Mountain Man-ia!

This post is a little late coming - but better late than never. I had actually considered just skipping the subject altogether, but realizing its likely staying power I had to put something. Not to mention I have such a great title for the post.

So Memorial Day weekend we went to Lagoon for my company's summer picnic. Lagoon is a big amusement park in Farmington, Utah about 30 minutes north of us. Aaron practically grew up there (he had summer passes as a kid), but I had never been in the eight years I've lived here (amusement parks have never been high on the priority list for me), and neither of the kids had ever been. Needless to say we had a great time. We had a nice (though too short) visit with Meredith and her roommate, Lisa. They stayed at the house for the weekend and came up to Lagoon as well. After nearly six hours of running around, standing in line, and screaming our heads off - we packed up and headed further north to the Cache Valley. Destination: Old Ephraim Mountain Man Rendezvous.

Everything went pretty smoothly - the biggest ordeal - Mom's attitude. It's true, for some reason when there's something that Aaron really wants I am resistant (I have my theories about why that is but that's a whole other topic) and I knew that Aaron really wanted to do the "Mountain Man" thing - so although I was resistant I wasn't murmuring. I also wasn't doing much to make things go smoothly. Needless to say, when the water cooler spilled 5 gallons of water on the hardwood floor Aaron had recently installed in our "new-to-us" camper, he was ready to go home. I ate the humble pie and told Aaron that we new there would be bumps and that we just needed to stick it out. So with my attitude adjusted we set out to have a good time. Seriously sometimes I feel like I'm still a teenager - cranky for no good reason. Yeah, and totally selfish too. I have no excuse. But at least I can admit the problem. That's a start.

We had a great time. While I was in Seattle (see last post) Aaron had ordered some leather and made his own leather pants (they were done within 24 hours of receiving the leather - if that's not mania I don't know what is), he made shirts for both himself and Elijah. He's made a capote (a wool coat constructed from wool blankets), multiple leather bags, and purchased a wooden canteen, and a black powder rifle with accouterments - among various other items. I think we're in this for the long haul. For those of you who know Aaron even a little bit you probably are aware of his need for occupation. Aaron is a doer - to say the least. It's one of my most and least favorite things about him (isn't that how it is with the ones we love). But at least having a hobby like the mountain man stuff he has some object in that compulsion.

Kiersten and Elijah both had a great time. There were lots of people there all in various capacities. Some obviously more into it than others. The mountain man rendezvous are a re-enactment type of activity. They have a trader's row (where you can purchase just about anything you want for the period - 1800 - 1845 approximately), there's a tent camp with canvas tents and tee pees, a tin tee pee camp (for those with campers, trailers, or modern tents), there's a gun and archery range, and areas for knife and tomahawk throwing. They also have activities for the whole family. We met a lot of great people and had a lot of fun. Dad, Kiersten, and Mom learned to throw a tomahawk. Elijah got his own bow and arrows and learned to shoot them (don't worry they have soft rubber tips). Aaron and Ruth got to learn to shoot the black powder rifle (though the ability to hit the target has eluded us). All in all we had a great time and look forward to more mountain man activities. Since we've been home Aaron has been scheming on how to make the next event even better. He's making himself a new leather bag (shocking, I know) which I first dubbed his girly-man purse. The name has been improved upon to be his burly-man purse (and we're considering marketing that). Hopefully in the not-too-distant future we'll have some photos to share so you can see how ridiculously into this we are. But we enjoy it - and if you're ever curious you're welcome to join us at an event (full participation - aka: dressing up - is generally not required).