Fall at the Farm… In Pictures

23 Thursday Oct 2014

Posted by anotherbigbite in On the Road Again, Out of Doors, The "Joy" of Parenting, The Good Ole Days

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apple picking, fall, family, farm, Iowa, pumpkin farm, Travel

When my dear friend Tamara told me she and my brother were heading to Grandma Mary’s farm over Columbus Day weekend, we jumped at the chance to meet them halfway (well, two-thirds of the way) between here and Chicago. I haven’t seen my brother Mike in a year and a half and since then, he and Tamara – one of my best friends and Finny’s godmother – started dating and are now living together. I’ve been asked by a few people if I’m weirded out by this whole ordeal, and I never have been. Mostly because it’s really none of my business what other consenting adults do, but also because I have loved these two people dearly forever; why would I not be happy if they were happy?

Turns out, these two are made for one another. How did I never see this sooner??

When my grandmother got wind of our little adventure, she was thrilled to have both Mike and I (and accompanying stowaways) at the farm at once. Oh, did we plan our whole trip before we even asked Grandma if we could come? Yeah… That would be Tamara and I…

The drive to Iowa is just under twelve hours from Colorado Springs, and the trip out there was mercifully uneventful. We arrived around eleven at night (after losing an hour and leaving late in the morning) and Grandma Mary was waiting up for us. The kids both woke up and Finny was wired with excitement over finally reaching the farm. By midnight, they were tucked in and asleep and by one, the rest of us were dozing.

Saturday turned out to be a gorgeous fall day; the sky was bright and clear and it was warm enough to go out without a coat. Nathan had one objective for the day… Teaching Finn how to shoot the BB gun.

Finny developed into a spectacular shot over the course of the day. While the boys were shooting, Alice and Grandma took to moving plants into the greenhouse and picking flowers around the yard. I can’t believe there is only about seventy years between these gorgeous ladies. 🙂

After lunch, we decorated cupcakes….

And went for a spin on the swing…

Nathan and I headed into town for a few supplies. The kids were in bed by eight, and at eight forty-five, Finn bounded down the stairs to announce, “Dad won’t get out of my bed. He’s keeping me awake.”

Nathan had gone into the kids’ rooms to make sure they piped down and went to sleep. He was snoring so loudly that Finn couldn’t sleep. I coaxed him into our bed and Grandma and I waited for Mike and Tamara to arrive.

They arrived after ten thirty and we kept poor Grandma up chatting until one once again. By the time the kids were up, she was already awake and getting breakfast ready. We all got ready for church and headed into town. I think the last time I was in church might have been when we were staying with Grandma two years ago… Yikes. The kids were super well-behaved and Grandma got to “show us off” (her words, not mine) to the congregation.

After the boys went back out to shoot the BB gun again, we brought lunch out to them and got started picking apples. Two and a half bushels later, we had cleared what was left of the red apples and barely made a dent in the green ones. I ended up carting sixty pounds of apples back to Colorado and have been making apple sauce, apple pies and apple chips since we’ve been home.

And we hunted for frogs down at the pond. Tam was (far and away) the most excited.

While Tam, the kids and I were nestled in the apple trees, the Nathan and Mike were shooting the heavy artillery. We let Finn fire the rifle once, and Nathan had me shoot the shotgun a few times. Holy crap, that thing can kick. As it was, I was a much better shot with the rifle.

And this might be the most Iowa photo of all time…

We waited until Tamara had arrived in Iowa before hitting the pumpkin farm. Since we’ve been kids, this girl LOVES herself a good pumpkin patch. Case in point…

And if I was to try to describe my brother to anyone, I might just have them look at this photo. It is Mike, being Mike in the most Mike way possible. Rolling around in a trough full of corn kernels. We are of the same blood, him and me.

We visited my grandfather’s grave before we tucked in for the evening. There was a few tears, a few smiles and more laughs than should be appropriate in a cemetery. We reminisced about the photo someone had snapped at the funeral of Mike furiously gesturing to his crotch. What you should be asking is why on earth someone is taking candids at a funeral and NOT why my brother was in such a position… And why I was standing next to him laughing my ass off… Maybe Mike and I really need a lesson in appropriate manners. Sheesh.

