Who Does These Things?: A Full Report

During September and October Bridget had volleyball and Emil and Colin had itty-bitty football. Since we will need this information for a look back to the origin of their greatness, a report.

This year I was determined to have Bridget be on the same team with her friends, Kodi and Clara. That way we'd have more options for rides to practices, Bridget would have The Most Fun Possible because she'd be with her friends, and we'd have a chance to see Kodi more often. The moms synchronized our watches and managed to get them all on the same team with the perfect coach, Sunny Mahe. Sunny didn't let the girls serve underhand, she was the perfect mix of fun/encouraging/tough. By the end of the season Sunny's daughter, also on Bridget's team and a nine year-old, was testing out an overhand jump serve. Whoa.

Last year you could plan on scoring if your serve got over the net, but this year they had the skills to volley a little more. More of the girls weren't afraid of the ball, although I'm convinced that a few of them made contact with the ball by chance. A girl on one of the opposing teams actually caught two of Kodi's serves (which were LEGENDARY, by the way) like you would catch a basketball. Ha!

I don't know if Bridget's got the eye of the tiger quite yet, but I know she had a great time. And she practiced that overhand serve for hours! A few more boot camps with Kodi and Bridget will be a pro. :)

Emil and Colin played for the Cowboys for itty-bitty football. This year they were the big scary four-year-olds playing with and against little boys. Colin totally gets sports. He understood all the rules and executed all the drills exactly right. In one of the drills they were supposed to block for their teammate who was running with the ball. Colin took some kids OUT if they got near the ball carrier. Emil only listened to the first half of all the directions, so he was not as impressive. However! No one could get by Emil without getting their flag stolen. DEFENSE! When Emil was on offense he had a tendency to guard his flag and a few times he even took his own flag off rather than give someone else the satisfaction. Sigh. I drowned out the deafening gym noises with David Copperfield, so a good time was had by all. (All sports pictures are brought to you by my camera phone. I have wised up, you guys.)

Instead of a deer hunt trip this year, Brian and his brothers and his Dad went fishing in Flaming Gorge at the beginning of September. Later in September Brian had Wood Badge for two weekends in a row. The kids and I were excited to be able to get away with Daddy for Fall Break. We finally caught Grandma Peggy and Grandpa Bob at home (they're usually visiting one of their favorite children out of the state) and Brian and I even plugged in an early anniversary night away. Our first stop on the way to Idaho was an early dinner at Maddox in Brigham City.

Eating out with these three is always either the worst or just okay. Since Colin was hungry this time, it was okay. Except that he kept yelling down the aisle, "WHERE'S MY MACARONI?!" Our waiter was very patient and they got the Frisbee plates, so no one got hurt.

We arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house before they did, so we came in and the kids quickly emptied all the toy boxes. Bridget had packed all of her doll clothes and then she forgot her doll. Good thing Grandma Peggy has three.

The boys discovered the Transformers box this time. Funny how Grandma and Grandpa have a box of toys to please every age group.

After a pumpkin pancake and smoothie breakfast Friday morning, we went to the corn maze and pumpkin patch to play and see Grandpa Bob in action. (He was there with a school field trip.)

First we took a ride to the pumpkin patch where we got to choose our own pumpkins. Colin found his and then tricked Grandma into carrying it for him.

On the way back to the corn maze, all three kids were sitting on or very close to Daddy. Awww.

The weather was so perfect and the views in Idaho are very relaxing. They may not have a Target, but they have some beautiful scenery. Back at the farm we took some photos before we started the epic corn maze.

Emil convinced a random kid to push him around on this tractor.

Hahahahahaha! Can you see his little hand by the Montana border?

Too bad she's not in her Halloween costume.

Then we posed in front of the maze as a family. For posterity.

For the next hour and a half we ran through this corn maze encountering clues, dead ends, and "crop circles" (or as Emil called them "crapsicles"). Brian and I both reached our step target before we were out. I'm sweating just thinking about it!

The kids rarely agreed on which way we should go. After Brian, Grandma and I had seen a few dead ends, we let the kids go around the corner and find out if it was the right way before we followed them. Run, kids. Run, run, run.

This is sign #19. There were 75 of them. That does not include the crapsicles.

I told the kids to pose and this is what they did. Ha!

This was Colin the whole time. I think he ran twice as far as anyone else checking all the dead ends.

Emil made a whine-y groaning noise while he did the Charlie Brown Walk after about 30 minutes in the maze.

See? Colin is running. They should have some hydration stations in there. Bridget and Colin would NOT let us take any shortcuts. We had many opportunities to exit the maze before the end, but they insisted that we were so close and we'd come this far. Every time we saw an early exit, Emil would look at me and raise his eyebrows. "You and me? We could get out right here." :)

We eventually made it out, though, and I'm glad we didn't give up early. While the old people staggered off to find a chair, the kids ran to play with other stuff. WHA...????

Notice Bridget's jewelry. Grandma's house!

We met Grandpa Bob at Pizza Pie Cafe and had a big lunch with even bigger drinks. The kids continued to play (again, WHA..???) while the adults took power naps. Then Brian and I went to McCammon to stay at the Harkness Hotel for the night. We saw a "point of interest" sign and stopped to read it on our way into town. Apparently McCammon was supposed to be a big town because of the railroad passing through it. A guy named Harkness made a fortune and built a hotel, a bank, a big house, all in McCammon. The Harkness Hotel was his bank building and a young couple has restored the building and made it into a hotel. There is nowhere to eat, but the hotel is beautiful and very relaxing. And it's really close to Lava Hot Springs, so we didn't have to go far to find food and we could have gone to the hot pools if we'd thought it through better.

On Saturday morning we ate breakfast at a cafe across the street. An old-timer there seemed surprised and pleased that we'd stayed at the new hotel. He said they were sure those kids wouldn't make it - no one would want to stay in McCammon. :) You should, though. Everyone should. It's a lovely hotel.

Grandma and Grandpa and the kids were still at the homecoming parade for ISU when we got back to their house, so Brian and I went to visit Grandma Shirley. She was in a very good mood and told us some fun stories. She also said we both look beautiful, and Grandma only tells the truth. ;) She introduced us to a select group as we walked with her to her lunch room. Ha! We passed right by some people, but were stopped and introduced to others. Back at my parents' house we tried to feed the kids real food (they'd each collected their weight in tootsie rolls at the parade), had a quick concert (Bridget played her recital song and Grandpa Bob sang), said a family prayer, and took a picture on the porch. Traditions!

Grandpa Bob's encore was "Bought Me a Cat" - the boys wouldn't remember the last time they'd heard it and I thought they'd get a kick out of it. Colin was sitting on Brian's lap saying, "The cat says 'meow'" every time Grandpa sang, "My cat says fiddle-eye-fee." :)