Zion National Park

I'm clearly in need of a vacation. I've got one coming up at the end of July but I find myself going through pictures of past trips almost daily at this point. When I start doing that, it usually means that I'm burned out on the desert and need to get away.

One of my favorite getaway spots is Zion National Park in Springdale, Utah. If I was asked to describe what I think heaven will look like, I'm hoping that it will be Zion. Zion is one of those places that can be described in words a million times but unless you've actually been there and walked among it's sandstone cliffs, you just don't understand. I lived in Vegas for years before I ever made the trip. I'd hear people talk about it all the time. When I finally made my first trip there, I was overcome with awe. It's that incredible!

Since the first trip, we've become regulars. The great thing is that it's only about 3 hours from Vegas. Sometimes we camp, sometimes we stay in the lodge's cabins, sometimes we stay in Springdale at a fantastic little inn. The only thing that happens everytime is that the time we stay is not nearly enough. Honestly, I think you could spend years here and still not see all there is to see.

Zion is, at it's heart, peaceful. The name Zion is defined as Utopia: an imaginary place considered to be perfect or ideal. It truly lives up to it's name. It's red sand stone cliffs have been carved out for millions of years by the Virgin River. The colors here are more vibrant and alive than anywhere I've ever seen. (I've been to the Grand Canyon, that place's got nothing on Zion.)

The National Park is amazing. It has tons of trails throughout the park (100 miles of wilderness trails and 10 miles of paved trails to be exact) ranging from beginner (the kind we took Michael on when he was 3) to advanced (Angel's Landing) to backcountry overnight trails. The amazing thing about the hiking here is that most of the trails were built in the 1930's. What does that mean you ask? Well, in the 1930's, there were not nearly the amount of lawsuits happening as there are today. The trails they built in this park, according to one park ranger, would never be passed in today's law suit crazed society. These are trails with switchbacks up the sides of mountains and chains to grab on to as you climb around the edge of a cliff. There are always the mandatory "danger" signs but that's basically it. You know your abilities and you go for it. My favorites? Angel's Landing! It's a tough (really tough) hike, but making it to the end is SO worth it! Weeping Rock. Quick hike but it's steep and slippery when wet. (I speak from experience here.) Canyon Overlook. You have to go through the tunnel to get to this trail. It's entrance is right past the exit to the tunnel on the left. This one goes through the forest, past caves, over a bridge (I'm not sure if it should be called a bridge, but it's a bridge like contraption connected to the side of a cliff) and up the mountain to an overlook that is unbelievable. Hidden Canyon. This one has no end. Honestly, we've never found the end. It's more like an obstacle course in which you have to figure out ways to get around, over and under things to continue on the trail. You just have to remember on this one that as far as you go in, you have to come back out. Don't make the mistake we made and go a bit too far in only to have to return after dark. This seems to be a common problem for my husband and I.

The campsites are awesome, all within walking distance to the river. We've had days where we were completely content to stay near our campsite and just hang out by the river.

Springdale, the tiny town right before you enter Zion, is this really cute artsy town with boutiques, Bed & Breakfasts, restaurants, art studios and little bars. Seriously, I could live there. With all 100 of the towns full time residents! ;o) We always stop in at the Zion Pizza and Noodle for pizza and beer. I recommend the Polygamy Porter, it's brewed locally and it's really tasty! The Spotted Dog Cafe is incredible as well.

As for lodging, we almost always camp. But when we don't, the Lodge has individual cabins you can rent out with wood burning fireplaces. They don't have much else, no television, no phone, but really... who's coming to Zion for those types of conveniences? We've also stayed at Flanigan's Inn in Springdale. We stayed in their cottage with a wood burning fireplace last winter. It was perfect. Romantic, quiet, and a great value in the off season.

I've spent all together too much time trying to figure out how to move to Zion and make a living. Some people tell me that if I lived there, it would lose it's magic.

Somehow, I think that's impossible.

DMB and The Gorge

I am an admitted Dave Matthews Band fanatic.

I have seen the band so many times that I have actually lost count.

Two years ago, my now husband and I went to the Gorge to see them for three shows over Labor Day weekend.

We had such an amazing time that we swore that we'd go every year from then on.

Well, life and lack of vacation time didn't allow us to make it last year.

This year, a wedding in Hawaii and a much needed trip home to Buffalo mean that there'll be no time left by Labor Day to make the trip.

But I'm feeling nostalgic.

So I'm going to re-live my trip right here.

And add the Gorge to my list of goals for next year.

