MyLeslieNotebook

My daughter Shelby is so very brave. She faces bigger kids and mountains and sickness like a champ. She has courage in the day time . But it starts to fade when the sun goes down. She has nightmares, scary thoughts, and struggles to fall asleep because she can't get frightening images out of her mind. (You've been there. I have, too.) It happened with Shelby not too long ago. She was trying to fall asleep (not an easy task for such an adventurous five-year-old) and I had encouraged her to think about a movie as she closed her eyes. Twenty minutes later, I heard her pitiful cry. I walked into her room and asked her what was the matter. "I keep thinking about the scary part of Zootopia," she explained, "and I can't stop. I'm very afraid." The Mom in me knew just what to say: "Honey, Zootopia is not real. It's just a pretend story."  "I know, Mama," she cried, "but it seems real in my mind." And that...

My husband, kids, and I just returned from a two-week trip out west. Destination: Colorado.  Purpose: hiking.  We camped in a national park (Black Canyon of the Gunnison), the highest city in America (Leadville), and on one of the highest roads in the Rockies (Guanella Pass). [If you've not been to Colorado, you should go. Add these 3 places to your must-do list!!!] In the midst of our camping, we hiked two fourteen-ers. A 14er is a mountain whose peak is at least 14,000 feet above sea level. The trail length can range from four miles to many times that, but the end result is standing on what feels like the top of the world. We tackled Mount Sherman and Mount Bierstadt , two of the least difficult. (They are all hard. But some are REALLY hard. I blogged about a super hard one here .) The four or us began each mountain together. But, just as I suspected might happen, my seven-year-old son destroyed me in the ability to hike quickly uphill for hours. My husband was...