Reflections on the TVCUU tragedy

Link to one of the many articles...Click here

Our hearts are breaking for our fellow UUs of the Tennessee Valley UU Church. The acts of one can affect so many. The needless waste of lives, the suffering brought to innocent families, and the trauma of the precious children who will forever carry the burden of this memory. Who could do such a thing? 

And who could defend it? I am amazed, though I suppose I shouldn't be, by the overwhelming backlash against our faith. Those who, instead of mourning the tragedy, claim that our UU churches deserved this, or brought it on ourselves. Because we believe that every person has worth, that Love you Neighbor means ALL your neighbors? Because we believe in a search for truth that does not dictate, demand or lay guilt? Because we believe that peace is worth working for? If this is the so-called "liberal movement" that the shooter referred to, I fail to see how it makes us worthy of a slaughter. 

Our beliefs may be different, but our congregations are filled with loving, open minded people who give so much of themselves to their families and to the community. Hate has no place in our churches, and the fact that hate would therefore be directed at us is more than ironic, it is a sign of a deep-rooted problem in our society. If you don't like our message, go to a different church. Or stay home. But don't resort to violence against innocent people to let us know that you disagree. And don't condone those who do - there is no excuse on this green earth that can justify it. 

Our Day @ Rocky Mountain

RMNP Photo Album - Click here

Rocky Mountain National Park is one of our very favorite places, and we try to make sure we get up there at least once every summer. So we drug ourselves out of bed as early as we could on Saturday morning (which of course wasn't as early as we had planned) and quickly tried to gather everything we thought we might need for the day's hiking adventure. We realized just down the street that we had forgotten the sunscreen and went back for it, then made a quick stop by Carl's Jr.s to pick up some breakfast for the road. The drive up to Estes Park was fairly uneventful, with almost no traffic. Lily watched one Backyardigans episode on the iPod, other than that we all just enjoyed the scenery and each other's company.

As we were nearing the gate to the Park, we came to the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center and decided to stop for a quick potty break. Just as we were getting back into the car Lily asked for some water - so we opened up the back of the car to get a bottle out of our packs. Except that the water pack wasn't there! Somehow in our rush to leave we must have left it si

tting on the kitchen table. I had one bottle in my daypack, but we knew that wouldn't be nearly enough even with the water filter, unless we wanted to be stopping every half hour on the trail to fill it up again. So we headed back inside hoping to find some vending machines where we could get a few more bottles.

We didn't find any machines, but the gift shop sold large re-usuable sport bottles so we bought one of those. And Lily spent some allowance on a small stuffed Eagle fingerpuppet. I was glad she had asked for water while we were there - finding another bottle once in the park would have been much more difficult! This meant however that ALL of the water was going to be in the daypack making it heavier than usual.

We drove on into the park - the line at the entrance gate was the longest I think I have seen, but it moved pretty fast. It was a little after 10:00am when we entered. Our National Parks Annual Pass we got last summer was still good at least. We will need a new one before we go to Moab in October though. We had already picked out our first destination - we wanted to do the Mills Lake hike, which was off of the Glacier Gorge Trailhead. It is in the same area of the park as the Bear Lake Trailhead which we have started from many times, and knew well enough that the lots would be full by now so we went ahead to the Shuttle lot and waited for a bus. Lily always gets a kick out of riding the shuttle anyway.

It was extremely busy in the parking lot and we had to wait for a second shuttle. I was glad to see though that almost no one else got off at Glacier Gorge, apparently everyone was heading for Bear Lake. The trail was still a bit crowded at first, not unbearable but there were always other people within sight. It was only a short walk on the trail to Alberta Falls, and I suspected that much of the crowds would dissipate after that.

It was shaping up to be a very pleasant day - warm and sunny, but not excruciatingly hot as it had been lately in the Springs. And even with the crowds it seemed peaceful and cheery. It wasn't long before we came to the falls, after following Glacier Creek for about a half-mile. It was certainly a popular destination. We got a few pictures by the falls and were heading on down the trail when Lily spotted the rocky area that went up beside the falls. Lots of large flat boulders gently sloping upwards - it wasn't really part of the trail but it didn't look all that treacherous and plenty of others (many with small children) had gone up there already so we decided to be adventures and go explore. There were some really neat nooks right beside the falls where we could watch the water rushing past (at a safe distance away of course). One spot was shaped just so that the falls reminded me of a waterslide...not one I would want to ride though! We carefully made our way back down and picked up the trail towards Mills Lake again.

