Today was a good day.
And if I had to attach a theme to today — during our escapes at the fairy gardens and malt shoppe — it would be “helping others”.
There was a lot of precarious ground to cover today…and many feeble people.
Including Pippi.
Blush.
Nonnie.
Dash (who you can see way in the distance being helped by Scout).
Pippi again.
And Nonnie again (this time on flat ground!).
I was really impressed to see my kids all kick into high gear and help others out.
It was a nice site to see.
It was also nice to see our fairy tree from last year.
Pippi helped it out by giving it some touch up paint..and brightened it up again for the long winter to come.
We also hit up the malt shop, where everyone helped everyone else out on drinking up each other’s malts.
And in the end…after being helped by her grandkids…Nonnie helped one of those grandkids wash the “dirtiest windows in the world”!
I think my dad misunderstood what kind of “date” this actually was.
(How classic is Tristen in the back!)
Can you believe how awesome and classy my mom is to escort my dad into his court proceedings.
After some excitement, we all went to lunch..and oohed and aahed over how much better my dad’s health is after how I found him only a month before.
Even Dash and Pippi were happy to see Papa in good health.
Especially because collecting golf balls on his property is the greatest treasure hunt for them!
Ever since we have been in Utah, Dash has been my little buddy.
He likes to sleep with me on the couch, and when he wakes up before me, he comes over to where I am, and cuddles me.
But lucky me…this morning, I woke up just before him.
Here is our first hour in pictures:
The first glance.
The morning grooming.
The morning berries.
The card game.
-
Can’t wait for our next hour.
Tristen leaned over to me and said, “I’ve always wanted to see dad in court!”
Hahaha!!
Poor dad.
But the up side, is that I got to see my aunts…who adore their brother.
I also got to see the certificate where my grandpa was appointed to be the “Minister of Agriculture” by King George the Sixth.
The two were unrelated, but both very, very interesting.
Shout out to that one time I was peeking in Scout’s Sunday school class to wave a loving hello…and Tristen came up behind me and pressed my face to the window and smashed it there for an entire minute while I was struggling to back off. By the time she had me pinned, an entire class of 11 year old kids was staring at the visitor to the ward…trying to figure out exactly what was going on. You’d think I would have had the strength to get away, but whenever Tristen is involved…I start laughing so hard, my strength fails me. While I was smashed against the window, my eyes locked with Scout’s eyes…and instead of pure humiliation crossing his face, he was laughing right along with me and Tristen. How rad is Scout!
When I finally backed away….we were laughing so hard, I had to double over so I didn’t wet my pants. And then we looked up at the window and saw THIS!
Apparently my alter ego is the Wicked Witch!
Bwah Hah Hah!!!
And that is when Tristen yelled…”See I knew it all along! You really are a witch!”
(Please note that is not a greasy face — just a lot of face lotion to counteract the dry heat of Utah!)
Creatively punishing around here.
You know when you just have a thing for someone?
Well, Navy just has a “thing” for Posey. And likewise…Posey just has a thing for Navy.
And quite frankly..Tristen probably has a “thing” for Navy…because she is down one child when Navy is around, because that Posey is literally attached at Navy’s hip all day every day!
Tibble Creek might be the most beautiful place we go in Utah.
The water is surrounded by pine trees, and it is ridiculously picturesque.
On our way out, we bought floats — one per kid.
Scout chose the standard basic float in blue.
It proved to be the perfect float for him to be able to paddle around with his princess in her chariot.
Navy chose my favorite float — the mini baby pool.
It kept her out of the cold water, and allowed her to rescue anyone in need.
Pippi went with her favorite color.
Although she was seen in or on everyone’s float…like this time she crossed the lake, and “cliff jumped” into Navy’s float she was borrowing.
Dash chose an alligator.
It is safe to say that Dash loved his float the very most!
It was like his alligator was a “boy’s best friend”. And in this case that boy was Dash. And who wouldn’t love the alligator that safely took you across the lake and back, while scaring off any sea monsters.
After Tibble Creek, we saw a sign for “Silver Lake”. So we braved the dirt road up the four miles.
We finally got to the secret spot that many other seemed to know about. But those others were mostly fishing, while Dash got he and his sis on the alligator.
Just in time to scare away any fish that were heading towards the live bait everyone had swimming off the end of their poles.
-
Yep…like years past, I definitely think Tibble is worth the visit every year. If for the pictures alone…but the kids seem to absolutely love Tibble.
Whenever I see a great background, I pull over for my kids to hop out for a picture. They used to whine and complain, until they realized that it is what it is. Now Scout and/or Navy tries to encourage the kids to get out fast, and smile good for the picture, because that way it will only take two seconds! Dash and Pippi must be on to the drill, because they hopped out perfectly this time, smiled, and ran back into the car!
Good job my little specimens.
We have our stops in Utah. A few years ago, we added the Bountiful Rec Center to the list. Ice skating for a few bucks is now one of our kid’s highlights. And this year…it may have been THE highlight for Pippi and Dash.
Dash zipped in the wrong direction for two hours straight. He loved it, and was turning and riding the rails of his pushcart by the end. He, and his wrong direction skating, was cracking us all up the whole time.
Blushy was even out on the ice. And during breaks, she received kisses from Navy on each round.
Everything was fun and games, until Scout discovered the ice scrape. He realized that if he scraped the ice a bunch, he could create a snowball that he could peg unsuspecting siblings with! I told Scout to come talk to me at the edge, and when I drizzled my water bottle over on him, he knew I could win the war…so he then got everyone in on the fun ice scraping…and it was a snowball fight.
Here is my girl!
We then headed over to the rock climbing wall that all of the kids dominated.
Even Pippi, who mastered at least one of the lines.
| DESIGN BY