Amanda Final Blog: Thursday

Amanda's trip ends today with her latest entry!

"This morning when I got up I got ready for the day. I had a breakfast while watching Aquamarine with Emma Roberts and Jo Jo. After that we met some of Gradma's neighbors, the Madsens, who seemed to know me from when I was a little little girl. Then we went down to the animal shelter and got my grandparents new dog. He has curly hair, is black, and is a retriever. He is very very sweet. They decided to name him Amigo. We also played the card game Spoons. Grandma had S-P-O-O-N, and Grandpa and I had S-P-O-O. After that, it was time to go, so we drove down to the Denver airport and I got my last sleeping time in their car, since it takes about 90 minutes to get there. While in the airport, we went to a gift shop where I got to choose something that looked nice to me. And then we went to a restaurant, well, fast food joint, and I went to a mexican cafe/taco place. We went to my boarding gate and there, it took a long time to wait for the airplane to leave. After what seemed like forever on the airplane, I got back to Oregon where my Dad picked me up. After getting my baggage from the baggage place, we could finally drive home. Home sweet home. And that was my Colorado trip."

Father's note: Spoons is the "family tradition" fun game. Played with a deck of cards (or 2), players try to collect 4 of a kind as cards are quickly flung in front of them. Once they do, they get to grab a spoon off the table. After the first spoon is grabbed, anyone can grab a spoon until there are no more. The player left without a spoon gets a letter score against them, spelling the word S-P-O-O-N-S (or S-P-O-O-N-E-R-I-F-I-C.. depending on how long you want to play. The game get's wild, and extremely violent as players fight for the final spoons. Ahhhh. family violence.... And while I know she enjoyed her trip, it is nice to have her back.. safe and sound!

Amanda Blog: Wednesday

And the next installment... the saga continues..

"Today I woke up at 9:00 when Grandma came and told me to get out of bed. I went and I ate breakfast, got ready and drove down a lot of streets. Doesn't that sound exciting? We took a trolly type thing-a-ma-bob to downtown Denver. We went to a historical museum because the art museum we were planning on going to was closed for construction. At the museum we saw things like transportation, Baby Doe Tabor, children's clothes and art work. You should have seen me pose behind those handsome young statues. Then we met up with Grandpa and he took a long time at the library. After that, we went to lunch at a place called The Corner Bakery. We went to Claire's boutique and I got some fascinating earrings. One was a blue step-looking thing. The others were frogs which I adore and the last one was a long pair of star earrings. We then walked down to the capital building which was really cool because I got to see the inside of an actual capital building. We then walked back to the bus thing-a-ma-bob which took us to the downtown train station. From there we rode home and I fell asleep in the car. Tonight we went to a book-signing about a book called Chicken something. Grandma bought all of the lady's books. The author is the mother of a friend of my grandparents. Then we came home and we'll soon go to bed. Tomorrow is my last day here and tonight is my last night to sleep in my dad's old bed. Bye!"

Father's note: Now comes the tricky part.. actually getting her to WANT to come home. After living the life of luxury... shopping, hot tubs, guns..... it will be time for me to pick her up at the airport tonight. So far she doesn't seem too thrilled to return to the world of brothers, chores and parents. But, so goes the life of a pre-teen.

Amanda Blog: Tuesday

Here's Day 3 of Amanda's Trip Journal:

"This morning around 8 am I woke up. I did the usual eat breakfast get ready-- you know those kind of things. After all of that, Grandpa and I went shooting. We took about 50 bullets and used them all in about 45 minutes. We took bottles and I shot about eight of them. Grandpa keeps telling every one I have good aim. When we were coming back I snoozed. Then we went to some relief society lunch with more new people for me to meet. I then rented a movie at the video store by Safeway and it is called Aquamarine. We came home around three and went swimming at my Dad's old high school. There were teachers there so you probably know I met them. When we were swimming I went off the diving boards around 10 times in 13 feet of water. I met lots of Grandma's students from the past and played a funny game called "Run Away from the Lady." After we went swimming we took some pictures. One was by Daddy's old High School sign and another was by a restaurant that is shaped like a Hot Dog that has moved to Bailey. Then we came home, ate dinner and now I'm going to go get in the hot tub again."

