sophie's record

Monday, Sophie set a family record by becoming the oldest baby of the family.  She is the first to reach her second birthday before being unseated by a younger sibling. And as for other small victories, it seemed as if the teenagers, as well as others, seemed remarkably willing to make the day fun for their little sister and easier for me. 

 All day I was grateful for their shoulders.

 I never think of a fun idea that half of the Utah and Salt Lake valleys haven't already thought of first. Gratefully, the kids were up for Labor day crowds, parking or not, so we had our picnic by the side of the road, a mile down the street, and hiked up to the zoo.

I knew, because of the heat, and the long commute on foot, we wouldn't last long, so we went straight for the must-do's the playground, the train, and Hogle Zoo's new Rocky Shores exhibit.

The bald eagles were breath taking even in 

captivity.

 The harbor seals and otter were adorable too, but it would be hard for anyone to compete with this polar bear. When we saw the exhibit in June he was just wandering around his habitat on land. Fascinating, but not as entertaining as Monday when he was swimming back and forth, gliding up to the glass, and emerging from the water to make faces at the crowd, and then plunging back in for another lap.

This is how we knew that it was time to go. That and Grant's occupy Wall Street movement at the zoo. He camped out in the middle of the sidewalk, protesting my not buying him some zebra glasses. I know now how much Grant likes zebras. Still, no glasses.

 We had dinner at Sophie's favorite tree house McDonald's.

Tuesday afternoon Sophie and William were having some cake after lunch, while I went outside to water our small garden.  When I came back in William had shaved all of the frosting off all of the second day's half of the cake and had consumed it. William was unhappy with my response, so he spent all of Tuesday afternoon teaching Sophie to say "I hate you Momma."  Sometimes it is too bad that Sophie is such a good mimic.

birthday at the zoo

Thursday July 6, the kids' Aunt Jocelyn and the cousins were visiting from New Mexico.  It was great to see them.  I've felt unprepared with the camera lately. Last summer I had one in my pocket at all times, now I'm down to the cell phone.  Thursday we tried Seven Peaks together. Got sent home with rain and lightening. We had hot dogs and ice cream at our house and the kids played in the swamp that had formed in our parking lot.  Probably not hygienic, but pure fun nonetheless.

 Jocelyn got a splash back pass, due to the rain closure, so we all returned on Friday.  Sam made me go down the Boomerang. I was terrified. A good way to study the bony landmarks on my inferior limbs since they were all bruised in my backward descent. It was fun to spend that time with Sam despite the black and blue coccyx.

Saturday morning was clinic hours.  In the afternoon we picked up Grandma Martha and drove up to Salt Lake City to the Hogle Zoo, her birthday request.  We haven't been there for months. Everyone was eager to see the Zoorasic Park exhibit.  William just stared and mumbled "Long Neck, Long Neck..."

Olivia peeking out of the bat cave.

Every one's favorite part is the train.

Bethany spotted dinosaurs in the clouds.

Ben and the girls made this diorama for Grandma.

Grandma Martha said it was the best birthday ever.  I was grateful that we were able to spend it with her.  It has been a long time since we have been together on her birthday.

eagle, bat, and crowe

Olivia is fascinated with all the production that goes on at Grandma's house. Grandma had bought too many oranges so she had Olivia help her make this delicious juice. I keep trying to think of ways to get rich making juice...too bad I have no head for business...and no orchard.

That was last week...may have even been Wednesday and Olivia was still wearing her church dress. I wish I could be a child in summer again, sleeping in my Sunday best, waking up Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday morning to the sound of a lawn mower, The Price is Right, or in this case, the juicer. So Wednesday must have been the day we went to the zoo with Bekah, though maybe it was Tuesday.

We packed a lunch again. Sam is growing resentful of lunch meat. I love this picnic spot across from Hogle Zoo. The grass feels so lush, though we have to watch out for a big pile of horse poo that has been sitting there over a month. The river runs yards away. With William we're at the stage to avoid that, but Ben could spend hours by a river. Here's Aunt Bekah and the cousins.

I posted other pictures of this spot, and the zoo, in June, so no need to go on and on, but of course that won't stop me.

We always get stuck at this globe. It was a good thing, we ran into our friends, the Evans, from the Beijing branch.

The day was considerably hotter than June, and the teen and preteens were less possessed by their whimsical inner children, than their bored and uncomfortable inner adolescents. That is, until I said even the big kids could ride the carousel, and Sam went tearing off to find his favorite creature like a kid at Christmas.  Nine carousel tickets add up you know, so of course I had to document the fun.

Will looks bewildered here, but I took a hard punch in the ear for taking him off when the ride ended.

Bethany is one of my biologists and wasn't bored a bit.  There were several things that she wanted to photograph.

This eagle because she loves "symbols of America."

This random squirrel.

Every one's favorite, the fruit bat.

It's impossible to leave without the train and a picture like this.

So last week what else? Aunt Courtney took us to her Uncle's factory, Utah Truffle. He was very gracious.  The kids were skeptical at first but got excited when we opened the door and the smell of mint and chocolate met our noses.  We left with a couple of bags of truffles, raspberry and mint.  I didn't take any pictures because I've seen Willy Wonka enough to know better. ("No one ever goes in and no one ever goes out.")

We got a fun "summer package" from Grandma Martha.  Got ready for our trip to Colorado, more on that next.  Sam continued his obsession with getting his hands on a copy of A Beautiful Mind. We found one at Walmart.  It's always a relief when Sam is satisfied.  So when Grandma Julia cut Will's hair the boys were all impressed that he looked just like Russel Crowe.  What do you think?

social creatures

Monday, June 21, I took the kids to Hogle zoo. We stopped to buy bread, meat and fruit for a picnic lunch. We ate in a meadow next to the parking lot. Grant was impressed by the mountains. They are so green this year because of the cool, wet spring.

I bought a year pass for the family. The kids were excited to visit the Nature's Nightmares exhibit, featuring creepy creatures,

like this creepy vulture,

and these creepy fruit bats.

When we got out of the building Grant said, "We made it the scary animals!"

Monday was the first day I didn't feel jet lagged. Sam felt it for me.

I always stop to admire this garden by the giraffes.

Waiting for the elephant to blow air out of his trunk....