Behind the Story: The Ifs Audiobook

It has been another crazy week. I’ve had family come to visit, so my time has been divided between them and work; hence the late post this week. I should probably plan my time better, but I get to it when I get to it.

Today, I wanted to tell you the story behind The Ifs audiobook. It is now available for purchase on Audible. There’s a sample on the side of my blog for you to check out and listen to. I promise, it’s worth your time. The narrator did an amazing job!

I’m kind of addicted to creating audiobooks. It started out a bit rocky, but then things really took off and fell into place. It’s so much fun to hear other people reading my words and bringing my characters to life. One day, I hope to have all of my books in audio form.

The first book I converted was Life After the Undead, my young adult zombie book, and I didn’t exactly have narrators beating down my door to read the book. Not a big deal. The one who ended up doing it did a wonderful job, and I’m happy with how it turned out. I assumed the process would be the same for The Ifs. 

For my middle grade book (which The Ifs is), my narrator parameters weren’t as stringent. I didn’t care if a male or female read it, and it was totally fine if they had an accent. I put the script up and waited for the auditions to come in—although I didn’t hold my breath. Past experience told me not to expect much.

I got my first audition in, and I really liked how the guy read, so I figured he would be the narrator. Then, I got another one in. And he did an awesome job too. After that came another and another.

When all was said and done, I had EIGHT auditions, and my mind was blown. I couldn’t believe it. I hadn’t expected that at all. And then I had a tough decision to make.

There were a few auditions that I knew wouldn’t work for the book, so they weren’t in the running. I asked my spouse and my kids for their opinion of who they liked best, then we decided from there. It was agonizing—seriously—because I appreciated everyone taking the time to audition, and it was so fun to hear how they interpreted my work.

In the end, though, Peter J. Taylor did a phenomenal job with the narration. His accent is fantastic, and he does voices. He even adds in a few sound effects—which is really what sold all of us on having him narrate the book.

I can’t wait for you to be able to hear the entire story. I think you’ll enjoy it just as much as I do.

Josh Gates Is a Great Role Model of How to Do Life Right

I first started watching Josh Gates when he had his show Destination Truth on Syfy. I continue to watch him with his show Expedition Unknown on the Travel Channel. Josh constantly cracks me up. He has a great sense of humor and an amazing sense of adventure.

In both shows, Josh travels to various parts of the world in order to solve mysteries. In Destination Truth, the mysteries often centered on mythological/mysterious creatures. In Expedition Unknown, his focus is on other mysteries, such as looking for lost treasure.

My spouse doesn’t enjoy these shows as much as I do. In fact, they bother him to no end. It drives him crazy that Josh gets to travel the world and never finds anything. He doesn’t find Josh as amusing as I do.

But I think my spouse is missing the point. I don’t think the purpose of the shows is about the destination. It’s about the journey.

It’s true that Josh rarely (if ever) finds what he sets out to find. In Destination Truth, he never filmed any of the creatures he was looking for and rarely found any evidence that they existed at all. In Expedition Unknown, he’s never found a treasure that he sets out to find. But that doesn’t make his excursions unsuccessful.

There is so much to learn when watching his shows. I learn about different places and cultures around the world that I had no idea existed. I get to go with Josh into remote places that haven’t been touched by humans in sometimes as long as thousands of years. I get to discover artifacts that often lead to more questions than they do answers. Through it all, I’m fascinated and intrigued.

It’s totally possible Josh knows that he’s not going to find anything when he travels half way around the world, but that doesn’t stop him. He still hops on a plane and travels to a new destination. He still lowers himself into deep, dark caves and sloshes through potentially polluted water to see what’s at the end of the tunnel. He traverses dangerous landscapes with nothing more than hope that he’ll find what he’s looking for.

What Josh does is inspiring. He takes something he’s incredibly passionate about and has made a living and a TV show following his dream. He gets to travel to amazing places around the world and immerse himself into the history and legends of the place. He gets to meet amazing people who are passionate about what they do—historians and archaeologists (among others) who are trying to find answers to ancient mysteries.

It is said that life is supposed to be about the journey rather than the destination, and I think Josh proves that with his shows. While he has a goal in mind, he often doesn’t find exactly what he’s looking for, but he doesn’t come home empty handed either. Just because he doesn’t find the buried treasure or the Arc of the Covenant or the Yeti doesn’t mean he doesn’t find some other really cool things. And think about how much he learns along the way!

