Moab (Part 2)

The next day of our vacation was Sunday.
Kerri had 9 am church, so we met here there.

We found out that Bishop Gerald Causse from the Presiding Bishopric was visiting that ward as well.

It was Fast Sunday and he stood up near the middle of the meeting to bear his testimony. He explained that Arches National Park is one of his favorite places to take visitors when they come from France. If you call me, I will tell you what he said about Thomas S. Monson. We also saw Georgia Lambson, (for you Chicago readers), who was visiting from Salt Lake City with her daughter &; family. Kerri taught sharing time, too.

After church we ate a relatively quick lunch at Kerri's and went off to explore a little more of Moab. We drove next to the Colorado River to Wall Street, pictured below.

Wall Street, outside Moab, UT

It seemed like a mile of cliffs. There were many cars pulled over for rock climbing. I wished my brother, Danny could have seen it. I think he would love it.

Note the petroglyphs near bottom right

Across the street from Wall Street: The Colorado River

We piled back in the car for a short ride to the Corona Arch trailhead. This arch is famous for having an airplane fly through it, as seen below.

This was an easier hike than the previous day.

Bow Tie Arch, next to Corona

 The last part of this hike is pretty sloped. I was afraid of falling, and of Ed falling. I didn't and he didn't.

We made it to Corona Arch. Yes, that is a man hanging from a rope, from the arch. Taken with my camera.

A group of 3 men were at the arch for the better part of the day, planning their jump, or swing. About 10 days prior to our visit, some other "swingers" (jumping and swinging from the arch), had unsuccessfully attempted to do what these guys were doing. These guys were well prepared and thoughtfully sent a bag down over, to make sure the rope was the right length, and took their time setting it up right. We watched the first and second jumpers went off, but left before the third.

We headed back to Kerri's house for dinner, which was pulled pork I had frozen the week before. It was an easy meal, delightful after a hot afternoon of hiking.

Monday morning we ate breakfast with Kerri one more time. We drove to the freeway on Highway 128, which I think Kerri called River Road. It is the scenic route and did not disappoint. It made us want our next Moab adventure to include water.

Shortly after getting on I-70 to come back, we found out that parts of it were closed, due to snowfall and avalanche conditions. We went through the snowstorm by another route home. (Read between the lines, even windier mountain road under heavy snow conditions, but without avalanche thread).
We began at 9 am and ended at 10 pm, much longer than planned. Our car did not slide once, except right after we got off the freeway at an exit about 3 miles from our home. Our kids dealt with the added stress remarkably well, not even complaining when we had to eat sandwiches one more time for dinner, when they'd been promised a restaurant.

Did I show you our "new to us" picnic table? This was what waited for us Tuesday morning.

I think when I checked the weather, I only checked Moab weather, and not the weather on our route home. We had warm clothes, but not winter clothes, and I felt unprepared and mad at myself for a long while. I will check our route weather more carefully, now that I am well aware of how drastically it can change. We needed the snow, so can't complain.

We had a delightful first trip to Moab. We saw why Kerri loves it, got out of our comfort zone in many ways, and enjoyed being together as a family. I highly recommend it--especially if you are connected to Kerri. She was a great hostess.

Moab (Part 1 of 2)

During Mid-April our kids had a Friday and Monday scheduled off. We decided to use it as vacation and stay home for Spring Break. (My sister in law once wrote a vacation recap with Do's and Don'ts, here's copying you, Tara).

DO:  Get started a little later than you want (I was finishing my taxes and packing for 7!!!). Are we the only ones this happens to?
It was OK, we got to Moab at about 6 p.m.
DO: Take a photo before you leave the garage. This is not going to add time to the trip, and when you get back, you aren't going to want one.

DO: Take pictures from the front seat on your drive. Especially when you drive through a mountain in a tunnel, the Eisenhower.

Somewhere in CO on I-70 in the mountains. At the end of the day it's not going to look like this.

DO: Watch something on the drive--this time we chose Prince Caspian. (We always watch movies during my shift of driving, because I would rather listen to a movie than watch it anyway).

DO: Call the best Tour Guide in Moab. Kerri Fife. We met Kerri, Nathan's cousin, for dinner at a mexican restaurant when we arrived. The restaurant was not crowded.

DO: Get the motel with 3 Queen beds. The Rodeway. It also has a nice pool with a fun waterslide.

DON'T believe them when they tell you there's a roll away. Just rotate nights on who has to use the floor.

DON'T believe the "heated pool" information. The hot tub was where it's at. (In April anyway).

