Brine Flies

We went to Antelope Island, the largest island in the Great Salt Lake, yesterday for "Stampede Days".   We saw buffalo, antelope, an owl, a coyote and millions of brine flies.  The brine flies were so numerous they look like clouds of dust that the wind is blowing around when you walk through them.  Sammy and Lindsey and I had fun walking through them while Carley and Blain stayed a safe distance away even though they don't sting.

TGIF

It's Friday evening before a 3 day weekend and all is well in our little world.  We've not only survived the 1st two weeks of school, but Sammy and Lindsey have done better than I thought they would.  They both have jumped right into the new routine and seem to be really enjoying school and like their teachers. 

The only problem has been that Sammy has hurt himself twice now on the school playground.  The first time was during Kindergarten orientation when he ran into a bar and the second time was yesterday when he tripped and face planted on asphalt.  He cried for so long that they called up Blain to pick him up because they said he was okay but inconsolable.  Even after Blain got him, he kept crying for his mommy so they called me at work when I was in a meeting so I could talk with him.  Fortunately it was a small meeting and I have a very understanding boss.  I was able to talk to him and calm him down. 

On a more positive note, Carley seems to have had another growth spurt and for the first time is able to reach the light switch.  She's growing up so fast!  I love my feisty and fun little girl, but she's a handful.  She definitely has a mind of her own and isn't shy about expressing herself.

1st Playground Injury

And it only gets worse - 2nd playground injury

It doesn't look like she can reach the switch...

But she can!

1st Day of Kindergarten for Sammy

Kindergarten starts locally one week after all the other grades, so even though Sammy had Kindergarten orientation last week today was his first real day of school.  We walked down to the school bus stop together and he got on board with Lindsey.  They both sat together and waved to me from their window as the bus pulled away.  That just made my heart melt!

I updated the slideshow from last week and have moved it to today's post to include pictures from this morning.

First Day of School and Best Kid Quote of the Week

Today was the first day of school.  Lindsey is now a first grader!  She rode the school bus by herself for the first time (which we followed in our car for the first day just to make sure it well and to take pictures, of course). 

Last year we were driving her to a charter school across town.  This year we decided to enroll her and Sammy in our district school.  Turns out our district school did better in test scores and parent satisfaction than the charter school.  Plus the kids can catch the school bus just down the block.  Wunderbar!

Lindsey had a great first day.  She loved eating lunch at school.  Now that she's in first grade, she's in school for the full day.  Sammy starts Kindergarten next week but we did have a 1 hour Kindergarten orientation this morning.  They took the kids out to the playground so the teacher could talk to the parents about what they will be doing this year.  After a few minutes, in comes a little boy with an ice pack on his head.  It was Sammy, of course.  Poor kid ran into a pole on the playground.  That's our Sam.

On a side note, the best kid quote of the week and maybe even the month.  Yesterday, probably because of the excitement and nerves of school starting, the kids were crazy wild and misbehaving.  At one point I put Lindsey in a "time out".  Her response was, "FINE, then I will NOT say excuse me when I fart!!"  Well, I guess she told me off.  I had to turn away quickly so she couldn't see the expression on my face.  Shades of a quote from an old Monty Python movie, "I fart in your general direction".

School Bus

Lindsey with her Teacher

Farm Petting Zoo

While Blain was gone for a quick, but much needed break to Vegas this past week, Dave and I took the kids to a farm petting zoo up in the mountains.  Lots of chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, goats, bunnies, llamas and horses.  Carley rode on her first horse.  She looked so tiny on the big horse but she did great holding on.  After the petting zoo, we had worked up a hearty appetite and treated ourselves to some raspberry shakes with our lunch, yummy!

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Crazy Fortnight

For the Fourth of July weekend, on Saturday we took our camper up to Lava Hot Springs in Idaho and had a terrific weekend swimming at the Olympic size natural springs pool and enjoying the camping experience and exploring Lava Hot Springs.  On the night of the 4th, Cindy and Brian came up and joined us for dinner at a Thai restaurant but couldn't stay to see the fireworks that night which were great and we could see from our campsite.

Then we got up early on the 5th, drove the camper home, did a load of laundry, repacked a suitcase for Lindsey and me.  Then Blain gave us a ride to the airport and Lindsey and I flew out that night to visit my good friend in Denver, Barbara.  We spent 4 days in Denver and had a blast.  We went to the Denver Natural Museum 2 days it was so good, where we saw an Imax film, a planetarium film, a special exhibit on pirates and also a lot of rocks, dinosaur bones and taxidermy.  We also went to the Denver Aquarium and had a great time visiting with each other and a couple of other friends.

We flew home from Denver on Saturday night.  Then on Monday morning I flew to Dallas to take a 2 day training class for work.  It was well over a hundred degrees the 3 days we were there.  It felt a little strange being there because I was raised in the Dallas area as a child but it has been over 20 years since I've visited the area.  It felt so familiar and foreign at the same time.  I did really miss the mountains of Utah.  The Dallas area was so much flatter than I remember.  My coworkers and I did a little bit of sightseeing while we were there.  We went to Dealey Plaza and the Sixth Floor Museum where Lee Harvey Oswald had assassinated JFK, very interesting and very sad.  The other interesting thing we saw was a special exhibit on Genghis Khan at the Irving Art Museum.  I had no idea what a remarkable man and leader he was.  Plus we had some great Tex Mex food and Margaritas!

Finally I flew back on Thursday completely exhausted.  A week later after a lot of extra sleeping and extra grumpiness (just ask my family and my coworkers), I think I'm finally starting to recover.  Good news, I went to my neurosurgeon and found out that my neck vertebrae that were fused at the end of 2010 have successfully grown bone.  Almost all physical restrictions have been lifted.  Yeah, I can vacuum again!  Now, I need to pack to fly to Durango this weekend to visit my mother and brother who are in Pagosa Springs, CO for a couple of weeks.  I'm sure I'll have fun, but look out coworkers, friends and family - you'll have to put up with another week of grumpiness when I get back.  If I only didn't have to work.  It gets in the way of my recovering from my travels and social life.

Swimming Pool and Umbrellas

A couple of days ago we went out and got a small pool for our backyard for the kids.  The sun was shining brightly when we filled it full of water and the kids were besides themselves with excitement to try out the new pool.  Then the storm clouds started gathering over our house and just as they got changed into their swimming suits we had a cloud burst of rain.  That wasn't going to stop Lindsey, Sammy and Carley from playing in their new pool so out came the umbrellas.  After the rain, it was cooler but they kept playing until I dragged them in for dinner.