We went with Hillary to the aquarium. It had been a little while and they had the new superhero exhibit open. It was very busy, but the kids really liked the new area. And practically swimming with the rays trying to pet them.
Saturday we went to the Great American Wild West show. The promos were pretty convincing, a historical retelling of the west with trick riders and a cattle round up. Plus jumping through a hoop of fire. The real thing wasn't quite that amazing. I guess it did have all those things, just not as spectacular as I thought. And with more lame in between acts, like local cloggers (?!). And with more annoying teenagers sitting behind us. And a fellow with blue LED lights in his cowboy hat and vest. Lowell pretty much hated it. The boys want to be cowboys when they grow up, or now if possible. I liked the brief historical portions (Wyatt Earp and Geronimo). Claire slept on grandma at her house.
Stage couch running by
High 5'ing a "real" cowboy
Sunday was one of those church days that can only be labeled as a fail. We got there late and there was no room to sit in any of the Sunday School classes. So we just sat in the chapel. 15 minutes later they brought Davis to us for being naughty. So we just got Carter too and left. Yep, bad parents and bad church goers. Just wasn't my day. So we went for a drive. The intent was to go for a little hike (Buffalo Peak) I found in my new book, 60 hikes within 60 miles of Salt Lake. We got 2.2 miles (out of 2.8) along on a bumpy, ruining my van, dirt road before it was blocked by an impassable ice flow. Took a pic from that vista just to prove we tried.
Yeah, that day was going well! Oh well, had a nice joint birthday dinner with my family that night anyway. And we let Carter have the kitty sleep with him.
Just snuggled right up to him. What a little love he is. Still working on a home for him, it's just not safe in our house of 3 dogs for him. I am constantly penning up one group or the other. Too bad, because he really is a cutie and rather entertaining to watch.
Yeah, that day was going well! Oh well, had a nice joint birthday dinner with my family that night anyway. And we let Carter have the kitty sleep with him.
Just snuggled right up to him. What a little love he is. Still working on a home for him, it's just not safe in our house of 3 dogs for him. I am constantly penning up one group or the other. Too bad, because he really is a cutie and rather entertaining to watch.So Claire has been 8 months old for a bit (in fact she turned 9 months today) but I finally took pics:
Clapping--she loves to clap (we love it too!)
Oh my goodness, she is just so darn cute. Funny little demanding thing. And last week once I decided she was just going to go straight to walking (she pulls up on everything, cruises everywhere, and is starting to stand independently) she started crawling. She used to just cry on her belly, we'd try to coax her with a toy and she'd just throw a fit until she got it. Then she figured out how to get from her belly to sitting to standing, so tummy time was pretty much a wash. But then Lowell said he sat her in one place and the next thing he knew she was next to him. And I watched her do it the next day, she wanted a waffle so she just crawled herself over and got it. She will go hands and knees sometimes and others knee, then push off with her foot, then knee again. I think it is too slow for her. Still betting she'll walk before a year--can't keep this girl down! And she is into everything already, such a busy thing. She love to eat too--very into table food now. She'll eat most of what we have for dinner now, just chopped up for her. She'll eat baby food when offered as well. Loves yogurt, Mum Mums, and tastes of popsicles.
Carrots are too yummy not to share with one's whole face.
The next week we got back on schedule. Arts camp got switched around a bit so it was Monday and Tuesday. Here are some products of that:
Bead necklace, dragon fly for the garden, clay accented silverware, and a cookie lollipop.
Monday night we went to the Monday night family night at the Gardens, which is awesomely included in our pass. The theme was pirates, perfect! The folks doing a fencing demonstation gave the kids swords, rock on!
Then they followed clues to find a pirate. He gave them treasure, gold coins and a sucker.
Defenders of the Claire!
I got up in the attic and brought down some of the boys' toys when they were Claire's age. She loves them!
Silly baby--you can tell she sat down and just fell over to sleep.
Tuesday they had art class and then we went to a park play date with the twin club and then my cousin and her kiddos joined us there. Like 2.5 hours at Discovery Park and they didn't want to leave. They had such a great time! Wednesday Carter wasn't feeling well so we scrapped our 7 peaks plans and had an easy day at home. We still made it to our PG library class and learned about Hawaii and singing about a hukelau (sp?). Also a gecko magnet, yea. That night I made it to mom's night out for the twin club, faboo night of eating BBQ and visiting. I always love it so much. Made it home at midnight :).
