Kansas City Zoo

While Emma was at rehearsals for the cultural celebration, we took the rest of the crew to the Kansas City Zoo. 

Below, the polar bear was an energetic swimmer.

At one point during the day, Isaac just simply disappeared. One moment he was there, and the next--gone. It took us ten minutes to find him--ten long, panicked ten minutes. Brian found him on the path outside the building we were in. He was crying and holding a stranger's hand. Some very wonderful couple found him bawling and set out to find us. They gave him a juice box, we gave him lots of hugs (and some scolding), and all was well again. Gratefully.

Kansas City Temple Cultural Celebration

It was six weeks ago, and it was momentous.

It took place just three days before we left for Brazil, and it definitely contributed to the craziness of the month of May.

"It" was the youth cultural celebration, involving 3,000 youth, ages 12-18, from three states.

The cause for celebration: The dedication of the Kansas City Temple. Read more about it HERE.

Emma, who turned twelve just two months before the event, was oh-so lucky to get to participate. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, both for her to participate and for us to attend.

For two months previous, all of the youth rehearsed weekly in their local church buildings. The day before the celebration, we pulled our kids out of school and drove to Kansas City and dropped off Emma at the Municipal Auditorium, where the celebration would come together over the next 24 hours of rehearsal. This article talks a bit about the obstacles faced during the rehearsal and about the miracle that transpired.

It was an absolute feat of organization and planning. Choreography--music--singing--technical stuff--costumes--food--logistics--ticketing--crowd control--parking--and so on…and up until the day of the event, all communication was conveyed over long distances. 

On the Saturday night of the performance, we arrived early to get good seats. The line wrapped all the way around the building. 

Below, the auditorium begins to fill. By the time the performance started, ten thousand people were watching in person, with thousands more watching via broadcast in their local church buildings. It was the first time in the venue's history that it was full to capacity.

Right before the performance began, we spotted Emma among the throngs of youth on the floor. Her profile is seen in the picture below, left-of-center, to the left of the girl with the crazy eyes. 

President Monson entered, and the crowd rose to its feet. At this point, the waterworks started, and for the rest of the evening, I was too busy bawling to take any pictures.

The rest of these pictures are courtesy of a good friend and neighbor, Kerry, who had two children of her own involved in the event. Below, the opening number, with the youth orchestra and choir performing as well. There are also a ton of great pictures HERE.

The energy and spirit in this room was tangible. Even now, as I write this, I am taken back to that incredible evening, and I am teary.

Each geographic area in the temple district, or "stake," was given its own segment to perform. All of the segments were tied together to give a picture of the history, geography, and culture of the region. Below, our stake performs. Emma was somewhere in this crowd.

Kansas City is home to a large Polynesian population. Their segment was remarkable--the costuming and choreography were first rate.

There were no dry eyes in the auditorium during Joplin's segment, which highlighted the 2011 tornado and its aftermath. Kenneth Cope, a popular LDS singer, made a special appearance at the event to sing a gorgeous piece called "Broken Things" during part of this segment.

After each stake's segment, all of the youth gathered on the floor again--as well as on the second level. They wore brightly colored shirts, which just added to the adrenaline and AMAZING spirit in the auditorium.

During one segment, the missionaries in the district entered, and the thunderous crowd rose to its feet. During another segment, members of the military entered, to a similar welcome.

Below, the kids singing and signing "Army of Helaman." 

At the very end of the performance, which had been spectacular, the capstone moment occurred. As the youth sang a final, jubilant number, they picked up their colored shirts (which they had placed by their feet on the floor) and swirled them above their heads in the air. The auditorium was alive with color and energy and sound, and it was better than any grand finale or standing ovation that I have ever seen. (Pictured below.)

I would find out later that this key moment was completely unplanned and spontaneous. Some teenager in the crowd started the movement, and it was rapidly picked up by all of the performers.

Below, President Monson says goodbye. At the temple dedication the next day, he would say that the celebration was the best he had ever seen, anywhere in the world. Now, this was the only one I'd ever been to, but I just can't imagine that it gets any better than this. 

In Utah, new temples are dedicated far more than anywhere else in the world. For us, this cultural celebration was a unique and amazing experience.

The next day, in three solemn and sacred sessions, the temple was dedicated. Because of our upcoming trip to Brazil, we returned home and watched the dedication as it was broadcast to our building. But our friends were able to attend the dedication in the temple itself. Again, I credit Kerry for the following three images. 

The temple is within a few miles of Liberty Jail, and it has an olive leaf motif throughout. The branches--seen both on the outside and inside of the building--represent an offering of peace to the region, which has a turbulent place in the history of the Church.

With all of the hoopla and events leading up to the dedication--starting with the public open house, and also with the cultural celebration and dedication itself, we now feel like this temple is ours. Now our job is to claim the blessings that await inside. 

