The Jon and Ava Show.... or Our Trip to Zion 2010

For our Tenth wedding anniversary, Jon planned a family trip to the only place you can camp in March.... somewhere south. We didn't go on the actual weekend of our anniversary because of a nasty bug Ava and I probably picked up at the gym, but Jon is sweet and understanding and rescheduled for the last weekend in March. So he loaded up Daisy (and planned, shopped, and packed all the food himself!!) and we headed to Zion NP through the fat, drifting snowflakes.

I've been taking a photography class to improve my skills and was relishing the prospect of great photo subjects when I learned my first lesson before we even arrived; carry your camera at all times. We stopped at a burger place for lunch and I sat in a booth across from the loves of my life and watched them bug each other. Ava was rhythmically leaning her weight into Jon and he thought he'd trick her and move out of the way the next time she came around. Of course she lost her balance and fell into table, flipping fry sauce fry sauce into the air and coating half of her face and half of Jon's shorts. He starts laughing and she's not sure what to think until she bursts into tears and cries "Stop messing around, Dad!" And I missed a perfect photo op.

We finally arrived and found a campsite and explored around the river a bit. The weather was still pretty chilly and blustery so we had some hot cocoa, skipped the campfire, and turned in kinda early.

The next day we did a few small hikes and enjoyed the cool sunshine. The little midget hiked all day and didn't ask to be carried once. I guess Jon and I are slowly learning to tone down our adventures and have fun on a smaller scale. Everyone ends up a lot happier that way; we lower our expectations a bit and she sure rises to the occasion. Camping with a four-year-old is like a dream! You don't have to carry her everywhere, she sleeps all night, and you don't have to stress yourself out trying to get in the naps. There's just sooo much less screaming from all involved parties. Plus she is still stoked to just play in the sand and throw rocks in the water all day.

Ava is such a daddy's girl and they really had a blast together. The break was nice for me; I still got to spend time with my family but without all the pressures and demands. I loved just sitting back and taking pictures of the two of them and the scenery.

After we hiked, Jon suprised us with a night in the suite at Zion Lodge. Ava slept a full 12 hours (unheard of!) on the sofa bed and I got to revel in clean sheets on the king size bed. We also had a lovely dinner and breakfast at the Lodge's restaurant.

The next morning I wanted to hike the Hidden Canyon trail but Ava said her legs hurt. I expected that after a long day hiking so she got to ride in the backpack carrier. (That's the last time she'll fit in that thing!) Sunday the weather was perfectly clear, calm, sunny and cool and we took our time enjoying the hike and having lunch on the rocks. Ava kept insisting that Jon follow her lead, even when she was riding in the pack, making sure he held on to the chain on the climbs and stepped on all the right rocks. When she walked, she made him follow the line in the sand left by the stick she dragged along. At any moment on the trip if he was out of sight, she would scold me and say "MOM, we gotta wait for Daddy!" But do you think she said that when I was out of the picture?

After the hike we were supposed to drive home but decided to camp another night. After finding another site and a quick trip for groceries, it was time to relax.

The wind howled all that night and the next morning so we packed up and headed out. Can't think of a better way to celebrate ten happy stinkin' years of my little family!!

A Lesson in Taxidermy

While Marianne is living it up with friends, Manhattan style, Ava and I decided to indulge in some wanderlust and head to Wyoming. While the weather didn't quite cooperate, Jackson was the quietest I have ever expierenced it, giving Ava and I lots of space to reconnect while wandering the boardwalk town.

It is no secret however that Ava is not a shopper. She grimaces at the thought of browsing and I think I heard her mumble something under her breath when I told her we were going to walk around town to window shop. But, regardless, her charming wit had perfect timing while we walked through a store naming the several stuffed game animals on display and mimicked the sounds they make...well made, when we came to stare up at a large, shaggy moose. Without thinking I asked her what he would say (while standing there stuffed, staring blankly in a store) instead of asking what do moose say, in general. Without skipping a beat and with a bit of a grimace on her face, she growled in her best moose impersonation, "Oooo...I am not feeling too good"!
You had to be there.

