-Escalante (probably fly in and out of Vegas--I was thinking 3 nights in Zion, 1 day in Bryce, 3 nights in Escalante then return to Vegas for 1 night)? OR would you recommend doing Arches/Canyonlands/Capitol Reef? I just really don't think 7-8 days is enough to do all of the Utah Mighty 5, and I am thinking our kids are old enough to really enjoy the tougher hikes of Zion and Escalante, so I'd rather do the western ones. BUT Arches also looks SO fun. You guys really divided it up nicely by focusing on Arches/Canyonlands when the kids were young but I'm planning this trip assuming that this will be our only shot at the southern Utah parks just because there are so many others we want to do. Any advice?
ReplyDeleteHi Emily! Oh that was just the best trip! So Zion in Spring Break can be very cold and still have snow, so I would double-check the average temperatures to see if hikes like The Narrows are feasible with kids since that might affect how long you want to stay.
DeleteOn the allocation of days, I actually think you could do all 5 in 7 days if you wanted to. I would do 2 nights in Zion, 2 in Escalante, and 2 in Moab. It would be nice if you could fly in and out of different airports, since you will have traversed the southern part of the state by the end, but you could head back if you had to. You really only need a half day in Bryce to do a great hike and see the park. Escalante only needs 1 day for the slot canyons (which are by far the most unique and special part of Escalante, and you can do Spooky and Peek-a-Boo together, as we did). I'd recommend 2 nights just so you can get there late in the day after stopping at Bryce for night 1, enjoy a full day climbing in canyons, and then leave after night 2. You'll drive through Capitol Reef on your way to Moab and then you can have 2 full days there - 1 for Canyonlands and 1 for Arches. You won't be able to see all of either, but I do genuinely think you'd get a good feel and enjoy them.
But if you don't want to spread yourself that far, I'd do 4 nights in Zion and 2 in Escalante (stopping for a morning/afternoon in Bryce in between). There is really nothing in Escalante besides the slot canyons and a cool hike to a waterfall that I would drop from the itinerary as needed. There is about 1 restaurant and no town. We did LOVE the yurts where we stayed and would recommend them, but you'll be cooking your own food :). Moab and Springdale are both fun little towns that have more to do in them (and more places you can buy groceries, wine, snacks, etc.). Alternatively, I'd do Moab for 3-4 nights with a jaunt out to Escalante. Arches is great- it's just a playground of hiking and climbing and Canyonlands is really beautiful. If you can do The Narrows and/or Angel's Landing, then I think Zion wins. If not, I'd vote Arches and Canyonlands.
Hopefully that's helpful - happy to answer more questions! It's just best string of parks we have <3.
Good point about the Narrows because I really do not want to miss that! I should add, our spring break is kind of a "late" spring break--third week of April--so that may help with cold/snow. This is all really helpful. Your yurts looked awesome and I totally want to stay there :) I can see from what you say that it makes sense to do only 2 nights in Escalante if we do Zion/Bryce/Escalante itinerary. I think my kids would go bananas for the slot canyons; they looked so fun. And we'll have to see whether we're up for pushing to all 5 but I think it sounds doable! We are doing Yellowstone this summer for 5 nights/6 days inside the park, so a really deep dive in one park (granted, Yellowstone is absolutely ENORMOUS so there's a lot of ground to cover); I think it could be cool to do the opposite and cover more ground with the Utah trip next year! My husband also might be more interested in the Moab + Escalante itinerary because he's actually done Bryce/Zion (including Narrows and Angel's Landing), albeit 20+ years ago.
ReplyDeleteOh that timing might be perfect! Our Spring Break starts March 7, so it's super early. Basically everyone goes skiing :).
DeleteYou can get a really good feel for Arches in 1 day - it helps that you drive to most of the hiking trailheads, so the hikes themselves aren't that long. The longest we did is to Delicate Arch which is a little over 3 miles and a must-do, but you see other arches along the way. Double Arch is our other favorite, but you basically drive to it, so it's just fun to climb in. I think you should push for all five, but you will love it and have so much fun either way!