As I had suspected, it was much less crowded now, though there was still a fairly regular trickle of hikers. One stopped and showed us a spot up on the hill where he insisted he had seen aGrizzly Bear earlier in the day...he was sure it

was a Grizzly because it was light brown. Brian and I tried not to laugh too much until he was out of earshot - Grizzlies have long been extinct in this region though black bears are still quite plentiful. A common misconception is that black bears are always black, in fact they can be just about any color, including light brown. I don't doubt that he saw a bear, but the chances that a lone Grizzly suddenly found itself in the middle of Rocky Mountain National Park are pretty much zero. I was still a little jealous though, I've never even glimpsed a bear in the wild before. Not that I'd want to get too close (even to a black bear), but an unexpected view of one in the distance would be really cool.

The weather was still beautiful, but we noticed with some worry the dark puffy clouds forming above us. Hopefully the rain would hold out a few more hours, but I was starting to doubt it.It was then that I realized I hadn't packed the raincoats! Or a dry change of clothes. We had extra sweatshirts in the car, but that was it. It wasn't the first thing we realized we forgot, and it wouldn't be the last.

Before long we were getting hungry for lunch so we found a nice rocky ledge on the side of the trail to sit and enjoy our peanut butter and jelly picnic that we had packed. A very ambitious chipmunk refused to leave us alone, apparently someone has been feeding the wildlife. Of course we didn't give him anything - I'm not sure why people seem to think they are doing these creatures a favor by increasing their dependance on us. It will not serve them well one day. With our hunger abated we headed on down the trail. The scenery was simply stunning, with views of the mountains and valley in between. And the rushing sounds of the creek were never far away. As much as we love traveling and seeing new places, I thought nothing would ever be able to compare to this right here.

By this time we were almost out of water and found a good place near the creek to fill up again. Lily has learned how to help Brian with the water filter so they quickly set about their task. While they were working, I felt the first raindrop hit my head. By the time they were done, it was definitely raining, though not too hard yet. We continued on to another bridge and ran into some people we know from church. It wasn't more than a few minutes before we felt the raindrops turn to hail. It was coming down hard and we were getting pelted pretty good, I knew we had to find some sort of shelter and escape this beating. We dove under the nearest tree, which helped some but there wasn't really enough room for all of us to fit. And being the tallest tree around, it was likely to become a lightning magnet. We needed to move. So we went a little deeper into the trees where we could spread out, but the hail was still coming through pretty hard. Not knowing what else to do we decided to head on down the trail, might as well make some progress or look for better shelter while getting pounded.

It must have been coming down harder then I realized, once in the open I don't remember much except continually shouting "OWW!" and within moments Brian

yelling from somewhere

ahead that he had found a much better spot. All I cared was that it was close. He lead us up the bank to a shallow cave, with just enough overhang to block the unceasing onslaught outside. We cuddled inside, grateful at last for a real shelter. I couldn't believe no one was in here already! That was a very lucky find indeed. It was actually very

peaceful watching the hail, which eventually turned to rain, fall over the valley from inside the protection of our little cave. Many other hikers came by and complimented us on our find when they saw us tucked inside, we offered to let them come inside too, but no one took us up on it. A couple came by later that thought we looked so cute they wanted to take our picture for us!

We wondered how long we would have to wait this out. We didn't want to put ourselves in danger of being out past dark-no flashlights! We had forgotten the flashlights. Was there anything we DIDN'T forget??? I did happen to have a towel in the backpack, I had grabbed it out of the car at the last minute thinking it would be useful for our picnic, but it came in even more handy now, as Lily was a little bit cold from being wet. We weren't soaked fortunately, but damp enough to create a chill in the rain-cooled air.

Finally, after about 40 minutes the rain subsided, though the storm didn't appear to be completely over. We took advantage of the break in the weather and headed out. We knew we were

close to the lake by now and were not going to turn back without at least seeing it, rain or not. It was only a very light drizzle by now anyway, hopefully the skies wouldn't open up again any time soon. The trail had really cleared out, we only occasionally passed anyone now. The sky still looked very foreboding though the rain had stopped, there was a strange grey, foggy quiet blanketing the whole valley. It was creepy, but kind of cool at the same time.

We reached the lake - only a handful of others were scattered out along the banks. A gloomy peace, but very pretty nonetheless. We walked on around the lake, intending to take the trail on to nearby Jewel lake since the weather was holding out. I think we were off the trail for a while, but stumbled onto it again and found our way to the second lake. After Jewel lake, the trail continues to Black Lake, but having lost so much time in the storm I was afraid we wouldn't make it

back in time. So after a while we turned to head back, and found a semi-private area up a hill to use the "facilities".

We had to carefully navigate much of the trail back, as the rocky terrain was quite slick in places, and going down is always harder than going up! By the time we got back to Mills Lake the sun was out, and it had warmed up quite a bit. We sat by the lake for a few minutes enjoying the view and the peaceful surroundings.