Shoes

I bought little white Mary Jane shoes for Madeline on a Tuesday morning.

I made the mistake of letting her wear them outside just one time.

When she came inside an hour later, this is what they looked like:

I've come a long way as a mother, I realized, after I laughed--laughed!--at the state of these brand-new shoes and tossed them into Madeline's closet, where they would stay until church later that week.

Farewell, Little People

Andy had Woody and Buzz. 

Our kids had Little People.

Stowed in two large plastic tubs in the twins' room, our wonderful collection of Fisher Price Little People--which had seen the use and abuse of five eager toddlers and hordes of their friends--was getting neglected as the kids have grown older. 

Add to the neglect the fact that toys multiply really fast at our house, with multiple birthdays and annual Christmas giving, and I knew it was time for the Little People to be put away semi-permanently. Unlike many of our other toys, these sentimental ones would be kept for the occasional pint-sized houseguest and for a future generation that may come to visit.

One afternoon, I pulled them all out of the closet. I took out the dead batteries and removed misplaced items and organized them into sets. I reminisced about each set--who received it, who played with it, and those toddler years that have passed all too quickly.

There was the Noah's Ark set and the extra animals I purchased with it. There too was the castle set, the pink carriage, the green dragon and the knights and the princesses, which Clara got during her toddler years. There was the garage, which Nathan got for his first birthday, and the airport, which Nathan got for a Christmas years ago. There was an amusement park set and a dump truck and a fire truck and a school bus and a purple car.

Ironically, as I cleaned out the boxes, the twins suddenly wanted to play with the toys. I set up a town of Little People for them in our empty dining room, and one week later--long after they lost interest--the toys went back into their bins and were stowed away in the attic. 

And so today I pay homage to these delightful toys and to our very first set, the farm. During our first year in medical school, with Emma as a babe in arms, Brian's great-grandfather (now deceased) sent her a check for $35. Because he was a farmer himself, we purchased this set in his honor, and it was Emma's first "non-baby" toy.

The stowing of the Little People marks the passage of time at our house. I love the stage we're in, but in my mind's eye, I will always remember those long evenings during medical school, when Brian was away studying. Emma and I would sit in her little bedroom and play with her little farm, the horse pulling the wagon and the farmer "flipping" out of his blue bed and the rooster turning and clicking away on the roof.

Four children came along after Emma, and our lives have gotten busier and busier, and this little farm set has been played with less and less, but the Little People will always have a special place in our memory. 

Father-Son Campout

A few weeks ago, Brian took the boys to our church's annual fathers & sons campout. He took Nathan two years ago in Virginia, and last year he worked over the weekend of the campout. This year, Isaac was old enough not to fall into the fire, so he got to go, too. The boys were so excited to hang out with Dad. And I cannot lie--the girls and I were excited to have time together, too…in our comfy air conditioned house!

The men were all supposed to bring a dutch oven dessert to share. There were about a hundred dads in attendance. Guess who's husband brought the only dessert?

May Happenings

While we were in Brazil, we missed four field trips, carnivals at two schools, a Mother's Day program, Mother's Day itself, an orchestra concert, a final soccer game, and a recorder concert. The day we got home, we had a debate tournament and another field trip. With the temple dedication & cultural celebration, an international trip, and typical May craziness, this May proved to be our busiest yet, and I have almost no pictures to show for it.

Just a few hours before we left for the temple events in Kansas City, I went over to the school to help decorate for the carnival, which we would miss. Brian made these adorable frogs for the door. I added some sparkle to them. I think it turned out adorably:

The day after we returned from our trip, we had some furniture delivered, including a new bed for Brian and me. The bed was partly out of necessity. Our twins were past due to move up to their "big kid beds," and buying our new bed allowed for the ripple effect to take place. Our old bed went to Emma's room…Emma's old twin bed went to Madeline…and so forth.

Madeline and Isaac couldn't WAIT to go to sleep that night!

I went over to Field Day for a short while. Here's Nathan, running a race. He got a delayed start and managed to catch up and tie the other kid.

The twins and I attended a farewell preschool picnic. I have LOVED their teacher this year, Miss Susan. She is a gem, and we will miss her. I love teachers who love my kids and see their potential. 

Below is Nathan, on the last day of school, with his first grade teacher, Mrs. K.

Emma received a Principal's Award for Academic Excellence. (Her orchestra also performed at the awards ceremony, but Emma wasn't visible in the pictures.) Her homeroom class voted her "Quietest Student." I suppose that's a better distinction that its opposite! Do I really have a seventh grader?

At Clara's fourth grade awards ceremony, she received two awards for her choir participation this year, and she received a big honor in being named the female Citizen of the Year for her class. In a class of 31 kids, that was a great honor. 

