Mammoth Cave

The early part of last week, the kids and I traveled to Mammoth Cave Kentucky with Angela and her boys, Russ and Mary, and my niece Janna.

We left late morning on Monday, and stopped about an hour south of Cincinnati for lunch. The boys spontaneously held hands all the way across the parking lot, and I was able to capture the cuteness.

That night after we got to the cabin, we unloaded the cars and got settled. Each family was in charge of preparing one of the nightly meals, and I chose to do Dutch Oven chicken, potatoes, and cobbler on Monday night. The potatoes were a little salty, but everything tasted excellent!

On Tuesday morning, we drove to the cave. I took the kids outside to wander around for a bit while everybody else bought souvenirs. Brooklyn saw me with the camera, turned around, and said 'Cheese!'

We rode buses from the visitor's center to the cave. I was having middle school flashbacks!

The older boy cousins were cute with Brooklyn. Other than Janna, she was the only girl out of the five boys, and is the smallest and most portable of all the grand kids (at this point). I think she enjoyed all the attention!

The cave tour we chose lasted about two hours, and had about 300 steps total. Jeremy, Janna, Josh and I had gotten ahead of everybody else when we filed in the cave entrance, so we decided about halfway down to stop and wait for everybody else. I was feeling a little stressed out being separated from Brooklyn and Kadon with all the steep drops and narrow passages in the cave.

The engineers did a great job making the cave more visitor-friendly, but there were still incredibly narrow passages and parts where even the kids had to duck. They tried to alter the cave as little as possible in order to preserve the history, and I'm glad. It was really neat!

I tried not to think about how many tons of earth were pressing down above our heads. The cave was about 55 degrees on the inside, which was cold until we started climbing.

The cave also constantly dripped, which is partly what is responsible for forming these amazing stalactites.

At the very bottom of the cave, we all gathered together and I petitioned a random stranger to take a group photo. I love random strangers.

After the Mammoth Cave adventure, we all trooped back to the cabin and had lunch, then left Russ and Mary at the cabin with a napping Brooklyn while we went down the street and rode bumper cards, miniature golfed, and rode the alpine slide.

We had the bumper cars to ourselves, and everybody had a fabulous time! The first time I went, I had Kadon with me--I wanted to keep the ride going just so I could enjoy his deep belly laughs!

The alpine slide was like nothing else I have ever done. We rode chair lifts up to the top of the mountain, exactly like the chair lifts I have ridden the times that I have been skiing.

The higher we got up the chair lift, the more nervous I got. By the time we reached the top and I realized I was going to simply sit on top of a small plastic sled and barrel down this concrete chute, I was pretty sure I had lost whatever sense was mine to begin with.

There is no seat belt on the small blue sled. There is no riding double, and you have to be at least 6 to ride. I was actually a little glad that Kadon and Brooklyn couldn't go-less stressful for me!

We came back on our way out of town so that Russ could ride the alpine slide. Angela and I stayed at the bottom with Brooklyn and Kadon, and sent everybody else up for one more ride.

Even Mary got in on the action!

I'm sure Russ and Jeremy were more thrilled with the ride than this picture shows.

Virtual Tour-Kids Rooms/Backyard

To continue our virtual tour, I'll pick up where we left off-in the rooms that were filled with sleeping children last time. Today I finally got the boys bunk beds made (a MUCH LOATHED chore), and could take pictures at last.
For this picture I stood in the hallway (hence the weird white door frame on the left of the picture) and shot in their room and to the left, where their bunk beds are.

For this picture I stood in the exact same place, but pointed the camera straight ahead at their window. This window faces to the front yard.

Again, standing in the same place as the last two pictures, but pointed toward the right side of the room.

For this photo I stood at the end of their bunk bed, and shot a picture of their closet door and doorway leading to the hallway.

Here I stood in front of Jeremy's dresser and took a picture of their bunk beds from a different angle.

Further down the hallway and directly across from my bedroom is Brooklyn's room. Again, I stood in the hallway to take this picture.

For this picture I stepped farther in the room and turned to the left. This window faces our ugly side-yard, which you'll see later on. The bi-fold doors you see on the left are the two closets in here room.

Again, standing in the hallway, shooting directly into the room. Her crib is against the wall that separates her room from her brothers. Hmm...only a thin wall of Sheetrock and lumber between the boys bed and her bed....hadn't really considered that before.

Standing in front of Brooklyn's crib, taking a picture of the closets.

For this picture I stood in front of the chair in the corner of her room (next to the dresser) and took a picture of the door leading out to the hallway. Bonus: action shot of Brooklyn climbing into the crib!