Jackson Hole 2008

We spent the last week in July in Jackson, Wyoming for the annual Lauder family vacation. In terms of our own personal agenda, this was the laziest vacation in our history. We always plan to do some camping or set out to hike some grandiose trail for a few days on our own. Even the last couple of years when Ava was still tiny we managed to hike far up into the Tetons and explore some Yellowstone backcountry. This year? I think Jon and I are cumulatively just worn out. The thought of being up half the night with Ava because she won’t sleep anywhere but her own bed and then having to deal with her grumpiness all day was enough to keep us firmly grounded at the condo with the rest of the family. I fear our survival instinct is growing stronger than our need for adventure….ugh, we’re becoming old fuddy-duddies.

Happily, Ava slept much better than anticipated (which doesn’t really say much considering I expected absolute insomnia hell) and I didn’t even have to share my bed with the little wiggler. Every night she kicked around in her Pack-n-Play with the whole extra inch it gave around her height. But at least she slept and only woke up crying once or twice the whole week. Huzzah!

The most blissful moments of the trip for me were spent on my 32 mile road bike trek. I was only going to go out for about an hour and headed out behind town and north to Teton Village. But when I arrived there in no time at all and saw the entrance to Teton NP right there, I decided to keep going, probably against my better judgment since I had no ID, no wallet, no tools, and no food. I had nothing with me but a couple of water bottles. The woman at the entrance station graciously let me enter for free and about 10 seconds after that (cover your ears, Jeffrey) I began wondering how my super-duper speedy lightweight road bike would perform on a rocky, holey dirt road. Looking back, I realize just how lucky I was to escape a flat tire or a dropped chain and having to walk the 15 miles back to town. So the ride was sketchy and slow there for a bit, but boy, was it gorgeous! There’s something about the Teton Valley landscape that just absolutely feels like home to me. Every rock and flower feels familiar. I sped into Moose, then headed south along the main park highway and just managed to avoid being flattened by some gargantuan motorhome.

That Saturday night all the Teerlinks attended the Jackson Rodeo. Ava just couldn’t get over the sight of the carnival rides on the other side of the arena and pitched a fit so I was able to watch all of 10 minutes of the rodeo before taking her out to the petting zoo and home to bed. But I think overall everyone else enjoyed it.

As tradition holds, everyone in the family gathers for an afternoon at String Lake. We eat lunch, paddle in the canoes, catch frogs, and jump off rocks. I bought Ava a little blowup floatie shaped like a spaceship and was rewarded with a big, beautiful perma-grin on her shining face. But mostly she just loves to throw rocks in the water and wade around in her Tevas so I’ve learned that toys are just baggage when there’s splashing to be done. We took our turn in the Keowee and Ava even let Jon paddle for a bit.

One afternoon we took a stroll on our own to Phelps lake and Ava showed her true hiking colors. She was absolutely a trooper and hiked most of the way there on her own. Her little legs got tired on the way back so she rode on Jon's shoulders and made up for it by declaring that he must jump! off every rock in the trail.

Other trip highlights included the traditional hike to Hidden "Waterfalldown" and the boat ride back across Jenny Lake and a visit to Rockefeller center. Pretty low key, lazy vacation.

All in all, a MUCH better vacation than last year's Jackson trip simply because we all felt happier. We finally learned to lower our standards. Maybe we'll get braver and actually try camping again someday.

A Glimpse of the Desert

After a camping trip with friends was cancelled last week, we decided we’d still take a trip of our own. Jon took Friday through Tuesday off of work and we headed out the door with the car packed by noon on Saturday. We drove down through Torrey and Capitol Reef NP and found a dispersed camping site all to ourselves a couple of miles east of the Park border. From the moment we stepped out of the car, Ava was running her hands through the sand; I just knew bringing a bucket and shovel was a good idea.















We absolutely love the Fruita campground but thought that we needed to have some space far from others just in case Ava put up a stink around bedtime. Whoever coined the term “parental instinct” absolutely gets it. Boy, that girl sure did wail. I did finally coax her to relax and go to sleep but she woke again in the middle of the night and for several hours we catered to her every whim- giving her light sticks, snacks, drinks, and a bed to lie between us. Finally she passed out again but only on Jon’s shoulder and the rest of the night was rough for him.

