On-line Performance

Last night, I caught a television interview with author Sherry Turkle who has written a book titled, Alone Together all about the alienating aspects of technology. Now let me be clear, that I was watching "The Colbert Report" and not CNN, but despite the satirical "interview" and "anything-for-a-laugh" antics of the host, something of what she said penetrated. I have had my own concerns about our technology-driven social environment for some time. As I work with the young women in my ward, I find it humorous but also a little worrisome that they will ignore their ringing cell phones if I try to call them, but will "text" me at lightning speed no matter the time of day. And as we have switched from receiving the newspaper on our porch to reading it off the internet, I have to forcibly ignore the comments that appear at the end of every article. No matter how innocuous the subject of a story may be, it is amazing how people--protected by cyber-anonymity--will twist it into something against which they need to make a vitriolic stand. But the thing that Turkle said last night that has really stuck with me, is that our internet-selves are really just a performance of our real selves. When we post on Facebook or Twitter, it is meant to be a witty and condensed "perfect" version of our real and imperfect life. When we blog our life experiences, the real experience is polished, reviewed, and edited for effect. And keeping this "performance self" up is ultimately emotionally exhausting.

Then today, as I was following one of my "cyber-friends" I came across a link to another woman's blog. This woman is a self-proclaimed feminist, atheist but the point of her "article" on this online magazine was that she finds herself addicted to a number of "mormon mommy blogs." In her self-analysis of why that might be, she pointed out a lot that I have noticed about many of these blogs. The families portrayed in them are perfect...beautiful children, warm and loving husband, homes that look ready to be photographed for a catalog, mothers who spend their days making adorable crafts and home-baked treats. Ultimately, although she condescended to point out that it's true that mormon women have a high regard for and feel fulfilled by their role as wife and mother, she also alluded to this sense of a "performance life" via blogs.

So it has gotten me thinking about my own internet interaction. I think this idea of a "performance self" rings true to me at a certain level. I only post my "status" on Facebook when I have something funny or clever to say. And I appreciate the irony of the fact that I'm sitting here blogging about this of all subjects instead of say, picking up the telephone and talking to a real live person. I'm certain that on the whole, my blog contains the positive spin on my day to day life. I think that's all right...the positive side is no less real than the moments of frustration, dullness, and stupidity. Is it healthier to rant and complain and leave nasty comments at the end of other people's rantings or to try to point out the good side of things? On the other hand, I do see a dangerous tendency in myself as I follow on-line accounts of my "almost-friends" to look at their shiny, perfect lives and feel I am somehow falling short, forgetting that these people are trying to highlight the best of things too.

I know that in my last entry, I made a point about using this blog as a means of family journaling. I'm not sure why I feel compelled to write about this topic, but it feels like an attempt at clarity? honesty? I'm not sure.

In other news, my warm and loving husband recently was made a partner. My children have been doing nothing but saying sweet and charming things around the house these days, and we had the best time this weekend making homemade pretzels and beautiful drawings to hang around the house. There, I hope that fills the requirement.

Resolutions..Take Two

We had our annual Resolution Family Home Evening this week, and as I thought about what I would try to do better this year in our "academic" area, I knew I had to focus on the blog. I have been so busy in the last year that my writing efforts have been sorely lacking. Obviously the blog has become less of a priority to me, and I have been trying to figure out why. I think I am trying too hard to make it "literary" instead of just journaling the events of my family's life which was the purpose when I started. Also, losing my camera in August somehow has made it harder for me to get going with entries, as if my journal is somehow incomplete without photographic evidence. But enough with it already...I got a new camera for Christmas and I will stop thinking I have to "craft essays" and just record the mundane and glorious details of our day to day family events. So I decided that a reasonable and attainable goal for me this year will be to update the blog at least twice every month. Here's to turning over new leaves, putting a best foot forward, try, try again and all that jazz.

I'll start with a quick update about the Talbot family holidays 2010..

This year we went to St. George for Thanksgiving...the first time in 11 years that I didn't cook the dinner. I LOVE Thanksgiving, and I really do enjoy cooking, but I have to say it was such a nice thing to wake up on Thursday, get in the car, drive for four hours, and walk into an already prepared feast. I did go as far as to make three pies early in the week with my cousin's two oldest daughters, but that was the full extent of my cooking contribution.

