Cross Another One Off the Bucket List

We had a whirlwind way-too-short long-weekend at Lake Tahoe. The main purpose of the trip was to go to my great-aunt's 100th birthday family reunion. Had I known how lovely the trip would be, I would have planned for a few more days.

We have not been on a "road trip" with our kids in a number of years, possibly because of those lingering distasteful memories of the back seat bickering. But guess what? At 14 and 19, they don't bicker any more (except for one small incident which shall appear later in this post). They talked about music and guitars and games, and seemed more like friends than brothers. It's what every mother desires and I am oh-so-grateful for this.

Sigh.

I did elect to ride in the back seat for much of the trip, behind the handy husband driver. This was a leg room issue, not an Idon'twanttositnexttomybrother issue. It was such a great trip, we are almost considering going to the Grand Canyon next year, but we might need a bigger car for that. We could rent a van! We've never had a van....ooh, I'm distracted here...back to the point.

I have lots of pictures and family things to talk about which will wait for another post, because I am so excited about what we did Monday morning. "We" meaning Frank, Ernest and Me. The Handy Husband is averse to heights and chose to stay earth bound to watch us, but the rest of us crossed off another item on the bucket list... PARAGLIDING!

It was totally AWESOME. 5 STARS to North Tahoe Watersports. 1400 feet, 15 minutes, the Magnum experience. We had some debate about the time and height...Frank was always my more cautious child and didn't want to go so high, but you could only get the longer time with the higher height so Ernest and I won out.

On the boat, they asked who wanted to go first. Ernest said, "we do!" The little girl in the other party said "no." So they loaded us up first. Way to go, no time to get scared.

We took off so fast!

Kinda high? The view was incredible.

That little moment of brotherly bickering? Ernest was swinging his legs and Frank didn't like the shaking. I can't blame him. Looking up, it looks a lot higher! Looking down, it was like the best google map ever!

For me, this was my greatest moment since when? Kissing the Blarney Stone? I confess, I was a little nervous. I'd had a horrible headache the night before (I blame the hike back from Vikingsholm, which will be in another post.) But when I woke up headache free the next morning, I said, "Self, you have to do this. You will regret it if you don't." Sometimes my Self needs a little talking too. And I was right.

Oh, it was amazing...

Frank thought we were landing just in time.

Ernest and I would have gone up again if we'd had the chance.

And Self? She felt so great! So Self, how are you? Self had the best time. Self could not stop talking about how awesome it was! Self wants to go again!



Here's to new adventures!

Here's One for the Dads

My cousin just sent me a big batch of photos from our late grandmother's collection. I found a beautiful companion photo to the one of us with our moms. Here we are with our daddies! It's dated "4 months, Sept. 18, 19--." No need to advertise how old we are.

A reminder, I'm the fat baby, on the left this time. My poor daddy looks a little stressed. "What do I do with this thing?" I bet I pooped on his hand right at that moment! I've got that look on my face. My uncle Jim looks a little happier. Maybe my cousin has better timing!

Uncle Jim is so tall, 6'6" I think. I remember visiting and being swept up and then my head touched the ceiling. And he is a great storyteller. There was one story about someone named Smallsill, and he would whistle through his teeth every time he said the Ss. I begged for that story every time I visited.

My dad is very brilliant. When I was 6 I was obsessed with tickling his feet. He told me, "I'm only ticklish on Sundays." I mentally scratched my head, wondering if that was true. I tested him, many times (sorry, Daddy!). He was totally consistent. Monday through Saturday, he would sit there with no reaction. Sunday he would laugh like he couldn't stand it. Methinks he was a good actor! Thanks for giving me so much fun on Sunday mornings!

Kudos to two great fathers.

Au Revoir, Caro

My favorite aunt, Carolyn, passed away last month.

I loved her.
My mother loved her sister-in-law, and called her Caro. I have photos of both of them: this is the first picture I found of the two of them together with their daughters, who were born 5 days apart.
Carolyn, on the left, is smiling delightedly at her daughter, Lynne. Lynne and her beautiful long legs grew up to be a ballet dancer.
My mother Connie is not quite smiling at her daughter, me (the chubby one). I grew up to be a belly dancer. She didn't love me any less, she just wasn't good at smiling!
My mother was great at putting notes on the backs of pictures. This one says, "4 months old." So this would be September, 1960. I recognize the couch, and the leopard blanket (I still have that blanket...is that why I am so into animal prints?)
I had two aunts on mother's side, but I have always had a special feeling for my father's sister, an emotional connection with her. She made me feel like a part of the family, not a visitor, every time I was at her house. She included me in everything her family did. One summer my father and my step-mother Mary Ellen (a great stepmother) went on a trip for a week or two. I was totally included as a child in Carolyn's family. She and her two daughters were going to a mother/daughter excercise or dance class; when they took me along, my aunt made sure to be my partner. She made me feel a welcome part of her family. And she made the greatest orange juice in the whole wide world.