The Resort Spa: A Moment for Me

One of my favorite things about working for resorts is getting to utilize the spa! So when Adventure Man asked if I wanted a facial I was like, "Hell yeah!"

I used to work as the office manager for a resort spa. Because we were in a remote town, our therapists would have to commute. And sometimes they would be running late. So we all decided it might be a good idea if I knew how to set up for their treatments. And to really be good at this, it would be good to experience the treatments. (You see where I'm going with this…) And because I was saving their butts, they were more than willing to offer services. Plus, I was just really cool and they liked me. 

This past experience has kind of made me a bit of a spa snob. But the spa here in our Wyoming town is awesome. We have a new manager who is changing things up. Change is always good. Especially when it means they have to practice. And that's where I come in!

This morning I got to enjoy an hour long therapeutic facial. We don't have an esthetician so we are limited on some services. But really, this is my favorite spa service. All our stress and emotions end in our faces and to have someone focus on detoxification, hydration and massage, well, it's just an amazingly relaxing thing. 

If you've never experienced it, you really do need to give it a try!

Remembering All - All Saints Day - A Day I Will Never Forget

This is such a fun time of year!  Full of fun Halloween activities. I'm trying to get the pumpkins carved and snacks made for school parties. But I have been remembering a Halloween that meant more to me than all the candy and carved pumpkins combined. 

I was 19 years old and I had the opportunity to go on a trip the Paris with my college. It was a trip for the interior design department of which I was a part. 

In grade school I had a dear friend who was French and she was here while her parents worked. This of course was when I lived in Palo Alto, California. But anyway, we went to school together in kindergarten and first grade. We were best friends. Then she moved back to France and we were pen pals for many years. 

Because of this early association with France, it had always been on my bucket list. 

The trip was guided and included all the main attractions. The Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre to name just a few. We also travelled out to the country to visit some Chateaux, and a few hunting cottage... If you could call it that. 

On our way back we made a stop that was not on the schedule. The guide saw the sign for the town of Oradour-sur-Glane and since we were passing buy, asked the driver to make a stop. This small village is now a memorial to those who lost their lives there during World War II. 

You may have studied the massacre in school. 

If I remember correctly, as it was exactly 20 years ago Friday, the Germans marching from Normandy were told that a German from another Battalion was captured and being held in Oradour-sur-Vayres. This group sealed of Oradour-sur-Glane, having confused it with the other village. You can guess the rest. The tour guide informed us that there were only 2 survivors, who had hid in the bell tower. 

I'm not sure if that is true. 

The women and children were locked in the church. The men were taken to a barn, and the town was looted and then burned to the ground. In all, 190 men, 247 women and 205 children were lost that day, in June of 1944. The original town has been left untouched.

As it was All Saints Day, there were lots of people there. The graveyard was full of flowers. No one was taking pictures. I couldn't not. Although my cheap camera was awful, these are some of my favorite photos. I edited them with Snapseed and now I love them even more. 

There was a cafe next to the church and the skeleton of the wire chairs and tables were still out front. 

In this home, there is still a sawing machine in the window sill. 

I studied the Holocaust extensively in high school, (a story for another post.) so this first hand experience touched me greatly. 

The US is very good at creating holiday traditions for children, whose dentists benefit more than anyone.  I am not against the usual traditions, but this year we are going to take a few moments to remember those we love who have gone before us.  

The traditional beliefs are that the veil is very thin around this time of year, Samhain is the name, pronounced sah-win or sow-in. It starts at sunset on October 31 and lasts until November 1, although it has been celebrated longer. Extra food was prepared for loved ones and seats were left for them at the table. Food was also buried, for those who didn't have loved ones to remember them. To ward off evil spirits, pumpkins and other gourds were carved. 

We have an Indian graveyard on our property. I told my children that we should take some apples to leave by the gate. They were thrilled.  And I am, in writing this post, sharing this day, that always makes me think of a small village in France.

Gone But Not Forgotten. I hope.

