Dams & Canyons Day 7

Do you really need me to tell you where we were today?

Bryce Canyon was the last national park on our dams and canyons trip (and a really spectacular canyon).  Unfortunately, when I woke up this morning, I felt truly awful and knew I was going to be sick all day.  I honestly felt like I needed to toss my cookies all day long and really kind of wished that I had.  So, I did not get to enjoy this part of our vacation.  I spent most of our time in the car, moaning and groaning.

Bryce Canyon is so cool.  It was another one of those places that we felt we could have spent a day or two exploring.  What you don't see in most of these pics is the maze of trails that winds through each mountain side.  They lead through tunnels and into caves and around peaks.

You have to have at least one family pic everywhere, right?

One of the coolest features of Bryce Canyon is the statuesque "fingers" that appear throughout this national park.  They are really cool in pictures, but even more so in person.  

This one looks a little like a city.  You can sort of imagine some scenes from Star Wars being shot here.

I thought this one looked like a castle.

Trail leading into a cave.

The day ended with s'mores at the Robertson Family reunion in Torrey, UT, near Capitol Reef National Park.  Finally, the boys got to see a "whole bunch of Robertsons."  The road from Bryce to Torrey was pure torture for me, as I felt worse during this trek than at any other point during the day.  I felt a little better once we were out of the car, but not much.  I did eat some chicken soup and felt ok enough to take this picture.  All afternoon and evening, the boys kept asking when we were going to start the fire.  Matt kept putting them off and at one point said, "Go look for the fire starter switch" (we have a gas fireplace at home).  So the boys started looking in all the cabins for the magic "switch."  Finally they realized dad was pulling their leg and said, "no, you need to light it with a match!"  They were so happy when dad finally started the fire!

Gray Back Gulch Camping

Our August camping trip with the Wood family--Brandy, Brandon, Andrew and Aaron.

Julia just looks so cute!

Jacob pretending to be cutting logs.

James wanted to pump up the air mattresses.  Of course Julia had to try too.  She had a lot of fun pumping the handle on the pump.

All that work requires a nap!  Of course, the only one that even sort of went to sleep was dad--despite the massive amount of Julia's thumb sucking.  Oh well, it's always fun to swing in the hammock.

After the nap, we made popcorn!  Actually, we were a little surprised the popcorn actually popped.  We've had that pan of Jiffy Pop since 2005 (yes, that means it moved with us from our old house!).  Not only did it pop, but apparently it tasted delicious (I didn't have any, as I can't tolerate the partially hydrogenated soybean oil, but the kids loved it)!

Ahh, the long awaited campfire.  From the moment we got to the campground, the question that kept coming up (at least once every 15 minutes) was, "When can we start a fire?"  If you had seen the pile of logs Matt collected to burn, you would be wondering the same thing too.  Usually, the boys go collect "burnables" shortly after we set up camp.  That usually means they go scrounge around the campground and into the woods a little for sticks and small logs they can carry.  After surveying the grounds, Matt decided that they would need to drive to find wood.  Sure enough, just down the road was a whole pile of logs.  Apparently from an old logging operation (Score!).

Shortly after starting our campfire, the Woods arrived with their dog.  Jacob says he is afraid of dogs and I mostly believe that.  Although sometimes, he does kind of a fake whimper and cry when he sees a dog just to get attention.  This dog was so small and sweet.  Julia took to him right away.  And as you can see, it didn't take Jacob long to warm up to him either.

The Wood boys unloaded their wood.

Breakfast!!!  The Woods had pancakes and ham.  The Rheeses had pancakes and Little Smokies.

The river was close by (just down the hill near the highway).  The boys wanted to find cat tails.  Unfortunately, the only path we could find was too rocky for the cat tails.  Instead, they used their butterfly net to catch water skippers and threw rocks into the river.

Julia made a new best friend.  Every opportunity she got, she could be found in Brandon's lap.

All four boys were on the hammock for a while.  Amazingly enough, they managed to keep the hammock upright.  They were goofing around so much, we fully expected it to turn upside down more than once.  I don't know how they did it!

Aaron, James and Andrew.  Looks like they had a great time, doesn't it?  I think we all had a good time with the Woods--thanks for the idea, Brandy.

James Day #2

Ann Morrison Park!

Today we celebrated our second James Day, in preparation for the first day of school.  James decided we should eat blueberry pancakes for breakfast.  Usually I cut the pancakes into shapes or bite size pieces.  Today, James wanted a "stack" of pancakes that he could cut by himself.  So that's exactly what he got, complete with his own knife to cut them with.  He thoroughly enjoyed himself, as did Jacob.  After breakfast, we finished getting dressed and brushed teeth, then it was off to Ann Morrison Park to play and have lunch.  They all had a great time.

