Season 6 What's The Dream? Blog 19: The Kid Khronicles #3- Roommates

 The Kid Khronicles #3- Roommates

As I explained in "Meet (Half Of) The Andersons," August reached out to Paige on Instagram and sent up a brunch for herself, Paige, Kid, and me, even though I wasn't quite ready for my "sisters" to meet Paige yet. At that point, Paige was not my girlfriend, as our first date had only been a week before. I wrote that installment to set up my motivation for the following one: get my revenge and meet Paige's best friend (Nicole). Because of that, I didn't get to talk about the importance of that brunch in and of itself.

We sat at Northstar on Sunday, March 26th. "So, are you in school?" August asked.

"I go to Columbus State," Paige replied.

"Oh my gosh! So do I!" Kid exclaimed.

My fate was sealed. Paige and Kid exchanged numbers, and they discovered that both of their first classes were in the same building. So before class, they would get coffee almost every day, and Kid took Paige home on more than one occasion. I didn't realize how much trouble I was in until April 8th.

It was the day before Easter, and Arden and Marshall were in town for the holiday. One of Kid's friends had a show that night, and we all planned on going. Once Paige (who was now my girlfriend) had met Arden and Marshall, we headed to the show. That whole night I watched Paige integrate herself into my friend group through Kid with ease.

When Mat Kearney played the most recent private show for Sam's Fans, Paige and I went together (Legend). While we were mingling, Paige got a text. She pulled her phone out, and I noticed it was from someone named "ex-wife." I was confused, and she explained that there had been a running joke for a while that Nicole was her wife, but they "divorced" when Nicole started dating her boyfriend. "So, are you just dating me to make Kid your next wife?" I joked. A mischievous grin spread across Paige's face. Mostly to mess with me, she changed Kid's contact name from "Arlo" (her real name) to "Wifey."

Now Kid was planning on spending her summer in California working on a farm, and she ended up having a wonderful time. A few weeks after the Mat Kearney show, I went to the Anderson's house and found Paige in Kid's room. "We're looking for apartments!" Paige exclaimed.

"We might move in together once I get back from California!" Kid clarified.

I was admittedly a little taken aback at first. Honestly, I think most of it was a shock, but the ridiculousness of my "sister" moving in with my girlfriend was not lost on me. On Tuesday, August 8th, Luke, Josh, and I helped Paige move in, and by the 10th, they were both completely moved in (more or less). I'm so excited for you guys, and I can't wait to see what happens next!

Have a Greattastic day and be safe! 

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Season 6 What's The Dream? Blog 18: Return To Norris Lake

 Return To Norris Lake

As I said in "Rules for a Greattastic Life (Taylor's version)," Paige went on a cousin's trip (her dad's side of the family) on June 30th for about a week. She was only back in Columbus for a few days before she went on a camping trip with her mom's side. As a result of her travels and my family trip to Colorado, Paige and I only saw each other three times in July before the Norris Lake trip.

You may recall my cousin's family, the Mitreys (Uncle Andy, Aunt Melissa, Alex, Maci, Nicholas, and Ellie), own a house on Norris Lake in Tennessee. The Mitreys have had extended family over since they got the home in 2021, and my family has gone every year. My family left on Saturday, July 29th, but that was the day of Paige's best friend Nicole's 21st birthday party, so Paige and I planned to go on the 30th. We got to the party 20 minutes after it started, and I spent the entire night socializing with Paige and Nicole's high school friends. The next day after Mass, I finished packing, and Paige and I drove five and a half hours to the lake house.

My Aunt Cyndi, her fiance Jeremy, and her two children, Caitlynn and Cameron, were at the house when Paige and I got there. My Uncle Bob would arrive the following day. The next morning, Paige and I put our swimsuits and sunscreen on and went on an hour-long paddle-boarding date. I know the first thing I did on the trip was go on that date, but after that, the days blurred together, so my timeline is a little questionable. But here are some highlights from the trip:

There was a stray dog that was roaming the area. He was very friendly and liked Mitrey's dog, Daisy. I'm pretty sure the dog is going to become the marina dog.

Uncle Andy took Paige, Cyndi, Caitlynn, Cameron, and me, tubing on our own. On Cyndi, Jeremy, Kaitlin, Cameron, Ellie, and Uncle Bob's last night, we went to the marina, ate dinner, and won $50 from their trivia night.

The day everyone listed above left (Cyndi's family went to Dollywood, and Uncle Bob drove Ellie home so she could attend a track camp), Alex took his remaining siblings, my brothers, Paige, and I tubing. Paige and I were last in the rotation since we had already gone. On Paige's turn, she flew off the tube, did three cartwheels in the air, and continued rolling when she hit the water! She was totally fine, other than a pretty big bruise on her leg, But I'm kind of mad I didn't get the epicness of that crash on video. For the rest of the trip, we either relaxed in the lake, played games with the neighbors, or played Mario Kart.