We had a nice, relaxing couple of days down south with family...we were hoping for warm but somehow managed to pack the cold Salt Lake temperatures into our luggage and bring them with us.

The first week of December danced us through a tornado of All Nutcracker, all the time. Anna participated in the Children's Nutcracker for her third year in a row, this time in the role of "Gingerell." With two dress rehearsals and three performances there was little time for anything else in the week and the boys were woefully neglected. However, the performance was darling as usual and even Grandma and Grandpa Talbot were able to drive up from Panguitch to attend. Anna was in her element and after the first night when I went to pick her up backstage after the performance, I asked her how it was. She said, "I couldn't stop smiling the whole time I was here!" I've embedded the video of her dress rehearsal here:



Week two brought the 2nd Annual Egg-nog tasting party, Christmas piano camp, Book Club white elephant party, a cookie exchange, a huge history fair project for Zachary to finish, the Ward Christmas Party, and The Stake Christmas Concert. All events had a varying level of success: here's what I learned:

• After adding fudge to the egg nog tasting, I gave up on moderating my sugar content in December and it was just downhill from there.
• Six hours of group piano lessons in one week might be a bit too much for little boys who have been in school for 7 hours already.
• What is exchanged at book club, stays at book club.
• After the cookie exchange I asked the question, "is it possible to become diabetic in just 4 days?"
• If you'd like to check out Zachary's finished web page, here's the link: 18322336.nhd.weebly.com/
• At the ward Christmas party, the Young Women were asked to contribute an "act" so we did a dance that included my kickline debut. Eat your heart out, Rockettes!
• I sang "Away in a Manger" at the Stake concert...nobody cried.

Week three was a race to finish two reports for Isaac, make an igloo out of sugar cubes, help in 3 class parties (Did I mention I signed up to be headroom parent in Isaac's class this year?), and have family come stay with us from St. George to attend the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert with David Archuleta. The concert was awesome! And although my older boys did at times read the books they had brought with them during the "boring" songs, they enjoyed it as well. Oh..and the Ward Christmas Sacrament Meeting where I sang one solo, 3 choir numbers, one small ensemble, and a duet. Don't worry, a lot of other people sang and performed as well.

Luckily, the kids were finally out of school the last week of the month. Vacation was a mixture of sleeping in, going to movies, hanging out at home, playing with new Christmas gifts, and eating..a lot!

Christmas Eve we went ice skating again and fortunately this year we didn't end up with anyone in stitches. Isaac was our most improved skater this year, and Anna least. Last year she loved when Cory and I would skate her fast around the rink, but this year she thought we were too fast and kept trying to sit down on the ice to slow us down.

Nobody changed out of their pajamas on Christmas Day and most of the kids didn't quite find the time to play with all their gifts by the end of the day, so I would call that a success.

Cory worked intermittently the week after Christmas and it was nice to have him home so much. Last year on our anniversary, I made reservations at a nice Italian Restaurant downtown. Cory was flying home from San Francisco that day. His flight was delayed, and I had to cancel the reservation. This year I made a reservation at the same Italian place. Then a blizzard forced us to cancel the reservation again. Next year, I think we will try a new place.

New Years' Eve we stayed at home with Aunt Kim and played games and ate snacks. It was mostly good, but proved to be a mistake to let two of our children stay up all the way until midnight. I won't name names, but next year we will do things a little differently.

The kids are all back to school now, and although I was a little sad to have our relaxing break end, they all seem happy to be back in their more structured routines.

Phew! There's one entry down..only 23 to go!

The Midnight Hunt: A Tale of Horror

We have something of a mouse problem this year. Not of the cute Mickey or Tom and Jerry variety...we have the beady-eyed, twitchy-tailed, squeaky, disease-carrying, run of the mill vermin infestation.

We discovered the problem when our 7-month-old cat caught 3 mice in 3 days and graciously left them for us on the floor of our office. There has been some speculation that this is not a new problem, but perhaps our old cat did not have the hunting prowess to make us aware there was a problem. If that is the case, then all I can say is, "ignorance is bliss." Fortunately Oreo doesn't seem interested in eating the mice, so save for their little demon souls, they were left intact. I don't know if my heart could handle the discovery of little mouse pieces first thing in the morning.

