Cataract Falls & Wolf Cave

On Saturday we went with some friends to Cataract Falls--we have had insanely cold weather here this week (the big kids had an entire ten days where they didn't go to in-person school!) and so the falls froze over. By the time we went on Saturday things were starting to thaw a bit, but it was still so amazing!!

This is the view from above the falls--so cool. Some people were clambering out to the part that you can see in the bottom right of this photo, but we decided to go the (much longer) route to get at the left-hand side. 

And here's the view from the bottom! It took us probably an hour to get over here--it was very steep and everything was covered in about 8 inches of snow. I think this is the most anxious I have EVER been on a hike with the kids; I was terrified that Matthew was going to take a header off the cliff (it was really slippery). He got so mad at me for constantly holding on to him! 



The kids really wanted to go out onto the ice but we weren't quite confident that it was still frozen solid, but we did get some great shots from the edge!



And then it was time to go back behind the falls--this has a really deep overhang so you can walk behind them all year, but in winter it was especially spectacular. The water was still rushing over the ice so it was very very cool. 

End of the tunnel...

All the kids perched on the ice buildup behind the falls--the part just above them still had tons of water rushing over it. 



Some really cool ice formations here!

So beautiful--I'm so glad we had the chance to see it!



I didn't get any photos/videos of the kids "penguining" down the hills (again, back to the nervous gripping of the Matthew) but dang they had an AMAZING time sliding down on their bellies--it was super steep! Pretty hard for adults to go down not on our bellies. ;-)

This covered bridge was built in 1876 and was at one point, according to the internet, "one of the most photographed covered bridges in the United States." Still beautiful. 

After we finished up at the falls, two of the families we met decided to go on home, but we went with the other family to McCormick's Creek State Park, about twenty minutes away...to check out Wolf Cave! We had never been there before and I was SO glad that this other family decided to go with us, since they a) had been there before and b) had headlamps with them. Neil went backpacking with this guy a few months ago and described his backpack as a Mary Poppins wonderland of survival gear, and he was right! 

In my mind I anticipated a cave that was more of an overhang, but no, it was an actual legit twisty turny cave that started at one spot and then after about five minutes opened up at another spot! I loved it SO much. It was the perfect length to be really fun, just enough crawling to feel adventurous, and a little belly-slithering at the end over ice that made me really grateful we'd come in winter (our friends mentioned that in spring/summer you have to do that part on your back to keep your face out of the water--yikes!). 



You can just see one of the kids disappearing back into the tunnel here--I wish I'd gotten more photos inside but oh well. 

Here's the exit bit--you can see our friend crawling out about to come over that ice sheet. 



And some super cool icicles at the end!





We had a great time and it was a really nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon after a week of frigid temperatures, lots of eLearning, and a bit of cabin fever setting in!

 

Snow day and precious precious reading time

1) Last night we got the news around 4 PM that today would be an elearning day. It was so nice to get this info at 4 PM rather than 4 AM! 

2) The kids had a lot of fun today in the snow once we finished up elearning (I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR TEACHERS AND THAT WE HAVE BEEN IN SCHOOL THIS YEAR!!!). We got ten-ish inches with a lot of variation based on drifts. Neil can fervently assure you that our driveway had WAY more of the drifting on the east side of the street than all our western neighbors. (Like a solid foot more.) 

3) While the kids were outside I decided to hop on the treadmill and see how many miles I could log before they came in--I was fully expecting someone to tromp inside after about 5 minutes, but I got in 8 miles which was a nice surprise! (And I did my strength workout this morning during elearning--it was kind of stop-and-go but it got done!)

4) Neil and I went on a snowy walk when he was done with work and it was really nice to get a chance to chat with him--it's been so busy around here lately (this is day 5 of kids being home). 

5) We are days deep into another Lego-put-together-all-the-old-sets dive here. On--Saturday? Sunday? it all runs together--night Neil & I stayed up until 2 am sorting Legos by color to make things easier for everyone finding pieces (still so much left to sort!). One of my favorite things to do on those Lego days is to read aloud to the kids, and today I sat down with them for an hour and read three long books that we normally don't read as much anymore but love so so much both for their lyrical language and their beautiful illustrations--The Wild Swans, by Susan Jeffers; The Sleeping Beauty by Trina Schart Hyman, and The Little Mermaid with illustrations by Charles Santore and the full unabridged text by Hans Christian Andersen. I love reading these to my older five kids who have the patience for a half-hour long version of The Little Mermaid and who are chatty at first and then gradually grow silent and totally immersed in the story to the point that they drop their Legos and edge closer to me so I end up with a cocoon of long-limbed older kids draped over each other and curled around me as we read the final pages (and don't forget four-year-old Matthew firmly ensconced in my lap!). Precious moments indeed. 