(And maybe a show at Red Rocks in Colorado...)

I've heard the acoustics are one of a kind there!

We started our trip by flying into Portland. My very good friend Stacy lives there and I decided if we were going to make a trip to the Pacific Northwest, it would make sense to kill two birds with one stone... visit a friend I miss terribly and see a city I'd always wanted to see.

Well, Portland was all I dreamed it would be and more.

It's so green! I don't think that any picture I could take could possibly do the beauty of the landscape justice. Let's put it this way. I live in the desert. It's brown on brown. Brown mountains surrounding brown ground. I miss green trees and grass more than I could possibly describe. That's probably why I spend so much time desperately trying to grow things here.

In Portland... things just grow. Naturally.

It's also organic! Just like me!

Portland has a really great art scene going on as you can see from the picture below. ;o) We were lucky enough to find some street art while walking around the city. Who knew that donuts on a fence could be so original.

We borrowed camping equipment from Stacy and packed up the SUV for the long drive to George, Washington. (Yes, the town that the Gorge Ampitheater is located in is actually named George and it's in the state of Washington.)

As you can see we purchased enough beer and food for a one month camping excursion for approximately 12 adults.

The landscape changed as we drove from lush greenery to completely flat farmland (with lots of wind turbines that I was so happy to see) to high desert. For the record, high desert is much, much better than Las Vegas desert. It's dry. And warm. But it's not completely barren and it's not 120 degrees. It was beautiful. Here's the sign we'd been looking for for 5 hours.

Traffic was backed up getting in but no one minded. Everybody was blasting DMB music and totally content since we were all going to the same place. Peace, love and happiness was all around. (I realize reading that statement that it sounds a little fluffy but really, I felt it.)

The campgrounds were insane. I'm pretty sure it would be similar to a Dead show in the 60's. Tens of thousands of people, setting up camp, playing guitars, singing, playing frisbee, drinking and having an all around amazing time. (There's something to be said for camping at a show. No drinking and driving. No rush to get out of the parking lot. It's magical I tell ya!)

We set up our tent and were ready to go. I will mention that we spent a little extra money to get the premium camp site. It was so beyond worth it. A little more space. A little less crazy. A shuttle to the doors of the show and back nightly.

I couldn't wait to see the venue the first night! When we got through the gates (which was super easy because of our premium camping priveleges) I was astonished at how breathtaking this place was. The Columbia River at the base of the Ampitheater, the mountains behind and the stage at the bottom of the hill created, in my opinion, the perfect venue.

The show opening night was fantastic! (Looking back, I wish I'd paid more attention to Leroi Moore. Never in a million years would I have thought that he'd be gone just one year later.)

The next day, Stacy and a friend of hers drove up from Portland. Here's the thing about Stacy. She has 1000 times the nerve that I do. I don't like to break rules. Stacy? She came to the Gorge with no concert tickets whatsoever. As you can see from the photo, she got her ass into the next two shows, no problem. I've never seen someone slip by security so quickly.

We had so much fun the next two days. The concerts were amazing. Camping was amazing. The weather was perfect. I couldn't have asked for more.

And they had Molson Canadian! It's rare to find that in the Southwest but it paid to be that close to Canada. You can see the giant can of it in Kevin's hand. Judging by my face, I'd probably already had too many Molson Canadians. ;o)

On the day of the third show, we went to the river for the day. Of course I hadn't brought a swim suit so you can see my lovely tank top sun burn lines in the pictures.

Overall, it was an amazing trip. Every show was perfect. I was surrounded by great friends. It was one of those weekends that can probably never be duplicated.

On our way back to Portland to catch our flight, we decided to detour and head West to Seattle. I've wanted to go to Seattle since the original Pearl Jam album came out and I decided that Seattle must be the coolest city on the planet.

Well, I didn't get much time there, honestly a few hours at most... but I wasn't let down. The city is beautiful. Pike's Place Market is incredible. And, it didn't rain while we were there!

Of course, I had to get a Starbucks at the original Starbucks store.

All in all.

A once in a life time experience!

(Kev, I know you're reading this... we are going in 2010!!!)

Summer Session... Complete.

Today was a good day.

As i mentioned earlier, I started back in school this summer. For the last 6 weeks I have spent every other Friday and Saturday for 8 hours a day slaving away at an executive business course at UNLV.

All right, I'll be straight... it wasn't exactly slaving away. The classes to my surprise as I expected, were interesting, relevant and I honestly couldn't get enough. It's possible that I annoyed the hell out of my classmates with my incessant questions and comments. But it was that fascinating to me.

