Gribble Summer, Part 1

At the end of June, we went up to Fort Collins to do some camping. We had a very picturesque campsite right on Pinewood reservoir, but our site was so sloped we couldn’t even find a flat spot for the tent…which was a real problem, because our friends Andrew and Maggie and their kids Tilley and Whit were joining us the second night. Benjamin kept tumbling down the hill. On Saturday, we drove around the reservoir to a little beach. The kids haven’t been to the beach too often; there just aren’t very many in Colorado! Phoebe had a great time. Benjamin was a little suspicious of the cold water on his feet.

Phoebe came to a Lafayette Ladies lunch with me; several of my publishing friends live in Lafayette, so we’re getting together once a month. On the way out of the building, Phoebe and I stopped in a fancy kitchen shop, where we discovered 3-D cookie cutters. Here’s the result!

Too bad no one at our house really likes sugar cookies.

Our good friends the Johnsons (Katie, Todd, Henry, and Ingrid) were in Boulder for the whole summer this year! We saw them several times, including for supper on the Fourth of July before we went over to the church to watch Boulder’s fireworks together.

We were delighted to leave the rest of the animal cookies with the Johnsons. The next day I happened to see a mouse dart behind our refrigerator. We caught him/her with some peanut butter in a strategically placed humane trap. What a cutie!

Like all almost-2-year-olds, Benjamin gets all kinds of bumps and scrapes. He must’ve run into a wall—or another kid—with his face, because he had a black bruise in the shape of his glasses underneath his eye.

July 6

July 8

On July 8, Benjamin was scheduled to have his hearing checked again. Of course, on the night of the 7th, he clearly had a cold. I called to see if they could still do the test, and the coordinator said that he could have his ears checked by his ear, nose, and throat doctor, and if there was no fluid behind them, he could be tested. Sure enough, they were clear, so we went ahead with everything. The test was a sleeping ABR (auditory brainstem response), which seemed like a good alternative to sedating Benjamin again. Like many kids, if he’s really sick, he tends to sleep it off, but I figured with a cold he’d be restless. We borrowed his cot and naptime blanket from daycare.

July 12

My good friend Karen Williams and I went to the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya up in Redfeather Lakes. It rained so hard on the way up, we had to stop because we couldn’t see the road. Then we missed a turn and wound up in Wyoming. Finally we found it. As always, it was a lovely, peaceful place to be.

July 13

July 18

We made plans to drive to Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, which is halfway between Pittsburgh and Boulder, so we could see Dave’s sister Erika, her wife Heidi, and their girls, Genevieve and Cordelia. While we were making plans, I invited my aunt Linda and her sons, Evers and Ashe. There are some camper cabins for rent in the Lake of the Ozarks State Park, so each family rented one.

We had a softball game in the evening on Thursday, so we headed out on the road after the game. The kids are pretty good at road trips by now: Phoebe can recite the Gribble road trip rules.
1. Tell Mom and Dad if you have to go potty.
2. Take turns playing kid and adult music.
3. Have fun!

After a few nighttime and a few more daytime stops, we arrived at the state park after lunch. We checked out the very hospitable cabin, and it wasn’t too long until Erika, Heidi, and the girls showed up. We had dinner together and then put the kids to bed. Dave and I stayed up drinking beer by the fire and discussing whether the eyes I clearly saw reflected in the night were eyes or lightening bugs. (We don’t have lightening bugs in Colorado, so those turned out to be a treat for Phoebe.) Sure enough, they were eyes! We counted many raccoons, who had come to eat the Cheerios we’d thrown off the deck of the cabin so Benjamin wouldn’t eat them off the floor.

I slept so well in the loft of the cabin, I started to think we should buy an “industrial mattress” for our bed at home! (Of course, we drove all night, so I was sleepy, and the temperature at night was reasonable.) On Saturday morning, I got up earlyish and went for a short jog. It was lovely to be outside, but it was so hot and muggy! We spent the morning hanging out with the cousins and eating the delicious egg breakfast Dave cooked. There were no kitchens in the cabins, so everything was cooked outside, just like camping. That meant we spent much of each day cooking, eating, and cleaning up.

Saturday afternoon, Linda and the boys arrived, so we waited for them to move into Cabin #3 before all heading to the beach that was around the other side of the lake. Dave and I aren’t wild about sand (or weird lake water with little dead fish floating by people’s heads), but the kids had a good time. Phoebe really liked “swimming” from parent to parent, and Benjamin let Linda hold him!

On Sunday we took a long trip around the lake to tour Ozark Caverns. This was Phoebe’s second show cave, so she felt very comfortable. We weren’t allowed to bring in our cameras because of the threat of White Nose Syndrome being passed from cave to cave, but there were some wonderful formations, including a “showerhead” that continually poured into a “bathtub.” After the cave we played putt-putt at a pirate course and went for ice cream. A very full day!

On Monday morning I got up and went for a 7-mile run. It was one of the most fun runs I’ve ever done, with the trees making a canopy over my head and all that oxygen at sea level! I could breathe the whole time. In the afternoon, I had to go into town (Osage Beach) to give a presentation about open access to a work meeting, so I used Starbucks’ internet by the side of a highway while Dave and the kids drove around. The modern era!

Erika, Heidi, and the girls left on Monday, so we enjoyed Linda, Evers, and Ashe by ourselves until Tuesday morning, when we all packed up and drove home. It was a much nicer vacation than I’d imagined when we planned to meet up in Missouri!