Brooklyn achieves success just as I sit in the corner chair to take one final picture of her crib. This room will actually have a fairy/flower theme when it's completed. I chose the green paint to complement it in the end, but right now it's a work in progress. I also have applique's for her curtain that are pretty, but they haven't made it onto the curtains yet. Consider this room to be the 'before'.

On to the backyard! For this picture I stood just outside the backdoor and turned to the left. The play yard was a hand-me-down from a family in our ward--the kids have just LOVED having it!

Same position, pointing right. Many of these bushes, in the long run, will end up getting ripped out. I keep telling myself I need to take baby steps, here. Eventually, I also want to do some raised garden beds, probably in this area.

Standing in the same position, shooting straight out from the back door to the center of the yard.

Same position, shooting down the ramp on our back deck. It's actually a little odd, and I wish it was a flat surface that could actually be used. I suppose it made moving some of the larger pieces of furniture into the basement a little easier.

To get this picture I stood in the back left corner and took a picture of the back of the house. The shady yard is nice, but it also attracts lots of bugs!

Standing in nearly the same spot, this is a picture of the ugly side yard I mentioned from Brooklyn's room. Brooklyn and I each have a window that faces this part of the yard. I'm actually really not sure what the final plan for this area will end up being. Any ideas?

Here I stood just in front of the side yard, and took a picture all the way to the other end of the yard.

I stood on the opposite side of the house, at the front of the backyard to take this picture of the hill next to the barn. I'm envisioning a small sledding hill in the winter, maybe?

A second ugly side yard. I got this entire flowerbed cleaned out the other day, and will eventually plant flowers. I think in the fall I will put some tulip bulbs in, unless I have any other brilliant ideas before then.

Virtual Tour-Upstairs/Front Yard

At last, the beginning of the virtual tour! For those of you who have been waiting with baited breath, this post is a welcome distraction from your daily life. Those of you who could care less about our new home, and get no vicarious thrill from peeking into homes, feel free to move along. No emotional baggage or introspection here.

This is the front of our house. We're on a cul-de-sac, and I stood way out in the middle to get this picture.

This is the view from the front porch, looking to the right...

...and to the left.

This picture is a little out of order, but it's too difficult to fix it now. This is standing in the hallway, with the front window that faces the cul-de-sac.

For this picture I opened the front door and stood partly on the porch. The weird light on the left side of the picture is the last rays of sunlight as I took this picture.

For this corner I stood just inside the kitchen, which is where the yellow paint begins in the picture above.

Standing in almost the same spot, this is a shot down the hallway. Directly behind me and slightly to my left is the door to the garage.

The door to the garage that I was standing in front of in the previous photo. Here I stood about halfway down the length of the couch, and shot directly into the kitchen.

Further into the kitchen, with the back window and door pictured.

Here I am standing in front of the white cabinet.

Still standing in front of the white cabinet. The door directly across from me is the door to the bathroom, to the left (the door with the white curtain) is the back door, and across from the back door is the door to the basement. Many doors make for an interesting maze when they're all opened. I try to keep them all shut, but re-training the boys to keep the bathroom door shut always has been a bit of a challenge.

This is our odd little bathroom. There are actually two doors here, one that I'm standing in which leads to the kitchen, and the other door that leads to the hallway. There is a storage area (behind the blue curtain at the far end of the bathroom) with some shelves.

Standing in front of the other door. The toilet and sink aren't in this picture, mainly because I think taking pictures of a toilet is a bit odd. Rest assured, there are a toilet and a sink on the other side of the bathtub.

Down the hallway and through the last door on the left is my bedroom. I stood in the doorway to get this picture, this window faces the backyard.

Standing in virtually the same spot, but pointed at the other side of the room.

Here I stood in front of the tapestries pictured before, and shot the double closet and doorway to my bedroom.

This vanity was a hand-me-down from a lady in my ward, which I gratefully accepted. With only one bathroom in the house and three people using it, I have really enjoyed having a place in my bedroom to do my hair and makeup.

Back outside my bedroom, standing in front of the bookcase looking into the living room. Directly to my left as I took this picture is the door to Brooklyn's room, and the doors pictured are to the boys room (on the left) the bathroom (on the right) and a coat closet (on the right, past the bathroom).

To be continued....

