Random photos, trying to catch up here

There is nothing particularly special about this collection, nothing that even binds them together. I just want them here for posterity, but lack the motivation to do a full witty write up for each one. So here you have it, odds and ends from the summer and fall with nowhere else to go.

Right after school got out for the summer, Scott, Emma, Ben and I ran a 10k together. The Expo 10,000, billed as the oldest race in Knoxville, is one that I remember Joel running when he was a young teen. It was a lot of fun, and I was so proud of those kids! I ran a good time for me, but everyone in this crew beat me! I'm okay with that.

Then right after that Josh went on the 5th grade safety patrol trip to Washington D.C. He had a great time with some of his very best buds, I'm really glad he was able to go!

Emma has been very into all things outdoorsy lately. It was great timing for her 4th year of Girls Camp, where they get to go on a 10 mile backpacking overnighter. She loved every single thing about it. 

Loved it so much in fact, that Scott took her backpacking again the very next weekend with a friend and her dad. She would do it every weekend if she could I think.

Always the reader. This is how Josh spent a lot of his time when it wasn't his turn for swim practice.

Asleep at Grandma's house.

In 2013 I gave Scott scuba diving lessons for his birthday. We took the intro class, then it got cold, then we got busy with life and put it right on the back burner. Time passed and a year and a half later we finally finished our certification! This is us holding hands 30 feet down. I don't think I'll ever feel tempted to go any deeper, it scares me just a bit.

One day in August I checked Lydia and Afton out of school early to go check out this bluff with the sisters and Allie. We may or may not have done a little bit of trespassing to get here.

Scott's dad was released after serving 9 years as the Stake President in the Knoxville Cumberland Stake, and we drove on over to their stake conference to share in the event. Josh became the happiest boy alive, being right in the middle of a grandmother sandwich.

Hold up, totally skipped swim team

With all of that traveling this summer, I forgot to mention when we weren't on the road we were at the pool. Four out of five Cruze kids were on the swim team summer 2015. It wasn't as poetic as last year, but still definitely worth spending a post reminiscing over. Ben, Josh, and Lydia were all old pros. Blue ribbons and PRs all over the place. Afton began the summer at about the same skill level where Lydia was at the beginning of last year. Afton did not have the same huge fear to overcome, she was pretty comfortable in the water, just hadn't ever mastered getting around very well. I'll admit, I was basically assuming Afton would have the same incredible breakthrough that we saw Lydia experience the summer before, but hers was more of a slowly but surely type of improvement. There was one time when Afton made it all the way across without stopping, but most meets she swam at...a very leisurely pace (highly assisted by frequent breaks to hang onto the wall or the lane rope). But what counts is she did improve, and what's more, she really loved it. She had a great time getting to swim every day and had fun with all of her friends. Like every year I had moments where I thought this would be the last time, I didn't want our summer days to be so busy, but then I looked around and saw the incredible vehicle for growth (physical, emotional, social) that swim team is and decided it wasn't so bad after all. Go Tidal Waves!

Afton's lists

I don't ever want to forget lists like these...

First day of school 2015

Getting a bit behind around here. The whole blogging thing seems to have come and gone as a fad, and I'm not nearly as motivated as I used to be to record every activity and every thought and every detail all the time. But I still feel it's worthwhile to keep a record. For the past few weeks, one of the kids' favorite Sunday afternoon activities has been to read though the blog. They need new material, and there's plenty to provide from this fall. Let's start with back-to-school pics...

Here are the elementary school girls. They both still love school unreservedly. Lydia feigns dislike now and then, but I can see right through that. 4th and 1st grade.

This one cracks me up. I can't remember why she had such a surly, angsty teenager look on her face, but it's not really like her so it makes me laugh. Maybe it was because it was the first day of school.

None of them could be accused of loving school, but they don't hate it altogether. There are good parts they recognize that balance out the lameness of homework and such.

Eighth, tenth, and sixth graders. Stop! Stop it already you stinkin' big kids! Emma will be out of fingers next year, not sure what we're going to do about that.

The one where the whole thing is put to music, 2015 edition

I finished the road trip movie. I loved making it and getting to watch all of the footage and look through the hundreds of pictures. (It was super hard to choose what to include!) I'll say it again, I'm so thankful for this family time we got to share exploring the great wide open together. Already planning the next trip...

The Odyssey: 2015 Edition - Part 6

St. Anthony and more Yellowstone. That should just about do it for this year of The Odyssey.

After a full day of Yellowstone, we decided to take a break from so much time in the car and tried something new. Have you heard of the St. Anthony sand dunes? Right smack in the middle of Idaho, there is a 10,000+ acre sand dune wonderland. It's the craziest thing. And it's tons of fun. We all rented an array of 4-wheelers and dune buggies and tore it up for about half a day.

After driving the 30 year old 3-wheeler around the yard in Canada the week before, the kids were perfectly primed for taking it up a notch. I was impressed by the ease with which Emma got the hang of shifting gears and using the clutch, I was impressed at how brave and adventurous the boys were climbing up steep hills, and after spending most of the day as a passenger, Lydia even got to have a go driving at the end of the day and did great. Afton was happy to go on a few rides and play at the side of the small lake where we had set up home base.

