Adventures

It's good to be home. Between the travel across Virginia, the lack of sleep and the general exhaustion I definitely woke up our first morning in Montana confused about where I was (or maybe I just was wishing I could blame someone else for the disaster that was the room I was sleeping in!) We had a fantastic time and squeezed a lot of visiting in! Matt and Mas and Pas generously hosted a few dinners and parties so we could see as many people as possible and Amma and Pappa logged a lot of hours in the car to see our family the grandkids :-) We are very blessed that our families get along and were willing to both join us for a few outings.

We did our black Friday nerd-style with a trip to the Air and Space Museum. Matthew and Uncle John got to check out this plane:

And he had a ton of fun with Uncle Matt and Uncle Ed:

Fun with Matt's sunglasses:

The Watson Clan:

The Pozun Clan:

Then on Saturday we headed to the zoo. It was crazy crowded (though everything seems crowded compared to home) but the kids seemed to enjoy it amidst the chaos.

Though Matthew's favorites were definitely the small mammals. It was a little less crowded and he could get nose to nose with the animals. He was especially fond of the meerkats.

We also headed out to Clemnjontryi Park. Matthew may have stayed there forever if we would have let him.

However, the second try on the carousel was not overly successful and I wouldn't say he enjoyed it. However, if you ask him about the experience he likes to talk about the horse that went up and down and round and round. Go figure!

We're busy closing, moving and working this week but I'll try and slowly share some of my other favorite shots from our trip.

Classic Toys

When I was little, Grandma Jennie had an empty cardboard flat that would have held sodas (or beer) that was filled with toys. It sat under the chair that was next to her rolltop desk. When we cleaned out the attic spaces I grabbed a few of the peg board for pounding and this awesome toy:

Matthew now plays with this 1948-49 Elsie's Dairy wagon that also sat in that cardboard box. I don't ever remember it having the bell or pull string or the glass cartons that were to go in the back by the time I played with it, but it never bothered me. It definitely shows its age and one of the wheels and an axle have been replaced and one of the hammers doesn't work now, but Matthew still thinks it's as great as I probably did.

Before I tell you about my absolute favorite toys in the box, you should understand the awesomeness of grandma's floors. Grandma's house had these poured epoxy floors. As we lived there, I realized how fabulous they were for country living because they were virtually indestructible. They were hard as nails so they didn't scratc and they were a practical tan with brown flecks that hid a lot of the dirt that's unavoidable on the WY plains. On looks alone, the floors were not my style, I put off replacing/covering them for a long time because with 4 pets they were so very practical.

Anyway, back to the toys. So my favorite toys were these 3-4' long strands of plastic beads that grandma kept in the toy box. I think they were leftovers from some hippie-style beaded doors that my uncles/aunt/dad had. Sure, they were fun to wear as a necklace or to twist around, but the absolute best thing to do with them was the lay them on the floor and shake them/drag them back and forth. Little plastic diamond-shaped beads dragged and shaken into snakes across those floors were inexplicably awesome, though my parents never, ever thought so. To our young ears, the scrape and clatter of beads on the super hard floors was magical. To my parents, this was to be a game avoided at all costs.

When we rearranged toys, Matthew rediscovered this necklace that his Uncle John had given him on a visit some time ago. A beautifully long strand of blue beads . . .

perfect for dropping and dragging across the kitchen floor.

I found that strand of pink, plastic, diamond-shaped beads in attic this summer. You could barely tell they were hot pink or diamond shaped because the edges had been so beaten, scratched and worn down from all of grandma's little visitors. Though I loved those beads, I went ahead and threw them away because in my memory they were far more awesome than they looked as I held them again in their aged state.

Now when Matthew drags his beads over to kitchen floor I still drift back to sitting on the floor of grandma's, in front of the chair by the desk, and shaking those little pink beads like crazy . . . and then I count my blessings for a softer floor and round beads because dang, it's kinda loud!
Then I hear my mother's voice in the back of my head working it's way to my lips pleading "stop that! Don't drag the beads on the floor" and totally get where she was coming from. Parenting karma sucks :-)