Moved

The move went well. We had a small army of men and teenagers show up to move furniture, along with a crew of women (and more teenagers) to clean my old apartment. I've written before about how much I adore my church family. Saturday, they were at their best. There were even two gentlemen that stayed for a couple hours after everybody else had left to set up my intricate entertainment system. I had people rearranging furniture, more people unloading boxes, and still others surveying the yard and making plans for a service project by the young men in our church. In short, it was the best move I've ever made--physically.

I don't think I had understood how heavily our old apartment was weighing on me. In that apartment--although I had slowly and steadily removed signs of Ammon's life there--his presence still lingered. The living room was still set up the way he wanted it. There were things that were stored in ways that were convenient to him. His pictures on the walls. His clothes in the closet his razor in the bathroom. All the hours in that apartment. The sofa where we spent countless hours curled up, the room where we made love. The floor where he laid down to play with the kids. All of the furniture, along with the memories of those things, came with us. Left behind is the hill where he wrecked his motorcycle that day, and where I watched his final, shuddering breaths. It was bittersweet leaving those things.

The most unexpectedly difficult part of the day was the removal of five pieces of paper that have been taped on the living room wall for the last 18 months.

Every year since we got married, we have been avid participants in the NCAA March Madness tournament. It started when we were newlyweds and became friends with Travis and Christina. Ammon and Travis (being the sports geeks) did the brackets as a serious competition between the two of them, and spent hours debating the merits of teams, specific players, individual games, and the conference system as a whole. Christina and I participated mostly for the absurdity of our choices. Christina is more sports-minded than myself, but in the beginning I started out picking teams based on how fun their name was to write. After a half-dozen years of good natured ribbing between the four of us (and a complete refusal to let anybody else join our bracket competition) I had become more adept at picking teams. A couple years I actually came close to winning. At least, close as in not-completely-last. 2008, I vowed, would be my year. I was finally going to beat the sports knowledge of Ammon and Travis, and would be the bracket champion. The boys, of course, scoffed. Unabated, I refused to discuss brackets with anybody. I wouldn't divulge my pick for first choice, and I avidly and determinedly avoided any and all research about the teams. I wanted my picks to be un-tainted my advice, sport casters rantings, or persuasion. The week the tournament started, I painstakingly wrote out four brackets with every body's picks (because they all had to be in my handwriting. I'm weird like that) and posted them on the wall. Somewhere along the line, the Sports Illustrated bracket also became part of the tournament. They were always posted in a central location of our home, and every day during the tournament Ammon and I would watch for each game to be completed, and highlighted the brackets that had picked the winners correctly. The more highlighted spots, the more points per person. 2008 would be MY year. I picked Kansas, and cheered relentlessly for my teams every step of the way. Kansas ended up taking the final championship, and I gloated mercilessly for the two weeks between the end of the tournament and Ammon's death.


In the 17 months since then, I couldn't bear to take the brackets down. As moving day approached, I carefully packed pictures. I wrapped knick-knacks in bubble wrap and placed them in boxes. I packed everything in my apartment, but still couldn't remove the brackets from the living room wall. On Saturday, in the midst of more than a dozen people scurrying around my apartment, I was upstairs taking the crib apart.

Mary yelled up the stairs "Victoria, I'm going to take the brackets down. What do you want me to do with them?"

I paused. For a long time. The whole house was silent, it seemed, as I struggled to formulate a response. With a catch in my throat I replied "I want pictures first. My camera is in my purse in the car. Please take pictures first".

Just like that, the brackets were gone. I returned to finish taking the crib apart with tears in my eyes, then went downstairs to carefully stow the separate brackets in a safe place.

The rest of the day went smoothly. I grieved for the loss of this apartment during the packing process, as I uncovered little pieces of the life that I don't have anymore. I cried while packing up the bookcase, and again as I sorted through board games that have remained largely untouched since my gaming partner died. I sobbed when I sorted our closet, and wept as I cleaned out his dresser. Many tears were shed during the weeks leading up to this move, but on moving day I only had tears for the brackets.

Today, I feel good. I feel like this house is a fresh start. The two mornings that I have awoken in my new bedroom, I feel an almost uncontrollable urge to pinch myself. This is my home. This is the house that I have dreamed of having for years.

There was a moment, on Saturday, that I briefly sat down on the couch in the living room, and watched the boys ride their bikes in the street. For the second time that day, tears came to my eyes--but this time tears of bittersweet happiness. This house would have been a dream come true for Ammon. Seeing our children ride their bikes, gleefully make friends with the neighbors, and run pell-mell through the basement would have nearly split his soul with happiness. It did the same for me, but I wish he could have been there to see it. It was a moment I would liked to have shared with him.