This year, instead of one big trip, we are taking several mini-trips throughout the summer. We didn't exactly plan it that way, it just worked out this way. And the way things are going, I expect more to be added on before all is said and done.

What are you up to this summer?

Here is where we are headed:
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Our lovely next-door neighbors (the ones that are not Mr. Lady) moved away last year and we miss them. And their dog Newman. And Eurovision. Which we used to watch together religiously. So, we are heading west to see them and that wacky European singing contest. And, of course, Seattle.


ESTES PARK, COLORADO
We have always heard what a fun place the YMCA in Estes Park was, so we are excited to head up there with other Mile High Mamas to check it out. Dex is slightly too young for their zipline, and I am slightly too accident-prone... but all three of us will try our hand at archery.


BLACK MOUNTAIN DUDE RANCH, COLORADO
We visited Black Mountain last year, and did the full-scale dude ranch thing. We are so thrilled to go back for a long weekend this August, with a friend of Declan's in tow no less. I am expecting to get more horse roping photos and to NOT break my finger this time.


MARYLAND (?)
Before my family gets all excited about this one - it's still up in the air. Bryan's 25th high school reunion is in September and he actually wants to go. I want to wait and see if his fever passes before I buy tickets, since he has never once wanted to go before. But I am on board to catch up with family and eat some Maryland blue crabs on a dock!


Suggestions for other places that
should be on our short list?

Labels: Colorado, Family, Travel

5th Grade. His last year in elementary school.

It will be in about 2 hours when Declan gets home from school, the very last time as a 4th grader.

Somehow it hit both him and me hard this year. He got a little teary last night... OK, maybe a lot... at the idea that elementary school was close to over.

But then he astounds me with his maturity too. This morning I broke the news he didn't get into summer camp at his home school and would go elsewhere. He was upset, naturally, but as I explained the details he calmed down and then smiled a huge, missing tooth grin.

"I thought you meant I was changing schools for next year."

Whoah. And he only got a little upset?

My little man is growing up. And is not so little anymore.

Labels: Family, Nostalgia, Parenting

At my former company, we used to build health education web sites. Many of which were promoting nutrition and physical activity, for all sorts of age ranges. We always struggled with the idea that kids would be sitting at a computer, but being told to exercise. It's a hard balance.

When the folks at Dr. Pepper/Snapple approached me to join their Let's Play campaign, I felt like I was coming home. The site itself is filled with tips and tricks on how to get active through play, and they also provide grants for local communities to build more play areas. A great mix of computer skills - plus actually getting out there and moving.

So. Right. Up. My. Alley.

And seeing as next Monday is Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer, we want to bring a little play to you as well.

I am giving away (3) Let's Play Packs,
which include the following parts:

• (1) 10-ft Play Parachute
• (1) sand bucket
• (1) jump rope
• (1) carton of sidewalk chalk
• (1) Let’s Play-branded frisbee
• “How to Save Play Card”: This card will offer handy suggestions for saving play, including resources like the Playground Finder App and Play Ideas on LetsPlay.com
• Creative ideas for active play with sidewalk chalk (e.g. Save the King, Hopscotch, Roman Ball) 

Do you remember playing with parachutes in gym class as a kid? That was *seriously* my most favorite day. And not just because my teacher would let us play disco music while running around under the big parachute balloon.

To enter to win, you just have to take the Let's Play Pledge on Facebook and share the pledge via your own Facebook wall, saying you came from Greeblemonkey. 

Do that between now and Tuesday, May 28th - easy peasy.

And then start the summer off right. More active, and more fun.

________________________________________________________
Blogger Disclosure: I am a Let's Play brand ambassador and have
been compensated for my time working with the campaign. 
However, all thoughts and words are mine.

Labels: Brands, Education, Family, Health, Parenting

We almost forgot about it. We had been talking about it for weeks, but when the day actually came - we got caught up in yard work, bills, and regular Sunday stuff.

Bryan ran in the house at quarter till 6, telling us to hurry up, get packed - we're going up to the Museum of Nature and Science. It was SOLAR ECLIPSE TIME!