The only negative I could find out of the entire experience was that I'm not so 100% sure now about the UNLV hotel school. I get the whole "it's the best hotel school in the country" line of thinking but it's the business classes that I can't get enough of. I could spend years sitting in an accounting class and I think I'd be completely content. (Maybe it's my secret love of numbers and formulas.) Strange as it may seem, I feel exactly the same way about economics. Really! I enjoyed it so much that I went to Barnes and Noble and purchased The Economic Naturalist. I mean, who buys books like that for leisure reading? Apparently, me. I just can't get enough of this stuff. I have found myself watching documentaries on PBS about the cause of the financial crisis. Hello? I have episodes of Grey's that are still DVR'd to watch and I'm watching 2 hour specials on the crash of our financial institutions. I had no idea this stuff was this interesting!

So... today was my final day of the summer courses. I am absolutely positive that I have come out of this experience more intelligent than when I came in but it also opened my eyes to how much I don't know and would like to learn.

They did a little ceremony at the end for us. Everyone was well behaved, polite and did the politician like hand shake as they received their certificate.

Not me!

I was excited and proud of myself and I showed it as you can see from the picture. This is me getting my certificate from my super cool, (and ridiculously intelligent) Australian professor Dr. Phelan. Seriously, when he starts talking finance, I feel like I only have a 2nd grade education.

I'll be back to school in the fall!

Now the only decision to make is which major.

Tis The Season For Knitting???

I knit.

I typically knit non-stop from fall to early spring.

I do not knit well.

Today, Michael and I headed over to our local Michael's to pick up a project for his economics fair next week. He's making friendship bracelets with the name of his school, his friends names, etc...

While we were perusing the store in search of beads with letters on them, we passed by my favorite aisle in the world. The yarn aisle. I have a bit of a yarn obsession. I have yarn hidden everywhere. I can't get enough of it.

But as I said before, I do not knit well. So purchasing fabulous expensive yarns is not an economically intelligent choice for me. I have this small (or occasionally big) problem with sizing and gauge. I love to make beanies. But for some reason, the beanies I produce only seem to fit two head sizes. Newborn or Andre the Giant. See, I haven't really mastered the normal adult head just yet. I can't even seem to master my 7 year olds head yet. (But seriously, if you have an adult with a head the size of Andre the Giant in your life... I've got lots of hand made hats for them!)

While we were passing the yarn aisle, I noticed a cute little pattern book with a messenger bag on the back cover. I know it's not the greatest picture here, but as I sat there drooling over the bag, Michael looked up at me and said "Mom, you haven't knitted anything in a while." Well, there's a reason I don't knit in the summer. It's Las Vegas. It's 120 degrees. The thought of yarn and anything knitted in that heat makes me sweat just thinking about it. But oh, the bag was so cute.

So what did I do? I bought the pattern book and enough yarn to probably make 3 messenger bags. Considering my sizing issues, I'm thinking it may be one of three things:

1. It may wind up a tiny over the shoulder purse/clutch.

2. It may wind up large enough to use as baggage for a three week trip to Europe.

3. It may take three tries to get the bag "just right."

Here's the yarn I'm going with. Of course, I already have a "problem A" which would be that the bag is meant to be felted. A felted bag would mean that I'd need to be knitting with worsted wool. What did I accidentally buy? Worsted acrylic.

So, um, yeah... I'm not going to be going with a felted bag.

I would call it my own adaptation of a super cute messenger bag.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Existential Realization

I tend to live in a box.
I understand that there are lots of things going on outside of that box but I'm often afraid to venture outside of those four familiar sides that surround me and protect me.
I've lost friends because of this fear of leaving my box.
(Could I have found time to leave my child and go to the bar for a few drinks with a good friend? Yes. But I didn't.)
There is always too much going on inside of my box to even consider trying to take on much else.
I'm not really sure if I'll look back and be proud of myself for focusing so much of my time and efforts inside of my box. Will I feel accomplished for putting so much into my son? Will I look back with regret that I didn't find a way to make more time for the people outside of my box who were so important to me that it physically hurt when I lost them?
Is it selfish of me to exert so much energy on myself and my family?
I ask myself these questions all too often.
Am I balancing things wrong?
Does everyone see the things the friend I lost must have seen?
My husband says no... but he loves me... it's his job to say no.
It's his job to tell me that I'm doing the right things, making the right choices, that he'll support me no matter what crazy goal I decide I want to achieve.
But then comes a message like I received yesterday.
It came from my friend Jodi.
She is an absolute Super Mom who's kids are angels. They are well behaved, kind, funny and they eat anything put on their plate without complaint. Every time I've been to Jodi's house it's been immaculately clean and she's also one of those rare women who manages to look more beautiful, young and skinny after 3 kids than most of us looked on our best day at 21 years old.
Jodi reads my blog (which was pretty exciting in itself cause I really thought I only had 3 readers) and she sent me this message after complimenting my writing.

