Maharishis and Marshmallows

There's something you should know about Fairfield, Iowa (population 9000-ish). It's a major gathering place for Maharishis. I quote from wikipedia: 

Fairfield has been described as the home of the Transcendental Meditation movement. It has been called a "national magnet" and "the world's largest training center" for practitioners of TM. Many of its current residents moved there to participate in the group practice of the TM-Sidhi program inside one of the Maharishi University of Management's two golden domes. Locally, TM practitioners are someties called "roos", slang for gurus, a term they have appropriated, although they also refer to themselves as "meditators".

Bet you didn't expect that, did you? 

Being the rabid tourist that I am, I jumped at the chance to go inside the golden dome and see that place for myself. There are actually two domes, one for the men and one for the women. We got to go in the men's dome, and I hate to say it, but it smelled like a locker room. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  First up, The Tower of Invincibility:

Our very kind and knowledgable guide explained it's symbolism to me, but I couldn't explain it to you now if my life depended on it.  Here we are approaching the men's dome:

Each light below represents a meditator, sending off positive rays of light and peace throughout the world (or something like that). Elizabeth looks like she drank the Kool-aid:

And that, my friends, is the end of your photographic tour since we couldn't take pictures inside the dome itself. To me, it looked like a mosque (the shape and dimensions), but it was filled with sheet covered foam mattresses and little stadium style flip open chairs for people to sit comfortably while meditating. When we were there it was "laundry day" and they were changing the sheets--I can only presume that's where the sweat smell came from. We were told the highest level of meditation involves levitating, which sounds like it takes some physical exertion unless people genuinely float, which I have a hard time believing. (I've heard many skeptics describe it as "hopping"rather than "levitating.") It was all very kumbaya, but being in a religion that is largely misunderstood and misrepresented I don't want to judge too harshly. Heaven knows I could certainly benefit from learning to quiet my mind through meditation. (But don't mistake this movement for a religion. The guy that gave us the tour is a practicing Jew, and there are several members of my sister's Mormon congregation that are also meditators.)

The domes are just part of a larger campus, the Maharishi University of Management:

 On to more mundane places like the local library:

And making homemade salt clay back at Liz's:

That awesome picture window:

Once Jason got home, everybody headed outside to play ball, jump on the tramp, and get ready for smores:

The older kids had fun retrieving the ball from the big field in back of their yard:

Almost time to break out the marshmallows:

It was so stinkin hot and humid I can hardly believe we lit a fire (there was a BIG storm that started right after we went in for the night), but who can resist smores in their own backyard?

Maybe the more relevant question is, what boy can resist playing with fire?

And taking his shirt off when he gets hot?

Simple Pleasures

We're having a down day. We've been in the car way too much, so today we're taking it slow. Here are a few pics from the last few days. 

Sunday after church we drove the hour to Iowa City to finally see my parents and sister, Christina, the one battling with cancer. (Though I wasn't planning on it anyway, she adamantly refuses to have her picture taken, let alone be a part of my blog.) Elizabeth in particular thinks apartment life is just the best, and especially loves Mimi and Papa's "backyard" where they sit out and yell at the cars passing by:

Monday morning started out with a water balloon fight that last for about three hours, and we went swimming at the city pool after that:

Monday evening we shucked some corn (because it's Iowa!), BBQ'd some burgers, brats and dogs, and had a nice dinner:

Will and Andrew look like they want to kill me:

Ya, it's a small town, but look at my sister's back yard and adjoining property:

Bedtime treats:

Tuesday we drove back up to Iowa City and had lunch at my parents' again with all four sisters and some of our kids.  Then my sister, Joanna, and her two daughters went swimming with us at the Coralville pool.  Too bad I didn't get a picture of Kate and Olivia too, but here's a pic of the younger kids:

I had fun getting Christina's favorite foods for lunch and dinner. Foods from restaurants that started in the Quad Cities where we grew up. Subs from Hungry Hobo and taco pizza from Happy Joe's:

And of course, Whitey's for dessert. (Also a Quad City original.) Vanilla Reese's malt, all the way:

 Kate was looking so unenthusiastic, I had Liz jump in and show her how to do it:

One of the kids noticed this piano outside, open for anyone to play. Downtown Iowa City has such a fun fuinki! (Japanese for atmosphere, remember?) University towns tend to be that way. Everyone took a turn:

This chalkboard was right next to the piano:

Did I mention it's in the 90's and super humid? Brandon said it was still in the 40's in the morning when he went to work yesterday in Utah. Can we just get some 70's please?? (I am way too weather obsessed.)