Julia keeps up with the boys.

Anything you can do, I can do better!!  This is Julia's mantra as she follows the boys' lead in climbing.

Jacob is so funny sometimes.  He is completely in his own little pretend world and he gets so involved in his play.  He met another little boy, who, according to his father, believed every word Jacob said.  He thinks Jacob is a spy!  Jacob had a lot of fun weaving elaborate spy tails today.

James chose pizza pockets for lunch today.  I made them yesterday with our "magical" breadstick dough (they hold magical powers, according to the recipe book).  James thought they were fantastic!  He'll be seeing some of those in his school lunches this year.  I also let the kids have chocolate milk with their lunch.  An unusual treat for us.

Our trip to the park finished with some romping in the fountain.  What fun for a hot day!

Julia chose not to engage in water play today.  The noise from the fountains scares her a little bit.  Instead, she sat on the bench and watched, occasionally petting the deer.

Sun Valley Summer Symphony

On Saturday, we went to Sun Valley for the day to hear the symphony concert which featured the percussion section.

 Jacob put an entire piece of fruit by the foot into his mouth at once while watching a video in the car!

They had an orchestra petting zoo set up before and after the concert for the kids.  The boys played a cello and violin (petite size of course) before moving onto the percussion.  After the concert they visited the winds and brass section. 

Some pre-concert photos in the pavilion.

Jacob blowing on a flute.

I don't even want to know what kind of germs the boys picked up!

But we had a fun day, regardless of the germs (Julia and I had a cold bug later a day later).  The orchestra was just incredible. 

I did get a short video of Jacob "conducting."  It appears that Jacob wasn't the only conductor in the audience today.  Can you name that tune?  Composer starts with an "H," title is two words . . . 

Symphonic _____________. . .

  In addition to hearing the symphony, we walked around the Sun Valley area a little and watched the ice skaters during an open skate time.  After that, we went to the Sun Valley art festival (much like art in the park here) and saw some interesting things.  The kids played on the playground for a while, then it was time for dinner.  We ate at a burger joint.  And what did Matt choose for dinner?  Lobster Bisque of course.  James had really gross looking mini corn dogs and Jacob and Julia shared a hamburger. I ate a garden burger, which was quite tasty.

Bye Bye Crib

It's somewhat of a bittersweet day today. . . The crib, which we have had in constant use for the last 7-1/2 years is now gone.  We sold it two minutes ago.  I'm a little sad, as it's the end of an era for us and the babies, such as they are, are all gone.  Just "big kids" in our house now. . .

Julia's Big Girl Bed

Yes, Julia moved out of the crib this week and into her very own big girl bed.  The bed is called (of all things) the Dream Castle Bed, complete with draw bridge!

She adores her new bed and when we put it in her room, she got on it, laid down and kept saying 

"Night night."

It's taking her a while to get used to all of her newfound freedom, as she plays for a good while before finally going to sleep.  At the end of the day, though, Julia is a very happy little girl in her new bed.

James Day #1

Today is the first of three "James Days" that we will have before the first day of school in two weeks.  We decided last night that James needed to have some super fun days before returning to school.  So he got to decide what we ate for breakfast, snack and dessert as well as what we did today.  Here is what our day has been like so far:

TV--Arthur, Martha Speaks, Curious George

Breakfast--French toast with bananas, strawberries and whipped cream

Play at Julia Davis Park (his choice of parks today)

Lunch at the park

Dessert making--chocolate covered bananas--of course James and Jacob ate a large helping of chocolate chips by themselves (I should have taken pictures of their chocolate faces and hands!  What a mess!).

After the bananas, James helped make tonight's dinner, sloppy joes, by chopping veggies, mixing and tasting (he gave it a big two thumbs up!).

James is making a snack for Julia and himself--mango!

French Toast--the incredibly unhealthy version that mom would never, ever serve up on a normal day!

Lunch in the park with a new friend.

Julia's first trip down the tunnel slide.  I think she enjoyed herself.

James met a turtle as we were leaving.

Jacob is obsessed with puzzles.  This one had really small pieces and was a little more challenging than what he normally does, but still he did it almost completely on his own.  He got stuck with the last 10 pieces.  James and I helped.

James loves making goofy faces.

Julia adores play dough, especially fresh play dough.  We made play dough today and James decided we needed red dough.  I used almost all my red food coloring and made this blood red concoction.  It's a little too red and looks weird.  Especially since we decided to make it "pretty" by adding glitter to it.  Truth be told, when it's rolled out on the table, it looks a little like spaghetti sauce that someone hurled in.

Here is a video of James helping in the kitchen: