It's Not Just Golf In Miniature

"It's minature golf mom! C'mon you got to try it!" was the jubilant cry from Emma when Hannah met up with us at the Kangaroo Zoo after work. I hadn't thought Emma had really caught on during our first 18 holes, but she was super excited to try again - I think it was the psychadellic glowing animals.

Zoo View

Emma loved her first trip to @Hogle_Zoo ! This was a super way to wrap up the summer. The facility was more fun than I remembered. I scooted about sipping Diet Coke while Emma raced to elephants, giraffes and monkeys. Emma loved the penguins and the zebras, I loved watching a leopard hiding the corner of it's enclosure. Staff were stringing trees with lights, looks like I already need to start gearing up for Zoo Lights this Dec.

Burger Education

I propose that all learning establishments be housed within Five Guys B&F restaurants. My kid is counting double digits after listening to the orders come up. We wrote a list of numbers below our order number (on our reciept) as the staff called for pickup. It didn't take Emma long to see the pattern that was forming, pretty soon we'd figured out how to count to 100. Now as long as she doesn't need to use the 'teens' we're all set.

Surely there is some magical aura or elixer of learning at Five Guys that produces such results. And imagine the parental involvement and familial participation, not to mention the opportunties to learn a foriegn language (emma likes to practice her spanish with a sweet hispanic woman who works at our neighborhood location) and the possibility for reduced cost from food sales. I need somone to sponser a bill this legislative session! Where's my state senator Greg Bell? Hmm, Lieutenant Govenor now eh? Guess he just dodged that bullet.

Rewarding Geocaching Adventure

Thanks to some kind team members at work I was able to get a day off to visit some family/friends for a big meetup and dinner in Springville, UT. I arrived early with my wife who was helping with some event details so I had time to burn, so with GPS in hand, I set out on a mini adventure for a few hours. After visiting a McDonalds (where I had the best Big Mac I've had in a decade) and tanking up for the afternoon we set off to scour the town for geocaches. The adventure became a bit of an ordeal after a few caches were either left uncared for and missing and others either far exceeded my skill or were also plundered. Out of 8 caches we sought, only 6 had containers to be found (we think) and we only actually found three of them. A bit discourageing but the fun is in the hunt afterall and we were treated to seeing a remarkable Presbyterian church in the middle of town as well as a relaxing wade though the chilled waters of Hobble Creek.

We also spent some time geocaching in Salt Lake City and in nearby Parley's Canyon. That was a very rewarding adventure. The caches up the canyon were just difficult enough to make reaching the goal rewarding without discouraging Emma (or myself.) Emma does a great job keeping up with dad and is usually excited to tag along. She did a great job taversing a hill with an extremely steep grade. Though she started out timid and clutching to dad for balance on the rocky and nealy 80 degree slope, she quickly learned that if she moved safely and with confidence her own balance system was superior to clinging to dad.

Even as great as dad is he isn't as cool as a playground when you've spent most of the day in the car. When I stopped to look for my last cache Mom stayed with Emma at a nearby park while I hiked off in the canyon below the interstate. I am still kicking myself for not encouraging Emma more strongly to follow me, becaseu I was treated to a grand experience when I poped up behind some weeds and startled some fawns a mere 100 feet in front of me. They ran to the brush and we spent a few minutes watching each other. Soon another fawn appeared in the opposite direction and let it's self get nearly as close before it realized the situation. It was a super cool experience and a great way to cap off another quick adventure spent geocaching.

Two Geocaching Adventures

In the not so distant past the family set out to find a few geocaches. One trip took us out to the palins of the Great Salt Lake. There were a few geocaches located North of the Airport that begged me to visit. We were lucky to have the airport using runways 34 so the traffic was taking off over our heads. We tried to work quickly becasue the area, though public land, is well patrolled by airport police (even considering they are usually accomodating, I would rather not have the meeting to begin with.) We embarked on another trip over the the Pioneer Day weekend seeking caches along East Canyon and the original Mormon Pioneer trail. The network of trails was beautiful with lush foliage and even a healthy amount of wildflowers. We didn't find as many geocaches on this trip, but we ended in the mood for more caching adventures (but that's another story.)