And another thing, YOU are the Supermom! You raise your son, love your husband, keep a beautiful home, get involved, advance your own education, increase your assets, AND work a full time job! That, my sister, is the definition of a supermom.

And in that simple message, every sacrifice became worth it.
Thank you Jodi!
You re-opened my eyes.

I Should Have Read This Earlier...

My son was diagnosed with ADHD almost 2 years ago. When we finally got the "official" diagnosis from his pediatrician, I began to tell family and close friends. I immersed myself in research, reading anything and everything I could get my hands on. The book I found most useful, relevant and eye opening was Driven to Distraction by Dr. Edward M. Hallowell. I would recommend this book to anyone with ADHD or with someone in their life who has ADHD. I read studies, researched the internet, spoke with Michael's psychologist. I got as much information as I could about the "disorder" (for the record, I hate that it's identified as a disorder) in order to help Michael in any way that I could.

Recently, while looking through a drawer in my bedroom, I came across an article out of the Buffalo News that my mother had sent me a year and a half ago. It was about the book ADHD & Me - What I Learned From Lighting Fires at the Dinner Table. The book was written by a 17 year old Blake E. S. Taylor. Well, I read the article again, and headed down to Barnes & Noble to pick it up. I don't know how I missed it before. I can only guess that I was so immersed in so many other books on the subject that I must have put the article away and forgotten about it.

I came home with it yesterday afternoon and started to read it. Needless to say, I had finished it before dinner. The book is an easy read but it's so interesting to read something that is from a kid's point of view. I've said it before, I do not understand how Michael's brain works. I read about it but I can't fathom it. This book was the first book that really gave me an inside view of how it feels. I even read chapters of it out loud to Michael and he found it interesting enough to sit down and listen. That's unusual for him. He asked questions and it actually started some really good dialogue between us on subjects we really hadn't touched on before.

After reading it, I walked away with two really important things.

1. There's so many positives about Michael that I often forget to focus on. I get so caught up in what he's done wrong that I forget to celebrate the little victories. Reading this book reminded me of those positives.

2. This is a book I'd recommend to anyone who's young and dealing with ADHD and anyone who's older and dealing with a child with ADHD.

And after Michael realized that the author of the book was a teenager, he's decided that he should write his own book. I can't wait to read it!

Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King

If you don't already know it about me, I love LOVE LoVe the Dave Matthews Band. I was actually at the show at the Staples Center in LA last year that you see at :46 seconds on this video. It was the day that the bands incredibly talented saxophone player Leroi Moore passed out of our world and into a better place. It was the most heartbreaking show I've ever been to, filled with raw emotion. When Dave announced the news to the sold out crowd, you could actually feel the emotion overcome the crowd like a giant wave. The new album is out and better than ever. This quick video really gives a sense of where the brilliant music on this disc came from. It is, in my humble opinion, their best album in a long time.
I highly recommend it!

Clowns are Cool

Well we did it.
We survived birthday party number 7.
Peter Piper literally did all the work. Which was fantastically amazing unusual for me. Michael and his friends had a blast playing video games to their hearts content.
There was a face painter (oops... excuse me... artist) there that painted all the kids faces. Since it was Michael's birthday, he got to pick two.
As you can see from the photo, Michael chose to have the hulk "tattooed" on his arm and a pirate for his face. Let me just tell you this... it was a horrific experience trying to convince him that he could not keep the half smeared pirate on his face until school the next morning. He insisted it was too cool to remove. I insisted I would not have the "dirty kid". He insisted that smeared and streaked pirate paintings would be the "awesomest" (yes, that is the exact term he used) thing his first grade class had ever seen. I insisted that I would not have the "dirty kid".
In the end I won this small battle of "dirty" vs. "clean".
In addition to the face painter on premises, Michael's grandmother decided to hire a balloon animal making clown to attend the festivities. I'll be totally honest here... I thought this to be a terrible idea. I was absolutely certain that a group of 6 and 7 year olds would have little to no interest in a clown that makes balloon animals. I was actually a little concerned that this might be construed as the lamest thing ever uncool. The day of the party, I actually began to feel a bit anxious about whether this whole clown thing was a good idea. Okay... I'm possibly leaving out one small detail. I'm possibly leaving out the fact that, frankly, I'm not so fond of clowns myself. I'm not one with an actual fear of clowns... they just make me a little uncomfortable.
This was all a surprise to Michael. When the time came and the clown arrived, I felt my stomach drop a little. First, he entered Peter Piper in all his glory, honking away on his noise making honking thing. Oh no, I thought, this is not going to be Michael's thing. I really kept saying to myself over and over, "Please don't let Michael's friends make fun of him for this. Please don't let Michael's friends make fun of him for this." Well, with all of the honking and commotion, the kids come running over and surround the clown. First, he was not the most attractive clown I'd ever seen. He was real dry in his humor, which was entertaining since only the adults really understood his jokes. Here he his...But then he started making some of the 15,604 different balloon animals/objects in his repertoire.
Things like this. The pink panther playing a sax.