It was sad to leave the next day. Other than getting a flat tire just as we crossed over into Colorado, the trip was equally uneventful as the way out there. And it just might have been the first time I wasn’t terribly excited to sleep in my own bed.

The Golden (um, actually RED) Arches

02 Wednesday Jul 2014

Posted by anotherbigbite in On the Road Again, Out of Doors, The "Joy" of Parenting

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Arches National Park, double arch, hiking, moab, outdoors, road trip, Travel, traveling with kids, utah

After leaving Zion National Park, resting up at a hotel in Richfield, Utah and getting back on the road, we beelined it for Arches National Park.

Between Richfield and Arches, we wound through a stretch of I-70 that looked pretty nondescript on the map. It was actually pretty neat; though we drove through it on the way to Disneyland, most of it was after dark. We managed to stop at the Black Dragon Canyon Overlook while we headed west; it was dusk and Nathan was aching to see what Eagle Canyon and Ghost Rock looked like during the day.

On the trip back east, Nathan broke out his GoPro and we snapped away. In various stages of undress. Hey; the kids had a complete outfit between them. And we were literally in the middle of nowhere, so neither Nathan or I much cared.

Had I been a person with lesser morals; I would have stolen as much flagstone that I could fit in the car. There was tons of it; everywhere, and it was begging me to vacation in Colorado Springs.

Once we had filled our bellies with Wendy’s in Moab, we drove through the front gate of Arches. It is immediately amazing; we wound up the switchbacks until we were happily nestled in its red sandstone towers. Nathan and I were drooling; oohing and ahhing at everything around us. The kids didn’t even want to get out of the car.

Whose children are these? They sure aren’t ours.

Finally, we managed to get Finny out to snap a few pics.

We headed deeper into the park to check out The Windows and Double Arch. There were scads of people hiking The Windows Trail and only a few on their way to Double Arch. Double Arch it was.

The kids climbed and scrambled up the formations until I couldn’t take it any longer… And as more people arrived behind us, my stress levels skyrocketed as I imagined them falling, too.

I never had a fear of heights; but the last few years I’ve suddenly become a nervous wreck anytime I see someone, anyone, getting too close to the edge of their possible demise.

We gathered the brood as my heart started to pound from the seemingly parentless children dangling their legs over the back of Double Arch (which Nathan made sure to let me know was a sheer plummet to more rocks below).

The trail back was short, though I made sure the kids and I were downing plenty of water. I was not going to be waving at any vinyl decals of dogs like I had a Zion.

We stopped at the visitor center on our way out… Where Alice fell deeply, madly in love.

“But I WANT him, I want him, I want him, please, please, please!!” She has all the making of Veruca Salt, that one.

“Alice, let go of the goat. We’re leaving.”

Finn was a little more partial to the bronze crows.

And that was the end of our journey. We piled back into the truck and spent the last seven hours of our trip home a little bummed out that it was all over. All the castles, canyons, waterfalls, arches, mountains, princesses, pixie dust, mice and bronze goats were on the road behind us as we made our way back to reality.

The Zion King

30 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by anotherbigbite in On the Road Again, Out of Doors, The "Joy" of Parenting

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emerald pools trail, family, hiking, outdoors, Travel, traveling with kids, utah, zion national park, zion national park lodge

Ahhh…. Hiking and climbing in the hot sun. The perfect nightcap to three days in Disneyland. …Right?

We climbed back into the car for the first time in four days right after walking out of the gate at Disneyland. We planned on getting as far as we could before Nathan and I pooped out. We made it out of California (a relief after battling CA drivers and their cars on the way to LA), past Las Vegas (but not after my most uncomfortable moment as a parent while shamefully dragging my kids through a casino as quickly as humanly possible) and into Utah. For as much as Disneyland was for the kids (read: me), the trip back was for Nathan.

Which is as much as a consolation prize as that sounds.

Never in our lives have we lived in a place that is in such close proximity to so many National Parks; and good ones at that. We have more than a handful of them on our list, and this trip was slated to check off two; Zion National Park being one of them. You probably have seen pictures of it before; its famed Narrows are amazingly breathtaking and out-of-this-world gorgeous. Or so I’ve heard.