I've been gone. We went to see family.

And we've been having fun. 

It's summer time. What can I say? 

We don't get many warm months up here on the mountain tops of Montana. I gotta enjoy them while I can.

So I hope you don't forget me.

I do most of my writing from my phone. Then the photos are never where I want them, and so I still have to wait to get to the main computer to touch it all up. It just isn't happening.

Will I ever get caught up?

So go enjoy your summer! We sure are!

E is for Elevation

We live at a very high elevation. 

We are the only year round residence who live this far up.

Well, not this far up. To get here you have to hike. 

It took Adventure Man all day to do this one. I have yet to do it.

This is more the view I see. Not so high up, but still higher than I'm used to.

my friend Crush in Maui 

My heart tends to drift somewhere else...

I got this quote from Classically Amber. I follow her on Instagram and she posted it there. 

I used my own picture to share it. Yes, that's me in the picture. 

There really is nothing I'd rather be doing than diving. 

I guess you could say I'm a regular fish out of water!

All Photos by Adventure Man

The San Diego Tragedy ~ My Idea For a New Reality Show

We did the City Pass for Southern California. We spent Christmas with Grandparents and then had three amazing days in Disneyland.

The City Pass was less expensive then just getting the Three Day Disney Passes so our trip included the three days in Disneyland, a day at Sea World in San Diego and a day at Universal Studios in LA.

Sea World 2006

We went to all the shows in Sea World and took pictures. We got some fun pictures of the Kids petting a Dolphin. We were enjoying the sunshine and the day in all, when tragedy struck. I very stupidly hung my camera on the hook in a bathroom stall instead of putting it back in my backpack where it belonged. I walked out of the bathroom and never saw it again.

We filled out a lost and found report. But the camera was never turned in.

Once we had come to the awful realization that it was gone, my husband took the kids on a ride, while I waited with Bunny who was asleep in the stroller.  I was alone, I sat on a curb and cried. No, I balled my eyes out. We lost so much when we lost that camera. So many fun memories.

As I have mentioned before, we LOVE Disneyland. But this year we wanted to go to Disneyland because our toddler LOVES Pooh. 

We all wanted to see that special moment when she meets the caricatures for the first time.  It was darling. As she waited in line she was so impatient to get to her turn, but when the moment came, she became shy. 

She met Tigger first. He bent down and put his hands out,  she crept up to him and kissed him on the nose. We took family pictures and sweet pictures of just Bunny hugging Eeyor and Tigger and Pooh. 

We have pictures of her amazement with the It's A Small World ride and in the same shot, the boredom of Daddy who was holding her. I have similar shots of Daddy holding the other kids on that ride, and each one is special to me.

As I sat on that curb and cried, I cried for all those sweet memories. 

It wasn't until we got back to Montana that I thought of the Reality Show idea. While we were in a grocery store parking lot, someone came up to me and asked if this was my wallet. She had found a wallet left in a shopping cart! What a difference! Was it the place? Or the item lost? Was it because a bathroom stall is so secluded? No one would know? Or has no one taught their kids to turn stuff in! To try and find the owner, to do the right thing?? Are we just living by the rule of "finders keepers?"

But what if you were watching this all on TV? What if you could see the sorrow of the woman crying on the sidewalk in Sea World? And what if you could see the person in the bathroom stall? What if, on the show, when an item of value is found and the finder does turn it in, they won a prize? A big cool prize, like a trip to Hawaii! Of course if they didn't turn it in, then they got the camera, or whatever the program used as bait. And they got to be humiliated on TV, even if their face was blurred out. Watching that on TV would get people thinking, "What would I do?" 

What if? 

What would you do?

Now luckily for us, Disneyland takes pictures of you meeting the caricatures, and you can go on line and buy them. For a lot of money. We bought some. But sadly, Sea World wasn't on the ball with the shots of us. We don't have any pictures of that day. The picture at the top, of the Killer Whale is from our trip in 2006 when we did a City Pass as well.

