- A real mom sees the world through a child's eyes, yet trusts her instincts and experience when it comes to teaching children about and protecting them from the dangers they can't see.
- A real mom bends the rules in the name of fun, yet knows just when and how to enforce them when it comes to teaching values.
- A real mom plays along with imaginary friends, yet believes in cultivating real adult friendships too.
- A real mom loves her kids, yet relies on loving herself to be the best example of health and joy for them.
- A real mom shares her toys, her dreams and her whole life's passion, yet has confidence in her children and supports them in choosing their own toys, building their own dreams and discovering thier own life's passion.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Real Moms
I caught this fantastic meme about what makes a real mom from slacker-moms-r-us, and I have been putting some thought into it. A mom is something different to everyone, but the kind of mom I want to be is the kind with the following attributes:
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Vacation Adventures
We had a wild trip downtown Portland for some amazing sushi where Kaia taught herself to eat creme brule with chopsticks. On our way we saw a hacky sack club doing some wild moves that mimicked dancing, where Kaia joined in with her own funky jig, and a street performer painted all in silver pretending to be a statue. When Kaia put a buck in his jar, he began to juggle and really got her attention. We ate some really expensive chocolate (I think it was silver moon or man in the moon or dancing moon) and I wasn't really all that impressed.
Our next adventure took us on a hike up Eagle Creek Canyon where Kaia got to ride on Mom's shoulders. There were some sketchy parts of the trail that concerned us both, but it was funny to watch Kaia's reaction. She grabbed my by the eye sockets and pulled me toward the mountain side trying to get me further away from the edge. We were glad when our new backpack came so that Kaia will feel safe and secure on our next adventures.
When Ben arrived, we went to the zoo where we witnessed a couple of scary looking grounded hornbills attack and kill a stork. Man, those birds are vicious! It was pretty horrifying, and we all felt bad for the stork. The giraffes in the exhibit attempted to intervined, and even kicked at the hornbills to get them to leave the stork alone, but I think the giraffe knew that the stork wouldn't make it and left him to the continued attacks of the hornbills. We tried to get help, but it arrived too late. By the time the zookeeper came, all she could do was kick at the stork to verify his death and get those hornbills to stop pecking at him with their giant, vulturesque beaks. As brutal as it was, is makes an interesting story to tell and we will never forget that trip to the zoo.
The next day we left Kaia with grandma and went kayaking in Scapoose. We saw bald eagles, lots of geese and some pretty amazing blue herin. We paddled up a river for about an hour and it really felt like we were in the bayou. Big, moss-covered trees hung down in the slow moving water and made for an interesting obsticle course. It ws fun to wind around and see interesting new things with every bend of the river.
On Sunday, we went down to Silver Falls and took a beautiful hike under a 175 foot waterfall. This is one of my favorite running trails, but we didn't have time to do the whole 10 miles, so we just visited 2 of the 7 named falls. GORGEOUS!!! I had forgotten what it was like to have so many living, growing, beautiful things.
We spent all day Monday packing and preparing for the next few legs of our trip and flew down to Vegas. We are now at Ben's parent's house and are getting ready to head out to his Brother's house for a little family reunion. I am hoping that we can catch a show this evening, but we have to make sure that we can get a sitter for Kaia.
Tomorrow, we will spend the day in Red Rock for some day hiking and then we head to Havasupai Falls for Kaia's first real backpacking trip. It should only be about 20 miles round trip, but I think it is going to be hard going because it is pretty steep. I really don't think we could have picked a better time of year to go though. I think temperatures will be just perfect for us and we will avoid a lot of the summer time tourists.
After Havasupai, we will go visit more family and friends in Phoenix, then we are off to Zion's National Park for more camping and hiking with friends. I think we will spend 2 or 3 days there before heading to Salt Lake for a family event and maybe try to squeeze in a hike up Timpanogos. We shall see.
So far, this trip has been rejuvenating and spectacular. It is sunny and 65 here in Vegas and we are loving the change of scenery.
Our next adventure took us on a hike up Eagle Creek Canyon where Kaia got to ride on Mom's shoulders. There were some sketchy parts of the trail that concerned us both, but it was funny to watch Kaia's reaction. She grabbed my by the eye sockets and pulled me toward the mountain side trying to get me further away from the edge. We were glad when our new backpack came so that Kaia will feel safe and secure on our next adventures.
