The Canadians up Weber

Fun was had by all those who went fishing. Papa Ou-sey, Murray, and Fabuloso had a great time fishing. My family had planted one of our lakes this summer. There are so many fish it is easy pickin'. It is a great place to learn. Even Richie would have caught something had he tried.















Fun was had by all who went horse-back-riding, even Murray ended up enjoying himself. He was nervous at first but got the hang of it quickly. We had a nice time. Senior did not get to ride much because he had to leave in the early afternoon, but he did a great job herding in the horses. Cicada didn't ride the horses. She was so great to always help take care of V.











































Fun was had by all . . . almost. There aren't any pictures of The Boy at the cabin because, quite frankly, we didn't see him very much. He slept almost the entire time. I really only saw him at meal time. But, when he was awake, he was great with the Prince.

Fun was had by all . . . almost when Richie, Ootsie, and Murray went "hiking" up the mountain to find an old cabin Jim Bridger had built while trapping in the area. Richie was the only one that enjoyed the hike. To be fair, it is a miserable hike. It is my least favorite hike I have ever done. It is really more of a scramble up loose dirt, shell, and scrub oak. There is no trail and it is very steep. The up part is tough going, but down is even worse. It is scary coming down and your legs get very worn out. A lot of people opt to go down on their bum.

The Canadians come to town

A good looking family (but this picture is missing some of the cutest members)















Captain F's family came to town for a visit/family vacation. Ootsie and Papa Ou-sey (that's how the Prince says "outside") and Richie (after Richie Tenenbaum) all stayed at our house. We always love having them here. There are lots of crazy antics with the Canadians here. Captain F's brothers, with his dad leading their efforts, always teach the Prince lots of bad bad things to do. You notice he is playing with a knife and a lighter at the same time. I obviously was not in the room at the time. The Prince loves it, of course. He thinks it is the greatest thing ever to have his Papa Ou-sey here and his uncles. He gets to spend all the time he wants outside, wrestling, running around, playing video games (Captain F bought Mario Cart just for the occassion), you name it. I will have to break the trip up into at least three posts to do it justice. There really is just too much to write and too many pictures to share.






























Speaking of the cutest family members . . .

The Homefront

My parents, sister and brother-in-law all went to Europe for their final hoorah of summer while I took care of the home front. I became personal assistant and secretary to my parents, as well as caretaker of my sister's kids. (My brother and his family helped, too.) Tomo and Jujuice stayed with us for a week. The Prince had the time of his life. He loved having his cousins sleepover. He tried to climb into bed with them to sleep a couple of times.

I think I did a pretty good job going from 2 kids to 4. I took them to Discovery Gateway one day. The Prince's favorite part was the helicopter. He is obsessed with helicopters. By the gibberish he spoke and the looks he gave me, I could tell he couldn't understand why he hadn't been here before. He was like, "You knew this was here all along and you never took me? It was possible to go to a helicopter and climb in and I never knew?" He has asked about it several times since, but I try to pretend I don't understand. I'm so bad.

Taking the kids to school was the hardest part for sure. We mostly were on time. I had to take them to their first day of school and help them find their classes. I loaded V in the baby bjorn and let the Prince walk. It was difficult to get the Prince to leave, of course. We also had to buy him a backpack of his own after he saw Tomo's and JuJuice's.

We loved having the kids. The Prince cried and cried when he saw them drive away at the end of the week. He really was heartbroken. It was so sad.

Hiking to Cecret Lake

On August 9th we took The Prince and V on their first real hike. We went with my sister and her husband and two kids. We were also joined by two of my brother's kids. My little family unit didn't spend much time hiking with the others because we were so slow. The Prince was a good walker, but he got distracted by every little stream we crossed. He wanted to throw leaves in the streams and watch them float down. He loves the water. Eventually Captain F, who already had V in the Baby Bjorn, put the Prince on his shoulders and carried him for a while. The Prince walked up all the switchbacks, though. He really had fun. On the way up, Captain F read a sign that said something to the effect of, "In a thunderstorm the temperature can drop 20 degrees at this altitude." We all thought that was an interesting fact. We were barely at the lake when the rain started to drizzle. We booked it down the mountain. Captain F carried the Prince the whole way down and I had V. Right when we got to the trail-head it started to hail. My sister and I, with our daughters in tow, stuffed ourselves into the shuttle bus and left the others hiding under a tree. They got the better end of the deal. When we got to the parking lot, we still had to run quite a ways to the cars. I covered V as best I could and ran. It felt like being pelted with marbles. Little V never made a sound, even though I know some hit her. It was a great adventure. We all did have a fun time. The funny part is that when we were packing up to go on this hike I thought to myself, "I should be packing each kid a sweatshirt and water. You never know when the weather can change in these mountains and you should be prepared." But then I remember that I over prepare for everything and haul too much stuff around. I told myself I was being paranoid. The one time I don't take too much stuff . . .

P.S. Another one of my favorite moments was trying to find a secluded spot to nurse V at the top of the mountain. There are always a lot of people traversing this trail. The best we could find was a rock, only slightly off the trail, overlooking the rock-climbers across the way.

Cousins Camp and Weber

We had our annual Cousins Camp at the end of July this year. It was so much fun. I left The Prince at home for two days with Alec, Her Majesty, and Tina, the nanny. My mom, She-who-must-be-obeyed, said he wasn't allowed. It was so easy not having him around. My mom, dad, cousin, and I took the kids up. We had a great time riding horses, teaching the kids to saddle, tie dyeing shirts, singing, playing hearts, enjoying the new sod around the cabin and river swing. It was great to be with the older cousins. They are each so wonderful, talented, and fun to be around. We all wished it would have been longer. Luckily, we came up a week later when my brother, Funny Little Guy, was in town. The Prince was invited this time. He had the time of his life. He loves to ride the "shooshes." Whenever he wants to see or ride the horses he spreads his legs out and bounces like he is riding the horse, then he yells, "Shoosh. Shoosh." I don't think I would have figured out "shooshes" was the word for "horses" without the action, especially since he started saying that when we were at home in Salt Lake no where near a horse.