We’ve had unusually cool weather for August. We love that! We have played outside in the evenings enjoying every last bit of summer before school starts. Zuzu likes to be like her siblings and do tricks on the tramp. Swinging is her favorite. She slows herself down on the slide with her sticky feet. Hannah, Abe, Max, and Tru can all do flips on the rings. We love being outside as a family! Hopefully we don’t drive the neighbors too crazy with our noise/yelling.
Remember when I had a dream reminding me not to take 5 kids to the mall. I guess today I thought I was stronger than that. Well… not my best idea. But it turned out fine. Not too many tears and only a few screams by Tru & Liza. The kids were in need of school shoes. I’m so tired of $25 Target shoes falling apart within a month or two. So we decided to search the Nike Outlet clearance section.
Liza tried on gigantic shoes for fun. It was a madhouse with lots of other families and I was relieved when they cleared out.
I was able to look up sizes & prices last year on this bloggie and I was glad for the reference. Abe is now 5.5. Hannah fit into a Women’s 6. Max went up to 13.5. Yes, Max & Abe have matching shoes. But aren’t they fun. I hope Hannah’s black ones aren’t too ‘black’.
What better activity on Pioneer Day than to go on a hike. The only problem is that everyone else in Utah decided to make a family reunion of this same hike.
Big Cottonwood canyon is one of my favorite places. The rocks in the mountain are so interesting. There are no dogs allowed! Love it!
The tricky thing about this hike is parking. A tiny parking lot for hundreds of people – not so hot. I prayed in my heart that we could find a parking spot so we wouldn’t have to park at the lower lot and triple the size of the hike. Be still my heart – we drove around for a minute and landed a front row spot right by the bathroom. A tender mercy.
We hiked up to Donut Falls and ate some snacks sitting on rocks at the river. Tru was adventurous and ended up falling in and getting so wet. He loved exploring and playing in the water and finding sticks. “Come along Tru!” He definitely won for getting the dirtiest. Liza did great in the backpack. She was a cute little hiker.
Hannah says, “It was really pretty and a fun hike.” She was a positive soul enjoying nature.
Max has few comments about this hike. He admitted to liking hikes though… just not long ones. He does not like to trudge through water when hiking. And we noted that drinking too much water for him can cause lots of side-trail potty breaks.
I admit that we had oodles of complaining from a certain child. 3/4 the way through, he decided that he was going to live through the hike and actually started enjoying it. Hiking with our large and young family is really tricky. I love hiking so much… being out in nature… but I like it to be pleasant and fun. Hopefully all the kids will learn to enjoy it.
Why do we hike? Because it’s an easy way to teach the kids that they can do hard things. Exercise. Nature!!! Life slows down a bit. And best of all… it tires out the tots. Energy is spent. They sleep on the ride home!
Brock, Julie, & Kota are moving … across the country. We are so sad … but happy for their fresh start. Brock graduated with a Masters in Athletic Training (is that right?) and is working as a trainer at a high school in Fairfax, VA.
Julie had hip surgery a few weeks ago and Terry (Jimmy’s mom) came to help her since Brock is taking off to drive everything across the country. We hosted a dinner for everyone, Terry, Brock & Julie, Paul & Jill, John, & Dan and Sara (who were visiting from Texas). Fun times. Yummy food. We had chicken & pepper kabobs, snicker/apple salad, grilled pineapple, watermelon, & yummy rice.
Tru was so cute. He was taking a photo with Brock and said, “Will you teach me how to smile?” He usually blinks his eyes for a smile. Then he tried to do a big frozen grin. We told him to laugh and his real smile came out. Sweet Tru.
Eliza & her cousin Elaina… all that glorious hair! Elaina is two months older. So cute.
Lots of driving shoved into those last 2 days. Liza and Tru held hands. Cute kids. We tried to get wiggles out frequently with all our potty breaks. One stop we saw a Donkey and a llama at the gas station. Liza slept in the car on our long days. Yay! We were sure glad to arrive home. I guess the trip did end!