PS--for more fairy tales that are delightful to read aloud, check out this very old post here from when my kids were just babies. We've loved these for a long time!

 

2/11

 

1) Today everyone went to school simultaneously for the first time since last Wednesday! I had just short of two hours of silent solo house. It was pretty amazing to hear clocks ticking. 

2) We had a 2-her delay today that did NOT morph into elearning and for that I am thankful. Enough time for everyone to do piano and for me to get my strength workout in before it was time to actually get going with the day. 

3) Tonight after dinner Neil played guitar for a long time and I played piano and the kids played some really noisy game where Juliet was a tiger. Then we made them be quiet (bc they were CRAZY loud) and ended up with Neil and Abigail singing while I played the piano. It was really nice.

4) Totally immature but the laugh I needed: Hermès (our cat) wandered in when I was changing into my pajamas and i thought it would be hilarious to drop him down the leg of my skinny jeans. I was right—Neil and I were both laughing so hard that we couldn’t stand up (and then I had to go downstairs to show Abigail the cat pendulum with a very grumpy cat face at the end of it). When we shook him back out he yowled reproachfully at all of us and then hid under Abigail’s bed until we stopped laughing and then he stalked out very pointedly not looking at us. 

5) We ended up having 2 piano lessons via Zoom today and one via Facetime. I’m really thankful for technology that keeps us going with our music lessons while we are in the middle of crazy times. 

2/10

 No post for a few days because quite honestly I was just exhausted and trying to make it through the days and couldn't add anything extra. But after 2 days of going to bed immediately after dinner, I'm finally feeling functional again and no longer so despairing (I need SO. MUCH. SLEEP. And if I don't get it, it's the quickest ticket to a depressive episode).

So here we are, back on the wagon.

1) My grandma sent us this 1000-piece Jane Austen puzzle. It arrived today and we have already made a serious dent in it. Isaac and I had the border together within an hour of its arrival; as I type this he and Luke are working on it behind me and I'm racing to finish this post so I can get to puzzling!! (Isaac is humming the main theme from "Carmen," haha.)

2) I gave Neil a guitar for his birthday and I love listening to him play it in the evenings. Right now he's working his way through a book of John Denver sheet music. Be still my heart!!

3) Neil and I did our strength workout today and I always love when our schedules sync up so we can do that. 

4) Our kids have been in school so far every day this week (really hope I don't jinx anything by saying that) which I wasn't quite expecting based on the forecast, but I am really really grateful that we haven't had another elearning day (yet!).

5) Made these pizza roll-ups for dinner today and they are always such a hit. So yummy and they make great leftovers for lunches!

February 7

 

Today was a pretty long and heavy day so I’m grateful for this exercise tonight! And really really grateful to be cuddled up in bed with Neil as I type (and watching New Girl on his laptop—I need some levity!). 

1) My parents sent the kids these fun dominos—the kids were so excited about them that they didn’t even make it five feet from the front door before they started playing with them! Note the box in the background? These were a huge hit and a great way to shake up some of the looming cabin fever. 

2) Four degrees when we left for our Sunday morning walk, but we still went and we still had a great time! This is one of the best parts of the pandemic—I really love our weekly rambles and chance to dissect the past week and upcoming week and talk about big dreams that are still years out. 

 3) Neil’s tie during home church today—the kids gave this to him a few years ago and it’s a household favorite that makes me smile every time. 

4) I made some good food today—egg and veggie muffins for breakfast, BBQ pulled pork wheat rolls for lunch (I don’t know how to describe this but basically I just wrapped pulled pork inside dough for dinner rolls) and gauffres de Leige for dinner because by that time i was done with cooking for the day! I ran some of the BBQ rolls to the missionaries (who looked so young during our ward council today that I just wanted to reach through the screen and hug them—can you even imagine being a missionary in this pandemic?!) so taking them some lunch somehow made me feel a little less anxious about my own kids leaving my house way too soon (the twenty college pamphlets in our mailbox every day are really doing a number on me). 

