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It was a miracle we got Riley healthy enough to go on his Science field trip to Canyonlands National Park.

(This photo looks awkward... I tried putting my arm around Riley, but what you don't see is his massive camping backpack...I'm sure it weighed as much as him. In fact it looks like he can't stand up straight in the first picture.)

I dropped him off at school on Monday morning, worried about him all week, and he got home about 3:30 on Friday afternoon. I knew in my head 'no news was good news'...it was just so hard being separated from my child with no communication. He got home and all he could say was he loved it. I was so relieved...this was his first camping experience. I'm also relieved he took pictures. Here is what he caught on camera...

He took a picture of the cot that was provided to them.

David, Haylee, Davey, Aleiah, Alex, Gabby, Jenna, Cole, Ian (back row, left to right)
Curtis and John (down in front)

In these pictures the kids are making a map of the Colorado Plateau.

Picture of Professor Creek.

Remains they came across on one of their hikes.

The teepee they got to sleep in...Riley shared his with two friends, 

So it rained a bit...but not too much while they were there. Mostly the first and second day. So it was a bit muddy.

A mesa in the background...Riley can't remember the name.

Aside from the mud, how fun does this look?

Selfie in the teepee!

Saul Mountain Range..beautiful!

If you've ever hiked, you've probably seen stacked rocks. Riley learned they are for directions...I assume to help you find your way back. So they all got creative and stacked their own rocks.

See the lizard? It's camouflaged pretty well...

A Cove that they ate one of their lunches in...looks like the sun was shining! Yay!

The views at the Peiloglyph Panal

I asked if Riley defaced a national park... he didn't. It was there when he got there.

Art work from the Navajo tribe...pretty cool!

See the person??

One more selfie...only it was too sunny for him to see if he made it in the picture. :)

Riley's interpretation of the person art work.

Caterpillar artwork... you have to look closely.

Saul Mountain with Mesas in front.

This is what I pictured the Canyonlands looking like all around.

The black dirt here is called something..Riley can't remember... but it takes a hundred years to grow or build up one inch.

They also spent some time on the river...but Riley didn't have a way to take his camera. Riley loved the food. They had a talent show night, and a guitar just happened to be there so he got to show off that talent. Several interactive and team building games were played. Only 35 kids got to go, and when Riley approached us saying he wanted to go last November, I was shocked. It was an optional field trip, and a pricey one. I was hesitant to spend the money on this, but so glad we did. Riley had an amazing experience and as much as he enjoyed it, it was well worth it.

(I had to go off Riley's memory on much of this and the spelling may or may not be accurate in most of these captions... oh well!)

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We've been trying to wrap up one of the worst weeks ever.

A week ago, early Saturday morning it all started. Reece woke up in the middle of the night sick. Stomach bug sick. He had to miss his game, which was the first game his team won, and lay around all day. He was doing better most of the day until bedtime when the "ick" came out again. I had him sleep in our room so he was close by incase he got sick again.

Sunday (Mother's Day) his stomach settled down, but a fever decided to settle in. This lasted through Monday night, which caused him to miss Monday and Tuesday at school.

Monday is when Jake caught the bug. It was not pretty...I think he literally turned green in the mix. I came home from work on Monday to a fever and nausea. It was more uncomfortable than anything.

Tuesday, Reece and I stayed home... Jake struggled through work, but survived it. And all we could tell Riley was to quarantine himself.

Wednesday, I struggled through work, again JUST nausea. Reece was back to normal and back to school. When I got home from work, I forced myself to eat normal food...and surprisingly, it tasted pretty good. I ate a lot, my appetite was huge after days of nothing sounding good. Things were looking up for the entire family.... then shortly after dinner, Riley got the bug. And it was nasty. We never had an illness go through the entire family. We've never shared the same illness before. And I hope we never do again.

Thursday, Riley stayed home, struggling mostly with a fever. He just felt achy and cold all day.

Friday, Riley woke up feeling more than great....was this the end? Nope! Reece woke up wheezing. He needed a breathing treatment. This is maybe the second time since we've lived here that he's needed one...not sure if it's weather related or if he is slightly asthmatic, but it felt like it was the cherry on top of our crappy week. But wait...it got worse. Well, Reece was better from the breathing treatment and has been mostly better since, but Riley, who went to school and felt great, started having an unsettled stomach again on Friday night. This is where is was panic time. You see, on Monday Riley leaves for a week long camping trip to the Canyonlands in Utah. He needed to be the one family member that got healthy and quick!

Saturday...our week has come full circle and then some. We spent all morning cleaning and disinfecting every surface in the house. But Riley's stomach just wasn't going to stop being upset. We even had him on the BRAT diet...except he's allergic to bananas...and we didn't make him rice, so it was more like the AT diet. He still had a long and miserable day... finally we got him more electrolytes and medicine to hopefully settle his stomach and put him to bed.

Sunday ... Riley woke feeling much better. I'm knocking on wood that we are done with it all. We have a few more hours to determine whether Riley is truly over it or not and if he can go on his field trip he's been so excited about. Send positive thoughts his way!!! :/

***

On another note, Reece has had some very unfortunate timing when it's come to him getting sick. The first time he missed his class field trip to go ski all day. The second time he missed the last day before Christmas break, which meant he missed his class party. And this time he missed his team's first win! It's so sad to even think about it... I'm hoping his bad fortune ends with the school year. But he's handled it all so well...he really is growing up and maturing fast.