When Ben arrived, we went to the zoo where we witnessed a couple of scary looking grounded hornbills attack and kill a stork. Man, those birds are vicious! It was pretty horrifying, and we all felt bad for the stork. The giraffes in the exhibit attempted to intervined, and even kicked at the hornbills to get them to leave the stork alone, but I think the giraffe knew that the stork wouldn't make it and left him to the continued attacks of the hornbills. We tried to get help, but it arrived too late. By the time the zookeeper came, all she could do was kick at the stork to verify his death and get those hornbills to stop pecking at him with their giant, vulturesque beaks. As brutal as it was, is makes an interesting story to tell and we will never forget that trip to the zoo.
The next day we left Kaia with grandma and went kayaking in Scapoose. We saw bald eagles, lots of geese and some pretty amazing blue herin. We paddled up a river for about an hour and it really felt like we were in the bayou. Big, moss-covered trees hung down in the slow moving water and made for an interesting obsticle course. It ws fun to wind around and see interesting new things with every bend of the river.
On Sunday, we went down to Silver Falls and took a beautiful hike under a 175 foot waterfall. This is one of my favorite running trails, but we didn't have time to do the whole 10 miles, so we just visited 2 of the 7 named falls. GORGEOUS!!! I had forgotten what it was like to have so many living, growing, beautiful things.
We spent all day Monday packing and preparing for the next few legs of our trip and flew down to Vegas. We are now at Ben's parent's house and are getting ready to head out to his Brother's house for a little family reunion. I am hoping that we can catch a show this evening, but we have to make sure that we can get a sitter for Kaia.
Tomorrow, we will spend the day in Red Rock for some day hiking and then we head to Havasupai Falls for Kaia's first real backpacking trip. It should only be about 20 miles round trip, but I think it is going to be hard going because it is pretty steep. I really don't think we could have picked a better time of year to go though. I think temperatures will be just perfect for us and we will avoid a lot of the summer time tourists.
After Havasupai, we will go visit more family and friends in Phoenix, then we are off to Zion's National Park for more camping and hiking with friends. I think we will spend 2 or 3 days there before heading to Salt Lake for a family event and maybe try to squeeze in a hike up Timpanogos. We shall see.
So far, this trip has been rejuvenating and spectacular. It is sunny and 65 here in Vegas and we are loving the change of scenery.
Vacation Adventures
We had a wild trip downtown Portland for some amazing sushi where Kaia taught herself to eat creme brule with chopsticks. On our way we saw a hacky sack club doing some wild moves that mimicked dancing, where Kaia joined in with her own funky jig, and a street performer painted all in silver pretending to be a statue. When Kaia put a buck in his jar, he began to juggle and really got her attention. We ate some really expensive chocolate (I think it was silver moon or man in the moon or dancing moon) and I wasn't really all that impressed.
Our next adventure took us on a hike up Eagle Creek Canyon where Kaia got to ride on Mom's shoulders. There were some sketchy parts of the trail that concerned us both, but it was funny to watch Kaia's reaction. She grabbed my by the eye sockets and pulled me toward the mountain side trying to get me further away from the edge. We were glad when our new backpack came so that Kaia will feel safe and secure on our next adventures.
When Ben arrived, we went to the zoo where we witnessed a couple of scary looking grounded hornbills attack and kill a stork. Man, those birds are vicious! It was pretty horrifying, and we all felt bad for the stork. The giraffes in the exhibit attempted to intervined, and even kicked at the hornbills to get them to leave the stork alone, but I think the giraffe knew that the stork wouldn't make it and left him to the continued attacks of the hornbills. We tried to get help, but it arrived too late. By the time the zookeeper came, all she could do was kick at the stork to verify his death and get those hornbills to stop pecking at him with their giant, vulturesque beaks. As brutal as it was, is makes an interesting story to tell and we will never forget that trip to the zoo.
The next day we left Kaia with grandma and went kayaking in Scapoose. We saw bald eagles, lots of geese and some pretty amazing blue herin. We paddled up a river for about an hour and it really felt like we were in the bayou. Big, moss-covered trees hung down in the slow moving water and made for an interesting obsticle course. It ws fun to wind around and see interesting new things with every bend of the river.