We have every intention of hiking The Narrows once the kids get a bit bigger; and Angels Landing is on Nathan’s docket. But for now, when the kids are small, we tend to stick to the easier and less dangerous trails. This trip marked a milestone; where I had the realization that Finn really needs to be walking the whole time. We have a backpack that he’s been viewing much of our hiking trips from. I know he is perfectly able-bodied to walk, but our reasons for using it this far into his young life are pretty selfish.

Sure, it is nice to teach your kid to behave and listen on the trail. But it is NICER to be able to strap him in and enjoy it for yourself. He’s too big for it; I know. And I’m hell-bent on him not riding in it any longer. Go ahead and judge. There are some things I just don’t care if people think I’m parenting incorrectly… And the backpack is one of those things. But the time has come. Now it is just about getting Nathan on board as well…

We hiked the Emerald Pools trail up to the middle pools. It was pretty well-traveled (which was a bit of a bummer), but once we settled in for a snack next to one of the pools, it was all forgotten. Most folks turned back at the lower pools and we had relative peace and quiet while we noshed on Pop Tarts.

After we got into areas where Nathan could contain his overprotective side, we were nearly back to the Zion National Park Lodge.

We checked out the tadpoles in the stream… (While balancing on one leg)

Just in front of the Lodge, an enormous tree shades an even bigger lawn. All of us were starving and we headed inside to have our first sit-down meal of our entire trip. Naturally, we smelled (and ate) like livestock. But everyone was happy.

Alice had a hard time containing her excitement; it was the first time where both kids had room to run and play without either of their parents trying to keep them from getting lost in a crowd or plummeting to their deaths. All four of us were pretty happy, come to think about it.

After having absolutely nothing to do but run and scream for nearly an hour, we packed up the kids and headed back to the visitors center. After getting a couple of little souvenirs, we headed back to the car. The moment I realized I probably should have drunk more water was when I caught myself waving to a dog in an RV… Which I immediately realized was only a sticker of a dog. One of my prouder moments.

After driving through to the other end of the park, we wisely decided to crash at a hotel for the night. One with hot showers, soft beds and an endless supply of drinking water.

Next stop… Arches National Park.

Well, I can check ice climbing off my bucket list.

29 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by anotherbigbite in On the Road Again, Out of Doors, The "Joy" of Parenting

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climbing, colorado, ice climbing, ouray, Travel

And I don’t mean gingerly creeping up the slope of the driveway after taking out the garbage in the middle of January.

Here is a little disclaimer: I never had ice climbing on my bucket list to begin with. My actual bucket list is chock full of things like petting a dolphin, eating escargot and visiting every Disney park on the planet. But, being married to a mountain man means that some things rub off on ya.

When we started rock climbing at Nathan’s behest a decade ago, I never would have thought we would ever go ICE climbing. It is expensive, dangerous, and we lived in Chicago. Where were we going to go ice climbing??

You really can never tell where life will take you.

The plus side to ice climbing is how bad ass you feel wielding two sharp axes and giant spikes on your feet. The rest of you, however, looks ridiculous. And now you know what my grownup ass looks like in snow pants. Oh safety glasses, I’ve missed you since 10th grade chemistry.

We have been fortunate enough that Nathan’s job requires him to know how to do cool shit. Like climbing a 100 foot frozen waterfall. And being in touch with otherwise normal individuals who have a giant lapse in judgement when it comes to finding things to do for fun.

Fun. Hanging on to a sheet of ice by two ice axes and crampons is apparently supposed to be FUN.

I’ll tell you what it really is: E’FFING INSANE. Scary. Hard. Oh, and yes… FUNNER THAN HELL.

We headed up to Ouray, Colorado to ice climb, which is apparently the place to ice climb. I never made it farther than the forty foot kid wall (which actually has six-year-olds dangling off the side), seeing as how I have charge of my own two lillyputs, neither of which have a set of crampons and so we can’t actually visit the Ouray Ice Park without pairs for everyone. Oh, and it isn’t safe. So there’s that.

Nathan filming away while I climbed.

We spent the New Years weekend back in Ouray with a few friends and their friends who love to climb. The reason no one is heard of this trip is because it was so terrible that I haven’t even wanted to reflect on it until now. The kids and I were holed up in a hotel room for most of it. When Nathan suggested we go, I was all for it. We spent a weekend in Ouray in the fall and I loved it.

