Family Reunion Campout

Before we went camping we picked all of our berries.  Chloe helped eat the berries.

She thought they were delicious.

Here she is wearing one of my onesies.

Saturday we headed on our trip to Utah.  Every two years Peter's extended family get together at a campsite and have a bit of fun.  This was the first year that they held the reunion while I was done with work, so we were able to go.  On the way up we took two scenic roads.  Here Connor is next to Mt. Nebo.

We arrived Sunday evening and went to dinner at Aunt Janet's house.  Here we met up with Peter's mom, grandpa and Emily and her kids Colby, and Abby.  We stayed with Drew and Emily Sunday through Wednesday.  On Monday we went to Thanksgiving Point to their new museum of Natural Curiosity. It was AWESOME!  Children of all ages could have fun here.  We first went into the waterworks area.  Chloe had a great time at this water table.  We stayed here for at least 30 minutes.

Connor explored the fountains

hoses and pipes

more hoses and pipes and this back area made music as the water went through

Outside there was a playground...Connor loved this digger contraption the best.

Back inside in the kidopolis area-Washing machines and dryers

Connor is the vet-I think this was one of my favorites.  Place a stuffed animal on the mat, touch the computer screen and it shows you the x-ray.

Connor stayed in this room for quite awhile.

This was a building block room.  I had to laugh at these two dads who got into the building spirit more than their kids.  Actually, I think their kids even left the room and the dads were still busy building.

 Chloe picked carrots, radishes and beets in the 0-3 garden area.

 We loved the music room too...Connor was rocking it out on the drums.

 And the keyboard

 While I played the harp without any strings

 Before we left we headed back outside to the splash zone.  Colby and Abby had fun getting wet, Connor walked in the water and briefly got wet and then announced that he was too chilly.

 It was an awesome experience-a must go to museum with children.

 Tuesday morning we took it easy and then headed out to this fun splash pad.  Connor ran around the outside and never got wet...again the water was too chilly.  The temperature was in the upper 90's so he was either too hot or too chilly but never just right.

 He enjoyed playing on the slide with Abby.

 Back at Abby and Colby's house-styling the bucket on the head look.

Wednesday we ran errands to prepare us for Thursday's camping adventure.  Okay here's where we lack on the pictures.  This is Friday night's dance thingy where I lean over to Peter and say, "We haven't taken any pictures of camping yet."  So he ran to the tent to get the camera and this is the best that we got.

 Saturday morning Peter and Connor hiked to this waterfall

 Here's the campsite...imagine it with a bunch of tents

 As we left the campsite we drove up the road a little ways to the Cascade Springs...look how clear the water is.

 Peter and Connor take a selfie at Kolob Canyon-a scenic detour on our way home.

 Saturday night we stopped in St. George and then continued home on Sunday.  About an hour away from home a guy in the car next to us gets my attention and mouths that we have a flat tire.  I tell Peter to pull off at the next exit and this is what we found.  Yup it's flat alright.  We were very thankful that someone would let us know the tire was flat...could've been a lot worse had we not known.  After pulling into an empty shopping center, Peter unloaded the trunk to find the spare tire.  He also called his parents to see where they were on their journey home.  Luckily they were about 20 minutes behind us, so they met us and followed us home after Peter put the spare on.

We took the tire to Costco as it was one of their tires to get the hole fixed and found out that the screw that was in the tire was not the real problem.  There was a one inch or so slash in the tire likely caused by driving over a razor blade.  The tire was unrepairable and so we had to order a new one. 

Bustin' a Move

Last weekend we drove to Arizona for my cousin's wedding reception.  We arrived Friday evening, changed clothes and headed to a nice restaurant where our kids were on their best behavior.  Seriously I can't believe Connor was so good for so long.  We chatted with several people and met others.  It was a fun night.  After being good for probably an hour, Connor started to get antsy.  Then one of the servers brought out paper and a pencil.  Daddy drew all kinds of trucks as Connor requested them.  This kept Connor's interest through dinner.  Then he had a really good dinner, and while waiting for dessert he threaded his napkin through the holes in the chair.  He had a great time.  Great uncle George had a great time playing this game with him as well.  Several times throughout the night people came over and said what well behaved kids we had.  They did an amazing job!  Poor Chloe was exhausted, but kept a happy face and smiled at anyone and everyone walking by.  We left the party early-roughly 9:30/10 and went back to the house to put kids to bed.

