July Camping: Day Two Part 1

Day Two was wonderful.  The rain we went to bed with the night before stopped sometime during the night. We woke to cool weather and relatively clear skies.  It was almost perfect.  We only had a few random puddles in the tent, but nothing a day full of sunshine couldn't dry out.  It was great!

One of the highlights of the day was the discovery of the tunnel!  It's not a short tunnel, either.  The kids loved it!  They "honked" their horns from their seats.  We even got a semi truck to honk a couple of times with us.  They were delighted!

We turned our attention to the little hikes we could take the kids on.  It was decided fairly early that the tour hikes that cost money would be something we'd have to do once the kids were older.  We couldn't take the risk that someone would get scared in the middle of a climb up a ladder, or get too close to the edge of a cliff.  They enjoyed what they could see!

First house was Spruce Tree house.  The kids didn't mind the short hike down to the house.  They even waited relatively patiently for their turn to descend a short ladder into a public kiva.  Joe wanted to poke every nook and cranny in the darkness.  It was cute.  We did have to remind Jack to stay off of the walls.  Everyone loved seeing the old houses.

  

This was one of many kivas we saw during our trip.  We enjoyed the opportunity to crawl down inside one kiva at Spruce Tree house.  Even Joe had to get in on the action.  He didn't want to be left behind (no offense, Macher).

John was so proud of the picture he took of the grinding stones at Spruce Tree house.  Pretty good photo!  There were a few extra ones that he took pictures of, but he was so excited to be able to take a few pictures of the sights.  Thanks, John.

This was one of the few group shots we got of everyone.  The kids didn't seem to mind the hike down to the house.  The return trip was a bit more tiring but nothing strong kids like mine couldn't handle.

Since we did so much on the first day...I think I'm going to break this up into a couple of different entries for Day Two.  Hope you don't mind.  We just had a TON of pictures of this awesome national park.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to share.  Thanks for following our trip!  Enjoy the next couple of blogs!

July Camping Trip: Day One

This past week we decided to join my mom (Macher) in a camping adventure to southern Colorado and then eastern Utah.  It was an adventure to remember.  There was lots of laughing and giggling; there was also a lot of whining and complaining (and not all by Mommy!).  But that's to be expected with little people who are out of their element.  At the end of the experience, the kids learned something and will be happy to share all of their excitement for "Indian" houses with you.

 

Day one consisted of leaving for Colorado around 0930.  We set out in good spirits and stopped in Moab, Utah for lunch.  The kids loved the park.  Mommy and Macher noticed the dark clouds and wondered if we'd be camping in the rain.  Well, we've been praying for rain to ease the drought.  I guess you can't be too ungrateful when you get it.

Joe wasn't too sure about some of the equipment.  He preferred throwing the dirt.  What you also can't see from the picture is that he has only one sandal on his foot.  He just couldn't seem to keep both shoes attached.  We got around to calling him "Cinder-fella" because we had to get his shoe just about any time he was walking.

All of the kids enjoyed drawing in the dirt or picking up rocks.  It became a regular theme with all of the kids during the entire week.  Everyone got good and dirty.  But that never hurt anyone.

Jack wanted his picture taken from every angle on every part of the jungle gym.  It was like he was in heaven.  There are more pictures of him at this park than any of the other kids.  I guess he'll have a special page in his scrapbook of park poses that he loved.  What a crazy monkey!


Anyway, the kids played in the gravel and climbed on the equipment for nearly 45 minutes before we got back into the truck for the final drive to Mesa Verde National Park.  That went through rain and sun before we arrived at the perfect campground.  It was beautiful!

We made plans for Day Two and then the rain we thought we outran pushed us all to bed early.  Well, that's okay since we were all tired from our drive.  Ah...sleeping to the pitter patter of rain drops on the rain fly.  Blessings that we set it up before the downpour!

Jack Jack Turned 3!

Jack had lots of help picking out his birthday cake.  He switched between wanting a car or dinosaurs on his cake.  But I think he preferred the big, bulky dinosaurs to the little flowery VW bug.  He REALLY wanted a firetruck cake but I couldn't find one.  Maybe he'll be okay with the toys he got instead.

Anyway, we did a simple party and it turned out well.  Jack's happy and grateful.  Maybe now he can get out of the "terrible twos" and be just as awesome as he can.  Maybe.  :-)

I think Joe had a lot of birthday fun with the cake.  He ate all of his and guaranteed that no one else wasted any cake.  And look!  It makes great hair gel too!

Jack crawled into my camping chair and put the bag's shoulder strap around his middle.  His reasoning,

"So I don't fall out."

Okay.  That makes sense.  On to presents!

He loved his train coloring pages.  They matched the train set he got!  He got to work coloring a page after he'd played with the trains.  I'm sure these will come in handy...especially as we get on the road for a long drive to Texas.

