Thanksgiving 2020

 Thanksgiving!

We had the best time with Grandma and Grandpa G and Greg and the Smarts.  The Smarts are a FUN family.  Their kids are so smart, beautiful, talented, athletic and FUNNY.  They are also super helpful.  I love how Cassie always asks what she can help with.  My kids love these cousins and were so excited they were coming.  It was fun to catch up.  Jake and Miles are so similar!  They are about the same size and build, and they get along so great.  It was awesome to see Taylor and catch up.  She's doing great at Utah State.  The littles got their own table and enjoyed being together.  Savannah was with her boyfriends family this year.

Planning Thanksgiving was a last minute thing.  We weren't sure how to handle it really.  On one hand I want to comply somewhat with covid restrictions, and on another hand, 14 of the 19 have all had covid already so what is the point?  I felt pretty confident that we weren't going to be spreading anything.  But you know everyone gets to choose.  If someone doesn't want to risk it, they can always stay home.  This was actually a pretty small gathering for an extended family of our size!  My philosophy is that we are human.  We live on Earth.  Viruses are part of our lives.  We are going to do our best to be proactive and make healthy choices which in turn protect others and free up hospital beds for those who need them.  But there comes a point where we have to start living again.  Being with our family is essential.  

We ended up with 10 pies and 19 people.  Crazy amounts of pie!  We chucked most of them.  Next year we will plan the pie ratio a little better!  Haha.  

We played Perpetual Commotion and Dr. Mario.  The kids all contributed to the meal.  Simone made a key lime pie, Elise a coconut cream, Monet did the raspberry pretzel jello.  I made everything else.  Jared hung Christmas lights all day and our yard looks very festive.  I haven't made a Turkey in years and it was fun to do it again but next time we will smoke the Turkey. 

Updates

 Long time no post!

I'm out of the habit I guess!  I've also previously used this blog to process my feelings and although I'm not overly concerned with who reads this (mostly family) I also don't want to offend anyone with my recent musings.

But here is what has been happening:

1.  Sad about how our political leanings are misconstrued.  I know I already posted about this.  But it got worse.  People (family members even) posting memes with "If you vote for Trump, you're a racist."  blah blah blah.  It's actually more complex than that.  But it makes me sad that these are the conversations going on in the world right now.  I feel pretty sad that there is such an us vs them mentality.  The truth is, we all want the same thing.  We just see different ways to get us there.  But politics is all about winning and fighting apparently.  

2.  Went to Arches and Canyonlands with my friends and felt like why do I not run away like this more often?  It is the best feeling in the world.  I need to get out of my house more.

3.  Girls coming home for Sunday dinners and we just love that so much!  Jared said to me last week how much he is enjoying having them home for a few hours altogether!  We are lucky they are so close.

4.  Family photos!  I am excited to have them!  Our last ones are old now!  The younger ones especially look so different.

5.  We all got covid!  Elise first caught it from a friend at college and we had her come home because she has a high risk roommate.  Then the rest of us got it as in our eagerness to have her home (it was just a couple weeks after she came home from her mission), we were not making her stay in a separate area of the house.  It was more than a cold (for Jared and I) but less than the flu for sure as far as illnesses go.  Monet didn't get it until a couple weeks ago.  I'm not surprised this is being spread a lot by college kids living in high density housing and who have nearly no symptoms.  We were lucky we even caught it with Monet because she had nearly no symptoms but then lost her taste for an evening.  She tested positive a couple days later but felt great the entire time.  All our kids were really mild, and all lost taste and smell as the main symptom.

We are happy to have some antibodies and are feeling a little more freedom from worry about coronavirus stuff.  Probably 80% of our extended family has also had covid luckily it hasn't been worse than a flu for any, and super mild for the kids.  I'm kinda glad most of us have had it and are luckily all fine because now our grandparents and older family members who are at risk will have a little better protection.

I wish people who have had covid could get a mask exemption.  Because isn't protecting anyone once you've had it you are immune anyway and I miss seeing faces.  But I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable either.  

6.  Trying to make plans for holidays.  Its going to be a little different this year!  We are going to have some family come over though.

7.  Our house is quiet!   A lot!  It's odd.  Miles is working really hard in basketball and working out.  Simone has a big new friend group of cute athlete girls.  Soren plays a lot with the neighbor kids.  Jared and I are not very busy!  No sports to go to really changes our pace.

