A Visit from the Weekes'

So the Thursday after Bear Lake, my sister Sara and her five kids descended on my home for a visit. She brought a lot of cute pictures from our camping trip that I didn't get before, so let me backtrack a minute and show you some of the splendor. Here's Rett devouring a mint Oreo while Dave and I floated in oblivion on our "rafting" trip.

That really doesn't do justice to the mess he left. You can imagine, though. Here's Bee-bee Do-sie striking a cute smile.

Ok, "smile" is being a little loose with the language, but I love that cute little hat. We had a watermelon one of the nights we were there and my kids loved it, to say the least.

I couldn't get it to him fast enough. I was really afraid he was going to bite my fingers. (Sidenote: when we were all done with the watermelon, I went to wash my hands and found that Nixon had pawed through the garbage bag and was gnawing on someone else's watermelon rind. Ick.) Here he is after the festivities.

Dribble... Dribble... Rett loved it too. Notice in this picture that Dave is having to hold him back to avoid his four razor-sharp teeth.

Cute, huh? And this next one is an excellent picture of...

well, nothing really, but my butt looks fabulous in those jeans, so I had to post it. To those of you who are rolling your eyes or disagreeing right now, I say don't be jealous. I have a limited number of years when my butt looks fabulous in any jeans and I am going to live in the moment, thank you very much.

Ok, so back to my sister's visit... I was struck by the irony of this picture.

Can you read the bib? It says, "Adorable". What it should have said was, "Ticked off and pulling cranky-pants faces" in order to be accurate. She's still adorable though. The purpose of their visit was to spend a day at the fantastic museum I have mentioned in posts gone by and the next day at Hogle Zoo. So my sister Mari and her two boys met us at the museum and we headed in to the ball pit.

You'll all remember that nifty pneumatic system that takes the balls from their hands into tubes where they can watch them circle over their heads? They had a great time in there and then moved on to the museum. Nixon and Chris loved the fountain.

They spent most of their time there, but Nixon did branch out to see other areas of the museum, if you can believe it. He explored, among other things, this car that the kids pretended to pump gas into (for 7.9 cents a gallon... I want to fill up there!).

Nixon played on that car for a long time. The bigger kids liked the exhibits in the upstairs part of the museum, too, which included a LifeFlight helicopter that they could crawl in and push buttons and everything.

They loved the museum and were exhausted at the end of the day. Everyone slept great at my house. The next day, we went to Hogle zoo and ended up with a ton of pictures of animals (once again, I forgot my camera), but only a couple of interest with people in them. Here are most of Sara's kids by the Ghost of the Bayou.

And here they all are on the giant worm in the playground.

Notice baby Josie in the stroller in the background. I think she takes this picture every year they come to Hogle zoo. We had a ton of fun with our visitors. Thanks for coming, guys!

Bear Lake

Many of you already know we have an annual Smith family get-together at Bear Lake in August. Last year rolled forward, even without the grand orchestrator, Gramma Smith. We were, of course, very glad to have Roger and Marilyn back with us this year. Here are a few pictures to let you all in on the fun. We spent all day Monday at the beach, so a lot of these pictures will come from that. Plus, I forgot my camera and was at the mercy of everyone else to send me pictures. Here are three of the kiddies playing at the beach.

For those of you who don't know, Halle is the oldest of this crew (she'd be the one in the yellow hat, smiling like she's at a photo shoot), then Nixon, and then Caleb, all within about three months of each other. As a sidenote, the kids were kicked out of this little play area a short time later by some older kids for reasons unknown. The older kids then wanted help when the little ones started throwing sand and digging instruments. They really didn't see the connection. I sat back and laughed, but assisted neither side. Eventually they were able to coexist in this little bog with relative peace. Rett tried his hand at sand castles...

and really only ate a handful of dirt or so, I'm told. He's pretty cute in his backwards "cool". ("Cools" are hats at our house. Don't ask me why, because I really couldn't tell you.) Nixon spent most of his day just like this...

Laying in the water, rolling in it, sanding the crap out of his clothes, you name it. Keep in mind, the water was not warm but he truly does not care. He'd play for a while, then run over to the adults in convulsive shivers and snuggle on someone's lap for a few minutes until the teeth-chattering was enough under control that he could go back to splashing. After the beach, everybody got a shower and tried to get warm again.

Don't be fooled by that innocent expression. Just kidding. Caleb's a doll, and this was actually taken the next morning while it was still cold and we needed blankets. Uncle Al came on Monday night and brought his motorcycle, which all the kids were really really excited to ride. Apparently even Rett wanted a turn.