I of course immediately determined the only sensible course of action.

We have to move.

Cory disagreed, but then he's not the one spending his days in a house crawling with disgusting rodents so can I really put any weight in his argument? I am SO not irrational.

I was left to dispose of mouse #1. I picked it up in a dustpan and carried it outside to our garbage can...screaming the entire way. I wish I wasn't serious. After that initial trauma, I decided I was no longer assuming the responsibility of the family mouse undertaker and would leave that particular chore in the hands of Mr. Rational.

Mouse #2 showed up early on a morning I was heading out for my run. As I came downstairs, I saw Oreo's hind legs sticking out from under a cabinet and heard the squeaking of her disgruntled prey. I woke Cory and told him to prepare for an early morning funeral, because there was no way that mouse was going to greet me when I got back.

He went back to sleep.

Five miles later, I came through the front door, glanced into the office on my right and screamed. This time Cory woke up.

Mouse #3 was discovered while Cory was as work. I closed off the room, rolled out some crime tape and left all forensic evidence in place until he could get home and evaluate the mouse-i-cide.

Then I called our Pest Control.

They sent someone out pretty quickly and I explained the situation. As I discussed our cat's role in the gruesome discoveries, Oreo suddenly appeared in front of us, swished her tail, and I swear began to gloat. They set up a few traps, patted Oreo on the head and left.

The weeks went by and every time we thought we had licked our mouse problem, one would turn up in a trap or Oreo's claws. Until everything came to a horrifying climax early last Monday morning.

It was a dark and stormy night. No, I'm serious, it actually was. It had been a busy weekend as usual, and I had gone to bed early in an attempt to play catch up on all my missing hours of sleep. But alas, it was not to be. Around 12:45, I was awakened to the sounds of scampering and crashing. Disoriented, I sat up in bed and tried to get my bearings just in time to see a black shadow crash into a bookshelf. Somewhere my subconcious clicked into alertness, and without even realizing what I was saying, I shook Cory next to me and said, "Oreo brought a mouse to our room!" He sat up with an incoherent glaze in his eyes, watched the shadow disappear under the bed, and then pointed to a tennis ball that had just rolled out the other side. "Yep, there it is!"

For the next 10 horrified minutes, we watched the cat and mouse in a deadly "cat and mouse" struggle. And then Oreo lost sight of her quarry as it scampered behind my bedside table. We turned the light on, moved the table out and tried to redirect her, but she was convinced the mouse was still behind a bookshelf. Finally we poked back under the table and sent the mouse scurrying out again so that Oreo could pick up the scent. That is a scene I will relive in my mind every night before I go to sleep for the rest of my life. We watched the chase cross the room to the dresser, and Oreo somehow dived underneath the 2 inch gap in pursuit. A minute later we watched in surreal stupor as the mouse darted out the edge only to be nabbed by the lightning quick movement of a black and white paw. Oreo came out from under the furniture with the mouse in her MOUTH! I thought the horror was about to finally end, but instead, she walked to the middle of the room, set down her "toy," batted at it, and started the chase anew!

At this point, I decided enough was enough. I raced across the floor, downstairs and on top of the highest piece of furniture I could reach and yelled to Cory, "Tell me when it's over!"

Another 10 minutes of scampering and crashing carried on above me, when Cory suddenly called out, "Open the back door!" He had apparently tired of the catch and release method of pest removal and decided to take matters into his own hands.

I clumsily unlocked and opened the door just as Cory ran up carrying my bathrobe. He parachuted the projectile mouse out onto the back porch. I grabbed Oreo, just as she tried to follow, but I couldn't stop the dog from darting into the gaping mouth of commotion. He walked over to the stunned and likely dizzy mouse, picked it up in his mouth and crunched hard. If I go deaf tomorrow, I will remember the sound of that crunch. Then he dropped the mangled body, sniffed it, and trotted back inside. Cory decided to wait until light of day to dispose of the remains. He then handed me my robe and asked, "Hey, are you cold?"

It was just about the time that my alarm went off 4 hours later that I finally started to drift off to sleep.

That's it, we're just going to have to move.

As for the official record...Oreo:5, Snap Traps:2, Grendel:1, Humanity:0

Whoosh, there goes October!