8.  Monet is heading to Hawaii for the next semester of school.  She had been thinking of going there anyway, but academically it didn't make sense. But now her classes are online and her friends found a house to fit them all for cheaper rent than Provo.  So it sounds like a fun plan.  These girls worked hard all summer and most of them are paying for all their college.  I'm impressed!  We will miss her, but it will be a good reason to visit!

9.  Elise just came home last weekend when she had an unexpectedly quiet couple of days and it was so nice!  We loved it.  She did a canyoneering trip with friends from high school yesterday.  It looked like so much fun.

Fall Break

We headed to Powell again for our Fall Break!

Highlights:

All the yummy prep work paid off with good food!

Miles got a 180 Shuv it on the surfboard and it was so cool!  He tried it last trip and had a lot of falls before getting it this time.  I think he was a little surprised.  

Isaac came and was so fun to watch wake boarding!  He is incredible!

Lots of boardgames!  I played Mexican Train with the moms and it was so fun.  Kids played Secret Hitler and Perpetual Commotion.

Adult Surf Swap--all the parents took out one boat, college kids in another, and high school and younger in the last boat.  The kids all loved it too!  Its fun that our friends are there at the same time just a few houseboats down.  They are so fun.

Simone got to bring her friend Abby and she was a natural at surfing!  She got up on her first try and with just a few tweaks she was surfing!  I'm not surprised at all.  She's a great climber and soccer player too.

Brooke got to stay over one night with us at the end!  

It was a lot colder than in the summer but still mid 80's and it was just so nice to be out on the boat again! We've been to Powell a lot this year--four times!  We are so glad we got this houseboat a couple years back.  Its a great Covid vacation.  I haven't been on a plane since January, but at least we've had some really fun times in Lake Powell.

I was thinking about our houseboat purchase and was feeling extra satisfied with it.  We pay an annual maintenance fee and it sounded like a lot when I heard how much the dues are but the initial cost was pretty low.   We get 17 days per year guaranteed, and can sleep 20 people at least on the boat, it actually feels like a really great deal.  With our size of family we usually need two hotel rooms and even in cheap ones, our houseboat is cheaper per night than two rooms.  I'm hoping someday our kids will look back on these trips and love the memories.

Facts

Is anyone else so frustrated with our hovering "fact-checkers" these days?  I don't need people to review news articles for me.  I need the freedom to exercise my own critical thinking skills and sift through the information myself, read both sides of the argument and figure out where I stand.

Part of my frustrations in this area involve the two major themes of 2020: Politics and Coronavirus.  

I'm not a person who likes having an authoriarian body telling me what is real and what is not.  I keep hearing people tout arguments about "science" and trusting scientists and not to question things but to trust the experts.  Similarly, I'm not going to also blindly believe everything I read on the news.  

This information hiding really rubs me the wrong way.  We have heard from many scientists this year and they are not coming to a consensus on everything.  Science is ever-changing and evolving and so are their recommendations.  

Health and Political information isn't some static thing that can be captured and processed by only a select few smart people who then disseminate the info to the lowly regular people.  I've never liked that line of thinking.  It reminds me of the dark ages.  When only clergy could read and interpret the bible for instance.  It is a similar idea, results in the same imbalance of power and feels very elitist to me.  Its very patronizing.

Science and information is limited by a lot of things:

• Bias 
• Conflicts of interest
• Funding

And so many other factors.  

Fall Harvest

 So I am a super lazy gardener!  I've learned that my tomatoes will still grow just fine even with lots of weeds.  And the only thing I really need is good dirt, drip watering system and the right location and I'm getting tons of good stuff coming from my garden.  All I have to do is get the plants in the ground in May/June, and we are pretty much good to go.  And that is good because my allergies go crazy when I am out there.

So while it isn't as pretty, even from my neglected garden we've had lots of fresh tomatoes, pumpkins, zucchini, peppers, summer squash, strawberries, grapes, beets, radishes, raspberries, Italian Prunes, peaches, apples, cherries, plums, etc.  All so colorful and it is very satisfying to harvest.  We also get the prettiest eggs daily.  And bonus the chickens love the fruit that falls on the ground.  

Sadly our honey harvest was a little disappointing!  We could only get a small jar because we have to leave the rest for the bees to eat over the winter.