And there we were, sitting on the hill behind the museum, with hundreds of people - so many that the museum ran out of viewing glasses and were walking around asking people to share - looking at the skyline of Denver and a really, really bright sun.

For a while, it seemed like we were doomed because of a gigantic cloud that covered the sun, but it miraculously cleared just at the right half hour. And then we saw it, a solar eclipse - oh my god. And then the sun plopped down behind the mountains and was gone for the night.

We were a little ill-prepared, but my husband, being a total science nerd - was fashioning all sorts of ways for us to see the eclipse through the bright sunlight. My favorite was using mix CDs he had in the car. I also saw people online looking through beer bottles. Genius.

And that's the thing. We are so connected, when something like this happens globally, it really happens to us, while we are sitting on that hill in Denver, but also in Utah and in California and everywhere else - because people across the globe could see the photos of it happening via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Here are some of my favorite photos that flew through my Instagram stream minutes after mine went up.





Amazing.

I was telling Declan how, when his grandmother moved to America from Germany, they used to record cassette tapes about the latest news and mail it back and forth because it was so expensive to call. And that it would take a few weeks for the cassette to arrive in Germany.

"Isn't it crazy how photos from all around the world are right here, on my phone, pretty much the instant anything is happening?"

He is so much smarter than me.

"No, Mom. I've had this technology my whole life. It's weird to me that they didn't."

Labels: Family, Friends, Nostalgia, Photo, Tech

I love that major news organizations are taking note of the power and voice coming from parenting blogs. I am not complaining that more and more articles are coming out, featuring friends of mine no less, and are generally really awesome.

I do take exception, however, at the fact that the phrase "mommy blogger" continues to be thrown about, when it has been almost universally rejected by the cohort at hand. To be clear, I personally don't give a fig if you call me a mommy blogger, but the point is, people have spoke out repeatedly to have it stop - and no one is listening.

I also take issue with the gender separation of mom blog vs. dad blog. Why are we not "parenting bloggers," period, end of story? There is no split in any other segment than I can think of - even in areas that might make sense, like fashion.

But MOSTLY, and SERIOUSLY here... Can you guys STOP using retro clip art from the 1950's to represent mom bloggers?

Yes, I am talking to you, Mashable and Forbes.

  

I was born in 1970 and I am on the top-end of the age-bracket for most parenting bloggers. I grew up after the Summer of Love, and lived through the end of the Cold War as a teenager.

Some mom bloggers may use that kind of imagery in their headers, but my sense is it's a joke - a slap at that 1950's mentality of motherhood, which means these news organizations have never even read the blogs they are now clambering to cover.

I can promise you, I have never worn an apron, much less a pink one - and I swear "June Cleaver" is the last phrase my husband would bring up to describe me or my mothering.

So, let's send update our images next time, and really listen to the voice behind the avatar.

Labels: Blogging, Issues, Nostalgia, Parenting, SocialMedia

I swear I am not becoming entirely a music blogger. Really, I am not. I know my last post was about James Morrison, and maybe the last few before that were about music too - but how can I not post photos when I get to shoot The Fray? At Red Rocks. In the sleeting rain.

OK, that last part wasn't as thrilling, but it makes for a good story... seeing as it was also Declan's first concert at the world's best place the see a show.

I honestly think I am a jinx for The Fray, because last time I saw them at Red Rocks, it rained so hard, I was able to ring out my hair as I walked back to my car. And then, there was that  warm-up show at the Fox - a night that showed how cold Colorado can get when the sun drops - so we threw ourselves into the pit just to get warm.

Not that I am complaining.

Colorado weather is fun, and so is The Fray.

The guys went all out this weekend, weather be damned.

And I was damned glad to be there.




Blogger Disclosure: The band provided me a photo pass for the show, but I had already purchased tickets a long, long time ago. Because the truth is, any time you put The Fray at Red Rocks, I am gonna go.

Labels: Brands, Colorado, Music

Apparently I have a thing for British singers. It has become a joke among my friends that I won't like it if I can't find it on the UK iTunes store ... and I also have been known to plan trips solely based on concert schedules (cough cough, Deacon Blue.)

