I received a bit of sad news in the mail a few weeks ago:
“Dear Mr. Clark,
We regret to inform you that National Geographic Adventure magazine has ceased publication with the December 2009 / January 2010 issue.”
Ugh. My favorite magazine of all time. Much better than those “news” publications. Better than those sports ones, too. Even the swimsuit issue because I never got to see those. My mom and sisters would intercept them before I got home from school. I have no idea what they did with them. Wait…what did you guys do with those, Mom?? Chelsey??
Focus, Jess. I loved Nat. Geographic Adventure because it was a way to both dream of awesome trips I would like to make some day and also to read about local trips. I can almost guarantee that there was some mention of Utah in that magazine every issue. Utah really is a great place to live.
Nat. Geographic said they would send the actual National Geographic magazine in its stead for the length of my subscription. Sure enough, you can’t sign up for a new Adventure magazine subscription, but their website is still up as if nothing has happened.
On happier news, Lauren is potty training. We pushed our first kid to get potty trained on our schedule. It worked, but it was a pain. For the other two kids, we let them potty train on their own schedule. We made some bribes along the way (“Lauren, once you’re potty trained you can stay in the kids’ play place at Ikea while Mommy shops!”) but really decided when they started showing interest was the appropriate time to get to work.
That approach has worked pretty well so far. Lauren is a toilet superstar, just like her daddy. That’s gross. Sorry, ladies. And I repeat this again for all you young parents who haven’t trained girls: peeing down isn’t a built-in natural thing for the girls. They need to be told where to pee, too! Jen, while observing Lauren growing up before her eyes, asked Lauren where her baby went. “Your baby is potty trained now,” responded Lauren.
While I was writing this post Jen and Lauren were watching the opening ceremonies for the Winter Olympics. Lauren was holding the remote control and said, “Mom, how do I make the TV whisper?” Jen pushed the mute button and Lauren said, “That’s cool!” She is growing up and is very inquisitive these days.
Jess - n - Jen 