I'm A Sucker

Hannah donated her services to helping her sister's cat deliver a litter of kittens on memorial day. We were, in return, offered first pick of the litter. How do you turn down fluffy fuzz balls? Now we have a new cat at the house a tabby named TigerLilly, or Lilly for short. Athough I'm not a big fan of little claws and lots of meeowing, It make me happy to see my girls so thrilled to have a new friend around the house.

I Don't See Any Bears In There

Summer vacation 2009 was a blessed three day retreat at Bear Lake. My brother, wanting to share his good fortune, invited the family to spend a few days enjoying his new boat. Another brother provided a connection for some pleasant accomodations just up the hill from the Utah marina. We turned off our phones for a bit and relaxed in the placid, turquoise water stopping only to enjoy a game of pool, an evening around the fire or tossing a ball around on the expansive grounds. We enjoyed having an entire floor of the home to ourselves and Emma even had her own "room" (a closet/unsued playroom built beneath the stairs which Emma immediately claimed for her use.) With the exception of the extreme sunburn that Hannah came home with (the discount sunscreen was sub-par for sure) everything ended up quite well.

Sparkeley

When I was a kid I burned my hand quite badly on some spent sparkler wire. Can you imagine my dissmay when my daughter decided that sparklers were the coolest fireworks we had? I almost didn't buy any, but I tried not to let my fear become my daughters burden. I never really did relax. Emma wouldn't let her dad's panic attack stop her from having a thoughly pleasant time controlling the dazzling display. In the end, her happiness relaxed my anxiety and after I completed my overly-thourough safety and disposal measures, I too was pleased with the fact that Emma enjoyed that wire of fire so much.

Choo-Choo!

There are few things cooler than trains, so if logics holds, there are few places cooler than a train musesum. I subscribe to that logic, and due to that fact, I found myself at Ogden's Historic Union Station at the end of 25th Street. This train station was a mecca for train travel in the west, even more so than it's cousin's in Salt Lake City. The Transcontinental Railroad reached a union at Promintory Point, Utah (not far from Ogden) and later the casueway built across the Great Salt Lake both naturally funneled trains through Ogden. There were numerous static displays in the yard including seveal rail cars used by the Army, as well as nearly envery variety of locamotive used - including my favorite - the turbine powered locomotive. Emma, while intially impressed, was not as entralled with the train museum as dad, but none the less enjoyed the voyage as well as the train whistle toy she came away with.

Toothless Grin

You may have noticed this toothless grin in an earlier photo but we couldn't pass by an oportunity for a mention of the story behind Emmas first tooth loss. This bugger had been loose for a couple months but was clinging on stubbornly. At last it broke free and Emma, who had prepared an envelope in which to present her tooth to The Fairy, placed the chomper under he pillow. Miraculously the next day the pillow package had been replaced with a note from the Tooth Fairy (reminding Emma to brush her teeth) and a gold dollar coin with which to compensate Emma for her loss.

To The Museum!

What do you do when you're bummed out cause you dropped mom off at the airport? Go to the Museum! Of course, I'm out of touch. The "Children's Museum" of my youth has given way to the "Discovery Gateway." Emma cared little for the name, she was very excited to visit a MUSEUM having recently seen Night At The Museum 2. She was not disappointed by the non-museum either. There were plenty of activities to keep Emma occupied. Her favorite things? 1. Dressing up in various costumes. 2. The "Tube Wall" 3. Television news studio. 4. The farm.  We squeezed out every bit of fun we could too.  No less than 6 hours after our arrival, the pangs of imminent starvation were the only motivators for Emma to move on and anticipate her next visit... To The Museum!

Are we pigeon-holeing the kids dear?

Hannah does her best to make family time on my bizzare schedule. About two months ago, that included a lot of visits from the family whilst I was at work. Some 5 year olds like to follow dad around the back yard with the plastic lawn mower. My kid wants to make pizzas, and if we're makin pizzas, we better be in costume. Now, wheres the big knife?