Hiking Timpanogos Cave

One of natures wonders is right here in Utah County. Timpanogos Cave is 1 of 3 caves in the world that has a particular kind of calcium formation. I went once when I was a kid, but hadn’t been back since. (From that trip the only thing I remember was being scared, so my dad had me on his shoulders. And at one point in the cave his head got cut and required stitches.)

We went on Thursday with June and her kids. (Dave stayed at the office to get some work done.) Fortunately the day was beautiful (in the 70’s) with a bit of cloud cover. I had no idea that the climb was going to be that steep! When I pointed out to the kids that we were going to be hiking THAT mountain to get to a cave I said, “But we’re not going to the very top”. True, we didn’t get to the very tippy-top, but we certainly got darn near close to the top! I kept telling them over and over before we left, “You have to wear good, comfortable shoes. No cleats! And you HAVE to wear socks.”

We had a 1:00 tour appointment (when you are supposed to start hiking up). Me and my boys were late getting out the door because Benjamin couldn’t find his shoes. (The curse that is now mine since I always lost my shoes as a kid.) June had already got the tickets and the instructions so she filled us in as we quickly got to the trailhead. It takes most people 1 and 1/2 hours to hike to the top. So we had to hike quickly.

Taking a rest, but up against the rocks for safety!

But once we got started, it was quite the climb!! Extreme switchbacks. We had to stop and rest at every switchback plateau. Jess (15) kept saying over and over, “I hate switchbacks!” I was constantly reminding my boys that they needed to stay away from the edge, and to always walk next to the rocks. (And NO throwing rocks either!) Samuel (3) had a hard time remembering to stay away from the edge. Though there was always someone to remind him. Benjamin (5) was always right by my side (or hanging onto my diaper bag). Anthony and James were good troopers. And Jacob LOVED being outside and smiling at everybody that was coming down. The sling was great!

Jessica keeping Samuel safe during the tour

It tooks us nearly 2 hours to get to the top. (Just 1 1/2 miles, but very steep.) When we started the cave tour, we loved the cool 45 degree (F) temperature. But shortly into the tour Benjamin started to say, “I’m freezing!” And within minutes Samuel said, “I’m scared!” Since I was holding Jacob in my sling, I couldn’t hold him too. Cousin Jessica held Samuel’s hand and stayed with him for the tour. The formations were so interesting, and our tour guide was a junior high school science teacher, so he really catered to the young kids in the group. While showing us the long calcuim formed tubes, he said, “See these? They are hollow in the middle, just like a straw. So if you were to break off one of those and drink some soda through it, it would completely dissolve, just like your teeth.” I snickered and said, “Did you hear that boys?!” James wasn’t paying attention and said, “What? what’s so funny?” So I had to quickly explain it. But it was lost a bit in the retelling. I’m always telling my boys that soda is poison.

Halfway through the cave, a man came up to me and said, “This would be a great place to play some Baroque music.” It took me a few seconds to register, but it was James Rhodes. A professional violist that just played a Utah Baroque Ensemble gig with me in April. At the end of the tour he caught me up on his Chamber Music camp that he is holding for local students.

Nearing the end of the tour Jacob had enough and was exhausted. He starting crying and I couldn’t console him. Fortunately we hurried out of the cave and I was able to nurse him to sleep on a bench. Then we began the descent. (After explaining to the boys that they COULD NOT run down, complete with a story of a 3 year old boy that tripped and fell off the side and died. To which Anthony commented, “ouch”.)

On the way back down June and her kids (along with Sam) quickly steamed ahead because they had to get to a toilet. I took my sleeping baby Jacob (in comfy sling), James, Anthony and Benjamin at a bit of a slower pace. All the way down my boys asked, “tell me a story of when you were a kid”. It was a very good time to pass on childhood stories, mistakes that I made and learned from. We had a wonderful bonding time.

The amount of energy kids has constantly amazes me. Samuel nearly immediately fell asleep on the 45 minute drive home, but he woke up when we got home, and was awake until 11:00pm. I was ready to go to sleep at 8:30, but the kids were just as wired as ever. At 10:30 I was reading stories to Anthony and I asked through my own bleary eyes, “Aren’t you tired at all from the hike?'” He looked at me like I was crazy, “No.”

Three days later, my body is still a bit sore! The boys told a ranger, “if our dad came, he’d have a heart attack!” But that’s another story for another post.

Anthony thought this adventure was great!

The boys thought this looked like a dinosaur tooth.

Benjamin standing in front of a huge slide formation. "That would be fun to go on!"

Recent Pictures

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March 30th, 2009 – Pictures

Benjamin is 5 and loves his baby brother Jacob (4 1/2 months). Benjamin always is asking me to come take a picture of them.

