To love or to be loved?

Astute boy

Sometimes G and I get on topics of discussion and I can't remember how we got there.  But they almost always prove to be interesting.

We got onto the topic of cremation.  Basically he wanted to know what happens when a person dies so I explained a little bit about burial and the science behind decomposition (being that he's a science kind of guy) and then I explained cremation.  He said he didn't like the idea of cremation and I explained that I want to be cremated and that Grandpa Alan was cremated.

We finished up the conversation and moved on to doing something else and later he stopped what he was doing and he said, "You know mommy, even though Grandpa Alan's body is gone he still loves you.  You should know that."

I was taken a little aback by the maturity of that statement.  I said, "I know that, son, a parents love for their child never ever dies, even when they do."

He simply said, "Yeah," and went back to playing.

We be trippin'!

G and I took a road trip south.  He had a dentist appointment at 2:45 (6.5 hour drive).  We left with about an hour and a half cushion (i.e. about 6:30 in the morning).  We get only a few miles from home when what do I see trotting up the highway in front of me?  Two mules.  Uh, there's plenty of strange stuff up here but wild mules is not one of them.  They looked well cared for so I knew they belonged somewhere other than the middle of the highway.  Either they were going to get hurt or they were going to get someone hurt.  I flipped them around using my car (easier than it sounds) and started pushing them back towards where I thought they might have come from.  Not just to return them to where they belong but to get them as far off the highway as I could.  Long story short, I got them a few miles off the highway but did not locate owners.  I went to find E to let him know he was going to have a possible traffic hazard...but he wasn't at home like I'd thought he'd be.  I called his work and they said he was trying to find me.  Oops.  I caught up with him and told him the deal with the mules and he handed over my entire toiletries case that I'd left on the bathroom counter.  Phew!  I later found out that the mules had broken out of the corral at the Ranger Station and that they'd been looking for them for a few hours.

Now my 1.5 hour cushion is gone.  Shit.  I called the dentist office and the best they could do was move us to 3:15 pm.  Well, I'll try but I make no guarantees.  I despise being late to anything.  We only made one stop the entire way down and that was for gas.

We made it to the appointment with only minutes to spare.

The fun thing is, my car was acting strangely.  It shifted so hard on one mountain pass that I looked in my rearview mirror to make sure I hadn't left the transmission on the highway.  I continued to our next destination (Uncle Mongo's house) and the next day I was able to get it looked at.  No stress there or anything...except they couldn't find anything wrong so then I felt like a mental case.

We spent almost a week at Uncle Mongo's house and we got to do some awesome stuff.  We explored the Snake River Canyon, we went to a bounce house, we go to see Transformers 4, go swimming in the river, and visit the planetarium.  That was so cool, I can't wait to take my little solar system nut there again someday, he loved it!  We got to spend time with one of our favorite people and play at playgrounds and we even got to have our first taste of Chik-Fil-A (stop laughing, we don't have those up here).  It was good but I don't see what the extreme love for their sandwiches and fries is all about.  Poor Uncle Mongo had to sit through The Lego Movie a few times but he was a really good sport about it.

We took time out for a quick haircut.

G loved the Snake River Canyon.  He'd never seen anything like it before, except in picture books of course.

Uncle Mongo was a great tour guide!  G would follow him anywhere!

This is what G looks like when he doesn't feel good :(

On our way home we stopped at Craters Of The Moon National Park.  I thought it was going to be one of those places where you drive through and look at the sites.  Oh how wrong I was.  We stopped at the Vistor's Center first and discovered the Lunar Ranger program.  It's a booklet of activities for children to participate in throughout the park.  Once G saw that he was hooked and we had to do it.  It's not about sitting in your car driving by the sites because the coolest things to see you have to walk or even hike to.  Whew!  It was about 100 degrees and it's a lot of black rock.  It.was.hot. and oh so much fun!!!

Emmet went everywhere G went and saw everything G saw.

We climbed an Inferno Cone.  Straight up it went.  And up.  And up.  And when we were at what we thought was the top, we discovered it kept going.  So up we went.  And up.  The view from the top (once I caught my breath) was awesome and so windy!  Even G had to work hard!

That right there is Big Southern Butte.  G and I argued and argued about whether or not it's a big, dormant volcano.  If you read the pamphlet information on it, you'll see which one of us won the argument.

Top of the Inferno Cone.

We started back down the cone...and G's Lunar Ranger booklet was ripped from his hands by the wind.  He chased down the wrong side of the cone after it as the wind blew it further and further away from him.  I was hollering at him to let it go because we weren't supposed to be going down the side of the cone like that.  He collapsed into a sobbing heap of despair.  So of course I took off after the booklet.  Thankfully about 5/8 of the way down the side the wind stopped just long enough that I was able to throw myself down on it.  Then I got to climb all.the.way. back up to where G was clapping and thanking me.  Then we continued our journey on down to the car.  I was so tired that I wanted to cry.

Then we came upon the Broken Top Loop Trail.  Pretty easy hike from the looks of things.  Unless you're me and G and you do it backwards.  And get lost off the main trail.  At the hottest time of the day.  Oh the whining.  We had to stop and take breaks in any shade we could find once we made our way back to the actual trail.  What should have taken us an hour took us almost two and a half hours.  We got to see some awesome stuff, don't get me wrong, but WOW we were d.o.n.e. with our Craters adventure after that.  Good thing that was the last stop before heading back to the Visitor's Center!  

See me at marker 9?  G took my picture there because it's called Big Cinder Butte.  One of my dad's nicknames for me was Cinder.  When I told G that he thought it was cute and I needed my picture taken.

G decided he wanted me to take his picture two.  I'm more than happy to oblige, kiddo!

Oh what I forgot to mention earlier is that the day before we left G's cold came back.  He was pretty miserable just with the cold so how he managed to do all this hiking and walking in 100 degree weather is beyond me.  I guess he knows he can push his physical limits even when he's sick?

He was a whiny boy, I was just happy to be hanging out with my favorite kid!

So back to the Visitor's Center we went...to show them that G had done his packet and therefore he could be sworn in as a Lunar Ranger and get a patch.  He's all about "earning" rewards like a patch and he wants so badly to earn his own trophy.  Doing what?  He doesn't know, he just wants a trophy of his own!

Here is part of his "swearing in" by the Ranger.  He was so embarrassed that he whispered it.  Cracked me up.

And the coveted patch.  He asked for one for Emmet too since Emmet did all the things G did.  She wouldn't give him one even when he gave her his sweet face.

The drive home is was gorgeous because the scenery was mostly new to us.  We'd drive through a rainstorm and into sunshine.

We stopped and stretched our legs at the Salmon River.

It looks like a forest fire huh?  Nope, just a rainstorm on Lost Trail Pass.

After a really long day on the road (we left at 10:30 am, got home at 11:15 pm) we finally arrived home to a waiting E.  The next day the cold hit me too.  Oy.