Friday, July 12, 2013. Day 9. Phew… we live! We still love each other! This temple was across the freeway from the hotel. It turned out to feel like a scorching hot morning with no shade on the temple grounds. I think our bodies were in shock coming back from pleasant Seattle weather. This temple is a different style from what my kids are used to seeing. I’m glad we walked around. And of course, we were grateful for the church next door and the bathroom facilities. Wow – so many potty breaks for this family! Anyhoo…. We love to see Temples!
We weren’t going to head to Pike’s Market. I knew it was busy and the kid’s wouldn’t do well in crowds. But Jimmy ended up having a brief last-minute meeting one block from Pike’s Market. So we found a spot to park for $2 (miracle that worked out!). The kids and I walked around for 30 minutes. The flowers were gorgeous! The white nectarine sample was yummy. The kids were disgusted by the fish. The 3 pigs we saw were fun to climb on. Very interesting culture at this market. We found a bathroom (of course!) and then headed on our way to pick up Jimmy to start our long drive home.
Oh – the gum Wall! Gross. But funny to see. Hannah happened to be chewing gum so she added hers to the wall. here’s the history behind it:
The Market Theater Gum Wall is a local landmark in downtown Seattle, in Post Alley under Pike Place Market. The Gum Wall is a brick alleyway wall now covered in used chewing gum. Parts of the wall are covered several inches thick, 15 feet high for 50 feet.
The wall is by the box office for the Market Theater, and the tradition began around 1993 when patrons of Unexpected Productions’ Seattle Theatre-sports stuck gum to the wall and placed coins in the gum blobs. Theater workers scraped the gum away twice, but eventually gave up after market officials deemed the gum wall a tourist attraction around 1999. Some people create small works of art out of gum.
It was named one of the top 5 germiest tourist attractions in 2009, second to the Blarney Stone.
Oh what joy comes into a child’s face when they jump out of the van and run towards a playground! Max, Tru, and Liza were so excited. Liza was so brave to climb up to the top of the swirly slide and come down all by herself. She did it over and over. Truman did the monkey bars and asked me to hold him up. He was so strong and finished them all the way. Max, Hannah, and Abe ran around in the field and played tag?, maybe. It was perfect weather in Washington. The high was about 80 and sometimes the kids felt cool and wanted a sweatshirt (especially Max & Hannah). I loved the cool weather and wanted to buy a summer home here!
It was funny to all be sleeping in the same space. This hotel in Lynnwood, WA had 2 double beds and a sofa bed. Hannah and Truman were bunk-mates. Hannah told Tru stories before bed… like Jack and the Beanstalk. It was sweet to watch them sleep. Abe & Max had the sofa bed. They were invading each other’s space a bit, but they survived. Max mostly sleeps curled up under the covers. I think he told me he started doing that at home because he was scared of monsters in the closet (hmmm… Monster’s INC.!). I slept pretty well when I took a 10 MG time-release Melatonin & a benadryl. Hotel sleeping is not my strength. But seriously – overall, the sleeping arrangements worked out much better than we anticipated. Liza got used to her pack-n-play by night 2 and then was just fine going straight to bed at the same time as the kids. Blessings!
Oh – and the random photo in there is Liza after our dinner at Wendy’s. She was so funny putting her frosty on her toe. She didn’t drink much. Maybe her toe hurt!? But we needed to throw in a picture with a frosty because that was our favorite treat to get when it was hot on our drives to and from Seattle. We would get vanilla for Abe and Liza. And chocolate for the rest of us. Love Frosties!
Outdoor activities seem to be the most successful type for our family. We headed to Discovery Park to take a look at the beach, the bay, and the lighthouse. Throwing rocks into water is always a huge hit with our kids. We could see Mt. Rainier in the distance. Max was really great at spotting ‘the volcano’ throughout our week in Seattle.
The lighthouse was a little rundown and was locked so we couldn’t go inside. But it was fun to see. This beach had mostly sad with lots of driftwood and some rocks. Max wasn’t feeling well (tummy ache) so he was carrying around a Sprite to settle his guts. Tru loves sticks… and rocks. But on this trip he was all about finding the perfect stick. This stick ended up as a Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo Want (can you tell what movie Liza has been watching lately?!) Tru loves to be outside exploring.
I’m really glad we went to Discovery Park this evening. It ended the day on the up side!