Well, I totally missed an opportunity to preserve family vacation memories this last week when I neglected to even bring the camera with us to Bryce Canyon, where my parents and 3 of my 4 siblings met to camp. It wasn't much of a vacation anyway. I mean, it was lots of fun, there just wasn't enough days to really call it a vacation. If the days spent preparing and cleaning up after a vacation equal the days ON vacation, I don't think it really counts. So anyway, no photos, except this not very good one taken with Mike's cell phone. I may just get fired as this family's historian.
It WAS a lot of fun, especially hearing the wow's when the boys saw the canyon from the rim. And the switchbacks along Navajo Loop down into the canyon were tons of fun for Josh and Caleb, until it came time to hike back out. I was really proud of the boys, they and their cousins Jack and Connor totally whupped the adults on this hike. I tried to run on Monday morning, but it turned out to be a run/walk as I was gasping for oxygen, but I did find a system of x-country ski trails that were awesome, and the discovery of a prairie dog colony ranks in my top trail running moments. The first prairie dog started to chirp a warning as I came around a bend in the trail, and within moments the whole meadow was chirping. I know they were all warning each other about this strange human, but to me it sounded like applause, and I reveled in the moment. Plus, it was at the end of the run, and so I got to quit wheezing. I ran again the next morning, and that was even better because I felt more energetic and had my sister to talk to. We are both very excited to run our 20 and 22 mile training runs together to have some serious talk time. Wait. Did I just post excited and 22 miles in the same sentance?
We all mourned when we learned that Mike did not, in fact, have someone to work for him on Wednesday, and that we'd have to come home on Tuesday night (Josh, perhaps, mourned a little more vocally that the rest of us). And it was regrettable that we chose to spend our last few hours fruitlessly searching for a mythological slot canyon that stubbornly remained hidden, despite our searching for it for 3 hours! Everyone was very gracious, considering the wild goose chase nature of the search, but we all came perilously close to running out of water, food, and good humor with the Housleys. Ah well, my brother did say he was all for an adventure. AND we hiked a very out-of-the-way dry stream bed, full of... rocks and mud.
I think the most memorable part of the vacation for me was the pineapple can saga. See, I was in charge of the dutch oven dessert, and so I brought the ingredients for a pineapple upside-down cake. The DI can opener we had in the trailer broke with the first twist of the pineapple can, which I had pulled out of the cupboard upside down and figured opening either end would do. I briefly tried to fix it, but it was beyond my expertise. Most things are. I went to my SIL Tiff to borrow their can opener, and spent a good 10 minutes searching through bins only to find it on the table two feet from my head. It was a Pampered Chef opener, the kind that cuts the top part of the can, and so I had to receive instruction from Tiff, having never used one before. I went back to my trailer, performed the complex can opening maneuver, and rejoiced in my success! Finally! Eager for some praise, I took the second can (also upside-down) and the new-fangled opener out to Mike to show off, and while doing so, turned the second can over. Any guesses what I found? A PULL TAB. Yep, I just wasted 15 minutes opening the underside of a can that had a pull top.
So we came home Tuesday night instead of Wednesday afternoon, pulling in at about 1:30am and unloading only the most essential items (the children, for example). I spent most of the day Wednesday unloading the trailer and doing laundry, and trying to get the house in decent enough order before we left to pick up Jason, our Chinese exchange student, at the airport. At one point, I lamented to Mike on the phone that I was running behind: I still hadn't showered, or done the dishes, etc, etc. His reply was sort of comforting, "Well, I'm sure Jason has seen dirty dishes before, but you might want to get that shower in."
Jason's plane was a little late, so we sat in the waiting area on the one spare chair, watching passenger after passenger file through. Mike finally got up to buy something from the little convenience store a few steps away, and sure enough this tall, slender young Chinese fellow came rushing through at about 3 times the speed as any other traveler. I had to call out his name several times before he saw me (though how he could have missed the large welcome sign with his name on it and flanked by 6 helium balloons was a mystery) (and how come we were the only people there with balloons? I thought that was a traditional airport greeting! Are balloon bouquets going the way of all luxuries in this sad economic state?). He gave us each a hug, and Mike remarked as an aside that Jason may be 6 inches taller, but Mike (who is very trim and fit) has a good 30 pounds of lean muscle mass that are absent on this kid. Jason seemed very anxious about getting his luggage, so of course it wasn't there (got left in Chicago) and we had to have them deliver it tonight. Thank heavens we had some toothbrushes to spare. He was WIDE awake and raring to go; we got home at 2am and I stayed up with him until 3, helping him email his parents. He was up by 7am, and, thinking it was Caleb walking around in the kitchen, I ALMOST leaned around the railing and hissed, "Get back to bed!" So glad I didn't! He seems a very open and friendly kid, and things have gone well so far, but I can tell he's suffering from some culture shock. Nothing I can definately pinpoint, it is evident to me that he is wondering why on earth we Americans do the things we do. We took him to the high school to register, and only barely managed talking him out of 3 AP classes by promising him the Chem 1010 was still a college level class. So now it is just AP physics and AP calculus. He seems very concerned that the math would be too easy for him. Good grief. The counselor did talk him into some "fun" classes like woodworking and cooking, but I can tell he isn't nearly that excited about those classes. He flatly refused Social Dance. Pity. He did make a comment about men being better teachers for math and science than women are, and I'm already planning in my head the lecture to address this concern (of mine). I am grateful that his parents specifically instructed us to help him learn about independence and selflessness. I can see why they were worried about it. He spent most of the afternoon playing games with Josh and Caleb, and beat me at chess (but not without a fight!). I think we will settle into a comfortable relationship with him, once Mike and I get caught up on sleep. These 2 and 3am bedtimes (with 7am awakenings) are ROUGH.
He did help us decipher the song sung by the little pokemon toy that was given to Esther by the orphanage staff. We could never (nor could our Chinese guide) figure out what it was saying, but it turns out the song is in English: "Aiyiyi, I'm your little butterfly. Green black and blue make the colors of the sky." Who knew?
