The Hazard Chronicles

This week was an adventure.

Actually, I should rephrase that. This weekend was an adventure.

It all started on Thursday afternoon. When I got home from work the kids were already buckled in their car-seats. I ran into the house and changed my clothes and then ran out. And we were on the road, just like that. I have to say, it was a get-away in record time for us. We then drove for the next seven hours until we got to Grandma and Grandpa Hazard's house (my parents).

Our ultimate destination was Salt Lake city for Shannon's (Rachel's Sister's) wedding. The event takes place next weekend, but Rachel will spend the week here in Salt Lake. I will fly back to our house to work next week, and then catch a return flight to Salt Lake to make it in time for the wedding. Anyway, my parents are in Rexburg, Idaho and on this trip their house made for a very convenient stepping stone on our way down to Utah.

We got to Rexburg at about 1:00 in the morning. Our kids had done pretty well sleeping on the drive and we thought it would be easy to just put them in the beds that my mom had ready for them and hit the sack. Well, that was a great plan. Sometimes, however, even the best laid plans can go wrong.

It wasn't long after we had gone to bed that we started hearing noises from the kid's room. Rachel went out to investigate. As it turns out, Adalie and Jackson both chose this night to debut their new talent of climbing out of their cribs. Now I have a theory that they have been able to do this for a long time, but that they were waiting for the most opportune moment to let us in on their secret. 1:00 in the morning, a long drive, a new house, and a planned early-morning departure seemed to fit their criteria of "opportune moment."

Rachel fought them hard and she fought them well, but together they presented too great a force. Every time she put one kid back in bed, he/she would climb out while she was chasing the other. She even tried laying siege to the bedroom by sleeping by the door- the theory was to allow them to be up as long as they stayed in their room and eventually they would tire out and have to go to sleep. Their response to this, however, was to start taking stuff out of drawers, exploring the attached storage room, and trying to break anything that seemed vulnerable to small hands and a determined mind. It was no use. They had us trapped. What could we do?

I have to make a confession here. For an hour Rachel waged this war alone while I pretended to be asleep. My justification was that Rachel got to sleep in the car on the way down, and I was going to drive in the morning, so this was obviously her responsibility. Well, at the end of that first hour she came in the room in tears and asked if I could help. Neither of us really knew what to do, but she figured that the two of us should be able to come up with something.

And then I had a vision that was probably induced either by sheer desperation or by sleep deprivation- or both. In my mind's eye I saw a very clear diagram from my youth. It looked something like this:

As a kid I had caught many birds and squirrels with such a contraption. The concept is that you put bait under the box and then pull the string from a hiding place when the unsuspecting animal is distracted.

With this picture in mind I turned Jackson's crib upside-down. Then I went and found Jackson and stole his stuffed dog from him. And then I ran. He chased me. I threw the dog under the crib, and when he dove in after it I closed it down and put a large stuffed animal on top to make sure he was trapped. It took a while for him to realize what had happened, but when he did he was NOT a happy camper. Just know that there was much yelling and screaming and gnashing of teeth. But in the end he was caught. No matter how hard he tried he could not get out. I had out-smarted a two-year-old. Yeah baby!

We did the same thing with Addie and then left them there while we went to bed. They cried for a while, but finally settled down and went to sleep. The last time I looked at the clock before falling asleep it read 4:05.

I woke up at 6:00. It's just what my body does. Usually I consider this a blessing. Not today.

That morning we drove the rest of the way to Salt Lake. As soon as we arrived I ran in the house, changed my clothes, and got back in the car to drive up to Heber City. I am getting good at making quick get-aways.

In Heber I attended a fantastic dental course spanning Friday-Saturday in which I got to surgically place my first implant. Since most of the people who read this blog aren't dentists I won't bother you with details, but just know that it was a big deal for me. I am pretty sure that Implant dentistry will be a defining aspect of my career and this was a huge step in that direction. I am stoked.

After I finished the course I got back and hung out with friends and family who were also down for Shannon's wedding. It has been a while since I saw some of these people and it was fun to catch up with them. It has been a great weekend.

Tomorrow I fly back to Spokane. Rachel stays here. Next week is Shannon's wedding. We close on our new home the week after that. Life is moving forward at breakneck speed and it couldn't be any better!