On Sunday, we went down to Silver Falls and took a beautiful hike under a 175 foot waterfall. This is one of my favorite running trails, but we didn't have time to do the whole 10 miles, so we just visited 2 of the 7 named falls. GORGEOUS!!! I had forgotten what it was like to have so many living, growing, beautiful things.
We spent all day Monday packing and preparing for the next few legs of our trip and flew down to Vegas. We are now at Ben's parent's house and are getting ready to head out to his Brother's house for a little family reunion. I am hoping that we can catch a show this evening, but we have to make sure that we can get a sitter for Kaia.
Tomorrow, we will spend the day in Red Rock for some day hiking and then we head to Havasupai Falls for Kaia's first real backpacking trip. It should only be about 20 miles round trip, but I think it is going to be hard going because it is pretty steep. I really don't think we could have picked a better time of year to go though. I think temperatures will be just perfect for us and we will avoid a lot of the summer time tourists.
After Havasupai, we will go visit more family and friends in Phoenix, then we are off to Zion's National Park for more camping and hiking with friends. I think we will spend 2 or 3 days there before heading to Salt Lake for a family event and maybe try to squeeze in a hike up Timpanogos. We shall see.
So far, this trip has been rejuvenating and spectacular. It is sunny and 65 here in Vegas and we are loving the change of scenery.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Risk Big or Go Home?
Okay. Here is the scoop. I have been crunching numbers and looking at plans and weighing options for building our dream adventure lodge and have decided that a risk is inevitable. The question is how much should we risk? There are two options and I am feeling a bit like a chicken for leaning toward the going home option, because it is another delay in the process of achieving the big kahuna. However, I am just terrified that risking big might just destroy our credit and put us out on the street. Let me know what you think.
OPTION 1: RISK BIG
We can build this house and run a lodge with rustic luxury accommodations for up to 24 (4 rooms) overnight guests in the walk-out basement, and have room to run a reception hall with rustic luxury accommodations for up to 100 inside or 200 inside and out.
This would provide us with a realistic extra earning potential of $140,000 / year gross paying off the loan quickly and providing a beautiful place for our family to live. The advantage is that it is our dream and will work perfectly for the full-scale business we want to run. The drawback is that at the cheapest, if we do a LOT of the work ourselves, it will cost $500K, and even if by some miracle we got the mortgage rates on that big of a loan, the monthly payments would demand that the business be successfull right away.
OPTION 2: GO HOME
We can build this house adding a walk-out basement, log siding and wrap around decks, and run a bed and breakfast with rustic luxury accomodations for up to 10 overnight guests (2 rooms).
This would provide us with a realistic extra earning potential of $46,000 / year gross paying off our mortgage more quickly and providing a place to live. The advantage is that we could do this for under $300K and could make the monthly payments on this mortgage even if the business flopped. It would also provide us the opportunity to build equity and save up for the Big Risk when we know what we are getting into, can afford it and well, when it isn't quite so risky. The drawback is that the place is more of a home than an adventure lodge, and we would have to move again to make our dreams come true.
It is still going to be a risk either way, but going home would be a significantly safer, round-about way to the dream. I'm leaning toward going home; what do you think?
OPTION 1: RISK BIG
We can build this house and run a lodge with rustic luxury accommodations for up to 24 (4 rooms) overnight guests in the walk-out basement, and have room to run a reception hall with rustic luxury accommodations for up to 100 inside or 200 inside and out.
This would provide us with a realistic extra earning potential of $140,000 / year gross paying off the loan quickly and providing a beautiful place for our family to live. The advantage is that it is our dream and will work perfectly for the full-scale business we want to run. The drawback is that at the cheapest, if we do a LOT of the work ourselves, it will cost $500K, and even if by some miracle we got the mortgage rates on that big of a loan, the monthly payments would demand that the business be successfull right away.
OPTION 2: GO HOME
We can build this house adding a walk-out basement, log siding and wrap around decks, and run a bed and breakfast with rustic luxury accomodations for up to 10 overnight guests (2 rooms).
