Staycation recap!

Our staycation started at 4:30 am on Thursday.
Christopher was picked up and taken down town to be "processed" into the
Army National guard.
There is a rumor circulating that he joined the Coast Guard,
but he was sworn in later that day to the Army.
He will be doing Lingusitics, Arabic.
He leaves for basic in Feb, and will spend sometime in Monterey, California
before his mission for our Church.
The rest of us spent the day eating out and killing time waiting for his swearing in ceremony.
It is a rewarding experience to watch your child make decisions for their life.
A lot of thought and prayer went in to Christopher's decision.
I am proud of his desire to serve.
We rallied the troops at 7:00 am Friday .
We were quickly reminded that everyone had the day off and shouldn't be awake.
We then informed them of our desire to spend the day climbing mountains,
and we needed to drop off Dieter to be "fixed" on the way.
The original plan was to take both cars.
8 people + gigantic dog= 2 cars
right?
Well, no. You see the van wouldn't start. Wouldn't even turn over. It was parked far enough into the garage that we couldn't get the other car in close enough to try and jump start it.
(you remember my wanting to help my kids make a haunted house? Well the "project" is still all over the inside of the garage.)
No, biggie, I inform them.
We have to have Dieter there by 8 am, no time to worry about the car,
we'll just all go in the Explorer.
That's when the full assault mutiny began.
"Your crazy!"
"Dad, do something!"
"Sweetheart, this may be asking a bit much."
What a bunch of ninnies! Dieter can ride with me in the front seat.
And so he did.
Most of you haven't seen Dieter lately.
He's 110 lbs and very fluffy.
You can imagine the looks we got at stop lights.
I'll have you know, Dieter was successfully dropped off and the 35 minute ride wasn't that bad.
You will also note that many of my favorite road trip cd's came up missing...well, never fear, I still had "The Very Best of Dwight Yoakum" and "Crooners-Perry Como, Dean Martin, Tony Bennet, Mel Torme, and Frank", that'll teach 'em.
Next on the agenda, Mt Timpanogos.
Breathtakingly beautiful.
Again, complaints all the way up , and joking and smiles all the way home.
Other things accomplished on our little weekend with the fam.
We watched ET,which most of them had never seen before,
pumpkin patch in the dark, steamers at Starbucks,
dinner with extended family,
football, volleyball, skate park,
sugar cookies, caramel corn, ice berg.

and I slept in till 1:00 pm yesterday to recover.