Monday we met up with Andy for lunch in Provo. We took our bikes along so we could ride the Provo River Parkway afterwards. To make a long story short, Riley's tire was flat to the rim so we had to pack back up after unpacking the bikes. To make it sting a little less, we drove the Alpine Loop through American Fork Canyon on the way home. The scenery through AF Canyon was just incredible. So many different colored leaves in all directions. That has to be one of my all time favorite places to see leaves - Vermont is a VERY close second. Most of these pictures were taken near Sundance - before I passed the ranger gate and where there is actually room to pull over for a few snaps!
On Tuesday, Kevin had the day off so we decided to take the kids for a hike. We headed up to Big Cottonwood Canyon with the intent of hiking the Dog Lake Trail. We got there, parked, got suited up with our coats and camelbaks and headed over to the trail head sign to see the map. There nailed to the board was a hand written note stating that a bear had been seen on the Dog Lake Trail just the day before. My first reaction was, that the bear had plenty of time to move on to somewhere else. Kevin's first reaction was, maybe it hasn't and we have your kids along...Good point! There were plenty of cars parked at the trailhead, but we loaded back up and headed further up the canyon to Silver Lake. We decided to hike from Silver Lake to Lake Solitude. It was a perfect hike for our kids. The incline was subtle for the most part that they didn't even notice they were increasing their elevation - until the end that is! It was a beautiful day for a hike and along the way, we didn't come across a bear (thankfully) but we did come across more MOOSE! This is our lucky fall I guess. Momma, Daddy and baby hanging out along the trail, munching on some leaves. They were there on our return trip as well. My kids are getting spoiled with wildlife this fall. Thankfully both moose encounters were uneventful. According to Kevin, there are more people attacked by moose than by bears!
The view of from Silver Lake
Hi there Baby Moose!
Daddy Moose getting a snack near the trail
Looking across Silver Lake
Watching the ducks
Love the contrast of the colors
These aspens were absolutely gorgeous!
See how they are almost orange!
Utah really is beautiful!
So not to be outdone by Tuesday, we planned an action packed day for Wednesday. We had a playdate/mom craft date in the morning that lasted till lunch. The moms made these for their daughters (who by the way are all good friends).
Isn't it a cute shirt? I love how it turned out!
After we cleaned up and everyone went home, we ate lunch and headed out to the zoo. We haven't been there since they opened up their new Rocky Shores exhibit. The kids loved seeing the polar bear, the sea lion and the seals. Sadly, the river otters were playing hide and seek with us and we missed out on them (Mom's favorite animal).
On the way home from the zoo we hit up the new Scheels store in Sandy. This place is a cross of Sports Authority and Cabela's. It's HUGE! They have a ferris wheel inside the store as well as lots of other things for the kids to play on, climb on, video game shotgun shooting, bowling alley, DDR, indoor playground like at fast food places, etc. This place is out of control. They seem to carry it all - from fashion clothes like Down East Basics to kayaks to cross bows and ammo! When we got home my kids were SPENT!
Thursday brought MOPS and both kids were happy to go because they knew the Major kids would be there. Riley really likes Timothy (from scouts and church) and Kendall and Gracie are just the sweetest of friends. I love MOPS more and more because I get to see my dear friend Michelle! I was so honored that when she introduced herself to our entire MOPS group today that she used me as an example of the type of lifelong friendships that can be made through MOPS. It's a great place to meet people who "GET" you and love you and care about you. I had wondered if I'd "outgrown" MOPS, but realized that even though I am older than most of the moms nursing their newborns during the meetings, that there is a place for everyone.
After MOPS we headed to the ATT store for what is hopefully the LAST purchase I will now make in what should have only been a $400 iphone 5 investment. This saga has caused me over $1000 easily! I had to upgrade my operating system - TWICE, I had to get a Time Capsule to back up my computer incase of an issue while upgrading (this is something I should have done years ago), I had to repurchase MS Office for my Mac because my old version was too outdated for mountain lion, and then I needed to buy a case and screen protector. Opps! I just realized, I will most likely make one more purchase - another cord whenever Apple gets around to supplying them. Gotta have a charger in the car!
After the ATT store, we hit Costco for lunch and what always ends up being a much larger purchase than intended. I really should just go in there with cash so I don't over spend! By the time we got home and got unloaded (which is always more fun when you make a game of stacking the rolls of toilet paper and tossing the paper towel rolls across the kitchen to mom so she can put them away, the kids settled down for a few cartoons, finishing of homework and rest time.
Kendall had a soccer game after dinner. When I walked onto the field, I knew we were in trouble. We were playing against a team we had played last year. The coach of this other team is so militant it's not even funny. I swear he must hold practices year round because #1, his players are very good for 3 & 4 year olds and #2, he talks to them so firmly that I wonder if they are even having fun. Our kids were more interested in the large air force plane that kept circling over the Sandy area tonight instead of playing soccer. But that's what I expect of 3 & 4 year olds, especially around 6:45 pm!
Tomorrow is our last day of our break. Even though I'm exhausted and haven't done my mandatory one load of laundry per day, I'll be sad to see them go back to school on Monday. I love having them around all day and doing what we want, when we want. Tomorrow is our "free" day. The only thing I have to do is get an overdue oil change. Thankfully Andy will be home in the afternoon. We haven't gotten to talk to him more than a few minutes this trip so it will be nice to spend a little QT with him before we head out to small group later in the night.
We are going to attempt to ride our bikes on the Provo River Parkway and have a picnic lunch on Saturday as a family after Kendall's soccer game. Hopefully we'll be able to make that work - I did buy a bike pump at Scheels to put on Riley's bike to hopefully prevent another flat. Might even buy a can of fix a flat to keep around, just in case now that he's into trail riding on his mountain bike!
Off to bed. This momma's gotta keep up with two energetic rugrats tomorrow! I think the kids have had a great week even though we didn't go anywhere for their week off. It was a great "staycation" for us!