It feels like school just barely started, but here we are somehow at the end of the quarter! I'm looking at the date today and wondering where my month went.

Week 1...singing for General Conference.

Week 2...classroom volunteering, last week of flag football, pumpkin patch visit, catching up with old Phoenix friends, and a 10 year Law School Reunion...(4 hours my husband had the cheek to refer to as a "date" night.)

Week 3...husband not in Phoenix for first time since August...Disneyland! We even managed to get all 19 of us on one ride together...not a feat I would suggest anyone ever attempt.

Week 4...pull together kids' end of quarter projects, organize monstrous Priest/Laurel date night...discover my date will be in Phoenix again, date gets home just in time to take the Scouts on weekend camping trip...while I stay home alone again and fill our family church cleaning assignment with Anna and Isaac, Sunday finally have all the family home for the first time all week...Primary Program, Isaac is sick, I have 4 hours of meetings.

Week 5...Starting off with husband making early trip to the airport, 6 parties to help with this week...including 3rd grade class party I have found myself in charge of, heading into a sugar coma.

If November didn't mean snow, I might actually be looking forward to it.

In the Choir Loft

In early August, Cory, Zachary and I were called in for an interview with a member of our Stake Presidency. We wondered all week what it could possibly be for, and finally after conjecture and speculation the fateful day arrived. We were given a special assignment to sing in a choir made up of families for the upcoming October General Conference! They were selecting 5 or 6 people from every ward in 9 stakes in the Draper and Sandy area. They told us that this was the first choir of this composition ever to be heard in a General Conference, and that it would likely be 30 years or more before our Stake would be asked to participate musically in another Conference. This would truly be a once in a lifetime opportunity!

Rehearsals started almost immediately and were held for two hours every Sunday evening at a Stake Center in Sandy. This was a definite sacrifice on some weeks and we are especially grateful for friends and family who helped with our other children to make this possible.

The rehearsals were led by our director Timothy Workman. He is amazing! To create the sound he did out of amateur singers, many of whom were children and teenagers is truly a miracle. Every week I was impressed by how quickly the rehearsal time went by and how much our sound as a choir improved. On top of being exceptionally gifted with music, Brother Workman was funny and had a great way of sharing testimony through rehearsal. Every week felt almost like a special fireside or devotional. My voice never became over-tired.

Some of the "nuggets" he shared with us were..."when inspired music is well-performed it doesn't draw attention to the performers, but to the message." He talks about hearing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir once and being overwhelmed by their music not because it was exquisite--which it was--but because listening to it made him realize again that the doctrines about which they were singing were true. He also taught us that we should always sing every note and every vowel in a way that shows our respect and love for God. He told us that the majority of the people all over the world listening to us sing would not understand the words we were singing, but would understand the message if we truly "testified." He said that in any musical performance, the goal should be to "express" not to "impress."

There were many technical details that were dealt with. We had only 3 weeks to memorize the 4 songs we would be singing in Conference as well as 2 additional "contigency hymns" just in case. We had very strict guidelines about dress and grooming and had to wear our "choir-approved" clothes two weeks in a row to make sure they passed a very careful scrutiny. We were required to check in at every rehearsal with one of the 9 choir managers...absences or tardies were not acceptable.

A week before Conference, we carpooled up to the Conference Center for a dress rehearsal. Because this choir was made up of people from age 10 to 80, they could not seat us in typical height formations. It was chaotic, but eventually they managed to get us all into a choir seat. The open air of that enormous building was overwhelming. To hear the final chords of our songs reverberate into that space was inspirational.

The following Sunday evening, we had our final rehearsal and went over the last instructions for our Saturday arrival schedule.

Saturday Conference arrived. We drove to our rehearsal building, and boarded school buses at 10:00 a.m. As we drove up to the Conference Center, we tried to listen to the morning broadcast on the radio, but at the back of the bus, there was little we could hear. Once we reached the building, we were ushered into the theater where we were asked to sit "approximately" where our choir loft seats were. As we waited for everyone to arrive, we watched Elder Christofferson's talk on screen and then listened to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing. It was bizarre to hear the time delay from the screen and from the actual room they were singing in to our right. Then Brother Workman came in to warm us up and lead us in one last and brief rehearsal through trouble spots.

