Fire Mooses

This family of moose hung out outside the station and then walked across the parking lot.

The bull caught me off guard. None of us knew he was there.

Firsts

Oh that bittersweet taste of the first day of school. Will I ever get used to it? Ella has started the first grade and is enjoying all the priveleges and respect that come with it, such as recess on the big kids playground, lunch in the cafeteria, and is at last given the most high honor of "homework." First grade!!! She's in class with her best friend, she gets to ride her bike to school, life couldn't be better. As she left that first day she ran into the school with absolute joy on her face and not a single look back....

She wasn't the only one headed to school this year. Zoe's first day of preschool was yesterday. My baby is so grown up! She picked out every item of clothing she wore and told me exactly how to do her hair ("Two piggy tails right here.") She later told me, "That teacher was so nice, I couldn't believe my eyes!" She left me standing on the doorstep of her preschool with that same 'I don't need you anymore' feeling that I had with Ella. No crying or cowering, she dove right in. It would be nice if they pretended they would miss me.

Strawberry

Hiking with just Dad is always the best way to go. There's a stream? Just go through it. There's mud? Who cares, get muddy. With Dads, things are always a little messier, a little funner.

P.S. Is "funner" a word? It looks funky.

Ella is a list maker. She took her notebook with so she could make a list of the things she saw. I wonder who she got that from. (Hint: It's not me.)

Day one of Andy's "staycation" we packed up very spur-of-the-momentish and headed up the Uintahs to hike Bald Mountain. I was thinking we were headed to a nice little trail and a picnic in the woods. Wow. A little bit wrong there. But my girls headed up that extremely steep, loose rocky trail and were so excited [almost] the entire time. At one point Zoe sighs a huge sigh and says "I can't take it any more, Mommy." It took me a sec to realize she was quoting a movie, and not actually put out by the hike. Andy and I both got a touch of elevation sickness it went so high so fast. Once up there though, the view was fantastic. We were higher than Timpanogos! Crazy. (Hint: Never go on a this hike without licorice. We would have died without it. Max may have even gotten some...don't tell.)

Ella and Max. She thought it was funny the "Christmas" trees were so tiny. We explained it was because there was no air up there for them...or us!

Just a tiny glimpse of how steep the trail was.

The girls didn't make it quite to the top. We stopped on this ledge and Andy hurried up the last small steep climb that the rest of us had no desire to make. I'm counting this as close enough. Even Fez was beat.

My Cat is Weirder Than Your Cat

Whether you're a cat person or not, you have to admit that this is funny. Our recent addition, Daisy, loves bathrooms. First of all, she hears you turn on the water in the sink/tub and comes running. She sticks her paws and nose in the water the whole time your using it. She's gotten a glob of toothpaste on top of her head more than once. Her favorite place to sleep? IN the sink. When I go to bed at night I have to fill one sink in the house with water for her to play in. (Yes, she has a water dish, I'm not retarded.) And lastly and most weirdly, she drinks out of the toilet. Disgusting, I know. My 100 lb. dog doesn't drink out of the toilet. But what is even stranger is that she sees them as HER toilets. When I go in to "borrow" the toilet, she comes running and tries to shove me off of it! Needless to say, I freak out if she ever touches me with wet paws.









It's a shaky video, but I can't believe how these two play together. Fez is just a little bit bigger than her.

El Jardin, Part III: The Finale

Ta-Dah!!!

Cross your fingers we don't get cancer from these! (See Part II)

5 K 9

So it was Sarah's turn to do an event a few weks ago while I wrestled the littl'uns. Hardly seemed like a fair trade off, she and Fezzik smoked the Friends of Animals 5k in like 20 minutes. It was cool to see all the hippies and their dogs.

And on the 4th she and the kiddos came up and rode the old Fire engine in the parade. I was in a Mexican ambulance, so it really just ended up as a pain in the butt for her. AGAIN. Good thing she likes me, huh? I'm a lucky man.