Come on Irene

Okay, I know the song is about a lady named Ilene, but you've got to admit, the title is catchy! Let me just start by saying I'm not even two years old and this past week I checked "survive an earthquake, a hurricane, and a flood" off of my life's to-do list. Everyone makes fun of me for wearing a helmet everywhere I go, but looks who's laughing now! Sheesh people.

Last week my mom and I were playing at our house and it began to sound like a helicopter was close to our roof. Now this isn't that unusual because we live near the Pentagon. But the noise got really loud and not only were the windows humming, my mom looked up and saw the candle sticks teetering back and forth. She grabbed me like a sack of potatoes and we dove under the heavy kitchen table. (Call it her California instincts.)

As we were squished under the table she said out loud, "Sorry Bodie, your mom is making you look crazy hiding under this table. Virginia doesn't have earthquakes, but this sure feels like one...maybe it was an explosion...whatever it is, we're not leaving this table until it stops." And wouldn't you know it, it WAS an earthquake - the first one in over 100 years and the largest earthquake ever in the history of the state of Virginia. Geez my mom is smart...and still crazy. No damage to the house or us but it sure was the talk of the town until....Irene!

So with a hurricane coming we did what we always do, we jumped on an airplane. We headed to Vermont for the weekend figuring we'd be far enough north to miss the wrath of Irene and enjoy a visit with family. Our home in Virginia faired well against Irene. The yard was littered with small tree branches and leaves, with the greatest drama being our hammock flipped over because of the winds - all of which were fixed before we even got home, thanks to our fabulous neighbors.

Vermont - specifically, Bennington, Vermont where we were - was another story. The rain started on Saturday morning and just kept coming and coming and coming. Fortunately our family lives on a big hill in Bennington and their homes were fine. Unfortunately part of the town was badly flooded. A 150 year old historic covered bridge was completely washed away. Several roads throughout the state have been washed out - lots of detours. The people of Vermont remained upbeat but I'm sure they'd appreciate you adding them to your prayers.

During our trip we got to hang out with my cousins - Katie, Luke, and Bridget - my Aunt Kathy and Uncle Jimmy, and my Nana and Pop Pop. We played games, went for a stroll, did yard work - very relaxing. In fact, on the day it rained all day, my dad never got dressed. He stayed in his pajamas ALL day! How fun is that!!!

Reuniting with the West

Ahhhh California, I love you. We spent last week in northern California. Our trip began in San Francisco, then north to Marin and Sonoma, then nearly a week in Tahoe, and ended with a night in Reno, Nevada.

We hopped off the airplane and went straight to Fisherman's warf for dinner. What trip to the bay area is complete without a little clam chowder in a bread bowl!?! We walked around the warf for a bit then headed to Sonoma to stay the night at Carol and King's house.

The next morning it was off to the park to see my buddy Dylan and his mom Tracie. This park was incredible - a sprayground, swings, duck pond, slides, animal farm, pony rides, a merry-go-round, and a train!

We did it all. I enjoyed the animal farm a lot - though I'm not sure the feeling from the animals was mutual, (just because I liked to touch their eyes and pull their furr/feathers - geez!)

That night I headed to the home of some family friends, the Stickles, while my folks headed to my mom's 20 year high school reunion. That sounds old - I'm sure it must be a typo.

If you knew/know my mom's high school class, she says nothing has changed - still great friends and great fun. Their class theme was "Out of Control,"and well, I guess it's no surprise that her home town businesses still remember them. In fact, my mom said the local paper wrote an article about "the notorious class of 1991" coming back in to town for the reunion and said local bars are already stocking up and offering lots of specials for the crowd. The only bars I know are at my tumbling class - so I guess her former classmates must be really good gymnasts!

From Marin we headed north to Tahoe with a stop off at UC Davis - my mom's college. Don't tell my dad, but I think she's trying to give me the California college bug...and it's working! We also stopped at the best burger place on the planet, In-n-Out burger, for the traditional burger, fries, and shakes - yum!

Tahoe greeted us with perfect weather, cool in the morning/evening and warm during the day. We took the tram to the top of Heavenly ski resort and hiked....

We played miniature golf - I didn't understand the gigantic snake covering the hole. Isn't the point to get the ball IN the hole?

We rented a tandem bike and trailer and spent the whole day biking around the lake. We even found a hidden lake called Fallen Leaf Lake - so cool!

But more than anything, we just played and played and played at the beach!

And check out this cool picture. My mom took it in the backyard of the cabin we stayed at - pretty neat, huh!

Lybberty Days 2011

We spent eight days in Utah and jammed in as much stuff as we possibly could. Our week began at my Uncle Rick and Aunt Margo's private water ski lakes, Last Chance Lakes. They call it "My private playground" and I completely agree. (http://www.lastchancelakes.com/)

The Stevensons and St.Jeors joined in the fun and we water skied (that's my Grandpa tearing it up on his ski), swam, played in the sand, cooked s'mores, jumped off the upper deck of the dock, had ice spitting contests - it was awesome. My cousins Mallory, Troy, and Lindsie and Brenna and Tate St.Jeor are the coolest. They showed me how to water ski, threw rocks off the dock with me, and built sand castles.

We then headed to the golf course - full and mini sized! My mom "test drove" two new golf clubs and, thanks to my dad, those clubs found a permanent home in her golf bag. I heard my dad say something about, "This purchase won't be good for MY game...." But aren't the clubs for my mom?!?!

Anyway, at the mini golf course I was the best ball picker-up. If you didn't hit your second shot fast enough, I'd pick your ball up and bring it to you - very helpful, I know. Everyone seemed appreciative saying, "OHHHH, thank you Bodie." But then they would put it right back where I had got it from, odd.

My buddy Hope was in town from Washington state and we got to hang out too. Hope's mom is Amy Hutchins, one of my mom's childhood friends. Hope was cool. I tried to explain to her that I was older and therefore, a better driver, but then she kissed me and well, I let her have the wheel.

So now to the title of this blog - whew, I did mention we packed a lot in to our trip - Lybberty Days 2011. This is the annual family reunion for my mom's side of the family, the Lybberts. All thirty-five Lybberts (6 grandparents, 14 parents, and 15 of us grandkids) arrived in Park City and wow, talk about fun.

We played capture the flag with water balloons, had a kickball tournament - I rounded the bases twice, made s'mores, competed in a scavenger hunt, participated in the Lybberty Days Olympics, hiked, biked, and swam. Lucky for me I was born in to a really cool family!