Junior High Camping 101

At the end of May, I was asked to be the female teacher on a grade 9 Outdoor Ed camping trip to Drumheller, Alberta. I agreed to go and somehow managed to unofficially sneak Kyle and Guns along (Kyle drove down with Guns and met up with us, then camped and hiked with us). We had 3 days of fun, fun, fun. We visited the Royal Tyrell Museum, bushwhacked through the badlands/golf course, hiked (mostly along the highway) to Horse Thief Canyon, and made it home without any major injuries. We got to take Gunnar swimming, he almost conquered his fear of dogs (not quite, but we're getting there) and he discovered that baby bunnies are fast and don't like the screeching sound he makes when he gets excited.  Overall, Gunnar and Kyle were troopers, and we consider the Gunnar trial camping trip a success.
I also learned a few things:
1) grade 9 boys like little kids just as much as grade 9 girls do. They kicked soccer balls to Gunnar, kept him out of the fire, rescued him from Ben, the giant dog, and even let him interupt football games for a quick pass or throw.
2) 3 hours is wayyyyy too long to allow 26, 14 year olds to "explore" a treacherous cactus filled canyon
3) Watching Gunnar chase baby bunnies around the campsite made for some good entertainment
4) Kids are dumb enough to think they can survive on beans for 3 days straight (they can't by the way, by day 3 they also need bacon)
5) Bacterial eye infections and camping don't mix

Back From the Blogging Grave!

Ok, I'll admit that I'm a deadbeat blogger. Having gone back to teaching this year, life has been... well I can't think of a better word than crazy... no wait, life has been INSANITY! I realized that it has almost been a full year since I documented our crazy life and I am ashamed. So I vow to make amends by posting a few short times instead of one long one. Here we go...

Our spring has gone by in a flash. This is the first time in 4 years that Kyle and I have had spring break together. We went down south and saw my brother Mitchel be Captain VonTrapp in Raymond's the Sound of Music (Mitchel, thank you for the laughs, you were AWESOME) and then had our friend Ashley take some new family pictures. It was a rainy day out and Gunnar was a real treat, but Ashley was amazing. "These are a few of our favorite things..."

The End of an Era

Sad face, my friend Lindsey is moving away to be a grown-up in Brooks. Ok, she has 3 kids so there's a good chance she's been a grown-up for a while, but I say that because she is leaving for good, to a house and a career and all kinds of fabulous things. In honor of the good times, Lauren, Erin, Nicole, Lindsey and I got together and had a girl's night once last time. It involved lots of tasty treats and mostly just visiting but we had a great time.

At the end of the night, we tried to harness our inner 90's divas (sadly, I'm pretty sure I'm the only one in this group who graduated in the 90's) and throw out an "L" for Lindsey. We will excuse Lauren's backward L because she has redeemed herself with the Fonz thumbs-up! Lindsey my friend, you will be missed! I'm not sure how I'm going to train without you for this stinkin' half-marathon that you talked me into... you may be dragging me 13km or so... good luck with that.

The Concrete Widow

Ok, so last week I was a "concrete widow." After flu had ripped its way through our little family, Kyle took off up north to work for his cousin Shayne for a week. Besides the fact that I like my husband a whole lot and we spend the majority of our free time together, I was a little apprehensive about being "single mom" style for a week. Especially after having flu the week before, Gunnar was a little bit off. It's tough having a little guy who is old enough to recognize that Dad hasn't come home, but not big enough to understand why. He was quite a handful the second day when he realized that there was no "fun parent" kickin' around.

On the up side, we had a good week with decent routine. I am not sure if my apartment has ever been as clean as it was that week. When Guns sleeps for 2 hours in the afternoon, there's a good window of time to mop floors, fold laundry and do the dishes. The best part was that a Gunnar that naps is a happy Gunnar. I have decided that if my kid wakes up crying, he needs more sleep. We took that theory and ran with it; turns out once my kid has had enough sleep, he wakes up in the happiest mood ever. I took this picture because he woke up giggling and smiling with crazy hair and was in the best mood EVER!

I will admit that even though Guns and I got into some good habits in Kyle's absence, I was missing my husband tremendously. He called me on Saturday and mid-conversation the phone cut out. As I was dialing him back, I heard the door open and he quietly whispered "surprise!" I was soooooo thrilled to have both my handsome men under one roof again. The awesome thing about Kyle's arrival was that he'd been without a razor for the week, which meant that he grew himself a sweet-gross patchy Indian beard! Seriously almost homeless material! Needless to say, this thing only lasted for a few minutes post picture.

I have a new appreciation for my sister and sister-in-laws who do a lot of solo-parenting while their husbands are busy working. You guys are my heros!