The house we stayed at was huge and totally designed for children.  My aunt and uncle got the house and invited us to stay with them and my cousins.  There were 5 bedrooms and a kids play room that was decked out.  Connor spent his free time either in the play room or out in the backyard playing with dirt and diggers.

Saturday morning the bride and her mom came over to the house to get their hair and make up done.  My aunt, Hera was busy in the kitchen making spanakopita and tiropita.  Saturday afternoon we drove to the bride's parents' house for the party.  Connor had fun bustin' a move with his aunt Abbie and my cousins Tasha and Alison.

Sunday morning, we cleaned up and left for our long drive home.

Berries!

We picked these a week ago and had the best berry shortcake ever!

This is also from about a week ago...

This week we picked a lot of blackberries and everyone enjoyed them

Yes even Chloe

This was just too cute I couldn't resist a picture

All ready for church!

So yeah we've been picking berries left and right.  We pick a full container of blackberries and strawberries every 2-3 days.  Our blackberry bushes have taken over the strawberries in the raised containers.  I can't wait to get working on our backyard and build boxes to transplant all of the blackberries back there.  First we have to remove concrete and replace two fences...and then we can start to figure out what we're going to do with the backyard. 

It's been awhile

So it's been awhile since I posted anything...here's what we've been up to:

We renewed our Zoo/Animal park passes and visited the butterflies-grandpa had one land on his hat.

We fed the lorikeets as this is tradition.  Connor just looked from a safe distance.

He liked them, but didn't want to try feeding them.

He enjoyed grooming a goat.

So the evening before we went to the park we noticed a rash all over Connor's thighs.  We sent him to bed and in the morning the rash was completely gone from his thighs and was now on his  lower legs.  We went to the park and while there the rash moved to his back and then his face.  When we got home Peter took Connor to urgent care only to find out that he had hives which meant he either touched something, ate something or got bitten by a bug that he was allergic to.  We gave him benadryl which made it all go away...we still have no clue what caused the hives.

Connor wanted me to take a picture of his garbage truck masterpiece.

 So last week we had some seriously hot santa ana days.  You've probably all heard of the CA fires.  We received the call to evacuate, but we didn't.  I was glued to the news station and everything showed the wind blowing the fire away from us.  Later the news announced that there was a computer glitch and our area was supposed to be on alert, not mandatory evacuation.  My phone was nearly out of money, so we called Peter to come home from work in case the winds shifted and such.  I didn't want to be without communication.  So Peter came home and we all enjoyed ice cream cones and popsicles on the front lawn.

Also last week and the week prior I had pneumonia...worst illness I've ever had.  I had a fever that refused to break for 6 days and 4 of those days I was taking Tylenol and Ibuprofen at the same time (didn't know you could do that, but the dr. told me to).  So yeah for a week and a half I was pretty miserable.  I was actually starting to feel better and then the fires started...go figure.

So that's us in a nutshell.  Chloe turns 9 months in a week...she's growing so fast.  I need to take more pictures of my kids and write down what they say.  Connor says the funniest things, and then I forget them.

Easter

Easter was great.  Saturday we had an egg hunt at Peter's parents' house.  All the cousins enjoyed hunting for eggs and more importantly eating all the candies in the eggs.  I think Connor was the only one that went home with candy.  The big kids searched for eggs beyond the arbor, while the little kids didn't have to look too hard to find an egg.   Chloe even found an egg and enjoyed snacking on it.

dying eggs

Sunday the Easter bunny left us some pretty cool treats.  Connor got a side loader garbage truck to go along with his rear and front loader ones.  He was so excited, he wouldn't let anyone else touch it for awhile.  It even has a musher handle that you twist and the garbage gets pushed to the back of the hopper.  We have been having a great time making garbage out of junk mail for him to pick up.  Chloe got a bubble blower, which we've had a great time using lately.

This weekend we went out and picked strawberries from the garden.

Peter suggested we give Chloe a fresh strawberry in a mesh feeder...it was quite the mess to clean up, but I think she enjoyed it.  The sides of her chair and the floor looked like part of a crime scene.