“Sure! Let’s go! The kids and I can tool around town, grab a late breakfast, go shopping, take a dip in the hot springs, visit the AWESOME toy store, get ice cream instead of lunch, take a nap… And then we can all go out for dinner!”

Well, we went to the toy store. Three times.

The kids and I were not in our very best form; all three of us were in a funk. We were the only ones with kids, and while our whole group was super great with them and never gave us one reason to doubt they were anything less than charmed with Alice and Finn (they put on a great face), we realized AGAIN that being a double income household with no kids is a club we do not belong to any longer…

Like, we wouldn’t even be let in with a loaner sport coat at the door.

While the kids each had a few epic tantrums, my funk culminated in a fantastical display of hormones at the local ice cream shop on New Year’s Eve. In front of EVERYONE. Tears, heaving bosom, the whole bit. And that was the end of that. No champagne toast, no countdown, no trip to the hot springs, nothing else. I picked a helluva battle with Nae, got my period, and cried myself to sleep. We left the next morning after breakfast.

But the ice climbing part of the trip? Best six minutes of the whole weekend. It reminded me why I loved rock climbing… All of a sudden, I didn’t have time to think of how cold I was, or whether I was working on phonics enough with Finn or arguing with the insurance company over our rate increase. I just had one thing to worry about: Don’t fall.

This, I feel you should know, is NOT ME. Just some random guy who is clearly out of his mind.

It also reminded me of how out of shape I am since my climbing heyday. Yikes. I need to work on that.

But, for a few minutes, everything was just… Me. And my quivering knees.

I learned a few things on that trip to Ouray. ONE; it isn’t a child-friendly town. TWO; the merchants or Ouray are not very nice or understanding to moms alone with their (obnoxious) kids (with the major exception of the staff at O’Toys – I cannot say enough of how great they are). THREE: A two-hour dinner at the nicest place in town in no place for my kids, and FOUR: Never go on vacation with people you have never met when you are the only couple with kids and your uterus is due for a visit from Mother Nature.

I’m sure there is a good joke about crampons and getting your period in there somewhere.

As we drove out of town, past the hot springs that we didn’t visit, I vowed NEVER to go back. Which I am not sure is petty and childish or simply pragmatic.

But I will miss the ice climbing.

Congress Blows Goats. So Let’s Go on Vacation! (Part 2)

10 Thursday Oct 2013

Posted by anotherbigbite in On the Road Again, Out of Doors, The "Joy" of Parenting

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Tags

colorado, family, fishing, hot springs, kids, ouray, parenting, rving, Travel, traveling with kids

Before we could trek about downtown Ouray on Saturday morning, the kids made sure to clamber for pancakes for breakfast. As Nathan and I have learned, going camping is just like staying home… Only every task we complete takes eighty times longer.

Making coffee at home: 90 seconds. Making coffee while camping: 12 minutes.

A pancake breakfast at home is a pretty big deal around here and takes at least an hour once you figure in noshing time and cleanup. When we are out camping? By the time we finish, we’re ready for grilled cheese sandwiches.

The weather had warmed up and the sun was on full power as we made the five-minute walk to Main Street. First on Finn’s list was O’Toys. It was a charming family owned affair with its own Game Bar where everyone was welcome to try out any number of the giant stash of games they sold. We hit up the toy store on our way into town and also on the way back; we had a chance to talk to both of the owners while they suggested age-appropriate trailer-friendly games for us to take home.

Finn is a pain most of the time, but when we are out and about, he is pretty well-mannered when he wants something. He constantly tries to ask questions of every cashier we meet. It is adorable, but very frustrating. Most folks seem to tune out little people, so Finny’s “Um, excuse me, ma’am”s ususally go unheeded, no matter how many times they are repeated.

The gentleman at O’Toys was a completely different story. Every time Finn would politely interrupt, he would respond right away with a kind “Yes, sir?” It made all of us happy.

After we chose “Spot It,” we ventured out to find a spot for lunch and ended up at the Timberline Deli. You’d think a deli would be a speedy place to get a bite to eat, but you’d be wrong if you expected to get in and out of there in a timely manner. After waiting for twenty-five minutes for our food, the kids’ grilled cheese sandwich arrived as a hamburger topped in mac and cheese. How does that even happen??

