kirstencan

Vacation Adventures :: {Fails}

While Bryce and Zion were our highlights/main events, we had some other stuff planned for our vacation.  And not everything went as planned...

I had planned one day to spend at a reservoir.  I had looked at several in the area, and the best/most recommended one had 'swimmer's itch'.  Swimmer's Itch is a (way too) nice way of saying 'parasites that burrow under your skin'.  Um, no.

So, I picked another one.  Pretty close to where we were staying, and when we drove up we were like 'aww, pretty!'.  See?  You can't see in these photos that the water was pretty blue.

Gorgeous day for it, and no one there but us and a motorboat towing wakeboarders or something.

Except:  What we thought was sand... was mud.  There was no beach, it was dirt and MUD.  Gross, THICK mud.  I think the parks lady who took our money for a day pass was chuckling as we hiked down from the parking lot with our shovels and what-not.

What temperature was the water, you ask?  I have no idea.  Oh, the squelching....  Aaron and I never made it to the water, and the girl didn't last very long.

If you stood in the mud, it would gradually suck you in.  Monkey is trying to go down a little faster...

Knowing there would be no waves (we are used to the beach and need no entertainment plan there) I bought a couple of inflatable toys and some super soakers.  They clogged with mud.  Oh well.

The boys actually had a ball.

When asked 'Did you have fun?'  Monkey said 'Yeah.  And I'm covered in mud, so you KNOW I had fun!'  So that's good.

It WAS kinda cool looking...

'Sharky' was a big hit.

I feel like the above photos don't do justice to the true grossness of this mud.

Ah, here we go:

Ew.

We had brought a picnic and had planned on staying as long as the kids had fun, but we eventually called it after an hour and a half of so, hosed everyone/everything off at the spigot as best we could and went back to the hotel for our picnic.  And showers.

Fail #2

Not the arcade, my kids LOVE an arcade, even a lame one is kinda cool, especially when it's completely empty (off-season rules!).  And who doesn't love skee-ball?

Outside the arcade:  mini-golf.  I had been wanting to try mini-golf as a family activity, and it's way better to try it (especially with a spectrum kiddo) with no one there.  Well, the boys hated it.

Kinda surprised, but it did NOT go well.

It's alright, though, both were outings that didn't include Cartoon Network.

Vacation Adventures :: Zion National Park

Another adventure we had last week:  Our first trip to Zion National Park!

We were wondering if it could compete with what we saw of Bryce... yeah, it could.  And this was just the view from the parking lot!

Poor Aaron.  His allergies were way bad.  That's what we get for planning on being outside all vacation! (Note:  he doesn't have allergies in CA)

We did a couple of the 'easier' hikes.  Emerald Pools was the first one.

I'm no nature photographer, but with views like this you can't go too wrong, right?  Click to see them bigger.

We stood under a waterfall, watching a deer at the pool, then headed up to the next pool.

The views were just a little spectacular.

This redhead did awesome.  After lunch.  Man, he wanted his picnic.  After that he was making up hiking songs and leading the way.

The other hike we did was the 'Riverside Walk' which leads to 'The Narrows' (where people hike IN the river because the canyon is so narrow). 

Give kids water and sand and rocks and it's hard to go wrong.

Things we loved about Zion:

The shuttle.  It was nice to not have to worry about overpacked parking lots because you HAVE to take the shuttle.  Also, as Aaron pointed out, BOTH of us got to see the views on the drives, not just the passenger.

Water bottle refill stations.  Genius!

Convenient, not disgusting bathrooms.

The percentage of international travelers.  We met/heard people from ALL OVER.  People come from everywhere to go to this park.  I'm glad they come for things like this (USA!  USA!) and not just our outlet malls and city stuff.

Going off-season.  It's packed in the summer, I hear.  We're so used to doing trips off-season that it was way more crowded than I expected, actually!

