27 June 2010

We traveled to Idaho this week for a family reunion with Becky's family. We met Grandma and Grandpa, Joe, Sarah, Zina, Joe, Keri, Josiah, Sawyer, Hayden, Gage and Barbara in Island Park and spent a few days exploring Yellowstone National Park. One stop was at Mammoth Hot Springs, a giant terraced formation, largely made of travertine. In the photo, Josiah, Sophie, Grandpa, Barbara and Zina are standing in front of Liberty Cap, an extinct geyser.  One of the Joe's is a geologist and we all benefited from his mini tutorials on the local geology. The canyon walls get their color from altered rhyolite. We suppose Yellowstone National Park is a catchier name than Altered Rhyolite National Park. 

 

Sophie is standing at Artists' Point with a view of the Lower Falls, in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. 

The cousins loved playing together and swapping between cars. Luckily, no one got left behind as they switched between 3 vans. Here Gibson shows how delighted he is to be sitting between his twin cousins, Hayden and Gage.

We hiked down 328 stairs to the bottom of the Lower Falls.

Becky and Brandan at the bottom of the stairs.

Joe and Keri gave Gibson a headlamp which he wore night and day. Here he wears it while he eats bacon with both hands.

Sophie, Zina, Abe, Josiah and Helen all completed the requirements to become Junior Park Rangers.

A colony of ground squirrels lived under the cabin's deck. Josiah and Abe loved scaring the ground squirrels by hissing at them like snakes.

The kids were glad to get out of the cars for hikes and viewpoints. Here they are at Big Springs, one of the springs that feed into the Snake River.

Here are all 6 of us at Upper Mesa Falls. The Snake River creates two dramatic waterfalls as it crosses over the edge of the Island Park caldera.     ~      One of the most fun things about a trip to Yellowstone is the enormous quantities of wildlife that casually stroll through the park. With our point-and-shoot camera, we don't bother taking photos of animals, but here is the tally for our trip -- countless bison, elk and deer, one snake, assorted chipmunks and squirrels, birds ranging in size from hummingbirds to hawks. Sophie saw a bear, along with Grandma, Grandpa, Joe, Sarah, Zina and Barbara, and they weren't happy about it. The rest of us are jealous, but then we didn't have a bear run across the road in front of us as we were driving 65 mph.

20 June 2010

Helen lost her first tooth Sunday night! We love her new gap-toothed smile -- although in the photo she's making a face so you can't miss the space where her tooth used to be.

Three cheers for our little Monday School which ended this week. One minor triumph-- Sophie finished embroidering the pillow sham she started in January-- the butterfly she chose turned out charmingly. One major triumph-- we finished The Story of the World, volume 1. We covered from the nomadic tribes of the Fertile Crescent through the Fall of the Roman Empire. How many times did you ever finish a textbook in school?

After the Visigoths and Vandals finished sacking Rome, we celebrated the last day of Monday School by going on a hike. In the photo the kids are exploring an abandoned pump house along a creek.

Here Abe and Gibson hike side by side.

They are painted lady butterflies. It was almost magical watching them emerge from their chrysalides.  The butterfly house seemed so small for flying creatures -- we could hear the butterflies flutter back and forth, their wings rubbing the netting. It's much nicer to imagine them as free range butterflies. 

All 5 of Abe's caterpillars hatched into butterflies this week. Abe took his butterflies to school on the last day of school and released them to the outdoors with his class. 

Becky thought it would be funny to ambush Sophie with water guns when she got home on the last day of school. Sophie didn't seem to think it was amusing, mainly because she'd gotten pink and orange highlights in her hair at the school field day that she didn't want to wash out. Sophie came out later to play, though. And to be fair, Becky didn't find the pink and orange highlights amusing -- we had orange streaks on the furniture, in the car, on Sophie's clothes, on the bath towel....        ~        No photo here, but a little shout out to Brandan for Father's Day. He's given us a terrific present of spending the day at home -- the nicest possible lazy Sunday. It's a good way to start our summer vacation.

13 June 2010

School is nearly out for the summer. We went to the last band and choir concert of the year on Thursday.  Beginning band improved leaps and bounds from the first of the year.

Brandan took Gibson and Abe to our ward's Father/Son campout this weekend. Abe had a fun time playing with the other boys in the ward, while Gibson stayed closer to Brandan's side.

Deciding between an 8-man tent and an ultralight backpacking tent, Brandan took the backpacking tent for the 3 of them. It turned out to be cozier at night, with just enough room to read a bedtime story as the boys drifted to sleep. In the photo, Abe is showing off his strength by lifting the tent all by himself. 

Gibson is growing up so quickly. He hasn't sounded like a baby for a long time and now he doesn't look like a baby anymore. Here he is carrying his sleeping bag all by himself as he helps pack up. 

The girls at home had a special night at Helen's end of school celebration. We love Helen's preschool so much. The teachers excel at treasuring each child as an individual. Every day at school is full of exploration, creativity and wonder. They encourage messes. We'd be awfully sad about saying goodbye, but Gibson will go to the same school, so we know it's not goodbye for long. Helen made the T-shirt in the photo at school.

6 June 2010

We planted our vegetable garden Monday night. This is the latest we've ever planted our tomatoes, but with the cool weather, it seemed kinder to leave the plants in their plastic nursery containers on the back porch. Each of the kids planted one of the raised beds in our garden. The photo shows Gibson planting a tomato plant. Becky may or may not have snuck an eggplant into the garden. You'll know if you see her eating a roasted eggplant sandwich this fall.

You may remember from last year that the neighbors' cat(s) dug up all our vegetable seeds before they ever sprouted. This year we're trying a new cat deterrent-- 200 bamboo skewers stuck into the raised beds. We're not hoping to hurt any cats, just thinking that the skewers form a barrier to prevent the cats from digging while still allowing the plants to grow. So far the skewers seem to be working. 

For Christmas Abe's cousin gave him a butterfly house. We waited for Spring to send for the caterpillars so we could release the butterflies outside. This week, 5 tiny caterpillars arrived in their special jar filled with caterpillar food. The caterpillars are getting fatter by the hour and we expect they'll build cocoons soon. We'll post photos after they've turned into butterflies. 

Brandan picked up a magnifying glass at an office supply store and it has become a favorite toy. Gibson thought we all looked pretty funny when he looked at us through the glass. Little does he know that he looks pretty funny, too.