After rehearsing, we were provided with a quick snack and bathroom break, and then escorted into the catacombs and backways of the building. We finally passed the choir's dressing rooms and entered the back entrance to the choir loft. It was jarring to see the seats already beginning to fill almost an hour before the session would begin.

I can honestly say that I remember very little of our actual performance. It flew by in a surreal way, and I know I made way more mistakes than normal. As we finished the last chord of the last song, I found myself slightly emotional.

When it was all over, I was so impressed by the number of general authorities who took a moment to turn back and even come back and thank us for our musical contribution. They were so genuine and kind...true examples of Christ-like love.

And then we filed out of the building, reunited with our families, loaded the schoolbuses and headed home.

A truly once in a lifetime experience! When we got home, we quickly watched our DVR'd recording of our performance and discovered that while I had been given rather too much face time, Cory and Zachary had not shown up at all. Oh well! We will all remember the experience regardless of any visual evidence.

Back to School

It's only been 3 weeks since the kids all went back to school. Which means that for the first time ever, I am home by myself all day. Except I haven't so much been at home. And all that free time I dreamed about this summer seems to have somehow evaporated. So here it is 3 weeks into the school year and I am just now posting the traditional first day of school picture. This year I decided to change it up and take the picture next to our front door instead of in front of the door. And also I haven't replaced my lost camera yet so I had to take the pictures with my phone. And I forgot to take Zachary's picture on the first day because he was running late and my mind doesn't fully function before 7:00 a.m. on a Monday. And I thought about taking his picture on the second day of school, but I was asleep when he left with Dad. And then on the 3rd day of school I was out running when he left and by the 4th day it felt like a lie to pose him in the traditional spot. Sorry, Zachary, no picture for you!

On a side note, he is surviving 8th grade so far...and as we all know, if you can make it through the 8th grade, you can make it through anything. He took the wrong bus home twice in the first week which was fun, but I think we have worked through that issue now. It's a true commitment to get him all the way to Midvale and back every day, but going to Back to School Night and meeting his teachers always reminds me that it's worth all the hassle. He has some amazing teachers, and it's nice to see him in a place with high expectations.



Noah is starting 5th grade! Yikes! He is still at our neighborhood school which is great because it's across the street. I have some concerns about his teacher this year..Isaac had her for 1st grade and she was nice but not completely organized or effective. Luckily Noah is self-motivated and bright...he'll come out on top, I'm sure.

Isaac is starting 3rd grade at Summit Academy where he is thriving. I signed up to be the headroom parent in his classroom because I was feeling guilty about all this free time I'm suddenly overwhelmed by (ha!). The 3rd grade team at his school is on top of things and very fun...I expect him to have a wonderful year.

Anna is my eager 1st-grader. She was pretty tired the first week...it has been a true adjustment to go all day (for her and me both), but she is happy and excited and glad to be surrounded by little friends again. I don't know a lot about her teacher, but whenever I mention her name to other parents from her school they all say..."Oh! You are so lucky!"

I am.

The Pictures Worth Thousands of Words

It's time again for the annual family vacation wrap-up. This year, we dragged our children 10 hours to spend a week camping by Mt. Rushmore. Here is the play by play.

Day 1: Drive. All. Day. Friends had told me that we would see a lot of bikers on our trip because apparently Mt. Rushmore is some kind of Mecca for all Harley afficianados. They couldn't have been more right. It turns out that the exact week that we were scheduled to be in the park is also known as the Sturgis Road Rally. The largest Harley Rally anywhere in the world! As we finally pulled into Custer National Park where we would be camping, the streets in the small town of Custer had been partitioned off to allow room for motorcycles to be parked right down the middle of main street. There were literally hundreds of bikes in every direction. My first reaction was that this was going to make it a hard week to be in South Dakota, but it actually turned out great. Every "family" activity in the area was completely empty all week. We literally had the lakes and hikes to ourselves, and the bikers that we did chat with throughout our adventure were all very friendly and helpful.

(insert picture of main street Custer with bikes and bikers flooding the street)

Nothing daunted we drove up to our campsite at 6:45, jumped out and started some charcoal to cook our foil dinners and set up camp. Then we discovered the bathroom. You see when I had made our camping reservations in June, I had specifically searched for a campsite with flush bathrooms. Apparently the national parks website is outdated because it turns out that in the entire state park there is only one campground without flush toilets...ours. That's right, it would be vault all week for us. Yuck!

