We are here in San Francisco, California. We left Utah one week ago.
Thus far we have ventured through Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park, Downtown San Francisco (The Metreon and Union Square), Muir Woods National Monument, A visit with the Dawkins Family and a trip to their Placerville, CA property, back to San Francisco, a night on a very windy over look, Muir Beach, and today The Bay Area Discovery Museum. I am exhausted just writing that sentence.
Eli, Northern California
The boys have been terrific. Kyle’s highlight was seeing and spending time with Quinn and Max his great friends from Virginia. We spent the night at Bill’s parent’s Winters, CA vineyard. The boys, Stephanie and myself hung out at the local park. We have been to some many parks around the U.S. that it has been suggested that we are on the USA Park Tour 2002-2003.
My highlight was witnessing Eli walk into our friend’s bathroom, and after seeing their duck shower curtain, he exclaimed, “Duck, quack.”
Yosemite National Park
As always there are so many more stories to tell, so much more to say. Eli is sacked out on the couch, Dave and his friends are occupying Kyle. We need to get our kids back to our hotel so we can all get some sleep. Yes, tonight, we are staying in a hotel. Last night we stayed in the van at an overlook on the extremely windy road to Muir Woods National Park.
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Eli in the camper van in Reno, Nevada
Kyle with his traveling gear in Reno, Nevada
Kyle and I at Yosemite National Park
Dave and Kyle at Yosemite National Park
Kyle and I at the Metreon San FranciscoEli, Union Square, San Francisco, California
Moab was blissful, warm and a true lazy weekend. We did our daily eating at the Moab Diner. I always go for the Biker Buckwheat Breakfast. Marianne and Dave went for a little more variety ordering something different each time, and Kyle wanted his usual Chicken and French Fries. Eli was good eating off of all of our plates. He especially loved all of our pancakes. He inhaled them. He is a true pancake fiend.
Ok, we were in Moab, the Mountain Bike capital of the world and all we did was hang out. Marianne gave us haircuts and colored my hair, we watched movies, looked at real estate (something we do everywhere we go), and rested. By Sunday, the coldest day, we were feeling like we had cheapened the experience so we made our way over to Arches National Park. It was spectacular. Every time I go there I can’t believe how incredibly amazing all the red rock formations are. Kyle was in no mood to hike so I carried him on our half mile walk to see the Turret Arch in the Windows Section of the park.
Arches National Park, Moab, Utah, February 2003
Eli was falling a sleep in Marianne’s arms and Kyle had gone beyond melt down point. Their little noses were still running like faucets, and we all felt generally crappy, so we decided it was time to head back up to our temporary home. I drove, something I rarely do, and Marianne kept me company. I knew when we hit Price that I wanted Dave to drive. The road gets more crazy and I wasn’t so sure of myself in the van. At about the same spot we hit fog on the way down we hit a white out. Snow had blanketed the area. Cars were off the road. We had to stop every few miles to shake the ice off our windshield wipers. Like the fog, we couldn’t see the car in front of us. We put our hazards on to help cars see us, a trick we learned from the Fed-Ex truck driving in front of us on the way there, and made it through the windy long stretch of Soldier’s Summit.
A week ago my friend Marianne flew to Utah. Thankfully, we see Marianne often so she is used to our crazy life. We had been battling a cold virus for weeks and were on the edge from months of homelessness. Marianne was coming to see the Park City House. At least she was when she bought her plane ticket. Because there was no house to see we decided to take her to Moab.
We were exhausted from packing and preparing for our trip. With snotty kids in tow we made it to the airport. We were all hungry and I had a weird hankering to buy a thermos for our trip so we stopped at the new SLC Gateway shopping plaza. We couldn’t find parking so Dave dropped Marianne and I off.
In the Sports store I decided I wanted to buy an outfit for our trip. (I think the thermos was just a ploy.) I was on overdrive. While looking at all the hip track suits I hear my phone ring. I didn’t recognize the number. It was Dave calling from the store phone. He had found a parking spot and was in the store with the kids. After buying my fancy “New Jersey Girl” as Dave called it, jogging suit we were ready to get something to eat.