Transitions

 Well, "normal" didn't last too long over here.  Such is 2020!   

To be honest, this pandemic has been pretty hard.  Nothing is normal.  Even if we think we are getting a little semblance of it, it doesn't last.  

The older girls are in college now.  Which was unexpectedly heartbreaking.  I'm so excited for them!  I'm so lucky they are close.  And yet, it is really hard to let go.  They are still my babies.  I still want to wrap them in bubble wrap and make sure nothing bad ever happens, and yet I know I can't.  Life isn't meant to be lived that way.  And the hard parts are what shape us into who we are.  All the hard things I went through at their age, I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything.  I learned what I was made of.  I gained confidence in myself and became stronger.  Also, I miss them!  I miss hearing about their day.  I don't want to be annoying and call every second.  But I just didn't get quite enough time with them both after Elise got home.

Anyway, I'm working on it!

And who am I now?  Although I've still got three kids at home, we don't have the busy pace we are used to.  And I'm feeling kinda stagnant.  Like now that I have all this time on my hands, I need to figure out who I am and what I'm doing with the rest of my life.  I love being a stay at home mom.  I loved the different jobs I had when I was younger, but my heart was at home and I only really did those things so that I could spend more time at home, or so we could have a better life.  I know that my husband would always support me in whatever endeavor I wanted to try.  But being home is what I've always loved and we don't need another income.  Now I'm feeling like I need to set some of my own goals again.  So in the next couple months I'm going to work on renewing my real estate license.  It's flexible enough that when things get busy again I won't feel burdened.

I've been making a mental list of projects and skills I want to learn.  I'm inspired by my friends who have gone back to school, work, etc.  I always loved working when I was younger.  And it sounds kinda fun to have my own thing.  

I've never worried too much about social media or felt bad because of it.  I enjoy seeing what other people are doing.  But I'm getting tired of it.  So I've been hoping that will help me get out of this funk.  Spending time in the present and doing things with my time that give me results and something concrete sounds good right now.

Normal

Today was a normal day!  First time since March.

It was so good.  It was full of mundane things.  Sending the kids to school. Dropping off shorts for Soren (cause his were ripped my very nice friend and crossing guard texted to let me know).  I washed the cars.  Made fish tacos for dinner.  Did the laundry.  Had a chiropractic adjustment and took a nap too.

And it felt sooooo good to have a normal day.  I am so happy to be sending my kids to school again.  It just feels good for them and for me.  I need my normal routine.

Elise and Monet started BYU today.  So excited for them.  It feels a little weird with just three kids at home and I would like to call them several times a day to ask dumb questions like:  How were your classes?  How was the chiro?  etc.  I know it is good for all of us.  Hopefully they won't mind me calling for updates.

In the last ten days, Elise came home from her mission, all the kids started school, we moved Elise and Monet into their apartments, Soren was baptized combined with Elise's homecoming, We took a quick M-Th trip to Powell, and we are switching all the kids rooms around at home.  I'm very tired, and happy for less busyness on the horizon.

MAGA

We are dealing with three teenagers in our house.  Its fun!  Its also kinda hard!  I am raising incredibly independent-minded, authority-questioning children.  And I love that.  And why should they be anything else when they have us as parents?  But with that comes some fun times trying to direct and coach these children.  Stubborness abounds!

So one funny issue we've had lately was Miles's MAGA hat.  It's a Trump hat.  He really finds Trump hilarious.  One thing I love about Miles is that he really loves to read.  He likes information.  And he is a thoughtful kid.  But these red MAGA hats have been the center of some controversy.  And I wasn't sure I wanted a target on his back.  

But while we discussed him not wearing the MAGA hat, I listened to myself and realized I am not being courageous by subverting how he expresses himself.  

How can I be a good mom if I tell my child I don't want him to wear a hat because of a stereotype created by political rivals?  My step mom loves Obama and proudly wore an Obama bag and still does.  I thought it was cute that she likes him so much.  I didn't vote for Obama or agree with his political ideologies.  And yet, I found the bag endearing.  And why should Miles be treated differently?  So I allowed him to keep the hat.

Also, my dad was a pretty liberal guy.  But in high school, he bought my brother a Rush Limbaugh book.  I doubt my dad liked Rush at all.  But I'm impressed that he didn't feel threatened that his son might have different ideology than he did.  For the record, my brother is very liberal now.  The Rush thing was just a phase.