It was already after 4pm, and no big surprise, Lily started getting cranky. This no-naps thing is still presenting a bit of a challenge most days. We didn't have any major meltdowns, but there were a few difficult moments. She is a very intense, emotional person. Which are not bad traits, most of the time :) But when she gets tired those values get magnified to the point that she cannot control them. But we eventually made it back not too much worse for the wear, with Lily doing a fair amount of puddle stomping on the way! She and Brian actually ran the last part of the trail, just for fun.

We made it back to the bus stop, while waiting for the shuttle Lily took our picture! The shuttle dropped us off back at the parking lot, at one point earlier I had fully expected that we would be soaked to the bone by now! Thanks to our impromptu shelter, and some good luck with the weather we were completely dry, but tired. We had planned to drive up Trail Ridge Road and explore a little bit up there, but it was after 6pm, and we were hungry for dinner. And Lily was practically sleepwalking by now. So we headed out of the park back towards Estes, but Lily was asleep by the time we got there. So we kept going, thinking there was no way we would keep her awake long enough to eat right then.

As we were coming into Denver we saw a sign for Cracker Barrel, we couldn't remember the last time we had eaten at one so decided to go there. Cracker Barrel is one of those places that always sounds better than it ends up being, but I never remember that until I am eating there. Oh well, it was food anyway and soon we were back on the road heading for home. Lily managed to walk inside the house, but collapsed on the living room floor. It had been a long day!

New Vacation Tickers

So many places to see, so little time... or so it seems! We actually have the next few years planned out pretty well as far as our travels. Of course nothing past next summer is official, but its in the plans anyway! I made tickers for all of our known (or hoped for) trips... there is a link to them at the top but here is where we stand as of today:

Moab, UT, Fall Break 2009 (Oct 4-7) - 2 months, 1 week, 3 days

Magic Kingdom & Sea World, Christmas Break 2009 - 4 months, 3 weeks, 6 days

Skiing @ Keystone, Jan 24-26 - 6 months

Glacier National Park, Summer Vacation 2009 - 11 months, 2 weeks, 3 days

The rest are tentative...

Chicago via Amtrak, Fall Break 2009 - 14 months, 1 week

DisneyLand, Summer Vacation 2010 - 1 year, 10 months, 6 days

Costa Rica via Adventures by Disney, Summer Vacation 2011 - 2 years, 10 months, 1 week

Those last few seem so far away! But at least I have some incentive now to budget carefully, which will be a must if we are going to be able to afford the Costa Rica trip! That of course is my pick, which should have come in 2010, but after crunching the numbers there was just no way. By switching with Lily we will have an extra year to save up. Makes sense anyway, might as well do DisneyLand when she is a year younger, and our big adventure trip when she is a year older!

Okay, now time to get back to work and stop fantasizing about vacation...

Lily's Fun Day

Fun Day Photo Album - Click here

The day had come. Once a quarter, on each of my breaks, Lily gets a "fun day", where she gets to basically do whatever she wants for a whole day. Within reason of course :) For her Summer Fun Day, we had picked this day, Friday July 11. It was the last weekday before starting her new school! She had decided that she wanted to go to the North Pole, mostly because now that she had finally gotten over her fear of characters she was looking forward to an early visit with Santa! She had seen him once at school, but I wasn't there to see it, and in the picture she looked totally terrified. She would never go near him at the mall. We hadn't been to the North Pole since she was 2, and she had seemed so much younger then!

At 5:45am she bounced into my room, waking me up and proudly showing me that she was all dressed and ready to go! Unfortunately the North Pole didn't open for another 4 hours. She finally managed to drag me out of bed. We hung around the house for a while, then headed out for breakfast at Chick-fil-a. She usually gets an egg and cheese biscuit there, but decided to try it with sausage this time, and after tasting it couldn't figure out why she had never wanted it that way before! The lady at the register told us it was "Dress like a Cow Day" and encouraged us to come back for dinner. We didn't have any cow costumes, but I thought it might be fun to come back anyway. After eating she played on the playground there for a while and then we were off to see the elves!

We arrived around 9:30, about a half hour before they opened. There were already some people hanging out in the parking lot but I figured we might as well go stand at the entrance - we were the first in line! It was a bit of a wait, but soon there were lots of others there as well and we chatted a bit with some of them to pass the time. Finally the doors opened, we paid, and made a beeline for Santa's house (the only thing at North Pole that can have exceptionally long waits) Of course we were the first to arrive, and she went right up to him and sat in his lap! She didn't have any idea what she wanted for Christmas yet, but we got a nice picture. Something I had been waiting over 3 years for! Afterwards we talked about his outfit, and decided that must be his "summer wardrobe."