Father's note: I find it very interesting that my daughter had 2 requests while on this trip: 1. Getting her nails done.. and 2. Shooting guns with Grandpa. Could these requests be more opposite? And my little girl is shooting guns! What happened to the Barbie Doll days and all that feminine stuff. I'll just blame the high altitude.. it's warping my prim and proper daughters mind...

Amanda Blog: Monday

Here is part two of Amanda's trip blogs.. She seems to be enjoying herself.. How could she not be? She is being completely spoiled by her grandparents and she is spending time away from a household of brothers, who are currently in full scale "pirate mode". It's all sword fights on ships, treasure hunts and maps as the boys prepare for the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. I can't believe Amanda wouldn't enjoying that (yeah right).. But here is her entry:

"Wow! Today was an interesting day as I visited the Colorado Mills mall in Denver. First it was Build-a-Bear, then it was the salon then it was the mime merry-go-round then the movies. What do you know?! Anyways, at Build a Bear I got a froggy. His name is CJ--aka Cosmic Jump. He got a groovy outfit and groovy shoes. At the salon I got a pedicure and manicure and the water felt soooo good. They did some funky things. I got a little flower design on two of my toes and my two middle fingers.

The mime merry-go-round was where I made faces and Grandma and Grandpa laughed hard. I could see it in their eyes. I acted really weird all the way to the movies says Grandma. We saw the movie Over the Hedge. It was funny, hilarious and good. On the way home I fell asleep. I had Snowball (my bear from my last Build a Bear trip) and CJ in my lap. They're good friends now. We went to King Soopers where we got donuts and other things. I also met a lot of people that I don't know! "

Freaky side note: According to my phone calls and instant messages with Amanda while on her trip, she is reporting that while she received her manicure, my father... got a pedicure. Let me say that again.. MY FATHER..... GOT A PEDICURE. Did the right people pick up my daughter from the airport? Who are these people, because I can guarantee you.... THESE ARE NOT THE PEOPLE I GREW UP WITH!!! Sure, she went on and on about how black her grandpa's toes were, but still.... This is my Dad we are talking about.. sitting in a chair... having someone do hos toes...

Little Big Girl

Yesterday was a bit of an odd day. Yes, it was Father's Day, my typical day to rest, relax and let the family do nice things for me. What I got instead, was a nice long drive to Portland, to not exactly spend time with my daughter, but to.. send her away. Alone. A very strange thing for a parent to do for the first time.

The situation is simple: My folks decided to set a new standard where when a grandchild turns 12, they give them a paid trip to visit them in Colorado. Now, Amanda is not yet 12.. she turns 12 next month, but with an already full summer schedule, the only week we could find to send her was this week. And so, Fathers Day became the day for her departure.

What I didn't expect from the trip to the airport, was just how surreal it would be putting one of my kiddos on a plane to fly 1500 miles by herself. Of course she was all excited... this was her big way of exerting her "being more grownup", now that she has finished sixth grade. For me, all I could picture was holding the little newborn baby girl in my arms, not so long ago. It feels like just a few years since she was this little tiny thing in my arms, yet here she is... now a beautiful, tall "pre-teen" as she prefers to be called, and bucking for independence. My brain stayed tied up in circles as to how she could have gone from little kicking infant, to the tall girl she is now.. and how this could have happened so quickly!!! I know every parent goes through this.. but seriously.. where did all that time go?!

So this week, I am allowing her to be my blogger. Like I did with Little Calvin last week, she will be providing the blogs this week, keeping everyone informed as to how her first trip into the big world, away from her core family, goes. And with that... I give you: My Little Big Girl.. Take it away, Amanda.....


