Fall fun

I still have hopes that Nathan and Luke will become friends! Slowly but surely we're edging into--if not a brotherhood of love--some sort of detente. I'll take what I can get.

When Neil and I were dating, we drove out to the pier that goes out onto Utah Lake and watched the mileage of his Jeep flip over to 100,000 miles. That we saw it flip to 200,000 last week is a testament to Neil's mechanical skills...I honestly cannot believe that thing is still going!!

Although last week as I clambered over the passenger seat in a pencil skirt (we were taking two cars to church and Neil took the kids in the van while I was still finishing getting ready), I thought about how excited I will be to graduate and hopefully replace Neil's beloved Jeep with a car whose driver's side door actually opens and closes. 

 A month or so ago we met some friends at the zoo. I have a few children who actually like the animals to be near them and a few who don't; most of them, however, have taken at least 3-4 years to tolerate the idea of an animal in their space. Nathan has no such reservations.

 He also had no reservations about jumping in the fountains (it was not exactly a warm day--the boys were both wearing sweaters, and if it had been my first child I certainly would have rushed them out of the fountains, but since it was not my first child, I let them keep playing). Afterwards we met Neil for lunch and Nate wore his spare onesie (I stopped carrying a diaper bag forever ago but I do at least keep a onesie and a diaper in my purse, although this reminds me that I never bothered to replace them) and Luke wore my cardigan, sat on my lap, and ate all of the mushrooms out of my lunch. (He also loves hummus, which is awesome.) 

 
 





































I love his expression SO much in both of these photos. What a doll!


 A few weeks after that my dad came down for the weekend and we went hiking. It was so beautiful and the weather was just gorgeous! We've hiked in this particular park a few times, but I think the last time we were there with my dad was when Luke was an infant. It was a really beautiful day and my dad was very good-natured about carrying Abigail's pink backpack wherein we had stashed all the food (poor guy, if I'd known that he would end up carrying it I would have at least grabbed an adult backpack--Abigail's fits me but definitely not Neil or my dad!). It was SO nice to have him here for the weekend; I've really been missing him a lot lately!

 

 

And the weekend after that we went to a local festival celebrating our town's early days as a French fur-trading outpost. This particular festival happens to be a huge deal ("local" is a misleading term) and yet it was the first year we've ever gone! I've been to the site a couple times to run down there and whatnot and I didn't realize that the part I've been to was like a tiny speck of the actual festival site--it was HUGE!! We were there for three hours and we didn't even come close to seeing everything. (It was also freezing cold and we had to wait an hour each way for the shuttle bus.)
I love how these photos are taken a week apart and just showcase the craziness of Midwest weather--hot hot hot one week, practically snowing the next!

 One thing that I thought was interesting was that so many of the attendees were dressed up, not just the participants. Apparently it's this huge thing and some of the people I talked to have been coming for 30 years and they just add to their "costume" every year and have fun walking around checking things out. We missed the landing of the voyageurs (they come up the river in their birch-bark canoes), but we did see their beached canoes which were very cool. It had rained a lot earlier in the week and so the river was super high and everything was wet and squishy and smelled like rain and woodsmoke and bacon. Very fun and I loved the fifes and bagpipes and drums and cannons! Just a really neat time. 

This is the recreation of the original fort for which the park is named. 

 
My favorite photo I took that day--love the visual paradox. 

Then we came home and this cutie started throwing up and we spent a few days weathering stomach flu. Which brings us almost up to date!

Harry Potter party, take II

So you remembered that July 31st was Harry Potter's birthday, right? (It's a totally legit holiday.) We had so much fun celebrating it last year that I thought we better recreate the experience this year!

I posted a note on Facebook inviting anyone who was interested to a potluck lunch--we kept it pretty low-key but it was so delightful! I always forget how much I thrive on the opportunity to interact with friends, and my children do too. We've been more social in the last couple of weeks than we've been all summer (the kids have had three or four playdates and I was able to slip away to have lunch with friends one day) and it makes such a difference.
 

The kids & I did most of the prep on Wednesday night--which was good because later that night I ran in a 12K trail race and ended up with a killer attack of plantar fascitis! (I'm attributing it to the fact that the trail terrain was deep sand/slippery mud interspersed with giant roots and downed trees, so it was very tricky technically and I ended up running the last 4 miles after my foot turned into a giant knife of pain--not ideal but there wasn't any way to stop, since it was out in the woods without aid stations and only 29 people in the whole race.)

Anyway, the kids ended up doing most of the decorations and I thought they did a wonderful job!

It was so fun to see what everyone brought--I loved all the creativity! We had Hogwarts House Sandwiches, Licorice Wands, Pumpkin Pasties, Hagrid's Rock Cakes, Cockroach Cluster, Newts' Eyes, Cauldron Cakes, Bertie Bott's Ever Flavor Beans, Jelly Slugs, Pumpkin Juice, Caramel-Chocolate Wands, Pumpkin Custard, and Dragon Scales. (I printed out labels for the ones I knew about in advance and then made a few blank labels so people could fill them in when they arrived with their treat.)

 And, of course, the best part was the chance to just hang out with a bunch of fun women and chat for a few hours while our kids played together. I felt so rejuvenated afterwards (especially since it gave me the chance to sit down with some ice on my foot!). So much fun and I was so glad that everyone could fit it into their busy summer schedules.

After our guests went home we put Tot down for a nap and then snuggled up together to watch the first Harry Potter movie. When we got to the part where the trolley witch comes by on the Hogwarts Express Jules & Abigail paused the movie and ran out to the kitchen to get a selection of Hogwarts-style treats. They were SO excited about being able to eat the exact same thing that Ron and Harry were eating--I loved their enthusiasm and joy!

And we finished out our evening by going to a magic show at our local library. It was a great day and one of those ones where I was pretty impressed with myself as a cool creative mom (although I love our pajama-clad Lego days too!!)

summer kick-off

Friday was Abigail's last day of school, so we decided to celebrate our summer "officially" beginning by crossing off Wolf Park on our summer to-do list.  This is a wolf preserve not too far from our home; every Friday and Saturday they hold a Howl Night where you can go see the wolves, hear them howl, and listen to a lecture about their habits (very interesting--I learned a ton and I don't think the girls listened to a single word).

We were a little late (waiting for some cookies to finish baking) so we walked up right as the wolves were finishing their first--and last--howl, since they never howled again, but when they were supposed to be howling, we had front-row seats to playful wolves snarling and biting each other like crazy.  They seemed so tame and friendly until then, and I suddenly realized THEY WILL EAT MY KIDS given the chance.  It was pretty cool to watch, and probably the only thing the kids really paid attention to, but the wolves' latent ferocity (despite being "tame") was underscored by the way the wolves kept pacing back and forth in front of the only children in the audience (ours and some friends who met up with us there) and the lecturer commented on how the wolves were very interested in the children in a distinctly non-friendly way.  Every time Luke made a noise all the wolves pricked up their ears and turned towards him.

 

The alpha male of the pack is named Wolfgang (I know, right?) and he was extremely interested in Isaac.  This is pretty much what this wolf did for half the time we were there.   Mmm, Isaac. 

(Remember when I said I cut his hair?  I'm still getting used to it--he looks so big to me now.)

We had a really fun time, despite my being quite stressed over the way the children for some strange reason did not want to sit still on the bleachers for an hour listening to facts about wolves, but instead wanted to jump up and down, making satisfyingly loud noises, and dropping gravel through the cracks (we did not set a good example for the much more obedient children of our friends).  We also saw the foxes and bison at the preserve, and I really enjoyed the chance to just talk with other adults while the kids ran laps around the butterfly garden.  Fun night!