feet on the dash

the boys and i will be road tripping tomorrow to visit the utah gerbers!

we are giddy with excitement and the car is packed with bikes, snowboards,
the few snow clothes we have, and lots and lots of books.
i told c i feel sorry for him....that he has to drive and can't read.
{he said it's ok...he listens to podcasts...or make conference calls}

while he reads, my feet will be up on the dashboard of his car
{he allows this as long as they are clean}.

i can't be the only one who does this. *grin*

travel time

the boys and i (all of them) will be taking another road trip!

we are back on the road tomorrow heading to california's central valley,
specifically to lemoore air station to attend a special ceremony for uncle chad.

uncle chad is the gerber brother that flies f-18 super hornets.
{the boys pointed one out to me last Saturday when we were here}
he is being promoted to a new command and getting his OWN squadron.
how many pilots are in a squadron? I couldn't say,
but i know it's a pretty big deal and uncle chad has worked hard to get there.

we are all SUPER excited and looking forward to spending
time with chad's family, papa g, sheila and most of the gerber brothers
and their wives who are coming out to for the big event.

one of my favorite things when the boys get together is listen to their stories.
big families always have big stories and the gerbers are plentiful and fun.

finn and scout will enjoy the stories but they are most looking forward to
seeing their cousins, uncle's jet and if they are lucky, a flight simulator.
they are BEYOND excited!

on another note, i've got some new material to read for our long roadtrip.
i can hardly wait to sink my teeth in them.  i'll be bringing this book along
which i picked up last weekend.  i've always been interested in learning more
about harper lee, the woman who wrote to kill a mockingbird.

fans of hers everywhere, including me, are anxiously awaiting her new book
which comes out in july.  first things first...i am scout.

other fun news:
my company's san diego office held their first annual charity golf tournament
on monday here. we'd been planning it for months and the day finally arrived.
it was a huge success! i not only got to get out of the office all day and soak
up the sunshine, but we raised $22,000 for the leukemia and lymphoma society.
we hope to make this an annual event!

last night i met with a wonderful group of ladies as we started a new book group.
after lots of thought and discussion, i decided to say goodbye to the group i call
the 'serious' book club and joined a new group made up of ladies who live in the
beach area and are all moms with kids who attend explorer and/or the high tech
high middle and high schools. no more driving all over san diego, and more
opportunities to connect with families and to pick the brain of moms with older
kids. {i learn so much this way}

and speaking of books. do you remember finn's class and their 1,000 book challenge?
each student {including his teacher} was supposed to read 40 books each {picture books
are not allowed} in order to reach this goal that has taken them the entire school year.
finn has read 46 books and is trying to squeeze in a 2 or 3 more over the next few weeks
to help the class reach their goal. they are just 22 under and with a push from all the
students, they will get there. 

happy memorial day weekend folks. enjoy your 3 day {or more} weekend!

daring the desperado

i almost forgot to post a significant and monumental moment in the boys' lives.
the boys dared the desperado. it's a CRAZY FAST and JERKY rollercoaster
located in prim, nevada.

we drive by buffalo bill's casino every time we drive to utah,
and we see this giant outdoor/indoor coaster from the highway.
it always looks a little daunting!

as we drove by the coaster on the way to utah this year, c shared that
mommy rode it alone one christmas when scoutie was just 6 months old.
finn didn't remember it but he was quick to ask if he could ride it sometime.
we said sure if he was tall enough,  scout too. {we doubted scout would be}.

on our way home from utah, we decided to stop and ride the coaster.
i had googled the height requirements and scout just barely made the 48".
{he's exactly 48 1/4"}.  he was BEYOND excited!!

i wasn't sure if the short guys would go through with it, but they surprised me.
they jumped in the seats and as the cars climbed to the highest point, i heard finn
wondering outloud how many g's {g forces} we would be pulling.
















after the ride, i pointed out we all have such different rollercoaster riding styles.
mr. gerber put his hands up a lot, scout screamed at the top of his lungs,
and finn and i remained frozen as we held on for our lives! 
{i even closed my eyes quite a bit}

over dinner afterwards, we all agreed it was terrifying, a bit too jerky,
but would we go on it again given the opportunity? ABSOLUTELY!!

as we pulled out of the parking lot, i looked up at the desperardo, smiled and
thought what great ages the boys are now and that we can do this kind of stuff.
we have lots of years of rollercoaster riding ahead of us!
{literally and figuratively i'm sure}

spring skiing: utah 2015

as most gerber roadtrips begin,
the boys and i were up at dark o-thirty packing the car.
when we really have it together, the car is packed the night before.
this trip wasn't one of them.

as c was running conference call meetings from the car,
the boys and I barely noticed as we had our heads buried in books.
i was enjoying bossypants by tina fey, finn was devouring space case,
and scout was reading the hobbit for this second time.

instead of going directly to utah, we had discussed stopping in los angeles
so c could look at a car at a volvo dealership he had seen a few days earlier.