If life is about the journey, then Josh Gates is doing life right. All he does is travel. Would it be cool if he actually found what he set out to find? Absolutely. But even if he doesn’t, he still gets to go on one hell of an adventure. And he never gives up.

Josh might live his life a bit more extravagantly and adventurously than some of us are comfortable doing (pick me! I hate traveling), but we can still learn that the journey is more important than anything and that following your dreams will open your world to endless possibilities.

The Boys Are Back!

We picked the kiddos up over the weekend, so everyone is home and recovering from their adventure. So far, things have been normal, and by that I mean not quiet. But I expected that. I don’t doubt we’ll be spending the next few days readjusting to life without grandma and grandpa.

On our way home from picking the boys up, we stopped at the Archway at Kearney. We’ve driven by it multiple times, so we decided to check it out.

It was pretty cool. It’s a museum dedicated to the history of travel. Apparently, Fort Kearney is a place where all three trails (the Oregon, the Mormon, and the California) converged before heading their separate ways. Fort Kearney was the gateway to westward expansion.

The exhibits were pretty cool. They have these devices with a speaker that narrates the story as you walk though. Throughout the area, there are cards with chips in them so you can get more information about a display. It was a nice break from being on the road—even though the museum was dedicated to being on the road.

I’m very happy my boys are back. Soon, sports and school will start. Until then, I’m hoping we get to have some more fun and visit some other cool places. We have a few on our list…

It’s Been So Quiet

Since last Wednesday, the boys have been with their grandma and grandpa. And my house has been so quiet. I both enjoy and hate those times.

As you can imagine, I enjoy not having to yell at my kids. It’s nice not to constantly tell them to stop fighting and if they can’t figure out how to share no one gets the ______ (fill in the blank). The doors aren’t slammed every time they go in and out of the house, and the dogs aren’t barking every two seconds because one of the boys is messing with them. (They’re just barking every two seconds because someone walks by on the sidewalk in front of the window.)

But on the other hand, I also don’t get to hear them laugh or have fun with one another. They aren’t here to tell me stories about the video they just watched on YouTube or what they saw on their bike rides. Sure, I call them and hear about their day, but it’s not the same as having them in the same house. If you’re a parent, you know the love/hate moment I’m going through.

Because it’s been so quiet, I’ve had lots of time to get my writing done, and I’ve taken full advantage. I still feel like the story is taking f-o-r-e-v-e-r to write, but I have to keep reminding myself that I’m not in a race and progress is occurring quite nicely.

I’ve also had time to catch up on my TV shows and start a new series. Has anyone else seen Snowfall on FX? It’s incredibly fascinating.

I’m enjoying the quiet while I can (and as much as I can). My boys will be home soon enough, then everything will be loud once again.

Fun at the Zoo

Last week, I had the opportunity to take my boys to the Omaha zoo. It was amazing! We had so much fun and saw so many animals I didn’t even know existed! Of course, now I can’t remember their names, but one seemed to be a combination of a squirrel, kangaroo, and mouse. There was even a squirrel that reminded me of my smallest dog. We called it the Siggy Squirrel.

There were even baby animals there. A sweet, adorable 5-month old gorilla, a giraffe, and a baby sea lion (I didn’t actually see this one, but my oldest did).

We walked through a butterfly pavilion—which I had never done before—and it was super cool. There are some really beautiful butterflies out there.

There was an aquarium and an exhibit dedicated to creatures of the night. When we went through this particular exhibit, there were some pools on the floor. They didn’t have any barricades around them, but they were next to the path. My oldest was making a beeline for one of them, and I grabbed his arm before he reached it. I had no idea if there was glass over the top (it didn’t look like it), and I wasn’t going to find out the hard way if there was or wasn’t.

As we were looking into the pool, a shadow passed by on the opposite wall, looking exactly like a shark (I’m sure it was probably one of the fish swimming close to the light), but it freaked my son out a bit. I thought it was super cool.

My kids even convinced me to get on the Skyfari, and I am NOT comfortable on chair lifts. I kept a tight grip on the bar and anxiously awaited for my time to get off. The chair went over some pens, so we saw some animals, but I was focusing on not losing my mind.

I took my hand off just long enough to take this picture of us. 

