Writing our own songs

Jovie made up this one:
Mom and Dad, I love you so much
Have a good day taking care of your kids
I know it's complicated

Her song "just for Dad only" was a lot like the previous song, but it included the line:
You make eggs for breakfast and they're so good.

Ikey made up the tune for "The Goops"
http://youtu.be/9jVjmnWCDpY

This is a long-ish song that Ikey made up on the fly. He can sing like this all day. He adds some acrobatics to the performance, just for fun. http://youtu.be/pc2GyM0oV0g

Out of nowhere yesterday, Ikey told me, "You have the wrong kids." Todd asked him what kids we were supposed to have and Ikey said, "Those kids that don't do good behavior and aren't cheerful."
I'm glad we got the wrong ones, those others sound awful.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

We read the book, and I edited all the references to the gangsters' guns to gangsters' fireworks. It was a really strange story that way. We watched the movie, and I checked out during the middle hour, just like I always do. We learned all the songs from the soundtrack. Jovie can spell "posh" now. Ikey sings the more inspirational "from the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success." Ikey and I went with Grandma Pat to the Hale Center Theatre production of the musical, which was my favorite version of the story. The car and the candy-making machine, the breakfast machine and the big wheel bikes were all really fantastic. We loved it.

Jungle Jim's

Isaac asks to go to Jungle Jim's almost every day. We survived two sessions of pretty bad swimming lessons, so I told them we could go to Jungle Jim's after the last lesson. Jovie said, "You're letting us go to Jungle Jim's? But that's so NICE..."

Ikey makes friends with kids in the bounce area and playhouse. He bosses them around a little, as in "It's nap time - everyone to their rooms!"

Jovie isn't afraid to make friends either and she climbs on rides with just about anyone.

This Jeep ride is pretty popular. The kids will not ride the "roller coaster" which is like the Music Express ride from Lagoon long ago. It goes really fast and is noisy, and they tried it once, but won't do it again.  

We made eight tokens go pretty far, and we have always had a 2-for-1 coupon, so this activity doesn't break the bank and the kids really appreciate it. They both took naps too, so that was a huge score.

Seasons in Utah

It looked like winter outside while the kids wore fall costumes and ate a summer treat, but it was really spring. It snowed on Thursday and melted by the afternoon. It snowed again on Friday and Ikey played outside for an hour before swimming lessons. Todd got home from Jackson Wyoming and his car was iced over. Spring is so unpredictable in Utah.

Hanging out at home

Todd's trying to read the paper. Jovie is sitting upside-down on the couch with a sucker between her toes.

The grownups try to read the newspaper every morning. This is the kids' most needy time though, so we are constantly interrupted to get milk or food, for cuddling/wrestling, or to read a kids book. Maybe they should deliver the newspaper after bedtime, but let's be honest, we're usually asleep as soon as the kids are, so that wouldn't help.
Todd drives a lot for work, and he's listening to a lot of presidential biographies and interesting history books and will start on the classics soon. (The Odyssey is up first, any other suggestions are welcome.) The kids and the dad just keep getting smarter and more relevant. I barely get my book club selections read, and I just keep working on patience and I'm becoming more marginal. I'll catch up with these three someday maybe.

Wendover, Pilot Peak, Danger Cave

We made cookies and delivered them to Grandma Pat for her St. Patrick's Day birthday, then took our green selves on the trek west toward Nevada. I knew we were headed for something weird when we found this sign at the first rest stop.

When we passed the turnoff to Iosepa, we were as far west as I've been on I80 in ten years. The air and sky were soon an unholy color and the visibility was very limited. I liked driving on a causeway through the southern reaches of the Great Salt Lake because I think it's pretty in a bizarre way. I wanted to stop at the Tree of Life, but the signs say emergencies only.