5) We had our baptismal preview Zoom for our ward today. This is the first one I’ve done as Primary president (thankful i had a few as a counselor!) and I was pretty darn nervous so it was wonderful to have it go smoothly and to see all those sweet little kids that I miss so much! 

February 6

1) Abigail and I went driving this afternoon (almost halfway done with driving hours, woohoo!) and stopped at our favorite Indian grocer. I needed to stock up on ginger paste, but Abigail convinced me to try about twenty other things, so we had a really fun time wandering the store together and picking out things that looked fun. Then we got a bunch of delicious stuff from the in-house bakery and sat in the car drinking guava juice and munching on samosas and spicy veggie wraps and googling stuff like “how to prepare dragon fruit” and “how does spicy stuff bind to your taste receptors” and “what’s the difference between a highway and a freeway.” Both of us REALLY needed to get out today and I felt so much more sane and happy and refreshed when we got back—she is so much fun.  

2) We had a lot of fun trying out all our goodies after dinner. The dried kiwi was a unanimous hit; the jaggery and milk sweets not so much. We all had a hard time throwing away the dragon fruit skins because we were all just CRAVING color after so much snow and ice and cold (Juliet: “Mom, are you absolutely positive you can’t make a craft out of them? Don’t you want to like...hang them on a door or something?!”)

3) Neil and Juliet worked SO hard today and rewired 3 of the upstairs bedrooms!! Now Jules has a ceiling fan and light, Isaac and Luke’s room has a light switch IN their room instead of OUTSIDE their room (so weird!!), and the little boys’ light turns on from their light switch instead of a pull chain. Did I mention our home was built in the 70s? So grateful for all that hard work they put in today! 

4) A new 75-min PR for me today!! This is the second 75-min class I’ve taken (the first one was 3 weeks ago) and it’s cool to see my fitness steadily improving. This week I’ve done some of the hardest rides I’ve ever done 3 days of the week, ran the other 3 days, and fit in 3 hours of strength training around the cardio. And forty minutes of stretching. 😂

5) Tonight after dinner I spent an hour or so playing piano. For most of that time (as soon as he finished his dinner job) Isaac was sitting next to me in a chair pulled up right next to the piano. I love his love for and appreciation of music! He requested a few songs and then commented afterwards on different things he really loved about them, and we talked for awhile about different chords and how to stretch your hands (how can my little boy already reach a 9th!!) to get around difficult 4-finger chords...it was a really nice interlude with him. 

Elearning

Today we had an elearning day for everyone thanks to ice. It was ROUGH and it’s good for me to focus on the positives!! 😬

1) Neil was able to change his schedule today and work from home. I was so so so grateful to have him running backup for me. 

2) Since we were all home, everyone was able to finish piano by 10 am! 

3) The kids all finished their elearning in time for me to be able to get in my full workout (strength and an 8-mile run). 

4) When Neil was done with work, we slipped out for a quick Costco run (and picked up a Crumbl order on the way, yum!) before the next storm wave hit. 

5) After dinner we all cuddled up to watch the live-action Aladdin and snack on Neil’s delicious s’mores (Golden Grahams cereal, chocolate chips, and mini marshmallows all melted together). Taking full advantage of our one sugar day a week, haha! 

 

Pandemic Days

 Sometimes I like to write up a normal day as fully as I can for remembering purposes. Most of the kids are outside right now so I'll start typing and see how far I can get! Today happened to be a day where Neil was working from home & the three oldest were at home for elearning. 

5ish am: I wake up, look at the time, and try to go back to sleep. 

6:30ish: Neil can't sleep any more, so he gets up. I pretend to myself for awhile longer that I can still sleep, but once Matthew hops up and down the stairs a few times (he is HANDS DOWN the loudest stair-walker in our family), I give up and go downstairs.

Neil has breakfast going for the four boys, as he does every single day--today he's opted for French toast. I sit down at my desk and start going through my work emails and grading the assignments that were submitted last night. Neil wrangles the kids through breakfast, gathers up gloves, Chromebooks, lunches, masks, etc., and shepherds Luke and Nathan out the door to the van. I've driven the morning shift the last three days, so he takes it over today and I get in a solid hour of work before Matthew decides he's done with breakfast and he MUST have my full attention.