You know you're in Iowa when . . .

 . . . there's a chicken at church. 

The two day trip from Utah to Iowa can be summed up as follows:

Twizzlers, bags and bags of sliced apples, Taco Johns, Pringles, gummi worms, Hubba Bubba, Subway, Coraline, Legends of the Guardians, Toy Story 3, Brandon's vasectomy playlist, Spirited Away soundtrack, Dilbert, Junie B. Jones, sudoku, invisible ink activity books, word searches, mazes, snow in Wyoming, swollen rivers throughout Nebraska and Iowa, mini mart after mini mart, semis galore, rocky mountains turning into rolling plains, and a one night stay at a hotel. This thrilled the kids almost as much as a trip to Disneyland. It did not thrill me however, when I went in and out of the hotel to the car four times in the middle of a thunder, lightening, and hail storm to retrieve vital necessities such as Pull-ups and cell phone chargers, and when Rachael spent the majority of the night on top of my head flailing uncontrollably like an infant exhibiting the startle reflex. (Worst night of sleep I've had in long time.)

I'm happy to say it was a very uneventful trip. There was no vomit, no spilled milk, no involuntary pant wetting, no ultimate fighting, no flat tires, no running out of gas--not even extreme whining. (Though Rachael did ask me when I picked up the kids from school on Friday morning to leave for our trip, "Mom? Are we there yet?" No lie.) I guess my kids are getting older, so--physically speaking--I'm thinking life only gets easier from here on out. (That kind of blows my mind.) Kate was a huge help, as were the movies that kept everyone pretty well sedated through especially long stretches. But really, all the kids were super helpful with Rachael, reading books to her, picking up the things she accidentally dropped . . .

We made great time on Day 2, getting into my sister's house in time to actually bathe and get in bed at a decent hour. (Except for Rachael, who didn't go to sleep until almost midnight again, preferring my head to a pillow, and doing more flailing.) We were hoping to get in early enough that we would be up to going to church with my sister's family the next morning. And boy am I glad we made it.  I just love going to church in different places, because there's always an interesting cross section of people that tell you something about the area you are visiting. And today's church service in Iowa definitely did not disappoint.  

I didn't actually get to witness this myself, but apparently the kids had a little lesson on faith that was illustrated by a chicken following them down the hallways of the church building. I'm still not totally straight on how this taught faith, but I know Will could explain it to you. He is now dead set on having a chicken for a pet. And he wants to move back to Iowa. I told him the humidity would kill me (that and the bugs) so he could put it on his own personal bucket list for when he gets older. The living in Iowa part, not the chicken part. I'm down with that. I want a bantam--the cute kind with feathers down their legs? This one is pretty cute too. It's full grown: 

My sister, Elizabeth:

He's in love:

 
I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow!

P.S. Brandon's brother Trent and his wife Laura had their first baby today! Yippee!  They named her Liv. Isn't that pretty? (Arwen would be pretty too . . .)

Leaving On A Jet Plane

(I just love John Denver . . .)


I wish!  Me, Myself, and my four children are driving to Iowa today, right after school lets out at 9:30. (Brandon will join us in a week.) After stopping approximately 32 times, I imagine it will take us about 20 hours to get there. (Only the number of stops is an exaggeration, but keeping expectations really low is very important in situations like these.) My entire family lives in Iowa, so it will be great to see them all together again.

It's finally summer!!  Yippe!!  I'm bringing all my idea lists and brochures of things to do in the area so I can get working on my summer bucket list.

Not to promulgate any more stereotypes about the midwest, but for the next few weeks we'll be trading in this:

For this:

That's the farm house where my mother grew up and our family lived until I was 2 or 3 when my parents moved across the Mississippi to the "city" in Illinois. My grandparents lived in this house until I was about 8 I think--many happy childhood memories on the farm! I took these pictures the last time we visited Iowa two summers ago when we took the kids there on a day trip down memory lane. (We did have pigs when my grandparents lived there, but the sweet wind chime is new.)

Happy Trails!

Play Date

"Maddie? It's me, Rachael. Do you want to come over and play orphanage again?"

"What do you mean am I calling from my i-phone? I don't even have a cordless! My parents are so lame . . ."

"Ya, so, when you get here, I'll just be on the kitchen counter."