Day 2: The main event. We left fairly early to see the Mt. Rushmore monument. We were pleasantly surprised to find it not too crowded. It seems that bikers are not morning people. Cory has been dreaming of this day for as long as we have been married. I was only hoping the mountain would live up to his expectations. It did. It's actually pretty amazing. There is a little half mile loop you can walk that leads you right up to the base of the mountain where you can come at different vantage points of the faces as you wind around the trail. There is also a little Indian village set up where the kids climbed in a teepee and played with buffalo parts.

(insert picture of Isaac holding 2 buffalo horns on the sides of his head, and picture of Anna scraping the hair off of a buffalo hide.)

We took our time with only minor tantrums and had a nice morning.

(insert several pictures of this:)

(from different angles and with different family members in the foreground)

After a lunch of buffalo burgers, we took a drive around the Wildlife trail in Custer Park. For the first half of the drive the only wildlife we saw were the bugs splattered on the windshield, but finally on the south end of the park there was a herd? pack? stampede? of wild burros. They didn't look all that wild, but they did manage to spook a deer out of the fold and we watched her high-tail it into the trees. As we pulled away, we drove slowly alongside a stubborn burro that had decided it was more interesting to walk right down the middle of the road.

(insert picture of burro with face in passenger window)

Five minutes later we found ourselves at the front of a motorcycle traffic jam! There was a herd of enormous buffalo taking up the entire road. We got out and took pictures and chatted with some colorful characters from Texas for about 15 minutes before the first Harleys decided to brave the drive through the herd, and we followed cautiously behind. Only one menacing bull began to charge a biker, but he apparently had already had his exercise for the day because it was a pretty half-hearted attempt.

(insert picture of buffalo littering the road and roadside)

We finished up the day with a walk around Bismarck lake at our campground. It was beautiful and filled with other sorts of wildlife. We saw a beaver home, turtles, fish, astonishing spider webs, cattails, and an amazing egret as it took flight.

(insert pictures of beaver home and spider web)

Day 3: This morning was devoted to "Crazy Horse." This mountain carving of the famous Indian warrior dwarfs the four presidents on Mt. Rushmore. The presidents would all fit in Crazy Horse's hair. Work has been progressing on this colossal sculpture for 70 years and although 1 and 1/2 million tons of rock have been removed so far, I sincerely doubt this will ever be finished in my lifetime. When we watched the information video at the visitor center, we were introduced to the sculptor who conceived this mammoth endeavor...Korczak Ziolkowski..I began to understand why bikers are drawn to this place.

He was either totally visionary or totally crazy. At any rate almost all of the work done to date has been done by this man and his 10 children. He believed firmly in a free economy and declined federal funding to move the process along multiple times in his lifetime. He died in the 80's, and now the project is headed by his wife and 7 of their children and everything is done strictly through donation and park entry fees. The visitors center includes a Native American museum that is fascinating and we all truly enjoyed our visit...even the dog.

(insert following picture, but with all 4 kids standing at the base and pointing in the same direction as Crazy Horse, and Grendel standing with them.)

After a full morning at the monument and museum, we headed back to camp, changed into swimsuits, grabbed our sack lunches and headed over to Legion Lake for the day. We rented a paddleboat, swam and splashed and even played on a small playground next to the beach. Grendel even got in on the act and took a turn out on the paddleboat. Of course, he kept trying to stand at the front of the boat to sniff the water and fell in twice. By the end of the day we were hot, sunburned and exhausted. We drove over to a neighboring campground to take a warm shower, then went back to camp to make dinner.

In the evening we went back to Mt. Rushmore to see their evening program. First a ranger came out and gave a patriotic speech. When she finished, Anna looked at me and did a "huffy breath" and said, "That was LONG!" I concur. Then we watched a video about the making of Mt. Rushmore and a little about the lives of the 4 presidents immortalized in stone. Finally, they asked any past or present servicemen/women to please come to the stage to be honored and participate in the flag lowering. Having all those motorcyle riders there meant the stage swelled with around 300 veterans! It was pretty cool. Then we sang the national anthem and Anna started crying and couldn't quite find the words to express why. I think it confused her to be filled with that kind of emotion. We got home late and after a day in the sun, sleeping bags never seemed so comfortable and we all collapsed into sleep.