Isaac and Abigail have already started their homework (today is an at-home day for the three oldest kids) but Juliet is still firmly enscounced in bed. When Neil gets home, he wakes her up and she comes down, blinking and owl-eyed, wrapped in her fuzziest robe. I've already cleaned up the kitchen and all the remaining French toast mix, so she happily opts for cereal (her favorite and something nobody ever gets on a go-to-school morning). 

Neil has half an hour before his first meeting, so the two of us (and Matthew!) slip downstairs for a quick twenty minutes of weights. Matthew really loves specific Peloton instructors, so he gets to pick the class for the day (solely based on Matthew's desire to hear Andy say "Boom, baby!" at the end of difficult sets). 

Neil starts his call and Matthew and I check in on the older kids. Matthew & I have our daily argument about music (he always wants to blast Imagine Dragons, I insist that when the kids are doing elearning we listen to classical music because it helps cut down on the kids singing or humming to themselves, which in turn cuts down on kids arguing about who is being loud). I realize I haven't eaten anything so I dump some protein powder into a glass of milk, then sit down with a giant pile of picture books for the next hour. I read to Matthew and surreptitiously answer work emails and texts for my calling under the cover of the books as they come in--there are a few urgent things that I need to make decisions about now. 

Once my throat has given out, Matthew and I go back downstairs for another 30 minutes of weights--Peloton's strength for runners program makes a huge difference in my mobility and speed, so I try to do longer runner-specific sessions at least twice a week. Matthew sits next to me and keeps up a nonstop narrative and I do my best to answer him while wishing that he would just play with toys for a few minutes because these weighted lunges are hard and I just want to focus! I feel a little guilty that I'm not playing with him and that he's sitting through two different weight sessions this morning. 

Matty and I head back upstairs and make a round of green smoothies for everyone--Matthew puts in raspberries, blackberries, and 2 bananas. I add a bag of spinach and some orange juice concentrate, then Matthew adds Greek yogurt (then a whole lot more when my back is turned) and we hand out smoothies to everyone else. I spend some time helping kids with elearning questions, then Matty and I catch up on some Marco Polos while he eats lunch. 

We head to preschool, picking up Matthew's friend G on the way (thank heavens for this one carpool that has survived COVID!). When I get home, the older kids are eating lunch. Neil has finished his morning calls and is on the Peloton; he comes upstairs and we briefly chat before I head downstairs for my run. I've been running inside more this winter than I ever have before--I'm just so tired of running the same routes by myself, and the ice and snow are depressing and not something I feel like dealing with lately. Since today is my rest day, I run a very easy four miles and then add a fifth mile since I feel like I've barely broken a sweat. I stretch, then head back upstairs to shower. Isaac and Neil are working on Isaac's history essay on DaVinci, and after I finish showering Isaac asks me to proofread it one more time before he submits it. 

I pick up Luke and Nathan from school, then meet Matthew at G's house. When we get home, Luke goes straight into the backyard and starts building a snowman. Nathan and Matthew shower, eat a snack, and then decide they want to build a snowman with Luke. I outfit them for the snow, trying not to think about how much (not) fun it will be to get the little boys through homework and piano later tonight--I'm glad they all want to play together.

Juliet comes upstairs from her run and decides she wants to go outside; Isaac joins her. The five of them build a snowman family; Abigail is still in the dining room plugging away at her homework. I'd hoped to do driving hours with her tonight during Juliet & Isaac's piano lesson, but it looks like that won't happen. 

I take advantage of the quiet with everyone outside to catch up on work emails/grading, then vacuum the main level of the house and tidy things up before I start dinner. Tonight is tricky because we have three back-to-back piano lessons (one at our home over Zoom and two others at the piano teacher's home) so I never quite know what to do for dinner; if we wait until the piano lessons are over we end up eating around 6:45 which really cramps the evening. 

I decide to have dinner ready around 5 and whoever's home can eat then with other kids eating on the way to piano, so I make rigatoni with zucchini, sausage, tomatoes, and basil. I reluctantly tell the kids it's time to come in from the snow, then try to keep everyone quiet while we deal with the snow stuff and I simultaneously make dinner, since Abigail is on a Zoom piano lesson in the living room. 