Lily wanted to ride the Paratroopers ride first - this was the ride she loved last time but I was nervous the whole time because she was so little then I was afraid she was going to fall out! I still can't believe how relaxed their height requirements are. This time I felt much more confident. And Lily squealed with delight throughout the whole ride! next we did the Sky Ride, a chairlift-like ride that makes a loop along the outer edge of one side of the the park. It made me think of the upcoming ski season...still a little ways off I know!

We did the Himalaya next, a ride that takes you very rapidly in a circle, first forwards, then backwards. This was Lily's first ever "thrill ride" when we came last time. We weren't ready for the Tilt-a-whirl yet, and the Peppermint Slide was still closed so we headed toward the back of the park, stopping for a drink at Mother Hubbard's Cupboard along the way. I couldn't believe how hot it was already! It was going to be a scorcher. We climbed the massive hill to the Dive Bomber and Space Shuttle - the Dive Bomber was completely empty so we did that one first and got a solo ride. It swings you in a circle - and your pod has a sail that you can move to catch the wind just right. We made some pretty cool moves.

She wanted to do the Space Shuttle, which is one of those rocking things - a lot of amusement parks have the same thing as a pirate ship, or dragon. Last time we came it made her tummy hurt, but I figured we would give it a try since we were here. It's really just a giant swing, and we all know how much she loves swings! I think this actually ended up being her favorite thing there - she screamed (happily) and laughed the whole time - said it made her "sizzle"! Then we went to the Farris Wheel. This is the world's highest Farris Wheel at around 7400 ft above sea level. And it is not a Farris Wheel for the faint hearted - perched on the side of the mountain, instead of a cage you are in a seat with a small bar across your lap, and it launches you with breathtaking speed into the air overlooking the landscape below.

There was a magic show starting soon so we walked over to the Showhouse Building to watch, and saw some pretty cool tricks and illusions. Afterwards we rode the Dive Bomber and Space Shuttle again, and Lily did some of the kid's rides in the Enchanted Forest section, including the kid's Farris Wheel (much tamer than the big one) and the Candy Cane Coaster. We had thought we would do Tilt-a-whirl on the way out, but decided that we should do it BEFORE eating lunch, so we headed back to the front of the park. On the way we decided to do the Paratroopers again, and by now the Peppermint Slide was open so we climbed the tower and sailed down on our flour sacks! Lily went two more times by herself, then finally it was time to get dizzy. After stumbling our way off of the Tilt-a-whirl we went back towards the Enchanted Forest for lunch at Miss. Muffet's. The seating was outdoors, but mostly covered and we got a table right by the stage where Rudolph was doing a show! After lunch we finished the Enchanted Forest, and then it was time to be heading out. We had agreed to meet Brian back at home at 2:00 and it was already 1:30. We stopped for some ice cream on the way and picked up her Santa picture before leaving.

Once home, we were so hot, and with a cold front moving in that night it seemed like the perfect excuse to go swimming! So we changed into swimming suits, grabbed the towels and headed to Wilson Ranch Pool! Brian was home from work so he came along. Once there it took us a few minutes to get our stuff situated and get everyone sunscreened - finally Brian and Lily jumped in the water. I snapped a few pictures and made a stop by the restroom - I was on my way to put the camera back and join them when they announced a 10 minute break. Rats - and I hadn't even gotten wet yet! Lily sat in my lap to cool me off for a while since she was soaked already! Shortly after the water was open again it started to get cloudy and noticeably cooler - that front must have been moving in already. Oh well. It still felt nice to not be melting.

After a couple of hours Brian and I were starting to feel like we had had enough, especially with it cooling down so quickly. Lily agreed to go ahead and leave if we could still make it to the 7:10 showing of Wall-E. It would be close, but I figured we could if we hurried. It was now around 5:00. We hurried home and changed clothes to make ourselves more presentable, and I bought our movie tickets online. We still needed dinner, and I remembered that it was Cow Day, so we stopped by Chick-fil-a. So many people were dressed in their cow atire, I felt bad that we weren't but it was fun to see anyway. Not only did Lily get a free stuffed cow, but it turned out to be s surprise Character meal - the Cow himself was there! Wow, with rides and characters it almost felt like we were back at Disney World....almost.

We munched down our food quickly after meeting the Cow and headed for the theater. Even though we had just eaten, it isn't a move without popcorn and candy so we had to stop and the concession stand. We actually ended up having plenty of time, and the theater wasn't very crowded at all when we went in. We sat on the top row! It ended up being pretty full by the time it started, I was glad we got there early enough to get good seats. The movie was very cute - Lily wanted to know if the robots were going to marry afterwards! She was pretty worn out and of course fell asleep on the way home. Who could blame her, we had had quite a day!