We went to drop our packages off before heading to the restaurant. As I was shutting the door to the van I looked both ways so to speak and slammed the sliding door shut. Out of nowhere I hear the blood curdling screams of Kyle. Out of somewhere from beyond I hear Dave’s even more curdling screams,
“You slammed his hand in the door. Beth, you slammed his hand in the door.”
Dave’s face was green and Kyle was in pain. His little fingers were swelling and he had blood all over his hand.
“Beth, how could you do that? Didn’t you see his hand?”
(Dave had been holding Kyle and Kyle had wrapped his hand inside the door of the van. No, I hadn’t seen his hand.)
Dave’s reaction and green face were so intense that I felt as though I had killed both of my sons. I took Kyle alone in the van to console him.
“Mommy, Mommy my fingers hurt. Mommy,” Kyle said through heaving sobs.
“Oh, Kyle, It was an accident. Can you forgive me?”
“It WAS NOT AN ACCIDENT!” He sobbed.
Then he paused for minute, caught his breath, and seemed to open up.
“I will forgive you.”
Of course I felt terrible. I still do. I tried to assure him,
“Kyle, Mommy did not mean to hurt you. She would never try to hurt you. It was an accident. I am so sorry Kyle.”
In true and most generous form, Kyle followed with,
“I will forgive you, Mommy. It was an accident.”
During our interchange Dave went to the Sports store to buy Band-Aids and get ice. I called my brother Brian the doctor. He assured me that even if Kyle’s fingers were broken that we didn’t need to rush him to the hospital. Kyle was settling down and so was Dave. We decided it was ok to get some food. I held Kyle all the way and in the restaurant. Even though he was wiped out he was returning to his old self.
On the way to the van we stopped at the Gap and had a little hat buying spree. I see here that I am sweeping over some details and taking the tweezers to others. We bought hats for us and the kids at about a dollar a piece.
Gap Hats at Arches National Park, Moab, Utah
It was about 8:30 P.M. and we were still in SLC. We still needed to buy diapers and now more Band-Aids and pain reliever. As Marianne and I got the goods, Dave entertained the kids in the parking lot of Smith’s, the local grocery store. We got the kids ready for bed and finally hit the road.
Me and Moe Moab, Utah
Oh, it’s not over yet for this first day of our trip. Just before we reached Price, Utah, which is halfway between Moab and Salt Lake City, we nearly missed hitting a boulder that had fallen and was sitting in the middle of the road. Luckily the boulder had managed to roll into the other lane. A few cars were pulled off to the side, and we wondered if one of them had hit the rock. We also feared that someone would get killed trying to push the immense object off of the road. The rock must have weighed over a ton. We flashed oncoming cars to warn them. As we drove away from the boulder we hit really crazy thick fog. The fog so thick that we could not see the cars in front of us. And because of this thick fog, we felt like we were trapped together in a moving padded cell. At one point, Dave, Marianne, and I even discussed how we could get ahold of some Paxil (for all of the anxiety). Several miles and minutes later the fog cleared. We rolled into Moab at about 2:45 A.M. The condo we had rented for the occasion was wonderful and I couldn’t wait to put my head on my pillow.
I am extremely tired so I have posted some pictures of this past week. Just click on the word, “more.” I will begin to fill in the details tomorrow. In brief, we are still sick. The boys are very sick. My friend, Marianne came to town. We took her to Moab. On the way to Moab, I slammed Kyle’s hand in the van just after spending a few minutes with our friend, Mike Darne at The Little America Hotel. Kyle has a new friend. His name is buggy. See the pictures. So much more to say, but I said I was tired and I am. I will fill in the blanks soon.The Pictoral Story
Dave, the boys and Mike Darne
Our Friend Mike Darne with Dave and the boys outside the Little America Hotel
(It was pouring rain and this was the best picture we could get.)
I realize tonight (as I hide from my family) that I have not been very good about giving you the latest travelogue. I wonder who if anyone still reads this. Are you still reading? I have become lazy or something akin to lazy, say busy with two little boys.
Enough introduction.
Dave is down with the boys and I am listening to Kyle ask him to locate his missing dinosaur puzzle pieces. Yes, dinosaurs are the rage. Eli is choking on something and about five minutes ago the little guy got his head stuck between the refrigerator and the wall. He was so stuck that I was afraid to move him.
