van's dance hall, topaz, and one seriously gross hotel

Want to see a temple on top of a revolving disco ball?  How about one that also has train tracks and a train that goes around it?  Drive through Delta and you will pass by one of the coolest places ever and not even know it. I never would have guessed this crazy dance hall would be nestled in the middle of this town. The history of the this place and the guy who dreamt this place up is interesting to say the least.  It would have been so much fun to see this place when it was up and running.   

 Cute cousins in the dance hall.

 We stopped and learned about the Japanese internment camp in Topaz.  Growing up, I always felt a little uncomfortable when people would talk about these kind of things.  The topic would inevitably bring some unwanted and awkward attention to me.  Then people don't really know what to say and instead of saying nothing they kind of let me know how bad they think it was.  Then I kind of end up trying to make it less awkward by saying something but usually make it more awkward.  So, though this trip was more about learning about history and less about me, I couldn't help but feel that same awkwardness.  And let me just get this out... One lady had the nerve bring up how she had heard about the horrible things that some of the Japanese people did during the war and so she doesn't really feel bad that these Japanese Americans were put into Topaz.  It made me sad to think people actually think this way.  All day, I just tried to come up with reasons (admittedly most of them were mean and the word ignoramus came into my thoughts more than once) why she would feel okay with taking everything from a person because someone of their same race did something horrible.  I think the thing that hurt the most was that in those situations when I felt so awkward when WWII came up, I would give myself pep talks so I wouldn't worry about what people thought.  Most of the pep talks included something about how people aren't that ignorant anymore.  And here she was proving me wrong.

Sadly, there isn't much to see out there anymore.  Not much of a memorial, not much of a monument, not much of a museum.  A few people have made an effort, but it takes money, And to get money, it has to be popular.  And, well, the topic just isn't that popular these days.    

Later that day we took a tour through the Lehman caves.  They were cool and very... cavey.

 Beautiful in a dark, damp, creepy sort of way, I kept thinking of the Dark Crystal.  Does anyone else remember that show.  I need to watch it again.  All I remember is being scared and confused.

 And to think, people used to go through these caves without tour guides, without flashlights, without cement paths...

 This little cave feature was cave bacon.  After 90 minutes in a cave, something silly like cave bacon all the sudden seems super clever and totally interesting.  

 My compliments to the snack stand there for having great chocolate ice cream.  I would know, I had two.

 And after seeing Topaz and feeling so grateful that I was born when I was, I still couldn't be grateful for our single wide of a motel.  Just remembering that place makes me want to cringe and go put my flip flops on.  

 My kids didn't mind.  That is because it had a TV.  They were happy as can be.  Even the baby was pleased.  This picture makes me want to kiss those little fresh-outta-bed bed head kids (and check to make sure nothing is touching those gross floors).

On this part of the trip I learned:

-That a sleepy little town can have an quirky awesome place like Van's Dance Hall.

-That maybe it's just human nature to not want to remember the bad.  But maybe we don't learn from it if we don't remember it.  

-I am glad I am not a cave person.

-That I should never take comfort when I hear the phrase, "It's the nicest hotel in town."

-A good chocolate ice cream cone can drown out many a sorrows.  

Trip to Topaz and Lehman caves... recorded.

fossil hunting in delta

Summer adventure started out with a trip to Delta.  Adventure and Delta in the same sentence.  Ha.  Actually, my kids probably had as much fun here as they do anywhere. You wouldn't think that summer and puffy coats went together either but the weather was crazy.  Spring was basically non-existent.  It was kind of like winter over stayed and then slammed into the middle of the summer heat.

I love road trips less than I like flying with three kids.  If you haven't read my previous post, let me fill you in.  I hate them.  But a little In-N-Out and a Dunford Donut helped ease the pain.  

This is a shoe tree.  This tree shoes how boring the road is.  Someone threw shoes up in a tree for entertainment.

We checked into the nicest hotel in town.  *Insert comment about the world's tallest midget here*.  What I didn't know was that this hotel was going to feel like the Grand Hyatt compared to the place that we were staying the next night. 

My older two kids love to hold my giant baby.  It looks so funny and always makes me a little nervous.  It makes other people even more nervous.  I know because I see them fighting the urge to step in and help my kids.  They fight the urge then look at me like I am careless.  Maybe I kind of am.  I tell them my kids hold him all the time and it is okay and I pretend like I'm not nervous.  