for 2 years, he has been looking for a newer model of what he has but it
had to meet all his requirements and this one did {including price}. 
he ended up loving the car, traded in the car we came in and we drove away
in a much more comfy 2 year old silver volvo xc70 or 90. 
{i think that's the model. i'll have to check}

we arrived in st. george a little later than planned because of our detour,
but were sure to get a good night's rest. after breakfast, we all headed 
to the cabin in brianhead.  the drive there is so beautiful!!











uncle t was a bit under the weather the first day,
so he rested in the cabin all day while the rest of us hit the slopes. 
we had a great time and couldn't have asked for better weather -
the sun was shining and the temperature was about 50...perfect!

though i hadn't skied since i was in my early 20s,
it came back to me which i was so grateful for because  my goal
was to be able to ski along side the little guys. i was even able to
share a few pointers beyond pizza and french fries.

by the end of the day, the boys had found their balance and scout
was completely exhausted.  he fell asleep in the warming house.

the boys found lots to do even when they weren't on the slopes...
scout and i played the mexican train game while the bigger boys
dug caves into the pile of snow they found on the cabin's front porch.
they spent HOURS outside and came inside only when it got too dark to see
and their fingers had fallen off.

we've shared so many memories in this cabin with the utah gerbers and
family over the years and are so grateful shannon and trevor have so graciously
shared their home and their hearts with us. we will treasure them forever.



finn {11}, scout {7}, maya {11}, isaac {9}

~ some new nicknames were handed out during this trip.
scoutmaster was given to scout by uncle t, and scout has
chosen 'big t' for uncle trevor.

utah bound

it's been a whirlwind  week and weekend but i wanted to spend 5 minutes to post
before i hit the sack.

i'm up late tonight washing clothes and packing for our trip to st. george  tomorrow.
the boys and i are super excited for some down time and to spend thanksgiving with
the utah gerbers!

i've got wine for the host/hostess, 2 new audiobooks downloaded to my phone,
a few books on my kindle and the boys have paper books stuffed into their backpacks.
we've also got 4 tennis racquet and cans of balls in the backseat of the car
and a few bottles of wine are wrapped in towels at the bottom of my suitcase. *wink*
i think i'm officially ready.

by 1pm tomorrow afternoon, this is what the boys and i will be seeing from our front
windshield - lots of beautiful red rock.

on the road: audible books

about 2 weeks ago, the boys and i started
reading the book chomp together before bed.

when gg sent this book to them for christmas,
i had them promise they'd not read it without me.
being familiar with many of the author's adult books,
i was curious about his children's books.

we all LOVED this book! 
it had us laughing out loud every few pages.

 

what's extra fun for me is in all of hiaasen's books,
the stories take place in florida and are full or references to
places and things that are quintessential to florida life.
{the author is a big advocate of protecting florida's wildlife
and weaves environmental activism into his books}

in a nutshell this book is about a guy named derek badger
who plays a rugged survivalist on reality tv, but he's actually
a phoney who couldn't survive in the outdoors if his life depended
on it.  a father/son animal wrangler team are hired to help him
look good on his florida everglades episode.

they think it's going to be easy money, but it's everything but.

derek gets into all sorts of predicaments with wild animals,
including getting bit by various creatures that he is mistreating.
it's full of physical comedy which resulted in finn howling with laughter.


we finished the book a few nights ago and before finn closed it completely,
he asked if we could get some of the author's other books: flush, scat and hoot. 
the last won a newbery award, and was made into a movie a few years back.

i let them know i'd pass a note along to the easter bunny since easter sunday
is just around the corner.  finn rolled his eyes and i gave him a little wink.
when i asked if he wanted to hunt eggs next weekend, he said "of course"
like i should have known better than to ask such a question.
{apparently he's not too big for that yet}.

road trip, april 2014 {thanks gg}

for most of our road trip to and from phoenix,
the boys and i listened to audiobooks.  it's a wonderful way to pass
the time and it made our 12 hour drive {roundtrip} feel like 1/4 of that.

the boys listened to his dark materials trilogy {the golden compass},
and i listened with complete fascination to uncle tom's cabin,
a book i've been wanting to read for years and years.

during those 10 hours, i laughed, cried, and was horrified as i followed tom
and other characters throughout the story. i finally understand why this was
the best selling novel of the 19th century. it's deserving.

i've never read a piece of literature that was written so thoroughly on the
subject of slavery in america.  horrific, personal, and a blatant call to all
americans to reject slavery and to take a moral stand on such an inhumane
practice. harriet beecher stowe brings to light the detriments this way of
life brought not only to slaves and their families, but to the slave owners,
their children and all of America.

the book gave momentum to abolitionists, angered southerners and laid
the groundwork for the civil war.  no other book or movie has ever moved me
or made me think as deeply about our country's horrible practice of slavery.
uncle tom's cabin will never ever leave me.

~ i finished this book just blocks before I arrived home from our road trip.
i called c ahead of time to warn him not to be alarmed when i walked in the door,
with swollen eyes.