And we have memories in our hearts. 

The Rain In Disney and Other Stuff

We had a great three days in Disneyland with the rest of Southern California. It was pretty crazy, but we loved it. 

Except the part when we lost our nine year old in the crowd. I had finally started seeking out a "Cast Member" to report our missing child when my oldest daughter spotted her with an older couple who were trying to help her find us. She was in tears. It was horrid! We made sure that even the big kids had hands to hold after that!

The last day it rained. This ended up being a blessing as it was a Saturday and yet the park seemed very empty. We had anticipated it and I had on my rain pants and jacket when we boarded the boats of the Jungle Cruise. I was so glad! The seat I sat on was right where the water kept filling in the roof and with every turn of the boat I got a bucket full in my lap, on my head and down my back. But I  was perfectly dry! I can't say the same for the poor people next to me!

We sought shelter in Turtle Talk with Crush after that. We took a couple of drawing lessons and by the time we were done, the rain was gone the sky was blue and the crowds were history.

We headed for San Diego after that.

A Circus and The Pass

Donor's Pass

Donor's Pass. If you know your history lessons then you know that Donor's Pass in the Sierra Nevada Mountains can bring on hardship. You might even be forced to eat your kids. Well, if you were early pioneers crossing it on foot in the dead of winter. But in our SUV, it's quite harmless. Unless it's closed for the night. Which it was. 

When we arrived in Reno we could have made it to family's house with no problem and even through the storm without a second thought, if there had been a storm, which there wasn't in Nevada. But the Pass Police felt that most of the California Drivers weren't experienced enough to get though so they closed it that night. 

We stayed at Circus Circus. This seemed fitting for our own Circus Act.

The buffet was way more expensive than we remembered it as kids. But our kids seem to think it was the "most fancy place they had ever stayed in." But while we were staying in the supper fancy hotel room with the acrobat paintings and the contortionists in the Midway, our little Bunny learned that hotel room doors are really easy to open! YIKES! Thank goodness for the latch at the top of the door! 

LA trafic. 

Our doors at home are hard to open, they have to be, or the 50 mph winds would be beating them down daily. We weren't prepared for our own little Houdini to put on a show of her own! Sadly, this was just the beginning of her disappearing reappearing acts! 

We made it home in the early afternoon on Christmas Eve in spite of the Holiday travelers who also were trying to get home for Christmas. We had a wonderful holiday with sisters and cousins and nieces and Grandma and Papa. 

The day after Christmas we headed South with the rest of the State of California. And on to Anaheim.

Our Vacation Mishaps ~ I'm SO Vain

I mentioned that we have been on vacation. It was wonderful. So many fun memories. But have you ever noticed that when things go wrong, it's hard to focus the great stuff? People keep asking me how the trip was and all I want to share is the scary, freaky, sad stuff… even though we had a wonderful time! I try not to be a Downer. But somethings just need to be documented.

First. I forgot my toilet kit. It's more of a medicine cabinet. I take lots of vitamins as well as prescriptions. And since I knew I wasn't going to get my spinach shakes on the trip, I took even more vites with me than I usually do at home…. or at least I packed more. I didn't actually bring them. I also take a thyroid med and my my MS shots and birth control pill…. All of which were left in my toilet kit on my bedroom floor.

I did put it right next to my bed! So I wouldn't forget it. But since I got up before my husband and didn't want to wake him, I never turned on the lights, I grabbed my clothes and changed in the bathroom down the hall and never went back to my room. Oh well.

Luckily, we, who live in the middle of nowhere, were going to the city where everything is available. Our first stop was to spend the night at my Husband's sister's house and she lives just minutes from a Walmart. How would that be??? To live just minutes form a store??? Instead of having to drive 80 miles one way to get to a Walmart? Just WOW!

