Yellowstone!

This post is an experiment. I want to know what happens when I finish a post that I started months ago and left as an unpublished draft. Will it be posted with today's date attached (it is actually January already!) or with the date it was originally attached to? Because if it is the latter, then that opens a whole new world of possibilities to a procrastinating blogger such as myself.

In July we went to Yellowstone. Yellowstone was one of the destinations on our list of places to visit with the whole family before our children start moving out on us. We haven't finished the list yet, which is why Erin and Bayley can't move out yet. We actually tried to go last summer. But when you call the West Yellowstone KOA in May and say you want to stay there in July, they politely chuckle at you and then suggest that you call around October and schedule something for next July. Which is what we did. And which is why we didn't even think of cancelling our plans when Kris broke his leg two weeks before our scheduled departure. One thing I might do differently if we were to return though, the KOA is not really all that close to the park, so I think I would try to get a place to stay that is actually in Yellowstone. You might have to call earlier than October. And, there is the bear factor too, it turns out there are bears in Yellowstone, and apparently they occasionally they eat park visitors, so one of the cool lodges would definitely be my preference. No tents.

But, what I am really trying to get to is the pictures. This was our first major trip in which multiple people carried cameras. And cell phones. So there are literally hundreds of photos.

Seminary Graduation

Erin and Bayley graduated from seminary last night. That's four years down and only fourteen more of getting kids to seminary everyday at 6 am. It is my penance for never having graduated myself. Except I have to admit that Kris does most of the driving to, I usually wake up just enough to kiss them each goodbye and take my occasional turn driving early when Kris is out of town. Instead, I take my turn driving when it is our turn in our little two-family carpool to pick up after seminary.

I should probably mention too that Erin and Bayley are officially high school graduates now also, I finished up their transcripts just last week by filling in their grades for their last semester of twelfth grade, which also happens to be their third semester at the community college, and gave them a high school graduation date. It was really just a silly and, probably, unnecessary formality since to us they left high school behind a year ago and have been full time college students for the past year. I know this is a confusing point to some of my family and friends with the way that high school just drifted into college with no 'graduation' in between. But, in a year they should be done at the community college and we will try to be more formal then and really celebrate a graduation.

In somewhat related news, Kegan and Rhys took the accuplacer (the test community colleges administer to determine college placement) and both placed into the college level in both the math and English portions of the test (that is all there is by the way-a math portion and an English portion). This means that in the fall they will both be part time students at the community college also. More blurring of the lines between high school and college, I know.

The Short Happy Life of a Kenmore Elite

So, Dave the repair guy was over today. Remember him from the oven cleaning fiasco awhile back? Dave is actually a fairly frequent visitor at our house. In the past 18 months or so he has repaired nearly every major appliance in our house; the dishwasher, the oven, the dryer, and today he was over to have a look at the washing machine. Well, Dave says the washer is a lost cause and we need a new washing machine. Something about the pump being about to spill a lot more water on my floor than it has already been putting out and, apparently even worse, everything that is holding up and turning the tub is also ready to give out and die. In fact, he looked more than a little stressed when I revealed my intention to continue to use the slightly leaky machine while I searched for a new one. But, I doubt that Dave has ever experienced what happens in a household of twelve when the washing machine is out of comission for 48 hours. It isn't pretty. And I can handle a little water leaking onto my basement floor for a few days. Besides, even when that pump gives out completely, and dumps the whole load of water on the floor--it is a high efficiency washer, it supposedly uses hardly any water, right? Well, anyway, there is a drain in the floor right beside it, how bad could it get? Probably not even close to as bad as the time that Ronan put the hose in the window well and ‘forgot’ he left it on.

The point is, my super expensive, should last me a lifetime washing machine, lasted us six years. I am willing to admit that my family is harder on a washing machine than your average family, but seriously, I am fairly certain that my mom used the same washing machine and dryer for at least most of the years that I lived in her house. And while the washer does get a lot of use, I don't think it is being abused. It's not like my children are climbing in for a ride (and, by the way, I totally put a stop to the dryer being used as a hiding place for hide and seek games too). It isn't just the washer either. I am already looking for a new vacuum cleaner. The current one is probably the fifth we've owned. I buy a toaster every couple years, and that is usually after months of going without toast or eating it either burnt or barely warm (or, with some toasters you can have it both ways--burnt on one side, barely warm bread on the other). We have replaced dishwashers three times. I am on my fourth Kitchenaid mixer. I buy new electric griddles every few years. So, is it me? Am I super destructive? Or is my stuff just wussier than the stuff my mom had? Or, am I just not remembering the headaches my mom went through because they weren't my headaches?

By the way, Dave did not charge me anything for his original diagnostic visit Saturday morning, his trip to the parts store to pick up the parts he originally thought would fix our problem or even for the 50 minutes he spent lying on my basement floor today discovering that things were way more serious after all.