Zoos are both awesome and sad. It’s great to be able to experience and see animals that we might not ever see, but it’s sad that they have to be kept in cages. All in all, though, we had a great day together and created some memories. I look forward to going back.

Have you done anything exciting so far this summer? If you’re going to celebrate the 4th of July, I hope you have an awesome day and stay safe!

The Conference Adventure Continues

Part 1 of my conference adventure can be read here.

As one would expect from the title Long Beach Indie Film Festival, a lot of movies are played. They started on Wednesday and went through Sunday.

We did not take part in all of those events. My mom and I showed up on Thursday night (well, technically, very early Friday morning), then left Sunday morning. I would have enjoyed staying the entire time, but my work schedule and pocketbook couldn’t handle it.

My registration fee gave me the option of going to the films, and I’m sure they were amazing, but I decided I wanted to explore the area instead. I’d never been to Long Beach, so I wanted to do some touristy stuff.

My mom and I were both up early the next day, only because we have been conditioned to be early risers (thank you so much, kids and dogs!). However, the view from the window made it all worth it. We headed down for breakfast and sat on the veranda, and when we finished, I saw a dolphin playing in the water (I couldn’t get a picture of it; it was too unpredictable). I love dolphins. They are such amazing animals, so seeing one started my day out right.

This was the view from our hotel room.

This was the view we had every morning from the veranda while we ate breakfast.

My mom got online to check out what our touristy options were, and we decided to go see the Queen Mary and the aquarium. As luck would have it, we were able to buy combo tickets that got us into both places. We decided to check out the Queen Mary first.

I’m not gonna lie, the size of the ship was incredibly surprising to me. It was like a freaking floating city! We had the options of doing a guided tour, a recorded tour, or a ghosts and legends tour. Guess which one I picked. 

 
Yep! Ghosts and legends. You know me and horror. I can’t pass it up.

The tour didn’t start until 11:00, and we had some time to kill, so we headed onto the ship to check things out. We didn’t do much, just sat around waiting for the tour to start, assuming they would let us know. As 11:00 ticked by, I became concerned. We decided to ask what was going on, and we discovered we had been waiting in the wrong area!

I was devastated. We tried to find the tour group, but I had no idea where they had gone. I went back to the check in and told them we couldn’t find them. I wanted to cry. I was looking so forward to the tour. The woman behind the counter was so nice. She changed our tickets so we could go on the 12:00 tour, and we made sure we were in the right spot when that started.

We weren’t expecting much. In fact, we were expecting it to be like a haunted house, and that’s exactly what we got. Mom and I laughed practically through the whole thing. I won’t lie, I did get a little scared. It was so dark at the bottom of the ship, I thought for sure I was going to trip on something. Thankfully, I didn’t.

At one point, while going through a dark hallway, I fought back the urge to freak out the rest of the tourists. My mom and I were at the head of the group, and we were traveling pretty fast, and I wanted to start screaming like a banshee just to worry them, but I refrained.

After that tour ended, we explored the ship a little more, got lost for a while (which is surprising since it’s a freaking ship and there’s only so many places we could go, but we accomplished it), then headed back to the aquarium.

I have pretty high standards when it comes to aquariums. I’ve been to the one in Denver multiple times, and it’s awesome. It sets the standards for how aquariums should be. I must say, the Aquarium of the Pacific held its own. It was fantastic!

We learned about jelly fish, saw a sea lion show, I pet some sharks, and so much more. The entire time I kept saying, “The boys would love this!” And they totally would have. It was so cool.

This was a giant stingray in the shark tank.  I did not pet it.

These were some sharks in the shark tank.  I didn't pet them, either.

Stingrays and bonnet heads in the shark petting pool.  I touched one of the bonnet heads.

Zebra shark in the shark petting pool.  I touched this one, too.

We finally called it a day and got back to the hotel after 4:00. We were both exhausted at this point, so after a power nap, we had dinner, sat by a fire on the beach, then headed up to bed. I waited for 9:00 to roll around, then fell asleep.

The Conference

On Saturday, my plan was to spend the entire day at the conference. We got to the convention center a little after 9:00. We asked one of the employees where we were supposed to go, and they directed us to the far side of the building, so we headed down.