As you may recall last time I went to Norris Lake (Swimmer's Ear), it wasn't as fun for me as it should have been. Two things went wrong. First, I flew off the tube on my first day, got water stuck in my ear, and got an ear infection. Secondly, on that trip, I had to break up with my ex-girlfriend Gabby. Knowing that I was going on this trip, I preemptively got drops in case my earplugs didn't work, and even though I was in the water every day, I didn't get an ear infection.

Paige coming was excellent too! Paige had already met most of Mom's side of the family, so I already knew that they loved her. But she spent the entire week with my family and got along with everyone the whole time… Like; it's not that I wasn't expecting her to get along with everyone, but actually seeing everyone get along with her the entire week was super cool. I don't know, it was just such a fun trip, and I feel like Norris Lake has redeemed itself from last year!

Have a Greattastic day and be safe!

 J. Mitchie Ulibarrri

Season 6 What's The Dream? Blog 17: 14er

 14er

At 2:15 pm, August drove me to a parking lot outside the Denver Airport. A few minutes later, my family pulled up, having already picked up Ryan and Luke. After I said goodbye to August, I got into the van, and we drove the last two hours to Breckenridge.

Now where we were staying near, Breckenridge is 10,000 feet above sea level, and Denver is about 5,280. Breckenridge is the highest I've ever been, though I still didn't get altitude sickness. On our first night, we reviewed our plans for our first few days. My Family, Ron, Anita, Tanner, and Alex, did a ton of hiking, rode 37 miles on e-bikes, and went white water rafting. But the highlight of the trip was climbing a 14er.

Ever since Arden moved to Colorado in 2019, I have heard the term 14er in passing. A 14er is a mountain that is at least 14,000 feet above sea level. At 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 19, my family and both generations of Wallaces got ready to go, and we were at the Quandary Peak trailhead by 8:00.

Dad and my brothers were in one group, and Mom, the Wallaces, and I were in the other. Dad and the boys went ahead while the Wallaces, Mom, and I took our time. The first third of the hike wasn't spectacular, though it was at a constant incline. Once we reached that second third, we ran into the scree. Scree (according to the app, all trails) is a bunch of loose rocks and stones covering a mountain. The second 2/3 of this hike was just climbing up scree!

Now the second third of the hike culminated in a false peak. A false peak is exactly what it sounds like; from below, it looks like the top of a mountain, but once you reach it, you realize that the actual peak is still far away. When we were about halfway through the second third, Ryan called Mom (I have no idea how they had service) and informed her that Josh had left the group and had run to the top of the mountain as soon as they got to the false peak. We later found out that he fell asleep when he reached the top!

As we approached the false peak, a group of moutan goats came to us. We couldn't tell the males from the females, as they all had horns, but there was an adorable baby one! I took out my phone and started recording. The one that I assume was the mother walked up right up to me, so close that I had to back up! I think she was trying to show her baby that humans are safe. They were very social creatures; in fact, on the hike down, they walked with us until we got out of the scree as if they wanted to make sure that we got home safe!

Once we reached the false peak, Ron, Anita, Mom, and I ate a snack while Tanner and Alex continued to the top. At this point, our group started to break apart. Once we had finished our snack, we continued through the final third, but Mom and Anita took breaks every few steps because the air was so thin. Ron and I would wait for them, but eventually, they told us they would meet us at the top. Whenever I thought I had reached the top, I would look up and see more scree between me and the summit. It started to feel like I was climbing up a treadmill. Finally, with much perseverance, I made it to the top! When Mom and Antia were close enough, I went down a little bit to offer moral support. Once they reached the snow about 100 feet from the top, Anita convinced Mom to lie down and make snow angels with her.

As I said earlier, I've known about 14ers since Arden initially moved to Colorado. The thing is, my "sisters" and Marshall always talked about how ridiculously hard these things were. Up to this point, I haven't been an avid hiker. I mean, I enjoy it, but I haven't been addicted to it the way that they are. In my head, these things were almost equivalent to Mt. Everest! Because of how they had set my expectations, climbing this 14er was a lot easier than I had anticipated! Honestly, climbing down was more challenging because the scree hurt my legs and feet more from that angle. On top of that, I had forgotten to put sunscreen on my neck!

There are some tasks in life that can seem daunting, but if you don't go through them, you won't get the reward of seeing the world from an incredible new perspective!

Have a Greattastic day and be safe

J. Mitchie Ulibarri