This was huge and pretty intense when it growled. We couldn't get the kids to take their eyes off of it. They also had ones that spit--they loved it. It was crazy crazy busy for a weekday though, surprised I didn't lose my kids more than I did.
Claire sporting a tiny pony.
Boys vs orangutans
Clapping--she loves to clap (we love it too!)
Oh my goodness, she is just so darn cute. Funny little demanding thing. And last week once I decided she was just going to go straight to walking (she pulls up on everything, cruises everywhere, and is starting to stand independently) she started crawling. She used to just cry on her belly, we'd try to coax her with a toy and she'd just throw a fit until she got it. Then she figured out how to get from her belly to sitting to standing, so tummy time was pretty much a wash. But then Lowell said he sat her in one place and the next thing he knew she was next to him. And I watched her do it the next day, she wanted a waffle so she just crawled herself over and got it. She will go hands and knees sometimes and others knee, then push off with her foot, then knee again. I think it is too slow for her. Still betting she'll walk before a year--can't keep this girl down! And she is into everything already, such a busy thing. She love to eat too--very into table food now. She'll eat most of what we have for dinner now, just chopped up for her. She'll eat baby food when offered as well. Loves yogurt, Mum Mums, and tastes of popsicles.
Carrots are too yummy not to share with one's whole face.Monday we braved 7 Peaks. The wait to park took forever (25 minutes). We only had 2 hours to spend there, so that was a big chunk. It was the first day school was out, so here's hoping it gets better as time passes. It was certainly very busy--they have a great deal this year on season passes--and I was glad Hillary was able to join and help us. The kids really did have a great time though. They jumped from the lily pond kids area, to the kids slides, to the wave pool and were just happy and busy everywhere they went. We picked up lunch on the way home and headed off to work, good day.
Tuesday they had art day camp and then a good friend of mine from college came with her 2 boys to play. What a great chance to catch up and visit! The boys played some with their toys and trampoline but mostly the 4 of them played on phone and ipad games. Funny kids. I headed off to work feeling just fine. That afternoon my heart was racing a little and then it started to feel hot behind my eyes (my first sign of a fever coming on). It spiraled downhill very quickly. Funny, for years I have told people how to distinguish a strep infection, rapid onset, high fever. And that was definitely true for me, but no, I did not suspect strep. All the ones I had tested lately had been negative and it is so much less common in summer. And my throat was the least of my worries, it hurt but the huge swollen glands (one side and then the other) fever, chills, headache, vomiting, were more prominent. Just ironic that I ran a strep test on ER patient that night and did not know that was what I had for another 4 days. That night was terrible. I spent most of it lying in my chair raging with fever or freezing with chills. Should have found someone to take the shift or at very least track down some pills for the fever, but I couldn't seem to put that together in my head. I was so out of it. I only had a few tests to run thank goodness and slept off and on until it was time to go home (I am just on call at night so that is allowed). I got Lowell to take the day off hoping to quickly sleep off the "flu" I had. He was kind enough to take the boys to a water conservation class I had signed them up for, sounds like it was fun. I lazed about pretty miserable, but so much better than the night before, and as it would turn out, the days after.
Thursday was interesting. I hurried the kids out the door to their art camp and let them take the cat just to get them out the door. Dropped them off and couldn't find the cat. Was sure he was still in the car so stopped at the store for some drugs and headed home. Still couldn't find the cat (very small and black by the way). Left food out to lure him out. Nothing. Went early to pick the kids up and looked around, nope. Got the kids home pretty hopeless and worried the poor thing would starve to death. Got a call that I missed the kids first cooking class, great. We could still make it, if we lived close but it was a half hour from us, I just got the baby down for a nap, and I still felt lousy. But the sweet lady talked me into it, they were holding their food for them and we could take it home and make it. And it was paid for. So, woke the baby up, got in the car and cruised over there.
Tie Dye shirts from art class and flip flop cakes from cooking class. Didn't sound at all good to me at the time, of course I hardly ate a thing for 5 days (and still nursed a baby non-stop, maybe I lost a little?). Thank goodness Lowell got home after that and what do you know, he found the cat in the car. He'd been in there the whole time. What a day! I spent the rest of it sleeping--thankfully my co-workers covered for me, you know I am really sick if I take a day off, it hardly ever happens. And I have been pretty sick at work too. Friday was the worst day of all and Lowell just went ahead and made me a doctor appointment (I'm a little stubborn . . .). Hill joined me to take the kids to a movie--something I could entertain them with with very little effort. Rio at the $3 theater. They quite enjoyed it, sat still for the entire thing. That is unheard of. I nursed the baby and fell asleep. Seemed to have a lot of fun music though. Off to the doctor, yep Strep. Glad it was something treatable. Antibiotics, snow cone, back to bed.