The email I had received earlier in the week said I needed to check in, so I was looking for a check-in table. I couldn’t find one, so we consulted the email again. It said registration was supposed to take place outside the ballroom, which was located upstairs, so we headed up. There were tables up there and a person behind them, but they weren’t part of the conference. They were set up for a funeral. That was no help.

On the way in, I had noticed a sign outside that said something about the conference, so we decided to check it out. That wasn’t any help either. It was just directing traffic for parking. We headed back in, and I asked another employee where I was supposed to go.

“You’re here,” he said. “This is where it’s at.”

“Is there a registration table somewhere?” I asked, trying to keep the panic/anger/frustration out of my voice.

“That I don’t know. I’m just security.”

I had seen some people in one of the rooms earlier, so I headed in to ask if they were part of the conference. Thankfully, they were, and they informed me that they hadn’t checked in but let the organizer know they were there. I asked who that was, and they pointed him out. After saying hello and asking what I needed to do (which was nothing), I took a seat and waited for things to start.

The first panel was at 10:30. Three graduate students were going to talk about children’s television, and I was interested, so I headed in. By 11:00, the audience had arrived. It was mainly middle school and early high school kids, but the panel did their presentations. I wondered if they changed their presentations to cater to the audience, but I never asked, and they did a great job.

After that was lunch. I met my mom at the end of the convention center where they had a little food stand and we had Panini’s. After that, it was time for me to get ready. I headed to my room to prepare.

Each room was supposed to be equipped with a projector and a computer, but ours was missing the computer. We let someone know, but as time ticked closer to 1:00 and he hadn’t returned, I was brainstorming different ways to show my movie clips. I didn’t have a solution, so I figured I wouldn’t be able to show them. A computer showed up in the nick of time.

As was the theme of the day, we didn’t start at 1:00. We didn’t start until about 1:20. There were supposed to be three panelists, but one cancelled. I went first, and my presentation went awesome! The audience was engaged and seemed genuinely interested. We had some great discussions, and they asked wonderful questions. The audio didn’t work for my movie clips, but it didn’t matter; there wasn’t much to hear anyway.

I was grateful that there were only two of us because my presentation went a little long. I was allotted 15 minutes, but I think I took 30. It was worth it, though. I had a blast!

After the second panelist did her presentation, I went to one more demonstration, then Mom and I headed back to the hotel. By that point in time, I had a raging headache and just wanted to relax. We had an early dinner, then called it an early night.

The next day, we were headed back home. Our flight didn’t leave on time, but it wasn’t 3 hours late. Mom and I were picked for the TSA pre-check—which was amazing!—and we had planned ahead, so we had some time to kill in the airport. By the time we finally boarded, I was done. I just wanted to get in the car and see my babies—the furry ones and the human ones. I got home that night about 8:00.

The trip was an adventure. There were some amazingly bright spots, and that made it worthwhile. It will be interesting to see how the conference in Philadelphia goes…

A Conference Adventure

The Long Beach Indie Film Festival conference was destined to be an adventure, and it started months before I set foot on a plane.

Early in 2015, I wanted to find new ways to promote myself and my work. I thought long and hard about what I could do, then decided to try my luck attending conferences. I’ve always enjoyed going to conferences. They are an awesome place to network, geek out, and get inspired. But I decided I needed to do more than attend. I needed to present. So I searched Google for conference call for papers and submitted proposals to those I found interesting.

The Long Beach Indie Film Festival conference was one of the first ones I submitted to—way back in May 2015. I was elated when I received my acceptance. I couldn’t believe I would have the chance to present my work to people in California. I was so excited, I immediately signed up for the conference, reserved the hotel room, and got plane tickets. I wasn’t going to ruin my chances of going by not being prepared or let them change their minds.

A while later—maybe about a month or two—I received an email that said the conference had to be rescheduled because renovations to the theater that was their main venue weren’t completed. What? I thought. No way! I already have my ticket!

Frustrated and slightly sick to my stomach, I texted my mom (she was going with me) to let her know. Since we already had our tickets, we decided to pay the fee to change the flight dates. After $200 per ticket, we were set to go again. I emailed the conference coordinator to let him know I would still be there, but mentioned the dates couldn’t change again because I couldn’t afford it.

I called the hotel to let them know of the date change and to get new reservations, but the conference organizer hadn’t informed them yet of the change and therefore hadn’t signed a new contract. Since there was still plenty of time, I was told to call back later. And I did. Multiple times. And every time they told me a new contract hadn’t been signed yet. This happened probably six or seven times, and I was also emailing a hotel representative and the conference organizer so they could get the contract taken care of.