They didn't have many of my more obscure supplements that I get at a health food store, but I got the basics. I didn't want to go vitamin deficient on our trip. That would have resulted in massive cold and flu for me. Luckily, My two weeks of pill packs didn't all fit in my toilet kit so I had put the 2nd week my suit case. I took the regular meds every other day and the few other store bought vitamins the other days.

We weren't staying anywhere long enough to warrant a call to the doctor for refills and we didn't ever know where the closest pharmacist would be.

The sad thing was, the side effects of not having my thyroid meds means I lost half my head of hair! Luckily I do have a lot of hair. But still!!! I now can put a hair band around a ponytail three times! Whereas before, if I tried that I would have never been able to get it out… Oh well. It will grow back! …I guess…

Our Spoiled Family ~Confessions of a Disney Crazy Mama

Ok, we have been out of town. I haven't been a very good blogger. I'm sorry! I will try and do better. 

~~~~~~~~~~

We have come to the conclusion that our kids are very spoiled….. 

Here's why:

January 2006

December 2006

December 2007

(I'm sporting the baby bump!)

January 2009

December 2011

December 2012

We sure do like our disney vacations! 

But I think it's fun to see the kids grow up with disney. 

Once we experienced the wonder of sharing it with our own kids, 

we kind of couldn't get enough of it. 

Tee-hee.

The Ghosts of The Buffalo

Last week I got the chance to go with my 4th grader's class on a field trip. They went to The First People's Buffalo Jump State Park. The park is just out of Great Falls, MT. 

We hiked three and a half miles to the top of the butte and back.

 I had Bunny on my back and Bear by my side so we fell behind more than I would have liked. This meant that I missed much of what the guide had to share with the class. I will try and share what I did get, though. 

 The various tribes would come for weeks at a time to gather their buffalo and lead them to this butte.

It doesn't seem like a large cliff, but if you are a 1000 pound animal going 30 miles per hour, it's enough, I guess! The tribe would have a buffalo herder, who would dress like a buffalo and lead them on. Thinking he was one of the herd, the beasts would slowly follow on. The man would stay out of range so the animals couldn't quite see him. Or at least they couldn't see he was actually a human. Then, when they were at the top of the cliffs the tribe would begin to chase the herd toward the cliff. The Lead Buffalo, being a man, would know right where to jump over into a crevice along the mile wide drop off. The land slops downward just enough to make it look like a simple hill. 

It could take sometimes weeks to guide the buffalo to the right spot where they could then chase them over the cliff. Then hunters would lay in wait at the bottom to finish off any animals who may have survived the fall.

 This is the view from the top of the cliff. You can see how hard it is to see the drop off, thus aiding to the deception of the buffalo. 

These are the frames of sweat huts that were used to perform ceremonies at the top of the cliffs. These were built in the 90's when the park was established and have been left. The natives who built them did use them at the time.  

Obviously buffalo cannot read, or they would have never been fooled by this sign. 

  The women would then help in the cleaning of the animals. The whole tribes would work to preserve and use every part of the buffalos for food, clothing, weapons, even glue. 

I imagine the trips to the buffalo jumps were welcomed celebrations in spite of the work it would have been. 

And now, in the park's gift shop you can get your very own buffalo in a can. But be warned! These buffalo might just snuggle you to sleep! Or so the can says! 

An Empty Home

Teepee's from The First People's Buffalo Jump State Park. 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

Conversations With The Boy

Miami Beach 12/07

"That's a jellyfish," I say. "Lulu was stung by a jellyfish when we were at Miami beach. But you weren't there. That was before you were born."

"Where was I?" He asks.

"Well, you were in my tummy," I say. I was about 4 months pregnant with him when we made that trip.

He looks at me, considering this information. He looks at his little sister, who he experienced being in Mommy's tummy.

Then he looks down at my stomach, still a little round from the damage of having 4 kids.

He pats it gently and says, "So who's this?"

~~~~~~~

Later that night as I am falling into dreams he climbs into bed with me and says, "I wish we had a baby boy." 

My heart aches a little, knowing that he will forever be the only boy.