Here is Clara with her teacher, Ms. C.--

--and Clara with her choir teacher, Mrs. H.

School let out the third week in May--three weeks earlier than in Virginia or Minnesota! The kids set up a free lemonade stand on a hot afternoon. "Payment" for the lemonade required the answering of a trivia question.

And finally, Emma and Clara had their spring piano recital. They are both really excelling on piano--I am proud of them!

Rio: The Non-Exit and Extra Day

After the favela tour, we headed back to the hotel to get ready to go to the airport. We took a quick detour into Copacabana Palace first, though. Below, the courtyard and the pool of the famous hotel:

On the highway on our way to the airport, just as I had seen upon our arrival, walked numerous men--young, younger, and old--peddling snacks among the lanes of the cars. I tried to snap a picture in the dark with my iPhone. It didn't turn out well, as you can tell:

We got to the airport and waited in an extremely slow-moving line. We learned that only two of the three fuel tanks on our plane were operational, and so we would have to stop in San Juan, PR to refuel. We would miss our connecting flight home from Atlanta and arrive home many hours late. There wasn't anything we could do, so we shrugged, said "ok," and when the time came, we boarded the plane.

About ninety minutes into our flight, the captain's voice came over the loudspeaker. I was a bit tuned out, but he said something about a problem with the air ducts…and hopefully it was a "minor" problem (yes, I hoped so!)…and that we would be heading back to Rio immediately.

The flight attendants looked harried and stressed. We were on the ground within forty minutes. When we landed, a flight attendant came on the loudspeaker and said, "We regret that we must welcome you back to Rio." Everyone applauded.

We then sat on the tarmac for three-and-a-half hours, until 3:30 a.m., while crews worked on the plane.  

At 3:30, a flight attendant finally came on the loudspeaker and announced that the flight was officially cancelled, until the next evening, when we would take another flight back to the States. Everything happened pretty fast after that. It was obvious that Delta had worked out the details before they announced the flight was cancelled. We deplaned, got our luggage, and boarded a charter bus. By 5 a.m., we were right back at another hotel on Copacabana beach, a mere two blocks from our previous hotel. This time, our room had a beachfront view. The whole episode must have cost Delta thousands upon thousands of dollars. There were nearly 300 passengers on the plane, and we were put up in a five-star hotel and given meal vouchers. More than anything, I was supremely grateful that we were staying in a safe area.

The next evening as we waited to board another plan to fly home, I chatted with a man who had been an airplane mechanic for the Navy. He talked about the events of the previous night as well as the mechanics of air ducts. After talking with him, I was glad that I hadn't heard all of his insight and information during our flight back to Rio. It was one case where ignorance is definitely bliss. I was very, very glad that we were safe.

Neither Brian nor I were very thrilled about an extra day in the city. We had been gone for eight days and needed to get back to our kids, their many May end-of-school activities, and work. Our international cell phone plan also ended at midnight, so we were entirely dependent on the hotel's wi-fi to communicate with our sitter at home, who suddenly had an extra day of kids and activities to deal with. Fortunately, she was very understanding about the delay.

While we didn't plan on our extra day, we certainly made the most of it. We went to bed about 5:30 a.m. and woke up at 9:30--very groggy!--to this:

 

For the first time in four days--SUNSHINE!

We decided to go to Sugarloaf again, since our first attempt was hampered by fog, and today was a beautiful, clear day. I am so glad we did. 

One of the first cable cars:

This one was used in an old James Bond movie.

The helipad on Morro da Urca. Helicopter tours of the city are all the rage, for a price. 

The view out from Morro da Urca. 

I kept hearing about Rio's amazing ice cream selections, so after Sugarloaf, we finally bought some. Brian got passion fruit (left) and I got mango (right). All I can say is YUM.

We had lunch at the hotel and went down to the beach to lounge and read. We were the only fully-clothed people present…and definitely the fairest skinned…but we surely enjoyed it.

After an hour or so, we headed back to the hotel to take a nap (we were SO tired!) before heading back to the airport. Delta chartered five buses to bring all of the passengers from the hotel. Once we arrived at the airport, we witnessed a model of inefficiency as the personnel sorted each passenger one by one onto some flight back to the States. It took hours, but at 10 p.m., we were onboard our plane. Another hour's delay on the tarmac, and we finally departed for the States. I found myself wondering yet again if Rio would be able to manage a successful Olympics. The airport there is outdated, overcapacity, and inefficient, with no sign of renovation. Compared to U.S. airports, security is quite lax. We barely made our connection flight in Atlanta, but we arrived home safe and sound on Thursday morning. 

Upon arriving home, I clicked my heels three times. We were blessed to have had an incredible trip, and I feel somewhat altered by it (isn't that what all travel should do?)…but it was SO GOOD to be home and to hug my kids!