I have a Type A personality, so I like to have all of this stuff taken care of and a plan in place for traveling. I can be slightly flexible, but it’s not fun for me. It causes anxiety. This was a big deal to me to have this taken care of.

Finally, I received word that a new contract had been signed, so I called to get my reservations. There was a slight problem, however. They could get me a room at the conference price for Thursday and Friday, but Saturday they were booked.  But all was not lost. They could squeeze me in and get me a room at regular price—at over $200. What? Holy hell!

My mom decided she would see if she could find something cheaper. She did, so we decided to stay there. It was only 0.6 miles from the convention center, so it would be an easy walk. Once again, we were set up for the trip.

The Trip Begins

We left at 12:30 Thursday afternoon to get on the plane in Denver. We normally take 287 down, then take a “short cut” on a road called Owl Canyon Rd. It’s mainly dirt roads that allow us to bypass Fort Collins to get on I-25. When we got to the turn off on Owl Canyon, we realized it had been gated shut. Crap! Now what?

We had to follow the road straight and hope it hooked up with I-25. It did—but only after taking us through Fort Collins. Son of a…! The whole point was to avoid the city. Plus, there was construction, so the detour added 45 minutes to the trip. Because of my anxiety when it comes to traveling, we built in a cushion to our travel time. Thankfully, we were fine—we had plenty of time.

We finally made it to the airport and I checked my bag and down we went to security. Both my mom and I are the queens of picking the wrong line, so the first one to check our boarding passes was slower than the rest. Then, the one we picked to have our stuff scanned was slightly faster than erosion. They were training a new person, so they were scrutinizing every bag like it held lost treasure. Took.F-o-r-e-v-e-r.To.Get.Through.

Eight years later, we were free to get on the trains to head to our gate. Still, we had plenty of time—I always plan for this sort of thing—so we grabbed a snack before sitting at the gate and waiting to board.

We flew United, and they load the plane through groups. We were in group four, so we had a while to wait before it was our turn. While standing in line, the anxiety grew to panic, so I figured it was time to take my helper. I popped my pill and waited for it to kick in. It was pure bliss when it did.

Our flight was supposed to leave at 5:30, and everyone was on the plane ready to go. I like to sit in aisle seats, so I just happened to poke my head out to see what was going on in front of me. There was a guy standing in the aisle stretching his legs, and the flight attendants were milling around and preparing for takeoff.

I also noticed the captain walk out of the cockpit. Oh, man. That’s probably not good. A few minutes later, he announced that one of the defrosters on the windshield wasn’t working. It would take several hours to fix it, so we all had to deplane and they would let us know when another plane would be able to take us to LAX.

Are you kidding me? But there was nothing I could do, so I grabbed my stuff and followed the rest of the passengers off the plane.

The next flight wasn’t leaving until after 8:30, so Mom and I headed up to the United lounge. She had some free passes because she’s a frequent flyer. We passed the time as best we could, then headed down to the new gate to board the plane.

We finally left Denver at almost 9:00, so we didn’t get into LAX until late. We had done some research and discovered that a shuttle was going to be the cheapest option to get to our hotel in Long Beach, so we ordered a van and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

After an hour, my mom went to ask what was going on, and she was told that a van should be on the way, but then the driver would have to agree to take us to Long Beach. WHAT?! After all this time, they could tell us no? My mom said she was giving them 15 more minutes, then we were getting a cab.

I don’t know if any of you have been to LAX before, but it is crazy—even late at night. Vehicles are constantly zipping in and out of the passenger pick-up zone, and people are going in and out of the airport. A cab wouldn’t have been hard to find.

The van showed up in the allotted time and agreed to take us. They were also taking another couple to a different hotel in the area, which was totally fine. I was incredibly exhausted at this point, so I popped in my ear buds and fell asleep.

We arrived at our hotel after 1:00 in the morning. And this was just the beginning of the excitement…

Rafting with Kids

I was going through my folders over the weekend to clean them out, and I came across this article I had written for Wyoming Elements.  It came out in their 2012 issue, but I can't link to the site because it seems the magazine is no longer in existence.