This picture is classic in so many ways. That is my little Everett in that helmet. They set him down on the ground and let him walk around for a minute with it on and I nearly wet myself laughing. Have you ever seen the movie Labrinth? If you have, you'll know where I'm going with this. He looked just like the little soldiers guarding the goblin city. In fact, maybe I have a picture...

It's a touch blurry because he was trying to move, but you get the picture. Anyway, the boys were excited to see Uncle Al.

I can't figure it out, but they love him. My new theory is that because he's a novelty, meaning they don't see him very much, he's much more exciting than mommy and daddy by comparison. My logic is flawless. Speaking of people my kids love, Nixon latched on to Aunt Jen the whole time she was here visiting.

She really loves pictures, can you tell? Anyway, he's still asking for "Den? I YIKE Den!" It's pretty cute.

Play 'n Learn

Maybe I mentioned it, maybe I didn't, but several weeks back, Nixon got bumped up two classes in the whole play-groups-for-kids-who-don't-talk-or-socialize-quite-right spectrum. Two classes! And he's doing great. He gets to do crafts. I'm exceedingly proud of his artistic skills as you will observe from the following photos. See if you can guess what the following items are before I reveal it under the picture. It will be a very fun game and will stimulate your mind!!;) Ok, picture 1...

Ta-duh! Wind chime! And I know you're all thinking exactly what I do every week when I pick him up... "Yeah, like Nixon made that all by himself." I have a theory. The girl who runs the class is a cute little Utah blonde and I think she comes up with the crafty projects and can't bear to see them slaughtered. So they come home looking a bit Picaso-ish, but they're always stapled in the right spot, hardly ever smeared like the kid didn't have someone directing the hand with the paint... you get the picture.;) Anyway, here's the next project.... Get ready....

Ok, that one doesn't have a purpose, it's just a picture with sea-creature foam cut-outs. Once again, I'll point out that there were no giant glue circles around the objects, they're fairly evenly spaced and not clumped in one spot (a habit I think most toddlers, not just Nixon, have) and again, nothing is smeared. You might not believe me from the picture, but you should see the thing up close. I'm thinking about entering it in an art show. And now for the grand finale of craftiness.... the antcipation should be killing you... do you feel the tingle?

Those of you who don't have children are right now probably thinking, ".... what the hell?" but those of you who do recognize this in all it's homemade glory... a birdfeeder. Yes, friends, that is a pinecone slathered in peanut butter, rolled in birdseed, which my adorable toddler tried desperately to eat on the way out of his class. It was so cute. I could hear the teacher saying, "No, no, Nixon. That's for the birdies!" to which he said, "Bruvver?" and she said, "No, birdies." to which he said, "Bruvver?" so she gave up and tried to take it by force. I could hear the scuffle from the other side of the door, which they fortunately opened in time for Nixon to see said "bruvver" and not throw a fit. Awesome. (A word Nixon can say now and it comes out quite comical, if I do say so myself. Of course, we're still getting used to the whole parrotting effect, as is evident during another moment of frustration on mommy's part the other night when Nixon wanted to wander the house with his messy chocolate chip cookie. Suffice it to say, we heard, "Sit doow! Eee... TAN cooookie!" Make your own inferences.)

As a bonus picture, Nixon has discovered the magic of mommy's oven mitts. I laughed pretty hard when he came into the living room looking like this the other day.

They kept falling off and he'd bring them back to me and wait expectantly for me to put them back on. We played that game for several minutes. He also has a couple of new animal sounds, which I will now play for you.

Sorry I couldn't get "Hee-po!" on there for you. And I guess he didn't feel like doing the tiger growl, but he's just really doing so well with his language. We're pretty excited.

Camping in Island Park

I love Island Park. Some of my fondest memories from childhood are when we'd go camping with my parents and mom would leave us alone with dad who would let us play our favorite game (which is, to this day, nameless, because it got dad in a lot of trouble with said mom). We'd go to Riverside campground and mom would leave for a class and dad would take us down to the water, tie our life jackets to a rope, and tie that rope to a tree. We'd proceed to wade out into the water (which moves quite fast at this campground) until the current knocked us over. The game was to see who could get the farthest before they got dunked. The game ended when my sister Mari accidentally narked us out to mom who was, shall we say, less than pleased with dad for allowing this game to proceed. I still look back nostalgically for those days. Anyway, this last week, me, Dave, and the boys got to go to the same campground with Sara and her kids and my dad for some good old fashioned camping. Rett had his first root beer...

