timp falls

In July some of the school aged kids took part in Jessica Knight's folk music camp. They met daily for two weeks.  Jessica  offers several sessions throughout the summer.  This session happened to be at an elementary school in Mapleton, a small town to the south of Provo.  While the big kids were off with their banjo, cello, guitar, and violins, I took the little ones to Mapleton Park, that we called Shady Park because of the beautiful, large trees, presumably maples.

 On Pioneer Day the class met at Mapleton Park to perform at the small town celebration.

 The kids enjoyed the carnival afterwards.

My good friend Janis and I persisted in our coercing our children on hikes.  This is the parking lot at the Timpanogas Trailhead.   We hiked up to the Timpanogas falls, 

Which was just right for Grant.

pioneer day 2012

 Pioneer Day Olivia asked me, so nicely, if we could go somewhere out of town to celebrate.  She agreed to a picnic at Mirror Lake.  We took a trip there in the summer of 2010 with Grandma Julia and Grandpa Bob.  I still think it is the most beautiful place in Utah.

 Something about this picture of Grant reminds me of his Great-grandpa Alden. Maybe it is the Maine-like backdrop of pine trees and big clouds.

 Here's a link to our 2010 visit. The kids have grown so much.

 I think my polar bears were the only kids swimming.  I didn't anticipate how cold it would  be there.  I forgot that the kids had played in some residual snow in July 2010.

Pioneer Day with Zoey

Friday, July 24th, was Pioneer day. Grandpa was in charge of breakfast at the church. Caitlin woke up grumpy but perked right up when she remembered that she had Mylee to play with.

After breakfast we drove to Logan to visit Uncle Joe and Aunt Courtney and little Zoey. Courtney suggested that we meet in Wellsville, just outside of Logan, at the American West Heritage Center. It was free for Pioneer Day. We loved it.

Sam and Ben were the first to want to try the tomahawk throw. They both gave it a great try but overshot a bit. Kyle and Olivia nailed it

The American West Heritage Center is a farm modeled after those of the early to mid nineteenth century, surrounded by the familiar elements of an old small town, the country store, the opera house, the restaurant. The staff are local adults and children from the Cache Valley, many volunteers. This boy, Sam and Ben's age, was an expert at melting iron for shoe nails in this workshop.

We visited the ladies in the model home. They were baking cookies and bread in an authentic wood burning stove, and sharing samples. The girls taught us how to use the ringer to wash clothing. Kyle enjoyed the farm animals.

We rode the covered wagon. This is Zoey in the foreground.


Our wagon tour included this view of mountains and buffalo.

Grandma Julia helped Grant on his first pony ride.

We had dinner and Burger King with Courtney and Zoey then drove back to Provo. We unloaded the van and suitcases to do laundry and load them up again. Saturday we were heading to Grandma Martha in Denver.