***

On another side note, I tried to reschedule Mother's Day ... But with the rough week, it's just not in my cards. At least my boys are pretty amazing and that's all I need. 

ⓢⓞⓒⓒⓔⓡ ⓕⓘⓝⓐⓛⓔ

Reece's team had their final game yesterday. It was definitely a "developing" kind of season. These kids hadn't played together before and they only won one game... Sadly, the one game Reece missed due to illness. :( But they got better with each game. Thanks Coach David and Coach Patty for a fun season!

Final U10 game....next is U12 tryouts.

Reece and his bestie, Luke.

The weather was miserable the first half....cold and rainy.

This kid was worn out. He played most of the game.

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Reece has started the recorder unit in school. He was super excited to have his very first "instrument." After years of watching Riley have his instrument fun with the viola, trombone and now guitar, Reece was/is a little envious and cannot wait his turn. Reece has been so proud of his recorder and for weeks played it around the clock...he even played it outside, but I had to put an end to that. The boys were able to do a guitar/recorder duet to "Ode to Joy," but the video was too long to post. Reece's music teacher is doing a great job motivating kids to practice at home. Notice the colorful yarn attached to the case? When the kids master a song, they earn a new "belt"... like in karate. Reece has all of them except the final "rainbow" belt. He was sick this last week and missed the chance to earn it, but I'm sure by this time next week he will have it. It's just so funny how much he LOVES his recorder... kind of like how Sue Heck "LOVES" everything "SO MUCH" on The Middle. But it's also pretty cool seeing a kid excited about music. :)

ｍｏｒｅ ｇｕｉｔａｒ

So I had taken video of Riley at home practicing his guitar and found a video that was short enough to post the entire song. This wasn't his solo, but the sound quality is much better than the short video I posted of his actual solo in the concert hall. Enjoy...

We've also committed to the Guitar Institute in Zion, UT... We are all very excited about this. Bring on summer!

ｃｌａｓｓｉｃ ｇｕｉｔａｒ

Riley had his final guitar concert this past week. And I didn't get any pictures. I got lots of video, but when it counted most my camera stopped recording. Big time proud mommy fail!!! 

It is amazing to see how far Riley has come in 6 short months. I even see his confidence shining through when he has a guitar in his hands. 

His final concert was in Aspen at the Harris Concert Hall. They had 70+ kids playing...each class had a chance to perform about 3 short songs. Then they all came together to play "Ode to Joy" together. Riley only had 3 kids in his class...it baffles me, because the class was super affordable and offered to anyone interested in learning to play a very cool instrument. I was actually worried they were going to take the class away from Glenwood Springs because of the low attendance. Thankfully, that didn't happen. 

Now only 2 students were allowed to play solos. Riley was one of them!! 

Here is a short video (again blogger hates long videos) of him playing. 

I'm actually shocked the video isn't shaking like crazy, because I was a nervous wreck for him. Not that I didn't have any confidence with him, but if I were in his shoes, with all eyes on me, I'd be in panic mode!! 

I asked Riley if he was nervous afterwards, and he said he was very nervous. But it sure didn't show in the video. He said he messed up multiple times, but I could never tell. He nailed it in my eyes. Jake was so proud he had a couple tears he was trying so hard to hold back. 

The second kid that got to do a solo was a Christian. He was phenomenal. But he had been in this program for 4 years...I just looked at him and thought to myself, 'this could be Riley in 4 years.' Riley has truly discovered a natural talent. I can't thank Katie from 'Aspen Music Festivals and Schools' (AMFS) enough for jumping out at us at the Middle School Open House night last fall. If she hadn't, we probably would have never figured this talent out. 

***

Now here is a little blurb of an email I received this week from Katie.

('Malaguena' is the name of Riley's solo)

Aspen Music is ready to invest in Riley. You see, when you find a real talent in a child, you feel pressure almost immediately to find ways to make sure the growth continues. The pressure of how we were going to make this happen has hit us hard. After the concert I got to speak with Katie. AMFS does a summer program for kids and they give free lessons to students along with giving the student free passes to several concerts that take place in Aspen each summer with an extra ticket for a parent. The program is called PALS. She said if Riley applied they would give him a full scholarship, no questions asked. It wasn't even an option to pass it up. Aspen Music sees so much potential in Riley and they want him to continue in the program.

Second, Katie said the "Lead Guitar" program had received an invitation to the "Shearer Summer Institute" in Zion, UT. The cost of the week long institute is $600, with the institute giving any Lead Guitar student an automatic $150 scholarship. Katie officially offered a $350 scholarship for Riley sponsored by AMFS. Leaving a grand total of $100 for us to pay if we can make it happen. How can we say no to this either?? Now this one isn't set in stone, we have a lot to arrange...Zion is about 7 hours away and Riley is only going to have just turned 13, so it is a big decision with lots of details to work out. But it is an experience we are going to do our best to make happen... I've only heard about how beautiful Zion is. Riley will get to hike around there daily. Jake is going to try to make it work with his schedule as soon as we are able to commit.

I'm just so proud of Riley and see big things coming in his bright future!