Highschool choir after all these YEARS

I had my debut High school choir performance this year at the dedication of the Wasatch High School. We performed Homeland and I had fun with my first experience in a High School Choir. The crappy video below is the performance (audio is alright though).

Three Cuties and a Little Man

When the Ohio cousins came to visit the Utah cousins, we packed as much fun as possible into the 10 days they were here.

We went on a hike and sat on a rock,

went to the aquarium,

visited a farm and the kids rode ponies,

had picnics,

walked through a children's garden and rolled down the hills,

and played in the backyard together.

Surviving the Storm

Like so many summer evenings, one particular flying night started off with beating sun and exhausting heat. Then we looked off into the distance and saw a cell of thunderstorms headed straight for us.

We finished our flight and gathered ourselves and our stuff under the shelter that was available. (The model airport has a large awning covering the set-up area for the pilots.) We were just in time too. By now the thunderstorm clouds almost completely covered us.

The wind that brought the storm in was strong (~30 mph), and started blowing planes around as it came. After we caught the planes, the pilots stood holding them to keep them steady.

I'm not sure why we all didn't go to our cars and get out of the weather, but we stood there under the awning getting sandblasted by the grit carried on the wind. Maybe because it was fascinating to watch the storm come up and then move on.

Things That Roll

This year's Loertscher extended family reunion site featured a ramp leading up to a covered porch. Zeke found the ramp nearly immediately by taking a trike up the ramp. As I saw him walking up, I knew that discovery of the thrill of coming down was inevitable. And sure enough, that's what happened next. The first few times I walked down with him, slowing him from the full force of gravity acting on a vehicle with wheels. Then I just let him go for it and he had a great time riding on down.

Zeke also pushed a dump truck up and let it roll back down - chasing after it - about a million times. Once an older kid tried to help by catching it partway down. Zeke (who was mid-run down the ramp) changed directions and seemed to say 'Oh well, I guess they have it now.' The older kid, seeing Zeke run away, seemed to say 'Whatever, guess he's done with it' and put it down and walked away. Zeke, seeing his truck was again available, ran back over to it and began again to push it up the ramp.

He also loved the little family train that ran around the backyard every so often. He loved it so much we got him a ticket for the upcoming train trip down the parade route.

Come On Down!

Zeke's fondness for game shows - especially ones that involve bright colors, quick action, and spinning wheels - has taught him a lot. He is starting to recognize letters, he knows what vowels are, he can 'read' dollar signs (and sees them everywhere), and he has picked up quite a few new phrases: 'on the map', 'prize puzzle', 'buy a vowel? an E!'...

The newest phrase this week was 'seventy dollars!', typically screamed at the top of his lungs and repeated several times. We couldn't figure out at first where he learned that one. Today there was a thank-you card sitting on our bed. When Zeke saw it, he took the envelope, pulled out the card, looked at it, looked up, and said quite naturally 'seventy dollars!'.

Zeke just might be the next host on The Price Is Right.

We've Been to Kolob

The other major stop on our Zion trip was Kolob Canyons. We drove up to the viewpoint and then had a picnic lunch.

Zeke didn't eat much because he was busy running around and thowing sticks and dirt. He also told us that he wanted to climb this tree.

After lunch we hiked the Timber Creek trail. Lots of picture-worthy stops along the way!

We learned this trip that hiking with a young child gives you an upper body workout as well as a leg workout.

We stoppped just short of the official overlook point because Zeke was tired and the remaining trail was steeper and rockier than we wanted to navigate carrying Zeke. The rest of the party thought our overlook was better than the real one anyway.

We've Been to Zion

We went to Zion National Park over the 24th of July, to see (as I told Zeke) rocks and trees. And a whole lot more! We spent our only full day (the 24th itself) in Zion Canyon.

The Zion Canyon shuttle was awesome. I'm so glad we didn't have to drive up into the canyon and try to find parking. And Zeke loved riding and watching the bus.

We hiked the Riverside Walk trail. I think Zeke sat on every rock possible the whole way. He loved the rocks and the red dirt (his socks were pinkish by the end of the day).

The water dripping from the rocks was one of our favorite sights.

The view from Weeping Rock was amazing.

I loved the red and black rocks at the Temple of Sinawava too.

It was so beautiful there. We all enjoyed it immensely!

Everything That Can Go Wrong

The day we left for our 24th of July weekend trip, Aaron ran errands while Zeke and I packed. We started early and I had plenty of time to pack our things and load the car before Aaron got home, even with Zeke's packing 'help'. But I got distracted and had things packed but not loaded when Aaron got back. After lunch and loading the car, we were about an hour behind what we planned. I tried not to be too hard on myself about it and we went to get gas and milk before we picked up my parents.

Then we locked both sets of keys in the car. Fortunately, Aaron realized he didn't have his keys about halfway through latching the door, so there was a tiny crack to work with. Also fortunately, we were near a hardware store, so we bought a metal rod and Aaron worked it through the door. After about 20 or 30 minutes of hard work (while Zeke and I were getting sunburned despite our sunscreen), Aaron managed to flip the lock and get the door open and were back on the road. Then I remembered I had forgotten my folder of vacation plans (including things like hotel address) so it was back home to get that. While we were home I also remembered a few other impoartant things I had forgotten and by the time we really left we were about 2.5 hours behind.

The one good thing about the day is our hotel room turned out to be a suite-style room, complete with fridge, stove, and kitchen sink. Zeke got his own room within our room, the bathroom had a bathtub, and we had the only balcony in the hotel. And it didn't cost us anything extra (I checked before we got comfortable!).