Neil comes downstairs, finished with work for the day, and I give him a quick update on where we are with homework and piano practice as I shepherd Juliet and Isaac out to piano. While I wait for them, I have a blissfully quiet hour to tackle more work emails and grading (ah, mobile office that is my car, we have good times together). 

When we get home, it’s a mad dash until bedtime—finishing up homework, helping kids study for quizzes, more piano practice, kids who suddenly decide they need to do laundry, finishing dinner dishes, coaxing Matthew into eating dinner, family scripture study and prayer.

Overall...pandemic days feel LONG and repetitious to me. Basically an endless round of feeding people, reading to Matthew, helping kids with homework, trying to wedge in my work, and keeping the house going. I'm spending a lot of time working out, and sometimes I feel guilty about that, buuuuut it's also what is keeping me sane right now. 

February 3

1) I love meals that I can start in the crock pot early in the day so that the evening is less crazy. This slow cooker fiesta soup is always a favorite here and I made my favorite quinoa salad + delicious cornbread to go with it. 

2) I somehow missed the email in November that a certain swathe of university employees were getting a lump sum bonus because of the Covid craziness, so when I finally noticed it in my bank account today when I was paying bills it was a nice surprise! (Go figure that I did NOT notice an addition in December, but I noticed that December and January's paychecks were different.)

3) I readjusted my bike seat height today in hopes that it would help with the hip joint pain I've been having lately after rides and so far so good after today's ride!! Fingers crossed that did the trick (I watched one of the Facebook Live fitting videos with Christine & ended up moving my seat down 2.5 cm and back 2 cm). 

4) I had a really nice conversation with a real estate agent today who told me that our house is worth almost double what we paid for it thanks to all the renovations we've done. He also extensively complimented our design choices so that was a really fun compliment boost. 

5) Neil & I went for a walk tonight after dinner while the kids did their dinner jobs. We left just in time to catch the end of the sunset and the beginning of the moonlight--with all the snow and ice it was really lovely and magical. 

 

Groundhog Day

1) For many many years I focused on running as far and as fast as I could during the measly time I had to work out. Neil worked such long hours that I was either running at 5 am outside or during naptime/after bedtime on the treadmill. In recent years I’ve made much more of an effort to focus on cross-training, strength-training, and stretching. Running will always be my first love exercise-wise, but I’m pretty darn proud that my daily workouts usually look like today’s. (I usually strength train in the morning—Matthew really likes it—and then focus on cardio in the afternoon. In summer I like to get everything done before the kids are up but it is dark and cold right now and that is NOT happening.) Anyway. Look at that well-balanced workout today!

2) Kids playing outside in the snow after school and reminding me what a great backyard we have!!!

3) Matthew wore these sunglasses the entire morning—through breakfast, stories, playtime, working out, lunch...the whole thing. Then he very very carefully tucked them into the side pocket of his backpack before hopping out of the car at preschool. 

4) Cute moment during family scripture study between Abs and Matty. 

5) Everything I ordered from the grocery store was in stock today, hurray!!! THAT feels like a miracle. 

 

Five for February is baaaaack

 

It’s that time of year again!!! The one where I try to ignore dismal bleak February weather by focusing on daily blessings. Today has been pretty lousy so I’m glad to be able to think of high points. 

1) In my first of 2 rides today, I set a new 45-minute PR, yay!!! When I first got my Peloton bike on 8/31 I did a 45-min ride with 377 kJ as my output; today was 502. Felt pretty darn good about that...and then dropped into another 30 minute ride. I’m juggling PowerZone training and running right now and so far so good. 

2) The boys went outside to play after school in the snow—I’m so glad it didn’t melt while they were gone! 

3) After 4 semesters with my current LMS I figured out today that if I switch my screen to landscape orientation I can actually see the full assignment which means i can grade from my phone, which means I caught up on a bunch of grading today while waiting in the car for various kids. YES THIS IS LIFE-CHANGING. Let’s not talk about all the times I’ve juggled multiple devices in national parks trying to hotspot a chromebook from my phone...

4) I have this French clay and kelp face scrub that I really LOVE and use in the shower after biking days (that’s just how I mentally remember to use it). Today was a biking day so also a mini facial day, yay!! 

5) Neil called on his way home from work to tell me he will get home earlier enough to make dinner tonight,  which means I get to come home (waiting for the boys at piano) to a hot meal that I didn’t make. BLISS.