Tie Dye shirts from art class and flip flop cakes from cooking class. Didn't sound at all good to me at the time, of course I hardly ate a thing for 5 days (and still nursed a baby non-stop, maybe I lost a little?). Thank goodness Lowell got home after that and what do you know, he found the cat in the car. He'd been in there the whole time. What a day! I spent the rest of it sleeping--thankfully my co-workers covered for me, you know I am really sick if I take a day off, it hardly ever happens. And I have been pretty sick at work too. Friday was the worst day of all and Lowell just went ahead and made me a doctor appointment (I'm a little stubborn . . .). Hill joined me to take the kids to a movie--something I could entertain them with with very little effort. Rio at the $3 theater. They quite enjoyed it, sat still for the entire thing. That is unheard of. I nursed the baby and fell asleep. Seemed to have a lot of fun music though. Off to the doctor, yep Strep. Glad it was something treatable. Antibiotics, snow cone, back to bed. Saturday I called in sick again--this time I didn't want to be sharing my nastiness and the antibiotics hadn't had enough time to take effect yet. Plus I felt lousy and weak. That night I made it to my brother Robbie's wedding reception. They did such a good job, a candy bar, beautiful cake, and super fun photo booth. I should scan the pics we got, my parents and fam with props. Silly good times. I did my best to help, but mostly just tried to stay on my feet. Didn't touch a single one of those delectable treats. But did have a good time visiting with family that came and showing off my darling little baby. Congrats again to Michelle and Rob, so happy for you guys.
Sunday I did have to work but I was finally starting to mend and it is a mellow shift. Nothing like a raging infection to make you feel like "normal" feels fantastic. Still a little tired now, but mostly back to normal. Just finishing off the antibiotic today.
We spent a beautiful afternoon in our backyard--had to document my amazing climbers, Davis is a spot of blue 2/3rds the way to the top.
We spent a beautiful afternoon in our backyard--had to document my amazing climbers, Davis is a spot of blue 2/3rds the way to the top.
The next week we got back on schedule. Arts camp got switched around a bit so it was Monday and Tuesday. Here are some products of that:
Bead necklace, dragon fly for the garden, clay accented silverware, and a cookie lollipop.
Monday night we went to the Monday night family night at the Gardens, which is awesomely included in our pass. The theme was pirates, perfect! The folks doing a fencing demonstation gave the kids swords, rock on!
Then they followed clues to find a pirate. He gave them treasure, gold coins and a sucker.
Defenders of the Claire!
I got up in the attic and brought down some of the boys' toys when they were Claire's age. She loves them!
Silly baby--you can tell she sat down and just fell over to sleep.
Tuesday they had art class and then we went to a park play date with the twin club and then my cousin and her kiddos joined us there. Like 2.5 hours at Discovery Park and they didn't want to leave. They had such a great time! Wednesday Carter wasn't feeling well so we scrapped our 7 peaks plans and had an easy day at home. We still made it to our PG library class and learned about Hawaii and singing about a hukelau (sp?). Also a gecko magnet, yea. That night I made it to mom's night out for the twin club, faboo night of eating BBQ and visiting. I always love it so much. Made it home at midnight :).Thursday shockingly we just chilled at home. Carter still wasn't feeling great but we did have fun making some crafts and treats at home. We finished up the morning playing at the Carl's Jr play place when Dad got home.
Friday we joined my cousin again to check out the dinosaurs they have added to our zoo for the summer:
This was huge and pretty intense when it growled. We couldn't get the kids to take their eyes off of it. They also had ones that spit--they loved it. It was crazy crazy busy for a weekday though, surprised I didn't lose my kids more than I did.
Claire sporting a tiny pony.
Boys vs orangutans
All the kiddos (and me) on the train. I promise they are having a good time. Time to play on the playground and we headed out. Thanks for joining us Whitney, it was so fun to play and visit. As much as the kids love the zoo, it's not that fun to go alone.
And that brings us pretty much up to date. Saturday we had a pretty chill day topped off with eating out thanks to Hillary. Sunday we had Father's Day, Lowell got to sleep in and have breakfast in bed, then I brought some to my dad. Great steak dinner that night and plenty of desserts from Kneader's :). And today the kids started their reading class (enjoyed it) and we got some books from the library (next time I will just pick some up sans the kiddos). I hope you are all enjoying your summer thus far!
A video of Claire that may or may not work?