Or this. A rhino riding a motorcycle.

And this super sweet pirates hat on Michael's grandfathers head.

I learned two valuable lessons from the now infamous clown incident of 09.

1. Clowns are not that bad.

2. Clowns are definitely still really exciting to 1st graders. (yes... I admit it... Michael's grandmother was right about this one.)

What we wound up with was a pretty cool clown...
and a very happy birthday boy!

The ADHD Brain.

Michael's brain often mystifies me. I've read countless books and done a ridiculous amount of research to gain some understanding into what it is that he's feeling/going through on any given day. It's difficult for me to grasp because, well, I don't have ADHD. I can't fathom hyperfocusing. I can't fathom getting distracted by the tear in the knee of my jeans to the point that I nearly rip the bottom half of my pant leg off. I can't fathom the need to constantly fidget, move and sing. I couldn't really fathom what it is that goes on in his head until he came home from school with the above art project.
To me, it is the most beautiful expression and explanation of what he experiences day in and day out that I could have ever asked for. Clearly, I need to use art as an outlet for him more often.

Good Neighbors

We are really, unbelievably lucky to live on a street filled with kids. There are at least 10 kids on our street that go to the same elementary school that is 2 blocks away. It's really nice having a street like that and it's great for the kids because there is literally always someone to play outside with.
Directly next door lives Michael's best friend Sidney. Sidney befriended Michael from the minute we moved in and he and Michael have been inseparable since. They've been known to play together for 8 hours straight.
Lately though I've noticed that Sidney and Michael have been arguing. There have been several occasions in which one or both of the boys has stormed home, slamming the door behind them. The arguments typically stem from trivial details such as whether they should play wall ball or cops and robbers or who got to play Wii for longer.
This has been concerning me more and more. I admittedly over react all the time but with Michael's ADHD, he often reacts on impulse and will yell at his friends when he gets upset. Interpersonal relationships are difficult for him because he's not always able to think before he acts. I even caught him one evening attempting to push Sidney off his bike (because Sidney won the bike race I think.)

My husband (and he was a boy once) claims that this is totally normal and insists that all boys do this. He swears that he fought constantly as a kid with his friends in his neighborhood growing up. (I vaguely remember a story about two of them starting each other's newspaper route boxes on fire.) My difficulty here is that I grew up a girl. Girl's are different. We didn't argue and fight like that. I really don't think the bickering between friends began until high school for me.

Yesterday was Michael's 7th birthday. He had school (we're year round in Vegas) and brought cupcakes to school. After school, my husband picked him up and pretty much every elementary schooler in our neighborhood spent the afternoon in our front yard hanging out with Michael for his birthday. One of the gifts we got him was a sidewalk chalk set with 52 colors. When I arrived home from work, I happily found that they had decorated our driveway and the entire street in pictures and messages for Michael. When I got out of my car, Sidney ran up to me and I asked him "Sidney? Did you guys do all of this for Michael?" Sidney smiled and told me "Of course! Michael's my best friend forever!"
It doesn't happen often but I'm happy to report... my husband was right!

Here are a few of the birthday messages written just for Michael.

I believe this would be a very life like image of Michael.

Elementary school = not always completing the name.

They have a club on the street. Notice above, "if not a member do not enter!!"

I had to join in on the fun! Here's mine! Happy Birthday Michael!

The Years In Pictures

6 more years and he'll be a certified teenager. I'm so not ready for this!

Happy Birthday Michael!!!