Four Squirrels Drive Into a Forest (I Love This Joke...)

Growing up in the Nutz family there are two major vacation destinations that are a staple to our lives. First would be a Disney theme park vacation which I personally would consider to be my top choice preference. Unfortunately my casual readers who don't know me well would not be able to discern the depth of my Disney obsession just by reading this blog. It truly runs deep in me, and to my family. Mrs. Nutz once noted that I was at my happiest when I was in Disneyland, which is both sweet, and slightly disturbing (surely I am at my happiest when I am with her!)

The second preferred vacation destination for my family would be the fantastic Yellowstone National Park.

Growing up Yellowstone was always an odd vacation for me. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy being there; but most of the trip is spent driving through forests and looking through binoculars, all while battling an onslaught of motion-sickness courtesy of the books and magazines that I brought with me on the trip. (I will admit that mostly they were picture and comic books, I read a lot more seriously now than I did when I was a kid.)

As I grew older, I developed a respect for the park, though my personal preferences were more into the geysers and hot springs (and yes, the gift shops) than into looking for Grizzly Bears and Moose on the side of a hill only visible through a spotting scope. While my juvenile perspective would maintain that all my opinions and preferences were ignored and overruled by the rest of the family, I would be very wrong if I still thought so. Frankly if all we did was what I had wanted to do at that time (and I will admit, that time even ranged to the teen years) then our trips would have been very short and meaningless. How glad I am that my family had me experience all that the park had to offer!

Mrs. Nutz on the other hand, hadn't been to the park in 15-20 years, and her only memory of the park was riding in her grandparents RV and getting in trouble for getting the gum in her bubble-gum ice cream all over their curtains. She was ready to see the park again for the first time.

We left Thursday after work and stayed the night in Idaho Falls. Our meal that first night was another Nutz family tradition: Flags West Diner and Truck Stop in Downey Idaho. Yes, it really is as glamorous as it looks, but the scones are great!

The next morning we made our way to the park. On arrival my Dad, Grumpy Nutz, told us to be on the lookout for moose, since it had been years since it had been a few years since we had last seen one. I often underestimate my wife's penchant for hidden games. When we are at Disneyland (or WDW) she really gets into looking for the Hidden Mickeys in the parks, and is generally faster than I at finding them, even when I know where to look and she doesn't. She attributes this to her love of Where's Waldo and I-Spy books when she was younger. It comes as no surprise that on the road from Madison to Old Faithful, she would spot the lone moose that we saw this trip, (not counting Stiltz in Yellowstone Bear World of course.)

He was obviously a younger moose, and when he saw us back up, he got a frightened look on his face and ran off. None of us could get our cameras ready even, but it was a great spot by Mrs. Nutz. She reminded me that she's good luck, so I told her that her next job was to conjure up the mother Grizzly Bear with four cubs that my Brother and his wife saw on their recent trip. She got us half-way there: A mother with two cubs. It had to be the closest I have ever seen a Grizzly in the wild.

There were also the Buffalo, Elk, Deer, a lone Coyote, and a Wolf (as seen through the spotting scope) to behold, which is the usual fodder that Yellowstone has to offer. Not to mention the squirrels (SQUIRREL) that we saw... y'know, ignoring the four of us that is. Thanks to the movie UP shouting out "Squirrel" became something of a game for us (though more likely for me than anyone else in the car who merely got to enjoy my amusing myself.)

We of course did the usual tourist spots: Old Faithful, Dragon's Mouth and the Mud Volcano, Lower Falls, Mammoth, Roosevelt, etc. All in all it was a great and relaxing vacation, though I'm sure my Dad would complain that it was too relaxing for me, as I slept through a sizable chunk of the drive.

It was such a nice trip that we really weren't ready to come home, knowing that we had a busy week ahead of us. Yesterday we hosted (or more appropriately Mrs. Nutz hosted while I hid in the house on the computer) a baby shower for Mrs. Munk, who is due in just a few weeks. We are so happy for them, despite the bittersweet feeling we have due to our own misfortune in starting a family on our own. We work to stay optimistic for the future, but it does come difficult at times.

While we weren't ready to come home, our cat Emma was so glad to have us back. Mrs. Nutz sister (woodland critter name yet to be determined) was house-sitting, and she and Emma don't get along very well. Add to that the fact that Emma is still recovering from her declawing surgery, and it sounds like she ha a traumatic weekend... not that my Sister-in-Law did anything to antagonize her.