We were hot and dirty after racing through the sand all day, so we were super glad to find a swimming hole in the same town. We were extra impressed that it had a diving board, water slide, and beach area set up.

The next day we were up early again for one last hurrah around the upper loop at Yellowstone. We saw Mammoth Hot Springs, which looked other-worldly like the geyser area. But the best part of this day was probably a random pull-off that we found on a mountainside covered in boulders. The kids scrambled and climbed and explored all over that place, finding little caves and plenty of peaks to stand proudly atop. We stayed a good long time and probably could have stayed even longer.

We took one nice side road that was probably the prettiest area of the whole park...grand views, wildflowers everywhere. The upper loop in general was definitely better looking than the lower one. Our last stop was Boiling River, where a natural hot spring (like really hot, it will burn you hot) flows into a regular cold water river. You walk in the water in the cool area feeling all normal, then you accidentally stick your leg too far in to the hot side and have to jerk it back quick. You can find a spot in the middle of these converging temps that feels just right, or enjoy the weird sensation of having one leg hot and one leg cold. The adults just waded in a bit, but the kids brought bathing suits and had the full hot tub experience.

I call this one: Sisters in Hot Water

There is not much that we'd change about the Odyssey this year. We liked doing fewer stops but spending a longer time at most of the destinations. Having so much uninterrupted time together as a family with very few distractions was a blessing. Hours and hours in the car gave Scott and I a chance to talk about every single thing there is to talk about. Days spent outside gave our kids a chance to unplug and be creative and have fun together. Cousins and aunts and uncles at every turn made it a great shared experience that we'll remember forever. We'd do it again. We will do it again. We planned out our next Odyssey on the ride home. I can't wait.

The Odyssey: 2015 Edition - Part 5

And then, just when normal people would be calling it a good vacation and heading home, we went to Yellowstone. We have never been there before and were excited to check out our nations first national park. (Fun fact: Canada's first national park was Banff, we got to visit them both!) Conan and Cally stayed in Canada to have more time with Cally's family (her other sister and her brother arrived the day we left, party!), but we didn't have to start feeling lonely or anything. We met the Langfords and Sextons at a cabin we rented in Island Park and the party continued!

Travel story: Montana has edged out Kansas as our new least favorite state. The majority of the driving we did there was on desolate highways that went on for miles and miles and hours and hours surrounded by absolutely nothing but a flat, brown landscape. The ugliness would have been a bummer, but significant portions of these roadways were actually missing the road part. For miles on end we found ourselves crusing down dirt roads highlighted with the occasional constructions vehicle or orange barrel, and wondering why anyone thought it was a good idea to just rip out the highway completely to repair it. This annoyance came to a head on our way down to Island Park from Canada. We came to one of these sections of dirt road, except it had rained the night before and the road had to turned into a muddy nightmare. Luckily, there were not many cars around, because those we saw, like us, were sliding all over the place, the thick mud was as slick as ice. We saw one unfortunate RV that had slid off the side of the road at a perpendicular angle and was stuck in the ditch.

So it was a great relief to arrive safely at our destination! We spent two days touring Yellowstone, one day on the lower loop, one day going around the upper. We were really glad we got to see everything we'd wanted to check out. We heard numerous horror stories about the traffic and the crowds, but we started our days early and were able to avoid any major delays.

Day one: lower loop. Geysers, geothermal wonders, and the Canyon.

I didn't realize there were so many geysers! We got lucky with our timing and saw several go off. And the hot springs were everywhere. So much of the park was like an alien landscape, unlike anything we'd ever seen before. The kids enjoyed seeing the colors of the rocks and held their noses in the stinky zones (there were many). It was all really interesting to see, it still seems crazy to me that such a place exists.

We got our fill of wildlife as well. Bison were all over the place, as were elk and various deer. We were lucky enough to see a mama grizzly bear with two cubs on our first day, and a black bear with one cub the next.

I regret not purchasing this helpful reminder on a water bottle. 

We made a fun stop on the banks of Yellowstone Lake. The kids started out with their usual fare of dipping toes and skipping rocks, then Scott invented a game. He would heave a large rock into the water, and the duty of everyone else was to try to hit it in mid-aid with a smaller rock. I love everything about a spontaneous game like that. The rock throwers kept at it for some time, but no one ever made contact. Every time someone got close there was a roar of excitement and a confidence that a hit would be made on the next try for sure.

Our last stop for day one was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. That was my favorite thing we saw. While all of the geothermal stuff was interesting, it was ugly too. The Canyon was pretty, and really impressive. We went on just a short hike to a few good vantage points.

Cute detail story: Trey and Moe came up from Utah to join us too! It was fun to get to hang out and get to know Moe a little better. From the moment we arrived, Afton basically adopted them. Everywhere we walked she wanted to hold one of their hands. Whenever we sat down, she wanted to sit by them. "Because I don't get to see Trey and Moe very often!" she would explain over and over. They were kind and welcoming of their little shadow.