But last night I got to not only see one of my absolute favorites, I got to attend his sound check and hang out with him for about 10 minutes afterwards, one-on-one. Not joking.

I forgot to pull up and show James the photo from the first time we met, that time in 2007 when I saw him with about 50 other people at Denver's Walnut Room.

Below is a little then-and-now: his hair has gotten shorter and mine longer.

 

Here's the good news. The man is still fucking awesome. And I can say that, because he curses like a sailor.

And had an absent, alcoholic father.

Yeah, me too. Except kinda worse, but we won't go there.

And James was premature as a child. So premature that he nearly didn't make it, and that's what makes his voice so raspy.

Declan, my 32 weeker, gets croup all the time.

When I mentioned this to James, he laughed and said, "So, it's like looking at your own life, eh?"

Except I haven't sold millions of records all over the world, but whatever.

The new album, The Awakening, is about coming away from his father's life death with a new perspective - something I have been trying to do for a long, long time. Everyone says things like this, but those songs really mean something to me.

Although, my favorite song on the album, "Slave to the Music," was apparently written during a drunk conversation with the ghost of Michael Jackson. So, that's cool too.



Clearly I love music, and I love photographing concerts. This one was no exception. I was thrilled when they asked me to come in and shoot the show. Even though, in some ways, it's hard to photograph your favorite artists, because you are "working" when you just want to listen and dance.




Ha ha. Just kidding.

Taking photos of James Morrison is fucking rad. 

 _____________________________________________________________________
Blogger Disclosure: Tickets for the show were provided by James' record label. 
All words and thoughts (especially the cursing) are mine.

Labels: Brands, Music

It is happening. My son is growing up.

I realize this has been happening for almost 10 years now, but never have I felt it like I did this weekend.

Our big rock concert fundraiser was on Saturday: Tellerpalooza. The one that Bryan and I work on all year long, and the one that Declan has actually started contributing, real, valuable ideas to.

He saw that the logo was very graphic this year, so he suggested I make a coloring page out of it for the younger grades at his school to get excited about. Totally, 100% his idea.


Then, on Saturday - our big day - I was feeling the stress. Bryan was already at the venue, making sure everything was set up and running smoothing. I was home, dodging last minute emergencies. I almost decided to run away the circus, because let me tell you - getting five bands to play - six when you include the school band - plus a magician, plus sponsors, plus donations, and then have 800 people coming to see it all? Stressful.

My kid says to me, "Mama, we should do something to relax."

A lightbulb went off inside my head. I had been trying to go get a pedicure all week. There is a little place up the street that takes walk-ins. I could have Declan go with me. Right?

We have never gone for gender stereotypes and Declan paints his nails here and there as he feels like it. I was more worried that all the clipping and pulling and super hot water would freak him out.

He flip-flopped about 10 times on the way there, but in the end, he agreed.

As the ladies massaged our feet, and we sat side by side, chatting, relaxing, having a new experience that was just for us - it hit me.

We're in a new place, him and me.

He's old enough to not only tolerate something like a pedicure, he is actually enjoying it.

I got a little melancholy. He is our one and only. There are so many things I will never experience again.

But think of all the things I will.

Labels: Balance, Family, Parenting

Check out the questions that Bryan wrote down to ask final candidates for the principal position at Declan's school during a public interview with parents last night.

Labels: Education, Family, Funny

Because this is about people I know, but can't tell you who they are.

It's just - I am wondering - how off kilter am I in my thinking?

Say a child grows up, but really doesn't - and still lives at home. With her own child and sometimes the father of her baby. It doesn't really matter all the reasons she is there, some are valid, some are not.

My main questions are these: 

What should this person be doing around the house, given that they do not pay (nor have they ever paid) rent?

What kind of communication should be happening when she leaves the house, or goes on vacation?

What expectations should there be about babysitting the child?

Specifically - not to get too "scientific" about it - what percent of her time should be spent "paying back" for the living situation, if any?

Just wondering.

Labels: Balance, Issues