Things I've seen on social media are interesting and concerning to me.  One in particular.  "If you vote for Trump, you are FOR: (and it listed a whole bunch of negative things like racism, misogyny, etc.)

Pretty sad.  Political narratives are created by both sides during a campaign.  I saw that immediately after Trump was elected, there was a colossal amount of negative labels that were suddenly slapped on anyone who supported him.  But the truth is it is a terrible strategy.  Name calling just doesn't work.

People like me who once hated Trump, now don't trust the media at all.  And the labels just end the discussion and frankly create animosity.  No one is debating actual issues.  Cancel culture and distorted claims are basically fueling the silent majority that won this past election.

Apply a little bit of critical thinking and you realize most of those labels are just propaganda.  Whatever Trump does is going to be criticized.  He took his family to a steak dinner after the election, and  all over the news is how Trump dodged the press and went to dinner without the media.  Never been done!  Terrible President Elect.  If it were Obama, people would be all googly eyed that he put his family first.

And the Women's March with the vagina hats was next.   Trump hates women apparently.   These same women are silent when it comes to Biden and his accusers.  "Believe Women!" (no matter what, even decades later with lots of holes and a staggering political motive!) as long as it's a Republican who is the accused--when its a democrat, well that woman is just a liar.  It's just a lot of hypocrisy and political narrative.  

Common sense and logic are scarce during election years.  Combine that with the current pandemic, and I'm just annoyed.  I hate the news.  Every other story is basically telling me what to think, and it's insulting.  December can't come soon enough! 

Lake Powell Fun

Thank you to our friends the Siris for the great time in Lake Powell.  This trip was much needed for our family!  Corona life has been a little rough on us!  It is so fun to go on these little trips.  I feel like I learn so much from watching how other families operate.  It is super interesting to me.  I loved going to Powell with the Siris because they have a really fun family, they love to surf, and they are hilarious.   The Finlaysons are friends with them and they have come two times now when we have been. We had a great time with them as well and enjoyed playing a ton of games with them.  

Soren was the youngest kid by far and he was lucky to have so many people that were so attentive to him.  The first day he was a little bored (getting the houseboat in place takes about half a day and isn't the fun part.  The next day he was hoping someone would play cards with him and Alicia offered and he was so excited.   She is definitely the queen of games and one of the nicest people ever.  He learned how to make friendship bracelets from Simone.  Then Soren surfed a bunch with JT and loved going on the boat with all the teenagers after that.  We got him his own surfboard so he can try surfing on his own next time!

He learned how to play Skull King, Secret Hitler, and some other fun games.  We all had so much fun watching movies, playing games, surfing, talking, and just having a good time on the boats.  Its so fun to watch everyone surf!  Everyone is improving a lot. 

The teenagers loved sleeping on top of the boat, even though the sun beats down on everyone early in the morning.  Its just beautiful and there are so many stars out!  They got creative one day and made an american flag stencil out of tin foil and Miles burned it into his skin.  They made a video that went viral on TikTok and it is pretty funny actually.  Its fun for me to see Miles and Monet more as peers.  Their age gap seems to be getting smaller and they actually enjoy each other again.  They were such little friends when they were little. 

I love how much easier this Lake Powell trip is getting.  It isn't so overwhelming now that we have done it several times.  We know how to use the boat, how to surf.  Everyone helps and knows what needs to get done.  Meals with that many people is also just pretty much the same as every trip.  So we just kinda know the drill now.  So I guess that is just how everything in life is!  The more you do something, the easier it gets.  

We didn't have nudist neighbors this trip, but we did have a little bit of exciting drama when the houseboat across the bay was tubing in their surfboat right next to our houseboat for a full hour, and sporadically through the week.  This is a big no no and very rude in Lake Powell etiquette because of how houseboats are anchored and obviously no one likes the waves rocking the boat over and over.  It makes you feel a little seasick and also it can put a lot of pressure on the ropes and that causes anxiety because if the boat comes unpinned it is a lot of potential damage and danger.  So we went out to ask them to move away from our section of the bay and it resulted in a pretty funny convo.  They didn't receive it well and the kids thought of all kinds of funny ways they could take revenge.  My favorite though was their idea of paddling over in the night on a paddle board and throwing Simone's dead catfish in their surfboat.  It didn't really matter and we left without having any kind of revenge.  