"On Sunday I got on a plane. It took me to Denver, Colorado so I could visit my grandparents. In the plane the stewardesses were really nice to me and gave me lots of treats. The only bad part was that I was the first one on and the last one off. After everyone was seated I found out who I was seated by. The first person on my left was like this 95 year old man who had a big thumb and a big bald spot on his head. The guy on my right was Hispanic and had hairs growing out of him. After I got off the plane relieved I saw the stewardess who told the first man waiting he could take whatever child he wanted. I ran to my grandma because I didn't want to go with him! We got my baggage right on time and then drove to Grandma's house. We ate lasagna for dinner then we had Grandpa open his cards for Father's Day. He got three of them... one from me, one from Dad and one from his lovely wife. Then I fell asleep and woke up too early this morning because of the sun in my eyes. I'll try another bed tonight. Grandpa thinks I'm like Goldilocks. Will I find the bed tonight that's just right?!!"

Up, Up and Away

Now that it is summer time and the kids are finally out of school, I thought I would introduce them to the world of blogging, by allowing them to be a "guest blogger" for a day. So today, I am turning my writing reins over to Little Calvin so he can tell you about his trip to the coast, while I was beating myself to a pulp on my bicycle. I asked him to tell me about his memories from the trip and he told me what to type.

"Last weekend I got to go to the beach. While I was there I went on a helicopter ride. And it was so much fun! We could see the beach, and the boats, and it was so so fun. When I first saw the helicopter I didn't want to go in. When I found out it was so cool on the outside, I wanted to go in. And the inside was so cool. We had to wear headphones with speakers that way we could hear people more. And the reason why we need those is because we wont hear people since it is so much noisy. the guy who flies it told us to wear the headphones. And when I first put the headphones on, I thought it was the news and I was talking to the news.

When we got into the sky we saw houses and cars and skyscrapers. It felt like 15 minutes. My mom took video of the helicopter.

I also saw sea lions. And I got to throw the fish and when we went to the museum, we saw an octopus and it looked like it had cucumbers on it. On the arms. And it had 8 arms. And we saw an electric eel and it was blue.

We flied our kites. My cousin Katie built a really really cool sand castle with water around it and a draw bridge that goes down so people can get inside it. And we saw people surfing on the waves. And we saw a humungous pink star fish. I played pirates and the only thing I read was my pirate book. And the reason why I looked at that alot is because I love it. And it had a treasure map that leads to real treasure! And the skulls with the cross bones. There are actually islands on the map.

I had so much, so much fun with Katie and Katie likes to do a weird voice."

To see photos of Little Calvin's adventures, click here to see the photo gallery.

Flying Solo

This weekend, I am experiencing a very odd sound... silence.... something not heard often in our household. Just as we were wrapping up our video project, my wife's family arrived, flying in from Salt Lake City. By family, I mean the family "girls", her grandmother, her two aunts and her niece. For one week each summer, they all fly out and spend a week at the coast. (For all of you keeping track, yes, this will be my wife's 3rd trip there in 4 weeks). This is meant to be a girls trip... (with the exception of Little Calvin, he loves going!). Since I have to work, and I have no problem letting the girls have their "girl time", I stay home.

What this means is that our normally crazy house is suddenly.... quiet. Almost uncomfortably so.. For 4 days.. it's just.. ME. Some weekends I try to do housework projects. This weekend, the house is already spotlessly clean. Some weekends, I try to catch up on video editing... but having just survived a crazy week at the office and a large scale video project.. I needed a break from the computer. So there I was Friday night... looking around the silent, clean house, going "hmmmmmmm, now what?"

"What" ended up being a rather crazy idea.. I'd go for a bike ride. Not just a ride down to the store... but a 50 miler. Now, keep in mind, I haven't ridden more than 4 miles at once in almost 10 years. But somehow my brain said "this is a good idea!" And so Saturday morning, I began my journey. The idea was simple.. make the 20 mile trip to the mall, catch a double feature, and then ride home the "scenic... long way". I must say, the idea was great to begin with... I love riding my bike and those first 20 miles flew by as I arrived at the theater in no time. Sure I was a bit sore, but I had a few hours to relax. I caught my double feature, first Mission Impossible 3 (great "guy" movie!) and then Cars (also a great flick! Watch the end credits!!).

The biggest problem hit as I got back on my bike, with 30 miles still ahead of me. Within 30 seconds, I knew I was in for a long haul... my legs.. very sore! And my Butt.... Holy cow! VERY not used to that bicycle seat!