The next morning, Ava and I got up for breakfast (not such a happy camper for that as you can see) and then drove back into the Park to let Daddy sleep for a bit. We took a walk to see some petroglyphs but mostly ended up checking out the plethora of tent caterpillars that fall like rain out of the trees this time of year. A caterpillar fell onto the front of her shirt and she let out the funniest squeal of both delight and disgust and did a little wiggly dance until I got it off.

Later that day we took a miniature hike with Ava in the pack but she didn’t want to have much to do with that, either. So we headed back and of course she fell asleep right as we approached the car. Not about to disturb her, we let her sleep in the pack in the front seat of the car.

We actually had a great time the rest of the day, letting Ava play in the water and mud in the river, having homemade pie at the Pioneer House, and stopping for a burger and ice on the way back to camp.








However, when it was time for bed, Ava wasn’t about to have any of that nonsense again. She wouldn’t even go near the tent without a fight, let alone get into her crib. We both tried laying with her and anything else we could think of but since she was near hysterics and we’d just have to pack up in the morning after another sleepless night, we cried uncle. This wasn’t the first time we’ve driven home from camping in the middle of the night- at least this time it was still light while we broke camp. We made it home at 2 a.m., slept late that morning and had the rest of a fun vacation at home. We spent a great day at the park flying a kite, eating lunch, and fooling around. Looks like our family camping days will be more of a challenge than we feared, but call us crazy, we haven’t given up yet.

Trip to Colorado Springs

During the week of Valentine’s Day, Ava and my mom and I flew to Colorado Springs to visit my sister, Christina, and her house full of boyness. (Jon had to be in Wendover for a conference during the same time so he didn’t get too lonely.) It also happened to be Christina’s birthday while we were there.

Ava generally enjoyed the flight over, except for the part where the doors were shut and the plane was aloft. She kept crying and saying “Out” and pointing for the door. I’m sure it didn’t help that we were on a commuter jet, making things feel even more enclosed, and also the fact that it was past her bedtime. Heck, we survived, and without the bonus of rotten tomato smears from other passengers. The flight back actually went much more smoothly, probably owing to the fact that she was able to sit in her own seat and put M&Ms in the little cup thingy on the tray table.

Anyway, I think Ava and I single handedly managed to throw the Gleason household into even MORE chaos during our stay. Clayton (age 4-nearly 5) is such a sweet boy and absolutely adores Ava. He calls her his little A-V-A. He always wanted to play with her and could hardly resist constantly hugging her, much to Ava’s chagrin. In this era of her life, Little Ava’s personality contains a chunk that inexplicably causes her to run and scream at the approach of any other child, regardless of whether that child is ignoring her or smothering her with affection. I have seen her delightedly run up to gigantic furry dogs and then come screaming back to me when she realizes that the dog is accompanying another kid on his walk. Seriously, Ava. Her reaction to her other cousin, Samuel (age 18 months), was similar. Sammy could really care less about playing with her, but they are close enough in age that they like the same toys. Ava never gets aggressive, takes toys from others, or pushes kids away; she just grips her toy with desperation and runs in terror. So you can imagine the scene every time Sammy showed his cute smiling face.

However, once the kids were adequately corralled, we adults managed to enjoy each other’s company. We made an aborted trip to Outback Steakhouse for Christina’s birthday dinner; I’m sure we made the other diners’ experience more authentic to the Australian outback than they would have preferred. But hey, we tried, and the meat was just as tasty back at the Gleason kitchen table. We all exchanged Valentine’s gifts and had a blast doorbell ditching each other. We had lunch out one day and Clayton, Ava, and Grandma painted some lovely garden rocks.

The weather was nice enough one afternoon that we even made a trip to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. The highlight of this zoo is the giraffe habitat, where an elevated boardwalk allows you to wander through at giraffe eye level. The kids had a blast feeding them crackers, never mind their long purple tongues. We counted at least 15 giraffes, including several babies. There was also a budgie display, meerkats, tigers, and Ava took her first ride on a merry-go-round.

So all in all, really a great trip for us, thanks to Christina and Ross for being so accommodating and just so friggin’ awesome.