Obviously, I screamed, “Dave, come quick,”
as I held Eli in place so he wouldn’t really get hurt I continued,
“Dave, no really come quick. It is serious!”
By then Eli and I were able to wedge his big little round head free. Eli just hit his head again and I can hear Dave comfort him,
“Are you ok?”
I know that he is because I hear his angry grunt.
It’s 7:22P.M. MST and we have not left the house nor have I put clothes on since yesterday. I am wearing my pajamas and am counting the minutes till we all go to bed. What do you do when you are confined to the house with three sick boys? Earlier today my friend Rachael sent me one of those internet questionnaires. She is nine months pregnant and counting. I answered the questions and emailed the exercise to a few friends. One of the questions followed by my response segues into how our day began. It read,
little things that make me smile:
I responded,
In the middle of the night (last night) after Kyle was coughing. He sounded like a dying seal. Eli had a high fever and had just vomited all over me twice. Then the boys start laughing and singing songs,
“Old McDonalds had a farm. Eeeii Eeeii OH. Daddy, sing all the verses.”
It was one of those times I wished I had the video camera and guess what, I did.
Our day continued with many of the same highs and lows. I told Dave,
“I can’t do this anymore. I am leaving Utah with or without you.”
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
This conversation was followed by a high carb dinner of pancakes smothered in take-your-pick syrup or brown sugar accompanied by no less than one tablespoon of butter per pancake. With the carb and sugar fix Kyle and I proceeded to do temporary tattoos.
“Mommy can we do dinosaur tattoos?”
“Sure, there is only one left, but we can do the other tattoos.”
“Ok, that’s good Mommy.”
For about ten minutes I applied tattoos all up Kyle’s arms and on Eli’s hands…
I hear someone going through the cupboards and Dave watching a Daddy show. And then I hear,
“Hey, hey, hey, hey, HEY, what did I tell you about opening the fridge?”
“I just want an orange.” Kyle whispers. and continues, … “Mommy what are you doing up there Mommy?”
Today we took a drive to the Sundance Ski Resort. I actually forgot it was the last day of the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. Aside from meeting one of Latin America’s hottest stars [who?] right as I was telling Kyle,
“smoking is gross,”
and then looking up to see this Latin Pop sensation lighting up three inches from my face, Sundance and its films have been much different this year. Luckily the Pop Star responded,
“Your Mommy is right. Smoking is gross.”
Here are a list of our very favorite film winners [wink wink]:
JURY PRIZES:
Dramatic Film: Snow Angels
Boys at the Sundance Film Festival
Documentary: Say Boo.
Dave and Eli Sundance Film Festival
AUDUENCE AWARDS:
Dramatic Film: Stuck (Alternate Title: I Have Fallen and I Can’t Get Up.)
Sundance Film Festival
Documentary: Nose Kisses
Sundance Film Festival
World Cinema: Nieve Angeles
Sundance Film Festival
CINEMATOGRAPHY AWARDS:
Dramatic Film: Walking With Dad
Sundance Film Festival
Documentary: Legs
Sundance Film Festival
WALDO SALT SCREENWRITING AWARD:
Sniffles
Sundance Film Festival
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AWARD
(for documentary films)- Crazy Mama
Sundance Film Festival
SPECIAL JURY PRIZES:
Documentary: Looking at Water
Sundance Film Festival
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE(S):
Kyle, “Rolling in the Snow”
Sundance Film Festival
Eli, “Dealing with the Sun.”
Sundance Film Festival
SPECIAL JURY PRIZES FOR EMOTIONAL TRUTH:
Move Fence Move
Sundance Film Festival
Smile For the Camera
Sundance Film Festival
SHORT FILMMAKING:
Jury Prize:
31″ Tall
Sundance Film Festival
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Up and Down the Path
Sundance Film Festival
An Angel Without My Brother [wink wink]
Sundance Film Festival
Yawn
Sundance Film Fesitval
One Last thing:
When I went to use the bathroom there were several over dressed slender women fixing their hair and applying layers of lip gloss talking on cellphones. Even without the films, Sundance has not changed.
