Our kind of camping

Years ago, John and I liked to go camping. Real camping - with sleeping bags and outdoors-iness. But since the kids arrived, we haven't felt the energy or the will power to take them camping. We tried once.. but failed miserably and ended up just roasting hot dogs.

But what we do enjoy doing is going for drives. So, we drove up to Idaho one beautiful Sunday afternoon and toured a campground. (Sounds funny, doesn't it?)

The kids had a good time running around outside and Mom got lots and lots of photos... but I only posted a couple here.

Its actually a rather popular place to camp... and do other things.

Fall at the AWHC

Before all the house madness started, we took Tom and Mary Alice to the fall festival at the American West Heritage Center. Complete with hay rides, hay slides, hay mazes, hay pirate ships, and a train (not hay, thank heavens!), we had a darn good time.

Riding the train (had to do that first... of course!)

Munching on the hay

Discovering the hay bale pirate ship

Complete with swords...

Going down the hay bale slide with Daddy.

And watching all the fun from the stroller. (Sometimes its hard to be the baby...)

Tomato trails

We discovered that Mary Alice likes tomatoes.

And that she can open the refrigerator door.

'Nuff said.

A Fair Affair

Keeping with my theme of posting things that happened months ago... here is our trip to the local county fairs. Our home county of Cache has a fair in August every year that we like to take the kids to. Tom really enjoys it because of the heavy machinery (tractors, etc.) and Mary Alice discovered what animals felt (and unfortunately tasted....) like.

Cache County Fair

Everything looks better from Dad's shoulders...

Nothing like cows and cotton candy...

Mary Alice observing life from her stroller.

Farmer Tom pretending to drive the tractor.

Mmmm.... meat.

Box Elder County Fair

The neighboring county of Box Elder also hosts a country shin-dig every year. This year we went with our good friends the Esplins, residents of the county. Their 4, almost 5, year old Ashton and our Thomas had a good time on the rides.

But poor little EmmaLee was not so thrilled. The random kid sitting next to her, though, seemed well trained for cheeses.

My kiddies know how to SMILE!

Its taken years of training, but they know when to perform for their mama...
Well, for the big, black box in front of her face, anyway.


And it sure helps when the older sibling passes on the knowledge to the younger.


See

Breakfast by Tom

He's an arteest in the making.

Hogle Zoo trip

Now I honestly can't remember what month we took the kids to the Zoo, but I am guessing sometime around the end of August or September. I could go and try to find the ticket stubs, but I can't quite remember where they ended up in the move and I am lacking the motivation to try and figure it out. So, we will just say... September.



Anyway, my sisters called with the wonderful idea of taking the kids to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake. Now, having grown up out East visiting the awesome zoos in New York and Philadelphia, I find the Hogle Zoo to be rather pathetic, but I must admit it has improved some since I went there as a teenager. My kids seemed to enjoy themselves.



Us older girls found that the new baby elephant to be an adorable sight. Thomas, however, wasn't that impressed. And Mary Alice was busy trying to chew the straps on her stroller. So, we moved on. We progressed through a number of different animals and the kids were mildly entertained.



Enough to try and imitate the fun, fierce, loud animals, anyway.


Now, Tom particularly enjoyed three things:


Riding the Carousel with Aunt Sue.

(No, honey... wave to your OTHER mother.)

Pushing the stroller around the park, pretending it is a train.

And, most of all, actually riding a train at the zoo.
This part of the trip, Tom LOVED.
He "choo-chooed" at the top of his lungs for the entire ride.

What a happy train-rider.

And Mary Alice found some wildlife on the train ride to amuse her, as well.

Golden Spike

So, its been a while since we posted - and even longer since we posted pictures. (As my super-cute cousin Cindy reminded me the other day.) So, here you go Cindy... my first attempt to get back on track. And speaking of "track"... we'll start with this fun trip.

Back in September, my Mom and Dad and sister Becca all visited the Golden Spike National Park with John and I and the kids. Our Thomas has been DYING to go see these trains. His Uncle Tom and Aunt Clarissa gave him a train book for Christmas last year. He positively adored this book and often slept with it at night. His two favorite trains in this book are the Locomotive 119 and Jupiter - the two trains that met at the original Golden Spike ceremony. So, we decided to take him to see those trains. (Well, the replicas of them, anyway.)

And we weren't disappointed at the reaction! It was much like watching a tweenage girl seeing her favorite pop star in person for the first time.


Here they come!

(Locomotive 119)

(Jupiter)

And Thomas knew exactly where they were in the book. Ahhhh, my little cross-referencer!
(It brings tears to my librarian eyes!)


We also got to see a re-enactment ceremony - which I was surprised the kids sat through in a tolerable state of entertainment. Thomas was really just dying to go and actually look at the trains up close. And, true to Thomas-style, also feel and smell them. He's a multi-faceted learner and all.


And here's the crew standing in front of the Jupiter train. We were so pleased that Grandma and Grandpa Bradshaw and Aunt Becca could join us! (And, inadvertently on National Public Lands Day... a.k.a. no charge day!)