Either way, rereading it made me think of that day, and I laughed.  It seems like ages ago when this trip happened, and so much has changed since then.  We no longer have the raft, and I can't tell you the last time we went camping.  The boys have gone, but we haven't.  Still, it was fun to take a trip down memory lane.

Rafting with Kids

My husband and I have always enjoyed the outdoors. We spent our honeymoon camping at Rob Roy. Whenever we had the desire to get out of town for a while, we threw some clothes in a bag, loaded the cooler with whatever was in the freezer, and grabbed the camping gear. It didn’t take long to get ready to get out of town. If we forgot something, we lived without it or made do with what we had.

As time went on, and we got careers, it became more and more difficult to get out of town. Then, we got pregnant with our first child. We tried not to let it hold us back. If we wanted to get out, we’d still get out. But those times got fewer and farther between. I wasn’t particularly fond of having to get up in the middle of the night to feed the baby, especially in a tent. My in-laws offered to let us use their camper, but setting it up seemed like such a hassle. Our oldest was just reaching the age when I felt comfortable taking him out when I got pregnant with our second. Again, it put our outdoor adventures on hiatus.

One of my husband’s and I’s favorite past time is floating the river. We had an old raft that was inherited from my husband’s dad, and we outfitted it with a new frame and oars. The floor leaked, it had different colored patches on the pontoons. It didn’t look like much, but it did the job. I even did some fly fishing from the stern seat. Not a lot, mind you, as I enjoyed just taking in the scenery and being very lazy. Occasionally, I would take the oars so my husband could fish, but that didn’t happen often, either. Most of the time, I didn’t do it right.

Like camping, our float trips were put off for a while until the boys got bigger. If I was nervous taking them into a tent or camper, it was ten times worse taking them on the boat. There was no protection from the sun. They couldn’t lay down if they got tired, and they definitely didn’t make life jackets that small.

A few years ago, my husband got a new raft, made specially for him. He had the company paint the entire thing black. It has a self-bailing floor, and no patches on the pontoons. We even had a bow seat put in, so now everyone who goes can be comfortable. It was a year before I got out onto the new raft. Mainly because someone had to stay home and watch the boys.

Now, my children are 3 and 5. The youngest started camping when he was 18 months. That was a real treat. He had just learned to walk, so he wasn’t quite steady on his feet, and he hated to get his hands dirty. I’m sure he thought camping was a form of torture. Every time he fell over, he freaked out. The trip wasn’t exactly relaxing.

Packing for an outdoor adventure is no longer a quick task, either. It takes me at least 2 hours to make sure I have everything we need. Sunscreen, extra clothes, snacks, drinks. All of it has to go into a bag, or several bags, as I found out. Recently, we went for a float down the North Platte River up by Alcova. “The Reef” my husband tells me it’s called.

The weather was ridiculous hot. In the upper 90s with very little wind. There was a small breeze, and it was wonderful. The boys had been on the raft one time before, but it was only a short trip. This was my first trip out, and the longest for the boys. It was going to be interesting. By this point, though, they had life jackets they could fit into, and both of them had swim lessons, so I didn’t worry too much. Besides, I wasn’t going to let anything happen to them.

I started packing for the trip the night before. I made sure we had plenty of water, pop, snacks, chips, sunscreen, hats, and clothes in case the ones the boys had on got wet or if the weather suddenly took a turn for the worst. We didn’t have everything we needed, so we stopped at the store before we left town to get sunglasses and fishing poles. We made it to the drop in spot a little later than anticipated, and it took longer to get the supplies in the boat. There was a lot more than we normally take. Cooler, fishing poles, dry bag, bag with snacks, everything we needed, and some stuff we didn’t, all had to go in. My husband even commented about how much stuff we had, but we had an entire day, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.

The trip started out great. The boys were excited to be on the water, although a little nervous at first. I’m sure they were just picking up on my vibes, though. Once we were on the river, everyone just relaxed. The current wasn’t flowing quickly, about 3500 cfs, so the trip was going to take us several hours. I was okay with that. When I’m on the boat, I want to enjoy it for as long as I can. The boys, however, were a different story.