He couldn't get enough of it. Nixon won't touch anything that fizzes, but Rett kept coming back for more. Both of the boys loved their new little cousin, Josie. Here she is getting a lap change.

I should have gotten a better shot, but I think this really captures the "wildness" of our camping adventure. Ignore the trailer in the background... we slept in a tent... all four of us. And surprisingly, it went extremely well. I'm totally impressed with my kids' love for the outdoors. We took a trip to Mesa Falls while we were there.

It gets more beautiful every time I see it. They charge a parking fee now, but they've made it virtually impossible for anyone to fall off the path into the water, so for the improvements, I'll pay the $5. Sara's kids were extremely helpful all week in corralling my hooligans.

That's Hannah holding Nixon's hand. She's the oldest and bossiest, and therefore, usually the most useful when it comes to needing a babysitter. Though I will say Nixon latched on to Amber and is still giving "Amer" posession of random objects at our house as of this afternoon. He'll be playing with cars and say, "Amer car?" or drinking some water and say, "Amer water?" and so on and so forth. He loved loved loved baby Josie though and is still telling me, "Bee-bee Do-see seeping?" I don't know how he knows she's sleeping, but apparently she is.;) Here's all but the littlest hoodlums at Mesa Falls...

and my three boys.

I love this picture. They're even all wearing a "cool" (hereafter to be known as a "hat".) This next shot is for Gramma Smith, who absolutely loves the same shot with Rett's big brother two years ago...

Rett somehow looks smaller.;) We love the guts out of that backpack and are way excited to have the new one (which came in the mail yesterday... look for pictures soon to come...) anyway, we got a good long camping trip out of it and loved our time in the mountains. Thanks Papa Inglet! And what would camping be with my boys if we didn't come home with some souvenirs?

That's one of Nixon's legs, and the picture really doesn't do those scratches justice. Here's Rett's leg...

and their elbows were just as bad. My boys are just all boy, I've decided. They are fearless and the most I can hope to do is keep them from major head injuries until they're old enough to make their own stupid choices.;) In the mean time, we'll take our scratches, stitches, and probably (soon to come) the occasional broken bone. If only their mommy was a little more girlie, maybe she could tone them down a little?

Lagoon!

It seems all my friends have Lagoon posts on their blogs, and I was starting to feel left out. That's the sole reason we went. Just kidding. Dave's sister, Jen, and her boys are here to visit for a few weeks and they came from halfway across the country and it was Josh's seventh birthday, so we went to Lagoon. Fortunately, they let my boys in free after charging my left arm and Dave's right leg. Rett and Nixon spent a majority of their time in the fountain out front.

Well, this is the little water sprayer that kids are allowed to play in. After we got Nixon out of the fountain kids aren't supposed to climb in, he enjoyed the crap out of this thing, but not as much as little Rett.

As you can see, he'd just walk through those streams, and they were not moving slow! He was totally fearless. I'll try again later to get the video clip to work. For some reason, I can't get it to download right now, but Gramma said people would stop to stare at him because he was so small just walking through all those streams. Nixon liked to put his head into the stream for a little styling help.

It's getting a little longish on top anyway, so the water really sent it skyward. Speaking of skyward, here's one of the only rides we could talk the birthday boy into riding with us.

He also did the one where you steer your own plane, the Terror Ride, and the White Roller Coaster, or so I'm told.;) My double stroller came in super handy on more than one occasion, including nap time...

(aren't they cute?) and lunch time, thought I won't fess up to giving them those cookies. I'll blame Gramma Smith for that.

They also had a blast in the kiddie section of Lagoon-A-Beach, especially Nixon. They have little kid size water slides that he could not get enough of. Observe...

He literally must have done that thing 50 times. You probably noticed I lost a hold of him, so he got completely dunked, and I could still barely get him to the side before he wiggled out of my arms to run around and repeat the adventure. What a goofball! Needless to say, they were really tired and slept great that night. We got to go back to Gramma Smith's the next day to spend a couple of days since daddy had one of his long stretches of "on" days at work. The boys were entertained by many things including "Calle" (that's "cousin Halle" made into one word, for those of you who are lazy speakers) and this precious slip 'n slide.

They started out with clothes on, I swear. It just doesn't always end up that way. Anyway, they had a good time with their Jolley cousins and Mama and Papa Smith.