After another ten minute go-round with the waitress who completely missed me gently repeating GRILLED CHEESE, not MAC AND CHEESE five or six times, two plates arrived with fries and mac and cheese. I rolled my eyes and shut my trap, especially when I noticed the pieces of bun and hamburger particles stuck to the noodles. She scraped the pasta off the first hamburger we got? And that took her ten minutes??

“You know, if all that hadn’t just happened… I might have actually said the food was pretty good here,” Nathan mused. “Too bad it was spoiled by-”

“The taste of bitterness?” I interjected. I was still irked and mildly fuming.

We decided NOT to stay for dessert, but instead moved the crew to Mouse’s Chocolates and Coffee (they roast the coffee and make their own chocolates in-house – HOLLA!). A wise decision, fo sho.

We dove head-first into ice cream, caramels, truffles, coffee and “Scrap Cookies.” What is a Scrap Cookie, exactly? All the extra pieces of chocolate, caramel, truffles – any of the scraps from chocolate-making – end up in an enormous cookie. Good lord. It was amazing.

After hitting up the rock shop, hardware store, a few kick-knack shops and the toy store one last time, we walked back to The House with Wheels to put Alice down for her nap. While I settled into getting some work done, Nathan and Finn played a few rounds of “Spot It” and built a snowman.

“Mom. She is TOUCHING my snowman.”

Once Alice woke up, we packed up our swimming gear, bundled up and headed to the Ouray Hot Springs. Though it was only 40 degrees out (which made getting in and out of the pool a little uncomfortable), it was amazing to settle into the steaming water for a few hours. The water was between 95-105 degrees depending on where you parked yourself, and both the kids were completely enamoured with the novelty of being outside, almost naked, when they had been playing in the snow an hour or two before.

We stayed in the pool past the kids’ bedtime, and by the time we were snuggly warm back at camp, all of us were itching to roast ourselves some marshmallows. Nathan built a rip-roaring fire and just as we popped open the bag of Stay-Pufts, the Fourth of July fireworks began. Yep. In October.

For whatever reason, Ouray didn’t blow off their Independence Day pyrotechnic display in July. Instead, they blew off the entire fifteen minute show in ninety seconds to coincide with the city-wide Jeep raffle (I was scratching my head, too). Couple that with a toasty marshmallow and you’ve got yourself a pretty decent nightcap.

On Sunday morning, we headed into town one last time for breakfast at Backstreet Bistro. All four of us were in hog heaven; Nae had a giant cup of coffee to rouse him from his morning grump, Alice and Finn each had a large cinnamon roll to gorge on, and I had the “Scramble,” which brought me right back to the glory days in Spokane when Nae and I would wake up to breakfast at Huckleberry’s every Saturday morning. (Oh, Bistro Scramble and Brule; how I pine for thee!!)

Before heading back to pack up camp, we took in a mountain drive and took a moment to check out the Ouray Ice Park, though it was completely devoid of any ice climbers. Or ice.

On our way out of town, we stopped at the Hot Springs again to feed giant coy. I’m happy to say that we all walked away clean and dry (by only a narrow margin), and Alice and Finn were happy as a clams feeding the fish and chasing the turtles. We got back on the road just before lunch.

Once Alice fell asleep around the Blue Mesa Dam, we pulled the trailer over and popped it up. Alice and I settled inside with the dogs while Nae and Finn climbed down to the river to go fishing. Besides the fact that we were pulled over on the side of the highway (all the National Recreation Area parking lots were closed… Still.), it was rather peaceful. I fired up my laptop and put my nose to the grindstone. Besides the group of foreign travelers who stopped right next to us and proceeded to take photos of themselves in front of the camper like it was George Michael, no one bothered us.

And don’t worry; I TOTALLY photobombed every shot from inside the trailer. How they couldn’t see my bare ass face through the window is anyone’s guess. Bet their friends will be entertained when they post those shots on Facebook.

We pulled into the driveway around ten on Sunday night, and both Nae and I wished we were still out there.

Heck, I still wish it was out there and it is already Friday. Sigh.

Another Big Bite

Category Archives: Out of Doors

Fall at the Farm… In Pictures

The Golden (um, actually RED) Arches

The Zion King

Well, I can check ice climbing off my bucket list.

Congress Blows Goats. So Let’s Go on Vacation! (Part 2)

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