It's really satisfying to see the reward of all the memories and fun times that are had with all the kids.

Happy Mothers Day to me

So I'm really learning how amazing grace is.  Because I'm far from a perfect parent.  And when your child sends you a card that makes you feel like the coolest person, I'm going to post it!  Haha!  I've been waiting 20 years for this.

Pretty sure this list says more about Elise than it does about me.  She has a knack for thinking everything is funny.  It really is the greatest skill.

Here are some of my favorite times with you:

- when you rolled down the sand dunes on your face 

- when you did a backhandspring while you were pregnant.

- car talks 

- when you come sit on my bed even if it's the middle of the night and ask how my day was 

- looking at house designs and interior design stuff 

- going to the gym with you even if you would wake me up way too early sometimes

- when you would wake me up early so we could go sledding 

- when you fight people when we are shopping because theres no seats in the dressing rooms (Disclaimer, I was pregnant, lightheaded, and when I moved a chair five feet into a completely empty dressing room was told it was a fire hazard.  Um no.)

- how much you love doritos 

- how you know more about everyone in my grade than I do because you get all the details from their moms or you stalk them on Instagram 

- how nobody can keep up with you because you walk too fast 

- when you hid dads "mountain dude" shirt 

- how all my friends tell you everything about their lives because you're the cool mom and you know who everyone is. 

- when you told Monet you would ground her if she didn't tell you who she kissed 

- when you and dad played just dance 

- when you spontaneously sing and dance in the kitchen 

- karaoke with your sisters, 9 to 5 

- getting mad at dad for saying someone throws "like a girl"

- the fact that you go rockclimbing with us 

- when Miles threw up your smoothie back into his cup

- when you killed Miles's fish and then acted surprised when he told you when we were in the car on the way back from the mall

- our whole family running to get coffee ice cream at midnight in Hawaii 

- when you went off that rope swing in lake Powell.

- when we got stranded at Jeremy's trading post on the way to our lacrosse tournament. 

- getting frozen lemonade from Chick fil a 

- going to pick out flowers and you know what every single one is called 

- going sledding 

- hiking in Provo canyon and ending up 10 miles away from our car and dad had to come pick us up. 

- snorkeling with whales and eating fruit on that little boat

- playing extreme hide and go seek

- going to Tsunami

- waverunners in Tahiti! 

- talking after dates in the middle of the night 

- Christmas traditions! 

- prom dress shopping 

- watching movies on Sunday

- sitting on the tub every Sunday while you do your makeup after dad already left us

- when you try to make sure our conversations stay normal at dinner or in the car but it never worked because Miles 

- paddleboarding in Bora Bora!! 

- when we went to Universal Studios and you wanted me to stay longer with you because you love amusement parks so much. 

- when Miles called us in the car after he had split a tennis pole and couldn't walk

- when we were in the car another time and someone called you to tell you to look at Miles's Instagram and he had just eaten 3 ghost peppers. 

- getting our nails done and getting Aubergine 

- when you drive to St George in like 2 hours. 

Bella Elise!

I sent her this little tripod for Christmas.  She laughed about it, but hey I think it was inspired!  Who knew she'd be doing Zoom calls all day!  Very handy.

Who knew a person could learn so much from staying in a little apartment for 13 weeks?  I’m pretty proud of Elise all the adaptations she’s had to make recently in Italy.  She has had a great attitude and is completely devoted to her purpose there.  They’ve worked hard in their teaching!  Providing English classes via zoom, tuning into cooking classes and devotionals set up by her mission president and his wife Sorella Browning.  I’m so grateful for the support she’s had.  They have had some incredible devotionals and firesides via zoom.  She gave me a list of all the things they have learned to cook and I’m kinda excited for her to come home and teach us how to cook Italian food!  One of my favorite scriptures is about how Christ makes weak thinks become strong.  Weak isn’t a word that is ever use to describe Elise, but I can see how her mission has strengthened her and helped her develop talents she never focused on before!  I had to laugh when I saw her acting in a skit for a Facebook ad, singing (even whistling lol) for sacrament meeting and cooking!  Those are all things she didn’t really do before.  If you knew Elise growing up, she was extremely shy for many years around adults and strangers.  On her mission she has had to meet and talk to so many people and she said it was her biggest concern before leaving. But she says it has not been hard at all.