But my determination was strong.. When I got t0 the crossroads where I could choose "long, but lower mileage route" and "longer, but original plan route", I went with my original plan. What I didn't anticipate was the nice, insanely strong head wind for 12 straight miles, or the fact that it would be both cold and dark by the time I got home.. but eventually, I fell through the front door.

Sunday, I was (as to be expected) a bit pooped. My body was tired and sore, with my knees giving me dirty looks constantly, and so I have just tried to take it easy, and even with all the chaos of last week, yes, I ended up spending that afternoon editing video.. I just can't stay away... It's like crack.

Spending time alone... it's one of those odd things. It's total freedom.. I can do what I want, when I want, eat what I want, sleep as long as I want, no demands... But would I want that long term? No way! I miss my family. I greatly look forward to Tuesday when they return. Until then,, I'll just continue in this very strange, quiet place... with no one to laugh at me as I limp and lurch around the house, feeling like a dork. (Ok, maybe it's good they don't see that!!!)

Media Chaos

Last Wednesday, my office phone rang. It was my wife. She sounded excited.. like she just had a big idea. Boy, was I right. Quickly, she started in.. "I want to do a video montage for Little Calvin's Pre-K class. I am going to ask all the parents for copies of their pictures they have taken this last year and for their video footage as well. Then we can put something together." Oh Boy.... Since this is the type of project I undertake on a regular basis both at my regular job and in my free time, I knew three things... 1. This was a huge undertaking, 2. My wife had no clue as to what she was getting into and 3. My upcoming calm, relaxing weekend was suddenly swamped.

But what she said next, surprised me.. "I know I tend to volunteer you for big projects, but I don't want to do that to you this time, so I am going to do the editing.." Whoa. So not only was she going to volunteer us for this, but she was going to actually DO it. Ok... She has watched me edit enough projects that I thought she would be fine with a few pointers. And so.. the media chaos began!

On Thursday, the files began to flood in... photos on CD's, photos in e-mail, photos to scan, and videos on 3 different camera formats. By Friday, the piles on the table were growing very large. Now it was time to go to work.

Although my wife mentioned that she was going to do the editing, I knew from the size of the project that I would still be hard at work. I was the "transfer guy". I took all the various photos, or videos and scanned, digitized, sorted, etc. to get everything on the computer for her to edit. In order to do this, we had to turn much of the kitchen into a media studio, at one time we had 4 computers up and running at once, the editing computer, 2 computers uploading footage and 1 surfing e-mail accounts online pulling in photos. We had 5 video cameras running and 2 digital cameras, and mountains of wires. Media Chaos.

What was really surreal during this whole process, was watching my wife latch onto what has been one of my main hobbies. She was suddenly doing it, and watching her succeed was very rewarding! At the same time, I had to agonize with her when she made all the normal "mistakes"... the ones that you never think to teach that all people make at one point in time, like saving often. After 3 solid hours of getting really into the edit, constantly forgetting to hit save, then POOF, the computer gets overloaded and crashes, and she goes pale. We all learn that lesson once.. and only once, and it was sad watching her learn it.

In the end, she learned a few things (besides to save often).. she learned that video editing is ALOT of work and it eats time like nothing else. Saturday night, I finished my work at midnight, and warned her to be careful.. that time flies while editing.. She figured that out finally looking at a clock at 3 AM.

She also learned how rewarding it can be, as she did a tremendous job for a first timer. Sure, it took many extremely late nights, and hours on end, but in the end, the final product was great. I gave her advice on pacing, did the graphic design for the covers and DVD labels, and authored the DVD, so both of us were busy!

Thursday was the big day of the preschool graduation. This is where the DVD would be shown. And this is where my wife learned how nerve racking it can be to watch a video you have done, shown to an audience for the first time. Speaking from experience, it is a crazy roller coaster of nerves, fear, anticipation, and joy. But she survived and then could receive the many accolades of parents and teachers, all astounded at what she pulled off for them.

So, it's a week of congratulations.. to Little Calvin... for graduating from preschool, and to my wife, for tackling a giant project and doing a great job!