The saddest part about Emma now is that I think we broke the cat. She used to be real hyper and full of energy, but all she does now is move from one napping spot to another. It's really sad to see that she's not the same anymore, and we're hoping that it passes. I think it's depression, but I doubt that we'll be able to give our cat a dose of Zoloft.

Well, that should be enough for now. Three updates on July, that's a good sign. Hopefully I can keep it up!

Ramblings From A Tired Squirrel!

I had every intention of making a new post on Monday, and I have already received flack from the Munks for not accomplishing this task. So if anyone else feels slighted that I did not make a post, I apologize.

This past week my and Mrs. Nutz's nephews were in town visiting their Father (woodland critter moniker yet to be decided) and we tried to spend as much time as possible with them. Sunday, the 4th, was their last night in Utah, and the family was determined to finish this visit with a bang... literally. When we do dinners with my wife's family we generally assign out part of the meal, and her father was assigned the task of buying the fireworks. Mrs. Nutz and I, while doing our grocery shopping, saw an inexpensive bucket of fireworks that we decided to add to the pot (ironically it was the exact same bucket that was one of the kits her Dad bought.) Apparently other members of the family felt the same way, so we had a HUGE amount of fireworks to launch, and we sure had a great time doing it.

Monday it was time for the boys to go back to their mother in Louisiana, and Mrs. Nutz was volunteered to fly them back. Their Father is going to be moving out of state at the end of the month to be closer to the boys, and is working as much as he can to save up for the journey, so he only had a week vacation available. In order to spend more time with the boys here, he asked that someone escort them home, so of course we were happy to help. Mrs. Nutz flew with the boys to meet their Mom in Houston, then flew home the next day.

The downside to this trip was the toll that it's taken on us. I have never especially enjoyed being home alone, but being separated from my best half is downright lousy. I maybe got 4 hours of sleep that night, and I was lucky to get that. (I even thought about writing this update while I was fighting with insomnia, but with how tired I was, I have no idea what kind of ramblings would be posted.) Mrs. Nutz told me that she too barely got any sleep Monday night, so she also was exhausted when she got home yesterday.

Here's the kicker: we got plenty sleep last night, so I can't explain why on Earth we are so much more tired today that we were yesterday.

So things have been pretty busy since my second to last update. Summer semesters have a reputation for being fairly easy; but when you do a math class that is usually takes 16 weeks in 7... well lets just say I've spent a lot of time doing Algebra the past weeks. If it wasn't for the fact that I only have 2 weeks left, I would probably be burning out right now. I feel like I'm turning Mrs. Nutz into a homework widow (though she is getting caught up on her viewing of chick flicks.)

Last month I had my 30th birthday, and for my present from my wife, I got a Wii game I've been wanting, and the cat got declawed. Happy birthday to me! While getting the house ready for the family party associated with my birthday, I indulged my inner child by renting the film adaptation of the children's book Where the Wild Things Are. My feelings were really mixed as the credits rolled, and I spent the next couple of hours trying to sort out my impression of the movie. I finally came to the conclusion that it was one of the most depressing movies I have ever seen. I hated this movie (Mrs. Nutz has no opinion to interject as she did not watch the movie with me.)

The movie wasn't necessarily sad, but it wasn't upbeat and positive. Obviously the screen writer had to take some creative liberties when writing the film, since the book only has around 26 words in it. But the book was more pleasant and fun to me, while the movie was, well... I can only describe it as melancholy.

Fortunately the last movie we saw, Eclipse, was very well done. By far the best film in the Twilight series so far. If you are a fan of the books, you will love this move (and you should enjoy this if you're only accompanying a fan of the story.)

Well, unfortunately the time has come for me to sign off again. I hope to be able to post another update soon, but time will tell.

Happy Birthday America!!

This is only going to be a short post today, and I will get more up tomorrow when I have a little more time. As we celebrate our nations birthday it only seems appropriate that I say thank you to all those who have fought (and are still fighting) for our freedoms. Without your sacrifices we would not be able to enjoy the freedoms that we have today. Thank you, and God bless you and your families!

Thanks for reading check again tomorrow for a longer update!