So glad she’s been able to have this experience!  In 3 months she’ll be home with us!  Which makes me feel super happy. 

Here is a list of the things she's been cooking:

Lasagna Bergamasca

Polpette (Meatballs)

Papa a la Huancaina

Wonton Soup

Cuore Di Mucca

Tuscan Gaudi (Spinach Gnocchi)

Cioccolata Calda

Albanian Bean Soup

Carbonara al a Presidente

Ragu Bolongese

Risotto Milanese

Cinnamon Rolls

Tiramisu

Gnocchi

Tortellini Tre Pi 

Thanksgiving Point Gardens

We loved the Tulip Festival and the Farm.  It was actually really great that they were requiring tickets and only a small amount of people per time slot.  So nice!  It was absolutely beautiful.  I love the Gardens and it feels therapeutic to be there!  We loved the farm too.  All my kids were dying over the baby goats.  I was dying over the poor pregnant mama goat who looked like she had at least quads.  Her belly was soooo huge.

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Zero G

Yesterday we went to a slot canyon called Zero G or Zero Gravity with Carla and Riley.  It was so much fun to get outside and explore a little.  We haven't really gone more than 20 minutes from our home (and that only a couple times) in the last couple of months with the quarantine.

But Utah is opening up a little.  So now that they opened state parks, and the weather is nice, we decided to go on a day trip.

It was so fun to be outside and explore somewhere new.  Carla is awesome and does all the research on all these canyons and this was was fun.  There were some places we had to swim across.  And a few places to climb that were a little tricky!  But that's what makes it fun.  We didn't need to rappel until the end.

The first thing I loved about this trip was hearing my kids banter and laugh together.  They are pretty darn funny.  Miles and Monet couldn't be more different but it was good to hear them laughing together and I can tell they are all going to be such good friends.  Riley and Miles are the same age and have been buddies for awhile now and it was fun to see her again too!  She does this kind of thing all the time with her family so she's like pro now and was so helpful to us newbies.

Miles was a little nervous about the narrow slot!  I wasn't expecting that because he is my kid that has never really been afraid of anything.  He is kinda crazy.  But he wasn't liking how narrow it was.
It was beautiful and fun because a lot of water and places where you swim through.  There is even a place to jump off the cliffs.

And then at the end there was a place where I got stuck.  Like for real wedged between two canyon walls.  I knew it was going to be tight but it is really hard to gauge if I will fit in a certain place.  I feel like I always had a good sense for that when I was younger.  But my size is fluid these days.  Lol.  Rapidly changing it seems.  And this little spot has had many search and rescue calls over the years.  I knew when Monet looked nervous about squeezing through that it was a little iffy for me.

Anyway, I got wedged in and I spent about a minute trying to get out before feeling a little bit of panic start.  Monet, Simone and Riley were already through and Carla was helping me and giving me instructions from below.  Miles was behind me.  I look back at him and he was looking pretty nervous too he was in a tight spot and if I was stuck he would also have a hard time getting out.  My torso was the stuck part and I tried rotating my legs, and couldn't really move up.  And was afraid to move down and get more trapped.  At this point Miles was asking if he could help me and I told him to say a prayer.  I could reach the rope but I couldn't pull myself up on it.  I started thinking that I might be spending the night in this little predicament.  I was the weirdest feeling!  I tend to stay calm in situations like these, but I was definitely getting nervous!

My belay device was digging into my tummy and it was hurting, so eventually I was able to move it and then I slid down even more.  Which surprisingly was what helped me get loose enough to wiggle through.  Phew!

I can't tell you how relieved I felt!  So now Miles had to come through and he was a little nervous after watching me, but he fit just fine.

Before heading home we stopped by Goblin Valley.  I've always wanted to see the hoo doos and it was pretty cool!

It was a great experience and so much fun!  I'm glad we had that adventure even if there was a tiny bit of panic.  I think I actually would have been fine if I'd slid down a little more from the beginning, I was just afraid of getting more stuck so I was trying to stay higher and it was probably just a little too high.  There was a big group of college age boys behind us and they got through just fine.  They probably could have helped too if really necessary.

The water aspect of it was really fun!  I didn't wear a wetsuit and was just fine and not cold at all.  But  Miles didn't and was pretty cold.  I'm glad we had them!