This would provide us with a realistic extra earning potential of $46,000 / year gross paying off our mortgage more quickly and providing a place to live. The advantage is that we could do this for under $300K and could make the monthly payments on this mortgage even if the business flopped. It would also provide us the opportunity to build equity and save up for the Big Risk when we know what we are getting into, can afford it and well, when it isn't quite so risky. The drawback is that the place is more of a home than an adventure lodge, and we would have to move again to make our dreams come true.
It is still going to be a risk either way, but going home would be a significantly safer, round-about way to the dream. I'm leaning toward going home; what do you think?
Monday, March 5, 2007
A Really Good Day
Mom, Dad, Kaia and I all went down to Silver Falls and I ran 7 miles in 1hr. 10 min. Yae for me! It felt good, but now my knee hurts a little. We had so much snow the last few days and today was the first really warm, sunny day since so there was a LOT of water. I counted 20 waterfalls of 20 ft or more. The falls that always have water coming down were spectacular and Dad and I got drenched. It was great. I felt like Marty from the movie Madagascar when he realizes that the picture he was imagining while on his treadmill back at the zoo was real! SPECTACULAR!!!
Once we got back to town, we decided to get cleaned up and go downtown. It was a great trip! Kaia was mesmerized by a man painted silver and pretending to be a statue. A little boy gave him a dollar and he came to life scarring the little boy half to death. Kaia was so confused by the entire episode, but continued fixated on the man throughout his whole performance. He juggled and did some other kind of wierd stuff, but Kaia liked it and I tipped him a buck.
We also saw the max train and some musicians and a group of hackysack players down at Pioneer Square. They had a stereo there and were kicking around those sacks like mad, pretty impressive stuff. Dad and I both agreed that if we even attempted such tricks, we would end up on our faces. As we were discussing this, I set Kaia down to watch them. She must have thought they were dancing and began to mimic their spastic maneuvers with the music. I wish I had the video camera.
We then went to a fantastic restaurant named Tadai. It is a seafood place and quickly became my new favorite in PDX. I had the best Sushi, the freshest salads and the most amazing desserts in tiny perfect bite size pieces. Kaia had fun turning a soft-serve ice cream cone in-side out and got a kick out of learning to eat with chop sticks. She actually holds them both in one hand and then stabs something gooey... my Crème Brule was her favorite "chop-sticks" food.
She also got a funky balloon hat from a clown who surprisingly didn't scare her, but she refused to wear it... I think she understands that it is a ridiculous thing to do and thinks that she is too sophisticated for that. Overall, it was a really good day. I enjoyed my favorite trail, ate shrimp and crab and a million other crazy new delicacies, and got to spend memorable time with Kaia and my folks.
Once we got back to town, we decided to get cleaned up and go downtown. It was a great trip! Kaia was mesmerized by a man painted silver and pretending to be a statue. A little boy gave him a dollar and he came to life scarring the little boy half to death. Kaia was so confused by the entire episode, but continued fixated on the man throughout his whole performance. He juggled and did some other kind of wierd stuff, but Kaia liked it and I tipped him a buck.
We also saw the max train and some musicians and a group of hackysack players down at Pioneer Square. They had a stereo there and were kicking around those sacks like mad, pretty impressive stuff. Dad and I both agreed that if we even attempted such tricks, we would end up on our faces. As we were discussing this, I set Kaia down to watch them. She must have thought they were dancing and began to mimic their spastic maneuvers with the music. I wish I had the video camera.
We then went to a fantastic restaurant named Tadai. It is a seafood place and quickly became my new favorite in PDX. I had the best Sushi, the freshest salads and the most amazing desserts in tiny perfect bite size pieces. Kaia had fun turning a soft-serve ice cream cone in-side out and got a kick out of learning to eat with chop sticks. She actually holds them both in one hand and then stabs something gooey... my Crème Brule was her favorite "chop-sticks" food.
She also got a funky balloon hat from a clown who surprisingly didn't scare her, but she refused to wear it... I think she understands that it is a ridiculous thing to do and thinks that she is too sophisticated for that. Overall, it was a really good day. I enjoyed my favorite trail, ate shrimp and crab and a million other crazy new delicacies, and got to spend memorable time with Kaia and my folks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)