Samuel packed his backpack for the hunt.  A grabby thing, a Curious George notebook (which soon fell apart because I bought it at the dollar spot at Target), a pencil and some other stuff that I can't remember.  Kicking myself for waiting so long to post because now I can't remember what else he had.  All I can remember is that it was funny and I never wanted to forget how cute it was.

The kids and the men went trilobite hunting.  They had a blast.  Big mountain, sharp rocks, pointy hammer things to split the rocks to expose the fossils... who wouldn't have a blast, right?

 I remember saying a lot of, "Samuel, don't go too high!"s and...

 "Careful when you throw stuff so you don't hurt anyone!"s 

But mostly I tried my best to let them have a good time because beside falling down a mountain and hurting themselves on all the sharp rocks, not much could happen.  Funny funny.  

 They found some cool stuff.

And I applaud their patience (and mine and my mom's for holding Maximus and keeping him safe the hold time all while trying to get comfy on the piles of sharp rocks). 

 Their reward?  Cool fossils.  My reward?  Good Mexican food.  Kauai doesn't have much of that.

If you are a fan of finding fossils (you may find this hard to believe but not everyone is), or maybe just enjoy splitting rocks, then I suggest you head over to good old Delta, Utah and find yourself a trilobite.  

flying with the end in mind

There was a time in my life when I really looked forward to flying on an airplane.  The snacks, the window seat, the books that I could read, the magazines I could flip through, the naps, the excitement of seeing somewhere new...

Then September 11 happened.  Security check felt like we were waiting in line to enter a prison camp, we had to pay more for less, and we couldn't even carry in a bottle of water anymore.

Then kids happened.  Strollers, taking a sleeping baby out of the stroller to go through security, figuring out how to get the car seat/luggage/kid from point A to point B, getting all nervous that my kids are bugging all the other passengers, being worried I will forget one of the 382 items that it takes to raise a baby these days, kids asking, "are we going to have to run again?" because their parents are inevitably and annoyingly late every single time they fly, running out of entertainment for the kids, running out of threats so the kids will listen, being amazed at how a kid can stay awake the entire red eye flight only to pass out 15 minutes before we land, having to decide if it feels worse to be hungry or to feel disgusting after eating all the stuff in the $15 box of processed snacks, kids crying, kids throwing up, me wanting to cry, me wanting to throw up, and on and on and on...

We deal with it.  Sometimes we enjoy it.  Sometimes husband and I look at each other and one of us mouths, "Some body shoot me now."  Sometimes I swear that I will never ever ever never fly again.  But just like childbirth, I kind of forget the misery and I do it all over again.  

And maybe it's because we are met with sweet welcomes and lots of family time.

Or maybe it's because I think it is worth flying over the ocean to have one of my mom's home cooked meals.

My mom's korokke and gyoza are my two all time favorite comfort foods.  The korokke was waiting for us as soon as we landed.  And here is a little random culture lesson... I grew up with Japanese parents in America.  The two cultures express love in very different ways.  This meal, my friends, is worth a bajillion verbal "I love you"s.  

 Even when I think I am doing it just like my mom, my cooking is never as good.  But most of the time, I don't even think that I am doing it just like my mom :).  I am too impatient and I don't have the skills or the artistic touch.  After being away for awhile, I also appreciate how much vegetables she uses.  One meal almost always has at least 5-6 different vegetables in it.  All tasty, all beautiful.  

Okay, okay, and it's not all about the food.  It's about the shopping, too.  Just kidding, we made a ton of great memories, most of them with family.

We fly because we know (or at least hope) the destination is worth it.

So, here's to remembering summer.  One of the fastest summers of my life...

how quickly they learn

Fact is, they let just about anyone have kids these days.  

Fact is, most of the time we have no idea what we are are doing.  

First kid, you are so careful with everything that goes into their mouth.

Third kid?  Well, apparently, things start to ease up around these parts.

 We have relaxed big time.  

We have enjoyed the baby stage so much more.

 And though I know that ice cream is most definitely not the best for this little guy, I also know that this tiny bit isn't going to hurt him.

And in this case, we were also going for the entertainment factor.  

The whole birth order thing fascinates me.  And, well, third kids learn how much they like ice cream much earlier than first kids.

back to the beach

We made it. School, lessons, the beach... back to our daily grind.
And as a reward to myself for completing the horrible unpacking process (on top of the usual housekeeping, if you can even call it that), I will do a proper post.  Until then, this will have to do.  
Do you ever try and trick yourself into getting unappealing things done?