Immediately after getting on the water, they wanted their fishing poles. I had the 5 year old in the stern with me, while the 3 year old was in the middle with Dad. Several times, he attempted to cast the line himself. He swung it back as far as he could, and I watched the hook arc through the air, coming dangerously close to Daddy’s head. I had visions of the hook anchoring itself in my husband’s face, so I had to take matters into my own hands. I helped the 5 year old cast and he reeled in his line. He was determined to catch a fish, and he was going to keep it up until he did. The 3 year old felt the same way. His Spongebob fishing pole was going to land him a big one.

After half an hour to 45 minutes on the water, we decided to pull over for lunch. We found a public spot and pulled up to the bank. The husband and I ate, the boys didn’t. After all, they’d already filled up on chips and granola bars before getting in the boat. They decided to wade into the water and fish. They stayed fairly close to the boat, but we also tried to keep enough distance between the two of them so they didn’t hook each other. At one point, they drifted closer to the boat and to each other. The next thing we hear is a blood-curdling, ear piercing scream echoing across the landscape. The 3 year old hooked the 5 year old.

From the way he reacted, I thought for sure he had gotten him in the eye or the ear. They were closest to my husband, so he picked up the 5 year old, and I had the 3 year old come to me. By this point, both of them were crying. Upon examination of the 5 year, it became apparent he was hooked in the meaty part of his shoulder.

Normally, I don’t handle crises situations very well. I’m apt to panic and my panic causes everyone else to panic. But in this situation, I wasn’t worried. The hook was buried in his skin up to the bend, but he wasn’t going to lose anything vital. That’s not what the 5 year old thought, though. In fact, he was pretty sure his young life had come to an end. He was screaming and crying and shaking. He didn’t want Daddy to touch it, but it had to come out. I told him take deep breaths, and he did, calming him down slightly.

After a few minutes and having to cut his t-shirt with a knife, my husband was able to get the hook out. I was being slightly insensitive and trying not to laugh. Seriously, another boat drifted by at the beginning of the debacle, and I’m sure they thought someone was dying. The 5 year old’s scream was that terrifying. Once the hook was out, he headed toward me on the boat, and I cleaned it off with water. Of all the things we packed on the boat, we forgot the First Aid kit. It was fine, though, since I had tissues, so we stopped the bleeding, the very minuscule bit there actually was.

“I hate fishing!” the 5 year old declared loudly. “I’m never going to do it again!”

“Oh, come on now,” I soothed. “You’ll do it again. You’ll just have to wait until you’re a little older.”

He sniffed a few times. “Yeah. I’ll do it when I’m older.”

The 5 year old was, of course, very mad at his brother. His brother, also, was mad because we told them they were done fishing for the day. They might have been fine, and no one else might have gotten hooked, but we weren’t going to take the chance. That made the rest of the trip tedious. Since the boys didn’t have anything to keep them occupied, they got bored. We had brought squirt guns, but those were only so fun. The whining started. It was hot. They were bored. So Daddy suggested the next best thing: hanging off the side of the boat and dipping their feet in the water.

Oh, I was thrilled. I had visions of the boys slipping into the water and I’d have to jump in after them. So, I made them come right next to me so I could hold onto their arms. Unfortunately, their life jackets didn’t have handles on the back. That would have been nice, on many different levels, but we made it work. The boys were happy and not bored, which stayed the whining, but I wasn’t relaxing. It was a small sacrifice to make to ensure the kids’ happiness.

My husband and I still enjoying getting out as much as we can, but we’ve discovered it’s completely different games taking the boys. It’s always an adventure. We figure out new things we need to add to our list of things to take. One day, I’m sure we’ll have a trip that doesn’t involve any crying or something bleeding. Until then, we’ll just make the best of the trip we can and hope to instill the love of nature into our children.

Good Times in Seattle

When I was getting ready to graduate with my master’s, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I decided I wanted to go into publishing as an editor, but I didn’t want to go all the way to New York. It scared me to be so far from home and in such unfamiliar territory, so I decided to go to Seattle. It has a thriving publishing industry and is close to home. I figured I could handle it.

I had never been before, but I was confident in my abilities to make it.

I never made it to Seattle after graduation. In fact, I didn’t make it there until last year when I attended the AWP Conference. Then, over the summer, I got to go again. This time, it was for vacation, so I got to explore a lot of what the city has to offer.

Yeah, most of it was touristy stuff, but it was still fun. My sister-in-law lives there, so we got to see other sides of Seattle too. For the first few days we were there, we stayed at a house on Vashon Island. This was incredibly relaxing. The TV didn’t work right, so we didn’t watch it. Thankfully we had wifi, so the boys were able to watch YouTube videos, but I filled my time reading or listening to my grandfather-in-law’s recordings.