Train set!  Additional curved tracks will come in handy.  There never seemed to be enough corners before.  Thanks a bunch!

He got all of his new trains together and made quite the "train" of cars.  It was wonderful.  We had so many friends and family come by.  It was great seeing so many people come out to support our family.  Thank you!

Life is Sweet

For our Thursday field trip, we took a tour of Sweet's Candy Factory in Salt Lake City.  They make some pretty famous varieties of candy:  salt water taffy, cinnamon bears, orange sticks, and loads of sour balls.  The kids were so well behaved!  I couldn't get it on camera because cameras weren't allowed on the tour.  But Jack was awesome. Picture a little guy with his hands shoved deep in his pockets just walking sedately through a factory.  He was very serious.

But they all loved picking out something sweet at the end in the candy store.  John got Sour Cherries.  The rest of the kids picked out a bunch of taffy.  The stuff behind us on the wall and in those bins are their 50 different flavors of salt water taffy.  And it's good tasting!

Couldn't help adding the above one just because of the look on Joe's face!  The one below was something that got all of the kids excited as soon as they saw it!

After our adventure in the candy factory, we decided to take a trip to Temple Square.  I figured this might just be one of the last times we get there before we move.  It's a bit of a drive from Austin to Salt Lake just to visit the temple.

But every water feature had to be visited.  Mostly it was just hands in the water and a bit of splashing. But Jack and Joe wanted to put their feet in too.  I would have normally be slightly okay with it...not really...but today they were wearing tennis shoes and not sandals.  Somehow, Jack still managed to get one foot in the creek before I could stop him.

We tried to get the kids to pose for the following picture but all Bekah and Jack wanted to do was play with the bronze girl. Joe was intrigued by the bronze baby. He kept looking up at the little boy and he looked like he wanted to make friends with him.  Ah well.

John wanted desperately to take a picture of Moroni on top of the temple.  He kept trying to get the shot just right but it never happened because if we stopped, Jack got into mischief.  It was a constant battle to get that two year old to stay off of walls, benches, or from running in front of people.  I should have brought snacks.  Lesson for next time.  So, I snapped off the picture for John and kept moving.  He was a bit disappointed, especially since Kelsey had her own camera and was taking pictures all the time.

Then it was up to the 10th floor of the old Hotel Utah.  The kids had never seen the temple from so high up.  They enjoyed looking down on the tops of trees and seeing cars pass below.

And since I'm a softy for old architecture and the stories of the people who built it, we took them to the front lobby of the building and the Empire room to show them how people used to live and the pride they took in their handiwork.

This is the chandelier in the lobby.  The kids loved the huge room with its plush furniture and huge faux marble pillars.  This was the first stop before the 10th floor.

This was our last stop on our way out of the building.  It's now called the Joseph Smith Memorial building and this room (Empire Room) has been serving as a room for various kinds of parties (wedding, family reunions, etc).  But we showed the kids the woodwork on the ceiling and told them that a similar design (not the colors) is found in the Salt Lake temple and that people probably hand carved alot of the stuff up there.  John wondered how it got up so high (the ceiling is vaulted and very tall).  I said they used ladders.  He said they climbed up the walls.  Yeah, I guess.  If you were a monkey!

But they were in awe for a few moments that they could see something that was found in the temple.  Bekah responded that she wanted to get married here.  When I asked her why, it wasn't the pretty flowers of Temple Square or the cool fountains that had impressed her.  It was,

"Because I want my family to be together forever."

Don't we all, Bekah.

So You're Six Now, Kelsey

Better late than never, right?  I have been busy packing and keeping the kids entertained this summer...and I haven't been doing much writing.  But I thought I should empty the camera before we take pictures of Jack's third birthday party.  Oh well.  Here's some thoughts and pictures of the fun we had.

We had a blast with our cousins and friends during Kelsey's pool party.  She has been so excited to go swimming ever since she got her very own swimming beach towel.  Every time we pass one like it in the store, everyone cries out, "Look, Kelsey!  It's your alligator towel!"

But she was so excited about all of her gifts.  From the chalk to the bubbles to the camera (will upload some of her pictures in a separate blog entry!).  We count ourselves truly blessed to have such wonderful friends and family.  Thanks so much!

She got what she affectionately calls a "married Barbie" to replace one that broke a year or so ago.  She was so excited!  We've glued the shoes, ring, and other accessories that get lost so easily to Barbie's body so she'll always have the pretties attached.

And much needed sandals!  Man, these kids are growing!

Thank you so much for all of your love and support.  I'll try to get Jack's bday pictures posted sooner than a month later.  And I'll also try to keep you updated on our fun summer outings.  Thanks for reading!