DO: Plan on buying breakfast. We found out our motel wasn't going to feed us breakfast, (like I thought they were), so Kerri took me to the grocery store while Nathan and the kids jumped in the pool.
Saturday morning we drove into Arches National Park.

DO: Stop at Balanced Rock for photos.

Balancing at Balanced Rock

Of the 20+ Fife cousins, Kerri is close to our age . . . . a few months older and wiser

Christmas card worthy?

DO: Hike to Delicate arch. It is the arch displayed on the UT license plate. It is steep, 480 vertical feet up, but manageable. It was pleasant going, until the top when the wind was whipping sand into our eyes. We took one fast picture at the top, someone lost a hat to the wind, and we quickly went back around the corner to get out of the blast. Our kids were troopers and I would like to do it again.

DON'T go if it's windy at the top. How to know if it will be windy at the top? Not sure, but I am willing to give it one more shot.

Guess who's hat got away? Ed buried his face in Nathan's shoulder for 45 minutes.

DO plan on lots of other hikers.

DO: Take your lunch. We ate when we got back to the car. Hiking time, 2.5 hours or so for our family.
DO: See the Windows section: 3 arches very close to the road.

That's Bryn & Andrew, to give you an idea of the scale.

 

The kids, Nathan and Kerri climbed up to the top of those coves and got some great pictures. I rested my knee that reminded me I haven't been hiking in awhile.

View from the top of the cove

DO stop at the visitor's center. Watch the movie about how the arches form.
You may or may not want to sit on the animals placed at the entrance. If you sit on them, DO take a picture.

DO order Pizza Hut from driving back to Moab so it will be ready when you arrive.
(Supreme with Pan crust, if you are asking).

DO agree to go way out of your comfort zone and do something crazy.

We chose a hummer tour to Hell's Revenge Trail. I thought I was going to DIE the entire time. I kept hoping we would drive back the easy way, but instead we went back exactly the way we'd come in. Kerri kept assuring me that the people who come into the hospital from off-roading accidents are the civilians who try driving off road, not the professional drivers. I believed her.
DO: Watch this video from You Tube if you want to see why I thought I would die.
DON'T: Go in a Crown Victoria.
DO: Go down this rock.

Someone else on the rock. We went earlier, but no picture.

DON'T: Expect all 4 wheels to be touching at the same time.

DO: Ask to see Mickey's Hot Tub.

DON'T: Attempt it in your vehicle.

DO: Ask for Levi. He said, "This is my backyard." And it is, and he was a great driver.

This is a guy thing.

DO treat your family to ice cream. After living through the hummer tour, I felt it necessary. We had shakes at Milts. We arrived right before closing and made them work a little bit longer.

DON'T order regular size shakes--choose small instead. Just trust me.

(To be continued).

NCTM Conference 2013

TH, FR, and SA were my "days off."
Nathan stayed home (not exactly home, but running around with kids and other errands) and I got to go to Denver to attend the annual National Council of Teachers of Mathematics conference.

The conference had posted large signs inside with lots of little math jokes . . . . stole this pic from instagram.

To keep my license active, I complete 100 points every three years. I can earn these points in different ways, mostly I take Independent Study classes and go to these math conferences as often as is reasonable. Since it was so close to home, I felt compelled to attend.

I took no pictures, but pages and pages of notes. I met people from all of the world and also some of the teachers from Andrew's school down the street. When someone talks to me at the conferences, one of the first questions is always something like, "Where do you teach?" or "What grade level do you teach?"

My reply is always the same, "I'm not teaching right now, I stay home with my children." Which leads to,

"Do you homeschool?"

"No, but they are young . . . the youngest is 3 . . . I am here to keep my teaching certificate."

"Will you go back?" comes up most of the time.

I always feel somewhat out of place. Many teachers go with friends from their schools or districts, this time I did notice many, however, who were alone. Like me.

I listened this time for the pro-mothering comments. They were awesome:

"Good luck raising your children. That's important work."
"Being a mom is the best job."
"I stayed home while my kids were little, too."
"You get to stay home, you are lucky!"

I don't really remember hearing these comments before this year.

The last time I attended a conference, I brought my mom and nursing Eddie with me. The time before that, I flew from Chicago to SLC and stayed with a sister. Previous to that, I attended in Chicago, pregnant with Diana. I went from UT to a conference in Boise and stayed with Nathan's mom. (I ran into his aunt at one of the presentations). Happy memories that mark the passing of years.

I love going, especially once I get over the awkwardness of feeling out of my comfort zone.