Technology, I love you so much it's retarded!

This morning, we took Guns and went for a run. He has been getting some decent outdoors time since the weather has finally turned nice, but the poor kid seems to fall asleep almost immediately when we go for walks. He is a trooper though and I love that he never fusses or throws fits when we haul him around the neighbourhood. I always vowed before having kids that I would NEVER have one of those children who walked around glued to video games or constantly plugged into whatever electronic device they can. I was all like "I'm going to take my kids outside and let them appreciate real life, etc..."

Well, this afternoon while Kyle was at class, Guns woke up and had a bit of a meltdown. Usually I sing to him but I was just not in the mood. I picked Kyle' ipod up off the ottoman, quickly pulled the headphones out and turned it on to some Glee songs (and yes, it might have been a couple Bieber songs). Well, he quit crying immediately, but within 30 seconds insisted on touching/holding the ipod. I thought it was pretty funny watching his puzzled expression at this thing that makes noise, but I thought "hey if the crying has stopped, then by all means... enjoy!"

As if right on cue, he decided to "ENJOY" Kyle's ipod in true baby fashion. I'm only pretty sure that there's no way he could've gotten it any further in his mouth without damage being done to the device. I only wish I'd gotten the picture when he was giving me gummy smiles while he happily listened and kicked his chubby little legs to "Bust a Move."

After a 'kick to the crotch' kind of day, how could I not just sit back and laugh? It's official, my kid loves technology so much it's retarded... and I'm ok with that!

These are a few of my favorite things...

After being informed that I am "the worst blogger ever" I have decided to make a concerted effort to suck a little less. Part of my blogging frustration is that I am keenly aware that we need a new camera. This is evident by the fact that I can count the number of good pictures we have of Gunnar on 1 hand, while my super talented sister-in-law gets amazing shots of him every time. As such, I am poaching some of her pictures to further prove my point...

For those of you wondering, yes, he usually is this cute, but without a faster camera than the one we have, he is not usually this photogenic. We often end up with "deer in the headlights" pictures as can be plainly seen here:

Still, this kid is one of my favorites. I thought this blog post should be dedicated to some of my favorite things. So here are just a couple:

1) Any time Kyle packs Gunnar in the front pack (& he has done this a LOT). It makes me smile as I envision that this is how Kyle might look pregnant...

2) Bath time at our house is getting more amusing every day. We though Guns was pretty awesome when he learned how to splash himself while in Arizona in February, but he is a crazy man now. At the end of every bath, we drain some water, let him flip onto his tummy and splash like a madman. I don't know what is funnier, his tiny naked bum, his crazy giggles, or the fact that Kyle and I are pretty much soaked by the time he's had enough...

3) Healthy competition. I think it's safe to say that Kyle and I like to win better than to lose. While this used to be mainly in sports, since getting together, this has expanded to such unimportant realms as random Sunday night cards, "guess how much the groceries cost" and recently anything where there is a prize. We have now entered a really scary phase of our insane need to win: we spent a good chunk of a day creating this beauty for our ward cake-off... oh yeah, and for those of you laughing, we WON a prize.

Blog tag... man our generation is lazy...

Ok, I must honestly express my concern at the general laziness of our generation. Am I seriously "playing tag" while sitting stationary? I shake my head in self-disbelief. Um Lindsey, it is only because you tagged me and I plan on us running together later that I am justifying this now. And without further adieu...

Three things you like about yourself:

1) I can function on very little sleep. Though some of you may be wondering "what the...?" I tell you, I like that I can stay up all night with baby Guns and still get things done the next day. Before having Gunnar, I used to "burn the candle at both ends" -staying up really late, then getting up really early. People would think I was crazy, but now with a baby, I am grateful for my crazy sleep (or lack of) habits because I feel invincible some days.

2) I can make up ridiculous songs on the spot; that's right, the tiny creative part of my brain is bursting with awesome rhymes. Just ask Gunnar. Some days we (and I use the term "we" loosely) sing songs about doing the dishes or nasty diapers, or drooling and although as a general rule I don't sing in public, I will belt out a nonsense song for my tiny handsome baby anywhere, anytime. Bring it Eminem, I am a spontaneous lyrical master.

3) My body can do lots of cool stuff. I have always been somewhat athletic, but even when not in peak physical shape (like for the past year) I pride myself in pushing my body. Like hiking, or backpacking/playing basketball/running pregnant. In October, like it or not, my body is going to learn what it feels like to run really far. Dear body, good luck with that. Love, Robin.

Post a picture that you like:

Uh, can anyone really pick just one picture that they like? I can't, so here are a few of my favorites...

Three people to tag:

1)Megan Greff

2)Brooklyn Oviatt

3)Kaycee Monteleone