It was really windy, so we were on the watch for tumbleweeds, migrating sand dunes, and weaving semi trailers. The air cleared out eventually and all of sudden, there were mountains in front of us and the Bonneville Salt Flats to our right. We stopped to walk up to the edge of the lake and stick our fingers in.

 

 

Isaac is the photographer.

 

Jovie is the photographer.

 

 

 

Ikey said, "It's the longest SUV I've ever seen!"

We went to the Wendover Army Air Base Museum just on our side of the state line.

Our favorite part of the museum was the old airplane near the runway. It was so windy and the airplane was so shaky and creaky, it felt like it would take off any time.

Did you know that the Enola Gay and Col Tibbets were stationed at Wendover in the summer of 1945? We were tempted to climb the red and white control tower, and we made it up the first red section, the first white section and the second red section which put us way higher than the two-story museum building. I then invented a story that the museum worker told us not to go any higher. Oh my gosh it was so scary! The stairs and landings are made of delicate-looking metal mesh with plenty of space for a 2- or 4-year-old to fall through. It was so windy and Jovie didn't want to hold my hand anymore so she was trying to go up while Ikey was trying to go down and I was trying not to cry. We held it together just long enough to get down. The creaky airplane seemed totally safe after the control tower so we went back there.

We went into Nevada to Pilot Peak, which was a oasis for people crossing the Utah/Nevada desert without SUVs. There's a ghost town around here somewhere, but we didn't find it on this trip.

Our next stop was back in Wendover to check out a casino. Montego Bay was smoky as soon as we walked in, and the kids asked if they could "play a game". I told them the games are just for grown ups. Jovie said, "We want to watch you play a game." We walked through the sky bridge to the Golden Nugget. Ikey said, "Let's go back to the first place because it's ceiling is party-er." We had breakfast for lunch at Paradise Grill at Montego Bay.

We took a short drive back into Utah to find Danger Cave on a dirt road. We were disappointed, but not surprised, to find this important archaeological site was spray-painted and gated in.

We made it back home just in time to enjoy corned beef and cabbage at Mitch's house. I didn't tell the kids about pinching this year, because we're trying to get out of the habit first. Happy St. Patrick's Day.

 

Swan Day & Wagon Land Adventure

We moved the kids' car seats to the back of the car and gathered up Grandma and Grandpa Faucheux for a drive early on Saturday morning to Salt Creek Waterfowl Management Area for Swan Day. We were told that there were 1200 birds on a few shallow ponds. We saw swans flying beside the car for a while, which was pretty striking. There were swans, Canadian geese, sandhill cranes(Grandma's favorite) and coots. The kids liked looking through the binoculars and walking on the handrails as balancing beams.

Jovie is smelling her hands because we just told her that she stuck them in bird droppings on the railing.

 We took a driving tour of Corinne, which is a little farming community that migrating birds just love. This is the oldest Protestant church in Utah.

Next stop was in Bothwell, near Tremonton, for our personal tour of Eli Anderson's Wagon Land Adventure. Mr. Anderson started collecting horse-drawn vehicles fifty years ago (probably the same time this ladder was leaned against this tree).

 I can't guess how many wagons, buggies, carriages, buckboards, etc. are in his collection. I bet Mr. Anderson doesn't even know. It was really fantastic.

Here's Pop with the kind of wagon that his grandfather drove in WWI. He took supplies to the front lines, and brought back injured soldiers.

There was a Callistoga covered wagon, stage coaches, a horse ambulance, sheepherders wagons, a big collection of axle grease tins, hearses, sleds, firehose trailers, water wagons, florist wagons, a pie delivery cart, pharmacy wagons, a brewery wagon with 20 wooden barrels, a horse-pulled road grader...

It was overwhelming. It was three huge garages stacked almost to the ceiling with vehicles and a lifetime enthusiast and historian telling us the stories. We went out for Mexican food at El Parral in Tremonton after. I'm so glad that we have rural towns and people in our community. There's a richness in this lifestyle and history that we would miss if we didn't have it.