Variety of hikes.  Between these two (three?) hikes and stopping plenty for water/ice cream/ rest rooms, we were busy from 10 - 5. Very doable with kids!  And our kids did so well!  What great ages they are at!

I would have loved to do another day, but we stayed an hour away from the park.

The views from the shuttlebus.  They were awesome - even through the roof.

Vacation Adventures :: Bryce Canyon

We just got back from our vacation.  Earlier this year we'd been vaguely planning on hitting Yellowstone instead of our now-annual California adventure.  But I didn't have the mental energy to plan it out right (and I felt like I had to plan Yellowstone RIGHT) this summer.  We almost did CA again just cause it's easy.  We know where to stay, where to eat, what to do, where to go, and beaches provide HOURS of relaxation  + entertainment...

But we didn't.  Finally we decided to hit southern Utah.  Whenever we pass by it on the way to CA, we always want to stop and see the cool stuff, but we never have.  It was an adventure.  And since we were beachless (therefore had hours to spare) we had several other fun adventures as well.  Some planned, some spur of the moment.  Here's our first one.

We made a major detour on our traveling day to hit Bryce Canyon.  This was just a taste, a 'see if we'd like to come back here for real' kind of sidetrip.

And, yeah, I totally pulled off the road at the first 'scenic viewpoint' because holy cow!!!

We drove a bit further and found the Mossy Cave hike.  It's technically just outside of the official park and has a taste of everything (and without the fee).

Um, yeah, it was pretty cool.

See this?  Can you believe we were there??!  I can't.



Dipped our feet in the river, of course.

Seeing how this part of the trip was a last-minute decision, Thomas wasn't super happy about this whole outing.  He appreciated the cool factor and really did okay, but it was Monday, which meant we were supposed to drive to the hotel and he got to swim.  That's it.  Our fault. 

We trekked back to the van to finish the drive (and hit the pool, whew!)...

...and decided we WILL be back.  To do the park for REAL.



See ya soon, Bryce!

(All photos SOOC (besides the awesome black eye-bands I spent so much time on for anonymity purposes!) ;)

The Tree House!

• Tree House

A tree house, a free house,

A secret you and me house,

A high up in the leafy branches

Cozy as can be house.

 

A street house, a neat house,

Be sure and wipe your feet house

Is not my kind of house at all -

Let's go live in a tree house.

- Shel Silverstein

Okay, technically not a tree house, but ... we have no more trees.  And if we'd built a tree house pre-fire, it would be gone.  When we get new trees planted around this and vines growing up it - it will feel more tree-like.  And the kids aren't complaining anyway. ;)

Aaron's checked out this book from the library several times and when we had to make a HUGE order from Home Depot to get the fence supplies, he just added the supplies for this onto it.

He built most of it Labor Day weekend and it was fun to check the progress!

Monkey, especially, spent so much time out there handing him things, picking snacks from the garden (can't believe we got anything out of it this year, but we did!) and handing Aaron things.  He discovered he likes green onions, which is what is in his mouth below...

There was a two week pause, but it was very usable and the kids loved it!

They tried to move on in...

Monkey filled the windowsills with snacks.

Last weekend Aaron had a chance to finish the railing and the pop-out windows.  It looks much more finished!



He also installed a pulley.



The kids are in heaven.  They got ready for their campout.

So, like I said before... it needs a few things.  What else?  A mailbox?

Speech Stories

You guys, I had to show you this.

I was cleaning out the school boxes (the night before school started, whatever) and was going through what has become the redhead's speech box.  It was full of homework from speech, and stacks of these awesome books.  I had forgotten about them!

A couple of years ago, his speech teacher used to make these books with him, about whatever interested him.  At the time, that was usually Star Trek.  She would print off some coloring pages and they would write them together.

I couldn't just recycle these without at least taking photos!  And then I still couldn't toss them in the bin yet!

The titles get more interesting as you go on...

Of course she made the stories incorporated whatever sounds he was supposed to be working on.

I have no idea where this one came from...

This one shows how Star Wars vs. Star Trek stacks up for us, I think.