We crossed a ferry to get to the island, and the boys were thrilled about this. It was the first time they’d been on one, and it was incredibly exciting. We didn’t see any whales, but a bunch of orange jellyfish bobbing carelessly in the water.

We went to the beach and hiked some of the nature trails the island has to offer. We ate ice cream and played cards at the house. It was an awesome trip.

Kayakers who just left the beach.

When we came back to Seattle on Sunday, we checked out Pike’s Market and went to the comic book store. We hiked around the city and went to Gas Light Park. We saw some amazing things at the park, including a medieval club practicing their fighting. I was in awe at the amount of people there and on the water, but it was so much fun!

For dinner that night we went to Ivar’s, and heat exhaustion almost laid me out. All the muscles in my back started cramping, putting me in immense pain. I downed water and got out of the sun and eventually started feeling better, but it was scary for a moment. I thought I might pass out.

On Monday, we decided to go to the EMP Museum, and this was the highlight of my trip. Not only did they have a Star Wars costume display, they had a sci fi/fantasy/horror exhibit. Guess which one was my favorite.

In addition, they had a gaming exhibit that talked about how games are created, and the boys got to play some so they were happy. And they also had a Looney Tunes display. It was seriously amazing, and I totally geeked out. I LOVED IT!

We also made a trip to the aquarium and the Pacific Science Museum. These were all right. We visited these on Tuesday and I was pretty tired, so I wasn’t as enthusiastic. The boys had a great time though, so they were worth visiting.

We wanted to go to the top of the Space Needle, but we ran out of time. That was a bummer. All in all, it was a great trip. We visited some amazing restaurants and I ate some fantastic salmon. I’ll have to make it a point to go back next year so I can check out all the things I missed this time.

Pushing My Boundaries

I was 29 years old when I got my first sled.  I'd never been on one before.  It was both scary and exhilarating the first time I rode it.  I don't think I went over 20 mph, but it felt like I was flying down the trail.

The sled wasn't much to look at.  It was 1986 Yamaha Exciter.  It had very little suspension, no shocks, and no reverse.  People laughed at us when we took it off the trailer.  But we didn't care.  We were there to have fun, and have fun we did.

As we spent more time in the mountains, it became evident that I needed better equipment.  So my next sled was a 2006 Polaris 600 RMK.  I still own that sled.  I love it.  Recently, it had a lot of work done to it, so now it runs like it's brand new.  It's even more fun to take out.

Mine is the red one on the left.

I won't lie.  I'm not an adventurous rider.  In fact, I'm rather nervous.  I'm afraid of wrecking or careening off a cliff.  And I have before--not careened off a cliff, thank goodness!  I've rolled my sled and gotten it stuck in some pretty deep holes.  It's no fun at all, but my husband assures me it's part of riding.  That may be true, but I don't enjoy it.

My boys are at the age now where they have their own sleds.  They've always ridden with us, and they've always enjoyed it, but now they get to branch out.  And they have no fear.  They love tearing down the trails and going up hills.  They love playing in powder.  It's absolutely awesome to watch them. They have no fear, which scares the hell out of me, but seeing them out there on the snow is just absolutely amazing.

It became clear to me that if I wanted to spend quality time with my boys, I had to get better at riding.  I had to stop being afraid.  So, the last few times I've been out, I've been really trying to push my boundaries.  It helps that my equipment is running the way it's supposed to.  The rest is all mental.  

I've been doing pretty good at pushing my comfort level.  On Sunday, I even tried climbing some hills.  For me, that was a HUGE step.  I hate heights, so coming down is a bit scary for me, but if I'm going to hang with the boys, I have to be adventurous.  I still have a few limits with hills, however, and I found them while up riding.  But on the whole, it feels really good to try something new.  It made me feel brave.

Even my boys broke out of their comfort zones and went up some hills.  My oldest made it, but the youngest got stuck.  It happens.  And I'm proud of them for trying.

Next week, my husband and I are going to snowmobile camp in Colorado so I can learn new skills.  I'm tired of being afraid, and I'm going to do something about it.  Don't get me wrong, I'm more than a little nervous about it, but I'll be in good hands.  I'll let you know how it goes!