Day 4: Jewel Cave. I love caves! About 20 miles east of Custer Park, lies Jewel Cave. We drove over and took a morning tour. The cave is full of interesting calcite formations and was a pleasant 49 degrees 7 stories underground on a blistering day outside. The kids found the formations cool and creepy. Our favorite is a curtain formation aptly titled: Bacon. It looks exactly like a foot wide slice of bacon!

(insert picture of Cory next to stalactite to give it scale)

In the afternoon we drove over to Keystone, a mining town on the other side of Mt. Rushmore. We ate lunch there and started out for a walk down the "old town" main street. We didn't get very far because it was hot and packed with Sturgis Road Rally crowds deporting themselves in stereotypical "harley rider" fashion. We left quickly but it was something of an education...cigar smoke, street tatooing, and the kids got to witness their very first arrest as one biker failed the breathalyzer and was handcuffed and loaded into the back of a highway patrol vehicle. I'm the kind of mom who thinks vacations should be filled with learning opportunities.

We drove back via another scenic route that includes some spectacular tunnels cut into rock that frame Mt. Rushmore in the distance. It was so cool! We also came across some Bighorn Sheep grazing on the side of the road.

Shortly after we got back to our campsite it started raining so we headed into the tent and played cards. This was seriously one of my favorite moments of the vacation...just a chance to be together and relax.

Day 5: Hike day. The weather dropped 20 degrees overnight which made it a perfect day to plan some hikes. First we drove up to Sylvan Lake via the last scenic loop of the park...the Needles Highway. We passed the lake and drove to some even narrower rock-carved tunnels where we got a view of the jutting cliffs that give the "needles" highway its name. We looked at the "Needle's Eye" and then hiked to "Cathedral Spires." It was a 3 mile round trip hike listed as moderate to strenuous, but I think South Dakota hikers must be soft because Anna and Grendel had no trouble with it. Well, except for the one spot of scrabbling that took Grendel 4 tries.

(insert picture of Grendel on trail)

After lunch we went on a second hike around Sylvan Lake. The lake was beautiful and had some really neat "black hills" jutting up out of the water. In retrospect, this would have been a much more interesting lake for swimming and paddle-boating earlier in the week, but alas hindsight, and all that jazz.

After finishing out our drive, we went to town for a round of Mini Golf. Anna won and treated us all to ice cream at Dairy Queen.

Back at camp we decided to hike one more time down to our Camp lake and see if we could get all the way around it. After climbing a lot of rocks and reaching what we thought was the halfway point, we discovered the lake looped back much father than we realized and decided we had better turn back or risk being out after dark.

To celebrate our final night we built a huge fire (the first night it actually felt cool enough to want a big fire) and made a perfect Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler. We played some more games, stayed up late, and soliloquized about the joys of a hot shower and clean sheets.

Day 6: Around 5 a.m. I woke to the sound of rain on the tent roof and began to worry about a muddy day to pack up camp. I went back to sleep...sorta...and by the time we got up at 6:30, it had stopped. The sky still looked ominous so we ate quickly and loaded everything up in record time. As we pulled out of our campsite, it started to rain again! Phew!

The return trip was every bit as long, but we survived and even found time to unload the car when we got home and create the last of the week's landmarks.."laundry mountain."

It was really a great trip, but I'm afraid my memory of this vacation will always be marred by the fact that on the last day of the trip, we discovered my camera was missing. We don't know if it was somehow dropped somewhere or stolen, but after exhaustive searching we knew for sure it was gone for good...with a week's worth of pictures inside it. I really couldn't care less about the camera, but it was heart-breaking to lose those photos..mostly because I'm fairly certain we will never be back to Mt. Rushmore as a family. And I know there are worse things we could have lost...my wallet, the car keys, one of our children (with perhaps one notable exception)..but it still hurts. I am so good at forgetting to take pictures or to even bring my camera with me in the first place, so this outcome feels bitterly ironic. At any rate, I am hoping that my detailed although sometimes dry play by play of this vacation will be enough to fix the memories in my mind and in the minds of my children. Because if this isn't a thousand words...it must be close.