This one is one of my favorites.  We must have just watched  Power Puffs episode.

See how in the illustration they are turned into Borg?  HA!

Man, this speech teacher was awesome.  She would really keep Thomas interested and made a lot of progress.  She definitely had some creative skillz and was willing to use them to teach hiim.  And thank goodness she seemed to know Star Trek!  I guess that by the fact that she recognized and could spell Guinan. ;)

Mrs. C, if you're out there, we miss you!

Good times

Yesterday Aaron 'finished'* the playhouse.  And agreed to a campout in it.

Someone overpacked...

Two slept up in the playhouse, and we slept on the ground on a tarp with the redhead, who is not such a fan of the playhouse.  A little high, and he got a splinter once.

We got the bedrolls set up as the sun went down, then when it was dark came out to snuggle and listen to Aaron read The Lord of the Rings.  And apparently a couple told scary stories after that.

It was Aaron's idea to make chocolate cake for breakfast.

And now he's making homemade ice cream.

So basically, all of their wildest dreams have come true!

We were all singing Dad is great, give us the chocolate cake!

Which we sing often, because he's pretty great (if you don't know that one, watch the whole thing!).

Any dreams coming true for you guys this weekend?

*Still a few finishing touches to finish (flag, curtains, vinyl for winter windows, shingles?  linoleum? finish windows, seal the wood).

Mostly kitchen and garden

These days I'm more likely to accomplish a kitchen 'project' than a sewing one.  I'm realizing that I need to set time aside for the sewing again (especially when I see gorgeous new fabric lines!).  Remember when I used to sew?  It feels SO good and it's been forever since I've done it.  I've always baked/cooked, but lately even that  feels like an accomplishment.  At least something feels like an accomplishment!

Anyway, we are so grateful for our garden producing a few yummy things for us.  Later than normal, mostly smaller than normal, but we got a little out of it, which we did NOT expect this year!

Our first year of trying to grow potatoes!  Here is our (small!) harvest of fingerlings, ready to be roasted with olive oil, kosher salt and garlic cloves (from our garden, too - they were supposed to be big heads for grilling, but they're tiny!).

We got some tomatoes, mostly orange ones - we've been able to make several batches of fresh salsa - which, sadly is the only way I like fresh tomatoes.  I know.  Here's one batch all frothy because the fastest way to do it is to throw everything in the food processor...

This batch had more red tomotoes and the food processor was in the dishwasher, so I chopped by hand.  Much more appetizing (worse light - night).

I love poppies.  They are such simple, beautiful flowers.  And when they dry into seed pods they completely fascinate me.  Like nature's little poppy seed shakers.  The design is awesome.

These, too, are smaller than normal this year, but I harvested them (and shook some around the garden!).

Last night I made a new coconut beans and rice recipe - it was pretty yummy. 

Tried a new recipe for chewy granola bars (very good, no bake is the way to go with these, but too sweet).

Somehow I've never made monkey bread for my kiddos, so I surprised them last weekend. My monkey had heard of it somewhere and had been asking for it.  YUM.

And to perk up the kitchen a little, I couldn't resist the new Curiosity Shop line at Target - have you seen?

The dishtowels are my FAVE (straight from the dryer = a little wrinkly).  I wish I would have bought the other set they had.

See?  Happy for my kitchen.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Craft Lake City

A few weeks ago we headed out to Craft Lake City - mostly because this awesome guy was playing there.


That's my little brother, Karl over there on the synth.  He is OK IKUMI.  It was cool to see him play, it's been a while.  And my kids thought he was even cooler than they did before.


Anyway, I'd been wanting to hit this craft fair for a couple years, but it hasn't worked out.  I'm glad we made it this year.  It was a great place to share snowcones...



...and try a food truck.  I was ridiculously excited about that, we have some reportedly awesome food trucks in the city.  Unfortunately, Waki Paki was really disapointing.  Still hoping to catch the Chow truck one of these days!