Here are some of the highlights:

Greg Tang
He is one of the funniest math comedians ever. He's been at each of the conferences I listed above--I would pay my $$$ just to hear him. Love his ideas, his books, and he's got games I need to look into. This time he talked about fractions for the bulk of his presentation. If he were going to teach someone multiplication for the first time, the first problem he would teach? 4 X 35


Vi Hart
She calls herself a "mathemusician." If you follow no other link, you have to watch the previous link (her name). It's a YouTube video called: Hexaflexamexagons.
So funny. She and her dad, George Hart were the closing speakers. If you see none of his other work you should probably start here with, "Mathematically Correct Breakfast." To be honest, what made this presentation great was their videos. You may enjoy them, too.

Tim Kanold
Is one of my favorite inspiring speakers around. Ever. He worked at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, IL, (one of the Chicago suburbs). I heard him speak the first time in Salt Lake City and was so inspired. Because I knew of the reputation of Stevenson . . . . and I lived miles away. His lecture was titled, "The Greatest Math Teacher I Ever Knew," and was purely motivational. Every seat in the room was filled, and he brought tears to more than one eye. Everything this man touches turns to gold. He's the kind of leader you want to follow.

4 Teachers from down the road:
When I opened my book to find my first class, I opened right to a presentation taught by Andrew's middle school math team. I was impressed with all they said. They are doing some exciting things by keeping classrooms more homogenous than ability grouped. They differentiate once a week or so, and provide extra support in other ways to help all the kids find success. Purdue is coming next year to videotape what's going on.
I also talked to Andrew's math teacher for about 20 minutes while we waited for a presentation to start, (more time than I get at Parent/teacher conferences). We chatted about the principal, who is making it a wonderful learning community.

Dan Meyer
(If you follow this link, be forewarned that his vocabulary is a little more colorful than mine). This former math teacher is a fellow at Stanford. Very good presentation skills. He talked about what technology you need in the classroom, and what you can skip over. At math teacher conferences, we are all a little nerdy. But he was a cool math nerd. And, from what I can tell on his blog, he broke a world record stringing together paper clips.

The biggest change from last time (aside from the fact that then I had a nursing baby), is that MANY attendees took notes with their cameras. I was surprised to see people taking pictures of presenter's presentations with their Ipads and Iphones. When I talked about it at home, Andrew told me his classmates do it all the time . . . . . .

BYU was there, and they gave me a T-shirt, water bottle, pen, and sweatband. So far the water bottle has been the most handy since I didn't have one and the conf. center waters cost $4.

Well, there was a lot more, but I am done for tonight.
I learned
1)I am not quick when I leave the house in the morning
2)that I can handle rush hour Denver traffic in Denver. Thank you, Chicago!
3)all is not lost if you leave your cell phone at home.

The big bear is always at the conference center. For the math geeks, they added the stickers with his height and width. Also stolen from instagram.

My favorite part? Talking to the other teachers at the conference. I'll be back for another round. Next year is New Orleans, then Boston and San Franscisco--all places I would like to go.

Colorful Conference Weekend

This weekend we had great weather--have I told you I love where I live? Tuesday the forecast is for more snow . . . . 6 to 12 inches. I will take it.

Loved listening to General Conference together as a family.

Yeah for Cedar City UT for getting your own temple! And Rio De Janeiro. 

We always go to Sunday morning session at the church. It's worth it, but I will be grateful when our littles are able to sit through it better.

I cut out stacks of fabric into smaller stacks for a quilt I am making--I like to have a project to work on while I listen.  
(When I don' t have a project I lay down and fall asleep, so perhaps a project isn't so bad, eh?)

How I love little stacks of fabric

Bryn really wanted to do a "Conference Concession stand" she read about in the Friend.(I can't find the link but will update if I do. You could earn coins by being on time and listening quietly. She & Diana made all the coins and came up with a list of prizes that were free or inexpensive. In between sessions they could cash in for prizes. I didn't want many toys, so we gave away gum, passes to skip turns on chores, little snacks, etc. They also paid me a "materials fee" for the yarn and pencils they used to keep themselves busy. Initially I thought it would not be worth the work, so I just put Bryn in charge of it all. She really liked it, and I think everyone else did too. We will probably do it again.

The purpose: to keep little hands busy

Finger crochet necklaces . . . yard and yards of them.

The prize he bought? A $1 nerf-like football from Target

Speaking of Orange:
Some families do cinammon rolls for General Conference, but I think they are too much work. I think it would be fun to have a conference breakfast tradition, however. I found a recipe for Buttermilk Orange Donut Muffins the other day and gave it a shot--they are very, very good. We'll see if we want them again in 6 months?  

( I have some March posts, I will probably put them backwards in order of when they happened).