Hiking in Palmer Park

Culture Shock

This afternoon, Ronan was reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid to me and came across a term he just couldn't grasp; 'Seating Chart.' I explained to him how seating charts at school work and Ronan responded with "Bummer."
This sort of culture shock is a fairly common occurrence in our home. Noah was very amused when he first learned of bathroom passes. The idea of needing permission to use the bathroom! Even worse, the thought that permission might actually be denied! And the first time my older four saw a locker room shower at Grandpa's school the shock was overwhelming. (Now we are members of the Y, so the younger Enrights are very aware that locker rooms have their very own rules of propriety that just don't mesh with societal rules outside of a locker room. It is still shocking though.) Currently the kids have been discussing the disgrace of one 16 minute recess a day (a fact they apparently picked up from someone at church).

First Day of the Semester

This was the first week of spring semester at the college. What that meant for us was that while we had been doing school now for a couple weeks, this week we threw driving Erin and Bayley to classes into the mix. Wednesday was their first day of classes. So, our day went like this:

Erin, Bayley, Kegan and Rhys got home from Seminary a little after 7. The goal this morning was to be heading to the YMCA by 8:15. This is a huge deal for us, everyone up and fed and in the car by 8:15, but we did it. It was a little chaotic as we ran up and down stairs locating towels, swimming suits and duffel bags for everyone, not to mention car keys and cell phones. And the mess we left behind in the kitchen when we kissed our Daddy goodbye at the door (that was a switch) wasn't pretty, but we did it. Bayley had to work that morning (hence the early swim time) so she was our lifeguard instead of getting to swim with us. We arrived back home about 10:30 sans Bayley, to clean up our mess before we could begin school. The pretty little schedule I have put together for this semester says that we have an hour for math after swimming on Wednesdays, but I had Erin's class time down as starting at two. It starts at twelve.

I had just enough time to sit everyone down with instructions to do their math before I had to leave to get Erin to the college. I took Ronan and his multiplication worksheet with us. The drive to and from the college is about a forty minute trip. Erin's four hour baking class met for one hour on Wednesday, as the kitchens were under construction over the break and were not yet ready to be used. I was home long enough to sort out who had and who hadn't finished their math, and give some directions regarding lunch, before I headed back to pick Erin up from class. Erin and I were nearly home when we decided that a back tire was definitely making an odd clunking noise every time it turned around. In the driveway back at home I examined said tire and discovered a large bolt embedded in it. Driving left to do that day? Pick up Bayley from the Y, bring her home, take her downtown for her evening writing class, pick her up after class. Booger.

Aside from filling them with gas and occasionally scraping ice from the windshields, I have very little to do with the maintenance of our cars. I was vaguely aware of two things, one; a bolt in your tire is bad, and two; Kris had told me sometime in the past that he had a deal with some tire place somewhere in town to fix or replace flats for free. After interrupting Kris in a board meeting with several texts and phone calls, he was able to lead me to the proper paper work so I could contact the right tire place. I called them, they said they could fix it in an hour and a half, I had precisely an hour and a half before I needed to pick up Bayley. So, I put science class on hold, let Erin take over dinner preparations and headed out to the tire place with Ronan and his math again.

It took me less than 10 minutes to get there, then I stood in line for 20 minutes and by the time I got to the front, they were estimating a two hour wait now. I didn't have two hours. The tire guy looked at my tire, said he thought I could drive on it for a bit yet and scheduled me for a 5:30 appointment, the latest they had in the day, and only 15 minutes from the scheduled beginning of Bayley's downtown class (at least 20 minutes from the tire place).

At home again I hurriedly got chili cooking (Erin had the cinnamon rolls under control), before I had to pick up Bayley. Brought Bayley home for a twenty minute layover before I had to take her to class. Got her to class with only one wrong turn downtown (I know, big deal, right? But it is a big deal when you are driving a bus!) By now Kris had called and was on his way home from Pueblo, so he met me at the tire place and oversaw what turned out to be the replacement of both inner rear tires, because a bolt was not my only problem. See, a wise friend told us when we purchased a bus with dual wheels on the back, that we could have a flat back there and not know it, because the car will ride on the other tires. Guess what? He was right. Both inner tires were flat and we didn't even know.

A crazy first day of the semester. Kegan, Kris and I arrived home with our new tires and ate some delicious chili and cinnamon rolls. I picked up Bayley from class that night in the Honda, which is infinitely more maneuverable on the downtown streets. Fionn fell asleep in the backseat on the way there. And on Thursday, Ronan finally got that math done.

Kegan got His Braces Off!!!!

Yay! Three years and ten months in braces. Four Christmases with no caramel apples. Fionnula doesn't remember his teeth any other way.