Jacob is already learning to foster a love of books!

Samuel is 3 and just loves to swing. This picture (though blurry) really captures his love of life!

Jacob is successfully finding his fingers and thumb. He loves to smile at anyone who smiles at him!.

I’m now the Cubmaster, Dave is the 11 year old scout leader, James (9) just got his Bear rank, and Anthony (7) a Tiger Cub excitedly looking on.

Samuel’s 3rd Birthday

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January 13th, 2009 – Samuel’s 3rd Birthday

The first few pictures are of Jacob of course, in case that adorable smile distracted you from the name on his shirt. 🙂

I went to the store the night before to get him 3 balloons and the standard “sugar cereal” birthday breakfast. When he woke up in the morning he and his brothers were VERY excited to have the rare Froot Loops for breakfast. (I can’t even bear to stand to type ‘fruit’ because it’s not even close to being in a food group. But that’s just my opinion and precisely why we don’t have sugar cereals. )

Samuel’s 3rd birthday was easy going by little kid birthday standards. Lynette came over in the morning and helped me do his Thomas cake. Initially I wasn’t going to do it at all. When I got the cake pan out of the cupboard the week before to look at it and see if I wanted to even attempt it, Samuel saw it and got soooo excited. For the rest of the week he insisted on looking at the cake pan about every hour, “Where’s my Thomas?” he would ask over and over if I had moved it to a different part of the kitchen counter. I had pity on Samuel, and Lynette had pity on me and came over to help. She did really the lion’s share of the decorating and it was greatly appreciated by me and Samuel! (Julles had let me borrow her cake decorating kit.)

After we finished decorating the cake about 1:00 Samuel said, “is it my birthday now!?!” No, sorry sweetie, we have to wait until dinner time when dad gets home. At 1:10 Lynette and I had a rehearsal at my house with another flute player for a symphony performance next week. During the rehearsal in our living room he got a sippy cup and fell asleep on the couch from 1:30 to about 4:30! So when he woke up he was good and excited for his party! The Lewis’ came in shifts (Brynn arrived from Ballet just as Karalyn had to leave for YW), and LaMont and Matt came over a little after the cake had been served. (The other Leavitt’s were at piano lessons.)

Samuel and his brothers played with a new Thomas set until about 10:00pm. His brothers crashed pretty fast, but since Samuel had that long nap and had a bunch of sugar, and all the other excitment he didn’t fall asleep until nearly midnight!

~LaReita

Pictures:

Jacob smiling – close up

Jacob smiling

Dad holding Jacob.

Samuel’s 3rd Birthday

The Thomas Birthday Cake

Birth of Jacob Kerry Berky

(As told by David Berky, Jacob’s father.)

Because of Samuel’s emergency c-section birth (ruptured placenta previa) LaReita and I decided to err on the side of safety and have scheduled c-section for this baby also.

This was a new experience for us. Our previous 4 boys were all panicked, middle-of-the-night, race-to-the-hospital adventures. This time we had a scheduled appointment (like a teeth cleaning) at 7am Monday morning (November 3rd, 2008).

LaReita had been preparing for this during the previous week and we had everything arranged with baby-sitters, schedules, bills-paid, etc.

Then Monday morning we woke up around 4:30 (at least we got some of the early-morning adventure), got ready at a leisurely pace and then calmly drove to the hospital (keeping to at or below the speed limit this time). LaReita even drove and had me fill out deposit slips, and was giving me instructions of what needed to be done that day.

We joked casually as we sat down at the admittance desk and filled out the rest of the required paperwork. We were led into the preparation room where we changed into the necessary clothing – LaReita in the standard hospital gown, me into a set of disposable surgical articles that went over my regular clothes.

My sister Julles Berky arrived around 7am to be with us and observe the c-section procedure. She also donned the surgical clothing and soon the anesthesiologist arrived to start the epidural. That was probably the most painful part of the entire process (so far – LaReita is still on pain medication as I write this). Not having the pains of labor to “distract” her, LaReita got to experience the full range of sensations as the anesthesiologist inserted the medicine-delivering needle and tubes into her spine – a bit of a scary process to watch.

Once that had been endured and the numbing agents started flowing, LaReita soon lost feeling in her legs and lower body. At about 7:30am she was dressed, poked, prodded, measured, hooked up, and ready for the show – well at least Julles and I were ready for the show. But LaReita had a calm assurance that kept the rest of us feeling confident as well.

She was wheeled into the operating room and prepared for surgery. I sat next to her holding her hand while Julles got to stand near a wall with a “nice” view of the surgical field. I peaked over the dividing curtain set up at LaReita’s chest so she couldn’t see what they were doing to her stomach – and believe me – she didn’t want to.