I thought it would be a fun place to go to people watch, eat and hang out (it was).  I was actually ready to drop some money on booths, but it is hard to concentrate on shopping with a certain two little boys hanging out.  And then we found something cooler than shopping anyway.

They had a whole room dedicated to technology.  And for a family of geeks, it was pretty cool.  And air conditioned, so literally cool.

We got to hang out with robots, control robotic arms, play original NES projected on a giant screen...

...mess around with LED hula hoops...

...go check out the view from the balcony, listen to the bucket drummers and score free cotton candy...

...work on an electricity experiment with someone from the Leonardo who was willing to work with Monkey as long as he wanted to experiment.  Awesome.

We also chatted with a dude playing an electric cello (he wanted the girl to try playing it, but her fingers were sticky from the cotton candy - next time!)  and watched several 3D printers...

And the coolest thing ever:  Spy Hop Productions was there helping kids make their own stop motion animations.  For free.   !!!!  You have no idea how cool the red head thought this was.  He LOVES looking at the Lego stop motion films on youtube.  So the fact that this guy from Spy Hop was willing to spend about 1/2 hour with him working on this... dude.  You can always win me over by spending time with my kiddos.  He got to work on the script/narrate it to be recorded, pick the backdrop setting and puppets.  Then they got to work taking the photos.

And here is the end result.



 
So, no, didn't buy anything cool, but it was a fun family outing!  Also much more diverse than our little suburb, which was a good thing.

We'll  definitely be back, especially if they have that tech room!

First Day of School - 2012

First day of school!  First day of school!

We started yesterday (Labor Day) because Aaron was home.  That works for us and makes it more of a family celebration.  And if you're confused about the numbers, last year we let Monkey pick whether he wanted to put 1 (the right grade for his age) or 2 (because we started him with K-1 curriculum when he was preschool age).  He picked to be the same as his friends... for the photo.  Later that day he picked 2 and has stuck with that ever since.  So this year is three.  sheesh.

Donut run.

There was some of this...

And some of this (checking Brainpop - but he recently discovered Presidents vs. Aliens and is rocking it).

Frequent status checks on the playhouse Aaron was building (ignore the weeds - yikes!).

It was good to hear her practicing again - she took about a month off.

And this note was a keeper.  She is doing Writing With Skill this year.  The table of contents looks awesome.  We've never done a formal writing program with her, but I wanted to try this year.  She was not. pleased.  with her first assignment, though!  After her two paragraphs, she wrote me a note about it.

By the way, it was written better than her assignment.  We talked it over and she's willing to push through this beginning part (I want to make sure she knows how the author words instructions, etc.).

We started an art project which we didn't finish...

But we got two steps into it - the last will be finished today (watercolor monsters!).

I had to buy a bigger planner this year!  I always get these cheapo target ones, but this year it wasn't going to cut it.  Upgraded size, yes.  And I still need to order a thesaurus.



Was it perfect?  Heck no.  Were the cubbies even all the way cleared off?  Nope.  The rehead used up all my patience in the morning, he was having a HARD time getting back to school.  That's okay, we made it through.  He needs a routine, this will be good once we get back in the habit.  And I used up my stress mowing the lawn, so it's all good. 

The boys need new charts to stick their workbox numbers on when they're done.  These ones are trashed.  And I think the wall pockets are being retired.  The girl likes using her planner better.

(bad night-time photo as I was setting up the night before)

We signed the girl up for Kahn Academy for math and she loves it.  She started doing their new computer science program, too and is having a ball.  That is totally her choice so that's awesome.   Aaron did our intro to physics lesson (yay!  Physics is not my thing), we had our annual back to school family home evening with father's blessings (yay!). 

Now back to gather the kiddos from their break.  The treehouse (more on that later) is mostly done, so it's hard to get them to come inside!  And today is our first full-on Fall week.  As in dance starts back up, plus cubs, taekwondo, speech, orthodontist, etc.  Wish me luck!