Luckily all she could feel were a few tugs and pulls every once in a while. She was a trooper as usual and was more concerned that Julles or I would feel sick and pass out than what was happening to her and her body.

At about 7:55 the doctors had the baby’s head out and were suctioning the lungs and mouth. At 7:57 he was fully delivered and rushed off to be cleaned, weighted, measured, poked and prodded as his welcome ceremony to this world.

He weighed in at 8 pounds 4 ounces and was 20 inches long. Scored an 8 and 9 on the APGAR tests (out of 10) and had a healthy set of lungs.

Julles went back in to the operating room to reassure LaReita. I stayed with the baby and took some pictures of his first weighing, shots, etc. Then later brought him in to see his mommy. She was very glad to see him and how healthy and strong he looked. He displayed his lungs for her also.

Julles and I left LaReita to finish the procedure and have the doctors put her back together. Julles and I went with the nurse into the hospital nursery where the new baby was washed (first bath), checked some more, given some shots, foot-printed, and diapered for the first time.

After about an hour, LaReita was back in her hospital room while the baby stayed in the nursery for a few more procedures. Julles and I went to LaReita’s room to give her an update on her new son. After another 1/2 hour LaReita was taken into a new recovery room where she would stay for the next 3 days.

Once settled into the new room, the newest member of the Berky clan was brought to his mother. After shedding some tears and welcoming this new little soul to our family he promptly started rooting for something to eat. After several tries he got the “hang” of nursing and the most amazing of in-born natural reactions took place as he started the innate sucking reflex.

While his parents were still trying to determine whether he was Jacob Kerry or Kerry Jacob, he spent his time creating poopy diapers on a regular schedule of 1 1/2 hours apart and nursing well every 1 1/2 hours. [During pregnancy LaReita had received a prompting while at her Uncle Kerry’s funeral “You should name him Kerry.” And a month before delivery, Dave received a clear prompting, “Jacob is a good name.” So we had to determine which name went where.]

Finally on November 4th, his parents decided that he was to be called Jacob Kerry Berky and began informing the family of his “official” name here on Earth.

Welcome to this world Jacob Kerry Berky!

Pictures:

First Picture

Weighed in at 8 lbs 4 oz. – 20 inches long.

Meeting Mommy

First bath – not impressed.

Mom’s first cuddle.

Opening eyes, “hello world!”

Being held by brother Anthony with brother Benjamin (left) and Grandpa Berky (right) looking on.

Being held by Grandma Berky with brother Benjamin.

First family picture – Anthony, James, Ben, Dad (back), Jacob, Samuel, Mom (back).

Being held by Sam (left) and James (right).

Being held by brother Benjamin.

Being held by brother Samuel.

With brothers Benjamin, Samuel and mommy.

Being held by Grandpa Berky with brother Benjamin looking on.

Being held by Aunt Julles

Mom’s birthday

Anthony, Samuel, Benjamin, LaReita, James (the blur)

Mom and the boys

Anthony, James, Benjamin, LaReita, Samuel and cousin Ryan

Watching a show

Boys lined up so Dad got in the picture – Samuel, Benjamin, Anthony, James, David

Alexander’s UVU Orchestra concert

Tonight we went to see one of Alex’s performances at UVU. His Grandma (my Aunt Elaine) was also there visiting because of other various grandchildren activities, and made it part of her trip.

He is in the chamber orchestra and has been enjoying it. (Although he was getting annoyed with people dropping the class mid-way through the semester.) We arrived in time for his portion of the concert. However, we had to wait in the hall because we had to go in between sets, so as not to disrupt the performers and audience members. During the applause, we and 20 other people started to filter into the medium-sized auditorium. As we sat down to listen, I looked around and mouthed to Dave, “Where’s Samuel?” In the shuffle, we lost him. Dave went out to look for him. He stayed out for the rest of the concert (which was only 20 minutes). When we met back up with Dave and Samuel, he said that a crying Sam was holding the hand of a kind young father at the door. Samuel was pretty upset (understandably), so Dave just stayed out in the foyer with him.

It reminds me of the time that everyone in my family tells me about being left in the store. When my family arrived back home, everybody had assumed that I was being watched by someone else. As a result, I was left back at the store. I don’t remember a thing, but I certainly remember my dad telling me about how guilty he felt when he came back to gather me up, and that the policeman holding my hand gave him a disapproving look.

History aside, Alex’s concert went well, we were able to visit with Aunt Elaine at the intermission, and we all arrived at home. Everyone. 🙂